NationStates Jolt Archive

Generals gathered in their masses
Just like witches at black masses
Evil minds that plot destruction
Sorcerers of deaths construction
In the fields the bodies burning
As the war machine keeps turning
Death and hatred to mankind
Poisoning their brainwashed minds, oh lord yeah!

The Griffincrest 9th Fleet, under the command of Admiral Maximus Goldletter was presented with a choice. From their base in Vik, Kamasha, the order came in that they could either join the rest of the Griffincrest forces and return home to combat the insurgency, or they could go to Undershi, and assist them in their current invasion. Claudius Griffincrest had recommended that the first fleet of Admiral Lucius Ironclaw be sent, but Ironclaw refused, deciding it more honorable to go to his home and fight than assist the Undershi, and so Admiral Goldletter took the task. He had a debt to pay to the Undershi, and they, to some extent, left him in awe everytime they fought alongside his men. Their selfless determination and fearlessness in combat was something that he had long hoped for his men to imitate, but his men were only mercenaries, not highly trained soldiers taught from birth to do battle. Goldletter and his fleet would sail to the Undershi homeland, images of the Undershi soldiers in battle playing in his head.

Politicians hide themselves away
They only started the war
Why should they go out to fight?
They leave that role to the poor

Inside of the transports of the 9th Fleet, the mercenaries laughed and played amongst themselves, blissfully unaware that this might be the fight that kills them. This of course was of no consequence to them. All that they cared about was the money that they would recieve from the combat, and the chance to finally start a new life. Many laughed that the Prussian forces were already going to be dead by the time they got to the Undershi coast, and they would all be sent to the Derscon homeland to drag their leaders from their homes in shackles. Unfortunatly, this would likely not be the case.

Time will tell on their power minds
Making war just for fun
Treating people just like pawns in chess
Wait till their judgement day comes, yeah!

The nation of Derscon had no place in this war, and that made the men of the 9th Fleet all the more angry. The war with the NPE was virtually over, and yet the government of Derscon had decided to invade a member of the Corporate Alliance anyway, seemingly out of boredom with their own miserable nation. The women of Derscon would soon weep however, as thousands of their husbands, brothers, sons, fathers, and lovers would never make it off of the sands of Undershis Iron Coast.

Now in darkness, world stops turning
As the war machine keeps burning
No more war pigs of the power
Hand of God has sturck the hour
Day of judgement, God is calling
On their knees, the war pigs crawling
Begging mercy for their sins
Satan, laughing, spreads his wings
All right now!

The massive Griffincrest 9th fleet set out in the early morning. The battle cry of thousands of mercenaries would fill the air, and soon, very soon, the soldiers of Derscon would regret ever leaving home.

FROM: Aleksander Miller, Leader of the Undershi Empire
TO: Claudius Griffincrest
Re: Assistance
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

The government of Undershi thanks you for your assistance against the Prussian hordes. Undershi fights as best it can, and will continue to do so forever. We are proud to have such loyal nations as our allies.

Our troops, of the Undershi Expeditionary Force fight in your homeland... now your own expeditionary force will fight for Undershi. In that we are like brother nations - our arms will fight for your interest, as your arms will fight for ours.

Long may it continue to be so!

OOC: Hmm, this should make things interesting.

I'll see what IC post I can get up later.

DCNS Abnegation of Polydeuces
Tempora Heroica (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=473299) Class Vessel, Command Ship for DC Forces in Undershi Theatre

Ideas and plans were still being discussed in the conference room, so it went unnoticed as a single low ranking figure slipped in through a side entrance. Holding a dossier and a freshly decrypted list of orders, it was this modest aide who captured the attention of Fleet Admiral Eindhoven, drew his attention away from the Sky Captains and Colonels and Commodores who shared his meeting table. The Fleet Admiral listened intently as the aide spoke, his face betraying nothing but his mind already working.

"Ladies and gentlemen, ladies and gentlemen," he interrupted as his aide once again disappeared from sight. "I'm afraid the Foreign Intelligence Directorate has detected a large seagoing force from the Blackhelm Confederacy currently en route to reinforce the government of Undershi. Details are still unavailable at this point, but we do know that it is already under way, and it is significant in size. New orders have just arrived from Viconia - we are to move to intercept the Blackhelm forces before they reach the shores of Undershi or Undershi occupied territory. The Dersconi of the GPE have been consulted, and it has been agreed that it will be the DC fleet who have the first crack at the incoming Blackhelm forces."

"Will we be receiving any GPE reinforcements?" asked one of the many Naval officers seated around the table.

"Allow me one moment," came the response from Colonel Valekya, the Dersconi liaison officer assigned to the DC fleet in Undershi. She produced an odd looking phone which she held to her ear as the others around to table continued with their questions.

"What about our Marine transports and logistical ships?" asked another officer.

"You can leave them with the Dersconi fleet," said Valekya, slipping her phone away. "The Dersconi fleet will attach a carrier battlegroup to your formation and take on whatever transports and support craft you wish while it stays here to press the assault on Undershi."

"Very good," nodded Eindhoven. "All of the assembled DC task force here then, all twenty Naval Action Groups (http://ns.goobergunch.net/wiki/index.php/Democratic_Colonies_Military#Naval_Action_Groups) and the thousand Kidd Class Destroyers serving as our screening force, shall move to intercept the Blackhelm forces immediately. Any further questions?"

The conference room was silent even as it seemed that the scope of the conflict had changed. The mission had gone from one of attack and invasion to sea interception in the course of an hour - but such was the nature of war; to be unexpected, to be unpredictable.

"No questions then? Alright, dismissed. I expect the entire task force to be moving on away from Undershi an intercept course with the Blackhelm fleet in ten minutes."

The Kraken

Marshal Darii was thoroughly enjoying his command centre on the Pschycotian ship. Alas, his day was made sour when news of the Griffencrest fleet was on the way.

"Wait, aren't they all mercenaries, though?" His chief of staff nodded.

"Yes, sir, vile creatures. They fight not for a cause, but money." Darii nodded.

"Yes, and that means they never fight as well as real soldiers. Find out how much the fleet and the soldiers are getting paid, and offer them twice that amount. Fleet and troops, remember. If they turn down the offer, nuke them from orbit -- it's the only way to be sure."

Undershi Submarine Hammerhead

Captain Uzay Ciller stood impassively as he watched the assembled enemy fleets come closer and closer on the display. He was a little worried, he had to admit, the Undershi submarine fleet was going into battle heavily outnumbered... very, very, heavily outnumbered...

It didn't look like it would be pleasant. But then, he mused, war rarely was... unless it was the sort of lop-sided war that Undershi prefered. He'd spent many happy days as a young Ensign during the war to seize Paxton and later the next war, against Saint Rynald, sinking refugee ships with torpedoes from the old diesel sib he'd been stationed on, then surfacing to machinegun the struggling norms in the water, and use the 35mm deck gun on them... he'd been given the deck gun or machinegun assignments as though they were a reward for faithful service, and he guessed they had been. It had certainly been fun to slaughter the norms up close...

Then had come the war with Jenshalem, and he'd been in a nuclear sub by then, and a Lieutenant, and he hadn't gotten to surface at all, he'd just torpedoes refugee ships and used test weapons on other norm ships... which, he had to admit, had been fun also, in a way. Always interesting to see how a new norm killing weapon would work out...

But he knew the weapons he'd be using here, just as he knew his men and his submarine. The other submarines in his attack group, he knew them less well... but he knew the capabilities of their classes of vessels well enough to know that the task they had been given, to aid in the destruction of the Prussian fleet, would have to remain just that - to aid. There was no way they could win on their own.

But to aid he would need to act... so he gave the order. He turned to one of the men, a Lieutenant commanding the torpedo tubes, and he spoke:

"Fire torpedoes. Give them hell."

It was sometimes said by critics that the DC Navy considered their Kidd Class (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kidd_class_destroyer) Destroyers so expendable that they didn't even bother to name them. While the fleet's aircraft carriers and battleships were christened with such grand titles as Duty of Calypso or Vision of Forefathers, the destroyers that escorted them had names that barely qualified as such.

It was one of these almost anonymous destroyers, the DCNS DDG-K0568, that first detected the Underhi submarines. She was one of the 1,000 Kidd Class Destroyers that functioned as the protective screening force around the twenty Naval Action Groups (http://ns.goobergunch.net/wiki/index.php/Democratic_Colonies_Military#Naval_Action_Groups) that made the core of the DC fleet at Undershi, and thus was tasked with preventing submarine forces like the very one Undershi had deployed from successfully infiltrating the DC fleet formation.

At first, it wasn't quite clear what had been detected by the SONAR operators aboard the DDG-K0568.

"Lieutenant," came the call from a Warrant Officer aboard the bridge. His call for the ship's commanding officer, himself rather low in rank, broke the cautious silence that previously hung in the air.

"Lieutenant, SONAR Operations is reporting hearing... something, sir," said the Warrant Officer nervously as his superior approached. "They are having some difficulty identifying it, due to all the noise coming from our own fleet."

The Lieutenant nodded as he examined a digital sensor readout for himself. "Have them continue to listen with passive SONAR - if they can't identify it within two more minutes, then get a Seahawk out there to do a MAD (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnetic_anomaly_detector) scan - I don't want to go to active SONAR quite yet but - "

The Lieutenant was interrupted as an urgent shout was heard from another man.

"Torpedoes in the water! Torpedoes in the water, reported by the K1020!" came the cry, the sailor reporting the vessels name as K-ten-twenty.

"Active SONAR, get an active SONAR sweep and prepare to deploy noisemaker decoys in eight seconds!" ordered the Lieutenant as alarms calling for Action Stations sounded across the ship.

"DENISE is reporting multiple enemy contacts, all localized around our fleet section, sir!" came a report from a sailor referring to the Defense Networking Implement (Secure Electronic), the software management system that coordinated and distributed commands across the fleet.

"Active SONAR detecting multiple submarines, unknown type, firing solutions available for two targets, sir!"

As reports and orders continued furiously on the bridge, a single torpedo detonated near the DDG-K0568, its deadly payload expended on a noisemaker decoy. The crew of the DC destroyer reeled from the effect as a massive wave of water thrown by the explosion smashed against the ship's starboard side.

"Fire ASROC (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ASROC), three per target, on available firing solutions," ordered the Lieutenant before becoming distracted for a moment as a sight outside caught his eye. The DDG-K0399, a vessel the same class as his, had been struck by a torpedo and was in the process of breaking in half. The sight was impossible to look away from even as more and more reports and readings called for his attention.

Is that going to happen to us? he thought lamely before his mind was snapped back to attention by the rolling of the deck beneath his feet.

"Nearby detonation of hostile torpedo triggered by our RBU-6000 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RBU-6000) defenses, sir!" came a triumphant cry from a woman as she pumped a fist in the air. The Lieutenant had some difficulty hearing her over the roar of the ASROCS as they lept from their VLS tubes, but understood the point well enough.

"RBU continuing to fire in anti-torpedo role - "

"DENISE reporting routing of DDG-K Squadron 14 to - "

"Difficulty producing firing solutions due to noise from noisemakers, explosions - "

A half dozen people were speaking at once when at last an Undershi torpedo penetrated DDG-K0568's defenses, detonating in its optimal position and breaking the destroyer's back.

The vision of the Lieutenant turned to black spots as the explosion threw him up into the air, slamming him into a digital display. His eyes were ringing and he could feel blood gushing from his nose as he struggled to orient himself, fighting to stand as his vision refused to clear and the floor climbed beneath him. The Lieutenant shook his head as his eyes made out the form of a sailor slumped over a command console. He was trying to figure out if they were dead or alive, a task which nearly distracted him from the rapidly rising water that climbed from his knees to his elbows within moments. Before he could even understand it, the Lieutenant's head, and what remained of his vessel, were under water and now belonged to the depths of the ocean.



DCNS Abnegation of Polydeuces
Tempora Heroica (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=473299) Class Vessel, Command Ship for DC Forces in Undershi Theatre

Fleet Admiral Eindhoven watched intently as the battle unfolded on a digital display screen before him. The Undershi submarines had successfully destroyed 22 Kidd (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kidd_class_destroyer) Class Destroyers, creating a whole for themselves in the previously 1,000 destroyer strong screening force. If they continued into the DC formation without being stopped, they posed a serious danger to the entire DC fleet at Undershi.

"How large is this Undershi submarine force?" asked Colonel Valekya, the Dersoni liaison officer who stood by the Admiral's side.

"We're not sure," replied Eindhoven. "We're not sure of the original size of the force, or how much damage the screening forces managed to inflict before their defeat. Whatever their size though, we can't let them penetrate any deeper - they've made it past those screening vessels, but they must be stopped before they do any serious damage."

He tapped a few symbols on the digital display, the touch-sensors responding to his input.

"288 S-111's are en route," explained Eindhoven. "S-111's are anti-submarine aircraft based on the F-111 Aardvark's airframe. They'll be dropping sonobuoys equipped with active SONAR to locate the Undershi submarines, and will fire on any detected with Mk 46 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_46_torpedo) light torpedoes."

"They say that the best way to destroy a submarine is with another submarine, but with such unknown numbers, we're worried about friendly fire," explained Eindhoven. "In case the S-111's cannot drive off the Undershi submarines, more Kidd Class Destroyers are already being moved to support their embarked Seahawk helicopters in completing the task, while our Seawolf Class Submarines will be held in reserve. I think that - "

The Fleet Admiral was interrupted as an officer called for his attention from across the bridge.

Over Undershi

A flight of Lightningbolt interceptors banked, and fired their AMRAAMs off, trying to kill the sub-hunting helicopters that the Democratic Colonies fleet had deployed. They were supposed to take care of that little detail, so that the submarines could deal with the other destroyers...

Undershi Submarine Hammerhead

Captain Uzay Ciller smilled grimly as the first hit was confirmed - enemy destroyer killed. A good omen, perhaps. The Undershis had drawn first blood... he paused as he watched the fighting play out, 22 enemy destroyers knocked out... he wondered what would be the enemy response...

It came quickly enough - a volley of ASROCs. Lovely... he smilled again. It was harder for a surface ship to kill a submarine than it was for a submarine to kill a surface ship. Still, the unfortunate did occassionally happen - hits were made. One Undershi attack submarine was lost, another two damaged so badly that they would be lucky to make it back to port, and were forced to disengage.

And then the Undershi subs were firing back again... they were still targeting the destroyers - a new order had come through - the destroyers were easy meat, and they were not to risk themselves gunning for anything more within the enemy formation. A carrier or battleship would be a sweet kill, even a light cruiser would be delightful... but they could not affoard to risk their vessels for the chance of such kills. Too bad, really - every submarine captain dreamed of such opertunities, of repeating the Stingray's amazing achievement during the Second World War, and sinking three battleships with one spread of torpedoes... but, that was ancient history, not with modern weaponry and modern ASW techniques. Likely it could not be done these days...

The torpedoes launched. The submarines had linked firing routines, there would be little overlap and little overkill... the Democratic Colony destroyers would suffer, the enemy would bleed...

As the torpedoes made their way in, Uzay smilled. The enemy were only norms, and democratic norms at that. They were weak. They would have no stomach for the sort of brutal warfare that would be needed to grind Undershi down to dust. If the Undershi navy could pull off this raid on their fleet, then the navy could try it again, and again and again and again... until all the submarines were gone, or the enemy was forced to flee. He thought it likely that the enemy would flee - if they took heavy losses like this for much longer, they would have no option but to flee...

Undershi Shore, Undershi Missile Battery Command Bunker

Lt. Colonel Alexander Wyznivyanski watched the little red icons indicating kills pop up - the subs were doing their jobs, it seemed... he nodded to one of the men at the communications setup, and told him:

"Let's send some support out for the navy. They're going to need it." and so they did, a little wave of anti-shipping missiles, 1,500 of them, fired en-masse at the Democratic Colony fleet. A little strike, after the main blow of 20,000 missiles launched the day before, but a distraction and an oppertunistic act with good potential... Command would approve, and commend him for using his inititive...

The Griffincrest fleet was finally ready to use its super long range Khan class missiles. From a distance of roughly 600 kilometers away from the Democratic fleet, what the admirals had been sure was far out of range of any Democratic ship launched missiles, the 9th fleet was now ready to make the enemy bleed. Over three hundred Khans were loaded up, and all were aimed for the destroyers that provided the screening force for the fleet. The Khan was a terribly hard missile to shoot down, and if their job was done right, it would be made that much harder when the enemy picket ships began to sink. The enemy seemed to invest heavily in its destroyers, and so they would be the first to go.

The Khan launch would be immediatly followed by over five hundred F-14 Tomcats. They would escort a wing of roughly two hundred Il-28 bombers loaded chock full of Bladerunner torpedoes. With each plane packing four torpedoes, the wave of eight hundred of these weapons would more than likely cripple, but not destroy, a vast majority of the prized Democratic fleet.

Once this was done, the fleet would move up to a range of four hundred and fifty kilometers, and begin readying their Shockhound Avenger II class missiles to finish off whatever poor souls were left of the enemy fleet.

OOC: You cant fire 300 Kahns from a fleet. The kahn is essentially an ICBM. Unless you want to sink your own ships when firing, then this is ridiculous.

Sorry, BC, but I'm actually going to have to agree with Kampfers on this one.

OOC: You cant fire 300 Kahns from a fleet. The kahn is essentially an ICBM. Unless you want to sink your own ships when firing, then this is ridiculous.

OOC: You can fire my Chimeras at roughly that range, but they aren't as good as the Khans. A large and deep VLS can do it. Of course if you purchased a few of my Arbalest class dreadnoughts you can probably fire those off the rails.

You know, the more we have stuff like this happen, the more I think the new thing to do when invading a nation is to hammer it with ICBMs (non-nuclear, obviously) and other missiles, plus bombers with fighter escort flying from your homeland, and only when the enemy has taken a beating should people bother sending in the fleet. Just a thought, of course.

Plus, there's always be a role for submarines, needless to say...

A mari usque ad mare

To Cladius Griffencrest, and Admiral Goldletter of 9th Fleet

As a member of the CA we feel the need that we must help protect all allies in time of war. Thus we must go out and help Undershi and Admiral Goldletter's men fight the scum of the NPE. We can only send one fleet for we are in preparation of war with the region of Jahs Land. The fleet will be led by Admiral , the fleet in which he will be leading is the "Dei Usque" which will be armed with 16,000 men, all who will fight to the last man if aid of Undershi.

The Griffincrest fleets were now within striking range of their Shockhound Avenger II missiles. At 400 kilometers away from the enemy fleet, the Corporate ships began to light up the sky as thousands of missiles began to scream into the air. Soon, very soon, two thousand five hundred missiles were going to smash down on the enemy destroyers. The Griffincrest Admiral's plan was to pick off the enemies defensive wall, and than subject the larger ships to the full power of a Griffincrest missile spam.

Admiral Goldletter watched as hundreds of missiles leapt from his ship, knowing that these missiles would soon shatter a fleet so proud and reliant of its destroyers. These destroyers would be no more than homes for the fish, if there were any left, off the coast of Undershi. Maximus smiled a bit as he heard the roar of jet engines overhead. He knew that meant a wave of Tomacats was on their way to the enemy fleet, and behind them would be the old bombers, laden with their deadly payload.

Hundreds of aircraft filled the air, moving in a dark cloud towards the opposing fleet. The Il-28's were constantly taking off, landing, re-arming, and taking back off, ensuring that a continous stream of Bladerunners were always in the water. This would make life hell for survivors in the water, because it would mean that they would now have to avoid a number of massive chainsaws speeding towards them. Life was about to suck for the Democratic sailors.