NationStates Jolt Archive

OOC: Based off events here (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=483755&page=5) and here (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=483859). Closed to everyone except people already participating there.

IC:

..:Near Jagite Waters:..

The prow of the TIS Conqueror cut the seas sharply before it, it's nuclear engines pushing it quickly forward, ever closer to Jagada, and war.

Aboard the ship, hundreds of men milled about busily, their lives at sea undisturbed by the hell which they headed towards. Many of these men would not return to their families, but they had been here before, for the glory of the Empire.

The Conqueror was the flagship of one of the largest task-forces in Tinsuvilian history, comprising nearly a thousand ships and escorting nearly a million ground troops eager, in their army seaworthylessness, to stand upon firm terra once more. With any luck, they would.

The task-force had set out a while before, to conduct Operation Strike-force, and they would soon learn whether the objectives of that operation could be completed. There was hesitance, because in spite of the sheer size of the task-force, there was always a bigger fish.

New Empire.

The gigantic nation had pledged their full support to their Jagite allies just after Operation Strike-force officially commenced, to the utter dismay of the (until then) confident Tinsuvilians. But no matter. The fleet pushed forward, eager to once again fire the guns and swim in blood. The Empire was thirsty, thirsty for blood.

..:Combat Strategy Command Post, TIS Conqueror:..

Fleet Admiral James Cardigan sat swishing his drink idly back and forth through his teeth as his subordinates chatted nervously, trying to avoid the matter at hand. Swallowing his wine, the Admiral cleared the room of noise with a slight cough.

"As you all know, we set out on this journey with a quick, decisive victory in mind. That may not be so easy as it then seemed. New Empire has pledged support to the Jagites, and they far outnumber us. Now, suggestions?"

A captain from one of the many more respectable ships in the fleet began speaking:

"What about a missile strike? Perhaps we can thin their numbers..."

"Yes," replied Cardigan. "Yes, I thought of this as well, but the damage our missile cruisers could inflict without the use of tactical nukes is minimal, and we have received orders from the Empress that nukes are to be used on a only-as-required basis."

A silence struck the room, thicker than before, as the men weighed their options. The admiral spoke again:

"Missiles will be used, and so, most likely, will be nuclear weapons. Sun Tzu said that their are orders of the sovereign which must be ignored, and I believe that in this case, we may have to, if only to even the numb..."

An aid burst into the room before Cardigan could complete his sentence, breathing heavily, and barely remembering to salute. After the admiral returned the gesture, the aid gasped.

"We've lost all satlinks, Sir. Goddamn hackers hit our network, TIN [1] says their down for at least two days."

The admiral quickly sprung into action, not questioning the man's word.

"Launch UAVs, we need to reestablish surveillance of the New Imperial (?) forces."

"Already been launched Sir, along with several manned spy planes. It's the best we can manage, for now."

"Alright, that will do. Dismissed."

The admiral turned back to the room, and each of the men now wore their fear openly on their faces.

"Gentlemen, it seems that things have taken yet another turn for the worse. If you will excuse me, I must make contact with the Empress. We have nukes to use."

Appendix:
[1] Tinsuvilian Intelligence Network

"There!" Said one of the technicians, pointing excitedly at one of the many banks of screens. "Sir! I've found them! Tinsuvilian ships, making towards Jagada!"

"Excellent! This is almost too easy. Scramble the Third through Fifth fleets, and put the Sixth through Eighth on high alert. Send a message to Jagada, and another to New Empire. They think that just because Jagada's commited to the blockade against those goddamn Atheists that the coasts are wide open?"

"They must, sir. After all, they announced that they were coming on national TV."

"Well, let's make them pay for their arrogance."

..:Jagite Aerospace:..

High above the Imperial Fleet, several UAVs patrolled, doing their best to survey the situation and relay that information back to Command. Right now, they all relayed the same thing.

"SIR," an awkward yell emitted from the mouth of an ensign tasked with monitoring the live UAV feeds. "Sir, we have trouble. Three fleets, headed full steam toward us!"

"Scramble all fighters on CAP mission, all hands to battle stations. They won't catch us off guard because of some punk hackers."

Red lights began flashing all around the fleet, and a monotonous voice blared the admiral's orders. The Imperial Navy would soon be battle ready, for the first time in years.

"Sir, they're scrambling fighters."

"Scramble ours to match. Put all SAM batteries on high alert. SONAR too. Odds are they're going to follow this up with submarines. At least, that's what I'd do."

Each fleet boasted a super carrier, although the Third boasted two. In addition, the Third had two regular carriers, and the Fourth and the Fifth had three. That made for a whole lot of fighters being scrambled.

Two missile boats each launched ten missiles. This was by no means a full attack, merely an attempt to gauge the enemy's missile defense systems.

..:Jagite Waters:..

The missiles were reported by the fighter pilots quickly, and defense measures were activated. If anything came close, the result would be bits of shrapnel.

In response to the first strike from the unidentified enemy, there was mixed chaos on deck of the Conqueror. Several voices shouted conflicting orders, and several hundred men milled about, using their training instead of these wasted orders to command them. Aboard the several missile cruisers of the fleet, volleys began, and all in all, almost 50 missiles were fired.

800 nm from the nearest Tinsuvilian ship

The first contact between the enemy and the UCSNE directly was made by an E-16 carrierborne AWACS, flying over one of the fleets and providing long range, OTH air search capability. The news of the sighting traveled through the datalinks, and a pair of F-121 fighters were sent to investigate.

The craft in question was a manned aircraft, most likely deployed for reconissance. No matter its origin, the first fighter armed its most potent missiles, AIM-123G Divinebolt AAMs, capable of knocking down fast and high flying aircraft or missiles with ease.

Depressing the trigger twice, the two missiles dropped, and then ignited their preliminary rocket engines to boost them to supersonic. Then, as they cleared the aircraft completely, they activated the scramjet engines that would propel them to Mach 7 on their way to the enemy aircraft. Once they got within a few dozen yards of their target, their frag warheads would explode, causing serious damage, if not destruction, without actual contact.

With every enemy aircraft that came within 300 nautical miles, the same procedure would be repeated. Though it was not necessarily important to keep their location secret, any damage to the enemy now could prove a hindrance to him in the future.

The 'picket' lines of the Cunningham destroyers were put on higher alert. Such intensive probing of their position was probably a prologue to an attack on their assets. The UCSNE surface fleets were too massive to ignore and could easily turn a beachead into a bloodbath by cutting supply lines, so their very presence would force an attack.

It was up to Johannsen to use that knowledge to create a victory. Making one last command message to the roving submarine fleets and the air assets in New Empire. All naval assets would continue to advance, but he would save the airpower for another time.

UCSS Deadly Calm, just under the thermocline

From here, they were invisible and truly silent to the living world above. Accompanied by deep sea creatures and dark quiet, the Snarc class NGSSN moved along at 15 knots, below maximum quiet speed but still quick enough for their purposes. The enemy could not be flexible to achieve their goal, one way or another they still had to beach on Jagada. The Deadly Calm, and the 17 of its ilk bearing down a few hundred miles from the massive Jagada fleet, could not.

The highly-automated NGSSN had half the crew of a sub sharing its weight, the product of nearly a decade and several billion dollar's worth of investment. It's hull was pure cigar smooth, save for a slight bump for the 'mast', the propulsor manuvering center at its aft, and the indentations marking a retracted bowplane or closed torpedo tube. From the back of the NGSSNs however, trailed fiberoptic lines linking them to towed arrays trailing above the thermocline, keeping them pointed in the direction of the thousand-ship fleet.

Still far out of engagement range, the submarines were not there to completely destroy the enemy. But far away and below from sonar, they were waiting for the right time to float into the clear above the thermocline and begin their vicious assault.

The attack was, like the one that had brought it about, detected by the fighters. However, the greater amount of missiles made a greater challenge for the missile defense systems, especially as this was the first time many of the crew had seen actual combat. Two got through. Both hit the super dreadnought Poseidon, crippling it's engines. Though dead in the water, the Poseidon was by no means defenselss. It launched a massive attack of shells and missiles, aided by the other ships in the fleets.

Over two hundred missiles, and twice as many shells flew towards the enemy fleet.

..:Jagite Waters:..

The nervous ensign who had first noticed the unidentified fleet blinked, hoping that his eyes belied yet another tragedy, the second in far too short a time.

It was still there... Or... Not there...

The screen that the ensign had been watching had gone blank, instead of a live feed, it's camera's relayed static fuzz, a sure sign of destruction. But the surveillance plane had been nowhere near the enemy fleet currently engaging the Imperial Navy.

"Sir, we've lost an eye in the sk..." as the admiral turned toward the seaman from his viewscreen, however, the Conqueror shook violently, and warning signals lit the bridge in a blur of red and orange.

"Admiral, direct hit from an enemy missile. The MDS [2] didn't get al..." the ship shook violently again, it's structure vibrating from the violent hit.

"Engineering, damage assessment," came the voice of the startled, yet composed admiral.

"Pretty bad, Sir. Stern command reports heavy casualties and water flow. They're working to keep it steady. We should remain afloat."

"Good. Captain, order all forces forward, hit the enemy head on. We have numbers, play our cards wisely. Missiles first, then subs, then the fleet follows. All aircraft, engage on sight."

The admiral's orders were relayed to the rest of the 1,000 ship fleet, and almost as one, they moved forward below a volley of missiles.

OOC: Casualties please? Was that the only ship I hit? Did I sink any?

OOC: Sorry, forgot.

[Tinsuvilian Casualties to Date]
7 ships sunk
12 ships immobilized

OOC: Off to bed now. Probably won't post for another about 18 hours. Shame.

"We hit 'em. Proves the bastards can bleed," remarked Maximus. He was a chief gunner on one of the snmaller guns on the SotG Poseidon. "Always an important thing to do early in the battle."

"Sure, whatever, Sun Tzu," remarked one of the other men working the gun. He spit overboard. "'Course, what you're not saying is that they hit us too. Proves that we can bleed. How much you wanna bet there's some Smith standing over there on one of their ships saying the exact same thing to his crew?"

"Shut up, Josef," snapped Maximus, adjusting the gun slightly. "Wonder why we got the order not to fire again. We waiting for them to shoot back? Kinda a stupid way to fight if you ask me."

Josef grinned, "Well, scuttlebut has it... But no, you told me to shut up."

"What?" Asked Maximus, "What did you hear? Tell me or I'll pitch you over the side." Considering that Josef was about a foot taller than he was, and outweighed him by about fifty pounds, this threat was made mostly in jest. Mostly. Despite his dimminuative stature, Maximus was a devil in a fight.

"All right, all right. You win," said Josef, raising his hands in defense. "Scuttlebut has it that the brass is offering them a one time, special deal. They turn around and go home now, and they don't get blown out of the water."
***
Aesonic Message to Tinsuvillian Fleet

You do not seem to comprehend the forces arrayed against you. You should turn around while you have the chance. Your invasion will fail. The only factor remaining to be determined is how many of your countrymen's lives will be thrown away in your fruitless attack. Withdraw immediately, and no further millitary action will be taken. Persist in your current course and you will be obliterated.

..:Jagite Waters, Conqueror:..

The comms officer yawned. Yet another battle that he had as minimal a part in as possible. Those goddamn brass just couldn't understand his point of view. One barfight and a cheap hooker, and you were stuck in the bridge while your buddies killed the enemies of the Empire. It's not like he could even remember the incident in question...

All of a sudden, a high pitched bleeping broke the monotony of the sirens and PAs, and the screen of the bored comms officer lit up with lights. The rest of the bridge crew gathered around, and they all began laughing as the message from the Aeson sunk in.

Only a deadman asked for a truce. This battle was practically won.

The reply from the admiral was sent, quite humorous, at least to the bridge crew.

..:Official Communique from Fleet Admiral Cardigan to the 'seamen' of Aeson:..

Esteemed sirs,
Your request, while I am sure genuine in point, was, dissappointingly, shat upon by my men as they writhed in laughter. Quite frankly, no.


[signed]
Yours, Fleet Admiral Cardigan, Hellbringer of the Empire

UCSS Deadly Calm, around 100 nautical miles from the enemy fleet, under the thermocline

Still under the natural blanket to shield them from enemy sonar, the submarines floated with their towed arrays taking in the sounds of enemy warships. It was hard to miss the enemy fleet, even below the thermocline, and even with a high dispersal there would be plenty of targets for each of the 18 vessels. From the sounds of some of it, the enemy was taking fire from someone.

Checking the chronometer, Maxmillian Chang-Albaarts knew they weren't his countrymen doing the work, unless something had gone catastrophically wrong. The enemy vessels seemed to be increasing speed, going breakneck for the coast. They had picked up no EAMs from home, which meant that as far as they were concerned, the operation was a go.

Slowly, the Deadly Calm and its seventeen sister vessels floated back above the thermocline. They had time to spare, and at this range it was virtually impossible to detect them among the ambient noise.

Chang-Albaarts needed to make no dramatic remarks. Things began to unfold as they had drilled: from the 'center' of the sub, the hatches covering the massive 1000mm torpedo tubes in the sub's center. From each sub, three of the monstrous weapons slid out, each loaded with sonar data and search profiles to make their ways to their targets. Traveling at 30 knots initially, they would be quieter than the subs that launched them. As they neared their targets, the torpedoes would speed to 60 knots and use a mix of BGLIDAR, sonar, and MAD sensors to ensure they would not be fooled by noisemaker decoys or praire maskers.

Though the torpedoes were not the most maneuverable weapons in the world, they were incredibly powerful. Each packed over 12,000 pounds of high explosive, enough to break the keel of a good-sized carrier from a hundred yards away, and vaporize the hull on contact.

Though it was unlikely the torpedoes would be able to make it to the larger carriers and battleships, they would at least take enough escort vessels out of the picture for the subs to move in for the kill.

But until then, the subs quietly moved from their launching positions, taking advantage of their torpedoes' long range to try and stay out of enemy weapons range, and waited, listening, for the explosions that would signal the beginning of the hunt.

The officer was fuming. Or at least, he sounded like it. Maximus imagined he would have been more certain if he could see him, instead of just hear him over the ship's intercom system. "All men, open fire on those ungrateful bastards!"

"Aye, sir!" Came the joyful shout. The waiting had been tedious, but it appeared the battle was about to be rejoined. Again, the shells were fired, and again the missiles joined them. This time, the attack was even larger. Maximus was suddenly very glad for the earplugs he wore. He would be deaf without them.

"Sounds like the offer didn't go over to well," said Josef in a momentary calm while the guns reloaded. "I wonder why."

Maximillian's verbal answer was lost in the roar as the massive guns fired again, but his gesture got the point across just as well. He had nothing but disdain for the Tinsuvillian ships. After all, what had they just done but ensured that it would even longer before he saw shore leave?

In total, approximately twice the amount of the previous missiles and shells were fired, as well as twenty torpedoes launched by the submarines included in the fleet.

OOC: When I say Escort ship, it's just a random ship somewhere.

..:Jagite Waters, Escort Ship:..

Fumes. Smoke.

1LT Kevin Woods coughed, his throat dry and coarse, his head feeling as though someone had just taken a steel rod and shoved it through both eye sockets. When he opened his eyes, fear set in. He saw nothing but white. Closing and rubbing them did little good, and the lieutenant cough again.

Realizing that he was having difficulty breathing, Woods began to understand his situation. He hadn't gone blind, oh no. This room was filled with smoke. Yes, that must be it. Everything else seemed fine, besides the huge explosion that had caused this mess. Again Kevin coughed, and this time, a bit of bloody phlegm was expelled. Never a good sign. Kevin had to get out of there quickly.

Getting up to move, a sickly noise came to Kevin's now acutely tuned ears, a sound so terrible, that Woods immediately knew the severity of his situation. Feeling himself, Kevin's hands came to an object that should occupy no man, and yet it now occupied him. Following the cool steel of the shaft to it's tip, and back to his chest, Kevin's body began to spasm. Pinned to the wall, there was no one to help him. His last seconds of life were spent in agonizing realization and pain. Then the world turned from white to black.

OOC:

[Tinsuvilian Casualties Caused by NE's attack]

27 ships sunk (notably, one Carrier, and two battleships.)
56 ships immobilized

Bump. Tinsuvillia, just in case you missed it, I attacked again.

Major Gabe Peace (http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y101/CountJWolf/Peace.jpg) of the 1st Blood Wolves, commander of the Dominion forces in Neo-Jagada. His soldiers called him “War and Peace” because he has a cool head during both war times and peace times. The only thing that makes him mad is…Jagites. That’s right Jagites. Be it the new Jagites or the old Jagites or the Jagites turned Dominionites. Gabe hate Jagites more then those Kraven dogs, all because of what happened in Old Jagada. Two of his brothers were killed in that battle. Two of his brothers, not even older then 20 years old, were murder in that battle because of Jagites pissing off their Kraven overlords. A strange thing to have Major Peace being the leader of the ten Dominion bases in Jagada. Many it was the fact that if the Jagites betrayed the Dominion, the Major would be the best to lead an attack within in the nation.

The command base, about fifty miles south of New Christendom, called “The Watchful Eye”. The massive looking military base, which looked like it came from the Middle Ages. Large castle walls surrounded the base. Larger towers with SAM sites on top of them were in many places on the outer wall. Countless stone buildings were in the inners. Images from spy planes or satellites would not know which building housed what. The Dominion flag flew on flag poles and banners everywhere in the base. What massive military base would be will out a large air base near it. The air base was just the normal looking base, ten large hangers and three runways. A control towers and a twelve foot tall chain linked fence that goes around it.

Command HQ at “The Watchful Eye”. Major Peace looked over a map (http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y101/CountJWolf/Jagadabasemap.png) of Neo-Jagada that showed the Dominion bases. He looked over reports of a naval battle in Jagites waters, too.

OOC: Sorry for crap OOC post, I can't do IC yet. I'm putting casualties from Aeson's attack. Trans, if I can get in touch with you somehow, how would that be? TG? Also, Aeson, can I get casualties from you please?

[Tinsuvilian Casualties from Aeson's attack]

11 sunk
17 damaged

OOC: Well, have you attacked me apart from that initial time? I mean, that first time you crippled the Poseidon... If you attacked again I missed it.

OOC: I attacked twice, yes. I had the fleet move forward after I said "no."

OOC: Ah. I just read that as moving. Can you give me an idea as to how large an attack? If it's the same size as your initial, don't expect too much.

OOC: All this OOC looks bad so I will attach an IC post, but my entire fleet is moving, and this time all missiles available were fired. I am really sorry about lack of skill in this phase on my part, naval RP is (probably obviously) not my forte.


IC:

..:Jagite Waters:..

The monstrosity that was the Imperial Fleet moved slowly forward, their engines pushing the collective behemoth out of the graveyard that lay behind them. The last attack had not been from Aeson. Someone else was out there, the ones who had hit the surveillance plane. New Empire. But that was not the worry of the fleet now, they had committed to a full on attack against Aeson, and a full on attack it would be.

Split now into many battle groups, the forces proceeded carefully. Each battle group contained a carrier, super carrier, or battleship and many escorts. Together, the Aeson would fall to the glory of the Empire!

Maximus looked at the oncoming attack, and rolled underneath his gun. He was protected from most shrapnel. If the gun collapsed on him though...

Then the gods have it in for me, and I can't do anything about it.

The attack was devestating. Had it not been for the missile defense systems, undoubtedly it would have been worse. As it was, thirty five ships were sunk. Another sixty-three were damaged. Three of them were completely immobilized. Anothe one had lost all it's weapons.

The Sixth, Seventh and Eight fleets approached the battle. They sailed in from the opposite side as the Third through Fifth had, catching the Tinsuvillians in a pincer. Thousands of shells, and even more missiles flew as the Aesonic Fleet took vengenance.

OOC: 'Doy. Yes.

Bump bump bump it up!

..:Jagite Waters:..

Just as the planes were reporting the arrival of a triplet of more fleets, the Imperial Navy was hit by their enemies latest bombardment. Caught off guard, preliminary looks showed nearly 40 ships sunk or immobilized. This war kept getting worse, and the Stormtroopers hadn't even landed yet.

Volley after volley of shots were fired, but the enemy seemed to outnumber them, although that was unlikely. 6 fleets should not outnumber 10. If they ground it out, they should survive.

"Launch the bombers," said General Blak, looking over the satellite surveillance of the Tinsuvilian homeland. "Let's see if we can't shift their attention while we wait for reinforcements from Jagada or New Empire."

Ten B-2 Spirit (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showpost.php?p=9357635&postcount=2) bombers lifted off the runway, bound for Tinsuvillia. Their orders? To pick the juciest looking target, and let loose with their entire load of smart bombs. They flew at their maximum height of 50,000 feet.

OOC: Any useful info? Any major manufacturing cities they might aim for? Or docked fleets?

bump

bumptastic!

Never give up! Never surrender!

Or, in other words... Bump!

Bump it up.

Is this thread just dead?

bump!