NationStates Jolt Archive

[OOC: This is closed. No one outside Gholgoth or (current or former)CAP, unless they TG me a damned good reason for wanting in. Anyone entering in any other way shall have their posts totally ignored.]

Sonya Volsung, Lieutenant Colonel in the Imperial Marine Corps sat in the back of a truck at it bounced along through the desert. There was no road. No trail. No path. She looked out and saw two main battle tanks churning through sand as they powered along. They were crossing through the most arid part of the entire globe, save for the Antarctic. Part of Sonya wished to be at the South Pole, if only to escape the sweltering heat of the Sahara. Her armored uniform had cooling units, as did the rest of the Crimm force, but it was not going to be an easy day at all.

A sergeant shook his head. "Hard work." Two simple words, which carried much meaning.

Around them was not an army. It was three armies. To the north and the far, far west were three carrier groups. Overhead, there were satellites and aircraft. The closest one were helicopter gunships and tank killer attack planes, the farthest were high-altitude bombers and their fighter escorts.

The Empire was going to war. Not for land or for resources, nor economic or military reasons. This fight was personal. Six major Imperial cities were attacked with weapons of mass destruction. And the enemy that did so was stupid enough to sign a peace treaty and allow the Empire, which had seriously staggered from the riots and miniature rebellions caused by the population centers hit, to get up and collect its wits. The treaty was a farce and had included a proposition that robbed the enemy of those weapons. They had proved the weapons were gone, so there was no danger to the cities of the Empire by such means anymore. In addition, the agreement had forced all the Vetalian forces at least 300 miles from Crimm lands. That would make things easier for a short time.

She donned her sealed helmet and keyed the mic. "Marines! Prepare for battle." As she watched, her squad and the battallion around her perpared. This was her command. Farther back was a General that was coordinating the assault. Beyond him was General Vorder and beyond Vorder was Omar Pace, leader of the Brotherhood.

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Sonya Volsung

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As the bombers approached Vetalian airspace, the fighters began standard defensive manuvers. Some flew above, some below, some in front and some behind. It was a massive air strike. Nearly two hundred bombers were inbound. Protecting them were five times that of fighters. There were defensive steps as well. There were over a hundred planes flying in Imperial lands, with triple that on the ground, awaiting word that there was a counter offensive.

At seat there was a massing of three battle groups. One was travelling from Cairo, the other two from Europe. They carried with them enough troops to have taken Normandy alone. Each. Amidst the fleets were submarines, save for the one in the Med. That sea was too shallow to operate the subs effectively. On cue, all the fleets opened up with long range, sea hugging missiles. Nearly three hundred of the self-guided missiles were 'talking' to the Crimm satellite system and choosing targets while inbound. Some of the harder targets would receive two hits: A bunker buster, followed by a standard warhead.

There was no turning back now. The war for revenge had begun.

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A message would arrive from Omar Pace's office at the same time as the first reports of enemy fire landed on the Vetalian leader's desk. It was a very simple, text only message:

Perhaps I shall turn your personal residence into a museum, so that others can learn from your mistake: Never have mercy on an enemy, for if you do, you will always have an enemy. Let not one survive.

-General Omar Pace

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Omar Pace

OOC: This is a map of Vetalia as well as one of Vetalia City, the capitol. Since we're using the Africa map, you can simply use the northern border as the one closest to the Sahara. In this case, there would be no ocean there.

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http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a335/shaddamIV/VetaliaCityMap.gif

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The attack took the Vetalian nation almost completely by surprise. Although its forces were hardly demobilized or unaware, they were not prepared for an attack of this magnitude. The country's excellent monitoring systems were active and spotted the planes in the air and ships on the sea, but their intentions were not known until the first missiles rained down on Vetalia. The missiles were able to get in a number of painful strikes before anti-missile defenses were readied and intercepted the last salvos of missiles.

Nonetheless, the effects were clearly visible. The Ministry of Defense building exploded in to a torrent of fire, destroying much of its upper levels and killing a number of key civilian staff, disrupting the civilian administration of key intelligence for several hours. The Praetorial Palace suffered severe damage, although the Emperor and key staff had already been relocated upon the first signs of movement from the Crimmond area as was protocol. The three dams on the Merova river running in to Vetalia City were also damaged, causing an emergency shutdown to prevent failure. This produced brownouts across the region that would not be resolved until reserve power was brought in from the western part of the country. The remaining bombs shut down several parts of the port of Vetalia City, hit several major transportation hubs in Petrovsk, and caused considerable damage to the above-ground portions of Strategic Air Command in Central Vetalia.

However, this did not completely cripple the Vetalian response. Within minutes of the attack, the entire standing armed forces were on alert and the reserves were given orders to mobilize. Across the Empire, military units readied for war and their own militias were called up, while in Vetalia proper the navy began to assemble its own task forces. The army began moving towards the northern border to defend against land forces, while Strategic Air Command sent out orders for the Vetalian Air Force to take to the skies to help defend against the enemy in flight.

Across the country, the air defenses and other structures constructed during the Gholgoth War were activated for the first time since the conflict ended, their crews rushing to prepare for any further strikes on the country. Coastal defenses also activated, mainly various artillery pieces and long-range STS/Anti-ship missiles designed to keep them as far from the coast as possible. In the seas around Vetalia, newly authorized missile submarines prepared to launch their own counterstrikes, waiting patiently for the enemy to move in to position before striking. It would be best to allow them to get as close as possible before firing.

The high command could do little but watched silently as the first Vetalian forces began moving in to combat positions.

On the seas, the Northern Command was moving in to position to engage the Crimmond fleet, while the other commands prepared to support them from behind and to help prevent any further strikes on Vetalian territory.

5 Command Groups (SEACOM 1-5)
5 Surface Fleets
5 Task Forces
5 Advanced Carrier Strike Group
5 Light Carrier Strike Groups

Thousands of ships strong, the Northern Command was a colossal force, comprising a full quarter of the Vetalian navy. Led by five imposing superdreadnoughts as flagships and containing huge numbers of aircraft, missile cruisers, battleships, submarines, and various support units, they were the avenging arm of the Vetalian Empire and pushed towards the hated enemy with steely determination. The naval command watched smugly as lights flared to life on their strategic maps, reflecting the activation of yet another defensive station. Once the Crimmond invaders were within range, they would begin raining down fire on their enemies.

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Along the dry northern border, the Vetalian army was moving in to place, the border guards watching in awe as the first military units in decades moved towards the border and began preparing for the enemy assault. Working with a feverish pace, they dug new defenses and upgraded existing ones, deploying tons of heavy equipment, artillery, tanks, fighting vehicles, and everything else they would need to fight the well-trained and well-equipped forces of Crimmond. It was hot, dry work, and it showed in the exhaustion of the work crews and the discomfort of the soldiers monitoring the border for the enemy. They knew that only a short distance away, the enemy lay, drawing closer and closer to their forces with each passing moment...

However, millions of troops were on the move to secure the northern border, and only a fraction of them had already arrived in place. Over the next few days, a tidal wave of troops and equipment would storm north to establish a defensive line, hopefully halting the Crimmond forces in the desert rather than allowing them to push in to the wetter, more tolerable terrain of the Vetalian countryside.

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Strategic Air Command did not hesitate, either, as it called up its planes and air defenses to prepare for incoming bombers. Hundreds of air squadrons and support defenses took to the skies to engage the approaching enemy, their missiles readied and their pilots filled with a determination not seen in years. The attack on Vetalia City was already being used to patriotic effect, the smoldering ruins of several buildings and the crippled infrastructure being used to show the barbarity of the Crimmond attackers and to rally people in the defense of their homeland.

Although crippled by the attack, the remaining civilian leaders in the Ministry of Defense worked furiously to begin laying out the plans for full mobilization for war, hoping to have the economy on the path to total war within a few months.

The surface ships of Crimmond were, as usual, outnumbered about five-to-one. That was not where the strength was lurking though. It was lurking closer to the enemy and struck soon after.

The Supremacy class submarines, all six-hundred of them, started firing off torpedoes. Some were super-caveatting, others were run-of-the-mill. In a matter of a few minutes, those subs had all launched four torpedoes each. This was the type of blow that the Crimm loved to deal. A massive underwater kick in the balls.

The surface ships themselves were made up of six carriers (and their standard support ships), along with hundreds of destroyers, almost two hundred cruisers and battlecruisers, thousands of troop ships and even one ancient battleship that was fighting in a war it was never designed to fight in. It packed the largest guns though. If a strategist looked at the size of the fleets, it became obvious what was going on at sea... over 80% of the Crimm naval capability was in this battle. And all of the Empire's carriers were there. Obviously, the 20% left over were depending on allies for protection from any opportunistic nation that came along.

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On land, the battle was of a totally different sort...

The first shots came from the tank killers. Seeming to just pop up from the sea of sand dunes, they unloaded cannon fire on the enemy and streaked away, to avoid most of the fire directed at them. Based loosely on planes such as the A-10, the beasts could handle taking fire... but why take more than you have to? The helicopters quite literally did pop up from the sea of dunes, letting loose missiles and rockets, before dropping moments later. With twenty tank killers and fifty helicopters, the assault had enough fire support for the short term. And the overhead bombers and fighters would help keep enemy re-enforcements at bay for a period of time.

Sonya took a chance and poked her head over the edge of a dune. She saw smoke, fire and dust from the assault... and through it the enemy. Ducking down, she nodded. They were within visual range. She signaled the armored division that now was the time to strike. Then she signaled another Marine. "Call in the Scouts and the Smokers."

From over the dunes, between the dunes, even one whiles sliding sideways down a dune, the nearly two hundred tanks had come up and begun firing, some aiming higher than others for some reason... then the reason became clear as burning hot ball bearings began to rain down on the border. They were firing anti-armor and anti-personnel shells.

Supporting the tanks were literally hundreds of small vehicles. They were... ATVs. They skidded to a halt and the riders lept off, pulling on the control yoke. It came up and revealed that there was a mini-gun hidden there. The Scouts began to open fire and it soon became evident how such a small vehicle could have a weapon like that... each one was raining down 10mm rounds on the enemy. Not as powerful or as accurate as rifle fire, but put enough in the air...

Soon after the Scouts had appeared than a dozen more ATVs flew down the sides of the dunes and drove side to side between the forces. These were unmanned ATVs, though... instead of a driver there was a squat cylinder with many tubs coming from it. The name became clear as the air didn't, a thick smoke being pumped out of the unmanned ATVs. Even when hit a few times, they still kept going, though two were quickly disabled and pumped out smoke from a stationary position. The rest though... they turned kamikaze. Running straight towards the enemy, they would attempt to penetrate the front line and hang that same heavy smoke over the enemy, giving the invaders a very good tactical advantage.

Overhead, so high the could not be seen nor heard, the two hundred high altitude bombers and fighters crossed the borders of Vetalia. Missiles streaked towards defending planes from not only the fighters, but the bombers as well. The enemies would clash in a matter of minutes and it would prove to be one of the most decisive parts of the war.

"Well, the time has come gentlemen, our allies have asked us to move in and support their invasion of Vetalia, and we will do it. Specifically, with our air power. As of right now, we have several locations in Western Libya lined up, generally flats that would be suitable to build runways on quite quickly, but we need to move fast if we are to do so, so let's get a move on."

"Ma'am, what about naval or ground?"

"Are you suggesting that we send our now non-seaworthy fleets out to try and attempt some battle that they couldn't handle?"

"what about our Havenic fleets?"

"They're still months away, there's no way they'd get there in time, plus those Praetonian and clandonian asshats are making incidents all the time over there."

"Right, so we send in the fifth through tenth air groups?"

"That's Correct, get the Marine engineers in first, airdropping them in, along with the supplies and some AD vehicles, and then bring in the heavy hitters, I want the full SEAD armory out there."

"Yes Ma'am."

OOC: Over glorified tag, and my involvement, which will join in, in roughly 2 NS days or so.

OOC: Losses will be in bold, so that it's easy to see what's going on.
OOC2: I don't know if you've seen the OOC thread yet. If not, I'll bump it so we can track what is going on.

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Eastern Sea of Vetalia


Ever since the crippling destruction of an entire naval group at the hands of Red Tidean naval forces nearly 30 years ago, the Vetalian navy had devoted untold effort in to instructing its officers and crews in the proper tactics for dealing with missile strikes and had spared no expense in outfitting its ships with a wide variety of countermeasures. As a result, the Crimmond strike, which was eerily reminiscent of that distant battle, did not lead to a repeat of that dark chapter in Vetalian naval history. That is not to say it did no damage; indeed, the outright sinking or crippling of ten battlecruisers, 4 frigates, 23 destroyers, 15 submarines and 2 battleships was hardly a minor loss, but it was far better than that grievous loss of over 600 combat ships and 500,000 naval personnel in 1986. The Vetalian forces properly utilized their countermeasures, CIWS systems, and anti-missile defenses to intercept a fairly high number of the incoming fire, eventually totaling around 35-40% of the total fired. At the same time, however, these interceptions often came at costs of their own; many ships suffered minor to moderate non-crippling damage from the use of CIWS and other short-range defenses, leaving them more vulnerable to targeted strikes later on. Nonetheless, the fleet was able to maintain high combat effectiveness for launching its counterattacks and successfully maintained orderly communications with on-shore command, two key goals of the post-Tidean naval reforms.

Although heavily outnumbered underseas, the Vetalian submarines were still capable of launching their own strike against the superior Crimmond submarines forces. Around 100 strong, they were at the flanks of the Vetalian fleet and used this to their advantage, firing several waves of torpedoes and missiles at the surface ships in a counterattack against the enemy fleet. Although they had little hope of dealing with six-to-one odds below the waves, the strong surface presence above would hopefully balance out the odds and grant the Vetalian fleet a much-needed victory.

The surface ships themselves launched their own missiles at the enemy submarines, with no fewer than a thousand missiles and torpedoes fired from the missile cruisers and destroyers towards the Crimmond fleet. What they might lack in accuracy was made up for with raw firepower, and this rule was soon applied to the surface ships as similar salvos, including heavy shell fire from the battleships and dreadnoughts, were unloaded towards the Crimm ships. The dreadnoughts in particular concentrated their fire on the heaviest ships of the enemy fleet, particularly any carriers within range of their shell fire. Such a high rate of fire could not be sustained indefinitely, but the goal was simply to cripple as many ships as they could and then clean up with carrier-based aircraft.

Not wanting to risk a full-scale air battle yet, the carrier based aircraft of the fleet remained on their carriers, with only a fairly small number taking to the skies to launch anti-ship missiles and torpedoes towards the enemy submarines. The rest of the planes and their pilots were on alert, ready to spring from the carriers like a swarm of hornets, but they had orders to remain on their carriers until the Crimmond forces launched their own planes. Several hundred kilometers inland, the Vetalian Air Force was readying its bases and missile defenses in the area to open fire on the enemy fleet. Unlike the stations in the east, the coastal defenses were much better coordinated and supplied and could launch their missiles with assurance of resupply from arms depots along the coast as well as inland.

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Northern Border of Vetalia, Edge of the Sahara

Concurrent with the Crimmond offensive against the border, roughly 20 kilometers behind the border, the thousands of mobile artillery pieces, mainly AS 90 Braveheart models, unloaded thousands of explosive shells at the advancing forces, attempting to carpet-bomb anything that moved close to the border. Along with them, the several thousand 9k58 Smerch rocket launchers fired their own mix of auto-guided anti-armor, anti-personnel, and anti-air SAMs at the enemy forces, roughly distributed equally along the known extent of the enemy lines. Following the initial salvo, they switched to a more conservative rate of fire to ensure they would have the supplies necessary to keep supporting the forces ahead.

On the front lines, the situation was much more chaotic. The enemy assault was well-designed to take advantage of the stationery position of many units, inflicting damaging losses across the board. The initial missile salvos from the tank killers were generally effective, crippling or destroying several hundred tanks and putting a similar amount out of combat for the duration. Another few hundred, along with a roughly equal number of The Vetalian troops were trained to minimize the damage from anti-personnel shells, but they were not prepared for the ball-bearing weapons fired by the enemy tanks and it soon showed in the decimation of several units bearing the brunt of the attack; at least several thousand troops were killed or wounded by this unexpected attack, several times the amount lost due to the tank fire. In most cases, the effects were severe, inflicting deaths rather than injuries as the troops attempted to scramble for cover in the bare, hot desert.

The effects of the Scouts were also well-timed, exploiting the primary weakness of the Vetalian line to fairly destructive effect. Although the 10mm guns were not inflicting severe damage, it was enough to cause injuries and casualties in a wide number of units near the center of the line, diverting some of their firepower towards the scouts and creating additional weakness in the center. Although there were considerable reserves near this point, it was too risky to move the units towards the front at the time with the enemy air units in motion above the battlefield; if the Crimm forces could push through the center of the line now, it would be exceptionally costly for Vetalian troops to fill in the gap and would give them the ability to cause considerable disruption before being forced to fall back.

Despite their losses, however, the troops held their ground and began counterfiring, the Nakil and T-95 MBTs focusing on the enemy tanks and the IFVs targeting the Scouts with their machine guns and autocannons, strafing them with a withering rate of fire from multiple calibers. The snipers and regular infantry concentrated the bulk of their fire at keeping closer-range forces from closing with the line, targeting the enemy kamikaze units with the bulk of their armor-piercing munitions as well as grenades and other explosives. Within minutes, additional GPMGs, submachine guns, and heavy machine guns were being deployed from the on-site reserves, prepared to attack any enemy infantry or lightly armored units that came near. In addition, APCs were brought up to provide additional protection to exposed infantry against additional ball-bearing salvos.

For now, there was little they could do about the tank killers other than attempt to fire on them with guided missiles from the Smerch systems, shoulder mounted missiles, and random small-arms fire. To avoid the most devastating impact, the tanks spread out and attempted to benefit from the rear cover provided by the artillery and anti-air systems as much as possible. The command hoped that successful hits against the enemy kamikaze units would help against the tank killers, filling the battlefield with smoke and misleading heat signatures that would give them some additional cover.

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Skies Over the Northern Border

As the Crimm aircraft crossed in to Vetalian airspace, Strategic Air Command authorized the activation of the border region's limited ground-based missile defenses. Several hundred RIM-161 missiles, approximately 400 in total, were launched from stationery launchers around 30 km in from the border towards the enemy bombers, with the goal being to cripple the heaviest payloads the Crimm aircraft were currently bringing in to the battle and shifting the battle to smaller craft, which would allow Vetalian numerical superiority to hopefully turn the tide. However, for as long as the bombers were in the air, it would make it much more difficult for any number of fighters to successfully halt the enemy air assault.

Despite the Strategic Air Command's best attempts at launching a preliminary strike to intercept the Crimmond planes before they closed, the Crimm forces had successfully used their initial missle strike to their advantage. Although the Vetalian pilots were well-trained and capable of manuevering and using limited countermeasures to minimize their losses due to missile fire, they nonetheless suffered losses. Several dozen planes were shot down immediately, exploding in to balls of fire that rained down small pieces of smoldering metal and other wreckage down on the distant battlefield below. Another fifty suffered some form of damage and were forced to pull back for emergency landings, while another thirty suffered minor damage and fell back temporarily to regroup. All in all, around 10% of the force was affected by this initial missile fire and more would be lost with each additional wave of fire from the enemy.

Following the inital salvo of missiles, however, the ground-based defenses received startling news: due to the communication and command disruptions caused by the attack on the Ministry of Defense, they were not able to receive any additional missiles and would be forced to rely on what was already deployed. In this case, it amounted to around 1,600 missiles, enough for aiding the current battle but nowhere near enough in the event that the Crimm forces launched a second wave of planes. To make matters worse, they were equipped with only anti-ballistic missiles, hardly appropriate for an air-based attack. Nonetheless, they fired them; it was not an option to hold back at this point in time.

For the time being, however, the goal was simply to fight off this wave and allow reinforcements to move towards the front line on the ground. The Vetalian aircraft counterfired with their own salvos of missiles as well as gunfire from the mounted weapons on the aircraft themselves; although this lacked the accuracy of the missiles, the goal was to take advantage of the relatively compact combat area and inflict small, but potentially crippling, damage on the enemy aircraft. A plane forced to fall back, in this battle, was temporarily as good as one shot down. Since a large number of planes had to be held in reserve or shifted east to help with the combat on the seas, the Air Force was able to spare only another 400 fighters to reinforce the 1,200 already in combat or in the combat zone.

The vast majority of the planes were still in reserve, a move chosen to ensure that they would not deplete their manpower or equipment in a series of foolish early Pyrrhic victories.

The Crimm fleets respond to the incoming missiles as best they can, yet the enormous amount led to casualties. One of the carriers had a fire on it's deck... a lucky shot had taken out a helicopter. Other struck ships were faring worse, one destroyer missing it's bridge, several more with fires burning in their super structures. Many of the missiles would be going astray from ship based ECM, but not enough of them. Two ships were already listing to the side, while many more burned. They would survive, but it was a clear sign that victory would come only after a long, hard fight.

Another sign of that were the surges in the ocean between the fleets. The sea looked like it was boiling from the underwater explosions. Four submarines breached the surface in a matter of minutes, one of them with a badly twisted hull. A destroyer raced to it's aid, while the others quickly submerged again. It was impossible for the surface fleets to know what losses were suffered below, but fifteen Supremacies would never surface again, while seven others were limping away from the coast towards open sea. There, they would hopefully have a chance of meeting a friendly force and travel to Europe for repairs.

The surface fleet answered that volley with fifty more missiles... only this time they weren't standard missiles. They were oversized, fired from the carriers, the battleship and the cruisers. Half way to the target... they broke apart, six smaller missiles coming from each one. They were Swarm missiles, designed to thwart CIWS systems to an extent by turning 50 easily tracked missiles into 300 hard to bring down armor piercing missiles. Oh, they only packed a small punch compared to ship killing missiles... but they would do a number on a crew and could take out launchers and guns with a direct hit.

Under the sea, almost 100 more torpedos launched. This time, they were all supercavitating. From the numbers, it would be hard to tell how many subs were gone and how many were just being quiet...

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The scouts were suffering the worst. Already thirty were down, but the ATVs were taken over by other Marines quickly. Despite the losses of a dozen tanks to enemy anti-armor or artillery fire, the force was driving ahead. Fighting in the dunes was not a smart fight. They had to advance and take the fight to an enemy city.

LT Col Volsung ran past the mangled corpse of a Scout who had taken an artillery shell to his ATV. Lifting her rifle, she fired into the enemy as she ran, not knowing if she hit a damn thing. She imagined what the enemy saw... a force of marines in armor which covered their whole bodies, supported by hundreds of battle tanks and dozens of aircraft. All across the enemy front line and further back, to about a third of the way to the Vetalian artillery, shells began to rain down. A few miles back, there were fifty or so self-propelled guns, heaving ordinance far down range. A few shells held a sound that would horrify any who knew what gas shells sounded like. They sloshed instead of whistled. Fortunately for the forces fighting, Crimmond would not stoop to the level of the Vetalians and use gas. These burst and sent flammable liquid spewing over the battlefield, which was lit by a few tracer rounds from the Scout ATVs. It was doubtful the Vetalian troops would see this as an improvement from gas shells...

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The fighters engaged the enemy with both missiles and cannon fire, as did the bombers. Looking like mutated B-52s, they were overly bulbous in the bomb bay and carried far more unmanned guns. This allowed them to form the infamous 'box formation' of World War Two and hopefully inflict much damage on the enemy. So far, a few bombers had taken hits, with one having an engine flame out, but none had fallen from the skies yet. Simply put, the fighters were larger heat signatures and air-to-air missiles tracked them instead... but once the SAMs started streaking up, the boxes began to lose cohesiveness. One plane erupted into an immense fireball as it's bomb bay was struck. Dozens of others were wobbling in the air, fighting to keep control of aircraft with large chunks of control surfaces gone or non-responsive.

Even before this force reached their targets, one hundred more bombers were heading for the border, with heavy fighter escorts. There were even two flights, totaling another hundred, coming from Europe...

The Crimm missiles were a well-calculated move, taking advantage of the light damage inflicted by previous intercepted missiles and inflicting moderate damage on a significant number of ships, especially the cruisers and destroyers near the front of the fleet. Around thirty-five ships in total were badly damaged in some capacity or another, reducing their ability to keep fighting. Virtually all of the front-line ships suffered some form of minor damage, effectively granting the enemy attack a nigh-100% success rate, even if it was not capable of outright destroying many ships in the fleet. If the severely damaged ships could not escape the battle in time, it would likely mean they would be completely lost. Much like their Crimm counterparts, they rose to the surface, an unsettlingly clear sign of death from below. Another twelve submarines were also lost, bringing their number down to barely over 70. One battleship that was already damaged began to sink, its crew desperately firing off as many of its remaining weapons as possible before abandoning ship. Five battlecruisers were outright crippled and sinking from the torpedoes, a result of their attempt to interdict as many torpedoes as possible from hitting other targets within the fleet.

However, still resolute, the Vetalian fleet continued its bombardment, with the battleships and dreadnoughts increasing their rate of fire from their cannons as they focused their fire on the carriers and heavy ships of the Crimm fleet. The other ships continued their missile and torpedo attacks on the lighter enemy ships and submarines, using their own supercavitating torpedoes to gain similar advantages in speed as a counter to the Crimm fleet's own use. The remaining submarines also continued their bombardment, attempting to overcome the intelligence deficiencies caused by the battle itself with compensation through raw firepower.

Deciding it was worth the risk, the carriers launched their planes, the hundreds of MiGs, Yaks and EA-6Bs launching from their respective ships and moving towards the Crimm fleet. Once they were in range, they began to fire off salvos of ATS missiles and torpedoes, saturating the enemy with their missile fire as well as strafing anything they could see with fire. The EA-6Bs themselves specifically targeted enemy radar and anti-air defenses, and readied their electronic countermeasures as a way of protecting the aircraft from enemy retaliation to the best of their ability.

On shore, the Air Force had received authorization to begin supplying air support to the fleet out in the ocean. Within an hour, it would be able to put a significant number of aircraft in the skies and would also begin launching shore-based missiles to support the fleet. In addition, other naval units were ready to move in as reinforcements, but due to the sheer distance between them it was unrealistic that any additional naval support would arrive in time to be useful for this battle.

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Years of chemical defense training made the Vetalians more prepared to deal with the Crimm attack, but its effects were nonetheless damaging to the areas bombarded by the shells. Many non-combat personnel and equipment were injured and damaged by the incendiaries, while many temporary structures and field command buildings were hit by the shells and exploded in to flames. Thankfully, the field hospitals were outside of the range of the enemy attack, but they came close. The primary negative impact was the sheer smoke output of the shells, which interfered with visibility and made it difficult to accurately target missiles and artillery shells. Firefighting crews rushed to suppress the flames to the best of their ability, but it was almost a moot effort in the dry heat of the Sahel. In some cases, the crews themselves arrived simultaneous to shell fire, consuming them in a sudden, but nonetheless horrific fireball.

On the front, losses continued to pile up in a manner similar to that on the sea and in the sky. It was a brutal battle of attrition, with the two sides trading blows and inflicting heavy losses in the process. It appeared that despite their heavy losses, the center would hold against the enemy attack for now preventing the breach in the lines that would have made combat even more difficult for the defenders. Nonetheless, the effects were clear: losses were climbing higher and higher in to the thousands, and untold hundreds of tanks and IFVs had been lost to enemy attacks. The battlefield was littered with dead and wounded, and many more would be added to the total before this battle was over.

Seeing additional marines, the Vetalian troops continued their targeting of the Scouts, the goal simply being to draw as many enemy troops towards those targets to inflict casualties. As long as the Marines approached them, the Vetalian infantry and IFVs would continue to strafe the area with gunfire. The tanks continued their own bombardment of any visible enemy targets, focusing primarily on the enemy tanks along with shoulder-mounted anti-tank fire and armor piercing rounds from infantry units supporting them. APCs moved forward, carrying troops up to the front lines to support those already there. Snipers continued to fire at carefully chosen targets, several of them targeting Lt. Col Volsung herself, even if they didn't know who she was or her role in the enemy attack.

Seeing the effects of the gas, Major General Ustinov of the 21st Infantry Division sent an appeal to the high command to use napalm weaponry against the enemy troops. Authorization was granted, and within a few minutes word had been sent along the line to begin use of these weapons against enemy targets. Missile launchers were loaded with their first batch of napalm weapons and soon the deadly payloads were streaking towards the enemy tanks and troops alongside the other conventional weapons fired from the Smerch systems. If things went well, the front line of the Crimm attack would soon be consumed by flame, creating an effective defensive line to aid the Vetalian forces.

Artillery bombardment continued apace, the artillery pounding away at the enemy forces with a near-steady cascade of hundreds of shells per minute, throwing up clouds of sand and detritus of war as they attempted to suppress enemy movement with raw firepower.

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The punching match continued between the two forces, with the Crimm planes inflicting losses of around 8% this time, reflecting improvements in maneuvering room and better awareness of enemy tactics. However, it was still a significant loss in absolute terms; already, 120 planes had been destroyed and now another 80 were being added to their number. Now only 1,000 planes remained, a number which would surely decline further as the two forces continued to fight for control of the border airspace.

Seeing the enemy beginning to assume a box formation, the Vetalian pilots began to reorganize their own attack strategy, breaking in to groups and engaging the enemy bombers at the flanks of the formation where their mutual coverage would be weakest. They continued to pound the enemy with missile fire and gunfire, attempting to target the most vulnerable parts of the enemy planes to encourage the kind of mechanical problems that could cause the box formation to fall apart.

Although the focus of their attack was now the bombers, the aircraft didn't ignore the support planes that were still defending the bombers. Around half of the Vetalian planes in the air, around 1,000 now, were divided roughly in half between the bombers and the enemy fighters. They both continued to launch missiles and strafe their respective targets with gunfire, the primary difference being that the planes engaged with enemy fighters tended to fight more randomly as a way of generating confusion and preventing the enemy from counterattacking in an orderly fashion (a move greatly aided by the still-present swarms of missiles streaking up from the ground), while the planes targeting the bombers moved in much more orderly formation designed to concentrate firepower for maximum effectiveness.

The ground-based defenses continued firing until their missile supplies were exhausted, sending several hundred more missiles up until they were simply out and could do little but watch. At this time, the Air Force authorized sending another 200 planes in to combat, around half of the reinforcements currently available. They took off from landing strips around 200 kilometers south of the battle, so they would arrive in around 15-20 minutes assuming no interruptions along the way.

Five to one. Five to one. Five to one.

It always came down to that. No matter how hard the Crimm fleet could fight, it was always outnumbered. Always. Without naval support from an ally, there was only one reason for this assault... attrition.

Planes flew from the half dozen carriers, as fast as they could launch. As soon as all the planes were offloaded... the carriers broke and ran. All six were running for open sea, save the two Med carriers. They were running for Cairo. Several escort ships ran with them. The Crimm knew that there was no way to win this battle head on, so the carriers had to be saved.

Every other ship attempted to cover this retreat by opening up with every weapon system they had. Missiles launched constantly. Guns boomed. Planes fired air-to-air ship-killers missiles. Under the sea, despite the boiling of the ocean continuing, the subs fired constantly as well.

Losses were becoming high. Nearly all the ships were damaged in some way or another. Almost half would have to put in for shipyard work. Thirty seven ships were suffering severe damage, eight of them disabled totally. Two more were only able to travel in circles. The worst was to come, though... as the super-cavs roared in, fountains of water erupted throughout the fleets, splitting several frigates in two, along with shearing the bow right off a cruiser. The battleship at the heart of the closest fleet suffered two hits from the torpedoes and was listing to the side, but those immense long range guns didn't stop firing. She was a tough ship and would take a lot of punishment. A lot more than her crew could, most likely.

===============

Lieutenant Colonel Volsung appeared to be no more an interesting target than any other Marine. No rank insignia or differentiating markings were on her armor and she was directing by voice only, over various radio channels. No hand signals. Lower ranking officers did that.

"Armor units... we need to punch through. If we can't get through this fucking line, we might as well go home now!"

"Dammit, Colonel... we need more air support! I'm loosing armor all over the fucking pl-" The transmission cut out as a tank nearby was struck and brewed up. One of many that were going up. The tanks did as ordered though. They began to push. Infantry of all sorts followed, abandoning the scout ATVs, for the most part. They were too tempting of targets.

Overhead, the air support did come. The tank fillers were back, cannons providing a dull humming sound to the background of the battle. Despite catching heavy fire, the planes flew right over the enemy front lines, dropping napalm and anti-personnel bombs (which would spread hundreds of tennis ball sized bombs in their wake). Of course, not all the planes came out of the attack. Of fifty planes, all had their wings perforated in many places, with eight planes coming down in the initial run, spreading more destruction on the line.

=======

Ten bombers were sent hurtling towards the Earth by enemy fire, throwing the box formation into disarray. As a result, the formation was broken up again, bombers using all defenses. Chaff, flares, their own missiles and (for bombers) violent maneuvering. They had to get through. Fighters were suffering worse. Nearly a quarter of the escorts were either running out of ammunition or were being downed. Either way, they were no help at defending the bombers.

The surviving bombers soon found themselves nearing the first target. Sevastopol. "Bomber Wing A... deploy munitions."

The ten planes in that group opened their doors... and let loose two large bombs each. Enemy fighter pilots would most likely be at a loss as to what kind of bomb they were. Nuclear was out, as the bomber group would be toasted by the EMP. It had to be conventional.

Two bombers from other wings were also dropping their bombs, but only to get some use out of them. With heavy damage, they were losing altitude fast.

The impact of the stricken bombers in Sevastopol would probably be lost in the miniature cataclysm shaking the city... for the first time in thirty years, Crimmond had deployed it's city killer bombs, each with the destructive equivilent of 45 tons of TNT. The explosions from these twenty-four weapons were immense and the purpose wasn't to pound they city into submission so that it could be easily conquered... it was to wipe the whole thing off the map, without having to deal with all the politics of nuclear weapons.

More bomber groups were heading for more distant targets and the bomber group over Sevastopol was powering away and splitting up, to attack various other cities. One could only assume similar fates awaited those cities.

It seemed the Crimm were intent on fulfilling the words of Crimmond's first leader, so often repeated by successors. Let not one survive.

Seeing the Crimm carriers break from the formation and retreat, the Vetalian naval command contacted the Air Force and requested that their air support chase after the enemy carriers rather than aid the engagement on the water. Although reticent to send all of the aircraft on the chase, the Air Force sent 300 of them after the carriers and held the remaining 100 as support for the sea based combat. If they could successfully win on the water, the planes would then be free to pursue the carriers for as long as they were outside of the aegis of Crimmond proper's air and sea defenses.

Both sides were now engaged in an all-out firefight, the sheer amount of fire producing a sonic signature that was picked up as far away as Odessa. And it showed, too; the Crimm attack caused considerable losses despite its weakening position, sinking or crippling three battleships, twenty frigates, fifteen destroyers and half of the remaining submarines. Even one of the dreadnought flagships was immobilized, smoke and flame rising from its command tower even as it unloaded on the enemy with its heavy guns. These losses did not stop the Vetalian navy from firing and attacking aggressively, its ships and planes pushing forward in what could only be considered a charge reminiscent of the land battles of old.

In the skies above, planes were dropping by the dozens as they fought the enemy craft launched from Crimm carriers. Missiles literally flew in the hundreds, even thousands at a time and gun rounds arced through the smoky air in the untold millions as both forces bashed each other with incredible intensity. Despite their bitter rage at the apparent destruction of Sevastopol, the Vetalian naval command could not help but feel a kind of hateful respect for the Crimm forces, who were proving their mettle despite being heavily outnumbered and increasingly damaged in the conflict. However, respect did not translate in to mercy, and the Vetalian fleet continued its brutal assault on the enemy in an attempt to destroy as much as possible before they fell back.

Shortly thereafter, 100 of the 400 Air Force fighters and interceptors arrived, adding their own firepower to the mix in calculated strikes on the enemy ships' communications and command and control towers in an attempt to further cripple the still-potent weapons systems of the remaining Crimmond fleet.

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On the front, the renewed Crimm assault was devastating. The units closest to the front line suffered the most severe effects, three entire divisions of men and their equipment destroyed by the bombing run. Already, losses totaled in the tens of thousands, and would only climb higher with each Crimm assault. The units behind them suffered as well, with the bulk of them suffering casualties in the 10-20% range, a significant loss from a single strike. The remaining troops continued to fire, focusing on the armor and marines now pushing towards the weakening center line. By now, nearly 75% of the units in the center were completely out of commission, either dead, wounded, or destroyed. Their forces would not last long and they would soon need to fall back, putting the city of Sevastopol at risk as they would retreat towards the city.

That would soon change as the massive clouds of smoke and fire rose in the distance, showing the very city they were ordered to protect no longer existed except as a historical memory. Interestingly, however, the destruction of Sevastopol and the division of the Crimm air forces had a positive effect on the Vetalian strategic position. With the amount of enemy air support weakened, it became possible to bring up reinforcements from the rear to hold the existing line. However, that was not the plan. The Vetalian line would bulk up on the flanks, creating a pincer movement that would take advantage of their weakness in the center; now that Sevastopol was a ruin, if the colossal explosion and chatter coming across the airwaves was any sign, there was no strategic target to defend in the center and it became possible to withdraw from the center to attempt a new strategy.

Slowly but steadily, and under intense enemy fire, the tattered remnants of the Vetalian infantry, armor, and IFVs began a fighting retreat, pulling back and allowing the Crimm troops to push through the seeming breach in their lines. Rather than fall back to Sevastopol, the tattered units would then break left and right, joining up with the fresh and significantly reinforced flanks to begin a flanking assault on the Crimm. In the flat, dry Sahel terrain of the region, mobility and visibility allowed them to operate rapidly, albeit at the cost of greatly diminished camouflage and natural cover. In the distance, the signs of reinforcements rushing to the front lines were visible, the vast dust clouds rising on both fronts. However, thanks to the smoke created by Crimm explosive weapons, their movements were somewhat concealed and would allow them to operate with at least some kind of cover.

Artillery behind Sevastopol continued their fire on the Crimm forces, pausing only to reestablish a line of sight on the flanks. The city itself was now a massive heat and visibility trap, causing much grief for the artillery attempting to aid the fighting retreat. The units in the center now held their fire, shifting the bulk of artillery support to the flanks that could still target accurately towards the front line.

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Losses slowed considerably to no more than a few dozen planes per run as the Crimm forces pushed forward, the Vetalian pilots increasingly concerned at the seemingly reckless push by the enemy in to their territory. Although the roughly 750 remaining planes were pounding enemy fighters and bombers with everything they had, the Crimm pushed forward seemingly cavalier towards the mounting losses on their side. Even additional salvos fired from anti-air installations near Sevastopol didn't appear to stop them, and when the bombers had reached their position, the plan was clear. The city below exploded, the lives of its 5.3 million citizens snuffed out in a single stroke.

Realizing the city had been wiped off of the map the fighters threw every weapon they still had in a last ditch attempt to inflict as many losses as possible. It was an initial attempt at compensation for what appeared to be the complete annihilation of what had once been a major Vetalian city. However, they could not fire rage from their weapons systems, and once they had exhausted their remaining weapons, the remaining planes in the battle group pulled back to resupply. Judging from the movements of the Crimm bombers, they were going to attempt similar tactics on the next group of cities around Sevastopol...which meant they would soon be facing the hated enemy once again.

The Emperor and his staff watched with solemn silence in a secured bunker outside of Vetalia City, the smoldering ruins of Sevastopol captured by a weather research station several miles outside of the city. Nothing was left, at least nothing more than the occasional twisted steel frame or low wall of rubble. Much of the flammable material had simply been consumed, the sheer firepower of the bombs annihilating anything in sight. On thing was for sure: at least 5.3 million Vetalian citizens, quite possibly more given the attack was during the day, had been exterminated in a single explosive stroke. The government wanted to draft some kind of press release, some kind of propaganda, something, but there was nothing they could do to compensate for the worst attack in Vetalian history. Already, the news of the strike was racing through the country, triggering an outpouring of anger that bordered on fanatical nationalist rage.

This was not to be repeated again. Across the country, air units that had been held in reserve were called up, their forces mobilizing with furious intensity to prepare for the incoming bombers. On the ground, air defense stations were activating, their supplies of missiles far more abundant than those closer to the border. Hopefully, they would be ready before the arrival of the enemy, for the lives of millions more hanged in the balance. Thousands of planes and many, many times more missiles waited, their pilots and crews waiting for the Crimm to draw near. If they wanted to repeat their strike on Sevastopol, they would have to fight through the very core of the Vetalian Air Force.

As the Crimm bombers moved inexorably towards their future targets, the core group of the Vetalian Air Force took to the skies, the many thousands of fighters and ground support ready to die to the last man to prevent a repeat of what was already being called the Holocaust of Sevastopol. At the same time, another force consisting of several hundred bombers and escort planes mobilized in East Vetalia, moving steadily towards the fighting on the border. They planned to launch their own sterilizing strike, cleansing the sands of the Sahara of the enemy forces attempting to punch through the border. If the plan worked, the enemy planes and ground forces would be trapped between the armed forces on the ground and the planes in the sky, and would have little choice but to surrender or die at the hands of an enraged nation.

LET’S GET A FUCKING MOVE ON HERE PEOPLE, WE GOT ROCS COMING IN IN LESS THAN A DAY, SO STOP TAKING YOUR FUCKING BREAKS AND GET YOUR FUCKING ASSES BACK TO FUCKING WORK!” Colonel Harris said enraged. His Hell Jumper Engineer regiment had airdropped in five hours ago, and they only had five of the planned fifty temporary runways down and ready to accept aircraft, and the facilities to hold them. But all told, that wasn’t their fault.

For the massive amounts of fighters and bombers that the Illiorians wanted to put into the air, they needed a lot of room, a lot of people to make that room fast, and a lot of supplies to make that happen. So a rather massive air convoy had been organized, covered by air launched parasitic fighter UCAVs to cover the air train as they made their horrendously long journey, dropped their load, and then turned around to go pick up more supplies, and then actually land instead of airdropping them in.

Unluckily for the engineers, some of the aircraft with the quintessential materials to make runways with were delayed by unforeseen weather, so the engineers only were able to finish setting up barracks and some of the hangars, arguably much less important than the airstrips that were supposed to have gone down.

Harris continued with his work, helping his crew to roll out one of the mats that would be part of a runway… eventually. There was so much left to do with the runways and tarmacs and only three hours left before the first part of the air contingent that would be based out of Harris’s area would be arriving. Eventually, they’d need to have 5-6 3500m runways, but for now, they only needed one, and that was by tomorrow after the real supplies began their trip in.

About 15 of these bases or so were being set up across Western Libya, and for the most part, they were well ahead of Harris’s position, but they too still had lots of work to do.

To help coordinate all of this, about 100 Fighters and 15 AWACs had been sent to nearby bases of the Crimm to keep a BARCAP area, and have at least three or four of those AWACs to help control the soon to be massive influx of cargo aircraft and fighters. All told, the Illiorians were planning a rather large immigration of 15,000 aircraft total, with most of them being fighters. The amount of space needed for both the crews and the aircraft would be massive, as would the need for food and water, which hopefully the Crimm could help with.

The international press would receive battlefield video of the bombing attack on Sevastopol from an unlikely source... the Crimm military sent the footage to them, with a full explanation of what was going on. Even going so far as to detail the types of enemy aircraft seen in the footage. A simple message came with it, explaining why this had been done: We do not hide what we do. The death of a city is but one step towards total victory. North Africa will be ours. Vetalia shall be pushed off the continent and become as nomads.

============

Well behind the lines, in the great Sahara, the airstrips were approached by large transport helicopters from deeper inside Crimmond. They reported that supply convoys were also heading their way.

Supplies, men and equipment were being provided to the remote bases, until they could supply themselves. News would also come to those men of the massive amounts of devastation being reaped father West. An entire city gone, showing just how far the Empire was going to travel in this war.

============

At sea, the Crimm carriers were moving at flank speed. Outrunning jets was impossible though. So they retrained their CIWS to target aircraft, in addition to their normal AA and AAA. The air over the carriers was full of flack, tracer fire and immense clouds of smoke as the ships in front of each carrier created smoke screens.

As the carriers were desperately trying to run for friendly waters, something else was going on at the main fleets. The Med fleet had made it into the Atlantic and was joining the fight proper, now. The three separate forces did the only thing they could do in the face of such daunting odds... they slowly began moving away from the coasts of Africa, towards open sea. Even as more destroyers sank, two cruisers limped with badly damaged engines and the great battleship's aft deck was ablaze, the force was still at 50% strength. All they needed was backup. Fresh ships.

At the same time, the submarine losses dropped sharply and they began their attacks anew, firing torpedoes of all varieties at the enemy, though it was obvious to the Vetalians that the Crimm had been hurt under the seas. The number of torpedoes was not even close to the same as before.

The air war was different. These pilots had only one chance to live: Fight through the enemy, cross over enemy territory and land at Crimm bases in the Sahara. That was pushing many of the fighters to attack with great ferocity, though losses were high. Nearly a quarter of the planes were taken down in the opening minutes of the battle.

================

Over land, the air war was going as well as could be expected. With the second wave of planes approaching and the first already having erased a city from existence...

Closing on several other cities, the Crimm were ready to strike in such a way again. They had no idea what importance many of these cities had, but they had people. And that was the point... not to assault the military forces of Vetalia, but to crush the civilians. Even if this war failed somehow, vengeance would be Crimmond's and the people would find some way to blame their own government, causing problems down the line for Vetalia.

Losses were mounting. Only ninety-five were still on course, just less than half of the original force. Fight escorts were similarly depleted, some turning back because they ran out of ammunition or fuel was running low.

=================

Finally the ground war was becoming fruitful. With the loss of their precious city, the enemy had nowhere to fall back to. Technically, this also meant that the Crimm had nowhere to advance to immediately, but no one cared about that.

The entire force was trying to force it's way through. All nearly 150,000 Marines. Tanks and aircraft were in the lead as Scouts and other light vehicles protected the infantry directly.

Volsung ran in the midst of the charge. Explosions ripped through the force, one close enough to lift her off the ground and throw her ten feet. She quickly clambered up and continued on, shutting down the part of her mind that was screaming about how insane she was for being here.

As the Marines reached the front lines, they attempted to simply swamp them with bodies. A Chinese Charge, one Marine had called it... after that, they would attempt to simply push as far deep as they could, as fast as they could.

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Official Londinian Communiqué

To the Vetalian High Command:

Her Majesty's Government has not forgotten the horrors of the Vivicide, nor has it forgot the services rendered to the Commonwealth by the honourable Vetalian people. Ten years ago, the Commonwealth was on the brink of destruction, a step away from certain extermination - the efforts of the Vetalian government saved us from this most ghastly fate. Today, Vetalia faces an equally devastating threat from a similarly evil enemy. I speak not only for the Crown and Parliament of the Commonwealth, but for every Londinian, when I say that the Commonwealth shall stand proudly at your side.

Sincerely,
http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z259/pertinax201/AndrewStarkportrait.jpg
http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z259/pertinax201/starksig.png
The Rt. Hon. Andrew Stark, MP, PhD
Consul of the Londinian Commonwealth

OOC: A tag, more or less. Since I'm in CAP, I figured that I was allowed to RP based on Crimm's rules. If I'm wrong, ignore me, by all means.

OOC: You have not endeared yourself to Gholgoth, BL. I doubt that any of us will be willing to interact with you for quite some time.

Empires are not conquered from without, they are conqurered from within.

Western Lybia
2300Hrs

On the ground..
The moon peaked through the clouds over the tiny village. In the distant, the roars of thunder with brief flashes of lightning illuminating the horizon. Overhead, the clouds were moving steadily, hiding the moons light from time to time. The claps of thunder rumble across the night sky riding along the clouds and disappearing off into the distant. The thunder they heard that night were that of bombs impacting on the streets and slamming into buildings. The lightning was that of burning buildings, a testament of their might, flickering in the night sky. Up above, the sky is filled with tiny dots, and every once in a while what appears to be a comet burning as it enters the atmosphere.

General Aw'zied slowly raised his head and opened his eyes. He had been to this place before. A place where the clouds are tainted with a hue of red and carry the taste of hot steel, ash, and burning flesh. He turned slowly looking away from the horizon, the place he shall soon be, and focused on the lights that peared through the night sky. One after another as far as he could see, they came closer, a thunderious roar. He watch as the lights got brighter and the roar got louder as they eventually passed over him. By now, Aw'zied relised that he was beyond the turning point. The planes contunied arriving and departing through the night with flights eminating from within the Crimmond interior. The General slowly walked back, and it was a slow walk. He was in no hurry, for the pieces were all falling together.

Aw'zied approached the side of of his helocopter and signaled to the pilot to wind the rotors. He stepped in as the whine go slowly louder. He reached forward and grabbed his helmet and strapped it on tightly and turning on his mic. As the gunship slowly rose, the General turned to his right and looked down into the blackness. he could see the stream of lights, like a colony of ants, heading out into the distance. The helocopter slowly turned, dipped it's nose, and accelerated of the lights down below. On the way they passed Crimmond rear batteries that were now pressing forward at a snails pace. He flew over the Praetoiran 5th Armor Division, and the 163rd Heavy Infantry Division. The 'copter took a sharp turn and dove to 100ft. They pressed on for 15 minutes before landing at a basecamp, codenamed, Voodoo. As the General touched down and removed his helmut, the pilot turned, and slauted, "Good Luck Sir", he stated with confidence. The General turned to him and stated, "For the Glory of the Empire".

(On the ground, 65,000 Infantry 4 hours behind Crimmond Lines. Over 1,200 heavy armor units consisting of MBT's, Mobil-M/LRM's, Mobil-SSM's, SAM's, and M/LR MEADS defence sites moving into position 120 miles behing Crimmong Lines. 23,000 Light Armor, Support, and Light air support consisting of 650 FAC's, Blackhawks, KA-53b's, and other air-to-ground support craft.)

In the skies..
23,000 ft
The E-3's were nearing the "hot" zone. Although the primary mission was to provide the means to detect, identify, track and intercept airborne threats, it was also responsible to detect enemy SAM's, and Batteries by identifying their signatures as they fired. It was obvious that some were there as they would be detectable by radar now, it was only a matter of time before enemy craft engaged them. On one particular plane, a co-pilot sat nerviously. He kept looking off to the right window as if he was checking the engines on his side. The fact of the matter was he was checking for the escorts that were to be assigned to their craft. "Relax", the pilot said to him. "We'll be home in no time, just a few more shots and we're good to go". The co-pilot drew in a deap breath from his mask and nodded at the pilot.

2,590 miles behind Crimmond Lines...
The 102nd Centerion Air wing was inroute to the front lines. It was going to be about a four flight before they reach enemy airspace. The 75 bombers flew in a staggered wedge, on paralell course of the first Crimmond attack wave. They were escourted by 120 air superiority fighters such as F-22's, F-16bE's, F-16E's, and Multirole craft such as F-4, F-15's, and F-15C's. That group was flanked to the right and left by two additional squadrons, approx. 600 miles off the wings. The two squadrons on the flanks were thirty minutes to the rear of the lead pack.

In the seas...
The 113th Imperial Fleet was rapidly appraoching the coast. At full speed, but would still be at least one day before it reached enemy waters. The Fleet consist of 3 Carrier Groups, and 4 Fast Attack Fleets consisting of primarly Frigets, Missile Ships, Gunships and fast attack submarines. However, the bulk of the Imperial Fleet was still inroute and some five to six days out.