NationStates Jolt Archive

In the black of night, seventeen dark shapes floated on the water’s surface. Just an hour before, one of those shapes had surfaced from the ocean deep, and the other sixteen had touched down. The Seventeenth Naval Patrol Squadron and its forward operations submersible tender had arrived.

“Weapons are good!” shouted one crewman aboard the submarine, scuttling away from the airplane and back towards a hatch on the submarine. The last of the Minitrosses was fueled and bombed up. Relatively small planes, with only a fifty thousand pound gross take off weight, the Minitrosses were normally used for anti-submarine warfare, or airborne early warning in the –2E models, due to their great endurance. Tonight, they would be the opening strike against Griffincrest Corporation and scouts for the heavier bombers, the Deluges, which would begin their pickings later.

With a muted roar, each flying boat accelerated across the waves before taking to the air. They were not the only squadron out tonight.

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

“Switching on illumination” announced Ensign John Williams, bombardier aboard one of VP-17’s P8D-2 Minitrosses. A brilliant beam of light reached out from the jet, circling high above the waves, to touch a ship. Immense, and immensely slow, the ship continued on its journey, not knowing the reasoning for the light, and not having much it could do about it anyhow.

“Yep, that’s ship TVO17. Confirmed as Blackhelm ship in the service of Griffincrest. Ultra Large Crude Carrier. Painting it now,” recited Ensign Williams, rather blandly. There was no need for excitement, this was really a rather boring task. The fun part would come later.

The first beam of light switched off, leaving the supertanker in darkness once more. Another beam took its place, this time invisible to the naked eye. Were the crew of the ship to have known of its existence and purpose, they would have quivered in fear. As it is, they simply expressed puzzlement over the brief play over of the searchlight.

“Bomb away!”

A single thousand pounder dropped away from the Minitross. At its head was a receiver for the second light, the sinister light. Fins at the rear of the bomb made sure that it approached ever closer to its light. Sinister yes, but so hauntingly beautiful to it, such a lovely light…

The bomb hit the target paint dead on, in what was to it a passionate lovers embrace. Diving into the side of the ship, it ripped through the hull before exploding. The explosion itself, the result of 890 pounds of RDX combusting, tore a gaping hole in the side of the ship and started a massive inferno inside the tanks of oil, now open to the night air. Though seawater rushed into the ship, it would not put out the deadly blaze, only add to the trials of the mortally wounded ship, which had now begun to take on a starboard list as the fires raged across it.

“Target destroyed”

“Good job Williams,” shouted back the pilot. “So what do you think, how big was that?”

“I’d say at least a million barrels of oil in that one. We just took a quarter billion pents out of Griffincrest’s pocket, more if you add in the replacement cost. I don’t think his shareholders will be all that pleased this quarter,” laughed Williams as he returned to radar search, and the aircraft headed towards its next assigned target. TVO17 had been their second ship tonight, and they had another two bombs aboard, and dozens of other aircraft marauding Blackhelm’s trade routes. It would not be a good quarter indeed.

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

Though the Deluges were not attacking shipping tonight, that did not mean that they were sitting at home. Oh no, far from it. Their large bomb bays allowed them to carry an unseemly number of mines, over seventy of the five hundred pound mines in fact. That size of mine might not sink a large supertanker though it was probable that they would, but they would certainly cripple it. And so, three squadrons, forty-eight aircraft, rendezvoused with the same submarines that had serviced the Minitrosses and refueled, carrying their bomb loads from larger tenders in the middle of the ocean that they had flown to from Rosdivan. Darting in too low to be picked up by an over the horizon radar, they found the chokepoints and heavily trafficked sections of trade routes servicing Griffincrest. And there, hundreds of magnetic mines were laid to wait, to wait for the magnetic signature of a crude carrier sailing above them, waiting to destroy.

Navy Announces Punitive Raid Against Griffincrest, Bombs Shipping
By William Ridacker

The Rosdivan Navy announced today that, in response to repeated invasions by Griffincrest Corporation in a manner considered threatening to Rosdivan's strategic interests and in response to the rejection of an ultimatum demanding a halt and return by said corporation, that Navy seaplanes, operating from advanced tenders, had sunk an unspecified number of oil tankers.

According to Commodore Wilkens, public relations officer at Naval Base Vulkan, "If Griffincrest will not be reasonable, then we will take measures to enforce upon the necessity of being reasonable. If they continue in their obstinancy, then we will escalate measures as we feel necessary."

Asked about the strikes, Commodore Wilkens would only confirm that "tens of billions of pents of damage have been inflicted in the past night." Citing operational security reasons, he refused to release any information on whether any Navy aircraft were shot down, or if any casualties were suffered. It is certain that hundreds, if not thousands, of sailors from the Blackhelm Confederacy were injured or killed when their ships were fired upon.

http://www.geocities.com/life_wyze/newlogo.jpg

Rosdivan Military Forces Representative,
Rosdivan,

LifeWyze Biological Technology Corporation is outraged by the behaviour of your nation against the Griffincrest Corporation. Your deplorable actions have caused great financial discomfort to our company, which has investments in the Griffincrest Corporation.

The Rosdivan nation will cease all hostilities and pay reparations to the Griffincrest Corporation for money lost due to your nations actions. Failure to acknowledge our wishes, and to carry out what the LifeWyze Corporation has requested, will result in further action.

Yours Faithfully,
The Rt. Hon. Sir James Irvine,
Executive Officer,
LifeWyze Biological Technology Corporation Plc.

To: The Rt. Hon. Sir James Irvine
From: Commodore Wilkens, Navy Public Relations
Classification: Confidential

The Rosdivan Navy struggles to discover on what grounds you make such demands on the Supreme Commonwealth. Are investments somehow supposed to be free from all risk in your nation? And making such large demands on a soveriegn nation when the sum total of your investment is, according to Naval Intelligence, no more than 25 million USD, is well, hard to understand.

We are however a patient and understanding people. If you feel so harmed by our response to Griffincrest's obstinancy and crimes, we offer to simply buy out your holdings in Griffincrest for 30 million USD. You may of course refuse this offer, but do not expect any further consideration of your case if you do so.

Sincerely,
Commodore Wilkens, Navy Public Relations

OOC: I've been waiting to get the Confederate military involved

"THEY WANT A WAR, THEY'VE GO IT!!" raged Claudius Griffincrest. "Contact the Chancellor. Tell them we will show the Rosdivans just how we deal with piracy" he said to his aide.


In the Imperial Palace, Chancellor Blackhelm read over the reports of the shipping attacks. He decided it would be a good time to combine the Confederate military with Griffincrest's mercenary force.

In an hour, 50 Orion's were up and scouring the seas. Any submarine seen was targeted and depth charges were dropped. Um al Maradim attack craft were usually accompanyibg the ships, so missiles were usually returne, most likely causing Rosdivan damaga as well.

Commodore Wilkins,
Rosdivan Navy Public Relations,
Rosdivan,

LifeWyze Biological Technology Corporation did invest $25m USD, however it is a long term investment paying out dividends to our corporation every year. Our dividends, and those of other shareholders, are lowered by your despicable actions against the Griffincrest Oil Corporation.

Expecting as we were, atleast $400m USD from this years dividends prior to your attack, and including our initial investment, we will only accept $430m USD as personal compensation. Any less would be an affront to the LifeWyze Corporation.

If indeed you feel that the Griffincrest Corporation has acted unlawfully, then should your country not simply begin legal proceedings rather than launching a military assault? To us it seems rather odd that you would be willing to throw away the lives of hundreds, if not thousands of people for a supposed crime that could be more easily resolved through a court of international law.

Consider our words and our counter offer. We do, however, thank you for your willingness to listen.

Yours Sincerely,
The Rt. Hon. Sir James Irvine,
Executive Officer,
LifeWyze Biological Technology Corporation Plc.

OOC: Any complaints if I jump in here? My Shadowmen are getting restless.

OOC: Didnt you and Blackhelm just go through that?

OOC: Didnt you and Blackhelm just go through that?

OOC: Yeah, but it would appear he didn't learn his lesson.

The deliberate use of military force to harm civilians is intolerable. A government using military force to destroy legitimate civilian interest that exists in a seperate sovereign nation is a crime against humanity. As friends to the Griffincrest Corporation, we demand that full compensation be provided to said corporation immediately.

-Ryan Kujan, CEO
Aspen Investment

Ros, when you say this is Closed, who are you saying it is closed to? I'm not *overly* interested in this, but I've been trying to get certain bodies under the Northfordian SOI for a while now, and you're not exactly helping me out.

Ros, when you say this is Closed, who are you saying it is closed to? I'm not *overly* interested in this, but I've been trying to get certain bodies under the Northfordian SOI for a while now, and you're not exactly helping me out.

Me and Blackhelm, and I'll accept Cruxium's thing in this. Everyone else gets ignored. I'll have an actual RP post up later today.

Thats a shame, I was going to offer to buy Cruxium off for you. I don't actually want to fight or anything, but to be honest, I don't want Lifewyze in this, as I'm quite concerned where it will go. I have a extensive assets in Cruxium, both tangible and non.

It had been sixteen hours since the last Rosdivan attack. Having left at sun up, they returned at sun down. Once more, the black sky was lit with a dull orange horizon, as Rosdivan planes set oil tankers alight. Guided by RORSAT, and ship identification confirmations from Minitrosses the night before, more than a hundred Deluge bombers came in and laid waste to the Griffincrest fleet.

----------

"80 miles out, target lock" mentioned the navigator/bombardier. "Bomb away." Though the Blackhelm Confederacy had sent out fast attack craft to escort the freighters, some presumably armed with surface to air missiles, that would not help them. The use of stand-off munitions was a standard Rosdivan tactic, and tonight featured 2,000 pound glide bombs, guided by signals from RORSATs in orbit.

As the large bomber turned away, the thirty other bombs in its belly waiting for their date with shipping, wings popped out of the bomb and signals were received. Processed, the signals adjusted the wings and the bomb flew on. Diving into the ship a few minutes later, it detonated, ripping off the bow and sending an immense fireball into the night sky.

-----

"What's that?" asked the pilot of one of VPB-12's Deluges.
"What's what?" returned the copilot.
"That!" he said, pointing to a bright, but blue, flash ahead of them.
"Huh, no idea. Waitasec, let me check the air search radar. Blackhelm aircraft, looks like a P-3 Orion right in that general vicinity."
"Are they depth charging something?"
"Looks like, but we don't have any subs out here, none closer than two thousand miles."
"Let's give them a greeting present then, so that they at least have some contact with Rosdivan."

Slowly, the large bomber flew towards the Orion, overtaking it. For a few brief moments, nothing happened. Then, the 30mm revolver cannon in the tail of the Deluge came alive, spitting fire at the Orion. Trailing fire, the now non-airworthy Orion plunged to the sea, where it exploded in a shower of debris.

The Deluge flew on.

OOC: I'll have a press release put up later today detailing tonight's action, which was the concluding air strike of Operation Scrooge. I'll also respond to Cruxium at the same time.

OOC: Aspen is allied to Griffincrest by the Corporate Alliance, but if both you and Blackhelm want me out, then I will remove my posts.

OOC: Three things.
1. Why is it called operation Scrooge?
2. Siap, I want you to stay, as we are allies
3. You are only using aircraft? You probably should have asked what kind of AA I have along the border. Floating all along the sea border, I have 3,000 AAD-1 AA balloons, spanning the whole thing. These would pose quite a problem, and I did not mention them because I believed you were using submarines. These weapons are sold by the Phoenix Militia, and I have posted that they were up before, in Sochatopias failed Terror War. Those planes probably wouldn't be hitting my shipping without some intense sky battles first. Submarines would, that is why I assumed submarines.

OOC: I will stay, as per the request of Blackhelm. Also, a note on my involvement: My nation is not allied with Griffincrest, however Aspen Investment is. Aspen is a front for a Kaiser Soze-esque figure who has certain friends in the Siapian Government. The Community can be slow to action, so if we do end up fighting, you may be fighting mercenaries first.

IC:


Official Statement of The Community of Siap

We hereby condemn the actions of Rosdivan. Unilateral military action against a civilian-owned business is unacceptable. The Community calls for sanctions to be brought against Rosdivan. If any more aggression occurs against Griffincrest, The Community will have no choice but to escalate its involvement.

-Alex Connor
Speaker of The Community


Secret IC:

"Mr. DeCell, this is Kujan from Aspen. It would be in the best interest of our client to respond forcefully to this affair with Griffincrest.

"He phoned ahead. I'm already making preparations."

Outside was a giant freighter, and teams of dockworkers were busy wielding off anything that could identify the ship. Since it was manufactured in a nation that no longer existed with imported iron, it would be impossible to trace to Siap.

OOC: Three things.
1. Why is it called operation Scrooge?

To make a miser out of you.


3. You are only using aircraft? You probably should have asked what kind of AA I have along the border. Floating all along the sea border, I have 3,000 AAD-1 AA balloons, spanning the whole thing. These would pose quite a problem, and I did not mention them because I believed you were using submarines. These weapons are sold by the Phoenix Militia, and I have posted that they were up before, in Sochatopias failed Terror War. Those planes probably wouldn't be hitting my shipping without some intense sky battles first. Submarines would, that is why I assumed submarines.

1. I tend to ignore Phoenix Militia's stuff as a matter of course, it's rather horrendously bad.
2. I wasn't hitting your borders, I was hitting your trade routes and the ships along them (after identifying them as yours).
3. I made it quite clear that I was using seaplanes from the beginning.

OOC: Ah, I see. Your first post led me to belive submarines were involved. And I thought you were using bombers? The Um al Maradim's should be able to hit them. Anyway..

IC: About 400 Corporate Gnats, accompanied by 120 Confederate SuFB-08 Strike Phoenix's and 200 Confederate MiG-31's were scrambled to hunt the deulges.

Encoded Transmission

Claudius Griffincrest,
Griffincrest Oil Corporation,

During this time of need, the LifeWyze Biological Technology Corporation is willing to sell you botulin toxin for the discounted price of $100,000 USD per gram. Do not be concerned, for areas contaminated by botulin toxin are perfectly clean 48 hours after exposure. In the event of a more infantry based assault, this could prove invaluable. Furthermore, to combat any highly protected troops anticipating such weaponry, we are willing to sell you Cyanogen Chloride (CK) at $100,000 USD per 50ml. As you may be aware, CK is known to penetrate gas filtration systems, making defense against it nigh impossible.

Yours Sincerely,
Christopher Jones,
Chemical Weaponry Division Director,
LifeWyze Biological Technology Corporation Plc.

Encrypted Reply

Christopher Jones,
Chemical Weaponry Division Director,
LifeWyze Biological Technology Corporation Plc

We believe that we will take you up on this offer. We wil purchase 5000ml of CK for 10,000,000$ and 100 grams of Botulin Toxin for 10,000,000$ We hope to be able to use these weapons to make the Rosdivan forces writhe in pain on our shores before dying an agonizing death.

Sincerely,
Claudius Griffincrest, CEO, Griffincrest Oil Inc

(OOC: Both of those are 100,000,000 (100m), not 10m)

OOC: Im in

(OOC: Beiraq, this is closed mate. Only Blackhelm, Rosdivan and myself.)

OOC: Ah, I see. Your first post led me to belive submarines were involved. And I thought you were using bombers? The Um al Maradim's should be able to hit them. Anyway..

I am using submarines, as seaplane tenders. They refuel planes, and in the case of the Minitross, load weapons on them. And the Um al Maradim class is armed with Mistrals, which have a range of 5km. Bombs are being dropped from over 80 miles. Bit of a difference there. There's also the minor question of getting FACs out far enough to cover the freighters within the time period available (less than one day).

The difficulty in intercepting bombers far out from one's homeland is twofold. Firstly, one must have enough range to intercept the target. This eliminated both the MiG-31s and the Gnats from consideration as they were both forced to turn back due to lack of fuel long before they could reach Rosdivan's bombers. While it is true that several ships were struck while they were within six hundred miles of Blackhelm's shores, these were struck by long range Mach 3 Rapier missiles. The actual bombers were more than a thousand miles away from Blackhelm's shores when they launched the attack.

The second difficulty is spotting the bombers themselves. While over the horizon radar can tell you that bombers are incoming, it is most exceedingly vague in its detailing of where the bombers are. Along with how few bombers were actually conducting the raid compared to the area that needed to be searched, this made the interceptions more a matter of luck. As it was, it might be said that the Blackhelm fighters got disproportionately lucky. Three Deluge bombers were successfully splashed. The first, still laden with missiles, blew up almost instantly as the missile ignited the fuel in the missile, which set off a chain reaction. The second, initially survived the attack but disappeared on its way towards safety. The third managed to hold together long enough to reach a submarine tender, whereupon the crew bailed out to be rescued.


To: The Rt. Hon. Sir James Irvine
From: Commodore Wilkens

Your offer has been accepted, and the money deposited in an escrow account, which will forward the money to you when the stocks are similarly deposited. As for trying their crimes under a court of international law, don't make us laugh. There is no court with such jurisdiction.

Commodore Wilkins,
Rosdivan Navy Public Relations,
Rosdivan,

The LifeWyze Corporation is immensely pleased at your decision to accept our counter offer and your shares have been deposited into your account electronically. Certificates of these shares are available for collection by your nation from our Maraque International Headquarters in the Tri-Towers.

Encoded Segment

It is no doubt likely that the Griffincrest Corporation has biological and/or chemical agents with which to assault your forces. We at LifeWyze can protect your armed forces and, in the event of a most heinous act on Griffincrest's behalf, protect your nation and its' people.

Yours Sincerely,
The Rt. Hon. Sir James Irvine,
Executive Officer,
LifeWyze Biological Technology Corporation Plc.

OOC: You really have to specify what is going on more.

Navy Announces Completion of Operation Scrooge
By William Ridacker

After two days of bombing Griffincrest Corporation shipping, the Rosdivan Navy has announced the successful completion of Operation Scrooge, a series of punitive attacks on the Griffincrest Corporation. Estimates on the damage inflicted range from a hundred billion pents to over a trillion.

As usual, the Navy refused to comment about casualties, but did acknowledge that there was more resistance on the second night of bombing than the first.

According to Commodore Wilkens, "As Griffincrest refused to pay compensations to those who have been affected by their crimes, we elected to extract a form of compensation from them. With the amount of damage that they have suffered, they will be hardpressed to commit further crimes, and we believe it possible that they may be forced into bankruptcy."

Northford Herald

..........Also in the news today..........

For those of you who have been following the Rosdivan situation, you may be pleased to know that the Navy has called an end to the Campaign, and have hailed it as a success.

While the neither the Commonwealth or GASN were involved in this as a whole, it is generally agreed those throughout Northford applaud their actions.

This is further exemplified by the Northfordian Government's gesture of sending the Rosdivians aid, to the sum of 400 Billion USD.

Sources cannot confirm whether the Rosdivan Government has confirmed the offer.

Only time will tell.

Navy Announces Completion of Operation Scrooge
By William Ridacker

After two days of bombing Griffincrest Corporation shipping, the Rosdivan Navy has announced the successful completion of Operation Scrooge, a series of punitive attacks on the Griffincrest Corporation. Estimates on the damage inflicted range from a hundred billion pents to over a trillion.

As usual, the Navy refused to comment about casualties, but did acknowledge that there was more resistance on the second night of bombing than the first.

According to Commodore Wilkens, "As Griffincrest refused to pay compensations to those who have been affected by their crimes, we elected to extract a form of compensation from them. With the amount of damage that they have suffered, they will be hardpressed to commit further crimes, and we believe it possible that they may be forced into bankruptcy."

Not even close to a hundred billion. the total is 16.8 billion dollars if you hit every ship for two days. You obviously could not get everysingle tanker, so the damage would likely only be 840 million, and that is being extremely generous. If you don't beleive me, look on my corporations main page. We only ship around 12 million barrels a day so that I can stangle the prices. A trillion dollars, yea right.

He didn't say Dollars, he said Pents mate....

I don't know what the conversion rate is, buh hey, it would make sense.

Not even close to a hundred billion. the total is 16.8 billion dollars if you hit every ship for two days. You obviously could not get everysingle tanker, so the damage would likely only be 840 million, and that is being extremely generous. If you don't beleive me, look on my corporations main page. We only ship around 12 million barrels a day so that I can stangle the prices. A trillion dollars, yea right.

What makes you think he's being honest or the damage assessments accurate? Plus, the damage assessments are based on multiple factors (and hence the rather large variance):
1. The immediate cost to you losing the oil, crew, and ship.
2. The cost of replacing that.
3. The cost of lost business.
4. Various other opportunity costs.

Incidentally, ignoring the oil itself, that 840 million dollar figure would be surpassed by the destruction of seven ships. Supertankers aren't the cheapest things in the world.

Still, a trillion dollars? The 840 mil was lost business. Each barrel goes for 70$Seven ships decreases the amount of oil I had formerly thought you destroyed, Each ship carries 500,000 barrels. That knocks out only 3.5 million barrels. This comes out to 245 million dollars. Each tanker costs about 2 million, with crew, so that adds only another 14 million. You barely effected my sale of oil, or my revenue. You just assume things without asking, which is not a good thing. Next time ask more questions.

Still, a trillion dollars? The 840 mil was lost business. Each barrel goes for 70$Seven ships decreases the amount of oil I had formerly thought you destroyed, Each ship carries 500,000 barrels. That knocks out only 3.5 million barrels. This comes out to 245 million dollars. Each tanker costs about 2 million, with crew, so that adds only another 14 million. You barely effected my sale of oil, or my revenue. You just assume things without asking, which is not a good thing. Next time ask more questions.

No, I said seven ships would equal that total, not htat only seven ships were sunk.