NationStates Jolt Archive

OOC: Operation Carousel (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=502433) was the original thread and this catches me up to where I left off.

The Emperor had the plans for Operation Blue Rising sitting in a confidential storage location on Governor's Island. It had been shelved when the incident on Grenada happened and when Grenada erupted into the volcano that it had become, the plans were put well on the back burner. There had been a lot of preparation and planning done. The entire war strategy was devised and planned, practiced and elemental. International communications had been made with other nations concerning the plan and agreements had come in, only to be filed away when Grenada exploded. When the Divine Empire of Kreynoria began positioning military hardware and satellites in position to attack, the Emperor couldn't have been more pleased. The Emperor remarked that the opportunity had once again presented itself. He would contact the nations that agreed to the invasions in the first place and hope that their support was still there. The main goal for the Empire of Layarteb wasn't Mexico or Argentina or India. Those lands served no purpose for the Empire. The real prize were the Falkland Islands, a sizeable chunk of land in the extreme southern part of South America, just 250 miles from Tierra del Fuego.

The Emperor cabled Emperor Manuel III of Kreynoria immediately with his intention to support the war and his request to be included in the plans. Layartebian naval assets were already underway in various parts of the North Atlantic Ocean, mostly for other operations, training, patrols, and other routine endeavors. Aircraft fly from the mainland and from Iceland and Ireland would be flying missions in excess of 8,000 miles each way. This would be a long campaign, that was a given, and definitely a bloody one. Logistically, Varsola had the edge, they were closer. The Empire, however, was counting on several fronts, which would fractionalize the Varsolan military to fight each and every front. Somewhere it had to give and because the Falkland Islands would be a small front, they hoped it would be there. However, the Falkland Islands were very developed. The Varsolan corporations had turned the island into a major industrial paradise and that meant there was a lot of interest in the small chain. Infrastructure would wind up being the key and crucial target in the opening strikes, as well as military assets on the island chain.

Sortied for the fight would be three Submarine Attack Squadrons, three Amphibious Assault Ready Groups, three Carrier Escort Groups, and three Carrier Battle Groups. This would put a total of 366 warships in the waters around the Falkland Islands, totalling 14,139,348 tons of warships in the water, armed with thousands of missiles and aircraft. There were plans to deploy a Centurion Air Missile Squadron as well but that would have to be surged and put to sea, then moved into position. The nearest one was in the Azores, 6,000 nautical miles away. Moving at maximum silent speed, that would take them a total of two weeks to get there. Moving at their fastest speed possible, they could cut the time in half but they risked detection. They would have to go about getting to the battle zone smartly.

The other twelve groups of ships could be there in only six days, making best speed. When the approval came back from Emperor Manuel III, the ships were released from their holding position in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, almost 3,600 nautical miles away. Six days later they would arrive but, for now, it was all about preperations. Battle plans were put into play throughout the Empire. Border security was beefed up and combat air patrols were increased. Early warning stations looked into the air for thousands of miles, hoping to get a glimpse of any aerial activity. The Emperor had made no public statement yet and nothing was divulged of the battle plan. The ships would arrive on station, hopefully by surprise. Satellites kept a look down on everything around the Falkland Islands and in the path of the travelling ships, which used knowledge of possible Varsolan satellites in orbit to fool the enemy of their route. When they knew a suspected satellite would pass overhead, they maneuvered in a pattern that wouldn't give away their course or the direction from which they came. This added more time to their journey but they wouldn't let that be a factor. They were spread out, far, and were more then able to protect themselves from attack. The Imperial Layartebian Navy had announced its intention to conduct wargames off the newly acquired Heard and McDonald Islands and the cover would be perfect for them. For all intents and purposes, that was where they were heading, to the Southern Ocean to conduct wargames.

http://www.theforsakenoutlaw.com/Graphics/Nation-States/Role-Playing/Operation%20Blue%20Rising/FalklandIslandsMap-01.jpg

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The Emperor awaited the declaration of war from the Kreynorian government. This was their endeavor, primarily, and a declaration of war against Varsola was going to kick off the festivities, so to speak. The Layartebian declaration was already prepared and ready, just waiting for the correct moment for it to go out through the channels and the world circuit. Since the end of the conquests, the Empire looked forward to peace and prosperity. That would have to be put on hold, temporarily. Grenada had been one thing but this would be something else. Clean up from Grenada wasn't nearly complete yet and it had not even been a full three months. That wound was still unhealed and the mysteries surrounding the incident were still at the forefront of the public eye. This could distract their attention from Grenada, if it went well. If it failed, it would be a disaster for morale within the Empire. Critics would say that the peak of the Empire has passed and its decline ushered in, prematurely. The Emperor was determined not to let that happen. Timing was crucial and timing was everything.

In the South Atlantic Ocean, the naval groups of the Imperial Layartebian Navy were making progress. They were still five days out and that meant they still had a lot of time to train, drill, and prepare. Guns were loaded, weapons were checked and cleaned, aircraft were maintenanced, and training missions were conducted. Submarines kept the most secretive and elusive, taking up positions within the battlegroups and sometimes miles and miles away from them. They were the most important, in terms of secrecy and surprise, and they could do the most damage. With the Kreynorian declaration of war, the Roman agreement to participate on Sonora, and strong speculation that the Grand Duchy of Saint Lazare would take the fight to Varsolan India, things were beginning to look very different than they were just a day prior. There were some elements that were still undecided and out there, so to speak.

With five days to go before the ships arrived, the Imperial Layartebian Navy organized into Task Force Manhattan, things became to come into place. The Kreynorians had passed on their declaration of war and the Neuvo Ricans had joined into the foray, albeit secretly thus far. The Layartebians would support them fully and as the ships steamed southward, into the middle of the South Atlantic Ocean, far away from any land, preparations were being made elsewhere throughout the Empire. The Air Force would be paramount in this operation and they had to be fully prepared.

Still over 2,800 nautical miles away, the Layartebian shipping was moving quickly towards their striking positions around the Falkland Islands. News of the Cottish first-strike was already sweeping through the task force. The launch had been detected and that meant only time. Because of the October Alliance, the Cottish had jointly developed the Imsdal, SCRAMjet, first-strike and heavy hitting missile. Five variants were made, each with different priorities. The main version was a strike weapon, armed with a heavy, advanced unitary penetrator, letting it destroy even the most hardened targets. The other variants included submunitions of thermite canisters or grenades, for armored columns, airports, battlefields, radar and missile sites, etc. There was an EMP version, for the most necessary targets. Then, there was the ultimate version, one loaded with tens of thousands of spheres, meant for fragmentation effects. Radar sites, battlefields, armored columns, etc. were all targets for that version of the missile.

Task Force Manhattan had thousands of Imsdal missiles loaded in their VLS tubes. However, unlike the Cots, the Layartebians had a different battleplan that wouldn't involve using the Imsdal missiles as a first-strike weapon. Though they were capable of penetrating any air defense network on the planet, mainly because of their sheer velocity, they were to be conserved.

"Sir, the Romans have joined the war." The statement was all that the Emperor needed to hear. He heard of the attacks by this "Varsolan Liberation Brigade" against a hockey game in the Roman territory. It was a senseless and cowardly terrorist attack that had some holes in it. The Central Intelligence Agency was picking apart the attack, looking to see if Varsola was, in fact, a state with terrorist groups. The MO didn't fit the Varsolan state but the CIA wasn't 100% about that either. Varsola was a state with a lot of loop holes and unknowns. If the Layartebians were going to invade the Falklands, they needed to know just what they were up against and they needed to know what they were going to face after the islands were secured. The Emperor had his hopes that Roman Emperor Valerius IV would join the crusade against the Varsolan state and against its decadence and complete and utter decay of corruption. He hoped that the multiple fronts that they were going to put Varsola on would devestate their logistics and their ability to fight a war, something that would go hand-in-hand with their own tactics.

The Empire was going to be involved in a limited war with the Varsolan government. They were hitting the Falklands Islands with a might naval task force, the heart of the Varsolan industrial complex. This meant that they would have to strike hard and fast and make sure that the fortified positions they were attacking weren't too fortified against them. This would be a long campaign, that was for sure but the battleplans remained the same.

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Layartebian ships, at their four day mark, received their final orders and tasking dossiers. Submarines were already moving into place to clear the way of hostile shipping, deposit SEAL teams, and conduct their own intelligence gathering, especially signals intelligence and electronic intelligence. The island was rife with military and industrial mercenaries. The corporate world of Varsola had such a strong hold on the island chain that it would be a bloody and grueling fight to the death. Because of this, the islands were going to be peppered with leaflets at least a half dozen times. The leaflets would come from high up and they would warn of an advancing military operation on the island and the necessity for all civilians to take shelter and lay down whatever arms they had. The leaflets promised no harm to those who surrendered to the invading military and they emphasized that the islands would be treated fairly and in accordance with international obligations of the attack nation. It was a catch-22, the Empire had no international obligations and there was no where to go. Submarines were tasked with sinking any and all major shipping to and from the islands.

ooc: I think I already posted this in the other thread, but oh well...

Secret Contact:
To:Cotland, Layarteb
From: Neuvo Rica

We have several large airfields in the South Orkney islands that are available for your use if you should so desire. We are able to handle up to 8 squadrons of large aircraft from these bases, alongside our 4 bomber and 8 fighter bomber squadrons on the islands. Limited fleet re supply is available too.

-----------------------
Valdivia Air Force Base, South Orkney Island...

The alert had sounded, and crews began to prepare for operations at a moments notice. Some of the bombers were already airborne attacking mainland Argentina, but the majority of forces remained. Iced up hangar doors began to creak open, and munitions lifts began to come into action, as aircraft were given armament.

The naval task forces were three days away when the airstrikes began. ILAF bombers had been airborne for hours by the time that they reached the Falklands Islands. It was a punishing strike with sixty B-7B Incubus bombers, loaded heavy with 3,240 Imsdal missiles, assorted between AGM-203A, B, C, D, and E missiles. They flew unescorted across the Northern Atlantic Ocean and picked up their escorts from the carrier task force when they reached them. Refueling in midair, the strike force moved down towards the Falklands, staying far enough away from mainland Argentina to avoid being engaged by land-based aircraft. The impressive missile strike, which would be launched from 600 - 800 miles from the islands, from the north and the east, would hope to punish and cripple the military machine on the islands. The missiles were tasked against airfields, radar and SAM sites, army and naval bases, Port Stanley, and just about every other important target. The 3,240 missiles would overwhelm air defenses on the islands and sneak through with such force and speed that the islands wouldn't have a chance. Since each aircraft carried 54 of the missiles, they all had designated launch points that put them well out of the range of enemy aircraft, behind a buffer zone that the Varsolan land-based aircraft just couldn't reach without going through nets of Layartebian Naval fighters and SAM coverage. It would be suicidal to even think about attacking the bombers and the Empire was hoping for that, especially since the Neuvo Rican campaign against Argentina and Paraguay and Uruguay began.

When the time came, the missiles were launched and sent towards their targets at hypersonic speeds. Each B-7 turned away once it launched its bombs and went to supersonic speeds. Because they were light now they were able to move much faster and though they had approached at subsonic speeds, now they were pulling away at Mach 2.5, moving at 85,000 feet, where fighters and SAMs couldn't touch them. The Varsolans would be lucky if they detected them in the first place, let along managed to intercept them as they egressed from the target.

The hardest strike wasn't going to be from the bombers, it would come from underneath the surface of the sea. A single Venom Cruise Missile Squadron had vectored themselves into place around 250 miles to the east of the island group and both Venom SSGNs were spaced out by more than 50 miles, their escorts moving between them, a Seawolf Flight III and a Virginia, moving with each submarine, the Virginia to the north. Each Venom SSGN had thirty large launch tubes and twenty-four smaller ones. Inside the twenty-four smaller ones were UGM-198B Stallion LAMs equipped with two thousand pound BLU-116 Advanced Unitary Penetrator warheads, designed for maximum penetration. They had a range of 500 miles. Inside the thirty larger tubes was an assortment of missiles, two hundred and ten, in all, all of them Imsdals. The submarines weren't equipped with any nuclear weapons and that was for a reason, none were predicted to be needed. With the bomber missiles already in the air, the Venom's began their targetting and entered coordinates into the missiles. They moved silently at 4 knots and 150 feet beneath the waves, their missile targetting systems working to get each of the two hundred and thirty-four missiles they carried locked onto their respective targets, airfields and command and control sites. The Virginia and Seawolf SSNs had their own cruise missile tubes but they were loaded with anti-shipping missiles and anti-submarine missiles, SUBROCs, and that meant they were for defense only. The mission was going to be simple, launch their missiles, dive, and get the hell out of dodge, heading north to the Azores for reloading, a long trip, through largely friendly waters.

When the missiles were targetted, the two submarines opened their hatches, quietly but all at once. Then, the firing system kicked in and the missiles began to launch. The firing computer launched them in such a pattern that it would not disturb the buoyancy of the vessel as it discarded well over 345 long tons of weight. The missiles, all of them, were in the air in less than six minutes. The vessels closed their hatches, now much lighter, and began to move north again. The missile launches were loud and it was likely that everything for a hundred miles heard them going off, especially as they broke the surface in record numbers and headed towards their targets.

The submarines went deep, diving down to 800 feet and increasing their speed to 15 knots. They would slowly dive down to 1,800 feet but they had to be careful about it. If they dove too fast, the sound of the pressure changes to their hull would echo throughout the sea and alert hostile submarines, if there were any. Spaced out, the four submarines were like a line of force, all of them equipped with a host of torpedoes and missiles, designed to counter both surface and subsurface threats.

They didn't get far though, not before their SONAR screens found something. The first submarine to find it was the Virginia SSN, out in the lead, moving at 15 knots, at a depth of 1,600 feet. Its hull array picked up a faint contact about 20 nautical miles ahead of them, a contact that registered as a 688 class submarine, moving at 15 knots as well but perpendicular to them. Using a short-wave, high powered transmitter, the Virginia notified the other three submarines and they moved into attack position, using their own SONAR's to triangulate the position of the unknown submarine, which had to be Varsolan. The Virginia SSN had four torpedo tubes and inside each one was a Mark 76 Advanced Heavy Torpedo, a new torpedo designed to dive deeper and move faster than the coveted ADCAP. The submarines closed in on the contact, using their own stealth to make their approach quiet. Because the Virginia was in the safest firing position, it would be taking the shot.

"CONN, SONAR. Contact designated Master 1. Range 24,000 yards. Speed 15 knots. She's below the layer. We've got a solid fix on it."

"SONAR, CONN. Aye." The captain looked at the overlay and gave the next order, "Flood tubes one and two. Warm up the weapons. Set safeties to 2,500 yards. Passive homing. Course depth 1,500 feet. Run speed 45 knots."

"Aye sir. Flood tubes one and two. Safeties at 2,500 yards. Passive homing, 45 knots, 1,500 feet run."

"Very good COB. Let's get us in position. Come about, 3-3-0. Decrease speed to 12 knots."

"Aye sir. Come about 3-3-0, speed to 12 knots. Aye sir." The boat moved to its port as it slowed down. This allowed for the towed array to whip around to get an even better fix on the submarine.

"WEAPONS, CONN. How's that solution coming?"

"CONN, WEAPONS. Give us two minutes sir. Waiting for the array to come around."

"Very well. But hurry it up. I don't want that son of a bitch coming around on us. We're in its baffles and that's good for us." The Virginia was moving diagonally away from the rest of its submarine force, towards the enemy submarine, which was identified as a Varsolan 688, possibly moving into a position to stalk the battlegroup, which was moving through the area shortly. "WEAPONS, CONN. Status?"

"CONN, WEAPONS. We have a firing solution. We have guidance lock."

"Aye! COB! Fire tubes one and three!"

"Aye sir. Fire tubes one and three! FIRING!" With a loud pressure release, the two torpedoes ejected out of the tubes at more than 45 knots and immediately, their own propulsion systems kicked in and the torpedoes ascended to a depth of 1,500 feet, moving at 45 knots. They cavitated as they ran towards their targets, the wire towing behind them, feeding them information on the enemy submarine.

"CONN, SONAR. Master 1 knows it's engaged. She's changed course. Now moving to flank speed it appears sir. She's increasing past 20 knots and dropping noise makers. Heading 2-3-5. She's got a good captain."

"SONAR, CONN. Aye. WEAPONS. Adjust firing points."

"Aye sir." The two torpedoes flew past 2,500 yards and went into search mode, their passive sensors picking up the loud propeller and reactor noise of the 688, which was now diving, deeper, and rapidly, making a lot of noise as it did. The torpedoes locked onto the submarine at 13,500 yards and increased their speed to 60 knots, as they prepared for the kill. "CONN, WEAPONS. Torpedoes are homing. We're in attack mode! Time to impact is 65 seconds." The captain set something on his stopwatch and looked at it. Just then, the dreaded call came.

"CONN, SONAR. Torpedoes in the water. Bearing 1-9-5 and 2-0-5."

"SONAR, CONN. Aye. Watch them! COB. Let's increase speed. Make us 25 knots, get down to 2,200 feet fast! Launch countermeasures on my mark. Three. Two. One. Launch countermeasures! Retrieve towed array!" From underneath the boat, a pair of countermeasures, both active noisemakers dropped off and began to ascend to the surface as the submarine began to dive, evasively, and pick up speed.

"CONN, SONAR. Torpedo one is going after the noise maker. Torpedo two is not. Shit! INCOMING TORPEDO! BEARING 1-8-8. Range 5,500 yards! Speed 55 knots!"

"SONAR, CONN. Aye! COB. Increase to flank NOW! Prepare to launch more countermeasures on my mark and make our heading 0-9-5. Three. Two. One. MARK! DO IT NOW!"

"AYE SIR! LAUNCHING COUNTERMEASURES! INCREASE TO FLANK, CHANGE HEADING TO 0-9-5!" The submarine jolted forward and continued its dive towards 2,800 feet, moving now to the starboard.

"CONN, WEAPONS. Torpedo one and two hit!"

"CONN, SONAR. Explosion bearing 1-3-0. We got it sir!"

"SONAR, CONN. What's the status on those torpedoes?"

"CONN, SONAR. Torpedo one has missed. Torpedo two. Hot on us. Range 2,800 yards."

"SONAR, CONN. I want a 100 yard count!"

"CONN, SONAR. Aye sir!" The captain watched as the submarine leveled off at 2,200 feet and had increased to some 38 knots, sprinting up to 40. The submarine was fast and agile and they needed to do a quick maneuver and they needed to do it as fast as they could. The noise makers ascended towards the surface, making as much noise as possible but the torpedo was now running rogue. Its guidance wire had undoubtedly been cut in the explosion from the launching submarine and it was running hot. It wasn't actively pinging either, meaning that it had been set to passive mode as well.

"CONN, SONAR. 2,700 yards!" The captain looked at his stopwatch. At 38 knots and the torpedo moving at 55 knots, he had only five minutes before it hit him. That wasn't a lot of time but it was good that he was moving so fast. The torpedo was only making 9.56 yard per second gain on him, not a lot. If he could sustain the depth for long enough he could be good but he had something up his sleeve. "CONN, SONAR. 2,600 yards! Towed array secure!"

"SONAR, CONN. Aye." He looked at his stop watch. He was running out of time as the torpedo passed through 2,500, 2,400, 2,300, 2,200, 2,100, and 2,000 yards. He was going to do something brave and he needed to do it fast. "COB. Prepare two noisemakers. Release on my mark and rapid ascend to 500 feet!"

"Aye sir! Prepare two noisemakers. Release on your mark, rapid ascend to 500!" The order went through a few other hands, reaching the man operating the countermeasures panel. The Virginia SSN had 14 external CM launchers, two of which were empty. It also had a reloadable 2-barrel that was being reloaded again. Two of the countermeasures released had been from the reloadable barrel. They were loading a pair of active noisemakers, loud enough to distract away from a submarine moving at 40 knots.

"CONN, SONAR. Torpedo is at 1,000 yards!"

"SONAR, CONN. Aye. COB. On my mark ready. Three. Two. One. NOW!"

"AYE SIR! LET'S MOVE MEN!" The Virginia SSN was a mighty machine and it was about to get mightier. In a push of a button, the reloadable CM dispenser dropped a pair of noisemakers and the boat went into a rapid ascent, blowing some of its air tanks to allow it to ascend more rapidly. It wasn't an uncontrolled ascent like an emergency surface but they would pick up another five or six knots in the ascent. The submarine shot upwards like a missile as the torpedo reached the countermeasure and exploded, well underneath the submarine. The explosion echoed throughout the submarine as it ascended upwards still, past 1,200 feet.

"CONN, SONAR. Torpedo two is destroyed. We're safe sir!"

"SONAR, CONN. AYE! COB let's level off. Slow us down."

"Aye sir! All back two thirds. Level off on your bow planes." The submarine began to slow itself as it leveled out at 950 feet, making all sorts of noise as the pressure changed along its hull. It eventually slowed back down to 20 knots and then back down to 15. The captain turned the boat back to the rest of the squadron and met up with them, for a less eventful trip back to the Azores.

With 3,708 missiles in the air, at one time, the Falklands Islands were doomed. The first to hit were the Imsdals, mainly because of their high speed. The missiles attacked from two profiles, on steep dive angles hitting at Mach 7 bringing so much kinetic energy that it seems almost useless to actually have warheads on them or they attacked by passing over the target, dispensing submunitions. The missiles equipped with blast fragmentation warheds came down at a high speed dive and exploded anywhere from 1,000 to 5,000 feet off the ground, sending their 58,825 spheres down towards their targets at speeds the were blisteringly fast, turning targets into peppered cheese. The punishing strike came with no warning and the mediocre defenses on the island, in comparison to the Empire that is, stood no chance. Within milliseconds of the strike, the power was going down, communications were severed, radar coverage was gone, air defense coverage was gone, and the airbases were out of commission, at least for now. The Imsdals and the Stallions were beyond extraordinary in their hit rates, which numbered 95%, still meaning that 185 missiles either failed to detonate, missed their targets, or failed in flight. That was a lot of missiles and a lot of money but the odds were so overwhelming in the favor of the ILAF and ILN that a follow on strike would have to wait until reconnaissance could be done over the area. Satellites would pass overhead as well as a U-3 Aurora aircraft.

The task forces were far away still and that meant there was plenty of time still for follow on strikes. Within hours, reconnaissance data would show that a considerable amount of the Varsolan military on the Falklands Islands was devestated. They still had capabilities though, a lot of them, and though most of the lifelines were cut, they still had armor, soldiers, and enough booby traps to make the Marine advance more than punishing to both sides.

Little had happened, militarily speaking, in the following day. Reconnaissance flights showed that the Varsolan defenses on the Falkland Islands had been crippled in a way uneasy to recover from without lengthy periods of time. Task Force Manhattan had closed now to within a day of the Falklands Islands, a little under 400 nautical miles away. Varsolan military presence was expected now but none had come yet, possibly because of the Neuvo Rican advances against Argentina, Uruguay, and Paraguay. The task force was coming from the east, making them much further away from the mainland than the Varsolan military would have desired. They were too far away to be reached by surface-to-surface missiles and that was a good thing as hundreds of them had been spotted along the Argentinian coast, which was why, perhaps, another forty B-7 Incubus bombers were airborne, coming in over the Atlantic. In support of the Neuvo Rican campaign, the forty B-7s had a load of 1,440 Imsdal missiles, a mix between the AGM-203A, B, C, and D variants. The missiles were all going to be targetted against numerous surface-to-surface missile sites within range of the Falklands Islands. This would serve to help the Neuvo Ricans as well, as their ships could have little to worry about on their own ingresses towards the Argentinian coast.

It wasn't long after the missiles were launched that the Varsolan military command decided that they weren't going to stand idly by anymore. With the fleet approaching, the Varsolan military went into heavy action. Submarines and ships already at sea were vectored towards the task force for one purpose, engagement and while they headed towards them, so did hundreds of fighters and bombers, all flying from Argentina. The fighters were advanced, mostly F-22 Raptors and Su-30 Flankers but that wasn't all. The Varsolans had launched bombers as well, mainly B-1 Lancer and Tu-160 Blackjack bombers, heavy, and loaded with tons of cruise missiles.

The Task Force went into action and Crow missiles were slaved towards targets as the aircraft carriers began to go into overdrive, launching their interceptor fighters. F-14E Super Tomcats armed with Dodsengels and BVRAAMs were already in the air, flying combat air patrols over the Task Force. When the remaining ones, as well as the F-39D Super Eagles were launched, the Varsolan aircraft took evasive maneuvers. Crow missiles had a long range, in excess of 300 miles and against heavy, unagile bombers they were more than adept at destroying them. The Dodsengels would be used against the more nimble fighters, the Su-30s and the F-22s, which were both dangerous and deadly in their own rights. With the Crows saved mostly for the heavy bombers and the fighters in the air, to engage the F-22s and Su-30s, what was promised was a definite air battle, of epic proportions.

The call rang out throughout the fleet that they had incoming aircraft. Task Force Manhattan had nine battlegroups with it, a lot of firepower, especially in terms of missiles and aircraft. Of the main-line fighters, there were 180 F-35B Ravens, 48 F-26B Typhoons, 36 F-14E Super Tomcats, 36 F-37E Razors, 12 F-37F Razors, 36 F-39D Super Eagles, and 36 F-41C Defenders. Immediately launched were 24 F-35B Ravens, 12 F-26B Typhoons, 16 F-14E Super Tomacts, 16 F-37E Razors, and 8 F-39D Super Eagles, all armed with AIM-120D-9 AMRAAMs, AIM-179C BVRAAMs, AIM-202A Dodsengels, and AIM-204A Escapes, plenty of missiles to swat down the F-22s and Su-30s that were incoming. With AWACS airborne, even the stealthy F-22s were visible and datalinking would allow the F-39D Super Eagles, with their sixteen AIM-216A Halycon ultra-longrange missiles, to launch them all at extreme range, as well as the many AIM-202A Dodsengel missiles that were within the air armada. As RIM-188 Crow missiles lifted off and barrelled towards their targets, klaxon's rang everywhere. Battlestations had been more than declared.

Aside from the incoming fighters, of which they identified some 48 Su-30 Flankers, 72 F-22 Raptors, 16 B-1 Lancers, and 32 Tu-160 Blackjacks, they identified a number of surface vessels as well. There were three frigates, two destroyers, and a cruiser bearing down on them, all of them far enough away that the RGM-84 Harpoons that they carried could not reach the task force. Underneath the waves, they detected 688 submarines, four of them, and at least three Akulas. Submarines running with the fleet were immediately dispatched to attack the seven submerged contacts, which they would engage with the new AHTs that they carried, powerful torpedoes that put the ADCAP to shame. Against the surface targets, they would launch AMESM missiles, although AMESM missiles were going to be handled by the surface fleet as much as the aircraft. Aside from the aircraft already launched, a flight of eight A-5D Vigilante with four AMESM missiles each had taken off and were heading at low-altitude and supersonic speed towards the enemy ships. They could launch the missiles at a range of 200 miles, which meant that they could engage the ships outside of their own defensive circle. At the same time, MH-60R Sea Hawks were launched to provide ASW support against the enemy submarines. Equipped with Mark 50 Barracuda torpedoes, the ASW helicopters could deliver a death blow to the enemy submarines very, very quickly.

Though outnumbered, the aircraft put up a serious fight. The Typhoons took the first losses, losing two aircraft to R-77M Adder missiles but both aircraft had launched their BVRAAM and Dodsengel missiles, which homed in on their targets even after the two aircraft were destroyed. Neither pilot survived by they were posthomously credited with shooting down four aircraft each, their missiles turning Su-30 Flankers into burning and falling debris. The Super Eagles had the biggest advantage and they used both their stealth and their speed to engage the numerous F-22 Raptors. Each aircraft was loaded with twenty mssiles and they fired all but four of them, those four being dogfight AIM-204 missiles. The amount of missiles in the air was phenomenal and as they tracked their targets, beyond visual range, they homed in on them with no remorse. When the air battle concluded, the Varsolan aircraft were resoundingly defeated but the Layartebians had taken losses too. Four F-26 Typhoons, six F-35 Ravens, and two F-14E Super Tomcats had been destroyed by missiles, mostly launched from the F-22 Raptors. Numerous parachutes were spotted and MH-60S Knight Hawks were sent to rescue the pilots.

The naval battle was much different. The A-5s had launched their missiles at maximum range and sent them hurtling towards the enemy ships at supersonic speeds. The twenty-four missiles tracked on the six targets, with four missiles per target. The AMESM missiles were deadly and hard hitting. They tore through the frigates, sinking two of them instantly, with powerful blasts to their magazines. The third frigate lost its stern and sunk shortly thereafter, the missiles tearing through their engineering sections. The destroyers, heavier, had survived slightly longer but they were destroyed just as well, the missiles impacting at the waterline and as top-dive attacks, crippling them in such ways that they took on water instantly. The cruiser, the heaviest of the six ships, didn't fare well either. All four missiles hit it on one side, causing it to list, severely, to its port. It stayed afloat but would sink in three hours, the crew unable to get its flooding under control.

Under the surface, torpedoes were flying around everywhere. The Akula captains were aggressive and launched snapshots at every bearing that they didn't know to be their own. That put tons of torpedoes in the water as they emptied their tubes. They were saving their high-speed, hard-hitting cruise missiles for the ships and some torpedoes as well but they weren't prepared to be fighting against submarines that were infinitely quieter than they were. Of the seven submarines, two were sunk by MH-60R Sea Hawks, dropping two Barracuda torpedoes per target. The submarines, though fast and deep-diving, couldn't escape the Barracuda torpedoes and the faster the submarines travelled, the more noise they made. The Barracuda's listened to them intently. The SONARs of the submarines were rendered almost ineffective because of all the noise in the water. Of the remaining five submarines, two were destroyed by Stallion missiles, launched from Hunter SSNs. The missiles ascended to about 10,000 feet and then dropped Barracuda homing torpedoes into the water. As they splashed down, they immediately sought out their targets. The remaining three submarines were destroyed by AHT torpedoes. It was a good day and now the fleet was within two hundred nautical miles of the Falklands Islands. The Varsolans launched yet another wave of aircraft...

The Falklands Islands lay in waiting. As the ships came out of the rising sun, to the east, they could see nothing but smoke, still rising from the islands. Airstrikes and missile strikes left the island battered worse than had it been hit by a Category 5 hurricane. Now it was about to get hit more. As bombers tore apart the Varsolan mainland, in assistance to the Neuvo Ricans, they made their way south, peppering hundreds of Varsolan targets with guided bombs and missiles. They were being overwhelmed by the sheer veracity of the Layartebian and Neuvo Rican forces that it was any wonder they could launch another wave of airstrikes against the ships. The aircraft launched included B-1 and Tu-160 bombers, undoubtedly armed with cruise missiles of their own and their escort fighters, Su-30 Flankers, armed with R-77M Adder, long-range missiles and R-73 Archer, short-range missiles.

Naval aircraft were already in the air by the dozens and flying sorties towards the Falklands Islands. They would be attacking command & control targets primarily, as well as continuing to degrade the Varsolan's ability to wage war. Airfields, missile sites, radar sites, and other defense sites were to be slammed by cluster bombs and air to ground missiles. It was any wonder that the islands weren't a full conflagration because of all of the ordinance dropped in there. It would only worsen as B-7 Incubus bombers from Ireland and Iceland made their way through the Atlantic, carrying AGM-192 Dreamcatcher missiles, equipped with BLU-113, heavy warheads. The missiles impacted at extremely high speeds, adding kinetic energy to the massive power of their warheads. They were almost impossible to shoot down and they came in like ICBM warheads, fast, 15,000 mph fast!

When the alerts went out that the Varsolans had launched more aircraft, F-39s and F-14s already in the air were vectored towards their positions, carrying long-range missiles. They combined those missiles with the Crow SAMs onboard the ships and once again filled the sky with smoke trails and metal. Their missiles contacted well and the Varsolans stood little chance, although their did manage to get off enough cruise missiles to sink a Heretic class. The ship was a total loss and as it sunk to the bottom of the South Atlantic, the task force saw to it that it would be avenged.

A Venom missile group, which had situated itself to the north, sent off a single Venom, equipped with Imsdal missiles north, towards Buenos Aires. All 234 missiles would be in the air soon, flying towards their targets in Buenos Aires, with intentions of annihilating every one of them. The Neuvo Ricans would see very little fight, it seemed.

The Falklands Islands were under heavy assault as it was. They couldn't afford another punishing strike but there was one waiting for them. Any target of importance that survived the previous air strikes was now under the gun. B-4 and B-7 bombers, heavily loaded with guided bombs descended on the island group from high-altitude, under the cover of naval fighters and naval missiles, which were engaging military fighters, primarily Su-47 Berkut advanced fighters, F-22 Raptors, and other 5th generation fighters that weren't as good as the 6th generation fighters employed by the ILM. From their altitudes above 40,000 feet, the bombers released their payloads from 20 miles away, dropping 250, 500, 1,000, and 2,000 pound bombs, over 2,000 of them, on a wide number of targets. F-39s and F-14s below them engaged fighters as ground-attack fighters bore down on the islands with their missiles and engaged military vehicles and the last remnants of the air defense and ground defense network. Marines would be landing in the morning and the beaches, as well as the remainder of the islands, had to be pummelled, thoroughly, by then.

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The onslaught continued well into the night and morning of the next day. Fighters and helicopters, relentlessly, pummelled the living daylights out of every possible military unit on the islands. Tanks, trucks, air defense units, and gun batteries were torn apart by cluster bombs, incendiary bombs, and anti-tank guided missiles, dropped or launched from far enough away that the aircraft weren't in harms way. Overhead, fighters exacted revenge for the aircraft downed by taking a stab at every Varsolan fighter launched towards the islands. AWACS detected them and vectored in F-14s and F-39s, doing the primary CAP work. Typhoons and Razors concentrated on air to ground runs and Vigilantes used their awesome lifting power to drop the heaviest bombs on their targets. Heavy bombers from the mainland still came, dropping their bombs and firing their Imsdal cruise missiles from afar.

On the high seas, naval battles continued. Torpedoes and anti-ship missiles flew around the water like gnats over a sugar cube. ASW helicopters and aircraft had sunk over two dozen submarines and at least a dozen surface ships as well, using AMESM missiles, primarily. There was little that the Varsolan military could do against the awesome power of the Empire and its massive military armada, dubbed "the Armada," which had taken up station off the Varsolan coast of Argentina and surrounded the Falklands Islands. Submarines were the most dangerous foe though and not just for the Empire. The Varsolan technology was high-tech but not as high as the Empire's and, consequently, the super-stealthy and quiet submarines snuck through the waves and engaged ships, submarines, and fired their cruise missiles against land targets.

In only two days after the fleet arrived, the Falklands Islands were on the verge of surrender, the mighty military and mercenary forces devestated. Hold outs would turn to guerilla warfare and make the conquest that much harder. However, these were mostly seasoned Marines, who took island after island in the Caribbean Sea. The Varsolans would be an enemy they had already faced, many times, and won, many times. Up and down the Argentinian coast, missile and gun batteries had been devestated. Aircraft and cruise missiles had peppered them with high-explosives and fragmentation warheads, turning them into useless hunks of wasted metal. Command center, communications, surveillance, radar, and any other important facility on the Argentinian coast had been wiped out. Further north, in the heart of the Varsolan regime, the Neuvo Rican and Layartebian forces were delivering death-dealing blows. The Layartebians covered the air, launching their missiles and dropping their bombs from safe altitudes and distances while the Neuvo Ricans were on the ground, slaughtering their enemy with little, if any, remorse. The Marines had one more day before they landed and that meant the Varsolans had one more day to try to hold onto the Falklands Islands...

The Falklands Islands were quiet on the Monday morning. Most of the smoke that billowed for the past few days had ceased and the wreckage was barely cleaned up when the silence was broken by the echoes of helicopters and the whine of the jet engines. The sun wasn't even up in the east yet when the first Super Stallion IIs and Super Hueys passed over the coasts of the Falklands Islands. LCUs and LCACs sped towards the beaches at high speed, carrying, with them, tanks, armored fighting vehicles, troops, and supplies. Naval artillery had already begun and 5, 8, 16, and 18 inch shells had already pelted the beaches and landing zones to nothing. Air dropped bombs did the hardest damage though and they came down with stunning accuracy. There were three divisions on the task force, a total of 55,296 soldiers, of which 36,864 would be immediately deployed, the rest remaining on the ships for reinforcements. They expected to face anywhere from 20,000 to 80,000 enemies on the island, including soldiers, mercenaries, and civilians with weapons. They knew that they would be fighting a guerilla war and each and every foothold they got would be minor. They would advance by the foot not by the mile.

This, they were prepared for, and these were battle hardened Marines. They fought in Cuba; they fought in Venezuela; they fought in Peru; they fought in Panama; they fought everywhere. They landed on the island in the hundreds. Super Stallions, Super Hueys, Bulldogs, CSAs, Knight Hawks, and Serpents tore through the air under the cover of Ravens, Typhoons, Ghostriders, Super Tomcats, and Stalkers. They encountered resistance right off the bat, something that they also expected. They were prepared for this and that was why the Marine reconnaissance platoons were deployed well ahead of the main attacking force, which, guided by its armored units, hit the beaches running. Sabertooth MBTs would prove to be the deadliest as they roared onto the islands.

The Marine reconnaissance squads met heavy fire and heavy resistance right away. They met entrenched enemies who had survived the onslaughts from the air. Before a few minutes passed, the Marines were calling in for air and artillery strikes. Ships locked onto their targets and honed in on the coordinates from the spotters and let loose tens of thousands of pounds of ordinance in a few seconds, battering the island with fragmentation, fuel-air explosive, high explosive, and incendiary shells that tore through the air and slammed down into their targets with beautiful precision. Stalkers, Ravens, and Typhoons brought the hardest hitting rounds though, using their abilities to penetrate the Varsolan airspace and drop their ordinance well on target. Incendiary bombs and laser guided bombs would be the most effective as well as clusters. One particular strike, which was horrific on the ground, was orchestrated by a pair of F-35B Ravens, coming inbound, hot, with the AGM-183A Zombie strike missile. Built from old AGM-45 Shrike airframes, the AGM-183 swapped out the guidance system and warhead of the Shrike for a 250 pounds warhead, which was either incendiary or high-explosive. Unguided, they were fired down into their targets with power and precision and each F-35 came down with four of them slung externally. As Marines took cover from the bombardment just a kilometer from Port Stanley, the two F-35s screamed overhead at 4,000 feet and Mach 1.05. They tore through the air and came back around, identifying the Marines and the targets. Then, they went into steep climbs and came down from 25,000 feet, targeting Varsolan positions. Two missiles were fired at each position and then, the F-35s, with their unprecedented agility pulled up before the missiles hit, keeping out of the vast blast radius of each missile. They hit hard and spread their fire and concussion over 1,200 or 500 feet, depending on the warhead. Varsolan fighters died in droves.

Hours had gone by since the first Marines set foot ashore and now they were pounding hard, moving into the island, capturing what land they could, fighting everyone with a weapon. They were encountering the Varsolan fighters by the hundreds and they came out in droves, some with old rifles, others with machine guns. Artillery and aerial strikes pounded the positions as helicopters and attack fighters flew CAS missions left and right. Fighters stayed in the air to provide combat air patrol cover and Varsolan fighters from the mainland, though they were still coming, came less and less. Su-30 Flankers and F-22 Raptors had been seen more rarely now and F-16 Falcons and MiG-29 Fulcrums were becoming more and more prominent in the waves of fighters that came towards the island group. Few of them got very far as they were cut down by Dodsengel and BVRAAM missiles.

It wouldn't be long before the islands were secured, a bloody battle that saw the deaths of some 2,439 Marines with 8,299 injured. The navy would lose four ships and two submarines, frigates, destroyers, and Virginia SSN submarines. From there, they lost a few hundred sailors in the process and a total of 28 aircraft had been downed, taking some 60 airmen and soldiers with them. Varsolan figures for casualties were far higher but unknown. The island group would have to undergo serious recovery in order for it to survive in the Empire.

They would be defending the islands against air attack, sea attack, and guerilla warfare for weeks to come but, for now, domination had they and the Layartebian flag was raised over Port Stanley.