NationStates Jolt Archive

OOC: If you want in, bring it up on the OOC thread.

4:30 AM, dawn

A young Ensign in the Mer des Ennuis Naval Intelligence Headquarters stared at his screen in disbelief: Sonobouy sector 7G was going haywire. If it were true, there were well over 900 ships roughly 12 or 13 hours away from the shores of Mer des Ennuis. He ordered a quick printout and ran to the nearest officer on duty. Both conferred for a few minutes, and alerted the Admiral on duty, who in turn, radioed the 5th fleet.

The 5th fleet, roughly 100 miles off of the coast of Ville de la Mort, was a standard carrier battle fleet, composed of a Nimitz class carrier and several escorts. Since a satelite could not be immideatly repositioned, an order was given, and 12 F-35 joint strike fighters were scrambled. A RQ9 Predator B was catapulted off of one of the Ticonderoga cruisers. Although it would not arrive with the JSFs, if had more surveillance equipment. Shortly after taking off, the JSFs broke Mach 1 and headed for the last known bearings of the unknown fleet.

The Wing Leader sent out the following message over open frequences:
“Attention unknown fleet, this is Mer des Ennuis Flight 19f, identify yourself.”

Kraven First Battlefleet
"Grand Admiral, we have reason to believe that we have tipped our hand. We have breached a primitive sonobuoy system and it transmitted a signal back to the Mer des Ennuis mainland. We-" a message handler said to Grand Admiral Skitan, who waved his hand and said, "Enough. My panel is showing we are being approached by twelve Ennuisian fighters. Do not respond to their message, comm. Weaponry, lock onto them and blast them out of the sky. We certainly have the firepower to do it, and do it quickly. Don't let them get any further intelligence on our fleet."

"Aye, sir. Missile batteries locking on."

Because of the radio transmission the Ennuisian fighters sent, their position was relatively easy to lock onto. Added to the fact they were not using any sort of stealth to mask themselves, this would be a cakewalk. Vertical Launch missile bays opened up on two of the Pulsar class anti-air cruisers, sending three SAM-227 type anti-aircraft missiles at each of the Ennuisian JSFs. A total of thirty-six missiles were fired within a relatively short time, aiming to destroy the JSFs before any intelligence was gathered on the still-approaching Kraven fleet.

There was twelve hours remaining on the approach to the Mer des Ennuis mainland, and because of the imminent detection, the speed was kicked up to the maximum safe speed to maintain formation - 37.5kts. That kicked the approach time down to eleven and a half hours, but it still had to have been enough time for the Ennusians to pull together a response fleet and prepare at least some defenses for the incoming Kraven landing.

On the far fringes of Mer des Ennusian waters, the 12 F-35s detected missile launches. Though their craft were agile, they were not expecting massive combat. Flares and chaff were deployed, but the emissions from the leader’s directed radio transmission proved fatal. They managed to shoot off distress codes before being destroyed.

-=-=-=-5th Fleet Nimitz Communications System-=-=-=-

“Sir! We just lost contact with the wing, though we have received a distress signal.”
“Were they shot down?”
“We do not know, but we believe so. The predator will be in stealth broadcasting position within the next 10 minutes.”
“Radio high command, they will want to know about this.”

-=-=-=-The Capital City of Mer de Noms-=-=-=-

The Arch Arsonist, Carpathia Ziemowit, was sitting in his office. As today was a Tuesday, he was in a jovial mood. Today was a good day, he had decreed, to a standing ovation in Parliament, that military reforms were successful, and that slightly subsidized training, in the form of half-point tax rebate, of Civilian Defence Forces by National Guard divisions. He stood and walked to the picture window, where a national guard ZSU-23-4 and a detachment of troops were patrolling the city square. An alarm rang, though it was a slow, steady blaring sound rather than the usual crisp chirping. That could only mean one thing: his beloved nation was under attack by a foreign power. He jogged across his office to a conference center, and hit a button. Before him on 10 different screens appeared the Admiral heading the 5th fleet, the Generals of the North, Central, and Southern National Guard Commands, the Fleet Admiral of the Mer des Ennusian Navy, and the three Generals of the Army leading the three army groups, the General of the Mer des Ennusian Air Force, and a tactical feed from the RQ-9 Predator B.

“Gentlemen, what is going on?” demanded the Arsonist.
The Admiral of the 5th Fleet was the first to respond. “Sir, at 04:30 today, our sonobouy line was tripped. We sent 12 fighters to investigate, which were shot down. The surveillance feed you see was launched shortly after, and will arrive on sight within the next 5 or 6 minutes.”
“How much time does this give us before this fleet, I’m guessing we don’t know who they are, arrives at our shores, and where do we expect them to land?”
The Fleet Admiral of Mer des Ennuis, Fleet Admiral Antoni Jozafat answered “Sir, we are, as of this time, unsure of who they are, but they are certainly hostile. Based on information from the bouy line, they have increased speed and are about 12 hours from landing somewhere in the Ville de Mort Area, probably near the point. I recommend that, based on their size, we launch missiles at them from fleets within range, and withdraw our forces. We cannot match their numbers, and we believe they have one or more large battleships. We can use our airpower and naval forces to strike at their landing zones from a much longer range, and almost guarantee air dominance.”
The General of the Air Force, Adrian Miroslaw, added “This would help. I will order all strategic bombers and fighters to relocate to within striking distance of the coast. I will also work with the Army to ensure that all close air support missions are able to be responded in full.”
“Sir,” interjected the Admiral of the 5th fleet, “I hate to interject, but the predator is picking up video.”

The feed was slightly grainy, but showed the outskirts of a vast armada; a picket line of cruisers, small frigates, and destroyers. Zooming in on one of destroyers, it picked up a shot of the flag it was flying: A red and white circle with two hammers: the fear-inspiring symbol of Kraven.

The men sat, shocked, though the Arch Arsonist responded first.
“I want all city guard units nation wide to prepare for imminent invasion. I want all army groups to mobilize, and I want all installations on Red Alert. I want all allied units in Mer des Ennuis to report to the capital, and I want the first army group to reinforce the garrisons at Plaines Mornes, the 2nd to create a line across the peninsula at La Lame De l’Epee. The third is to create a fallback line. All cities are to go under immediate martial law, with propaganda rallying the citizenry to prepare for war. Dig in, we will make them fight for every inch of land. Brief the troops as best possible on the worst case: Centurians. I doubt Kraven would waste their cyborgs on us. You have your orders, and give me some goddamn satellite coverage!”

All the leaders saluted, and signed off. The Arch Arsonist stood, and walked to the window. The guard units he had watched before walked the plaza once more, before they, startled, made full speed for their company’s HQ.

-=-=-=-The 5th Fleet, Command and Control Room-=-=-=-
"We have firing orders directly from the Arch Arsonist. Order the Ohio's to launch their claymores. We don't know the compisition of their fleet, but we think we have detected several large battleships. Have them stagger their shots; 4 at a time at seperate targets, 1 volleys every 8 minutes. if they detect a large, fast moving blob, we lose the element of surprise. God speed"


-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Across Mer des Ennuis, with 11 hours to spare, combat engineering units immideatly began to dig in. Mine fields, containing both heavy anti-tank mines and the much faster light area denial mines, were laid. Heavy artillery pre-sighted expected bottle necks and retreat lanes, while mortar units did the same. Citizens would be rallied. Jets were scrambled over the middile cities. Ville de la Mort, the City of Death, would live up to its name, as its two light garrison divisions started to dig in against an unstoppable wave.