NationStates Jolt Archive

"I'm Colonel William Wolf, Aurum Domus Marine Corp, and we were hoping to meet up with allies and conduct surveillance in the area. The Colonial Governor is very interested in this so called superweapon."

OOC: Still need to know what to find in the bunker

IC:
Construction in the Kampferian Lands was going fabulously. The civilian centers were nearly completed, and work was beggining on the main military installations. This was the initial goal of Kampfers, to have a large enough civilian populace to support the bases, but the bases were key. These bases would be the first military bases not in Kampferian soil. They were the first in a plan to strech Kampfers' influence worldwide. (OOC: Future bases planned include 1 in FreeAngola :))

"I'm Colonel William Wolf, Aurum Domus Marine Corp, and we were hoping to meet up with allies and conduct surveillance in the area. The Colonial Governor is very interested in this so called superweapon."

"I'm sorry, super weapon? I heard something about that, but I thought it was a trick. Why would someone talk openly about that on a radio?" Asked the Major General who had a confused look on his face.

"Wasn't exactly a radio, I can't discuss our surveillance methods further. That information is classified."

"Okay, but what do you want from us?"

"We want to know what you know about this superweapon. We also want permission to setup our own surveillance here."

"I haven't got that much to tell you besides what a I heard from that radio. Tell you what though, if anything and I mean anything, comes up about that super weapon, a message will be sent to all our allies in the area. That means you too," Grave took a look at the paper his aid was holding and then said.

"Also, do our allies need any help? Supplies? Support? I just want to know because my aid tells me that we have some surpluses of stuff. If you want anything I can have an AC-130 ship it out to you guys right away."

0600, The Command Building at New Athens

Uhr read the Manthian response with disgust. It was rare to see a nation displease the General so, but with this new continent, it appeared that anything could happen. He crumpled it up and tossed it on the ground.

"So be it. Knock 'em out."

0615, The Garrison at Outpost 468

Lieutenant Black stepped out of the small barracks and took in a deep breath. The place was tranquil, an idyllic paradise that smelled of pine, fresh air, and the weapons of war. The sound of heavy vehicles rumbling behind him surprised him; you didn't typically see this much movement so early, especially just after sunrise.

A transmission came over his suit's comm relay. You are ordered to bring your prisoner to the air station at New Troy. Further instructions will follow.

He sighed. It's gonna be a long day, he thought.

He had a choice between hitching a ride with one of the armored vehicles, or taking an Osprey down. The choice was pretty clear. The prisoner had been surly in the last few days, as if he was annoyed that his nation hadn't come to rescue him. Interrogation had produced some useful information, particularly the location of the major power stations and military structures at Cape Mattan, where Lost Hills would be striking first. It wasn't very pleasant interrogation, but that's war.

His small team of men was now a platoon of 20, and they boarded one of the departing Ospreys with the prisoner in shackles. It was an odd sight to see a all those suits of power armor and the enemy Captain looking to diminutive in comparison. He wasn't given any armored protection, just the orange jumpsuit typical of the prisoners of the Republic.

As the Osprey took off, Black could see armored columns and formations of aircraft all moving...east, always to the east. It looked to be a big push by the Central Command. It looked like war.

0800, The Garrison at New Troy

The forces hadn't arrived yet.

Colonel Demophon was waiting on the arrival of the main body of his army, but with his current force of over 50,000 men and hundreds of armored vehicles and aircraft, he felt it was the appropriate time to launch an attack on Cape Mattan. They would secure the port and runways there, and use the settlement as a forward base to launch raids on the Manthian colony.

However, as with all things, there were a number of obstacles. The Manthians had recently expanded their borders to create a buffer zone against the possibility of a Republic attack, so there was a strong possibility of mines. Satint showed no signs of visible barriers, but you could never be too careful with these things. The current plan called for the Armory Ships of the fleet anchored in the bay at New Athens to launch cruise missiles to soften up the enemy defense, while armored divisions swept through the buffer zone, clearing mines and hugging the coast.

That was the easy part. The bigger deal was the presence of Manthian fighter aircraft overhead. Demophon had the assets of several fighter and bomber wings at his disposal, so he wasn't too worried, but it was still unclear what the battle plan would be.

He decided he would wait on it and think for a little while.

0850, The Air Station at New Troy

Black stepped out of the Osprey and marveled. Thousands of men moved around him, preparing the mighty Arca IV tanks for combat, fueling up Ospreys, Peregrines, or Xeons, grabbing ammo, water, food: preparing for combat. He had seen such activity in the main bases back in Lost Hills, but never anything like this. The men were all motivated, ready for action.

The Manthian Captain was remanded to the authority of the base MPs, and Black went to get his orders. Upon entering the command bunker, he found himself face-to-face with a very angry looking man who appeared to be all muscle and gristle. Built like a small buffalo.

0900, Building 357 at New Troy

Captain Pylaemenes was, for once, happy. Not only was he finally going into real combat, his squad had the support of a small paratrooper platoon led by a young Lieutenant Black. They would be the first ones to land at Cape Mattan, with Black having intimate knowledge of the terrain, and Pylaemenes being, well, Pylaemenes.

Demophon had finally sent out a battle plan. Captain Agrippa's armory ship, the LHS Cicero, would deal out some heavy rhetoric with a preemptive bombardment of Tigersword missiles, configured for cluster munitions. An additional salvo of Tigerswords would target the deadly Praetorian II missile trucks scattered around the enemy settlement; they weren't hard to pinpoint with the satellites.

Xeon air-superiority fighters and Sparrow multi-role fighters would them scream across the border to engage any enemy fighters patrolling in the area. Several AWACS birds hanging back would provide guidance data for the inevitable launch of AAMs.

In the meantime, Pylaemenes and Black would travel with their men in three Ospreys and land at the outskirts of Cape Mattan. They would eliminate initial resistance and prepare landing zones for the paratroopers and Marines to come. CAS would be provided only by the Peregrine escort craft. Unfortunately, Lost Hills had no dedicated CAS fighter.

After a few divisions of paratroopers had secured the area and maintained a front, the armor would roll in and begin a formal assault of the Manthian colonies. The gunboats and frigates of the squadrons in the river would sail up and down the coast and harass Manthian positions.

Pylaemenes took his helmet out of his locker and put it on. Through the hisssss-click of the seal, he heard a radio transmission coming in on all frequencies.

All units prepare for attack.

0903, The Bay at New Athens

Captain Agrippa studied, for about the sixth time today, the tactical screen overlaying his map table. It used data from Lost Hills' satellites to pinpoint troop locations and structures. Most of the intelligence provided by the Manthian prisoner was accurate, although what he claimed to be a power station appeared now to be a primary school. A secret enemy tactic?

It didn't really matter now. Agrippa's missiles were armed and locked, and would travel at Mach 0.8 toward the enemy settlement, arriving in an hour or so.

An ensign stood nervously to his left and awaited his order.

"Fire."

0910, The Air Station at New Troy

Blackjack Squadron took off, along with over 200 other Xeons and Sparrows, in the first wave of the Air Force's attack. They were supported by CSA-E AWACs planes, light AWACs birds that didn't present as huge of a radar profile as the big jets, but still had the same radar capabilities.

Detecting Manthian aircraft at long range, the AWACs computers fed the information to the targeting computers on the Xeons. The computers then fed the data to Starburst II Extremely Long Range AAMs, with a range of 600km.

Pilots throughout the formation flipped up the caps on their joysticks and fired even before the Manthians were on their radar screens.

Construction in KAmpferian territories was going faster than planned. The military bases were moving along with rapid speed. Included in the plans was a massive naval base, as well as an army and air force base. Thus far, only the army base was fully complete, and shipments of soldiers were arriving daily.

OOC: bump

Ruined city, 2 days ago

(OOC: In the interest of catching back up with the invasion time, I'm moving my men along a little.)

The officer speaking to the Kubran soldier turns as the disposal squad hurries back out of the building, carrying the vials in an EVSSTC (Environment-Shielded Stable-Temperature Container). Several words in Arabic pass between them before the officer turns back to the Kubran.

"Change of plans. You're coming with us. You can tell us everything you know about this superweapon on the ride back home, and then maybe if you're helpful we'll let your government know that we have you and you can go home. Check him for weapons or transmitters, and load him up! Youssef, set explosive charges and seal up the entrance. Stuff in there is mostly too contaminated to recover save in a large-scale operation, and we don't have the time or resources for that. Best just to deny use of them to anybody, anyway. Wouldn't want someone crazy like to Warazhians to waltz in after we leave and set something off. Everybody else, prepare to move out!"

Two soldiers hustle the Kubran aboard one of the Manthian helicopters, while several others set explosives in the old building above the entrance to the weapons facility. Soon the Manthians choppers are rising above the ruined city once more, and heading back to civilization.

"Youssef here." says one man into a radio as he prepares to board the last helicopter. "Charges in place. Evacing now. Timers are set, thirty seconds. Let's move!"

The last helicopter speeds back east. The Manthians will bring their cargo, and their 'guest', to the densely settled Eastern colonies, where there are facilities capable of analyzing and handling the material they had recovered.

Cape Mattan Settlement, the present

Over the 24 hours since the ultimatum, most nonessential civilian personnel in Cape Mattan had been evacuated and replaced by soldiers. The CDA had identified Cape Mattan as the most (and indeed, the only) likely enemy target, and though time had been short hurried preparations had been made to turn the place into a strongpoint. In and amidst the decaying scyscrapers, parking garages, factories and streets of the old metropolis, Manthian troops are digging in. Most of the major highways leading into the city from the west had been destroyed by time or war long before the Manthians had arrived, and with no Manthian settlements further west the new occupiers had not bothered to rebuild them. Routes into the city which had survived, however, are rigged with explosives and watched by snipers hidden within the derelict buildings. Further into the city, Nakil 1A1s and mobile artillery units have been moved into underground garages and in some cases the remains of the old subway system, to wait out the expected enemy bombardment. Praetorian II SAM batteries, now numbering near 200, are likewise concealed amidst the crumbling remains of the previous civilization.

The brand-new Manthian buildings no doubt stick out like a sore thumb amist the derelict metropolis, and so they lie largely abandoned near the waterfront. Only the new Manthian power plant, an oil-burner considering the vast oil reserves found in New Manthian territory here, is still manned with a skeleton work crew, as amidst the hurried military buildup in Cape Mattan there had been a number of logistics problems and there are still not enough small gas generators to run all necessary equipment. With no real means to counter the incoming enemy missiles, despite their slow speed, the Manthians simply evacuate when the missiles are detected and leave the barracks, power plant and half-finished radar station to their respective fates. They move inland to join the rest of the Manthians in the old downtown area, where, in accordance with the general New Manthian strategy of defence, a lack of hard targets to fire at will hopefully render enemy long-range support much less effective.

The enemy armored attack will meet a nasty surprise when it nears Cape Mattan. They Lost Hills commanders had been correct to anticipate land mines, but attempting to clear them out with an armored charge will prove a (hopefully costly) mistake. Considering the distances involved in traveling to launch an attack upon New Manthian soil, CDA had anticipated that any large-scale assault would have to be air and vehicle-borne in order to reach New Manthian settlements. All of the over 1.6 million land mines deployed by the CDA are Kriegzimmer-built antivehicle mines. Not even the traditional occasional antipersonnel mine to discourage clearing activites is present; with Kriegzimmer's fiendish antihandling devices, the CDA does not anticipate that it will prove a problem. Ironically, the Lost Hills men could have walked right up to the outskirts of the city with nothing to fear from land mines. Their vehicles, however, will have no such luck.

The silence which had settled over the city as the 24-hour deadline approached is broken at about 10:00 by a series of loud explosions, and the troops near the waterfront can see the squat New Manthian barracks going up in flames after an enemy missile hit. Power to the few buildings still surviving dies out suddenly as the power plant is rocked by a massive explosion. Over a mile away, everyone can still clearly hear the blast. Grim looks are exchanged as men hunker under cover. The opening shots had been fired, and across the city, nearly nine thousand Manthian troops await the enemy advance.

Airspace near the extreme west of Manthian claims

This far towards the Lost Hills border, most of the craft in the air are UAVs; the risk of a surprise attack is too great to put large numbers of pilots in danger. Outnumbered over 15 times, the 13 UAVs and three F-19s in the area have little hope of evading the enemy attack. Lieutenant Ahmed Yasir, the leader of the F-19 group in the area, does the smart thing and smashes the eject button as nearly a dozen missiles close in on his aircraft. Three tense seconds are spent as the charge delay ticks down, before he is blasted out of the aircraft.

Not a second later, the F-19 dissolves in flames.

As Yasir and his one surviving wingman float towards the ground, the rest of the aircraft scattered deeper in Manthian territory turn and flee. Their purpose had been accomplished; early warning against enemy attack. The real air cover will be provided by much more advanced Space Union-produced fighters, based further to the east to protect their airfields from enemy attack. Even now, the first planes roar off runways towards Cape Mattan.

Green Hawk Airbase, 2 days previously

"General, OBSAT surveillance over the ruined city has just captured a helicopter departing and then several huge explosions. Intel thinks this might have been the superweapon and there willing to bet that those helicopters are New Manthian. If they have it this could be disastrous. We need to deploy an allied coalition to retrieve the superweapon and destroy it."

Green Hawk Airbase, 2 days previously

"General, OBSAT surveillance over the ruined city has just captured a helicopter departing and then several huge explosions. Intel thinks this might have been the superweapon and there willing to bet that those helicopters are New Manthian. If they have it this could be disastrous. We need to deploy an allied coalition to retrieve the superweapon and destroy it."

"I am sorry, but I only have two divisions, thats about 50,000 combat troops and about double that of support troops. Thats what I have to defend this place which if you haven't notice is pretty big. I only have two air bases (one of which your on), three forward bases and one JOC back near the city being built. I just got about 50 aircraft in total, most of which are fighter/bomber aircraft," Grave took a few seconds of breath and started again.

"I'll send what I can, but don't think your getting a full division, maybe half, but you must understand. Unless they attack a UFAN member or Green Hawk, I have no reason to fight and this colony will come first before anything else on this damn wasteland." Grave picked up a glass of water and started to drink. He took a look at his guests.

"If you want something to eat and drink, I think there is still some plates of food left in the mess hall. I can have someone bring you food here if you want to keep talking." He signaled a solider over from one of the tables with a map on it.

"Fine then, we can supply the troops when the tiem comes. Right now we need to form an allied coalition in this new continent. If we don't stand together then were done."

With that, Colonel Wolf went off to grab a bite to eat.

The Outskirts at Cape Mattan

Pylaemenes was ecstatic to have arrived safely. Luckily, no enemy forces seem to have detected their approach, and although it appeared that several squads of Manthian infantry were in the area, they didn't stand a chance against the spec-ops squad backed up by the paratroopers.

The Captain's orders were to secure a landing zone for further paratroopers, with both rotary and fixed-wing deployment scheduled. SAM sites dotted the area, and from his suit's readout, it looked like all of them had search radars on and ready. He palmed his PDA and called up the satellite feed. The radar emanations corresponded to a number of vehicles that the computer marked. Even if they turned off their radars, the GPS coordinates would be updated in real-time. He transmitted the data to the AWACs planes flying behind the front.

Good luck flyboys, he thought.

Moving quickly, he and his men started moving into the city, anxious to engage the Manthian infantry.

No-Man's Land

The Sparrows circling high above the buffer zone didn't want to get too close to the settlement; too hot. SAMs were the bane of every Republican pilot; they could outfight anyone in the air, but being hit by SAMs was simple math.

So when the air controllers announced they had firing solutions for the anti-radiation missiles the Sparrows were armed with, a wave of cheers went up over No-Man's land.

The anti-radiation missiles were were upgraded versions of AGM-88 HARM missiles, as they now utilized scramjets and an improved guidance system that took data directly from either AWACs targeting computers or the computers on the Sparrows.

Several hundred were launched at near 200 targets in the city. The goal was to eliminate as many enemy missiles as possible before the infantry moved in to mop up.

The Sparrows turned and returned to base, allowing the second wave to take over. Enemy fighters were just showing up on the radar, and the Sparrows and Xeons were readying themselves for a real battle.

The Garrison at New Troy

Demophon had lost contacts with his scouts. He had deployed a dozen or so fast recon jeeps into No-Man's land to scout out the area and find potential paths. It appeared now that all had been destroyed by mines, as the air controllers flying overhead didn't report any enemy movement below.

They'd have to do it the hard way; with line charges fired out of clearing vehicles. The rocket-assisted charges would string a line of explosives for about 1km, which would then explode and clear any mines in a 50m diameter. Sappers were immediately put to work clearing the mines, which really didn't take a long time, but put the armored columns at risk of enemy air attack.

Luckily, Demophon had no intention of losing control of the skies. There had to be another way.

The Outskirts at Cape Mattan

Black was the first to hear the missiles come in, first a wave of cruise missiles bombarding the city and its center, then a round of very high-speed missiles. The platoon took cover around a town square of some sort.

Must be hitting the SAMs., he thought.

Pylaemenes checked in over the radio.

"New orders. We're to take the airfield to the southeast and clear a path for the heavies."

Gunfire started erupting all around them, and Black could hear screaming over the radio.

OOC: Pardon my Lil' absence, rl stuff.

Outskirts of Cape Mattan

A pair of men watches the advance of several Lost Hills contingents from the top floor of what appears to have been an old garment factory, several blocks away.

"Ready..." one man whispers to the other. "Just a moment... Now!"

His companion flips a switch on the remote detonator he holds in his hand, and a hundred-pound improvised bomb concealed under a burned-out car detonates as a group of Lost Hills men pass by. The first man pulls a long sniper rifle out of the bag next to him, and waits for the first enemy to emerge from the smoke.

Similar scenes repeat all across the Lost Hills advance, as the New Manthian defenders take pot shots at any foe who presents himself, and fall back to stronger defensive lines deeper in the city whenever challenged by superior firepower. With Lost Hills artillery and armor delayed by mines, and the sky soon to be heavily contested, the Manthian commanders are confident that they can hold their fortified positions around the city center without needing to call on their highly limited mechanized contingent, and so the tanks, G6 mortars, SAM trucks and other combat vehicles in the city largely remain under cover.

Those Praetorians which survive the initial barrage of anti-radiation missiles - most of them, since the CDA had moved them underground wherever space could be found - remain hidden, their engines off and electronics at rest as they await further enemy aircraft. The New Manthian planes are capable of handling this first wave, or so CDA hopes, but something must be kept in reserve to counter the inevitable further rounds of attacks.

The thirty-two Praetorian trucks remaining on the surface - either to provide some semblance of radar coverage after the destruction of the radar station by enemy missiles, or simply because no space had been found for them - fire several volleys of missiles at the retreating Sparrows before most of them go up in flames. Several crewmen manage to flee their trucks after firing, but most are killed along with their vehicleswhen the enemy anti-radiation missiles hit home. The two-hundred odd P.746 A missiles fired, with a range of about 550 kilometers, are more than capable of reaching the enemy base and beyond, so there should be no question of range. Whether there will be enough firepower to make an appreciable dent in the Sparrows' numbers is a different question.

Airfield south of the city

Scattered sniper and small-arms fire is easily dealt with by the Lost Hills men under Pylaemenes, but as they near the airstrip the squad runs into stiffer resistance. Soldiers hunkered down behind the walls of burned-out factories or houses fire RPGs or harass the Lost Hills men with small-arms fire, making them pay for each street gained. As Pylaemenes' squad finally nears the airport, a heavy machine gun emplaced several floors up in a dilapidated hotel joins the fray. Several helicopters can be seen over the rooftops in the distance, coming and going, continuing to supply men and materiel to the defenders even at this late hour.

Skies above Cape Mattan

The CDA has no intentions of yielding control of the sky without a heavy fight. A large number of enemy aircraft have been detected moving towards Cape Mattan, and the Manthians intend to drop a hammer on enemy air power before it can become well-established. Two hundred and fifty Suf-7 Nightmares, joined by a full eighty Suf-6 Wraiths, descend upon Cape Mattan, joined by as many F-19s as the CDA can muster - about 90 on short notice.

Lieutenant Kamal Allam, leading the first squad of Wraiths, glances nervously in the direction of his wingman. He couldn't normally have seen the other Wraith located slightly behind and to the left of his own craft, but the fully 3D simulation display within his helmet provides unparalelled situational awareness with date fed straight from the Wraith's sensors. Kamal bites his lip as he flips off the cover on his plane's fire control.

"We're getting jamming." he reports. "Start hopping frequencies. And start jamming them back. These bastards have had a free ride so far, but it ends here."

The enemy second wave is beginning to show up on radar. Kamal hits the firing button hard as his Wraith acquires several targets, as do the other lead aircraft of the several-hundred strong formation. Dozens of Firestrike IRAAMs lance towards the enemy, followed up by dozens more in staggered volleys as the leading craft fire more missiles and aircraft further back enter the fray. The F-19s, with their larger radar profile and much cheaper cost, lead the charge. The most inexperienced pilots are here, also - it is expected, and intended, that the F-19s will absorb the brunt of enemy firepower, allowing the much more valuable and deadly A6As and A7s to survive and fight another day.

CDA headquarters, Kamys Point

"Have we got a head count on the enemy fleet?"

"Not yet, sir. Satellite coverage of the area is spotty still, and Central's first priority is communications and relay work, since there's not much we can do about the enemy fleet till they get within range of the Khans in the east anyway."

Commander Mustafa Zaki, now the overall head of section defense, sighs as he gazes at a tactical computer display, showing New Manthian and enemy aircraft maneuvering over Cape Mattan. The New Manthians have the numbers and the better aircraft, at least so far, but that will likely change soon.

"Fine. God knows we need more of that, too. Ask the Vetalians if they'd be willing to lend a hand identifying the location and numbers of the enemy fleet. I'm sure they have plenty of eyes in the sky. Hell, call the COMECON-SD chairman. The chips are pretty well down at this point. Make sure you clear that with Central first by the way, but Central won't say no. Just a formality."

Soon an encrypted message goes out to the chairman of COMECON-SD, and the Vetalian government.

Enemy attack on Cape Mattan now in progress. Can hold them on the ground at least for a while, but need naval support badly. Can assist navally with several carriers and escorts already docked in Vetalian colony, but do not possess sufficient number of ships to engage the enemy independently. Formally request military/COMECON assistance.

Have dispatched liaison officers, led by Commander Youssef Hasim, to keep you up to date on the situation here. Expect them shortly.

Commander Mustafa Zaki, CDA Joint Command

The Wasp class ships had launched all of thier hovercraft, which was a lot. Helicopters of different classes were coming in to drop off more troops and attack aircraft patrolled the skies. The 2nd Task Force with the 8th and the 12th Marines had arrived. They would support the two Army divisions already here as well as add to the total of aircraft. The fleet was made up of aircraft carriers, submarines, assault ships, frigates, destroyers and cruisers.

They were ordered to support the colony after reports of a war going on in the area came in. The General asked for more support. Which he got, now he could give some good news to the Aurum Domus soldiers. He would wait untill they were done eating, then he would find them and tell them that he now had a large force of 100,000 soliders. Which would help their allies in anyway possible.

OOC: I found out about the fighting by the means of a UAV or RQ-4 Global Hawk in more detailed words.

OOC: bump. Lost Hills, you still around/interested?