NationStates Jolt Archive

Lieutenant General Elias Adralestos read the dispatch from the General Staff. "Go fetch Major Tornices," he said to Captain Tarchaniotes, his messenger.

"Yes sir," said Tarchaniotes, racing off to find the general's staff officer. Three minutes later, the captain returned with Major Tornices in tow. After exchanging salutes, Tornices asked, "What is it sir?"

"The General Staff have ordered us to initiate an operation for the occupation of Terron Australia, excluding the portion of Queensland claimed by Romania," said Adralestos.

"What resources have we been alotted?" asked Tornices, plans starting to form in his head.

"We may draw on any assets in Defense Sector South for this mission, but the Staff have emphasized that the operation should be executed with the minimum force necessary, as some of our assets may be needed for the war on Varsola," said Adralestos.

"The Terrons were our allies," said Tornices, "We should recieve a relatively warm reception."

"Relatively," noted Adralestos. "It's not so much the Terrons I'm worried about as whatever terrorists may be lurking in now anarchic territory, and of the warlord governments that have sprang up in the abscence of a central authority."

"What's the plan?" asked Tornices.

"I judge we'll need about 7,000 troops," said Adralestos, "at least for initial operations. They can always be reinforced. They should be delivered by Pelican, as the shock-and-awe factor of such massive craft would probably have a significant morale factor on any enemy forces."

"How about the 34th Independent Infantry Brigade?" said Tornices.

"That's a mouthful. I think they'll be perfect for this mission. They've received urban and desert combat training, just what will be needed for this operation," said Adralestos.

"And what will we be naming this operation?" asked Tornices.

"Operation Duckshit," said Adralestos, looking absolutely serious.

Tornices' head snapped up. "Duckshit, sir?" he asked, eyes goggling.

"Yes, that's what I said. When a flock of geese fly by, they shit everywhere. When our Pelicans go in, our troops will be everywhere," said Adralestos, like a kindergarten teacher explaining the alphabet.

"I suppose that makes sense, but duckshit?" said Tornices.

Suddenly all the seriousness flew away from Adralestos' features. "Got you, didn't I?" he said, and burst out laughing. Tornices and Tarchaniotes joined him. After they were through, Adralestos ordered Tornices to begin drawing up detailed plans and Tarchaniotes to contact Brigadier General Archelus Kalekas, commander of the 34th.

Ten of the behemoth Pelican ekranoplan transports skimmed over the ocean waves towards the northern shore of Australia. Each of the massive WIG transports could carry seven hundred fully equipped soldiers, seventeen MBT-sized vehicles, a large amount of supplies, and had refueling facilities for smaller WIGs.

But these particular Pelicans had had their refueling facilities converted into extra cargo space to carry a special payload: each Pelican carried thirty war elephants instead of tanks. It would be their first test in combat, as well as the Pelican's.

Accompanying the Pelicans were twenty-five Harpy ekranoplan fighters. Each of the Harpies could skim feet above the waves at 450 mph while carrying six MTM-07 anti-shipping missiles. They would provide protection against any warships the Pelicans encountered.

Six huge Tartaros ekranoplan battlecraft also accompanied the fleet. Each one carried four 17" main guns and sixteen MTM-02 ground attack missiles, as well as an extensive AA suite. They would provide gun support to the troops and air defense to the Pelicans.

The ekranoplan fleet, launched from the Solomon Islands, made the journey to Australia quickly. The Terronian Navy had been split up between the remnants of the government and the various warlord factions that had arisen. Much of the fleet lay at the bottom of the ocean from warlord battles, but enough was left to still pose a hazard to the fleet.

A forward Harpy scout detected two destroyers in the fleet's path. The Harpies sped up from their escort positions to attack. The Harpies closed on the destroyers and fired away with their missiles. The destroyers' AA gunners, meanwhile, tore their hair out in frustration at their inability to do anything. The Harpies flew lower than the anti-aircraft guns could depress, and their ultra-low altitude made them nearly impossible to strike with missiles or detect on radar. Since they weren't actually in the water, they couldn't be detected on sonar or torpedoed either. In fact, the only truly effective way to kill them was to use fighter aircraft.

The destroyers were soon sunk and the Harpies returned to their escort positions. Now that the enemy knew they were here, things would heat up...

The ekranoplan fleet approached shore. The radar monitors indicated a sizeable force of ships up ahead. Evidently, by pooling together their remaining resources, the warlords had amassed a decent-sized force. However, it probably lacked a joint command and would be poorly coordinated through the battle.

The warlord fleet amounted to one obsolete battleship, a modern but severely damaged battlecruiser, two light cruisers, six destroyers, and five frigates.

The six Tartaros battlecraft each carried sixteen MTM-07 anti-shipping missiles, launched from quad-cell VLS tubes. With GPS and infrared tracking systems, it was fairly accurate and able to cause significant damage, with an impact scene of Mach 4.5.

The ninety-six missiles rocketed up in quartets from their launch tubes and began to scream through the air towards their targets. Soon, the damage was done. The fleet lacked an AA screen and thus suffered heavy damage from the missile impacts.

The battleship, its anti-missile defenses severely lacking, was struck by twenty-five missiles and took significant damage. Two of its four turrets were destroyed by the impacts and its fire-control radar was also destroyed. The bridge also took a hit, killing most of the senior officers. Dozens of large and small fires broke out across its deck, its crew struggling to put them out.

The battle cruiser's defenses succeeded in intercepting a few missiles, but it was still struck by eleven of them. The superstructure was obliterated, and the explosions also exploded its own missile ordinance. A massive fireball blossomed from the ship, and it slowly began slipping into the sea. It had been the flagship of this ragtag fleet; the entire fleet command perished with the cruiser.

The rest of the fleet was also badly damaged. Three destroyers and three of the frigates were destroyed or severely damaged along with one of the light cruisers.

The warlord forces then launched their own assault on the Kreynorian forces. The surviving cruiser, destroyers, and frigates launched a wave of forty-one missiles aimed at the Kreynorian fleet. But the 40mm Metal Storm and Goalkeeper CIWS turrets which studded the Tartaros craft threw up a hailstorm of flak at the incoming missiles, while the ekranoplans' Phoenixius Defensive Countermeasures Suites Generation II Navalized (PDCS G-II N) employed small cannons firing decoys into the air. Each gave off a massive IR signature and was highly reflective to radar, and in addition carried a small jammer that interfered with the radar-guided missiles.

The few missiles that did get past these defenses were met with thick layers of triple-layered Triad armor, incorporating a self-sealing layer, carbon-silicon nano-mesh, and titanium-aluminum alloy. All in all, five missiles got through, three impacting the lead Tartaros and causing relatively light damage and the other two impacting different Tartaros, doing minimal damage.

The Harpies then set forth at their full 450 mph speed to mop up the enemy fleet. They had refueled and rearmed on the Pelicans and were once again fully loaded with MTM-07 anti-shipping missiles. The warlord fleet was in the process of turning tail and getting ready to flee, but no ship could outrun the Harpies. The elusive battlecraft were soon swarming amongst the enemy, releasing missiles at point blank range. The Harpies also activated their Mist Refraction Systems. The Mist system used high-frequency generators on the side of the craft. These excited the molecules in the air so that light coming from the sky is refracted so that it is projected horizontally. This creates images of the sky where the ship should be, but the brain perceives it as water, and so the ship is undetected by visual systems.

The remaining destroyers and frigates were soon flaming, sinking hulks, and the light cruiser was crippled and helpless. The Harpies, done with their deadly work, returned to the fleet. The Tartaros, speeding up to their maximum speed of 400 mph, finished off the crippled cruiser and battleship with their SCRAMjet-assisted 17" guns.

It was now safe for the troops to land...