Scandavian States
25-10-2005, 06:04
It had started out innocuous enough; during a routine training exercise for new analysts a recruit had noted that beyond the wildlife there was no activity on Ravenspire Isle, at least none showed by the overhead spysat photographs. The trainers had congratulated him for being the first to notice the objective, despite the fact that they themselves hadn't grasped the entirety of the situation.
The entire point of the training exercise was to make the students believe they were searching for something vital and then frustrate them by not allowing them to leave until they did find something; several hours later a recruit would finally burst out that there was nothing in the picture, at which point the instructor would calmly waltz over an point out the land, sea, flora, fauna and anything else that happened to be in the picture. The embarassed student, and his or her classmates, would understand that every little detail mattered.
Thereafter the External Security Service, in conjunction with the Aerospace Force and Navy, began probing the island. First overhead shots of the island were taken in every spectrum immagineable to make absolutely sure nobody was on the island. Then it was merely a matter of escalating tests; an RF-125 flew over the island, then a flight of fighters, then a couple of bombers, and then a live-fire training mission that resulted in actual bombs dropped on the beach. When it was determined that the island was abandoned, Empress Lien called a meeting of her Directors and Lords of the Armed Forces.
"The obvious thing to do is just sieze the island. It lies right in the middle of an established Duchy, Haleigha, and in fact the Haleigha Duchy Guard can be used to do the mission. However, there might be other, non-military factors to this. Anything anybody would like to mention?" Lien asked.
"Trade and Commerce should be fine, if anything we enrichen ourselves with little to no risk," answered the man who ran the Imperium's ledgers and international trade.
"Diplomatically I can't see any risk. As you pointed out, Highness, the island lies very close to our own island chain. It would be militarily stupid to allow the island to fall into foreign hands. It's uninhabited, so the only real objection another nation could have is that we'd have laid claim to more resources, which would point out their own greed," answered Duchess Saleh.
"Any hangups, militarily?" The Empress wondered.
General Kerensky, Commandant of the Imperial Marines, answered, "No, I can't see any problems arising from the operation. This is a straightforward unopposed landing operation, which should be well within the peacetime training budget of the Guard. However, I'll send a regiment to lend technical assistence and set up a scenario. If any formation needs to learn how to shift rapidly between islands, it's the Duchy Guard from Haleigha. I'm sure they have the doctrine down, and maybe a little practice, but more couldn't hurt."
"Very well. Commandant, I'm giving you overall command of this operation; given the nature of the opposition," the use of that word drew some snickers, "I'm sure you'll have no qualms about using Guard troops."
"No, Your Highness, I always liked to teach people how to do things," answered the woman.
"Then be about it," ordered Kerensky's Commander-In-Chief before she left the room.
[I honestly don't know exactly how I'm going to do this. Needless to say, this should be a simple King Of The Hill op unless somebody has the balls to turn it into a full-blown war. The reason I'm going to be using the Guard and the Commandant of the Imperial Marines is because this after the current war with Hogsweat's disparate colonies, and neither branch will see any real action in the course of the war.]
The entire point of the training exercise was to make the students believe they were searching for something vital and then frustrate them by not allowing them to leave until they did find something; several hours later a recruit would finally burst out that there was nothing in the picture, at which point the instructor would calmly waltz over an point out the land, sea, flora, fauna and anything else that happened to be in the picture. The embarassed student, and his or her classmates, would understand that every little detail mattered.
Thereafter the External Security Service, in conjunction with the Aerospace Force and Navy, began probing the island. First overhead shots of the island were taken in every spectrum immagineable to make absolutely sure nobody was on the island. Then it was merely a matter of escalating tests; an RF-125 flew over the island, then a flight of fighters, then a couple of bombers, and then a live-fire training mission that resulted in actual bombs dropped on the beach. When it was determined that the island was abandoned, Empress Lien called a meeting of her Directors and Lords of the Armed Forces.
"The obvious thing to do is just sieze the island. It lies right in the middle of an established Duchy, Haleigha, and in fact the Haleigha Duchy Guard can be used to do the mission. However, there might be other, non-military factors to this. Anything anybody would like to mention?" Lien asked.
"Trade and Commerce should be fine, if anything we enrichen ourselves with little to no risk," answered the man who ran the Imperium's ledgers and international trade.
"Diplomatically I can't see any risk. As you pointed out, Highness, the island lies very close to our own island chain. It would be militarily stupid to allow the island to fall into foreign hands. It's uninhabited, so the only real objection another nation could have is that we'd have laid claim to more resources, which would point out their own greed," answered Duchess Saleh.
"Any hangups, militarily?" The Empress wondered.
General Kerensky, Commandant of the Imperial Marines, answered, "No, I can't see any problems arising from the operation. This is a straightforward unopposed landing operation, which should be well within the peacetime training budget of the Guard. However, I'll send a regiment to lend technical assistence and set up a scenario. If any formation needs to learn how to shift rapidly between islands, it's the Duchy Guard from Haleigha. I'm sure they have the doctrine down, and maybe a little practice, but more couldn't hurt."
"Very well. Commandant, I'm giving you overall command of this operation; given the nature of the opposition," the use of that word drew some snickers, "I'm sure you'll have no qualms about using Guard troops."
"No, Your Highness, I always liked to teach people how to do things," answered the woman.
"Then be about it," ordered Kerensky's Commander-In-Chief before she left the room.
[I honestly don't know exactly how I'm going to do this. Needless to say, this should be a simple King Of The Hill op unless somebody has the balls to turn it into a full-blown war. The reason I'm going to be using the Guard and the Commandant of the Imperial Marines is because this after the current war with Hogsweat's disparate colonies, and neither branch will see any real action in the course of the war.]