NationStates Jolt Archive

The convoy was making slow progress, and Prince Raulph IV was unhappy. The vaste wastelands of Frozopia were freezing cold, and there was little to entertain the young Prince.
I should never have come on this trip, he thought. But it all sounded very exciting when Master Phillip's was decribing it to his father.
"More rebel activity in the wastelands" Raulph remembered thinking how Relaxed he was around the King. Most people were extremely formal or stuttering over their words. And who can blame them? One wrong word and they get a whipping for a troubles. "A fish farm was raided and burned to the ground."
King Clauro laughed, "A fish mongers? You trouble me over such insignificant problems, Andrew." First name basis.
"Ain't so small, your majesty. This fish farm supplies most of the country. The actual fish farm was more of a large scale factory. They practice genetic engineering and mass breeding to sell millions of fish a year. This company earns multi-billion profits a year!"
"Hm. I imagine the purpose of this raid was to feed the outcasts?"
"So we suspect, but nothing is certain. I suggest we send a force to quell these barbarians."
"Indeed. It is a mystery who supports these rebels. Where do they get their guns, their armoured vehicles? Foreign influence? High ranking citizens wishing to overthrow me? Who can tell?"
"We are getting closer, your majesty but still no significant names."
"Who do you suggest sending to lead the expedition?"
"Superior Blizzard's Swift maybe? He has been most successful against the rebels in the past."
At this point Raulph interupted:
"Father, could I lead this operation?"
"Don't be absurd!"
"But father, I have yet to prove myself worthy! I must lead this operation!"
Raulph remembered his father staring at him with a slight frown on his face.
"I suppose it is time you proved yourself. Fine. But your second in command will be Superior Blizzards Swift. Do not let me down."
Raulph was elated at the time. He imagined himself destroying a rebel force 10 times his size, taking a small wound in his shoulder and showing it off infront of the noble ladies as they cast looks full of admiration at him.

Raulph glumly stared out the window. He had 400 men under his command. It was overkill. A rebel force had never been sized larger than a 100 men, mostly poorly equiped. Of course recently there had been better equipped rebels, but they were still nothing compared to the Frozopian army.
His armoured vehicle, The Ice Crawler Battle Class was heavily equipped but also uncomfortable. There were few measures to hold out the cold. Raulph had been run raggid for days, and they had yet to sight rebels. Raulph would return to his father a laughing stock if they did not even combat the rebels...

OOC: Gotta go. Finish this later. Im sure you can imagine whats going to happen. State your interest.

OOC: Looks good, I've never had the chance to have my troops fight in this type of environment, it should make for some interesting playing out.

Worse Raulph felt like the troops didn't respect him. They thought him to be a spoilt rich boy, who was too young and too stupid too hang around soldiers. Not that Raulph could confirm his fears. At worst he had walked into conversasions that he was sure were about him till he entered. He'd also been given dark looks. His authority was being undermined.
Raulph was lost in his thoughts, and failed to notice the movement in the hills to his right. 3 men watched the convoy pass, sharing some binoculars:
"What do you think?" Spoke a tall lean one. His face, like most men was covered in a dark beard. His body spoke of hunger, starvation even.
"It can be done. They only have 10 The Ice Crawler's. Admittedly the rest of their force is riding on customised snow jeeps, but these shouldn't put up much resistance." Spoke another. Unlike his comrades, this one was well fed and clean shaven. He looked like an extremely in shape 30 year old. He turned to the others:
"We have a 1000 men. At most they have 500. But better we have the element of surprise. These Frozopians will learn that they cannot treat us Snow Warriors like dogs! We must strike now."
"Would it not be better to wait till night? Strike them in their sleep?" Questioned the last man, also bearded and looking half starved.
"No. At the moment their force is strung out in a convoy. Once they are camped they will have sentries. These will detect our presence immediatly, and the enemy will be able to concentrate into a defence." Spoke the second man, obviously the leader.
"We will hit their Ice Crawlers with our anti-armoured vehicle rocket launchers.
Then all troops are ordered to fire on the snow jeeps. It will be slaughter. Hah we should even capture the little Princeling."
The 3 men walked towards what looked like a camp, just parallel the route the convoy was taking. Orders were distributed, and the men ran to the hill line. The snow was falling heavily now, and the snow warriors crawled further down the slope. Their clothes acted as camouflage, and they approached undetected. They now formed a line 300 meters across. Some set up their M-240G Machine guns on their tripods, and pushed in the ammo. The convoy was moving extremely slowly threw the thick snow, so the Snow Warriors had plenty of time to prepare their weapons. These were tough men. They had fought in many battle's against Frozopia and never before had they gathered in such large numbers.
Prince Raulph yawned. It'd been a long and dull day, with 3 break down's and alot of stressed out soldiers. Raulph looked forward to the comfort of home. For the 100th time he cursed this cold and dead wasteland. Of course it wern't that much wamer at home, but at least the Royal Palace was always warm. Raulph blinked. He could swear he just saw something that must of been 600 yards from the convoy. Just my imagination....
Then hell broke loose. Rockets screamed from the hills hammering into 4 Ice Crawlers before they could even turn to fire. Rapid machine gun fire was triggered unto the convoy.
"What the hell?" Screamed Raulph. Swift looked horrified for a moment, but then he gave the orders into the radio: "Return fire, return fire! Get out of the jeeps and find cover!" He screamed. Even through all the sudden action Raulph had time to criticise the simplicity of the orders.
Frozopian Blizzard soldiers escaped their vehicles, taking cover behind them. They immediatly returned fire, but struggled to hit anything. They were firing uphill at a target they could barely see through all the snow. More rockets were flying down hill now, screaming into the jeeps and 3 more Ice crawlers went down.
Raulph immediatly realised he was in great danger in the Ice crawler. He and Swift sprinted from the vehicle, along side the 13 other passengers. Some one obviously turned their machine gun fire on them because 8 of the soldiers were mercilessly mowed down. The 5 other soldiers took cover behind a jeep alongside Swift and Raulph. Bullets shot by them.
The snow warriors began to encircle the Frozopian convoy. Now fire was ripping from behind and infront of the convoy. The Frozopian's died quickly. Now all the Ice Crawlers were destroyed.
There were only 140 survivors of the original 400. Some tried crawling into the jeeps, but as soon as they did it seemed like every Snow Warrior aimed their fire at them. However 1 man crawled into a jeep and accelerated out of the gun fire. Driving straight threw 4 Snow warriors he made his bid for safety.
Now gun fire was pouring from all directions. The Frozopians were cut down to 30 soldiers including Raulph and Swift. These men were clustered around 4 jeeps and the ruins of a Ice crawler. One man stood to jump into a jeep but was shot down. Swift turned to Raulph:
"My Prince. You must leave us. You must escape. We will distract the enemy. We will all scramble into this jeep here. You must survive this."
The 29 men scrambled into the jeep. It seemed there was no more ammo for the Rocket launchers, so only machine gun fire was turned on them. Threw the blizzard only a few spotted the small group of men scrambelling into a jeep. Of course there wasn't enough room. No these men were human shields for the Prince. Swift died first, taking a bullet that otherwise would of struck the Prince. Raulph scrambled into the jeep along side 5 other soldiers. He hit the accelerator and was escaping back the way he had come from. Bullets hummed by the Jeep, but it made its escape leaving the enemy fire behind.......

OOC:
Ok so this is a civil war/ rebels thread. Frozopia is a brutally cold country, and has brutalised certain Religious groups including Jews and poor people by driving them into the wastelands.
The Rebels are funded by someone wealthy, whether it is foreign influence (e.g. you) or someone inside the country seeking to overthrow the monarchy. They have given arms to the various guerrilla groups and united them into the Snow Warriors. This force is now made up of 3000 men, so they are outnumbered by the Frozopian army, as well as outgunned. However they have 1000's of miles to hide and fight in. Whoever goes into that land is gonna die either of cold or enemy partisans.
The Prince is on the run. With no radio contact he has to escape the cold waste lands and make it to home with limited supplies and 5 soldiers guarding him. They have a jeep for transport, but a long way to go.
So choose your side. Will you side with the rebels? Or was it you who funded the rebels? or will you help me quell this rebellion.
This will be the RP thread, not just interest. From now on I and hopefully you will try to keep IC. Know something about RP before you post.

(tag for possible involvment.
Not sure who to side with, Goblins tend to support the underdogs, or at least, the dogs, but they ALSO respect monarchy to some degree.
Maybe Ill just drop a few in and see what happens :P)

hopefully something will happen...more interest people...

<MAFCCP, McLeodia>

"Sir, a report from observation satellites orbitting over a country to the north east, called, er..." the officer paused, leafing through the stacks of paperwork that were just a part of the daily briefing, "Frozopia. It seems we were trialling the new camera lenses over snow covered areas, and picked up what appears to be a large scale firefight. SIGINT indicates the Frozopian King's son, one Prince Raulph, was in the area at the time, hunting for a rebel force. Judging from the vehicles present, it would seem the Prince not only found those forces, he was attacked by them. Estimates are put at almost a thousand casualties."

Field Marshall Wilkins looked up at this. Any force that could mount a vast attack with such success in frigid conditions like those found in Frozopia was both well trained, and well equipped. That made them a challenge.

"Get me a briefing prepared, and I'll authorise deployments on behalf of the King. Perhaps the Nightstalkers might need some refresher training up in Devils Pass."

<Encrypted Message>
To: Frozopian King
From: King James IX
RE: Recent conflict

Sir,

It has been brought to my attention that trouble has been stirring in your country as of late, and that your son may well be caught up in some danger. I offer you the service of McLeodian Special Forces in securing and protecting your heir from harm. Perhaps they will claim the lives of some of those bastard rebels too?

OOC: Sorry if I took a few liberties in writing this, I felt it would help the roleplay, if you disagree, I'll change it.

IC:

President Blüme sat at his desk, morning coffee and newspaper in hand, as General Saltzman and an aide entered, both men saluted as they sat down in front of Blüme's desk.

"What do I owe this morning pleasure, gentlemen?" asked the president as he sipped from his coffee.

"Sir, one of our foreign agents reported internal problems in the Empire of Frozopia," explained the general as he placed the reports on the desk, "There have been continued problems with rebels in the country's wastelands and a force was sent to deal with it."

The President looked puzzled, "So why bother bringing this to our attention?"

"Well, normally this would have been routine, however, the young Prince Raulph had gone along to command the expedition," said Saltzman, "Things aren't looking good though as all contact with the force has been lost."

"So why is this any of our concern then?"

"Well, with the elimination of the good prince, the lineage of the crown is cut and more support goes to the rebellion," said the general, not allowing the president to interupt, "However, if we aid the monarchy and recover Prince Raulph, we would have no problem securing contracts for all of the oil deposits that are located underneath that frozen wasteland."

"Good point, Arnold," replied Blüme, "Send a message that we will aid their nation in eliminating the rebels."

"Yes Sir."

-----

A-ComSat Matrix Open...Securing Communication Channel to Frozopia...Finding King Clauro...*Found*...Channel Secure...Sending Transmission...

To: King Clauro of the Empire of Frozopia
From: Chief of Staff General Arnold Saltzman of the Federal Republic of Aequatio

King Clauro of Frozopia,

It has come to our nation's attention of your Empire's internal problems and we would like to extend a hand of friendship by aiding your own nation's forces against the rebellion that has grown within your wastelands.

However, due to the environment of our nation and the terrain our forces are trained to fight on normally, we will have to refit our forces with proper cold-weather equipment and equipp our vehicles for the climate before we are able to deploy our heavier divisions in your nation. For the time being, we can deploy smaller, special forces units to act as advisors to your own forces.

General Saltzman of Aequatio.

...Channel Closed...Transmission Terminated...A-ComSat Matrix Closed...

OOC: Only 400 casualties, it was the rebels that had a 1000 men. and they lost about 10. What you assumed was fine.

IC:
King Clauro turned to Phillip's
"My son....he's missing?"
"Yes, your majesty. We can only hope he survived the ambush."
King Clauro was afraid. He had never fealt fear before.
"Send out as many search parties as possible scour the country side!"
"Yes, your majesty. Both the people of Aequatio and McLeod offer assistance in finding the Prince and even killing some rebels. I suppose you will accept?"
"Indeed."

To: Chief of Staff General Arnold Saltzman of the Federal Republic of Aequatio
From: Master Phillip, head of all military forces of Frozopia
Any assitance you offer will be welcome. We thank you for your friendship in such trying times in Frozopia. We are sending you the co-ordinates of Prince Raulph's last position......now. We hope the search will be successful.

Master Phillip's of Frozopia

To: King James IX
From: Master Phillip, head of all military forces of Frozopia
We thank you for the support of the McLeodian Special Forces. Here are the co-ordinates of Prince Raulph's last position. We hope the search will be bring success.

Master Phillip's of Frozopia

OOC: My bad

IC:

<Royal Barracks, McLeodia>

"Alright you damn dirty apes. We've got work to do. Stop arsing around and grab your gear. We're heading out immediately. Briefing will be inflight. Oh, and grab your winter kit too, we ain't heading towards the tropics. Johnson, that means you won't be needing those speedos of yours, so you can leave them behind before I make you run through a snow storm wearing just them, and nothing else."

Already, the engines were spooling up on two of the freshly repainted transport VTOLs, and six of the Armies Multi-Purpose-All-Terrain-Vehicles, painted in arctic camouflage and their guns draped with white netting, were being loaded into two more, along with an almost endless line of boxes and crates on rapid-loading cargo pallets. The Regiment was going to war, and they seemed to be taking everything, including the kitchen sink, with them.

Along the flight line, four of the medium MV-54 transports, six smaller MV-34 transports, two AV-34 Panthers, and a single AV-54 Lion gunship all began the long flight north towards Frozopia, and war.

-Fort Stanfield, San Allimos, Aequatio

Major Bryer was walking past the vehicle pool when he noticed a pair of "Spartan" infantry fighting vehicles being worked on, seats were being removed along with a few other systems while large heating units sat in the service bay next to the tracked vehicles as other technicians were painting the armour with grey and white camouflage, "Damn armoured corps, always up to something," he thought as he entered the command building and was almost immediately greeted by Brigadier Vargos.

"Carl, have I got something for you, straight from the top," said the aged officer, "How do you like snow?"

"Hate it, Sir," replied the Major, "It's why I only went to Lastrati once for our S.F. training in the Northern Mountains."

"Well, then you're going to start hating me for this one then," explained Vargos, "You and your team are off to Frozopia to find a some lost royalty, a Prince Raulph to be exact."

"What all are we getting for this, I wasn't aware we had arctic equipment lying around for us to use," asked Bryer pausing a moment, "Those 'Spartans' out there are for us, aren't they?"

"Yes and our new outerwear for arctic climates, they're supposed to be better than the stuff you trained in."

"All right, so when do we leave?"

"As soon as the team and the vehicles are ready, then we cart you over to Peters Air Force Base for transport to Frozopia to start the operation."

The major saluted before exiting and starting back to his barracks, but not before he took a quick glance at the motor pool and the now white armoured vehicles, a shiver literally went down his spine as he walked off.

tag; Frozopia, check your TGs

-Peters Air Force Base, San Allimos, Aequatio

The Grey C-17 Globemaster sat on the runway like a fat goose while it was being loaded with the heavily modified "Spartan" armoured vehicles, with the increased fuel capacity and the heating units, they looked much different than the standard vehicles, their rear cabin space greatly reduced. That was not a problem however, as the JSOF team was only twelve members strong.

Major Bryer stood at the ramp of the aircraft with the plane's loadmaster as one of the vehicles drove up and was locked in place, "You flyboys are lucky, you're only dropping us off there, we get to go out into the wasteland and find a Prince!"

The loadmaster had to shout over the sounds of the base's crowded runways, "I know, but maybe if you're lucky, he'll fall in love at first sight and carry you off to his ice palace!"

Bryer's Weapon Sergeant, Jack Pearson, overheard the joke and laughed as he looked over his personal equipment, the new arctic climate uniforms looked clumsy and bulky, but it was surprisingly easy to move about in and retrieve your gear from without having to remove too much. Although the favourite piece of gear from the new uniforms were the "optical protection devices" or the sunglasses to protect against snowblindness.

Brigadier Vargos walked over to the major as the last of the heavy equipment was loaded onto the aircraft, "Carl, this one's going to be tough, we've got so much pressure on us to make sure this gets done."

"Don't you mean I've got so much pressure on me to get this done?" replied Bryer.

The general smiled, "Good luck, Major!"

"Thank you, Sir, see you when we've got the Prince!" said the major as he rounded his squad up and they walked up into the aircraft as it prepared to takeoff for Frozopia.

OOC: hmm, this looks good... *idea*

The men sat huddled in the back of the van...
"and the government thinks we're all gone... hah!"
"well... theres not many of us left..."
"That doesn't matter, we have the former President funding us." After this they sat in silence for a while, after not long the van stopped and two of them flung the doors open. They scurried into the tall warehouse... a Merc was parked in the empty storage room, a man in a suit with several guards around him stood waiting. He greeted them- "Ah, my underground friends... if all goes well in Frozopia then mahap we shall see ourselves in control as it should be?"
They nodded to him and the leader replied, "hopefully... we are lucky that Halmardar was taken though... gave us access to the sea it did, a copter would've been seen..."
The man nodded in agreement and handed over an envelope, "here... split it before you buy the weapons. It'll be suspicious otherwise." he got into the car and was driven out, the guards climbed into their own four by four and followed.

OOC: basically a bunch of nationalists are trying to gain their independance from my own empire. To mix things up internationally they have funded, equipped and brought together the Frozopian rebels. It is all funded by the former president of a country which has been integrated into the empire. If there are problems i will edit this.

Private Carter was driving the jeep when it crashed.
As the sun sunk below the horizon visibilty dropped quickly. Yet they had to keep driving. Only half an hour ago they spotted some rebels in the distance, obviously following their tracks. So Carter was pushing the jeep as fast as he could, without seeing where he was going. Some how the enemy were gaining, and it looked like they were using Ski-doo's.
Raulph swore. Of all the jeeps they could of chosen, they chose the one where the radio had been splintered by a bullet. Raulph's chances of survival were getting thinner and thinner.
The jeep slammed over a small ramp of snow, and shot down the slope. A tree seemed to loom out of no where. With a loud crunch the jeep slammed into the tree. Private Carter was hurled forwards through the windscreen. With a nasty crunch his neck broke on impact with the tree. Raulph and the rest of the team were more fortunate. Carter had never believed in seatbelts. The rest of the team pulled on their seatbelts as soon as they saw cater was driving.
Raulph staggered into the snow.
"Fuck!" Screamed Sergeant Conor Anderson.
Raulph turned to the experienced Sergeant, "What now sergeant?"
"We walk. If we head south we might meet a search party looking for you."
"Sir," interupted Private Mcroberts, "The Ski-doo's will gain on us within the day."
"I think I know what im doing private. There's a forrest just East of here. We can lose them in the tree's and then head south."
"Yes sir!"
"Mcroberts! Collect the supplies in the jeep. Rapf! Help him. You two will carry it for half a day, then me and Private Sunderland will carry it the other half. Lets go!"
Raulph pretended ignorance when he wasn't included to carry supplies. This journey looked hard enough without carrying a great big bag on his bag. Pulling his MP5 SMG out of the jeep, and putting his 9mm pistol in his holster, he felt more confident. Looking around he noticed all the men were similarly armed.
The men bagan their slow trudge across the landscape.......

Master Phillip's turned to the helicopter crew. He had to get very personal with the lower rankers these days. Going through the chain of command would take too long, and every second they spent wasted was another second Prince Raulph was closer to death. Or so they hoped, if he wasn't already dead.
"Can we begin the search yet?" He questioned.
"No sir. The blizzard makes any sort of mission dangerous and pointless. We wouldn't be able to see him at all, and we risk a helicopter in the process."
"As I thought."
It was a briefing meeting. Infantry and air-force officers had been gathered to prepare for the mission. Phillip's turned to the infantry officers. There were 10 of them, each of them with 15 men that would assist them in the search (under their command). Each man would ride in a Ski-doo, and would be equipped with night vission goggles. Phillip's was angry. These goggles were exactly what the Prince's taskforce needed, but the new order had only arrived today, a week late. It didn't matter.
The men would also be equipped with Mp5's and a 9mm Pistol. Their jackets would hold out most of the cold, but these were tough men. They had been born in a freezing and brutal country. They had fought viciously against the rebels in the past and they would again.
"You have his last co-ordinates. Follow any tracks to find him. If you see any rebels do not, I repeat do not combat unless they have captured the Prince. Do not let me down."
"Yes sir!" Echoed the men.
"Good luck boy's. The prince is out there....somewhere."
The men exited the military base on the fringes of the Capital of Frozopia:
Tropan City. The 10 companies split up. All of them headed north into the wastelands.....

Phillip's took a limo to the cities military air-base TA1. Although the Military out-post T1 had some heli-pads, there were no run-ways. As usual snow fell from the heavens, smothering everything. Phillip's thought back to the conversasion with King Clauro. You must bring back my son, he said in such a weak and pathetic way, so unlike the king. Phillip's sighed. God save Raulph if the rebels catch him. Phillip's entered the main building where 10 pilots were gathered around a table in the command room. A roaring fire kept every one warm.
"Can you search for him?"
"Sir its possible. We have infra-red camera's ready on the F/A 22's. But even then we are unlikely to find him."
"I see. I suppose you can only do your best men. Will move to it! He needs to be found. Will it be safe flying in this weather?"
"Im sure it will be sir."
The 5 F/A 22's lifted off 20 minutes later, and were flying North...

OOC: thats fine as long as you leave room Malkyer, who is going to assist the rebels with intelligence, weapons and some elite troops.....

Kingsley Field AFB

3 MH-60Ls sat spooling on the tarmac. The Bradyistani 33rd Rescue Wing had recived intel about a foreign dignitary had gone missing after a firefight with rebels. This is what PJs lived for.

Suddenly 36 men began the long walk from hanger to tarmac. Everyone was dressed in the all-white arctic gear, although the camoflauge was disrupted by the woodland interecpter armor or MOLLE rigs. The men climbed aboard the helos and began, what could be, the longest wait of theyre life. Each PJ knew that someone out in the frozen tundra of Frozopia, and they didnt like the fact they had to wait for damn politians to clear everything up before they could get in the air. One of the new guys began to talk..

"Why are we just sitting here? Theres a friggin prince running around in the snow somewhere and were just sitting here. So much for a rescue."

CWO 3 Willis, the pilot of The Defender , his MH60, responded..

"Anderson, do you feel like getting blown out of the air because Frozopia didnt know we were coming? I mean, think man: 0400 hours, 3 helos, going deep behind enemy lines. Sorta sounds like support for rebels doesnt it?"

There was a pause..
"....yes sir"

"Now sit down and shut up. Once we get the order you'll still have to wait a couple hours for rescue time."


Secure Channel Found...A-SATCOM link engaged(encoded)...sending transmission

To:King Clauro of Frozopia
From: General Harris, CINC, Bradyistan

It has come to the attention of our military that one of yours sons, Prince Raulph, is MIA. It would be an honor for us to send our highly trained CSAR squadron to aid in the finding of your Prince. The Bradyistani 33rd Rescue wingis currently sitting idol on the tarmac waiting for the go-code. Please, allow us to help in your struggle against the rebel faction. Once the rescue mission is accomplished, we can stay and train your people, we can fight along side your forces, or we can return back to the Mainland. That will be King Clauros decision.

Transmission sent...destroying A-SATCOM link(encoded)

Your majesty, a incoming transmission.



To:King Clauro of Frozopia
From: General Harris, CINC, Bradyistan

It has come to the attention of our military that one of yours sons, Prince Raulph, is MIA. It would be an honor for us to send our highly trained CSAR squadron to aid in the finding of your Prince. The Bradyistani 33rd Rescue wingis currently sitting idol on the tarmac waiting for the go-code. Please, allow us to help in your struggle against the rebel faction. Once the rescue mission is accomplished, we can stay and train your people, we can fight along side your forces, or we can return back to the Mainland. That will be King Clauros decision.

King Clauro read the transmission. He began to type his response:
To: General Harris, CINC, Bradyistan
From: King Clauro of Frozopia

Any assistance you offer will be welcome. These are the Prince's last co-ordinates........Ok. We ask that once your mission is complete, your soldiers return to the mainland, unless we really struggle with the increasing number of rebels, in which time we will inform you. We should warn you the use of Helocopters is restricted in the waste lands due to the intensifying winds. Feel free to land at our military air base here are the co-ordinates.... I am most pleased to see so many nations rush to Frozopia's aid, in such trying times. Many thankyou's.

Kingsley Field AFB, Bradyistan

"Roger that sir," CWO Willis flipped through a small, notebook sized manual. He looked puzzeled for a few seconds, then began to punch in co-ordinants on the nav system. Then he keyed his mic.

"All units, Lift off and form up on me. We meet with a tanker about 500 miles of Frozopia, weather in countrys bad so the search will be ground based for the time being."


ETA of the 33rd: 5 hours

Major Donovan Barton would have cursed, if it wasn't so damn cold. As the commander of the Royal Intelligence Agency mission to Frozopia, it was his job to meet the incoming supplies and hand them over to the local rebels. It wasn't that he disagreed with Jacob's reason for sending them here, it's just that...well, there were perescutions in warmer climates as well.

The Malkyeri Royal Intelligence Agency was a surprisingly independent organization, as the Chief Director Riley Jacobs used covert funds from the Commonwealth of Independent States, a gift from the AMI, to build a secret army, equipped with all the latest equipment and technology. He used this army to go around the world, righting wrongs and fighting injustices as he saw fit. All without the permission or even knowledge of His Majesty's Government.

One day, someone would find out. They would discover the secrets, and Jacobs would likely hang. But not for a while, at least.

Major Barton looked up into the sky, and saw the transport helicopter. He sighed with relief. Finally, I can go inside. The chopper landed, and several forklifts began unloading crates of weapons.

***

Inside, Barton met with the commanders of the rebel forces. "I've got my supply clerks distributing the weapons to your boys now. Mostly X-19 assault rifles. Made in Malkyer, they're not the flashiest gun in the world, but they'll put up with this climate well enough. Also, my techs have arrived. They brought some satellite pics of Royalist facilities and other targets, should be useful intel. What sort of information warfare capabilities do the Royals have? Or I guess I should say, how prepared are they to stand up to a dedicated IW attack?"

***

Several kilometers away, an independent RIA patrol stopped in the lee of a rocky outcropping, away from the wind, to report back to base.

"Won't the Royals here that, if they're listening?" Howard Davies the junior man on the team.

Sergeant Taras Miscowsky shook his head. "Nah. It's a line-of-sight transmission, lasers and stuff. They won't hear anything unless they're directly inbetween us and Base, have their stuff turned on, and know the encryption key."

Picking up a small designator, he pointed it out and turned until a green light came on. He flicked a switch, and sent the report. When he finished, the four-man team packed up their gear, shouldered their weapons, and began moving again, staying low to the ground, because they did not fully trust their IR-shielded body armor to work. Professional caution, as the equipment was in prime condition, but a useful habit nonetheless.

OOC: X-19 assault rifles real guns? Tell me about them a bit.

IC:
"We know nothing of the Frozopian army, unfortunately. Nor do we know of their IW capabilities. We have yet to get any sort of spy in a military significant part of their army. We get our tip-offs from a few supporters in the city and the few villages in the waste lands, but only a little on their troops movement." Spoke the Rebel leader. Simply known as Ice, no one knew his real name. He was well fed and clean shaven, and was obviously unused to the extreme colds of the waste lands.
"Thank you for the guns we will put them to good use. At the moment we are tracking some survivors from the ambush we launched. There were two jeeps that escaped the convoy, and we have suspicions the noble Princeling was among them. Will you aid us in our hunt? Both jeeps are being tracked by Ski-doo's, one went North and the other went south."

"We are also begining to plan another strike at the enemy, will you assist us in planning it and executing it?"

OOC: You can RP the attack on a facility of your choice, I well execute a defence, depending on where you attack.

-150 kilometres Southeast of Tropan City, Frozopia

The large aircraft rattled slightly as it dropped in altitude for its approach to the airfield in Frozopia, the pilots voice spoke through the intercom speaker in the loading bay, "Thirty minutes until we reach their airfield, once we're closer I'm going to have to ask you to strap in as this bird doesn't land like an airbus."

Major Bryer walked over to the intercom and pressed a button and spoke into the console, "Roger that, Captain, I'll make sure everything's good for the landing with the loadmaster."

"Thank you, Major, good luck with your mission," Came the reply from the cockpit as Bryer walked back towards the vehicles strapped down to the deck of the aircraft, customized fuel tank trailers sat next to them. They normally attached to the back of 2.5t trucks but had been modified to be pulled by the Spartan carriers.

The Major looked about the loading bay, the weapon sergeants and the field engineer were looking over their explosives and heavy weapons, they all weren't sure why the Supply Sergeant had even bothered to give them a full TOW missile launcher. It wasn't standard equipment for a JSOF team, normally they took the smaller Javelin and AT-4 launchers, things that single soldiers could carry. Nonetheless, except for the weight, they weren't complaining about having it with them, they could deal with practically anything.

The team's medical technician was going over a few of the other troopers' arctic gear, making sure that everything was ready for the climate. Aequatio was nearly subtropical, the only time any Aequatian saw snow was when they went to ski in the Northern Mountains near Lastrati or the White Peaks near Attica, other than that the country is bathed in a comfortable temperature all year round.

The loadmaster walked over to the Major, "Sir, everything's good for landing, I suggest that we take our seats until we're on the ground!"

"All right," replied Bryer, "Thank you, Corporal!"

50 nm west of Frozopia


"Weathers starting to deteriorate Johnson. Take the stick for a second." Willis dug around in his flight pack and pulled out a set of PVS14 goggles. "Nah, nightvisions no good. Getting washed out, I'm guessing IR would do the same. Were gunna have to take it in on insturments. My stick"

"Frozopia Military Base, this is Echo 33. We are 50 miles out and weathers getting worse. Weve switched to flight by insturments and should be on the ground in 25. Echo 33 out," Willis keyed his mic that went directly to the mission leader. "Major Anderson, were 25 mintues out. Get your guys ready for a bump ride."

"Incoming Aequatio plane sir." Spoke the Frozopian Tower control worker.
"One of the run-ways clear?" Questioned his superior.
"Yes sir. TA1D is clear sir."
"Ok Broadcast to their radio the according instructions."
"This is Tower control. Please land at Run-way D. Beware of the Icy conditions of the Run-way. Welcome to Tropan Military Air Base TA1 of Frozopia. Having landed a Frozopian Superior will escort you to Master Phillip's in the main building to be briefed. Have a safe landing. Over."

Barton nodded. "Right. I'll have to check in with my various patrols, maybe I can get someone in front of them to pin them down until you can get to them. As for your strike on the Royals, my technicians are setting up for an IW attack on the military servers. We may be able to paralyze them for a good length of time."

A similar strategy had been used against the Royal Army during the civil war, allowing the rebel forces to make great strides in just a few days. The Malkyeri military in general, and the RIA in particular, had invested a lot into such methods in the time since.

***

Kolnikov smiled and sucked on the cigarette. "Pitiful," he muttered, referring to the Frozopian government's safeguards on their networks. Kolinikov was a master hacker, and had been instrumental in shutting down the Loyalist satellites and communications during the civil war. After being "executed," he'd found himself in the employ of the Royal Intelligence Agency.

Hacking into the Royals' network had proven more difficult than he thought, but was nothing compared to, say, the RIA's Shadownet. A few more keystrokes and the virus was established. Disguised as a benign email for one analyst to another concerning some obscure government project, the virus would replicate, creating numerous of copies of itself. The more copies, the more computers would be infected, and the more mayhem caused. The virus was tailored to shut down and erase any program containing certain keywords, usually related to war and defense.

Kolnikov chuckled at the brutal simplicity of th virus, and shut down his computer. He'd give the virus a few days to replicate, and then he'd activate it.

***

Sergeant Miscowsky grunted as he hefted the transmission kit onto his pack. Damn them, makin' us stay out in the cold to ambush some jeep... Needless to say, he was mad. As his men spread out along a snowy ridge, they lay prone along the top, allowing snow to cover them and help mask their IR signature. One of the two jeeps would be coming soon, headquarters had said.

Miscowsky unconciously stroked the trigger of his FN-90, though it didn't fire due to the safety being on. All the RIA troopers here were using foreign weapons, rather than the BR-7s their counterparts in the military would've used. This way, if they were killed or captured, there was nothing to identify them as Malkyeri. The X-19s among the rebels may create suspicion, but nothing definite. The Aberdeen X-19 was sold through several international arms markets, and Malkyer did not require end-user certificates.

Despite this, Miscowsky and his patrol did not count on being killed...

"Frozopia Military Base, this is Echo 33. We are 50 miles out and weathers getting worse. Weve switched to flight by insturments and should be on the ground in 25. Echo 33 out," Willis keyed his mic that went directly to the mission leader. "Major Anderson, were 25 mintues out. Get your guys ready for a bump ride."

"Another Plane sir."
"Can we fit them both in?"
"Yes sir. They can land at B, sir."
"Same message then."
"This is Tower control. Please land at Run-way B. Beware of the Icy conditions of the Run-way. Welcome to Tropan Military Air Base TA1 of Frozopia. Having landed a Frozopian Superior will escort you to Master Phillip's in the main building to be briefed. Have a safe landing. Joining you will be the Aequatio forces. Over."

Private david's was driving through the slope. His shoulder was bleeding vigorously down his arm, leaving a small pool of blood on his lap.
I was the only survivor, he thought. He was alone in this waste land, and he was sure he was being pursued.
All those dead men. And what could we have done? They had been ambushed and fired upon from all directions. David had been lucky to survive. If he could just make it home he could see his two daughters again, and Amelia. He could retire from the army, which he was entitled to after such a serious wound, and build a cabin in the southlands, where there was still grass in the summer and ice cold winds did not bite through your clothes.

He was accelerating down a gentle slope when the Malkyer forces struck.....

OOC: wow, this thread moved on fast.

Lenk sat on the pier, the equipment had been sent off long ago and would probably be getting there soon. He had wanted to go on the transport, but the Prime Minister... well ex-Prime Minister, has said he was more useful here...

------

The ship wasn't too far from the Frozopian coast, just out of radar... they thought. Seeing as they'd been there for some time and there had been no responce they must've been.

The boats were launched, a small fleet of speedboats jetted for the coast, each loaded with traps, explosives and ammunition. They hit the coast and the men assembled on the frozen shoreline. Snowmobiles were taken from the boats and were loaded with the cargo. Once it was all prepared they zoomed over the snowbank and tore for the given co-ordinates.

The rebels would have received the coded, though not well, transmission that they were on their way...

"This is Tower control. Please land at Run-way D. Beware of the Icy conditions of the Run-way. Welcome to Tropan Military Air Base TA1 of Frozopia. Having landed a Frozopian Superior will escort you to Master Phillip's in the main building to be briefed. Have a safe landing. Over."

The pilot turned to the proper channel, "Roger that tower, setting on our final approach to Runway D, we have cargo that will need to be unloaded once we're on the ground, have technicians ready, over."

The large C-17 turned slightly as it moved into its approach patterns to land on Runway D, the JSOF team felt their stomachs move with the plane as it slowed before the large jolt as the landing gear hit the tarmac and the engines roared as they reversed their thrust to come to a halt almost at the end of the runway. The pilot slowly taxied the aircraft off the runway and towards one of the waiting hangers.

OOC: RADAR in Frozopia has been developed to detect air and surface objects. Well more in the sense that they have been positioned to detect at sea, than any major break through in technology, although modifications have been made. There is no RADAR system to detect anything in the wastelands.

Military Base T1.
"Erm theres something on RADAR." Spoke the technician, "Alot of small objects on RADAR. Just off the coast. Wait. Now on the coast."
"Air or water?" Spoke his colleague.
"Water."
"Master Phillip's will wanna know. I'll inform him."
"Ok."
Message sent to Master Phillip's cell phone:
Sir. Small unidentified objects detected on the coast. Co-ordinates........


Air base TA1:
Master Phillip's recieved the message. He was concerned.
It could just as easily be some fisherman, he thought. But better safe than sorry. Phillip's dialed the number for the tower:
"This is Master Phillip's. Send new orders to the 5 F/A 22's that are scouring the waste lands to investigate the following co-ordinates........"
"How long will this take?"
"5 Minutes. Ok."
"What are their orders if they spot anything? Hm." Do they fire on sight? Last thing he wanted to do was fire on some poor unsuspecting fishermen. But still.
"Just take some pictures, and bring them back to base. If fired upon, respond accordingly."

OOC: i assume you are just going for the abandoned speed boats?

The speedboats lay empty and left on the shore as the F/A 22's flew over the ship had moved well out of Frozopian waters and was headed back for the Halmardar coast in Valdamacia.

------

The snowmobiles sped across the wasteland, the tracks sending snow flying in a wake behind them. They wouldn't reach the base for a few hours yet, but still they rode on. After around one hour they stopped to make minor reparis, check the cargo and rest. 30mins later and they were off through the barren land again... The weather worsened after time and they were slowed. But relentless as ever they continued on...

"Frozopian Control, this is Nightmare One, flight of eight, requesting clearance to land. We require no runway, but a large portion of apron to set up a FARP on would be useful."

The McLeodian VTOLs, still in conventional flight mode, began to slow down as they apporached the Frozopian coastline, pilots relying on LIDAR, infra-red, and radar systems to maintain formation in the near zero-visibility.

Private david's was driving through the slope. His shoulder was bleeding vigorously down his arm, leaving a small pool of blood on his lap.
I was the only survivor, he thought. He was alone in this waste land, and he was sure he was being pursued.
All those dead men. And what could we have done? They had been ambushed and fired upon from all directions. David had been lucky to survive. If he could just make it home he could see his two daughters again, and Amelia. He could retire from the army, which he was entitled to after such a serious wound, and build a cabin in the southlands, where there was still grass in the summer and ice cold winds did not bite through your clothes.

He was accelerating down a gentle slope when the Malkyer forces struck.....

Miscowsky nodded to Slater. They heard the jeep before they saw it, in this weather. Slater hefted his weapon, one of the Eier von Satan developed during the civil war. Originally designed to disable tanks by destroying their treads, it was a light rocket more than capable of taking out a jeep. The half-meter plastic tube was painted white, so it would blend in along with the rest of the weapons and gear. He waited until the vehicle was close, and fired, leading with the tube. The rocket closed the hundred meter gap in about six seconds, exploding on contact with the front-right bumper of the vehicle. The jeep rocked back, so hard that it flipped onto its side. The four man patrol began moving forward, slowly despite the lack of movement from the vehicle. No point in taking risks. Miscowsky leveled the barrel of his FN-90, and shouted, "Anyone down there?"

Tropan Military Air Base TA1, Frozopia

"All right fellas, weve been briefed, and weve trained for this all our military careers. First squad, your sitting ready alert. Second and third, hit the bunks and get some shut eye. Its useless for us to go out in this weather on foot. SOCOMs sending us some Humvees, they should be here by 2200 hours. Also, even though Aequatio and our intentions are the same, who says we cant have a little compitition? PFC Howe, send this to the unit commander of the Aequatio forces."

Major Anderson wrote out a small message on a peice of paper and handed it to PFC Howe. It read:

To: Commander of all Aequatio forces in Frozopia
From: Major Anderson, Commander of 33rd Rescue Wing

Dear Sir,
It has been brought to our attention during the breifing that we have commonalities in our mission statements, one of which is to rescue the Prince. My men and I would like to wager a round at the base bar, Winner being the unit that finds the Prince first. Send a runner with your reply.

Major Anderson,
Unit Leader, 33rd PRW


"Now," Said the Major as he pulled the charging handle on his M4. " First squad secure the entrances."




From the Bradyistani Mainland

To: King Claro
From: General Harris

King,

Our units on the ground have requested additional supplies in the form of all terrain vehicals. 2 C-130s have been deployed and are currently 200nm off the Frozopian coastline. We are sorry for not contacting you sooner, but our satillites have been off line for some time. We hope that although not notified of the delivery, you could spair us an airstrip for the few seconds it will take to deploy the vehicals out of the C130s using mobile pallats and parachutes.

General Harris
CINC, 9th Air Force

OOC: sorry all i was in bed.



King,

Our units on the ground have requested additional supplies in the form of all terrain vehicals. 2 C-130s have been deployed and are currently 200nm off the Frozopian coastline. We are sorry for not contacting you sooner, but our satillites have been off line for some time. We hope that although not notified of the delivery, you could spair us an airstrip for the few seconds it will take to deploy the vehicals out of the C130s using mobile pallats and parachutes.

General Harris
CINC, 9th Air Force

General Harris,

On behalf of the king I am to give the following message. Feel free to use your allocated run-way for deployment of both vehicles and supplies. Take as long as is required.

Master Phillips

"Frozopian Control, this is Nightmare One, flight of eight, requesting clearance to land. We require no runway, but a large portion of apron to set up a FARP on would be useful."


"Nightmare One this is Tower, feel free to use your allocated air strip to set up the FARP, over." Responded the Tower control Superior.


Military Base TA1:
"Sir, the F/A 22's have found a number of abandonned speed boats. It looks like some force has landed on the Coast line." Spoke the Master's aide.
"Hm. Send two companies on snowmobiles to investigate. Their orders are to destroy all the boats. Whatever's in the country is not going to get out. 1 of the companies can return to Tropan on a few of the speed boats. The other company i wish to follow any tracks left behind."
"Yes sir. Sending orders to T1 now sir."
"By the way any response from our 10 companies in the waste land yet."
"Only that they have identified the ambush point. It looks like the start of two trails of jeeps in different directions, but the blizzard has destroyed these tracks. They have split the 10 companies into two groups, and are following the direction of where they suspect the two trails are heading sir."
"Good."

Unknown location, waste lands:

Private David's saw the rocket coming, but could do nothing to prevent its path. The jeep was struck with such force that it recoiled unto its left hand side, where it travelled another two meters before coming to a stop.
Private David's knew he was gonna die. These rebels were infamous for their torture of the poor soldiers who were stupid enough to surrender. He heard the voice: "Anyone down there?"
Blood was pouring from David's wounds, and the whole predicament made him burn with anger. Ill show these rebels how we Frozopian die, he thought. Stealthily crawling from the drivers seat, with anger giving him strength, he stood to his feet so that the jeep provided cover for him, leveled his SMG to his shoulder and began to fire......

"Sir...sir...SIR!"

"What in Gods name do you want Pvt."

"The HUMVEEs are here, what do you want us to do now Major?"

"Mount up. Get everybody up and ready to go. Tell them we have a squad briefing in 15, then go tell Willis and the other pilots to sit ready five incase we find our prince." The new guy started to sprint away from Anderson. "Oh, go talk to the control tower too, see if the weathers still gunna be crappy enough to keep us on the ground."



20 minutes later the 33rd left the base heading North


OOC: So is the weather situation always going to be bad enough conditions to keep helos grounded?

OOC: The Weather is already begining to clear up. 24 hours NS time and helicopters will be once again useable as the wind will pretty much disappear.
If you want you can begin 24 hours later posts now.

OOC: alrighty


IC: "Kilo 1, this is Echo 33. Weathers clear enough that the airspace has been opened to helos. We'll be over the southern wastelands in 4 minutes and begin working North with FLIR sweeps. Out."


Sit Rep:
On the Ground:
6 Hum-vees - total of 36 men on the ground
In the Air:
3 MH60Ls - total of 15 men in the air

The forrest was just as cold as the waste lands. At least the blizzard had died down, and thankfully it probaly and covered there tracks from the jeep, but the forrest did nothing to increase his sense of self security. Every branch, every piece of bushery resembled a rebel soldier waiting to end the Prince's life.
Let me get out of here, he thought. Im too young to die, especially in this forrest, where no one would ever find my body....
They were making slow progress, cautiously spread out in a small line, freezing at the smallest sight or sound of danger. Conor Anderson was a good leader, and he was a cautious one too. Treating the Prince with respect, it was obvious to everyone who was truly in charge here.
Prince Raulph turned to him,
"How much further till we breack through the forrest?" He Whispered.
"4-5 Days at most. Dont worry, your highness, we will get you home safely."
Conor sighed. He had a long 4-5 days infront of him."

http://www.nationstates.net/images/flags/uploads/palixia.jpg
OFFICIAL PALIXIAN STATEMENT FROM THE PRIME MINISTER
Welcome my Son, Welcome to the Machine
To the Frozopian Government
We the people of Palixia have decided to help Frozopia in the Frozopian civil war as you are members of the Antarctic Defense Coalition, we will send our 1,000,000 troops to aid your nation in this time of war hoping that it will be over before it begins.
From,
Joe Strummer,
Prime Minister of the Democratic Empire of Palixia

OOC:
a 1000,000
Over kill since the largest force the rebels have accumulated is 3000
And remember you better be able to equip those 1000,000 with alot of warm clothes or you will lose 1% every week in the waste lands.

IC:
To: Joe Strummer, Prime Minister of the Democratic Empire of Palixia
From: King Clauro IX of the Empire of Frozopia

Any assistance you can offer will be welcome, but we cannot offer any sort of temporary base for such a large amount of men. We have allocated part of the shoreline for you, but you will have to construct any temporary protection against the freezing cold winds that come of the sea.
We hope your men are equiped for this climate and are grateful for the amount of support you offer.

Do not worry for the cold weather as anything is warm compared to the fridgid temperatures of Antarctica....

Blood was pouring from David's wounds, and the whole predicament made him burn with anger. Ill show these rebels how we Frozopian die, he thought. Stealthily crawling from the drivers seat, with anger giving him strength, he stood to his feet so that the jeep provided cover for him, leveled his SMG to his shoulder and began to fire......

Poor dumb bastard, thought Miscowsky as he somersaulted out of the line of fire. Tumbling down into the snow, he raised his weapon to fire, but not before Slater fired at the soldier's head. Miscowsky looked at him, and arched an eyebrow.

Slater grinned. "Airfoil round. He should be out." The patrol moved closer to the jeep, keeping their weapons steady. If the Royalist had been knocked out, they'd strip the jeep of useful equipment and take the prisoner back to base. If not...then they'd kill him and leave the corpse to the icy wind.

Frozopian Wastelands

"Kilo 1, this is Echo 33 multiple contacts on FLIR. I repeat multiple contacts on FLIR. Looks like shots were fired. Requesting permission to orbit the scene until one of your teams gets here."

Major Anderson was taken aback by the news. How could it be theyve already found something? It had only been 3 or 4 hours into the operation, and CWO Willis had spotted what he described as an overturned jeep, with atleast one survior that was shooting into the near by forest. If it was the Prince, and he was shooting, that could only mean he was about ankle deep in shit and progressivly sinking.

"Roger Echo 33, Kilo..." Anderson was interupted.

"Kilo 1, the firefights stopped, multiple bodys are closing on the jeep. Request permission to drop our man."

"Negitive, Negitive. The king doesnt want us to get involved in the ground war. Im inbound to the position and will be on scene in 8 minutes. Repeat your orbit and if the contacts move follow and give me updated co-ordinates. I repeat, stay on station in the air."

"Pierce, double time, we gotta get there before something bad happens" At those words, 12 airmen closed on the overturned jeep, with 24 more about 25 miles away..

"Shit, where'd that bird come from?"

"Doesn't matter, take it out," shouted Miscowsky. Slater nodded, dropping his rifle and pulling out the half-meter tube. The other two men kept their rifles leveled at the jeep, just in case the Royalist soldier was getting ready to fire.

Quickly fixing the Eier rocket onto the tube, Slater pointed it at the chopper, and fired. The patrol quickly moved under cover of the trees, and activated the chemical IR shield on their uniforms.

A flick of a switch sent an electrical current through the outlayer of their uniforms, which in turn initiated a sustained chemical reaction that would lower the temperature of their uniforms, making them invisible to a passive IR scan. The trees would protect them from radar, but they had to get away before the chemical batteries died and the IR shield faded. One of th troopers tossed a grenade to the far side of the jeep, and once it exploded, the four-man patrol scattered and disappeared into the snowy forest.

Maintaining strict radio silence, the four men headed back to base, all taking different routes and avoiding open areas in the forest.

From the cockpit of The Defender

"ROCKET, ROCKET ON THE RIGHT!"

"Shit, Rodriguez, kevlar over the radio now!"

Everyone in the cargo area of the braced for the explosion, hoping it wouldnt be a direct hit. Willis felt the rudder pedels shudder, then the helo began to spin counterclockwise. shit, direct hit to the tail rotor. Alright Willis think...pull the PFLs off, keep the bird level. That looks good for a LZ. Nice and easy.

"This is Echo 33 goin down, goin do.."

The radio fell silent


Onboard Kilo 1

"Get there now."
Major Anderson knew exactly what happened. He acutally could have swore he saw the spinning blackhawk before it faded below the treeline. He knew there would be death waiting for him at the jeep, but weather it be Frozopian or Bradyistani only God knew for now.


Crashsite of the Defender

CWO Willis awoke as if he had just been in a bad dream. Unfortunatly this dream was reality. He checked himself over. Except for a large cut on his forehead and a sore ass he seemed to be ok. He unstrapped himself and quickly thanked whoever was watching over him for the large spring shocks under his seat.

His attention then turned to his co-pilot CWO Rodriguez. He was unconcioius, but still breathing. Willis would come back to him. He turned around and saw both of his crew chiefs. One of the chiefs, Sgt. Whyte had unstrapped himself, givin Willis a thumbs up, and slapped the charging handle on one of the crews Mp-5s. The last 2 members of the crew, Sgt. Sanne had been thrown into his minigun with enough force to crack his flight helmet. He died upon impact. And the PJ spotter onboard, Airman Blake also died on impact.

Willis walked over to Blake and took his M4 and extra magazines, charged the weapon, and sat watch with Sgt. Whyte. The rescue was already inbound.



Tropan Military Air Base TA1, Frozopia - 30 mintues later

"Notify General Harris immediantly. 3 dead, 1 MH60 down. I need to go talk to Master Phillp." Major Anderson spoke relitivly quite, compaired to his normal tone and volume. He had lost 3 men on his first command job. One even died in his arms on the way back to Tropan. Sir...make sure you smoke a few for me. Anderson would make sure to make Rodriguez last wish would come true.

"Give me that phone.

Master Phillp? Yes sir this is Major Anderson. I have bad news sir. Yes sir 4 KIA. Three were my men, and we found a Private, his tags say David. Yes sir his bodys in our hanger. Yes they were good men sir. Thank you sir. Goodbye"

Master Phillip swore.
Already one of their allies had taken losses. And they had found a body. Private David's. He supposed it was better than the Prince. But still. It was a loss.
Some men had stood, fired a rocket into a helicopter, and disapeared.....
Foreign influence.....or rebels?
It couldn't be those men who landed on the shore.
It was too well done to be rebels. David's was cornered, killed. A random search by helicopters had flown unto the scene. They had been fired unto once. Professionaly.....
So there were two foreign forces inland.
1 Quite obviously bigger than the other. Both of unknown nationality.
1 Got in undetected. Advanced technology. The other entry was relatively simplistic. Two different nationalities.
They would be found. They would pay. 5 Frozopian helicopters were leaving TA1 now. They had infra red imagery. 2 of the search party companies was on route to the scene of the ambush of the helicopter.
Phillip's doubted they would catch these enemy.
But he had to hope.

"Roger Tower, Nightmare One out"

Nightmare One, the leading AV-54 Lion gunship, swept low and fast over the landing zone, before tilting its four engines downwards and slowin gto a hover, before gently touching down. The Panthers settled down either side, and the unarmed transports formed a cluster further down the assigned apron. Within minutes, Royal Air Force engineers and ground crew had the first of the inflatable hangars laid out, and generators running, pumping hot air into the structures.

Just ten minutes later, two massive tent-like structures housed the McLeodian ground vehicles and soldiers, and more were being built to accomodate the VTOLs. In a smaller tent off to one side, armoured panels were being fastened to the outside of the shelter, and a code-locked access door fitted. Inside that building was the armoury, with enough weapons and ammunition to allow the men to execute their missions with ease. Also part of te building was the briefing room. It was in that room that the first of the Nightstalkers were recieving their first mission.

"Alright boys, you heard a SITREP from the Mafcip crowd on the flight here. Rebels in country attacked and destroyed a convoy led by the Prince, Raulph. We have no confirmed detail on size of the rebel force, any foreign support they may have, or even what weaponry they can deploy. Basically, we know sweet fuck all. So that means eyes and ears open at all times, and if the brown stuff hits the big spinning thing, keep calm, keep firing, and keep alive. The first objective of this campaign is to find, secure, and extract the Prince. That means patrols into the wilderness in Empat's, and when we get the go ahead from the Met boys, in Dashers.

If you find him, he becomes your priority. Call for extraction, then hump it to the nearest extraction point, and defend it until the Prince is clear. Onc ehe is safe, we can go to town on any rebel bases we find. Command has granted us use of StealthHawks once the Prince is safe, so we need to find him, fast.

Your Sergeants know where you are heading out to, so meet up with them, and grab your guns from the armoury on the way out. Oh, and remember your socks boys, this aint South Beach."

With a minimum of fuss, the elite commandos filed out of the briefing room, reported to their fireteam commanders, grabbed a variety of rifles, machine guns, SMGs, and light mortars from the armoury, before heading off towards the location of the last convoy.

OOC:
Summary of whats happened:

1. Raulph's escort is ambushed and all but destroyed. Raulph and a few other soldiers escape. 2 Different jeeps escape in different directions.

2. A unknown force was spotted on RADAR landing on Frozopian shore line on speed boats.

3. 1 Escaped jeep and its driver is destroyed by unknown forces, suspected foreign. When a Bradyistan helicopter strolled across the scene it was shot down.

4. The Prince is still alive, his body was not found in the ambush. He was with the other jeep (what we don't know is that this then crashed. He and his fellow soldiers then fled into the forrest on foot.

Later in the day, Barton summarized the Scout's report for the rebel leader, Ice. Also in the room were several of Barton's subordinates, and Ice's.

"Well, it could've gone worse. I think surprise on the part of the enemy helped. The Bradyistanis didn't expect us to be there. We also showed the Royals a little of what we're capable of. A small patrol, not even squad-strength, happens upon a lone jeep, ambushes and destroys it, and then destroys a recon helicopter and likely killed some of the crew, all in the space of a few seconds. Now, we know that the engagement wasn't planned, but there is no way the Royals know it wasn't." A wry grin spread across his lips.

"Likely, this knowledge will cause them to read a lot into our capabilities, probably over and above what we can actually do. They're going to put extra guards around sensitive installations, more security overhead, et cetera. That seems bad from our perspective, but think for a moment. All this will cost them money. Money that should go to other places, like tracking down the rebels. Also, adding a lot of security will make them feel more secure, naturally. And it will. However, it also creates a plethora of new things that can go wrong. The more complicated the security apparat, the easier it is to paralyze by removing a few key elements. I'll have my techs begin working toward that soon. Kolnikov informs me that his virus is nearly ready to be activated."

"Do you gentlemen have anything else you'd like to discuss?"

Master Phillip's was worried. Some organised force was in the country. They had to be eradicated.
Master Phillip's knew something about how nations fought in the modern war.
They destroyed significant production factories, parts of the infra structure etc. The orders to reinforce defence of the palace, any arms manufactories and several other significant places have already been given.

Phillip's also knew to stand still was to be slowly worn down into death. The search had just intensified. F/A 22's were scouring the skies in search of any forces. A suspected rebel base had already been discovered. And they didn't even realise it. A gathering of 2500-3000 rebels was suspected.
With foreign weapons, this would be a difficult force to nullify. He would, to make this attack comfortable, bomb the camp to the ground. Then he would send in 5000 Frozopian blizzard soldiers, with Snow Customised HUMVEE's for all, to kill anyone on sight.
Already a pair of companies of Blizzard soldiers were watching the camp from all directions. If the rebels abandon the site quickly and evade the main attack, any movement they make will be tracked.
Today a number of Snow mobiles had entered the camp (OOC: Slight godmodding. Dont mind do you?). Foreign influence.
To assist in the attack, Frozopia's allies had been informed of the rebels location and the time of the attack.

2 Days from now and the rebels would be crushed.

Tropan Military Air Base TA1, Frozopia

"I want more PJs, I want Combat Controllers, I want more guns, more ammo, more helos. Hell just send the goddamn 9th Air Force."

Anderson realized the idea of mobilizing the whole 9th would take time, and the lone hanger Frozopia had given them would house about, oh, 5 F-35s. There were about 115 F-35s in the inventory, so space would become an issue also. The Major was just trying to make a point. Little did he know General Harris though it was brilliant.

"Major, we have 12 C17s inbound to Frozopia. They're going to set up a forward base so we can deploy the 9th. It will take about a week to get a majority of the hangers and maybe one strip set up, so were also sending 1 C130 with the 21st Rescue Wing and the 88th Special Operations Controllers. Be patiant Major, we will get those bastards back."

The line went dead.

Holy shit Anderson thought, I definatly need to do that way more often. I wonder if the King knows about our increase in strength




Secure Channel Found...A-SATCOM link engaged(encoded)...sending transmission

To: King Clauro
From: General Harris, CINC, Bradyistan

As you know, 3 of Bradyistans most honourable have been killed in a rocket attack while performing a rescue of a Frozopian Pvt.. I have just finished speaking to Major Anderson and he has requested additional support in the form of more men and aircraft. In order for me to give him this support I am requesting 15 square miles of land next to Tropan Military Base to set up a FOB. A fleet of C17s and C130s is already inbound to Tropan and upon arrival will begin construction. Thank you for your cooperation and understanding.

General Harris
CINC, 9th Air Force

Transmission sent...destroying A-SATCOM link(encoded)

Major Barton was in his quarters, enjoying a cigar when he heard a knock on the door. "Come in," he said, setting his book down on the table. An orderly poked his head inside.

"Sir, Captain Honitsu needs you in the CP right away."

Barton nodded slowly. Wallace Honitsu did not use the words 'right away' unless it was very important. Barton stood, and followed the orderly out into the hall. Almost as an afterthought, he turned and locked the door.

Moments later, he joined his adjutant and several other officers in the CP. "As you were," he said as they came to attention. He noticed several large crates in the corner, and clerks and orderlies coming in and out every few minutes. "What is it, Wally?"

"New satellite recon. Royal forces are massing, likely going to attack within the week. I've got sappers out now, laying mines and whatnot around the perimeter, but even so I don't think we'll be able to hold."

Barton shook his head. "No. Not with the forces we have here. The rebels can stand to lose a few, but for all practical purposes our equipment is the best thing they've got going for them. Priority one is the preserve the computers and other equipment. Second priority, don't get our men killed with useless resistance. Andy, go find Kolnikov and tell him to activate his virus. It may buy us some time." The captain nodded, and left to find the hacker.

Barton cleared his throat and continued. "Defending this camp is a tertiary objective. I want no resources wasted here. Move, people!"

***

Across the rebel camp, the RIA contingent methodically began packing up equipment, preparing to move out. It was too risky to take the stuff out by helicopter, so trucks and snow mobiles were commandeered for the task. Sappers ran about, placing command-detonated mines in bunkers and empty crates. The mines themselves were not numerous enough to defend the perimeter, but placed here in the camp and detonated when the Royals entered, they stood a good chance of making the enemy think that there were more defenders than in reality, slowing them down.

Several fighting patrols, twelve-man Scout teams, went into the frozen hinterland, looking for a suitable relocation spot. Major Barton continued to issue orders in the CP, and quickly composed a mental report for Ice.

***

Sergeant Miscowsky's twelve-man Scout team was deep in the frozen wilderness, along the most likely approach vector for Royal forces. Other teams were along other pathes, so it was not likely that the enemy would get by without fighting through at least one.

Armed with mines, grenades, rockets, and SMGs, the team members were very heavily armed for such a small force. All of them were veterans of the SAS, as well, and though they knew they couldn't beat the enemy before being forced to retreat, they could give them a very bloody nose...

OOC: You have a bit more time to prepare a defence. i can only hope my allies will assist us. I will probaly launch the assault tomorrow RL time.

IC:

To: King Clauro
From: General Harris, CINC, Bradyistan

As you know, 3 of Bradyistans most honourable have been killed in a rocket attack while performing a rescue of a Frozopian Pvt.. I have just finished speaking to Major Anderson and he has requested additional support in the form of more men and aircraft. In order for me to give him this support I am requesting 15 square miles of land next to Tropan Military Base to set up a FOB. A fleet of C17s and C130s is already inbound to Tropan and upon arrival will begin construction. Thank you for your cooperation and understanding.

General Harris
CINC, 9th Air Force


To: General Harris, CINC, Bradyistan.
From: King Clauro IX

We have decided to grant you the permission to set up this FOB next to T1 or TA1 as you feel is suitable. Construction maybe difficult with the snow that covers the whole country, but I am sure you will be able to cope with this. We also help you will assist in the Rebel assault two days from now, in which we hope to crush a majority of the rebels in a large attack.

King Clauro IX of Frozopia

Chairman Oscar Deville sat at his desk smoking an expensive brand of marijuana cigarettes. He'd quit years ago but he'd recently started again due to renewed stress in his job. His liberal Utopia had been under a lot of pressure from more conservative and right-wing governments. Advisors had told him to start making allies and it was Tom Eifels that had first brought the Frozopia situation to his attention. It was first proposed as an easy way to befriend a powerful right wing nation but as the situation had progressed Oscar found himself sympathising with the rebels. Oscar leant back on his chair and called in Tom using the intercom. A tall, white, clean shaven man walked in the height of formal Ruedonian attire.
"Evening Chairman"
"Tom, I was thinking about Frozopia"
"Ah, ha. Indeed," Tom pulled out a large file at placed it on the desk "Frozopia has at most 3000 rebels. We can send about 2000 troops as a good will gesture and with Frozopia's overpowering military our men probably won't even see any action. Now equipping them for the terrain could potentially be quite-"
"I want to aid the rebels"
Silence descended across the room. Oscar took another drag and stroked his moustache. Tom stood dumbstruck holding his Frozopia files.
"You can't be serious. We-we can't benefit from this. We are supposed to be making allies not enemies. Back the winning team in this!"
"The Ruedonian people can not support Frozopia! There will be widespread protest but think Eifel! Think! What if the rebels win?! What if Frozopia became a left-wing power, a strong like-minded ally."
"But the rebels won't win"
"They said that about Cuba"
Tom fell silent again. Military and diplomatic advisors were brought from around Ruedonia to discuss aiding the rebels and a week later legislation was passed through the mountains of Ruedonian administration and war was officially declared on the Frozopian government

The C-17 armada has landed at TA1 and has began the construction process. Right now engineers say they are at about 10% completion, with a 10 foot parimeter wall in place with 50 watchtowers spread evenly. What is left to do:

Hangers/Barracks
Ammuntion storage
Command and Control bunker
Control Tower
Pre-fab heliports
2 Prefab Airstrips




OOC: Im gunna say the FOB construction will be complete around 10 or 11 pacific time. At that time I'll fly in my ground and air forces. Before Frozopia and I attack I'll be sure to give everybody a run-down on my forces in country.

OOC: Sorry for being out of commission, internet went down for a while.

IC:

-Aequatian Communication Satellite Matrix Headquarters, Arrio, Aequatio

A young technician sat at his terminal when he noticed an error had popped up, he read it and turned around to grab the attention of his supervisor, "Mister Andrews, I have something here you should see."

The middle-aged man walked over to the terminal, "What is it, Leo?"

"Someone accessed our satellite system without license," he paused a moment to read the name again, "It was a General Harris from Bradyistan, he sent a telegram through to King Clauro of Frozopia."

"All right, be sure to contact this General Harris and inform him to not do that again and to be sure to obtain a proper license and identification to access the A-ComSat Matrix."

"I'll get right on that, sir."

A-ComSat Matrix Open...Securing Communication Channel to Bradyistan...Finding General Harris...*Found*...Channel Secure...Sending Transmission...

To: General Harris of the Allied States of Bradyistan
From: Chief Communications Supervisor Gregorey Andrews of A-ComSat Communications Inc.

General Harris of Bradyistan,

We received a notice that you had accessed our communication system without the proper license or identification which is prohibited by law in the Republic of Aequatio and can be punishable by fines of an amount seen fit by the company. We would advise you to contact our Legal and Registration departments at the following addresses for clarification of the incident:

Legal
legal@a-comsat.co.ae

Registration
registration@a-comsat.co.ae

The incident has been logged on our system and it will remain on record in our incidents filing.

Chief Supervisor Andrews of A-ComSat Communications Inc.

...Channel Closed...Transmission Terminated...A-ComSat Matrix Closed...

*****

-TA1 Airbase, Tropan City, Frozopia

Major Bryer read over the reports of the incicdents which had taken place while the rest of the team prepared to move out, in all, they had the two modified Spartan armoured carriers with special trailers to increase the amount of fuel carried in addition to four standard Army humvees for general purpose use. The Major was sitting in the rear compartment of a Spartan when Sergeant Pearson walked over wearing his entire kit, "What's the matter, Sir?"

"The Bradyistans lauched a search mission by air and one of their birds was dropped by a rocket," said Bryer as he put the paper down on the bench next to him, "We need to be a lot more careful, we can't lose anyone over finding a prince."

Roger that, Sir," replied the sergeant, "Shall I inform the team that we will be leaving shortly, since all the gear and vehicles are good to go?"

"Yes, get them to the Sparties and we'll set off then."

"Yes, Sir."

OOC: Im on GMT, so whether ill be online then is questionable. We will just have to space out this attack alot, with no rapid fire posts, so that I find out my attack is destroyed after posting my first post.

IC:
Royal Palace Tropan.

"War!?" Said the King.
"Yes, your majesty." Spoke Master Phillip's.
"But why? These.....Ruedonian's could not field a army to protect their own land against us, never mind a offensive!" Replied the King.
Master Phillip's smiled. After all, it was true. The Frozopian army numbered over a million, of which 100,000 were those who did military service, and a further 50,000 were preparing for a oversea's conflict, but still. Ruedonia was a ant to be stamped on. It was a miracle their economy could achieve any sort of army at all. [/QUOTE]
"What do you suggest, your majesty?"
"Well. I imagine we could keep the navy on the look out for any Ruedonian ships with orders to attack on sight, but I am sure this can be resolved peacefully. After all they are leftist's."
"Very wise your majesty."


To: Chairman Oscar Deville
From: King Clauro IX
We of Frozopia believe any conflict between our two nations is completely unnessary. We are fighting a rebel force here, who are determined to bring down the stability of Frozopia. If these Rebels were successful, I would be executed, and rampant anarchy would run through the streets of Tropan.
Please reconsider your choices.
King Clauro IX of Frozopia

"Well tell me more Andrew." Spoke the King.
"Well our computer systems have been wiped out. Anything to do with the military."
The King laughed; "IW huh? Honestly do they think this is significant?"
"Well it might do to other nations, your majesty." Computers never did take a strong hold of the Frozopian military. Mainly paid lip service. No the paper ruled in the military, and even then not by a significant amount.
"Well no worries. But it pretty much proves our suspicians of foreign influence."
"Indeed your majest, no rebel could achieve such a feat."
"And the attack?"
"Troops on the move ,your majesty. Two days and a large amount of the rebels should be dead."
"Indeed. What have you done to prevent another incident like the one my son was involved in?" The king always intruded on military matters. It was most irksome for Master Phillip's, but he knew the king was not a fool on military matters and merely interested.
"Well we have helicopters flying both with and infront of the convoy. We also have many companies of infantry scouting area's around the convoy. If the enemy spot us, we will have spotted them first."
"Well done, Andrew. you have excelled yourself through out this 'problem'"

A-ComSat Matrix Open...Securing Communication Channel to Frozopia...Finding King Clauro...*Found*...Channel Secure...Sending Transmission...

To: King Clauro of the Empire of Frozopia
From: Chief of Staff General Arnold Saltzman of the Federal Republic of Aequatio

King Clauro of Frozopia,

The declaration of war against your nation by the Empire of Ruedonia comes as a surprise to us and we wish to provide the aid of our nation's naval prowess in defending your nation's waters.

At this moment, we can spare up to three Carrier Groups from our 2nd Fleet as well as support elements such as frigates and submarines.

General Saltzman of Aequatio.

...Channel Closed...Transmission Terminated...A-ComSat Matrix Closed...

*****

-The Wastelands, Frozopia

The inside of the Spartan's passenger compartment was filled with half an inch of muddy water from the melted snow and dirt off the soldier's boots, four of the team's soldiers manned the MG76 machineguns which were mounted to fire on either side of the vehicle while Major Bryer and Sergeant Pearson discussed what they were to do once they reached the ambush site. The second Spartan following behind carried the team's heavy equipment, such as the TOW2 launcher unit and the spare missiles and the satellite uplink equipment for long range communication.

The vehicle suddenly jolted to a stop and anyone standing inside the compartment nearly fell forward, with a curse, Bryer walked over to the vehicle's commander, "What the hell was that about?"

The lieutenant was looking into the screen of the wilderness which was provided by the FLIR periscope atop the vehicle's turret, "Movement in the treeline, just ranging the 35mm now."

The entire vehicle was quiet as the laser rangefinder calculated the distance and the lieutenant pulled the trigger for the 35mm automatic cannon. The sound was deafening as it fired and just as devastating as the rounds ripped into the trees and the snow-covered ground, tearing into the trunks of the older trees and completely blowing down the smaller saplings and kicking up snow and the frozen dirt. Nearly immediately after the firing started, the ramp on the rear of the vehicle hit the ground and buried itself into the snow as the squad rushed from the vehicle and two of the fireteams took up firing positions parallel to the tree line as the third advanced under the covering fire of the Spartan IFV. Sergeant Williams of Fireteam Charlie raised his arm and signalled for the vehicle to cease fire and the 35mm cannon fell quiet. In the silence, the sound of the barrel expanding from the heat produced by the sustained fire could be heard before Williams spoke, "Holy shit, the lieutenant smoked a reindeer!"

Major Bryer couldn't help laughing with his squad as they made their way back to the vehicle, as the ramp closed and the engine started up again he turned to the lieutenant, "Well, at least we know your aim isn't off at all."

The two white and grey carriers rumbled off from the scene and continued the search for the prince.

Somewhere in Frozopia
Eifel arrived in Frozopia escorted by three plain clothed soldiers armed with Tech 9 machine pistols. "Damn, It's cold! Why are we fighting over this shit hole?" Eifel looked awkward and out of place in his scruffy cheap Frozopian coats. The men had arrived under the radar of the Frozopian immigration officials. The four men walked up to a small shifty little man standing beside a beat up old car.
"The men from.... Ruedonia?" The man whispered
"Yes, yes yes. Is this the car?" Eifel looked at the old decrepid car
"yes"
"....What a heap of crap. Well, lets get going then"
Eifel, the soldiers and the small man all got into the car.

After the descision was made to go to war it was unanmouisly decieded that co-ordinated guerilla warfare attacks with the rebels would be the greatest way they could aid. The Ruedonian army was mostly made up of old broken down equipment. The legendary 4th tank regiment was made up of tanks from the 1940's. A full on conventional attack would be a slaughter of the Ruedonian army. Chairman Deville had organised a Frozopian informat to meet up with the rebels and sent his advisor, Tom Eifel, with whom he had undying faith in, as an abassador.

Somewhere in Frozopia
Eifel was gagging at the stench of the informant they had picked up.
"Where are we going?" he asked
"Eh, The mountain, The mountain"
"So.. Mr errr.."
"Anthony"
"yes"
"And we find the rebels, yes?"
"The rebels will find us"

The five men set up camp in the mountains waiting for contact with the rebels. Meanwhile the strategist sat worried as this meeting could sway the Ruedonian part in the war.

OOC: lol


To: King Clauro of the Empire of Frozopia
From: Chief of Staff General Arnold Saltzman of the Federal Republic of Aequatio

King Clauro of Frozopia,

The declaration of war against your nation by the Empire of Ruedonia comes as a surprise to us and we wish to provide the aid of our nation's naval prowess in defending your nation's waters.

At this moment, we can spare up to three Carrier Groups from our 2nd Fleet as well as support elements such as frigates and submarines.

General Saltzman of Aequatio.


To: General Saltzman of Aequatio
From: King Clauro of Frozopia

Any support by your naval forces would be most welcome. Frozopia's navy is far inferior to many nations navies, so your defence of the coast lines will be a great asset for the nation. Although we have little to fear from The Empire of Ruedonia, we would not want any further foreign intrusions opposing the Frozopian Monarchy.

OOC: How did you arrive?

To: King Clauro of the Empire of Frozopia
From: Admiral of the Navy Friedrich Langsdorff of the Federal Republic of Aequatio

King Clauro of Frozopia,

Rather than have our forces act entirely in a defensive role, I suggest that our carrier groups be sent to Ruedonia and exert pressure upon the nation by means of the force projection provided by the Aequatian Navy's carriers and if necessary, surgical strikes made against Ruedonian military installations and positions and infrastructure.

I will await your imput from this suggestion, the ships deployed for the operation are as follows:

Carrier Battle Group Artemis
RNS Artemis, (CVN-63), Olympiad-class CVN
RNS Merlin, (CGN-92), Aquila-class CGN
RNS Ullman, (DDG-342), Newbiggin-class DDG
RNS Groah, (DDG-343), Newbiggin-class DDG
RNS Dolphin, (SSN-113), Ocean-class SSN
RNS Buttermore, (FFG-216), Vorrasi-class FFG
RNS Sanders, (AOE-9), Marriman-class AOE

Carrier Battle Group Demeter
RNS Demeter, (CVN-64), Olympiad-class CVN
RNS Griffon, (CGN-93), Aquila-class CGN
RNS Heyman, (DDG-344), Newbiggin-class DDG
RNS Mccallum,(DDG-345), Newbiggin-class DDG
RNS Cuttlefish, (SSN-115), Ocean-class SSN
RNS Gibson, (FFG-217), Vorrasi-class FFG
RNS Stone, (AOE-10), Marriman-class AOE

Admiral of the Navy Langsdorff of Aequatio.

OOC: Is it too late for me to join?

To: King Clauro of the Empire of Frozopia
From: Admiral of the Navy Friedrich Langsdorff of the Federal Republic of Aequatio

King Clauro of Frozopia,

Rather than have our forces act entirely in a defensive role, I suggest that our carrier groups be sent to Ruedonia and exert pressure upon the nation by means of the force projection provided by the Aequatian Navy's carriers and if necessary, surgical strikes made against Ruedonian military installations and positions and infrastructure.

I will await your imput from this suggestion, the ships deployed for the operation are as follows:

Carrier Battle Group Artemis
RNS Artemis, (CVN-63), Olympiad-class CVN
RNS Merlin, (CGN-92), Aquila-class CGN
RNS Ullman, (DDG-342), Newbiggin-class DDG
RNS Groah, (DDG-343), Newbiggin-class DDG
RNS Dolphin, (SSN-113), Ocean-class SSN
RNS Buttermore, (FFG-216), Vorrasi-class FFG
RNS Sanders, (AOE-9), Marriman-class AOE

Carrier Battle Group Demeter
RNS Demeter, (CVN-64), Olympiad-class CVN
RNS Griffon, (CGN-93), Aquila-class CGN
RNS Heyman, (DDG-344), Newbiggin-class DDG
RNS Mccallum,(DDG-345), Newbiggin-class DDG
RNS Cuttlefish, (SSN-115), Ocean-class SSN
RNS Gibson, (FFG-217), Vorrasi-class FFG
RNS Stone, (AOE-10), Marriman-class AOE

Admiral of the Navy Langsdorff of Aequatio.

To: Admiral of the Navy Friedrich Langsdorff
From: King Clauro IX of Frozopia

This is a good idea, and will hopefully prevent the nation of Ruedonia from entering any sort of aggressive troops in Frozopia. We wish you success and in your mission and thank you for your assistance.

King Clauro IX of Frozopia

OOC: No, you can get in heres the summary:

1. Prince Raulph's escort is ambushed and all but destroyed. Raulph and a few other soldiers escape. 2 Different jeeps escape in different directions.

2. A unknown force was spotted on RADAR landing on Frozopian shore line on speed boats.

3. 1 Escaped jeep and its driver is destroyed by unknown forces, suspected foreign. When a Bradyistan helicopter strolled across the scene it was shot down.

4. The Prince is still alive, his body was not found in the ambush. He was with the other jeep (what we don't know is that this then crashed. He and his fellow soldiers then fled into the forrest on foot.

5. Frozopia plan attack on rebel base, and begin movement of troops into the area.

OOC: Alright thanks. Now, I need to think on which side to take...

OOC: sorry i haven't been keeping up guys.

By now the rebel encampment had long since been reached. A wide minefield had been layed, thin but in a large cirlce... hidden by snow until undetectable... the royalist forces would never see it, especially not so far from the camp- it wouldn't be expected...

They had then created very obvious tracks through the snow, leading away from the camp and over a ridge... it probably wouldn't work but it may lead at least some enemies astray. Once back at the camp they took up a position, cutting a small trench in the snow large enough for the 30 men. hey had set up a pair of old machine guns and the rest armed themselves with their assorted assualt rifles and SMG's which could match to almost any country.Finally, the snowmobiles had been used as a barracaid to re-enforce the trench....

-Scheer Naval Base, Arrio, Aequatio

The ships which made up the entire task force were easily mustered since the Navy's general mobilization call had been made for another operation, so once the ships were collected together outside the harbour they set a course that would take them to international waters and onwards to Frozopia.

Vice Admiral Hirsch was in command of both carrier groups and stood on the launch deck of the Artemis as he always did when the ship he commanded left harbour. Around him the crew were busy securing numerous aircraft to the deck, they all ran the gamut of aircraft normally found on a carrier, the swept-wing fighters, ASW helicopters and AWACS aircraft.

The admiral looked to off the bow and leading the way was one of the newer vessels, the Vorrasi-class frigates, "Silly little things," thought Hirsch, "We don't need sleek, we need powerful." Many of the top brass in both the Navy and Marines had objected against the government's decision to retire nearly 80% of the fleet's battleships and relegate the remaining to amphibious support duties. "The past anyway, focus on the mission at hand," he reminded himself before starting back towards the ship's superstructure and the bridge.

Barton chewed on a toothpick as reports continued to come in. His adjutant, Captain Honitsu, stood next to him, looking over a map table. "If I were the Royals, I'd come in through here," he said, pointing to a wide plain between stretches of forest.

Barton shook his head. "No, you wouldn't. That's obvious, they'd be sure that we mined it. No, I think they'll come along this route here." Honitsu nodded, admitting his mistake.

"Any reports back from the Scouts, Andy?" The communications officers nodded.

"One, sir. Miscowsky's team. They're observing a large group of infantry from about a half-mile. He doesn't think they've been spotted, because they're too far for IR and the trees block radar, but he's moving the team back anyway. He thinks it might be a reconnaissance-in-force." In other words, the royals had no idea what they were looking for.

"Well, tell Taras not to engage a superior force like that. Hell, don't engage any hostiles at all unless he's sure of a quick win." Captain Lahr nodded, and transmitted the orders.

OOC:
Malkyer could you make a small map of the rebel base? Its basically a encampment.
Just remember that other guys trench, the two layers of mines.

IC:
The rebels must know by now. They would be preparing defences, hopefully not too serious ones. Its strange. Master Philllip's was surprised none were attempting to flee, well according to the recent F/A 22 flyovers they hadn't.
Which means they were planning to give a bloody nose and then retreat.
Which meant a tough defences.
But when the Frozopian forces encircled the campment, there would be no escape. Losses may be higher on the Frozopian side, but the rebels would be pretty much be destroyed.
Well the men knew what to do. The enemy would be annihilated.

-The Wastelands, Frozopia

The two Spartans were moving at a steady pace when the personnel carrier sunk to the right and the squad tumbled over as the vehicle slowly began to move, Major Bryer shot a look of concern to Lieutenant Daniels, "What's going on, Lieutenant?"

She looked through one of her vision blocks at the Spartan behind them carrying the supplies, "I think we've driven right into a frozen river!"

An expression of concern washed over the Major's face before it quickly disappeared with a smug grin, "I forgot, these Spartans are amphibious."

"That may be, Major, but it'll still set us back," replied Daniels as she pointed to the roof hatch over the passenger compartment, "Now you and your squad can get out and attach the winch cables from the other Spartan so they can pull us out of the water."

The squad did as they were told and with a truckload of effort and swear words later, they managed to get the vehicles linked up and watched as the supply Spartan's engine roared and yanked the carrier out of the frozen river and back onto the snow-covered bank. After a quick round of cheers from the soldiers, they climbed aboard their vehicle and both were off again into the wilderness.

OOC: I'll get to the point in my next post.

-International Waters

The two carrier groups looked as though they had melded together since both of the carriers had been placed in the centre surrounded by a protective ring of cruisers, destroyers and frigates all consisting of the two battle groups. Admiral Hirsch was on the bridge when the message came through from Aequatian Central Command.

To: Vice Admiral Joesph Hirsch, RNS Artemis, Flagship of Task Group Hammer
From: Admiral of the Navy Friedrich Langsdorff, ARCENTCOM, Arrio

-DefCon Level changed to 4, rules of engagement are to engage only if fired
upon by hostile forces.

Report position once you enter and take up positions in Ruedonian waters.

Hirsch nodded to himself before he looked down onto the flight deck, two F-36 fighters shot off the catapult and ahead of the group to conduct their security perimeter sweeps around the group.

OOC: Can we get a post on how the Prince is doing, just for reference purposes?

OOC:

Here's the map: http://savefile.com/files.php?fid=5990999

I did it on MS Paint, so the font is a little wierd and the quality's not too good, so let me sum it up:

The Command Posts are the two largest buildings. The Malkyeri CP is in the southwest corner, and the Rebel CP is in the northeast. Rebel barracks are the two buildings north of that. The other buildings are various warehouses, weapons caches, supply depots, etc.

The gray circle is the helipad. The thin red lines forming a big square around the camp are the fencing. Chain-link mostly, with razor wire. The thick red lines are gates. Two (north and west) go to open land, and the other two are a backdoor escape route into the forest. The little black squares on the corners and by the gates are guard towers, manned by rebels.

You'll notice I didn't show the minefields, but you'd be safe in assuming they're along the open pathways to the camp. Also, I didn't show Valdamacia's trench setup, because I wasn't sure of the location. But again, assume it's guarding the open path.

There's very little Malkyeri presence in the camp right now, as most have moved into the forest to wait out the Royal assault. Of course, you don't know that ICly.

The Forrest was behind them now, and the 5 men had miles of hilly and frozen land to look forward to until the yreached Tropan. They hadn't seen a single soul, with the exception of F/A 22 that Seargent Conor Anderson was sure hadn't seen them. They were making slow progress through the waste lands, but at least Conor was sure no one was following them. The men were on half rations, and when Conor had offered to allow the Prince full rations he had refused. Conor was begining to have a growing admiration for the young Prince. He had offered a couple of days ago to carry his share of the rations and tools, and despite his extreme lack of fitness from his Royal life style, he never asked for the group to stop and rest. No he marched alongside them, without complaint.
Conor reckoned they still had some distance to travel till they reached Tropan, but they should reach there safely, maybe within the next two weeks.

OOC: So they have left the forrest. I give you guys the permission to ambush/approach them. I want the Prince to be pushed a little, chased a little. Maybe not killed or captured yet, but still....

OOC: nice map!

The Valdamacian Nationalists hunkered down in their trench, small gas fires cooked their meals and they continued to grumble about the weather.

Mostly they stayed in the trench with 4 sentries.... another 4 men were patrolling through the forrest edge on snowmobiles, as an early warning.

Little happened, guns were checked, the defences secured.... all they had to do was wait.

OOC: yeah the trench is where you assumed.

The JSOF vehicles came to a stop as the forest ended and they were presented with clear, open plains covered with snow. Bryer opened the hatch on the turret and poked his torso out to survey the land with his binoculars, "Well, if he's around here somewhere, we'll definately see him," he thought as he looked around. According to the map the Major was reading over in his hands, the terrain was nothing but open plains for twenty-eight kilometres from their current position at the edge of the forest before it was interupted by another alpine forest, he lowered himself down into the vehicle and shut the hatch, "Lieutenant, we'll head over towards that forest, since it's still in the same direction of the ambush site and if I'm right, the prince and any survivors will now be in between us and the site."

"Affirmative, Major," replied Daniels as she spoke into her headset to the driver, "Stay on course, but keep it fast as we'll be out in the open."

A crackled reply came through her headset, "Roger that, ma'am."

Within a minute, the vehicles were moving ahead at the steady pace of thirty kilometres an hour and well on their way towards the second forest. The feeling around the squad was good, things were definately rolling well with the mission.

"Bastards, bloody bastards!" Chairmen Deville sat with his head in his hands having just heard about the Frozopian ships. As of yet no shots had been fired but merchant ships had made claims of unlawful searches and pillaging of their goods by corrupt Frzopian admirals.
"What of Eifel and his guard?" Deville asked. The head of the Ruedonian military, a short stout man with a well known cocaine habit which lead to catastrophic lapses in judgement.
"Him and his pedal boat crew made it to Frozopia, However he has been said to have lost a finger to frostbite"
"Hmm.. which one"
"The pinky"
"Damn! That's the best one!!"
"....indeed sir," The man looked quizically around to his aides, "Anyway. He has made contact with the rebels and they are making plans as to how to move troops in past the navy"
"What of our navy?"
"Our navy consists mostly of pedal boats, blow up dinghy's and a makeshift raft. At the moment we are trying to see if we can't find a rebel held landing strip."
"Hmm, Well I hear the anti-Frozopian propoganda is doing well?"
"Yes indeed. There has been an increase in numbers signing up. To date we have amassed about 100,000 troops to send"
"Good good. The foreign minister has replied to the message from Frozopia."

To: King ass-face of Frozopia

Screw you!

From: Chairman Deville on behalf of the Ruedonian people

The Military advisor put down the letter and looked cynically at the Chairman
"Hm, It's not my place to say but I think you should fire the Foreign Minister"
".....yes.....yes I should"

Firstly they are not my ships.
Secondly you have no 100,000 troops to send.
Thirdly retreat. Call for peace. Your pretty much dead.

OOC: Ruedonia, according to this GDP calculator (http://nseconomy.thirdgeek.com/nseconomy.php?nation=Ruedonia), you have no defense budget. Meaning you don't have any armed forces, whatsoever. Even if you did, at a five percent draft you'd only have 300,000 soldiers in all branches, and at least two-thirds of those would be logisitics. So, even assuming that you had soldiers to send, it would be suicide to send your entire army overseas, because there'd be nothing to protect the homeland. I suggest you follow Frozopia's advice and sue for peace.

Frozopia, I'll have an IC post later today.

OOC: Well I forgot to post last night, so im putting 2 post togeather.


IC:

"Major Anderson, FOB Trojan is operational. General Harris would like a word, there is a secure line open in the OPS building."
"On my way," Anderson turned around,"Fellas, pack up your stuff. Were movin to the FOB."

Anderson entered the freshly painted OPS building and asked Sgt. where his line was. He was pointed in the right direction and found the red phone.

"Major Anderson, I hope you like your new home?"
"Very much sir."
"Alright Major, heres the low down. Were deploying major elements of the 9th. The 118th Tactical Fighter Wing, the 36th Air Lift Wing, the 82nd SOAR. Were also mobilizing multiple units of the 2nd Army. Estimates on strength are looking really good, 50 M1A2s, 50 more Bradleys, some uparomored HUMVEES, and about 20,000 troops. Now I want your no-bullshit assesment. Are those numbers suffecient?
"For now, yes they are sir. Frozopian Intel is still trying to find out who is equiping the rebels. Theyre fairly sure there is a foregine influence in country. I know damn well it wasnt a rebel with a RPG that got our helo."
" Yes... well the army units are taking off as i speak. ETA is about 6 hours if weather stays good. Good luck Major.
"Thank you sir."


Breakdown of forces being deployed to FOB Trojan:

118th Tactical Fighter Wing=
48 F-15Es
44 F/A-22s
18 A-10s


36th Airlift Wing=

2 KC-135s
3 C-130s (Upon arrival to FOB Trojan they will be converted to AC-130s)

82nd SOAR=

14 MH-60Ls
4 AH-60A DAPs


2nd Army Units:

48 M1A2s
32 Bradleys
48 HUMVEES (uparmored)
20,000 troops (About half are logistics/command, the other half is infantry/cavalry)



OOC: Do my numbers look ok?

I'd say you have too many F/A 22's, because these are really state of the art. Also you might have fewer M1A2s, as all your armoured vehicles have to be converted fr the terrain. But if you want to keep these numbers, its ok. Oh and will these troops be ready for the rebel conflict? It will be fine if they are I think.

Im planning to, once this attack fails or succeeds, launch an even bigger rebellion as a result of this attack (if its a failure, It will show Frozopia can be defeated. If it succeeds, Propaganda by the rebels will make out we are slaughtering a innocent village, can anyone else think of a better reason to trigger a bigger rebellion?).

Ill do the attack now:
IC:
The convoy of HUMVEE's had split, and began their encirclement of the base, so that forces were attacking the base from 2 fronts, on the two plains. As of yet they were at a distance and so still undetected, although the rebels obviously knew of a upcoming attack.
40 Companies (15 men) of infantry had split into 4 groups and formed a thin line in the forrest, reinforcing the 2 companies who were already watching the base. These forces were ordered to combat any who fled into the forrest. If the rebels put up a hard struggle, then these companies were expected to move in silently and surprise assault the rebels.

OOC: finish this after dinner.

OOC: I just got off work now and I'm heading out for a bit, so expect a post form me later on tonight.

Superior Willis Smiled. The trap was sprung. He had felt great pride when he was chosen to lead this mission. Phillip's obviously put great trust in his inferior, to take part in such a important mission.
Superior Willis was confident about his plan. Two volly's by 5 F/A 22's should destroy most of the defences, so that the HUMVEE's and the infantry should wipe out out any survivors. The enemy was completly encircled, even in the forrests. All they had to was move in quickly and use their element of surpise.
Superior Willis turned to Lesser Deans,
"Give orders to the F/A 22's. Begin bombardment. Inform our allies too."
"Yes sir."
The 5 F/A 22's "Raptors" were given their orders. Gliding through the night sky, they changed course North. They would arrive within an half hour, and fire 2 DFA 216 Frozopian light missiles into the enemy suspected defences and personnel. These accurate, missiles were guided by GPS. Of course the sacrifice of this accuracy was the size of the warhead, which was relatively low power. However they would be able to destroy all of the fences and watch towers with this missile, and manage to kill plenty of rebels as well....

OOC: Is there anyone playing the rebels?


Velkyan High Command HQ, Classifed Location

"Sir, we have just recieved a report from Frozopia!"

"What is it!"

"The King's son has gone missing!"

"Haha, serves the bastard right!"

The commander looked at the report.

"Snow warriors?"

"Yes sir, rebels fighting the regime."

"Hmmm...alert the President to this, we may have to take action on thier behalf."

"Right away, sir!"

Bump!

<Northern Frozopia, Patrol Echo Three>

It had been five hours since the two vehicle patrol had entered the wastelands. Five hours couped up in a heated cabin with three other men, rotating the driving every half hour to keep fresh eyes watching the open plains in front of them. The usual open turret had been replaced with a sealed powered turret, controlled from a station in the cargo bed. Infra-red sensors swept the surrounding area, displaying information onto a headset worn by the gunner, allowing him to effectively 'look' around the vehicle without putting his head into the cold air outside.

"Echo Three-Two, this is Echo Three-One, pull in ahead for a rest and to break out some K rations. I'll check in with control, and see what the weather situation is. The sooner we can fly patrolds as opposed to driving round this godforsaken landscape, the better"

"Roger, Three-One"

The lead vehicle pulled into an area that might once have been a lay-by. Snow stretched as far as the eye could see, even enhanced by the MPATVs sensors. With a crunch of breaking ice, the trucks stopped, crew members piling out for a quick break, guns held ready, with the MPATV turrets sweeping the landscape.

"Commander, possible contact to the north sir. Gone again. Could have sworn I spotted somethin gmoving out there. Must have been wildlife sir, just ignore it" reported the gunner of the second MPATV, Gunnery Sergeant James Hillwark.

"Keep your eyes peeled Hillwark, if you need a break, shout and we'll switch again"

"Sir"

Two men crested a small ridge, scouting quickly as they stretched their legs. It was on the revrse of ths slope they spotted it. An odd coloured patch of snow, barely discernable from the rest. A discarded ration pack, not McLeodian, but from the looks of it, Frozopian.

"Commander, look at this", reported one of the men, handing the Patrol Commander the ration packing. "Found it over that gradient, sir"

"Good work boys" answered the Patrol Commander, the grizzled Patrol Sergeant Andy Thompson, one of the last survivors of the defence of the Royal Palace during the Morrison uprising. He had shrapnel scars, and wore with them with pride, far more important than any medal he had gotten before or since.

"Sir!"

"What now Hillwark." barked Thompson

"Movement sir, definate this time, unknown number or IFF, north, bearing 004 degrees"


OOC: Its up to you guys whether its the Prince, or a rebel patrol, or even a foreign force.

"Alright ya bastards, listen up!"

"We are to parachute into Frozopia, and make contact with rebel forces"

"Yes sir!"

The Captain went over the landing plan one more time.

"Sir, the drop zone is coming up!"

"Alright people, go go go!"

One by one, the Halo Force commandos chuted out of the C-130, and dropped into the unknown Frozopian wilderness.

OOC: I guess that means you appear on RADAR, unless you have some excuse.
I have been RPing the rebels + Malkyer (well sort of) but you are open to control them. You can definatly RP a meeting with them, although large amounts of them are trapped in the Rebel base.

IC:
The 5 Raptors swooped low, and fired a volley of DFA 216 before swerving off course. The volley of missiles, guided by GPS, struck their targets causing huge explosions to erupt in the rebel base. 1 Missile struck the NorthEast wing of the barracks, another 2 sailed into the North and west gates, a 4th struck the rebel command post and the last struck the centre of camp where a small group of Snow warriors had gathered.
The Raptors hit their afterburn to avoid any anti-air weapons, and swung around to fire off another volley.
On the ground the HUMVEE's accelerated forward, approaching the camp.....

OOC: I want to see if Malkyer posts a response to the bombing raid + losses (unless he wants me to post this).

Raulph swore.
"Whats up?" Asked Conor, before swiftly adding "Your majesty."
"Lost my rations pack."
Although Conor had began to respect the Prince, this really pissed him off. The supplies were running low, big time, and this did not help at all.
"Dont worry, your majesty. The rations we have now should take us comfortably to Tropan." he lied.
The men looked mutinous, but when Conor glared at them they were quelled.
"Well? Why you apes standing still? Keep moving!"
The men continued their progress over the waste lands........

<Patrol Echo Three>

"Sir, I fiddled with the sensor array a little, cleaned up that picture. Lookis like five men, no vehicles, heading away from us on a bearing that brings them near, er, the city of Tropan , sir" reported Hillwark as Thompson shut down his uplink to the Detachment Command Center.

"Good work hillwark. Alright ladies, saddle up, we ar eheading north, maybe a little cross country stuff too. I want to catch up with that group, ID them, then approach. Should take a little over an hour to catch up with them. Lets roll" shouted Thompson, pushing men back into their vehicles, and grabbing his coffee from the hood of the truck before it roared over the snow drift, plunging off the well beaten track, following faint footprints towards the group. Spotlights and infra-red sensors swept only in a forward arc, tracking the group of men ahead.

"Control, this is Patrol Echo Three, we have contact with a small group headed for Tropan. We are approaching now, have transport alerted and airborne, just in case."

OOC: My C-130s fly under RADAR. Standard Velkyan Protocol.

IC: The last of the 60 Halo force commandos landed.

"Ok, lets do this! Sat. Recon indicates that the Rebel camp is 50 meters south of here, we need to get a move on. Also, remember that Frozopia has heavy air superiority over the area, so be on your guard!"

"Yes sir!"

And so the 5 sqauds moved towards the rebel base.

OOC: This is when i want Malkyer to step in. Then there can be some conflict over the Prince, the victor will obtain the Prince.

"Sir!"

"Yeah?"

"Large camp to the south!"

The Sgt. Major looked over to the south. Several of buildings in the camp were burning.

"Looks like we found it"

A patrol spotted them.

"Who goes there"

Leon stepped out.

"We are from the Velkyan Union. We have come to aid you in you fight against Frozopia."

A company of Frozopian soldiers watched the meeting.
"Can we take them?" Whispered the seargent to his officer.
"Too many. About 50 men there."
"Maybe we can round up a couple of companies in the woodland sir."
"No. It will take too long. Look! Theres a rebel meeting them."
"Hm. I say we let them know they are being watched, sir."
"You crazy sergeant?"
"No sir, if we throw in a grenade and fire som bullets, we can kill 20, 30 maybe and disapear into the woods."
"Maybe. But how did they get past the HUMVEE's?"
"Who knows sir. Do we do it?"
"Yes sergeant."
The company stealthily approached the group. At the edge of the tree line, they shouldered their SMG's. Private Norman Bakesly, famed in the battalion for his ability at a Cricket in Frozopia, tossed the grenade in the direction of where the two men were meeting. The Company unleashed fire.......

OOC: Malkyer will be RPing the rebel defence.

The grenade was the first warning the group had. It exploded, killing several and causing the others to panic. They fired wildly into the trees, perhaps hitting some of the attackers, but not likely. The officers and NCOs in charge of the group tried to reestablish order, but the rebels figured they were under attack by the main Royal force, though so far only about ten had fallen.

Finally, several squads pulled themselves together, and began coordinating their efforts toward the SMG fire from the forest. Several Royals fell, but so did more rebels. Not knowing how many Royals there were, the officer in charge made the decision the flee.

"Fall back, back to Base One!" The rebels starting retreating, some continuing to shoot at the enemy, most just running. By the time they were away, some twenty had fallen, with unknown casualties among the enemy.

***

In the confusion of the ambush, the rebels in the forest were unaware of the attack on their encampment. The RIA had pulled out and dispersed into hidden forest posts, except for a few volunteers who'd stayed behind in rebel uniforms. This made some rebels nervous, but the guards in the perimeter towers reported nothing, and everything was generally going quite well. That was, at least, until the missiles hit. All at once, several guard towers, one of the barracks buildings, and the command post exploded. One rebel ran out of the CP, screaming and on fire, until a couple of his buddies grabbed him and threw him onto the snowy ground, extinguishing the flames.

The rebels panicked, and several fired Eier rockets at the Royal planes. Although they were useful against tanks, and could generally bring down a helicopter, against fixed-wing jets they were quite useless.

Soldiers ran about the camp, few of them knowing what to do, and all of a sudden the machine guns at one of the entrances began firing as Royalist vehicles approached...

***

Sergeant Billy Washington and his Scout team had spread out in a section of section of wasteland on the way to Tropan, to try to intercept Prince Raulph on his way home. Washington hoped they caught him; he'd likely fare better in the hands of the RIA than if the rebels got hold of him.

"Think that's them, Sarge?" Corporpal Hollens pointed at the group in the distance moving rather sloppily across the frozen landscape.

"Maybe," Washington replied. Like the rest of his team, his uniform was white, and his gun was painted. They were invisible to the naked eye from distances of more than about ten meters. There was no worry about being spotted. Especially this lot. The way they stumbled about the wasteland, they were certainly no great trackers.

"We'll see if someone comes and picks them up," he continued. "If they do, we waste 'em and take the Prince. Cakewalk."

OOC: Let me know if I missed anything.

OOC: er... where is the action happening in relation to my trench??

OOC: Well, your trench is nearby the the camp, I imagine Royalist forces will stumble upon it soon enough.

OOC: Don't RP my casualties, buddy.

The nade exploded, killing the rebel officer.

"They're in the trees, open fire!!!"

The Halo force commandos fired back, retreating into the line. One of the men got hit, but they escaped.

"Theres a rock outcropping a mile out, we can defend from there!"

"We need CAS right now!"

They arrived at the rock formation and began mounting a defense.

Here's a map of the defensive line:

[img=http://img100.imageshack.us/img100/6179/frozopiadefmap5jc.th.png] (http://img100.imageshack.us/my.php?image=frozopiadefmap5jc.png)

OOC: Malkyer, before I make my next move, I just want to know if your scout team is inbetween my JSOF squad and the Prince's group or whatever the setup is, I'm just wondering as I'm not sure which group my people would encounter first since they're trudging along in IFV's.

"We'll remain here and hold out, Leon, get your squad ready to rock, your going to the rebel camp tonight!"

"Roger that!"

The High Seas Fleet is en route to Frozopia, as is the 1st Armored Division and 1st RDF division.

Lieutenant Daniels stared at the monitor displaying the images produced by the FLIR periscope of the Spartan carrier, there had been nothing more than open plains for the past half hour and things seemed rather dismal until she noticed something familiar on the screen, human figures. Immediately she switch her headset's channel to the Major's so she'd be heard over the Spartan's engine, "Major, I've got something here, a group of people on foot numbering about four or five."

"Is it the Prince?" asked Bryer as he moved into the turret position with the lieutenant to view the monitor and placed his finger on the screen, "It looks like them, see how these men are marching differently than the single figure, that's got to be the prince and some survivors from the ambush."

"What's the plan then, Major?" asked Daniels.

"We do it by the book, we pull up and get them in here before anyone else has the chance to, my fireteam will approach the group with charlie while you and fireteam bravo cover our positions, we don't want anyone crashing this party," replied Bryer as he moved back to the passenger compartment to get the squad ready, "I think we got him, but keep your eyes open and weapons ready, we don't need any funny business on this."

The entire team agreed as they began loading their weapons while Sergeant Pearson moved over to the Major, who was loading his customized G4K carbine with a fresh magazine, "Sir, are you sure it's him?"

"Positive, the guy marching differently than the grunts was walking like a true asshole, that has to be the prince," replied Bryer as he pulled back the charging bolt on his weapon and placed the sling over his shoulder.

"Ahh, so he looked like an officer then," said Pearson with a grin, "Don't worry, Sir, we'll get him home along with everyone else."

"I know," said the Major, "Let's get ready to rock and roll then."

OOC: I think Malkyer Rped the losses of the rebels that were going out to meet you The Velkyan Union, so its ok.

IC: As soon as the enemy turned to fired, the men instantly threw themselves to the forrest floor. The officer grinned. No losses as of yet, the Rebels and whoever was meeting them were firing too high, the bullets whipping threw the tree's above.
The rebels were annihilated, they stood no chance. Their lack of discipline meant they were all doing different things. They were ruthlessly shot down. Thompson reckoned they dropped maybe 20 rebels and a couple of the other guys.
Finally someone ordered the rebels to fire upon the tree line. Greater Thompson swore. The bullets whipped lower, one punching into Sergeant Grant's skull, another slamming into Private Loxton's back and last piercing threw Private Johnson's throat. All men were dead or dying.
"Retreat!" He ordered and the men began to slip backwards into the safety of the tree's......

Another company of Blizzard soldiers watched the unknown force estabilish a small defensive line. They were setting up machine guns and it looked like they had rocket launchers.
"Shit." The officer whispered. Radioing to Superior Willis the news of the new threat, he had done his duty. They watched the new defenses, waiting for reinforcements...

The Raptors whipped forwards firing another volley of missiles. 1 Struck a machine gun post in the rebel camp, another two struck the barracks, a fourth struck the other command post and the last struck a unknown building.
The Raptors whipped upwards, ignoring the missiles fired in their direction that went hopelessly wide.

The HUMVEE's accelerated forwards. The men manning the mounted machine guns unleashed fire into the camp. A strong Iron fist was enclosing the camp.
Rebel machine guns returned fire, punching holes threw the HUMVEE's armour, killing the drivers and gun men. This did not stop the attack, but the mines did.

Explosions erupted threw the line of HUMVEE's as mines were triggered into the under side of the HUMVEE's. The Rebels Simultaneously turned their rocket launchers upon the HUMVEE's and missiles streaked from the camp into the HUMVEE's. Frozopian soldiers jumped from their HUMVEE's and began to return fire.

What looked like a trench stretched infront of the North-East end of the camp. The HUMVEE's and been stopped by the mines, their drivers fearing to accelerate any further, but the men jumped into the mounted machine guns and fired upon the enemy. Frozopian soldiers lay prone on the floor, pulling up small tufts of snow to use as cover. They had fought in the snow wastes all their lives, and could easily dig in the snow for cover under fire, within a minute.
After 10 minutes of gun fire the Frozopian's had dug a shallow trench surrounding both sides of the camp, only brocken by the HUMVEE's. The Frozopian force had lost 800 men alongside 30 HUMVEE's, but they were unafraid to continue the battle. What looked like a stalemate formed around the rebel camp......
Superior Willis swore. The attack had lost momentum, and now his forces were stationary. To make things worse a new camp had been set up by a rock outcrop.
Superior Willis gave orders to the Raptors. They were to fire two volleys at the new enemy camp. Hopefully this new threat had no missile launching system that could hit a Raptor. Then 15 companies of Frozopian soldiers would advance, reinforced with some HUMVEE's. The Raptors were to wait 15 minutes before firing upon the new threat. Frozopian soldiers were setting up mortar to begin bombardment on both enemy camps. Once they had been softened down, another attack would be launched.

The companies in the forrest also had their orders. They were to creep forward while the enemy were distracted with the new attack, and blow the remaining two gates. It looked like there were no mines protecting these two positions. Then they would rush in and kill the rebels......

OOC: Bit crap drawing by me, but I interpreted the attack so far. Its saved on my computer. Anyone know how I can show it here?

OOC: You can host it on a website like Photobucket (http://photobucket.com/).

While the Frozopian Royalists struggled to dig a trench in the frozen ground, the rebels continued to pour machine gun fire at them. Bright tracers flew across the waste, and the gunners took grim comfort in the very large bins of ammunition below their firing steps. They were reasonably safe from the enemy's returning fire, in their concrete and sandbag pillboxes.

Lieutenant Jamey Mace, the officer in charge of the RIA troops still at the camp pulled out his radio, and listened for a moment to the chatter going back and forth between rebels and RIA. Waiting until he figured the Royalists were fairly well dug in, he thumbed the 'TALK' switch.

"Command override, command override. This is Lieutenant Mace, mortar teams are to open fire on the Royalist trench."

A few seconds later, he could here the low whump of the mortars leaving their tubes, and then the slightly louder crump as they landed among the trenches outside, exploding in the trenchs.

***

Sergeant Miscowsky's Scout team heard the initial explosions of the missiles at the camp, and then the loud din of machine gun fire and mortars as the rebels and RIA defended the camp. "Bloody hell," he muttered.

A buzz in his ear alerted him that someone was radioing him. He touched the side of his helmet. "Go ahead."

"Sarge, Corporal Rafe. I got hostiles coming through the forest."

Shit. "Okay, keep 'em under observation, but stay hidden. Don't do anything until they're past. Got that?"

"Understood. Rafe out."

Miscowsky dialed to a different frequency, and was startled by the amount of noise on the command frequency. "Command override, this is Sergeant Miscowsky. I got hostiles coming up through the forest, suggest guards along south and west gates stay frosty." A series of clicks showed him who acknowledged. All but one of the guard towers, which had probably been hit by a missile.

Once the Royals had passed his team's position, they could ambush them from behind once they'd engaged the guard posts at the camp.

***

"Spartans," said Corporal Hollens. Sergeant Washington nodded, looking through the bincoulars. "The Eiers should be able to at least slow 'em down."

Washington thumbed the comm switch on his radio headset, and issued orders to his team. "Wait till they've got the Prince, then as they're pullin' out hit one of the Spartans with a rocket, and disappear. Joey, Hal, be ready to pick off anyone they send out to make repairs or scout around. Louis, get ready to give us some suppresion fire in case they don't want to cooperate."

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b345/MasterC_/RebelCampattack1.gif

There we go. Red is explosions. Can I know the rebel losses? Also i took out two towers. When i said Machine gun post, I meant a tower.

IC: Mortar was raining upon both sides, and the trenches offered little protection for the soldiers from the mortar. But the Royalist mortar were far more numerous, so Superior Willis was confident his mortar was doing more damage.

At last the Frozopian soldiers were safe from most of the machine gun fire, their trenches being deep enough to protect a man standing. They were perfect depth for a Frozopian soldier to rest his SMG on the snow, and unleash fire. The only thing that was causing large losses were the occasional enemy missiles, mortar and grenades.
Frozopian soldiers began to dig little holes threw the walls of the upturned snow. Threw these holes they pushed mounted machine guns, and unleashed streams of fire into the enemy pillboxes and any other rebel soldiers.

In the forrest the 40 companies of soldiers had concentrated into 2 points. A change In plan. They would rush in to place explosives at the base of the gates, and then blow the two remaining towers with rocket launchers, cheap M72's. The plan then was to rush the camp, and capture the pill boxes that were fortunately directed at the two open paths.
At both gates 5 men rushed forward. They were gunned down.
"Shit. Blow those towers too hell."
2 Men stood up. 2 Men fired their M72's. 2 Towers blew up.
10 More men raced to the gates, covered by Frozopian soldiers. They were ruthlessly shot down by Gatling nests.
"Shit! Whered they come from!?" Shouted the officer in charge
The Frozopian soldiers in the forrest sunk back behind the tree line.....


The new base was well reinforced, but Willis hoped they had nothing to compete with the Raptors who sweapt in and unleashed another volley of missiles off....

<Patrol Echo Three>

The MPATVs rolled over another snow drift, low pressure tires struggling to grip the powdery surface, even with the rapidly modified snowchains thrown on seconds before the group started off towards the Prince. At this speed, it was impossible to effectively use the sensors, so crew members were peering through snow frosted windows, sweeping the landscape for sign of any other survivors, or even the rebel force said to be chasing the Prince.

As they crested another rise, Hillwark reported the group as a little over two kilometres ahead,causing the Patrol Sergeant to smile, and put hs fot don, sending the bulky 4x4 roaring down the incline towards the distant figures. Inside, men began checking their equipment, activating the data-links on their Tyr armour, and checking the magazines in their assault rifles. Using little more than eye movements, they ran self checks on their helmets, and checked their link with the MPATVs sensors, as well as the "gods-eye" view from the orbitting NIRTSATs.

In the turrets, 20-mm cannon loaded their ammunition as the gunners inside powered up the weapons and donned their own version of the tactical helmet which gave them a view straight down the sights of the gun. They were ready for combat, and nearing their evacuee.


OOC: Tyr armour is basically a slightly updated version of Land Warrior, with more advanced body armour, covering upper arms and legs, as well as the neck, and a completely new lightweight helmet with integrated map, waypoint overlays, weapon sights, and tactical information about the squad, and any targets given to them by Central Command, or the Patrol Sergeant.

OOC2: I apologise for any bad spelling, I'm using a wireless keyboard with a range of about 2mm, so it misses out letters here and there.

OCC - I assume this will affect the construction of the MCL F-Reactor? I only sent a limited security force over, my men will rely on your support. They only have 20 tanks, a few AT rockets, no artillary, and almost no close air support. I don't want them to be totally slaughtered. Nothing can possibly get to them for a few days, NS time.

Well 90% of the rebels are penned up in some base, so you should be able to reach the selected sight safely (if you are guided by some Frozopian soldiers, which you shall be) So construction can begin any time soon.

Well... 90% of KNOWN rebels. I don't wanna be left out, I've never been in live conflict.

Well get some force together and kick some but.

OOC: So far, 143 dead, 300 wounded (about half are walking wounded), though naturally that number will get much bigger once the camp is breached. As for the other tower...I guess it's just dead. Also, I don't think your men could get to the pillboxes to plant explosives. Assuming my map is to scale, it's roughly thirty meters to the nearest trees, and ten men against two gatling nests twenty meters away...will be little bits of meat in a few seconds.

IC:
"Wilson, what's the status on the counter-battery radar?" Lieutenant Mace had to yell into his radio in order to be heard over the sounds of the battle.

"We're fine, sir, but some of the mortar teams are out of contact."

"Right. Get to it." Mace switched the radio off, and after a cautious glance around the corner of the building, began running toward the CP.

As counter-battery radar tracked down the position of the Royalist artillery, the coordinates were fed to the mortar teams, who opened up on their Royal counterparts. They had to kill the Royals quickly, or the superior numbers would begin to wear them down.

The machine gun nests continued spitting fire, slaughtering anyone who poked their heads up from under cover. Each gun fired roughly a hundred rounds a second, a hail of lead that would saw through trees.

Mace dove behind a wrecked HUMVEE when he heard the whistle of an incoming mortar shell. It exploded nearby, and rained bits of dirt on him. What I wouldn't give for just a few batteries of real artillery, he thought.

***

Private Janick Gers swore as the Frozopians charged his gun nest. "McKenzie, that one's got a satchel charge," he shouted over the roar of the gun. The other trooper took aim with his rifle, and fired at the man's head.

"Got the bastard, I think," the Scot muttered. He fired again, to make sure. All the while, Gers rained lead on them.

A few meters away, Demetrios Onassis hissed in pain as his gun jammed, knocking his shoulder hard. He pulled the chamber open, and grabbed the stuck round. He immediately regretted doing so, because the thing was damn hot, but he pulled on a glove and reached again, yanking the stuck bullet out. He closed the chamber and looked up, just in time to see a Royalist throw a satchel charge through the firing slit. Onassis stared at it blankly, but the other soldier in the pillbox, Hiram Black, reacted quicker, throwing himself on top of the charge about a second before it exploded.

His body shielded Demetrios from the fire, but the blast knocked the gunner down hard, and he blacked out, alive but wounded.

***

Harold Chapman groaned as the cold snow woke him up. He was dazed, but he remembered what had happened. The tower had collapsed when a rocket hit, and killed the other two men, both rebels. Chapman looked around, and saw the Royals massing along the tree line. He coughed, and spat. The goo seemed about half blood and half thick, clear something that he didn't want to thick about. He tried to move his legs, but couldn't. They didn't hurt, and the numbness worried him. Think about that later. He picked up his rifle, and took a deep breath, coughing again. When he breathed, it was ragged and bubbly. Slowly, he propped his rifle up on a plank of wood, and squeezed off a small burst at the Royals. Again. Again. He kept firing at the Royals, firing and coughing.

***

Private Todd McKenzie swore when he saw the other armored vehicles approaching the Prince. Quickly, he hit the switch for his radio. “Sarge, this is Todd, we got unknowns comin’ in too, a bunch of ATV-types.

“Shit fire,” muttered Washington. “Team, stand down, we can’t take two armored groups. Repeat, stand down. Get ready to observe, and bug out if they get too close.”

In the ports of Petron, the military was gathering - the remainder of the 2153rd Light Armored Division and 1111st Infantry , the 2113th Heavy Infantry Transport division, the 2213rd Medical Division, the 2223rd Logistical, and the 2144th Bombardment division were all preping to go to the Frozopian wasteland.

The green troops, making up most of the army, were rarin' to go. No Candrian gun has ever been fired in anger.

"I heard we're outnumbered three to one in the snowbanks" was the most common phrase heard about the ports. They trained their entire lives, but never fired a real gun.

General Leeds himself arrived to boost their moral.

"Gentlemen, you have trained your entire lives to protect the interests of the Emperor! Today marks the day you put your life on the line to protect it at it's most extremest point! The rebels in Frozopia may have control of the area around the site where Candrian Consolidated is planning to build the MCL F-Reactor - one of the world's first fusion reactors, and the brightest shining jem of Candrian achievement. We must defend it to the last man. It is tundra there, you are to paint your vehicles to the necessary camoflauge scheme. I wish for you all to return safely. For the Empire! For Yourselves!"


(OCC:Total about 30 tanks, 100 MAP 12 transports, 'bout half converted to field ambulets, some 30 fuel and food trucks, 50 self propeled MAP 22 PAC guns, and about 500 infantry. Total strength of manpower is 1,140 total men and women in uniform, including logistical. Don't freak out about it sounding like a lot, it really isn't.)

Field General Simone sat at her makeshift desk. Base TA1 was comfortably outfitted, but there just wasn't enough supplies for a few thousand extra people. On a move of pure carelessness on CCT's part, EVERYBODY went at once, despite construction being almost two and a half years away.

An officer entered her tent, with a laptop and satellite equipment.

"Phill, what's the latest word on our backup?"

"Oh, uh... Ma'am, Delta Shipping hasn't contacted Leeds yet. We don't know when they can get here. Petron's telling us to make with what we can."

"Goddammit... we don't even have an honest artillary battery here. Nobody said anything about three thousand rebs."

"Well, Frozopian intel says they're mostly in some base that's being attacked."

Simone wasn't fit to hear this. Everything came crashing down on her shoulders: too few men, a gigantic mission, no fuel, no rations, no ammo, not even a goddamn truck. The Emperor was giving her scraps and telling her to make file mignon.

"Do we at least get ANY sab coverage here?"

"That's what I came to find out. Kaz and Ent aren't saying anything, and Chameleon says everyone's in the forest - we can't really see anything. I was gonna set up this stuff to see if 2A sees anything - last I heard there was a sat passing over."

"Set it up, but don't bother looking. Forest is too dense here to get a good pic. We're gonna have to do it the old fashioned way. We'll have to start Clean Sweep in a few days if we're going to make any headway. Set it up and tell our greivances to the Emperor. As long as the airports are free, we can at least get supplies; if not the odd tank, battalion, or popper. Get a link up as soon as possible."

"Aye, ma'am."
The slender recruit plopped the laptop on the desk, and started setting up the sat equipment. His tanned, thin hands moved like lightning between the switches and knobs, getting a good readout, his grey uniform looking like a blur at his arms.

Simone walked outside of the tent towards the main buildings of the base. With those thousand troops the Royals promised, we could make a bit of headway up north. I just hope we don't face any rebs up there.

OOC: Just for the record, the Spartan vehicles being used by my forces are the ones in my storefront and not the British vehicle produced by Alvis.

IC:

The loud rumble of the vehicle's engine was heard as it sped across the frozen plains as Bryer looked over his squad, "All right people, we're doing this by the book, so you know the procedure... Go in fast, be aggressive and hit them with the blinding power of Aequatian sunshine."

A resounding "Hooah" came from the squad as the vehicles closed to within thirty metres from the Prince's group before coming to a stop, as soon as it did, the rear compartment's ramp came down with a soft thud in the snow and the twelve-man squad took up their positions as Lieutenant Daniels scanned the area with the 35mm Autocannon mounted on the turret.

Fireteam Bravo stood watch with the Lieutenant's Spartan, weapons at the ready and scanning the horizon for anything that resembled a human figure or vehicle while the Major and his fireteam moved ahead through the snow towards the group, weapons leveled, while Fireteam Charlie moved along with them to the left in the same manner, Bryer lowered his weapon and shouted to the group, "This is Major Carl Bryer, E Troop of the Aequatian Joint Special Operations Force, drop any weapons you are carrying, turn around slowly and identify yourselves!"

"Looks like the final run boys..."

They stared out of the forest, looking towards the burning rebel camp.

"GOGOGO!!!"

The 12 man sqaud ran across the snow to the rebel base, entering it from a sally port on the side.

A guard greeted them.

"You are Velkyans, are you not?"

"Yeah, we are"

"The leader wants to see you"

"Grand, take us"

Back at Rock Outcropping

"They know we are here"

"I saw them too, don't worry."

The radio next to them clicked to life.

"This...carrier...group...Eagle...on station...orders...over..."

"Damn, they're breakin up!"

"V.S.S. Eagle, can you hear us?"

"Halo...where...postition..."

"Damn it, it's fried!"

OOC: I almost forgot about my naval forces deployed to Ruedonian waters.

IC:

-180 Kilometres from Ruedonian Coast, Ruedonia Territorial Waters

Hirsch stood on the bridge, the entire task group had gone to high alert since they entered Ruedonian waters, he noticed how tense the crew had gotten, it was the enemy with very little money and regular forces that were the most sneaky when it came to attacks. The last thing the Vice Admiral wanted was a speedboat filled with explosives to make a run at one of his ships and put it out of commission, he ordered all of the escorts to keep around the carriers and to treat any ships found as hostile, regardless of whether they were military or civilian.

A pair of F-36 Viper Strike Fighters took off from the catapult as the previous patrol came in on the arresting cables at the stern of the ship, the Artemis was a brand new vessel of the Olympiad-class which now made up all of the carriers in the fleet except for "The Big-E" the Europa which was recently modernized when the Olympiads were brought into service so she could keep up with them.

Hirsch had remembered his orders and as soon as the task group took up its position in Ruedonian waters, he sent the situation report to Central Command to find out his next move.

To: Admiral of the Navy Friedrich Langsdorff, ARCENTCOM, Arrio
From: Vice Admiral Joesph Hirsch, RNS Artemis, Flagship of Task Group Hammer

Task Group Hammer has taken up position within Ruedonian waters and is prepared
for operations against the nation's military installations and infrastructure.

Requesting Orders.

*****

A-ComSat Matrix Open...Securing Communication Channel to Ruedonia...Finding Chairman Oscar Deville...*Found*...Channel Secure...Sending Transmission...

To: Chairman Oscar Deville of the Empire of Ruedonia
From: Chief of Staff General Arnold Saltzman of the Nationalist Federal Republic of Aequatio

Due to your nation's recent declaration of war against the nation of Frozopia, we have taken steps to prevent your nation from acting in an aggressive role against our current ally, which includes the mobilization and deployment of two Carrier Battle Groups commanded by Vice Admiral Joesph Hirsch.

If your nation does not withdraw its declaration and cease its state of war against the Empire of Frozopia within 48 hours, aircraft from the Aequatian carriers RNS Artemis and RNS Demeter will begin to conduct surgical strikes in addition to cruise missile strikes from the fleet cruisers RNS Merlin and RNS Griffon against important military installations and important infrastructure around your nation until you decide to come to your senses and follow our demands.

...Channel Closed...Transmission Terminated...A-ComSat Matrix Closed...

OOC: seeing as my trench and a frozopian one are right opposite each other then maybe i should start some combat?

"Got those bigger weapons up yet?" The sargeant turned to three men who were busing themselves kneeling in the trench.
"sure thing" came the reply. Two of the men hauled up a chain cannon and set it onto a waiting stand. Around them machine gun fire rattled off against the opposing trench.

The third man picked up the 'BTP -type 34' launcher and leveled it. Another man slammed a rocket into the back before moving away.

Aimed, the rocket was fired with a loud hiss and a could of white smoke. Hurtling toward the royalist trench it hit with a loud explosion and ice and snow were thrown high into the air. The machine guns continued to fire, but the noise was drowned out by the whirring and ripping noise the chain cannon made as rounds tore up the ground at the enemy trench.

There were cheers from the Nationalists though they didn't even know the damage they'd caused. At this point, the two snowmobile mounted men arrived saying there was a second trench on the other side. They were given another 8 men who mounted up. The 10 of them sped into the forrest.

OOC:
OOC: So far, 143 dead, 300 wounded (about half are walking wounded), though naturally that number will get much bigger once the camp is breached. As for the other tower...I guess it's just dead. Also, I don't think your men could get to the pillboxes to plant explosives. Assuming my map is to scale, it's roughly thirty meters to the nearest trees, and ten men against two gatling nests twenty meters away...will be little bits of meat in a few seconds.

ok Ill edit it, although I never knew those nests were even in the area.

IC:
"We need more bombs, NOW!" Roared Willis.
"Yes sir!" Spoke the TA1 officer.
Immediatly 10 more Raptors lifted off. Each equipped with the heavy weight Frozopian missile DOM 120, these missiles were created to pierce through heavy bunkers and any other protection the enemy had. Each Raptor was only equipped with 2, but it would be enough to blow the base to kingdom come.
The Pilots ran to their planes and pushed their raptors into the air. Shooting over the waste lands at Mach 1.4, it only took them 10 minutes to reach the war zone. They immediatly swooped in low, and released the volley of missiles, concentrating their fire on the trenches and bunkers that made up the rebel base. Humongous explosions ripped through the enemy defences.......

Frozopian Northern trench:

A rocket whipped into the dug up snow, throwing the snow into the air. Thankfully this protected most of the soldiers, but 5 more men died.
The enemy were firing upon the Frozopian trench, but they were snow by the snow. At least the Frozopians were.....
A DOM 120 dropped straight into the chain cannon, and a massive explosion ripped the Valdamacian trench open.
Greater Steven Black, saw the explosion. He was immediatly deafened by it, but he knew what to do. Indicating for 3 Companies to follow him, they rushed the Valdamacian trench. No one turned their fire upon them, it seemed everyone was too stunned by the large missiles that had struck large amounts of the rebel base. The Frozopian soldiers jumped in the trench, and Steven Black felt his hearing return as he turned to fire at the enemy survivors.......

In the Forrest:
Frozopian marksmen took their aim,
"Got him! Got the bastard."
"Damn Gatling nests!"
Private Smith lifted his Rifle to his shoulder, looking down the scope at another man who seemed to be manning a gatling gun. He smiled as the bullet whipped through the air into the soldiers head.
"Another one"
"Your damn good Johny! Damn good! I wish I could use a scoped rifle like you do. Cant keep my shoulder still!"
Smith was enjoying himself. That was his fifth frag, and he was hoping to reach 15 scoped kills by the end of the day.
Greater Dolph Klopper crept towards the sharp shooters,
"Right boys. We gonna nail those two machine gun nests with our M72's. All yours Johny."
"Yes sir." Johny shouldered the small rocket launcher, kneeled down and fired off a missile.
"Yehaw! We got the bastards! Nice one Johny!" Roared Private Dominic Bratus.
"Get down you idiot!" Yelled Klopper.
A bullet shot threw the air and through bratus's head. Brain's splattered everywhere.
"The Idiot. Well heres another M72. Use it well private."
"Yes sir."

Unknown area, waste lands:
"Shit." muttered Anderson. They had no chance.
"Drop your guns boys. We don't stand a chance." They dropped their SMG's and held their hands in the air.
"Rebels?" Whispered the Prince.
"Too advanced. God know's who it is."
The 5 men stood, hands in the air.

<Patrol Echo Three>

The two ATVs soared over the final rise, airborne, just a hundred metres from the group they had been following, before sliding to a halt when they spotted two IFVs, and a dozen armed men who had not been there last time they'd looked, and were looking somewhat surprised.

The 'Stalkers leapt from their own vehicles, rifles coming up and pointing in the direction of the IFVs, away from the Prince and his group. The two cannon swept, one pointing at each armoured vehicle, and everybody stood, unmoving, and silent, until an eerie electronic voice broke the stand-off.

"Unknown soldiers, drop your weapons and put your hands behind your heads, NOW"

"What the hell!?" Whispered Conor. A helocopter.
"Your majesty, if a gun fight opens up here I want you to run? You hear me?"
"Yes."
"Good."

DI has the divisions on the move. About a thousand men, med supplies, ammo, and the rest of the divisions. Give'em 3 weeks. The a600's will finish repair in a few days, so shipping could restart soon. The ice damage on the KC 130's is almost irrepairable. Work with what you can, and be aware - we saw a whole lotta people here. Not all Froz rebs or royals. Me, P and the Admiral are gonna be visiting Hogs' SD soon, so we'll be out of contact. Make do with what you can. Make us proud Steph.

"Ugh, three weeks?"
FG Simone slid down her leather chair. She clicked off the recieve channel on the laptop, effectivly ending her conversation with Leeds.

"Capt'n, what happened to that patrol we sent out?"

"Uh, ma'am - they turned off their sab equipment."

"WHAT?"

"We can't see them at all. Sab just isn't working great up here - too much white and it's bleeding into everything else."

Dammit, they left with our only MAP 12's. Why the hell would they turn Sab off?

"What vehicles do we have to spare? Can we get some fish brought up here?"

"Well, the patrol took off with two MAP 12's, a med and an IFV. We pretty much don't have any way of getting our own food."

"I see. I just got off the comm with Leeds. They want us to start Clean Sweep with what we have. I don't know if we can, but dammit, we have to try. Organise the men onto the airstrip - Tell them we're gonna start it. Put chokehold in place, and tell the Frozzys to go with us. Try to get aircover up there. And call Hailey, tell him we need a shelling here."

The captain shivered. Even he knew that Admiral Hailey was going to be in Hogsweat.
"Ma'am, he said he's going to be out of contact."

"Tell him this place has great whiskey, and he'll get here in an hour."
"Yes ma'am."
"While you're out there, tell the men to put Tundra on everything that can be painted."

Bryer looked over at the 4x4 vehicles that had arrived and the troops which poured from them, "Jesus Christ," he muttered to himself as he looked over at his squad, they hadn't changed their positions, the only difference were their weapons now aimed at the newly-arrived soldiers.

Pearson had his light machinegun hoisted up in his hands by a foregrip, his aimpoint homed in on a soldier he had watched take aim at the Major, without turning his head he shouted, "Sir, what's the plan?"

"Keep cool... nobody fire, but keep your weapons trained on them!" Bryer replied as he made it obvious to the other troops that he had placed his carbine in the snow and then produced a document from his combat jacket and held it in the air as he approached them, "My name is Major Carl Bryer, I command E Troop of the Aequatian Joint Special Operations Forces and we were sent here on orders of our President, Nicklas Blüme, to aid the Frozopian Military in the search for Prince Raulph IV, we mean the Prince or you no harm!"

OOC: You dropped a BOMB IN MY TRENCH! JESUS! .... ahem.


The explosion blew the trench open and most of those within were blastedf apart, the area became red with gore. Out of the twenty who had been there seven had survived, two of which had lost limbs and lay screeching in agony. The five survivors were disorientated and deaf.... they had little warning of the Frozopians storming them. Three fell before they knew what was happening, rounds ripping through the mis-matched armour they wore. The other two had been at the end of the trench and were relatively ok. They raised their SMG's and opened fire, their shots blasting through a man's back.

In an instant they had been killed.... bullets had torn their torsos and heads to shreds.

***

The ten mounted on snowmobiles darted through the wood, and stopped at the leader's signal. They dismounted and crept forward to the edge of the treeline. They were parrallel with the other Frozopian trench...

The snowmobiles roared back into life and the ten of them sped past the treeline, various SMG's opening fire on the Frozopian soldiers. They sped over the edge and landed inside the trench, speeding along it firing at every man in sight- and not many had been ready to be attacked inside their own trench...

The enemy trench was captured, and the Frozopian soldiers used its extra depth against the rebel forces. They had much more cover now, including the large crater that had been formed in the middle of it.

OOC: The trench aint really big enough for the snowmobiles, but ill go with it.

IC:
The Snow mobiles shot forwards, knocking Frozopian soldiers from their feet and flinging them into the air. Finally a Frozopian soldier came to his senses. Unleashing fire into the leading Snow mobile and killing the driver, he caused the snowmobile to ram into the trench side. With the other 9 Snow mobiles shooting behind, they had little time to see their comrades snowmobile jammed in the trench in front........

"Hey, Phil, what'd Icy want us on the tarmac for?"
Greg had been standing with everyone outside on the airstrip for hours already. His thick, wooly, grey coat was no match for the ice that began to form on the tarmac of the airstrip. His pale face grew whiter by the day with cold.
"Umm... Simone wants us to start Cleansweep, Chokehold, Swingarm, and Backpressure today."
All the soldiers were in shock. They knew there wasn't enough of them to make this a success - hell, someone went off with their APCs, and now they didn't even have med supplies.

A voice rang out in the small crowd of soldiers.
"Are you sure? There's gotta be thousands of rebs, we'd get our balls kicked in out there!"
By now, the general consensus was that FG Simone was crazy.
"This isn't even a real war, we aren't fighting to the death or anything like that! We just gotta clear the space of rebs and protect the construction workers. They die, we don't keep our jobs."

The thirty-odd soldiers fell silent. They were here only to keep the reactor from being blown up by rebs before it was finished - not much controlling interest to be had in wasteland anyway.

FG Simone appeared from her command tent. Despite the distance to the tarmac, she mad the trip quickly without looking like she was in a hurry.
"Men, today, today is the first proud day of your lives. Today, you fight. You join the ranks of men who have died before you to protect the Empire.

Now, down to buisness. We have to clear the area north of Tropan of any insurgency. The spot has to be clear. We make sure there's a straight line passage from their to Tropan, and set up a defensive perimeter and supply line to the city. Check the forests manually - we don't get sab coverage out here. Anyone who stays here has to keep the place free of rebs, as well. We are not relocating. This will still be our base of command.

The Frozopian Royals gave us control of a thousand soldiers to aid in this mission, and we'll try to get them to give us air coverage. Just to dispell any rumor-there are no rebel planes in the air. Clean sweep will go through the forests to wipe out any indiginous insurgency. Chokehold will set up a defensive on the construction site, and escort the crew there to set up camp. Backpressure will stick between Tropan and the site to keep the lanes open. Swingarm will stay between here and the site to keep in in Royal hands, and provide cover at a moment's notice - set up the miniarts now. Remember, there are already Candrians out there, and they have our IFVs and meds. Find them and lead them back here or to Tropan."

OOC: ah, never realised it wouldn't be big enough.... oops. Oh yeah... and was something done about the minefield that was betwen my trench and your northern one? If no then your men ran over it to get to my trench.


The leader was killed as he crashed and the one behind yelled "Stop!" Just before he was thrown from his own mechanised mount... The ones behind made a hurried show of braking and they colided, but with no real damage done. They hastily got to their feet and began shooting at the Royallists once more.... but it wasn't going to be so easy without the mobiles....

OOC: Argh forgot. Lets just say i was lucky, its not like you had much time to plant many (You also lacked the vehicles to carry many: Snowmobiles.)

IC: The Frozopians far outnumbered the 9 men, and simply concentrated their fire on them, firing a hail of bullets in their direction. The enemy returned fire, and a few Frozopians went down, but a hailstorm of bullets returned.....

OOC: I suggest if you have any survivors, retreat (or try, probaly wont make it) or surrender. Otherwise they all dead

OOC: I don't have time for a full post now, but I'll try to get one up later tonight.

OOC: yeah, i never did have many mines.... they were meant to be anti-vehicle ones too...

The eight men were vastly outnumbered and half their number fell before the rest dropped their guns, and hit the dirt shouting various things- the focus of these were about surrender and generally giving up.

***

In a dark warehouse sat a group... the was a clang and a tall box of light opened. A black Mercedes drove in followed by a large 4x4. Six men armed with Uzis came out of the 4x4 and then two men similarly armed exited the Merc. The former President got out, "We have had no word from our friends in Frozopia... no more shall be sent. As far as I am aware our own government is entirely blind to our whole operation."

Several of the group looked shocked as he said no-more would be sent but they all stayed silent... The silence was broken. There was a loud hiss and the 4x4 exploded out from the back, four of the guards were killed by the explosion. The surviving guards turnde their guns on the outside and opened fire, only to be cut down to high-powered assault rifle shots. The before hunched group had handguns out and the former president carried one too...

Glass shattered. A large section of glass roof caved in and three zip-lines uncoiled down. The nationalists opende fire up the way and to the entrance as Black-clad troopers moved in from both sides.... Only a few moments later and the walls were blood-soaked. Not a single rebel lived, not a single government trooper was wounded...

"Seize fire! Seize fire!" Roared Sergeant Docherty. Stepping forward, he scooped up the enemy soldiers guns.
"Disarm these men." He ordered.
The 4 survivors were stripped naked and removed off any possible weaponry, which was bagged for later intelligence use. The 4 men were then given back their clothes, and pushed into 4 separate HUMVEE's.
"We're bringing you to Tropan military base T1." Spoke Docherty, who was quite frankly glad to get away from the battle front.
"There you will be questioned and imprisoned. If you want my advice, answer all the questions honestly."
The men were hancuffed and watched over by guards in the different HUMVEE's en route to Tropan military base. After 48 hours they arrived at the military base, and were tossed into 4 separate security cells, watched by armed guards and camera's that viewed the cell.
They would be questioned by 4 Royal inquisitors in 2 hours......

<Patrol Echo Three>

The Nightstalkers kept their own weapons pointed straight back at the newly identified Aequatian special forces troops. One man, taller than the others, stood up and walked forward. The soldier who had his rifle trained on the Aequatian commander switched his targets to another commando, taking his weapon away from the McLeodian friendly walking towards Bryer.

The strange voice started again, and it was clear now that it came from the taller man. He walked forward, hardly weighed down at all by teh slightly bulky looking helmet and armour he was wearing, as well as the tactical pistol on his hip, and the machine pistol strapped to his thigh. "Major Bryer, it seems we have been on the same team all along. I am Patrol Sergeant Andrew Thompson, of the McLeodian 23rd Special Forces Regiment. We too mean the Prince no harm, as we were also sent to search for him and any survivors."

The voice fell silent, but Thompsons body language seemed to indicate he was still talking. As one, the McLeodian soldiers raised or holstered their weapons, and the turret mounted cannon traversed forwards, away from the Aequation IFVs. Thompson put both hands on his helmet, disconnected a cable from just above his right shoulder, and lifted it off. His beard, trimmed neatly so as to just fit inside Army regulations, almost instantly froze over from the moisture trapped inside his helmet. A scar ran up one cheek, crossed behind what were most definately not Army issue sunglasses, and continued up his forehead.

"Nice to meet you boys. You have any evac planned, or are you driving out in those things?" he asked, his voice no longer amplified by the helmet, as he pointed to the Strikers.

OOC: Let malkyer post in now, I want some big gun fight here.....

Corporal Alan Brady keyed his radio headset. "Sarge, we're done on our end." Brady and two other men had moved out of their cover once the Frozopians got past them, and during the attack on the rebel camp, set up a semi-circle of anti-personnel mines in the forest behind the Royal troops. A simple click told him that Miscowsky heard, and also signaled that radio silence among the team was now in effect.

The Scout team's three snipers raised their rifles, and waited. A mortar shell landed in the rebel camp with a loud crump, and the snipers fired at the Frozopians at the edge of the forest, the explosion hiding the rifle fire. Another explosion, and the snipers fired again. This time, they moved to new spots of cover, to avoid the enemy figuring out where they were.

The rest of Miscowsky's team fanned out, and took cover behind trees and in shallow holes. They held their rifles steady, but did not fire. They had one more ace in the hole.

Corporal Brady clutched the detonation switch to his chest, and peered over the top of the fallen log he was hiding behind. He just had to wait until the Royals got close enough...

***

Lieutenant Mace could no longer shoot, because his right arm had been torn to shreds by a piece of shrapnel. However, he ran back and forth to the surviving machine gun nests, carrying a large bag of spare clips for the riflemen who were guarding the gunners.

The defense was holding better than he'd anticipated, but that could just be because he'd stationed RIA men at the key perimeter defenses. It wasn't that he didn't trust the rebels under fire, but...he didn't. RIA men, he could depend on. Like that trooper at the north gate, who'd kept shooting at the enemy even after his guard tower collapsed. He'd only stopped when an enemy mortar had landed half a meter away.

As long as they didn't run out of ammunition, they'd do quite well, he thought.

***

"McLeodians and Aequatians," Private Skinner keyed over the radio. Washington clicked an acknowledgement, and hoped Skinner would take the hint. Radio silence. If those mothers see us we're dead. The Scouts' best chance to get at the Prince would be if the foreign troops split up, or if somehow he could get them to split up...his mind raced.

Bryer's heart breathed a sigh of relief as he walked over to the McLeodian commander, his carbine in one hand and pointed to the ground, "It's nice to meet some friendlies, this country's climate is pretty unforgiving," he said as he put the document away and took a small tactical map from a front pocket and a black pen to use as a pointer, "We were going to take him to around here and have our bird pick us up here, these Spartans were temporary and we're ordered to Thermite them once the Pave Low arrives."

The other members of the Major's fireteam stood up and walked over to him weapons lowered as Fireteam Bravo returned to explain the situation to Fireteam Charlie, who were still standing by the Spartan.

The Major looked over at the vehicles and soldiers of the McLeod team, "So, what are we going to do now?"

Just that moment, Sergeant Pearson walked over with Specialist/Corporal Bradley, the squad's field medic, and tapped Bryer on the shoulder, "Maybe we should approach the Prince and get him out of here?"

The Major nodded and led both Pearson and Bradley over to where the Prince and the group of Frozopian soldiers had been standing and watching the entire scene between the JSOF squad and the McLeodian team, "Like I said, I'm Major Bryer, and we're here to bring you guys home."

OOC:two questions....can i join? and can someone give me a summery i know a prince went missing that is it.

Yeh you can join
Summary:
1. Princes convoy ambushed by rebels. Prince survives and flees. He is now on foot, and being rescued (hopefully) now.

2. Frozopians gathered around rebel base and are laying siege. Due to foreign influence, the surprise was lost and the defence was tougher. Still going on.

That pretty much it.

OOC: Sorry Im gonna make this post short, I suddenly signed out (For no reason) And lost my original post, DAMN.

IC:
"Snipers" Roared a Private, just before his brains got blown out.
"Get down!" Shouted Klopper.
The companies of soldier dived for cover, casting glances around the forrest for snipers.
"Companies Blue Hawk and Avalanche, go into the forrest, towards where those bullets came from. Take it slow, look for snipers and use plenty of cover as well as your infra red goggles. Go."
"Ok. I want everyone to fire into those machine gun nests, especially the snipers,"He glanced at Smith.
"Alot of them are dead with the bombs and all, but I dont like the risk. Keep their heads down. Wait for my order."
"You 5, collect those bombs and drop them at the base of the gate. Be quick, run for your lives. Run when we begin firing."
"NOW!" He roared. Immediatly all the men swung their fire upon the threats to the 5 men, who sprinted to the gate. Droping their explosives at the base, they turned to run back. 3 Went down to the unknow snipers, and 1 got shot down by a rebel, but the last made it back.
The South gate erupted in flames that illuminated the night sky. 10 Companies rushed forwards, still firing upon any threats. Diving for cover behind the nearest building, they did what was like a instinct to them and began to dig small holes up, while their comrades covered them......

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b345/MasterC_/RebelCampattack1.gif



The Prince stepped forward, "I am Prince Raulph, nice to meet you. This is Sergeant Conor Anderson." Conor scooped up his weapons, ignoring the foreigners. The men followed suit.
"So you will be giving us a lift?" Spoke the Prince.........

The Royal Inquisitors took 10 minutes to obtain the information of the 4 men.
By the end of it 2 of the men had lost a eye each, all of the men had severe burns along their chest and another man had been castrated.

"Well?" Asked Master Phillip's, quite obviously discusted by the sight of the inquisitor who was covered in blood.
"Seems they were serving a Ex-Prime minister, who was biiter over the loss of power. He wanted to extend his influence into Frozopia."
"Ok. Tell no one. Kill the prisoners. A firing squad."

The 4 men were marched into the cold waste lands, near to naked. After half an hour of blistering colds, the already wounded men were lined up in front of 15 soldiers using rifles.
"No....no....no please god no!" Whimpered one of the prisoners.
"Fire!" Roared the leading officer.
The bullets whipped into the prisoners. They were buried in unmarked graves, and forgotten for all eternity....

OOC: oh goody they're dead. Hmm..... damn, with my rebels all gone I can't think of another post....

OOC: A slight problem. Each gatling gun fires roughly a hundred rounds a second. There is no way that five men could run straight at two of them, plant explosives, and then run away. With luck, they might make it about four or five meters before they were gunned down. Please take that into consideration.

IC:
Two companies of Frozopian Royals headed back into the forest, looking for the snipers. Sergeant Miscowsky shot a glance at Corporal Brady, who grinned widely. Time to earn some hazard pay, he thought.

Corporal Brady counted slowly, observing the movement of the Royals into the forest. They were being reasonably cautious, moving slow and using cover. He figured they likely had IR equipment, so just as a precaution he switched on his IR shield.

As the front line of Royals reached an area about two meters from the first line of mines, he thumbed the detonation switch, and the mines exploded. The mines were in excellent unision, and the whole group sounded like a single artillery piece firing. Thousands on square-centimeter steel cubes tore into the Frozopians at supersonic speeds, tearing through flesh and armor with equal ease.

Amidst the screams of the Royals, Brady moved behind a tree and turned off the IR shield, in order to preserve the chemical battery. He looked to his left and up, into the tree where one of the snipers was hiding. He sent Brady a thumbs-up, and signaled that he'd let him know when to detonate the second line of mines.

OOC:
"Ok. I want everyone to fire into those machine gun nests, especially the snipers,"He glanced at Smith.
"Alot of them are dead with the bombs and all, but I dont like the risk. Keep their heads down. Wait for my order."
I thought this covered that?

IC:

Company Avalaunche was ripped to shreds, and Superior Cormac was very relieved that they had decided in the dual line strategy.
Unfortunately Blue Hawk company was blinded by the explosion, due to their infra red goggles. Worse some of the company had been closer than they should of been and were ripped up in the blast.
Mines goddamn it thought Cormac, reaching for his radio.
"Sir remote activated mines behind us, or at least we think so. They all erupted simultaneously. Worse there maybe more. We lost 18 men sir."

Cormac pulled back on his infra red goggles, and spotted the figure in the tree's. He wasn't the only one. The company turned their fire on the figure, hurling bullets in his direction.

The men marched north, with a backround of incessant clicks of far-off gunfire. Already, half an hour. All 400 men, with 5 tanks.
Inside tank 3, Greg was steering the 30-ton dwarf with ease, despite the bitter cold.
"Damn, you'd think if they put an airconditioner in these things, they'd put heating, too."
"That's why they wanted you to put on a coat, G."
A pound on the turret. A voice broke in, through a shear wall of static. Less talky, more drivy. We gotta get there by 3, remember? We gotta secure the CP before Cleaners get there.
Greg shut off his comlink. "I hate infantry. They just don't get what it's like to drive a tank. They get thier nice thermals, we get stuck in a cold box with wheels."
Shutup, man. When you ain't here, we gotta WALK through all this.
"Pat, turn your com off. I don't wanna hear them. If they wanna talk, they'll slide open the hatch."
Another infantryman bashed on the turret.
"Whatever, G. I'm gonna unlock the hatch and try to get a thermal."

TC Pat slid his chair back, and pulled the latch for the top access hatch. The red lights on the inside of the tank blinked before Greg flipped a switch on the console.

"Hey, any of you got a spare thermal or two?"

The infantrymen on the top were mostly silent. Everyone had a few thermal jackets, but around here they were worth a lot. No one budged - not the machine gunner on top of the turret, the three riflemen on the sides, not even the rocket arty or loader on the front of the tank.
"Eh... listen, I'll trade 3 packs of cigs and two Hersheys bars for one."
The machinegunner's head perked up.
"What kinda Hersheys?"
"Umm... Milk Chocolate, one almond, and I think a Dark."
"Alright. Gimmie the Dark and Milk."
The machinegunner flipped over and reached into his pack, pulling out a thick thermal jacket.
"Who else has a spare thermy?"
One of the riflemen turned around, facing the hatch. "Gonna trade the same kinda stuff for it?"
"If you want."
"Nah, I don't like chocolate."
"Four cig rations and a pocketknife?"
"I already got three of 'em, I don't thing I need any more cigs for now."
"Fine, how 'bout a P2 clip? I got plenty in this thing."
"Sure."
The rifleman reached back to his pack and pulled it to his front. He reached in and pulled out his spare thermal, rolled up into a ball to save space.
"There ya go, pleasure doing buisness."
"You too."
Pat lowered back down into the tank, sliding the hatch closed. He moved the chair up, till he was face to face with his LCD screens. "I didn't realize that there was like 6 guys on this think. Didn't know they could all fit."
"Those infs would do anything to keep from walking, even if it meant they'd be the first to get killed."
"At least their easy to bribe. Here's your thermal."
Pat handed Greg the rolled up thermal, and took a thermos of coffee that was lying in the middle of the chairs on a makeshift cupholder.
"Thanks."
"No problem. Turn your com back on before MC starts yelling at us. I don't wanna deal with Sarge on an empty stomach."

The tank rolled on, surrounded by a dozen rented trucks and a handful of tanks.

OCC: I want a rebel to hit one of the tanks. I don't wanna be left out of the combat. ;) Nothing REALLY serious, just enough to get green troops shaken up.

A small rebel force watched the convoy.
"A few tanks? 500 men maybe?"
"Perhaps."
"Cant be done."
"The Snow warriors did it."
"I hate those bastards, did they actually think they could force us to join them."
"Yeh well now they getting butchered by the Royalist. Im not sure who I hate more, these days."
"Butchered my arse. looks like they putting up a fight."
"Maybe. But they will lose. Honestly letting themselves penned in like that."
"Yeh. Maybe If we call your cousin, we can take these ugly bitches."
"Yeh I suppose. He could bring maybe 300? that'd make us 650? He's been stealing some good guns too. Plenty of anti-armour."
"Yeh. Still got that old radio?"
"Yup."
The rebel searched through his bag, and pulled out a 30 year old radio.
"Hey my good cousin. We reckon we can ambush a force here. Finally get some glory for the Wast land wolves. What you think? Need all 300 though. We at the home ground, where we used to live."
a moment later.
"I hear ya. Be there in half an hour. You track them, we will catch up."
"Ok. Thought for a minute you didn't have your radio on you cos."
"Fool. I always keep mine on and with me."

The rebels watched the convoy, preparing for their strike at glory.....

OOC: I added that before the edit lol, you getting a serious force whether you want it or not.

OCC: Ohhh... let the tank shine! Lil tip - to get a definate kill, you have to hit a MAP tank 4 or 5 times on a plane-face to pop the plate off, otherwise nothing's gonna happen. Although I think rebs would go for the tread or wheels.

"Hey, SaB's showing stuff in the forest."

"Come on, Pat, the General said SaB doesn't work well up here. Something about poor coverage. It's probably a deer or something. Deers don't use RPGs."

Deer? Those are some bigass deer.

"Who's the boot tryin' to be a wiseass?"

The MG. I see stuff too. Everyone's saying I'm crazy.

The rebels struck from two sides, 400 on one and 300 on the other.

Dominic Potter, chucked out of Tropan for being caught drunk and unemployed in the streets, soon learnt to quit drink once he was in the wast lands. Now he served the Wast land Wolves, and was doing everything to gain revenge for the last 10 years of cold and misery.

The men crawled forwards, pushing their mounted machine guns into position, alongside their rifles and SMG's. Dominic shouldered his rifle, lined up a Frozopian soldier sitting in one ontop of the tanks, and bellowed:
"FIRE!"
Gun fire poured from two sides into the central convoy. Other rebels stood up with cheap 1 shot M74's on their shoulders and fired the rockets into the tanks. Quite a few went stray, and flew wide into the trucks or into the ground..

Now in the minds of the soldiers was a collective cry, something to some up their first experience of combat - Oh Shit! - and for them, it was the truest thing they heard.

One of the M74 oneoffs hit a tank in the wheels. Over the comline, the tank driver/TO was the loudest man on the battlefield. GODDAMMIT! Why on the wheels? Why in this wasteland?

The infantry who could get off their tanks quickly took up cover behind them - for those in the rented trucks that had been hit, there was almost no hope. One went up in flames, bringing almost a dozen soldiers with it.

GET DOWN! FIND SOME COVER! ROCK ARTS, STRAIGHT SHOTS INTO THE FORESTS! FRAG! TANKS! FRAG! Sergent Whittel, mission commander, was the most frantic he'd ever been. He ran up and down the convoy line, dodging bullets like a madman, pumping off a few rounds from his P1 whenever he got the chance. He jumped over the low hanging barrels of the short LBTs, dodging the late shots from the handheld anti-tank guns and the hail of bullets concentrated on them. The tanks aimed their barrels at the forests, loaded with HE-FRAG rounds set to burst a few meters up from where the tank crews thought their specific enemy was. No one was certain of anything except that 15 men were already down. GRENADE IT! DROP SOME INTO THE FORESTS! Almost at once, a hail of gernades flew over tanks, over the charred husk of a truck, or over rocks or snow banks. Whether they'd blow up any enemy was up to fate - they couldn't see a damn thing.

Suddenly, the roar of the miniature rocket artillaries silenced all else. A dozen rockets, following a low path, quickly flew into random areas of forest, exploding in a bright flash of metal and heat.

Keep the place saturated with fire! Just ward'em off! MG - hit the east end! Infantry, wipe west clean! Tanks, fire wherever you can, beat the bastards back to the forest. Frozzys, we need aircover! Give us an ETA! Quick!

<Rebel Encampment, Frozopia>

Two dark painted shapes shot across the forest, ten miles from the base. Tehy flew in perfect formation, their wings curving slightly, and the fuselage warping gently to keep them stable in the turbulant air. The pilot of the left most aircraft, Hawk One, flicked a switch on a panel to his left. That done, he flicked the tiny aircraft into a nimble 9G turn towards the base on a low-level run.

All of a sudden, the Frozopian radios crackled into life, and a message played through twice before fading into silence. "Frozopian Royalist troops, this is Hawk One of the McLeodian Royal Air Force. All troops currently assaulting the main gates, hold your positions, dig in, and keep your heads down."

Air base TA1:

"Crap." Spoke the Superior
"They need air cover." Spoke the tecky.
"We got any armed Raptors in the air?"
"Nope."
"Prepare them."
"Yes sir. We got some Raptors armed already."
"Ok. 15 minutes I say."
"Yeh."
"Candrian Empire soldiers; ETA will be 15 minutes. I repeat 15 minutes. Sending in Raptors. Over."
"Sounds like hell down there."
"Makes you glad you joined the air force huh?"
"Damn right."

The rebels:
"Goddamn tanks! Take those bastards out!" Roared Dominic Potter.
A Rebel stepped up but a stray bullet smacked him from his feet.
Potter stepped forwards, grabbing the rocket launcher. Taking careful aim he shot straight into a tank, doing little damage.
"Bastard tanks! Invinsible! BASTARDS!!"
Pulling his rifle to his shoulder, he took aim at the Frozopian soldiers. Bang. dead. "Bastard." Bang. Dead. "Bastard." This muttering continued as he fragged soldier after soldier. A shell exploded a few feet to his right but he ignored it has it kill 5 rebels. More grenades and shells poured around him, but by some miracle he was unharmed while every man 10 meters either side of him was dead.
"Bastard. Bastard. Bastard." He muttered to himself taking careful aim and firing again. He was a bitter man.
The rebels in the forrest were taking serious losses. The enemy fire was inaccurate, but there was enough to do proper damage. A 100 Rebel casualties of which 40 were dead and another 40 were unable to fight. They would die soon....

"Frozopian Royalist troops, this is Hawk One of the McLeodian Royal Air Force. All troops currently assaulting the main gates, hold your positions, dig in, and keep your heads down."

The Frozopian soldiers ran for cover,
"What the hell?" Shouted one.
"Just take cover you stupid bastard!" His friend replied. Some ran for the forrest. Others, already in the base, could only throw themselves in the small trenches and holes, that were quite deep by now. Digging underneath the snow, they formed a small protection against whatever may come.......

OOC: need my bed. Continue this tomorrow.

The StealthHawks split up, popped up for a split second, and launched their attack. Four miniature high-explosive warheads dropped from the bomb bays of each craft, accelerating rapidly before slamming into the gate and the gatling gun emplacements. Their tiny 20lb thermium nitrate warheads provided enough explosive power to disable a battle tank. Eight huge fireballs lit up the sky along the front of the base, melting snow instantly, and causing devastating shockwaves of pressure that could easily knock a man off his feet a hundred yards away.

Before the sound of explosion had cleared, a high pitched buzzing noise could be heard, and a row of tiny explosions peppered the defensive emplacements before tearing across the base, into the barracks, and stopped. Finally, the two craft flew overhead, illuminated by the fires raging below them. The lead craft dipped a wing slightly as it flew over the Frozopian troops, before they formed up again, and sped off towards the beleagured Candrian convoy.

KILL THE BASTARD!

No matter how loud the sergent screamed into his radio, no one took a good shot at this, this rebel's miracle. He already doubled the number of casualties; mostly killing off Frozopian soldiers, the unlukier ones to get dragged along with the Chokehold group.

Can nobody take this guy out? Sgt. Whittel was frustrated. Apparently, despite a lifetime of training, many soldiers weren't great shots, or didn't know how to shoot without getting a bullet to the head. Whit ran to a tank, which on it's west side showed the signs of a failed hit from a small HEAT round. He ducked down to right beside the treads - no small feat, considering these tanks were a mere 5 1/10 feet high. "I ain't gonna let that guy kill more people here. Not on my watch."

He slowly crawled to the edge of the tank's rear. The cackle of the machine guns on top shot to a beat - TAT TAT TAT ; TAT TAT TAT; - hopefully enough distraction to keep Whittel from focusing on his fear. He sat up. He knew his clip was empty, and threw his P2 rifle at the standing Rebel sharpshooter. He pulled out his pistol, another foreign built number, a P1. He peaked around the edge of the tank. How many shots does this guy have? He's been hitting men left and right!

Nows not the time for chessboard logic. I gotta take him out.
He leaned past the edge of the tank, dropping onto the flattened, sooty snow. He pumped a few shots towards this Rebel miracle. Soon he emptied an entire clip.

The Sarge ducked back behind the tank. "15 minutes? Ah, boy, you guys better be bringin' some Napalm!" He switched to his comlink. Boys, keep your cool. We're getting air support. Just keepem' from killing any more people! Someone gimmie a toll count!

It was a full ten seconds before any response was heard. To Sgt. Whit, it seemed like forever. Sir, it's at 31! A dozen are Frozzy, 15 Cands, and 4 Civies!

"Christ, 4 Civvies? This ain't gonna look good on the news."

OOC: <snip>

I thought this covered that?

Not really. I'm saying that no five men ever made could just run up to a gate in between two such guns and plant enough explosives to destroy said gate.

IC:

"Fuck," muttered Brady as the bullets rained on the log he was using for cover. He thumbed the detonation switch for the second line of mines, which earned him a brief respite. He heard Sergeant Miscowsky's voice over the radio.

"Scout Team Alfa, this is Miscowsky, our position is compromised. Get out of here." There was a brief chorus of acknowledgements, and then the Scout team abandoned their position, disappearing into the forest. None had been killed, due to Brady's quick reaction with the second group of mines, but several had been wounded. They'd get far enough away to pause for a moment and take care of bleeders, and then vanish for good.

***

Lieutenant Mace sighed, took a deep breath, and sighed again. "Right," he said to no one in particular. Most of the RIA men were dead or wounded, and the rebel will was starting to crack. Mace picked up the comm unit.

"All units, this is Lieutenant Mace. Retreat to pre-arranged rendezvous pionts. Fall back, repeat, fall back." He though for a moment. The north and west gates had all but been breached, and the southern gate was about to collapse, now that Miscowsky's team had been forced to bug out. That left the east gate. He chambered a round in his pistol, and headed that direction.

With luck, most of the rebels would escape into the forest, and the RIA rearguard would keep the Royals off their backs for a time. He made a mental note to have one of the Scout teams lead the Royals off in the wrong direction. He smiled. It was pretty easy for twelve men to make enough radio noise for a couple of companies.

***

The rebels began an organized retreat out of the east gate, with the RIA holding their positions as long as possible before leaving. Most of the camp garrison made it out, and split up along pre-determined routes to reach the various rendezvous posts. Pickets and booby traps would prevent the Royals from following unnoticed, and the RIA rearguard was prepared to give any pursuers a very bloody nose.

Back at the camp, the bodies of some three hundred rebels lay strewn about, and in the makeshift hospital there was a group of close to two hundred wounded. These were the ones who'd been in too bad conditions to be moved out with the retreating forces. Most of the camp defenders had been injured to some degree.

Interestingly, none of the RIA fighters were taken alive...

The Major nodded before motioning to the Spartans, "It's probably best that we get you boys inside somewhere warm and have something to eat, it'll be a few hours before we get to the evacuation point. If you have any wounded, Specialist Bradley can look them over on the way there and take care of them until we get back to Tropan."

The medic pulled his rucksack off his back and followed the group as the rest of the fireteam helped the Frozopian soldiers and the Prince towards the entry ramp of the passenger compartment on their armoured vehicle.

"Sir there retreating through the East gate!"
"Damn it! We've taken too many losses for them to butterfly out of here. Make sure you follow."
"Sir they got rear guard, and the forrest is making it hard to breach it! We got 15 companies on their trail sir."
"Keep at it men!"
"Yes sir!"

Superior Willis turned to his fellow officers,
"Their heading East through the forrest, the fools. Go intercept them. I want you to be infront of them when you attack. Take 15 companies. Move!"
"Yes sir."
Willis picked up the radio,
"West gate trench? You hear me?"
"Yes sir!"
"Take the rest of the base. Theres little defence any more. All of the mounted machine guns are down. Just march in and move."
"How many losses we take?" Questioned Willis.
"1300 casualties sir. 300 Will be able to fight again, given a day or two. The rest are dead or dying, with maybe 40 who will live crippled."
"Inject the crippled. No soldier should live like that."
"Yes sir."

In the West gate the few Frozopian soldiers moved through. The whole base was abandonned, and the few that had remained were killed. Superior Loxton walked into what looked like a temporary hospital. Disgusted by the smell of corruption, he ran fron the hospital; "Sir. Injured rebels in hospital. Looks like 200 sir. Obviously couldn't flee sir."
"Burn it down."
"Yes sir."
The soldiers walked through the hospital, throwing gasoline untop of the wounded and on the walls. Other soldiers through gasoline on the roof. Finally they retreated to the outside, and went to look through the other buidlings.....
Loxton watched the scene, smoking a cigarrette. This he tossed into the hospital. The building erupted in flames, and a strong smell of burning flesh hit his nose. The screams of the wounded lasted half an hour. They all died.

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

Rebel ambush:
Dominic Potter took another shot, then another. Bullets whipped by him, but he was unhurt.
"Bastard. Bastards. BASTARDS!"
Something hard and hot struck him in the chest. Another one hit him. Followed by two more. Dominic looked down, with an expression of surprise. He realised he had dropped his rifle. Reaching for it, he realised he no longer had the strength to stand. His mouths moved as in to say something, but all he managed to do was spit blood out. He died.

5 Rebels were watching the convoy, doing their best not to gain attention.
"Prepared the HUMVEE's?"
"Yes. Glad I stole them now."
"Wired up?"
"Yep. C4 Explosives. Each HUMVEE's Packed with them. Send them into the centre of this convoy and BOOM!"
The other rebels laughed.
"And you got the detonator. How many HUMVEE's?"
"5."
"Who's driving them?"
"We got volunteers."
"Good."

Out of seemingly nowhere 5 HUMVEE's accelerated toward the convoy. Driving at 100 miles an hour they shot towards the convoy.........

"Enemy spotted Raptor 1. Commencing fires on heaven over."
"Make sure you leave that convoy alone. We spray the forrest, over."
The Raptors shot through the air, accelerating forwards to the two sets of rebels. 3 Raptors turned to the large group, the other 3 turned to the smaller group.
"Raptors 1 and 4. Fire....NOW!"
The two raptors dropped a MK-77 each, landing in the centre of the two groups of Rebels. Flames erupted in all directions, the napalm burning the rebels into ashes. Rebels desperately ran from the flames, some heading towardds the convoy in their desperation where they were mercillesly cut down.
"Raptor 1. Seems there are HUMVEE's accelerating towards the convoy."
"Ignore. Turn and Raptors 2 and 5 can take another shot, over."
"Yes sir, over."
The Raptors turned in the air, ready to take another shot...

Captain Lahr positioned his rearguard directly in between the fleeing rebel force and the likely approach vector for pursuing Royals. He had a rifle company and a mortar platoon, stiffened with RIA troops. All together, it was about three hundred and sixty men, compared to the smaller Royal force. According to information from Miscowsky's Scout team, each Frozopian company was about fifteen men. Lahr laughed quietly. And people think Malkyeri formations ran small!

According to his snipers, who were using their scoped weapons to observe the Royals, the Royalist force entering the forest numbered between two and three hundred. Due to the conflicting reports, he decided to average the numbers, giviing him about two hundred and fifty hostiles. An understrength company, at best.

He spread his men out, putting a light machine gun, usually an M249, between each squad. They would create a field of interlocking fire, forcing the Royals to advance in narrow corridors that would make it easy for his riflemen to kill them. His snipers, in the trees and behind fallen logs, would kill the officers, and anyone with a heavy weapon such as a mortar.

With his line prepared, he had nothing to do but wait...

OOC:
Ive got about 15 companies following you from the East gate, and another 15 intercepting you from the North Easter Trench, so where is this line of defence?

OOC:
Ive got about 15 companies following you from the East gate, and another 15 intercepting you from the North Easter Trench, so where is this line of defence?

OOC: A few hundred meters south of where those two groups will meet

Over the roaring fire of the Napalm bursts of flame, radio contact with the troops wasn't quite dead yet. A few words made it through the loud static cackle.
Sir, coupla HUMVEE's runnin towards us!

It took the Sarge almost a second to make sense of that statemet. HUMVEEs? We don't have HUMVEEs...

"Oh, goddammit."

LISTEN UP, I don't know who's they are, but get as far away from those HUMVEEs as possible. They definatly aren't ours! Keep guns trained on them, but DO NOT SHOOT unless they fire on you. Got it?

Hey, Frozzys, are those HUMVEEs yours?

"If those guys could napalm the hell outta the reb riflemen, why didn't they hit the Hummers?"

Sgt. Whit moved out of his perch behind the tank, seeing a HUMVEE running right into the middle of the convoy, and another farther up. There wasn't as much firing now - if the rebels didn't die in the gunfight or napalm bursts, they were mostly hiding under snowbanks to keep from being targets of the next round of fireballs from Royal airpower.

Take cover, we don't know who's in those things. Watch your backs, though, there still are rebs crawin' all over this place.

Captain Lahr positioned his rearguard directly in between the fleeing rebel force and the likely approach vector for pursuing Royals. He had a rifle company and a mortar platoon, stiffened with RIA troops. All together, it was about three hundred and sixty men, compared to the smaller Royal force. According to information from Miscowsky's Scout team, each Frozopian company was about fifteen men. Lahr laughed quietly. And people think Malkyeri formations ran small!

According to his snipers, who were using their scoped weapons to observe the Royals, the Royalist force entering the forest numbered between two and three hundred. Due to the conflicting reports, he decided to average the numbers, giviing him about two hundred and fifty hostiles. An understrength company, at best.

He spread his men out, putting a light machine gun, usually an M249, between each squad. They would create a field of interlocking fire, forcing the Royals to advance in narrow corridors that would make it easy for his riflemen to kill them. His snipers, in the trees and behind fallen logs, would kill the officers, and anyone with a heavy weapon such as a mortar.

With his line prepared, he had nothing to do but wait...

The Frozopian soldiers made slow progress through the forrest. Everyone was wary of an ambush, or a rear guard. Crouching low and using plenty of cover, they followed the obvious signs of fleeing rebels. Ahead of the main force were 3 companies of scouts, who looked for traps and ambushes. Using both infra-red imaging and standard binoculars, they scanned the route the main force were taking.
Private Beg's swore under his breath. He was a bare 10 meters away from a few soldiers clustered around some sort of light machine gun. Luckily they had not spotted him. Slowly lying down, he signalled his company 10 meters behind him to do the same. Crawling on his stomache, he returned to the rest of the company. Using sign language he indicated to them there was a line of defence ahead with what looked like machine guns. One of the soldiers returned to the main group, and began a whispered conversasion with the officers:
"Line of defence a few 100 meters ahead. Rear guard maybe."
"Ok. Ill tell the Superior."
Willis was radio'd the order, who passed it onto the 15 companies advancing from the north-east trenches;
"'Ware a defensive line. They must be a few 100 meters ahead of you now."
"Yes sir." Came a whispered reply.
"Whatever you do, don't let the enemy dictate the terms, I dont want you boys to be driven onto a killing ground."
"Yes sir."
The two groups were crawling forward now. They knew where their enemy was.....

Armstrong breathed a sigh of relief, and thumbed the 'talk' key on his radio headset. "He saw us, Cap'n."

A dozen meters away, Captain Lahr nodded slowly. "Let him go, Jake. He'll report back to his superiors where you are, and that's where they'll focus their men." Another Royalist force was moving in from the northwest, and that had forced Lahr to alter his plans somewhat. He'd bent his line back into a sort of V-shape so as to avoid being flanked, but the maneuver had the added benefit of making his force look smaller than it really was. With luck, these Frozopians would attack head-on. A frontal assault on an entrenched position was a good way to get your men killed, and accomplish little in the process. Normally, he wouldn't count on the enemy doing something like that, but...he was facing men who'd charged machine gun nests with less than a squad. Brave, to be sure, but not very clever.

Still. His goal was simple, just to hold long enough to ensure that the main body got away, and then disperse into the woods. A simple plan for a simple goal. He grinned. No battle plan survived contact with the enemy.

"They are entrenched in."
"No more crazy attacks today. Leave them. It will only take half an hour to go around."
"Sir I suggest we distract them. Make them think we are dedicated here."
"Ok. I want minimal losses though. 5 companies will stay here. All they have to do is stay low and fire in the enemies direction. Keep the gun fire flowing.
I want the same from the North attack."
"Yes sir."
The 5 companies on either side of the enemy formation crawled towards the enemy position. It was easy to remain unseen. Taking cover behind trees and logs, they began fire upon the enemy.
At the same time the rest of the force began a extended treck around the enemy position, alert for enemy movement. There was more good news. The rest of the force to destroy the rebels was heading parrallel the forrest and the predicted enemy path. Except they were travelling in HUMVEE's. They would once again encircle the rebels, and this time they didn't have any protection against them......

The once loud roar of the diesel engine of the Spartan had become a dull drone to the occupants of the passenger compartment as the journey over the snow-covered plains led on into its second hour, Bryer moved over to Daniels' seat where she was overlooking the tactical map on the BICS display, "What's our ETA, Lieutenant?"

"About an hour longer, I called ahead and the Pave Low is on its way, they'll arrive shortly after we will," replied Daniels, "It's been quiet, but we're still in a potentially hostile area, so I'll need you boys to be ready to hop to it if the shit hits the fan."

"All right, I'll make sure they're good to go," Bryer said as he patted Daniels on the shoulder and made his way back to the Frozpians and his fireteam. The remaining members of the squad were riding in the other vehicle as both made their way to the pickup zone.

Humvees, Private Kowalski thought. He'd heard about the Humvee that a patrol had ambushed and annihilated in a few seconds. The bastards don't learn, do they? Shaking his head, He shouldered his Eier rocket, and waited. The Humvees wouldn't be able to come into the forest proper, unless the Frozopians wanted to get their men slaughtered, but they could provide suppression fire for the infantry, and that was were Kowalski and several others came into the picture. Any vehicle that started firing at the forest edge, or tried to ferry men around, would quickly find itself on the recieving end of a barrage of rockets.

***

The crack of a sniper's rifle signaled the beginning of the fighting in the forest. Several more shots followed, trying to lure the Royals closer where Lahr's riflemen could engage them. Lahr keyed his radio, and issued final orders. "When they get in range, I want a volley of rifle grenades, then fire at will." Down the line, there was a clattering as the men fixed the explosives to the barrels of their guns. Lahr took a deep breath, and said, "Go to, men. Screw a bloody nose, let's tear their arm off!"

The Frozopian soldiers had their orders. Staying back as far as possible, they did little but return the enemy fire. The other companies were making the long treck around the enemy defence line, and all the Frozopians had to do was pretend they were being bogged down at the line....

Outside of the forrest the various HUMVEE's and other personnel carriers were now at a position where they reckon they had over taken the rebels.
Pulling to a hault, 40 companies of Frozopian soldiers dismounted.
"Superior Patrick." Spoke Superior Willi's through the radio.
"You will be leading this force. You are to interecept the rebels, and to kill them. Keep alert, and kill as many of the bastards as you can."
"Yes sir."
The 40 companies headed towards the forrest.....

OOC: How about something to do with the Prince, even if it's just a quick post about how he feels about being dragged home by another nation's soldiers.

Back home thought the prince. Its been a rough few days. But now I'm going home The Prince wasn't sure how he felt about this. It had been nice to escape the body guards who wouldn't let him even enter the main town, and father who always seemed to disapprove of his sons adventuress attitude, and his supposed 'weakness' because they disagreed over the treatment of the outcasts.
Conor was unhappy. He hated being dependent upon others. Turning to the man known as Bryer, he asked:
"How did the King retalliate to us getting ambushed? Have they sent another force into the waste-lands?"
Prince Raulph looked up;
"Conor, Im sure these questions can wait till we get home."
"I suppose, your majest. I do not like being couped up in this thing."
"I know Conor, but we are almost home. And its alot better than walking."
"Yes, your majesty."

OCC: I'm waiting for those HUMVEE's to 'asplode.

Im sure you can RP that yourself, its gonna be your losses.

OCC: Alrighty, some 'splodin' Humvee's coming right up.

IC:

It had fallen silent. There was little gunfire now, every Candrian or Frozopian loyalist was watching the HUMVEEs that ran towards the center, and every rebel was sure not to shoot and give themselves away to hardening Candrian soldiers, or Frozopian sharpshooters.

What the hell is going on with those things?

Sgt. Whit was nervous. He'd never been in such an awkward situation - in the middle of a gunfight, and transports come in out of nowhere?

A few curious Candrian soldiers, gaining a false sense of security, moved from thier makeshift entrenchments. They walked to a transport cars, about 10 soldiers. "Open the doors, tell us who you are!"

Nothing moved within the car. The driver remained almost frozen - looked more like a lifeless marrionet than anything. The soldiers moved closer. "Hey, buddy, are you alright?"

The driver perked his head up. From outside, the soldiers could see he was talking, but couldn't hear him.

"What the. - "

The sudden explosion took them by surprise. Death came instantly to 5 of the soldiers. Some were injured horribly - peices of metal jammed into their chests, and soon, they would die as well.

SHIT!

The Sarg' had an immediate response to the devistation.

Take out the Humvees! Keep the hell away from them! Tanks, Anti armor darts, those sabot things! Aim for the driver! Everyone, keep cover!

Sir, incoming aircraft!

"I hope to God that's more air support. Try to link me with them, so we can tag and ID them!"

"Raptor 1, explosions on the ground, over."
Ah so thats what those HUMVEE's were for Thought the pilot.
"Ignore it Raptor 4. Raptors 2 and 5 commence bombing of rebels over."
The Raptors swooped in low, letting off another blast of napalm. Rebels ran everywhere screaming, diving in the snow anything to stop the flames.

The rebels were nervous now. The napalm was taking its toll, as was the enemy fire.
The leader turned to the rest;
"Seize fire. I have a plan."
A minute later and the rebels held a white flag in the air...

Captain Lahr hated this waiting. The Frozopians had not advanced, instead hunkering down to return fire. Rebel and RIA snipers and mortar teams were keeping the Royals' heads down, but neither side could effectively engage one another with rifle fire. Some soldiers took potshots at the enemy, but more often than not Royal snipers killed them after a single burst of rounds.

The situation would likely change soon. One of Major Barton's spy-eyes had confirmed that a Royal force at least twice the size of the one to Lahr's west was moving to encircle him. When that happened, he'd likely have to pull back and disperse his men into the forest. They'd hook up with the main force over the next few days.

Listening to the steady whump, crump of the mortars, he milled over his other options. He couldn't surrender. He wasn't worried about himself, because the RIA men would fight to the death no matter what, but he was concerned about the rebels. The Royals had burned the hospital at the camp, along with two hundred injured men and non-combatants. Idiots, he thought scornfully. Now they'll get no prisoners. The only rebels who knew that the foreigners helping them came from Malkyer were Ice and his cabal of the leaders, and Major Barton would see to it that none of them fell into Royalist hands.

With a little more time, or if the Royals had been more dependent on computers, the rebellion would have had a fighting chance. Now with their base of operations destroyed, it was likely many of them would try to slip back into mainstream society. Lahr shook his head to clear it of wandering thoughts, and brought his attention back to the battle at hand...

"Ok now we head south. We will appear behind the enemy defence line." Spoke the commander to the ring of officers surrounding him, perched on various logs and the like."
"We have 20 companies here. We can end this resistance quickly. The rebels are being pursued by our HUMVEE's. We think these are foreigners, so prisoners are ideal, but your safety takes priority. We close this trap on them, and it should be over."
"Yes sir."
The rebels carefully headed south, to outflank the enemy line. Scattered and wary, they made slow but steady pace.
The enemy will be crushed thought the commander.

"Sir... a white flag... they surrender?"

Unusual.

Listen up. Tanks roll near them first, then infantry. I wanna make sure it's safe - watch you flanks and rear.

"Why would they surrender? They had mostly an advantage... and they could always retreat into the forests and detonate the other Humvees..."

Reload your guns - I'm expecting a firefight! Tanks - HE FRAG. Don't shoot unless they threaten.

The large MH-53J Pave Low helicopter came in low just above the trees until it reached the open plains, it circled around and came in slow to where the Spartan armoured carriers were sitting with the JSOF team set about, forming a perimeter before the Prince and the Frozopian soldiers disembarked into the open air.

Bryer walked over and waved the helicopter's pilot directions for landing, as the heavy aircraft came in even lower, its large blades kicked up the snow and created what seemed like a miniature blizzard. The loadmaster jumped off the rear boarding ramp and walked over to the major as the rotors kept turning, "Let's go, Major, we don't have all day!"

Bryer nodded as he signalled his team to retrieve the group from the vehicle and bring them over to the waiting helicopter. As the group was taken from the vehicle along with Lieutenant Daniels and the other vehicle crew, remaining members of the team retrieved the heavy equipment from the cargo Spartan as the squad's field engineer prepared the thermite grenade that would render the vehicles unoperable to anyone else.

"Fire in the hole!" shouted the engineer as explosions of flame poured from the first vehicle and the entire group turned momentarily to watch as he walked over and did the same to the other Spartan before turning and starting in a jog towards the helicopter.

"Come on, everyone in and we're out of here!" shouted Bryer as he made sure everyone entered the cargo hold of the Pave Low before he stepped on himself behind the loadmaster. It was only a few seconds before the helicopter lifted off from the burning armoured carriers and set its course to the TA1 Airbase in Tropan City.

"We wish to talk to your leaders! ONLY!" Roared the rebel through the megaphone.
The volunteer had enough explosives under his clothes to blow anything up within a 10meter radius. It would be triggered by the other rebels.
Come little fishy. Take the bait.

The Prince watched the landscape go past. Turning to the Aequation soldiers he said: "You will be rewarded for this. That I promise you."
The landscape was quite beautiful.
When you wern't being chased across it.

OOC: Just to let you know, my line is a wide V running northeast-southwest, so if you're heading south, you're either in front of me or heading away from me.

IC:

Lahr was growing tired of twiddling his thumbs. The bold course often proves the best, he thought. A flurry of hand signals, and his non-coms were running up and down the line, issuing new orders.

The men, lying prone in the snow, rose onto one knee and fired a volley of rifle grenades. The projectiles soared into the Royalist line, exploding in balls of fire and clouds of deadly shrapnel. The men then charged the Royal line, roaring like demons of the pit. Many fell to Royal bullets, but most did not.

The Heavy Weapons Platoon's time-on-target fire was excellent; there wasn't five seconds between the beginning of the charge and the last mortar shell hitting the enemy. Another few seconds, and the rebels were upon them, fighting with rifle, pistol, grenade, and bayonet. A few wicked-looking knives flashed in the battle; those would be the RIA men.

As far as Lahr could tell, the two forces were of roughly equivalent size, but his rebels had the distinct advantage of surprise. He doubted the Royals would expect this, given their own dismal performance against the pillboxes at Base One. Of course, Lahr was not charging concrete fortifications spewing a hundred rounds a minute with only a squad. Behind him, difficult to hear of the noise of the battle, his snipers continued to pick off enemy officers, further disrupting the chain of command.

Then his radio chirped. "Andy, this is Major Morrentes. I'm bringing up the 2nd Battalion. ETA is about thirty minutes, but the lead elements should be there sooner. Hold on." Lahr laughed as he shot at a group of Royals. The trap was sprung.

The forest to the southwest seemed to explode as bullets and rockets tore into the Royals there, who were already engaged with Lahr's flank. "This is Captain Brady, K Company has engaged the enemy, repeat, we have engaged the enemy."

Reports flooded onto the radio waves as company and platoon leaders led their men into combat. After a few moments, Morrentes spoke again. "Attention, this is Major Morrentes. I have an offer for the Royalist leader. Twenty-four hours truce, so that we can collect our wounded and get them help. You will, of course, be allowed to collect yours as well. I suggest you take me up on that, because other than complete and unconditional surrender, it's all I'm authorized to accept."

The Grenades cannoned into the scattered Frozopians to little affect. They were spread out far enough for this to be of great damage.
The enemy thought the Frozopians would be shocked and destroyed by the melee attack. They were mistaken. Frozopian soldiers prefered hand to hand combat. Not only this but the rebels were weak, half starved by years of malnourishment.
However they were scattered. The small group of Frozopians who were actually able to face the charging enemy stood no chance after their first volley, with half the group gone from the grenades.
The other Companies of Frozopians heard the gun fire. Running through the forrest they walked upon the savagery of close combat. But while all the rebels were clustered over one point, the Frozopians were stretched in 1 line either side of the cluster. They leveled their SMG's. They fired.
Vicious volleys of machine gun fire whipped into the rebels from alot of directions.
The enemy had made a mistake at last. They had thrown away all their cover in one last ditch effort. Now they were paying for it, as rebel after rebel dropped dead. Some rebels leapt for cover and tried to return fire, but they were shot from their feet.....

"We will not accept your offer, I repeat we will not accept your offer. Your rebel forces are being cut to pieces. Now you must die."

"Very well. Stultorum infinitus est numerus."

The Frozopians were confident, Lahr had to give them that. Spread in a thin line, with the rebel force concentrated on attacking their center, they were in a position every commander hoped to one day see his enemy in. The rebels pressed onward, tearing into the enemy. Many fell from Royalist fire, but the majority pressed on. As the initial force of three hundred rebels was whittled down, K Company pushed from outside the circle to relieve them. The rebel force became an anvil, for the Royals to be smashed by K Company's hammer.

The Frozopians on the opposite side of the circle from K Company continued to fire their SMGs, when they heard the distive whump of mortars leaving their tubes. Shells rained down on the Royals farthest from the rebels.

Lahr continued to lead from the front, as his men, rebels and RIA both, fired into the enemy ranks, trying to break the line and split the Royals in two. Compromises in war can end up worse than either extreme, Lahr heard Colonel Moresby's droning voice lecturing at the War College. A small force can be lost, without gaining anything. The Frozopian Royals had fallen into that trap here. Spread out, they were divided into numerous small groups, forming a loose line around the rebels. Doubtless they were hoping for some version of Cannae, but they did not have the men or the luck to pull it off.

Lahr's force, on the other hand, was concentrated and determined. He grinned when he thought through the enemy commander's logic. The rebels had been persecuted and chased across wastelands for years, naturally some would starve, or be weakened and sick. But the enemy had made two key mistakes: assuming that the RIA leadership would put such men in the rearguard, and assuming that the RIA would not bring supplies other than weapons to the rebels. True, some men were indeed sick and weak, but they were not part of the RIA-organized fighting units, at least not the front-line ones. The enemy commander had assumed, and had been wrong. Assumption killed, in war.

Fire burst from the barrels of light machine guns as bayonet and assault rifle smashed the Royal line in an unrelenting wave. To the south, K Company continued an unabated, relentless drive against the enemy there. Mortars exploded among the enemy along the northern edge of the pocket. The thinly-spread Royal line could not hold unless they conslidated their position. Doing that would force them to pause from the fighting, and may make clear their precarious place on the battlefield.

Morrentes keyed his radio, again. "Royalist Commander, this is Major Morrentes. I suggest you reconsider your position. You are not Hannibal, you are not Alexander. This is not Cannae or Gaugamela. For the sake of your own wounded men, surrender! I can promise we'll treat you better than you did our men back at the camp, but only if you stop fighting now."

Pearson and a few members of the team were noticably intrigued by the offer until Bryer entered the compartment from the cockpit, "That's a generous offer, but I'm afraid we cannot take anything as a reward, we have merely been doing our job. You can speak with an Aequatian official for the Army about anything like that."

The Major's tone was stern, the squad knew he meant business, especially when dealing with a foreign nation. But they felt they were entitled to that reward, regardless of the regulations, after such a pointless mission in their eyes. However, with Bryer still around, they weren't going to get anything. They would wait until they landed to work something out.

It was the mortar fire that triggered the officer in charges decision. Immediatly he relayed the orders out:
"Retreat!"
The Frozopian soldiers back pedalled, once again concentrating their forces.
Pulling the companies into one unit, they retreated back into the safety of the deep forrest, firing at any one stupid enough to follow. The wounded that could be carried were carried, the ones that could walk, walked. The rest were left behind.
They had taken high losses from where the K company struck, but other than that, the losses were light, and far lower than what they exerted upon the rebels.
The Royalist retreated. They had another force to meet with, the Royals that were riding the HUMVEE's. Once united again the enemy would be crushed.

The other companies that had been distracting the enemy V line, the 10 companies, also retreated into the darkness, ready to strike the enemy when they did not suspect it.

When the Royals began to retreat, many of the rebels moved to follow in pursuit. Lahr, remembering the other Royalist force outside the treeline, hastily shouted orders into his radio.

"Command override, this is Captain Lahr, all units disengage, fall back. Retreat into the forest. Rendezvous at Base Two." He heard the fighting slack off as his men began to pull back.

"Captain Lahr, this is Lieutenant Smith," a rebel officer, "With respect, sir, we've got them running! We can't pull back now."

"Lieutenant, they've got reinforcements coming outside the forest, probably another hundred men at the least. We won't be in a very good position if they come in as well. We've accomplished our goal, the main force has escaped. Now we're gonna do the same."

"Roger that."

A new voice came onto the radio waves. "2nd Battalion, this is Morrentes, fall back. Repeat, fall back and cover your rear."

"Acknowledged, Major. K Company retreating." Captain Brady's voice.

Within the space of a few minutes, Lahr's decimated force, and K Company, were moving quickly away from the battle, heading south in a roundabout route to the new rebel basecamp. Mines, tripwires, and "improvs" (booby traps rigged out of rockets and grenades) would slow down the Royalist pursuit, giving the rebels a chance to escape.

Once they'd gone several miles, Lahr was joined by Sergeant Miscowsky, the ex-SAS Scout leader. "That was a clever trick, Morrentes," Lahr said with a wide grin.

Miscowsky nodded. "It was Corporal Brady's idea, sir. When we buggered out from the base camp, we linked up with two other Scout teams. We knew you were in trouble, what with the mortars and everything, and then Brady comes up with the idea to masquerade as a battalion. It wasn't really hard, just had to make a lot of radio chatter and shoot at damn near everything twice."

Lahr nodded. "How'd the men fare?"

"Got bits an' pieces of all three teams, but numerically, I got about two-thirds of one. Most of them wounded, too. Plus, we got no more rockets and maybe two clips each, counting the ones in our rifles."

Lahr swore. "If they catch up to us..."

Miscowsky grinned. "They won't. Not if we split up into platoon level groups and make a break for it." Lahr nodded again, too tired to say anything.

The rebel retreat continued into the night, when the various groups found rocky outcroppings, overhangs, or dense thickets in which to sleep. IR cameras were set up to trigger the few AP mines left in case of ambush.

"They wanna talk to me?"

The Sarg wasn't used to this - he had difficulty dealing with people he was just trying to kill.

Private Phulan, get over here.

"Yes sir?"

Phulan was a young man, not quite on the bright side, but capable of keeping himself from getting killed.

"I want you to go out there; you know... as an envoy."

"Sir, they asked for the leader..."

Sgt. Whit reached to the side of his jacket, and ripped off his emblem. He then proceeded to do the same to Private Phulan's jacket.

"Take my stripes, and say you're a seargent, and I'll promote you. Got it?"

"Yes sir."

Phulan walked slowly over to the rebel encampment. When he reached the top of a small snowbank, he began to slip, and fell. He got up, wiping the snow off of himself. He continued on his way to the Rebel leader with the microphone.

Suddenly, he slipped, and fell; rolling over.

"Superior Willis, you have lost command of this force. You have blundered around, with a number of careless mistakes, costing too many lives. Of everything what are our total losses?"
"1200 men sir."
"And what do you think rebel losses are?"
"I'd say 700-800 sir, but alot of injured."
"Goddamn it! You have been discharged. The men are going home. We cant wast any more standard soldiers in this assault. No We are sending in a Royal Battallion. The best of the best now. Go home Willis. Your a civilian now. Superior Graham will take temporary command. He's a good, careful leader. He will get the men home."

Tropan Military base T1:
"Well boys. Our boys were beaten bloody, so we are sending you in." Spoke Master Phillip's.
"Superior Swift will command. I want you boys at your best. You have the best equipment, the most experience and the most training. You are the toughest and best disciplined. You are maybe one of the best military forces in the world."
"When people think of the royal battalion they think of those prancing poofs who guard the king in their flowery uniforms, who march in parades."
"But as you know this is a cover-up. 60 years ago this secret force was created, honed and now we look upon you as the new force."
"You have your Sniper rifles and your silenced assault rifles. You have never been so well armed. Better yet, we will be sending a 1000 of you. The enemy are ripe for the crushing."
"So prepare. You will be on the move tomorrow."

The rebels watched bemused as the leader of the enemy force tripped over.
They put that boy in charge? I dont think so
The rebel leader stepped up;
"We wish to negotiate a peace yes? So can I talk to you?"

"Oh, goddammit, this never was a war! We can't have peace without war!"
Sgt. Whit grew angered. Phulan tripped, threw up a red flag, and now the rebs knew he wasn't in charge - that mean he really did have to talk to them.

This is too awkward.

Er... Listen up. Somebody go out there with me. I... I don't really know how to deal with this.

The Rebel volunteer stood up and walked towards the convoy, ignoring the boy.
"We talk yes? I talk to leader?"

The helicopter gained altitude as it reached the city and changed course towards the TA1 Airbase on the other side of the city, the pilot switched channels on the radio and contacted the airbase's air traffic controllers, "TA1, this is Aequatian Flight 1, we have accomplished our mission and request landing and that you contact King Clauro of our arrival."

Bryer walked back into the cargo hold and sat beside Raulph, "Young Prince, we will be arriving at TA1 Airbase within a few minutes, the pilot has contacted the tower to inform your father of our arrival."

Going on holiday for two weeks, rp on my return.

The Sarge walked slowly over the crest, flanked by 4 Candrian infantry and two Frozopian royals. His mind was racing.

What do I say... What if they shoot... What if a bomb hits here... What terms...

"Okay, fellas, listen. Go just a few feet in front of me... and Sampson. Tell me what to say."

"Will do sir."

Private Sampson was... well... an odd soldier. A product of some of the best schools of the Dominion, he was a great speaker - indeed, he had a future as a speech writer for the Ministers of the Empire. But he didn't seem cut out to hold a gun and actually shoot people.

The troops crossed over the snowbank. Seargent Whit suddenly started to sweat. Only 15 meters from the Rebel leader, and his clothing was damp, inside and out.

"Jesus, Sampson, if you screw this up, I promise you you'll never step foot in a library, a school, anything, ever again. F*ck it's cold here."

The radio suddenly cracked. Sgt. Whittel, you're gonna have to hurry up. We're getting foreign activity coming in the theatre. Sweep up fast.

Whit turned his comm link off. "Shit, now who's stuffing themselves in here?"

The tempature was dropping since the last explosions. The Infantry, even some tank crewmen, where herding around the Napalm fires, getting warm.

"F*ck it's cold here. Tell everyone to get back to the trucks. No funny buisness."