NationStates Jolt Archive

The ancient Kingdom of Bulgadina had been falling deeper and deeper into economic recession for almost thirty years. The glory days were long gone, regardless of the mindless patriotism spewed by her government. Slogans and messages of hope and industry, once proudly displayed by banner-waving crowds, now decorated the slums of the capital with paint as faded as their meaning.

With economic decay, however, comes a loosening of control. National unity, once having seemed the fuel of growth, had slowly died and been forgotten. In several provinces, old allegiances and histories were spoken of publically, rather than being confined to the hushed voices of minority revolutionary groups. Pristinja had been an unwilling part of the Kingdom for nearly six hundred years. Once a proud mountain kingdom, she had finally lost her independence to the Bulgadi King in 1453, becoming a mere footnote in the minds and records of her people.

But they had not forgotten. The Pristinja Liberation Army, formed in 1979, had conducted a campaign of aggressive resistance against Bulgadi authority. They blew railways, firebombed symbols of the government such as police and military offices, roadblocks, and Bulgadi businesses. They had executed hundreds of 'collaborators'. After the assassination of the provincial governor in 1998, the PLA's previously minor status as a national threat was upgraded to a priority, and an entire army corps was tasked with rooting out the now-growing group.

The 5th Army Corps, under the command of General-Polkovnik Maksim Varnava, crossed into Pristinja Province on May 16th, 1998. They liased with local law enforcement in an attempt to pinpoint areas of PLA activity, and on May 20th, the province was put under martial law. Varnava, given free reign by his superiors, worked with ruthless efficiency. On the night of May 21st, the locations of sixteen suspected PLA cells were stormed by men of the 8th Motor Rifle Division, including the homes of several suspected high-ranking members. The raids were a marginal success, resulting in the deaths of more than a hundred PLA members and the capture of another fifty, and incurring seven deaths and eighteen wounded among the Bulgadi troops.

The PLA, now spurred into action by a determined and uncompromising enemy, attempted to hit back. Cells conducted mortar attacks and ambushes against the troops, making use of mines, grenades and improvised remote explosives to minimise manpower losses. Their efforts met with relatively few enemy casualties, due for the most part to the superior training and overwhelming firepower of their opponents. In reprisal, Varnava authorised artillery strikes against suspected targets in civilian areas, and the body count steadily rose.

The New Aryan State, bordering Bulgadina to the north, quickly contributed food supplies and medical personnel to assist the civilian population. The Bulgadi government promised not to interfere with their operations, secretly relieved that they would not have to divert more troops to the area to perform such a task.

On December 14th, 2007, with the Pristinja War set to enter it's tenth year, Bulgadi shells fell on an NAS medical unit distributing food supplies in the town of Styamlov, killing thirty-two personnel and wounding over a hundred. Civilian casualties exceeded one thousand.

At 2100, December 15th, 2007, amid mounting political pressure and public outrage, the Bundesrat of the New Aryan State voted to declare a state of war against the Kingdom of Bulgadina.

OOC: Welcome to the suck. Imagine Kosovo. Now multiply it by three.

Theatre Map (http://img143.imageshack.us/img143/7119/pristinjabulgadinatt6.png)
Red: Bulgadina, NPC. Constitutional monarchy, population 49.4 million.
Blue: Pristinja, NPC. Province of Bulgadina, population 6.3 million. Martial law is in effect.
Green: NAS

Official Imperial Message to Bulgadina PLA and NAS

The Imperial Kingdom is deeply troubled by the on going violence in the region and would like to deploy an expeditionary force to restore peace and order.

Furthermore the Imperial Kingdom is disturbed over the reports of Bulgadinan military attacks on civilian areas and demands that such tactics be abandoned in the name of humanity.

Lastly the Imperial Kingdom urges the diplomatic settling of differences as opposed to violence and advises both sides to lay down their arms and come to negotiations

(I've been looking for more war: tell me, can I use my "fun" weapons against the bad guys? Not as in LULZ tanks, but as in NBC fun)

"What a laugh."

"Indeed sir. A small country invaded by another, and now the civilians are being exterminated. What shall we do?"

"I think that we could do with the land."

"Yes."

____________________________________________


>>>INITIALISING...COMPLETE
>>>PERFORMING STARTUP CHECKS...COMPLETE
>>>LOADING INTERFACE...COMPLETE
>>>WELCOME TO ALFEGOS BATTLEFIELD MAINFRAME
>>>LOADING TROOP DETAILS...COMPLETE
>>>TROOP SPECIFICATIONS=
>10TH RESERVIST DIVISION/REGIMENTS NO.1-3
>7TH FAV DIVISION/REGIMENT NO.1
>5TH ARMOUR DIVISION/REGIMENTS NO.1-3
>9TH ROCKETEERS DIVISION/REGIMENTS NO.1-3
>10 X LOGISTIC SUPPORT REGIMENTS
>>>METHOD OF INSERTION = VIA FRIENDLY TERRITORY
>>>NBC Y/N...?
>>>Y
>>>SPECIFY TYPE...
>>>NON-LETHAL CHEMICAL SELECTED
>>>ENEMY NATION SIZE = 49 MILLION
>>>TOTAL MILITARY DEPLOYMENT = 180 000 MEN
>>>AIR SUPPORT = VIA TASKFORCE N2 + AIRFLOTILLA HN2
>>>ATTACK ETA = 12 HOURS
>>>_

_________________________________

The troops sat easily in the transports that rocked back and forth. They felt safe: after all, they had the protection of a naval taskfroce around them, and with 180 troop transport ships they had numbers. They had been called up on short notice, and were now making their way across to NAS. Here, they would mount an invasion on the NAS border to the agressor, while the NAS took over the disputed region that had started this.

Alongside them were 3 Grand Cruisers - The APS Phoebos, Deomos and Hades. With assorted Destroyers, Frigates and a looming Supercarrier, they were Alfegos' method of imposing foreign will upon the enemy.

Above floated 7 airships: 2 Consul-class AirCruisers, 2 AirDestroyers and a Tradewind Patrol ship, with two Clipper-class AirTenders floating behind them. Each had a payload of at least if not over 1200 tonnes, enough to flatten a large enough area.

"This is Alfegos Expeditionary Force Operation Icicle: we are hailing NAS to ready for our landing. We are here to take revenge upon the opressors, and require use of your ports for unloading and an area for us to set up an operational command, over."

"Copy that, Icicle. Your statement, position and bearing have been noted, please proceed to Dasburg Portkomplex. Coordinates attached, over"

***

Force Deployments, December 15th, 2007.

Pristinja Liberation Army
Pristinja: Approx. 60,000 PLA light infantry, with civilian support.

Bulgadina
Pristinja: 5th Army Corps (3 mechanised divisions, approx 30,000 men, 3,000 AFVs.)
North Bulgadina: 2nd Army Corps, 3rd Army Corps (4 mechanised, 2 light infantry divisions, approx 60,000 men, 4,000 AFVs.)
Central & Southern Bulgadina: 1st Army Corps, 4th Army Corps, 6th Army Corps, 7th Army Corps (2 armoured, 3 mechanised, 7 light infantry divisions, approx 120,000 men, 4,000 AFVs.)

NAS
Pristinja: 303. Sanitäts-Regiment (1,436/1,468 personnel, 62/68 vehicles)
Bulgadina Border: 80. Armeekorps, 25. Armeekorps (6 Panzer-Divisions, 42,066 personnel, 10,950 vehicles, 144 field guns.)
Embarking: 60. Armeekorps (3 Gebirgsjäger-Divisions, 31,707 personnel, 1,974 vehicles, 72 field guns.)

The forces began landing on the coast in towns of the NAS, and immediately drove onwards to the border of NAS. Here, they prepared for their attack. Logistics regiments hung to the back of the line, with some lorries carrying final supplies to the armoured spearhead.

The plan was a good one: the Alfegos army would hold their ground on the border while the artillery bombarded the enemy to hell and back. A spearhead of an armour and a mech. infantry regiment would smash a hole in the enemy line on the west coast, and with aid from the nearby fleet would begin to attack down the coast. Meanwhile, the 7th FAV regiments would make hit-and-run attacks on villages from the main attack line, using their Gecko FAVs to travel at speeds of up to 90 mph to enemy installations and blast them with roof-mounted recoiless rifles, before retreating at high speed.

The 8 hours before though, the nation would be bombed to the stone age. The 80 fighters aboard the APS Griffon would make sorties using cruise missiles and guided munitions to destroy the powergrids, military centres and troop clusters, while cruise missiles launched from the Grand Cruisers in massive volleys would take out the enemy air defences and runways.

The backup plan was to use ICBMs holding Neutron warheads, though that was a last resort.

___________________________________

PLA Response
The Pristinja Liberation Army refuses to listen to any demands or negotiations made by the Bulgadi oppressors which do not include the independence of our homeland, and will continue to resist.

Bulgadina Response
The Glorious Kingdom of Bulgadina has been forced by the underhand and vicious tactics of the insidious PLA to adopt these harsh methods of war. The PLA, and sympathy towards its' cause infects every layer of society in Pristinja, and it is only through ruthless deployment of resources that we, the Bulgadi nation, may bring our wayward brothers back into the warm embrace of the motherland.

Bulgadina will not negotiate with terrorists.

NAS Response
Bundesrepublik des Neuen Arischen Staat
Büro des Bundeskanzler

The New Aryan State would welcome the inclusion of Gatawayan forces in it's efforts to restore stability to the Pristinja region.

While we are open to the possibility of negotiation with the Bulgadi Government, the only acceptable outcome of talks will be the immediate cessation of hostilities against the people of Pristinja, dissolution of the militarist Bulgadi regime, and the recognition of an independent and democratic Pristinja.

If these requests will not be considered, then there will be no negotiations.

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y63/Verghastinsel/leonardpaulusgottschalk.png
Leonhard Paulus Gottschalk
Chancellor of the New Aryan State

EDIT: Alfegos, if you wouldn't mind editing your last post to include going through the port of Dasburg, please? I've moved my confirmation of your landing to my previous post, so that all is in order.

Soon, the troops were in position. Ready for the attack.

"This is Icicle to NAS: give your citizens a 30 minute warning to get out of the country or at least to safety. They are about to go back to the stoneage."

_______________

Aboard the APS Hades, the cruise missiles had been given targets using the data on maps and on satellite photography. All the AA targets across the country had been mapped, ready for destruction. About 200 cruise missiles should do it.

"Negative, Icicle. NAS units in Pristinja are not in position for EVAC. Location of NAS personnel given, request that you aim around them."

"Understood. Positions in Pristinja will be avoided."

The cruise missiles launched, each one heading for the air defences surrounding Bulgadina, and within it. Minutes later, the missiles began to explode as they hit their targets.

"Fire off another volley, and get the aircraft in the air."

60 aircraft took off to attack positions along the Bulgadina/NAS border along with power stations and military installations around the entire area 80 miles south of the border. Each had either 12 Screaming-Oblivion ASMs, or 2 BLU-95 200lb guided bombs with 6 Hellfire missiles, to destroy numerous sorties.

_____________


Along the border, the men prepared for battle.

0755h, December 16th
Styamlov, Pristinja

The trio of jets approached Styamlov without a whisper of noise, having long since passed the sound barrier. They tore through the sky like avenging angels, dipping their wings in salute of the forces on the ground. Fires still burned from the shelling, now two days old, and Hauptmann Oliver Kayetan tracked the aircraft with his piercing blue eyes.

Kayetan was a company commander in 1.Btl 303. Sanitäts-Regiment, responsible for the lives of a hundred and nineteen men and women. Twelve of them were now being ferried home in pine boxes, their remains covered by the tricolour banner of the NAS. Beside them were another twenty members of 303. San. Eighteen serious medical cases were also returning to the fatherland in a seperate aircraft. These casualties, though accidental injuries had been sustained in the past, had been the final straw. The NAS had declared war yesterday evening in a nationwide government broadcast, and approval ratings had soared.

303. San was stationed at the northernmost tip of the Pristinja province, occupying the port town of Styamlov as well as a few surrounding villages. They maintained several food distribution centres, as well as providing medical treatment to all victims of the war. Bulgadi Army casualties, on the rare occasions they had fallen into NAS care, were kept seperate from civilians and usually returned to their own units' care within a few days. Word had gone out that Styamlov would be the focus of a large-scale operation to wrest control of Pristinja from Bulgadina, and 303. San was issued orders to hold the town, and engage the enemy at will.

60. Armeekorps, comprised of three elite divisions of Gebirgsjäger mountain specialist infantry, were to enter Pristinja through Styamlov and relieve 303. San. Bulgadi forces were spread thinly over the province, and would be able to offer only sporadic resistance to the advance of 60. Korps.

OOC: Post your own results for the effectiveness of your fire, but be aware that Bulgadina does have some missile interceptor units. Refer to Force Deployment, Dec 15th for approximate positions of Bulgadi formations.

Across the map of the enemy nation inside Alfegos High Command, Alfegos, lights began to die across the map of the enemy nation, clustered around the coast and then south of the border.

"The missile interceptor units have taken down quite a few of the missiles: however, it appears that we have taken down 85% of enemy airfields and 70% of enemy AA installations.

The fighters have taken down the powergrid in the north, and we have 3 fighter casualties. The enemy groupings targeted to the north have been reduced to about 82% strength, while the south remains at 100%. We are not sure whether they are at war officially with us yet, but I believe now is the time for the attack to start. Give the troops the order to advance after a 1 hours artillery bombardment across the border, and get the regiments on the west coast ready to attack.

By 72 hours, we should have linked up with forces in Pristinja. As for now, continue the naval bombardment."

_____________________________


The rocket artillery was ready for firing: with targets loaded into the virtual battlefield system, missiles began to be launched: within the first minute, 210 Crossbow AT missiles and 190 Longbow cluster missiles had been launched, with explosions reaching far up into the sky.

_________________________


Message to NAS:

Prepare for attacks on border area. Alfegos troops are advancing within 1 hour.

0912h, December 16th
NAS-Bulgadi Border

Orders had come through from OKH.

The chill morning air was filled with the roar of engines and the squeal of tank tracks as six Panzerdivisions prepared to cross the border into Bulgadi territory. On the west coast, the Alfegos Expeditionary Force massed in readiness of the coming assault. In the east, 8. Panzer-Division would lead the charge, with 22. Panzer-Division advancing on their right flank.

***

0931h, December 16th
Styamlov beach, Pristinja

Over two thousand pairs of boots crashed onto the shingle at Styamlov, as the four battalions of 8. Gebirgsjäger-Regiment clambered up the undefended beach. They had been sent ahead of the main force, deployed by motorised landing craft, to relieve 303. San. They carried only personal arms and disposable anti-tank weaponry, having left their heavy machine guns, mortars and support vehicles aboard ship.

Oberst Leopold Moritz, a giant of a man who carried his carbine like a matchstick, was first over the sea wall. He dropped the ten feet onto the tarmac of the Vasily Yelanov Promenade, which ran for a mile in either direction, to be greeted with the welcome sight of friendly uniforms.

The approaching officer's face was stained with camo paint, and he carried his carbine slung across his chest. Pillars of smoke rose high into the sky behind him, and the stink of burning diesel hung over the town. He saluted a greeting, his toothy smile shining bright against his blackened face.

"Major Denis, sir, commander of first battalion, 303. Sanitäts-Regiment. Good to see you got here safely." He stabbed a thumb at the billowing black smoke. "Bulgadi mechanised came calling from the south about an hour ago, but pulled back after we stuck them with a Panzerfaust."

"Very good, Major," replied Moritz, as more infantrymen dropped over the sea wall. "I'll have my regiment assume positions around the town. The Korps will take the best part of the day to fully unload, and orders are stay put until twelve hundred hours. Pull your men back to the centre of town, but keep your vehicles where they are."

"Hooah, herr Oberst," Denis said with a smile.

OOC: I have included town and city names for the area I believe the majority of the fighting will occur in. If it spills over, then it spills over.

Theatre Map, 0912h, December 15th (http://img252.imageshack.us/img252/9884/pristinjabulgadinaactivoz0.png)

As the artillery barrage quietened down, the armoured spearhead began to move: an entire regiment, spread out over 40 miles, with the mechanised infantry on the right flank and behind to stop any outflanking maneouvers.

The first target, Temrikov and Temryuk, was reached within 15 minutes. The armouer rolled into the towns, destroying any suspicious structures or any enemy that fired upon them. The FAV regiments skipped around the side, following the coastline as they went out into the peninsula (OOC: Cumbria). Not having much in the way of firepower, except for recoiless rifles and machine guns, the swarm of Gecko dune buggies found best use in taking the many small villages and towns here, using their high speed to reach the places here while keeping the shoreline clear: that way, any supplies they needed could be unloaded onto the shoreline rapidly, than if it was transported through NAS.

80. Armeekorps passed through Dmitrovsk at 0940h, their objective the port of Ilansky on the eastern coast. 25. Armeekorps bypassed Livny to head direct for the enemy at Amursk, a journey which would take around three and a half hours.

Meanhwile, advance units had already encountered the enemy.

***

1011h, December 16th
nr. Shadrinsk

Fähnrich Benjamin Gotthard of 82. Aufklarungsbataillon wiped the sweat from his eyes, and peered into his gunsight again. Impacts echoed against the hull of his vehicle, a Lyran-made SPzSpw 90*, and he prayed her steel shell would hold. Enemy infantry ducked and dived among the ferns and trees, their flickering shapes impossible to track, and Gotthard switched on his thermal imaging systems. The world darkened, flattening into a formless purple blur. The forest air was cold and clear.

Suddenly, an angry flash of bright orange tinged with red. He'd spotted them. Ten figures retreating tree-by-tree, covering each other as they ran, three hundred metres away. Gotthard locked his sights on a target, the gunsight automatically compensated for distance, and greased gears whined as the 25mm PAK2 mounted atop the panzer swung into position. Gotthard eased his foot onto the firing pedal, and the relative silence of the forest was ripped apart by a sustained burst of cannon-fire. In the distance, a sprinting enemy seemed to explode where he was hit, and his ruined body fell headlong through a grouping of young birch trees.

The cannon swung round again, targetting a second enemy. A burst of shells ripped his legs away, and he fell hard, to lie screaming in the damp leaf mulch on the forest floor. Another burst clipped an enemy in the thigh, cracking through bone to leave an exit wound eight inches across. More yellow shapes appeared, moving forwards to engage the enemy. Six panzergrenadiers in black, brown and green levelled their long rifles at the distant enemy and squeezed off accurate, staccato fire. A 40mm high-explosive grenade gouged a gaping wound in an old oak, filling the air with splinters and sending a grenadier blindly cursing and clawing at his face.

Another burst of 25mm fire, and another enemy infantryman fell. Only three still stood, and at the frantic urging of one the other two dropped their rifles an raised their open hands in the air.

"CEASE FIRE!" rose the cry as the grenadiers saw the enemy surrender. "Cease your Goddamned fire!"

The only sound as the grenadiers advanced, rifles trained, was the quiet sobbing of the wounded.

OOC: The Bulgadi 2nd Army Corps is based at Furmanov, while the 3rd Army Corps is based at Amursk. They will likely be deployed in staggered horizontal line, facing north. Each consists of two mechanised divisions and one infantry division. Mechanised are equipped with AK-74s, BMP-2 and BMP-3 IFVs, as well as 2A18 122mm howitzers and 2A29 100mm anti-tank guns, RPG-7 infantry anti-tank weapons with PG-7VR tandem HEAT warheads, and ZSU-23-4 Shilka anti-air units. Infantry divisions are armed with AK-74s, RPG-7s with tandem warheads, and 9K38 Igla infantry anti-air missiles.

*LY219 IFV. Bundeswehr designation Schwerer Panzerspähwagen 90 Ausf. A

The forces began landing on the coast in towns of the NAS, and immediately drove onwards to the border of NAS. Here, they prepared for their attack. Logistics regiments hung to the back of the line, with some lorries carrying final supplies to the armoured spearhead.

The plan was a good one: the Alfegos army would hold their ground on the border while the artillery bombarded the enemy to hell and back. A spearhead of an armour and a mech. infantry regiment would smash a hole in the enemy line on the west coast, and with aid from the nearby fleet would begin to attack down the coast. Meanwhile, the 7th FAV regiments would make hit-and-run attacks on villages from the main attack line, using their Gecko FAVs to travel at speeds of up to 90 mph to enemy installations and blast them with roof-mounted recoiless rifles, before retreating at high speed.

The 8 hours before though, the nation would be bombed to the stone age. The 80 fighters aboard the APS Griffon would make sorties using cruise missiles and guided munitions to destroy the powergrids, military centres and troop clusters, while cruise missiles launched from the Grand Cruisers in massive volleys would take out the enemy air defences and runways.

The backup plan was to use ICBMs holding Neutron warheads, though that was a last resort.

___________________________________

Latonesia is a new country that belongs to a small region that is currently at war with the Western teritories

The suprise attack had worked, with both towns of Temnikov and Temryuk being taken within 3 hours. These towns were soon fortified as the expeditionary force headquarters: former government buildings were replaced with military command posts, and transport airships following the force delivered 4 SAM batteries and over 40 pieces of stationary defence artillery.

For now, a company was left behind in each town, allowing for control to be established on the future head city of an Alfegos colony...

______________________________________


Further south, the cluster of 6 towns had been given a thorough recon by Globalhawk drones launched from the front by one of the logistics battalions. A detailed map of the troop positions was drawn up, with a final plan of attack established: good old joint arms tactics.

The first pair of towns, those of Zernograd and Labinsk, were subject to attack first: as 3 armoured batallions and 4 mech. infantry batallions rolled into the town, attack was encountered. RPGs flew across the streets from the enemy positions in buildings at the tanks, a mix of LY4 Wolfhounds and M1A3 Warhounds. With both, the first attacks were mostly negated by the slat armour and the thick shell underneath. However, with secondary waves of attack, the vehicles began to suffer. Armoured Recovery Vehicles towed away immobilised and damaged tanks, while the tanks still working crudely demolished the buildings with the enemy in.

Ahead of them, there was the occasional explosion as enemy resistance and artillery positions were plotted and destroyed by an airship floating above. The Consul-class airship had a massive internal payload of 1200 tonnes, and carrying that many missiles, it made a formidable foe.

___________________________________


The FAV regiment had suceeded in emptying the area to the far west of the advance, and had even glimsed enemy units from afar coming from Furmanov. These were the main danger for the troops now: if the entire army corps. stationed there could reach the Alfegos advance, a lot of blood would be shed.

As a result of this, it was decided for the town and the units around to be destroyed. 40 fighters took off, each armed with a payload of 12 BFTB missiles, tipped with 20kg warheads. Explosions around the area spelled the destruction of the enemy headquarters, logistics depot and of all exposed military equipment. Underneath them, small dots that were men diving for cover could be seen obliterated by the fireballs from the explosions from enemy targets.

Outside the town, craters showed where enemy vehicles had been destroyed systematically, all around the town. However, there were also two patches of ground where massive gouges on the ground ending in massive flaming infernos showed where the enemy had shot down Alfegan fighters.

In total, it was estimated that the attack had reduced the enemy to 70%. Throughout the day and night, bombing runs continued, with only small isloated groups of infantry being spared sudden death from the sky.

OOC: Sorry for not posting, but the last few days have been hectic. I'll be away without internet from today until christmas, but should be able to reply a day or two after.

Merry Commercialism and a drunken New Year.

0545h, December 17th
Amursk, Bulgadina

Dawn rose over the city of Amursk, the red sky obscured by smoke from burning buildings. On the ground, elements of 22. Panzer-Division were already advancing into the concrete jungle.

Feldwebel Klaus Benno sprinted across the empty street, throwing himself into cover behind a mound of fallen brickwork. A 155mm high-ex, thrown by 22. Panzer's artillery battalion, had blown the side out of a section of houses and littered the roadway with rubble. A white-enameled steel bathtub, chipped where it had fallen from the second story, stood upright in the middle of the road. It was coated in a layer of coarse red dust.

Benno felt Merten and Eberhardt slam into position behind him, their backs against the broken wall. Both had their rifles trained on the windows on the other side of the street, one high and one low. On the other side of the buildings, Unteroffizier Michel was leading the section's second fire-team forwards.

He ducked his head out and quickly back into cover, and motioned another two of his squad forwards. Tall Roberts and squat Huppo, unlikely friends, broke from cover and sprinted towards the steel bath. Huppo lashed out with a booted heel, smacking the bath onto its top as they reached it. Brick dust fell away, and the bath landed with an echoing crash.

Benno winced at the noise, and moved his body into a kneeling position so that he could see the entire roadway. Three hundred metres distant, it forked left and right. He flicked his microbead radio twice, signalling the all-clear.

Behind him, an engine roared into life and the squeal of tracks accompanied the crack of bricks as they were crushed by twenty tonnes of armoured fighting vehicle. Lyran-made, custom-order for the needs of the Bundeswehr, the PzSch 90* APC rumbled around a corner to cover the squad's advance with its 25mm autocannon.

"Ready when you are," signalled the commander.

"Just watch our backs, Bastian," replied Benno. "It's not going to be this quiet all da..."

Benno's ears pricked at a distant popping noise, and he heard a rattling thump as Roberts landed on his back in the middle of the road.

"SNIPER!" yelled Merten, and another shot sent chips of brick flying as it buried itself in the wall just above his head. Huppo had dragged Roberts into cover in a doorway, leaving a trail of dark blood in the dust. Benno didn't hear the third shot. He felt it.

It felt like he'd been hit by a car. Time seemed to slow for a second, and he felt himself falling. He couldn't breathe. Hands scrabbled at his harness for grip, snaking under his arms and dragging him back into cover. A bullet ripped a hole in the tarmac just next to his legs, before they finally disappeared from the sniper's view. Finally, Bastian's 25mm opened up and Merten started shouting in his ear.

"Feldwebel!" he barked, struggling to make himself heard over the thundering fire of the gun. "The ceramic took the hit! There's no blood!"

Benno coughed his displeasure, and spat into the dust. The percieved weight on his chest was almost unbearable, but he was breathing again.

Bastian's voice crackled through his earpiece. "Sniper down," he said. "Kill sight-confirmed."

"Huppo, report," ordered Benno, scrambling up onto his knees. His '07 carbine felt heavy in his hands as he aimed it down the street, his arms weak from the hit. "How bad is he?"

Huppo, who barely topped five and a half feet but was muscled like a pro-fighter, was shaking slightly with adrenalin. His rifle lay discarded on the pavement and the contents of Roberts' med-kit was sprawled on the ground around him. "Unconscious. Bad shot to the face, he's losing a lot of blood. He's lost most of his right cheek and a few teeth. I've given him a derma-ject of morphine and applied coag-gel, but we're gonna need to get a casevac."

"Copy, Huppo," replied Benno, switching his microbead to platoon command. "Beta One, this is Beta Six, we have one casualty requiring immediate medical assistance in Udol Street. Over"

The line was silent for a few seconds, then a crackling, monotone voice replied. "Beta Six, this is Beta One, hold your position. We have a unit tasked to your location, ETA five minutes. Over."

The air was still again, and deathly quiet. Roberts groaned in his sleep as his lifeblood slowly pooled on the paving slabs.

***

22. Panzer-Division advanced into Amursk at 0530h on Dec 17th to find that the enemy was already retreating. Sporadic resistance kept the advancing Aryan units on edge and delayed the attack, while the 3rd Army Corps escaped. By 1040h, the enemy retreat was confirmed, and 22.Pz-Div resumed their advance.

Movements of Bulgadi Units, December 17th
2nd Army Corps (2 mechanised divisions, 1 infantry division) Moving from Furmanov to counterattack at Dudinka
3rd Army Corps (2 mechanised divisions, 1 infantry division) Retreating south from Amursk
6th Army Corps (1 armoured division, 2 mechanised divisions) Massing near Fokino
7th Army Corps (1 armoured division, 1 mechanised division, 1 infantry division) Moving to Novokubansk

Bulgadi armoured divisions are equipped with T-80V main battle tanks (T-80s with ERA), and contain around 300 tanks each, with 8500 infantry armed identically to a mechanised infantry unit.

*LY219 Light IFV. Bundeswehr designation Schützenpanzer 90 Ausf. B

The Alfegos attack had just changed pattern: from the "bulldozer" tactic of sweeping over land with heavy vehicles, they had changed to "fear" tactics.

On the frontline, Captain Hotep bawled the odds across the radio network, switching channels faster than the eye could see. He sat in a modified command vehicle amongst the mixed formation of LY4 Wolfhound tanks, M1A3 Warhound tanks and LY219 IFVs. The formation was moving very quickly: after taking the first two towns in the large cluster and leaving behind a few companies to kepp control, they were now about to enter the next two towns of Kirovsk and Sretensk. They were about to clear out enemy militia the old fashioned style: scare them out.

The artillery rolling about 500m behind the second line of vehicles dropped out the missiles in one missile pod back onto their ammunition tractor, and quickly loaded the special missiles, known as Screamers.

On the frontline, the troops began to fire at strategic targets in the town as the missile came out of the sky. Their main damaging property was not the 10kg warhead of napalm, but the siren that wailed a ghostly tone that cut into even the Alfegos troops. These were followed by smoke missiles that completely obscured the view of the enemy, yet did still allow the IF vision equipped vehicle crews to roll into the towns, gunning down any hostiles.

______________________________-

The enemy army was planning for a counter attack. It was on the more to the southeast of the cluster of the towns, to launch a possibly devestating counter-attack. The advance was followed by a consul-class airship, confident of safety now most of the airforce in Bulgandia was grounded or destroyed. The airship let rip the occasional barrage of missiles from it's 1200 tonne payload, leaving massive explosions on the ground. It was joined by the occasional fighter, letting off a couple of bombs and missiles at the ground targets. They doubted they would destroy the enemy, but would at least incapacitate them.

OOC: Do me a favour and slow down your rate of advance? I'd like to stretch the individual combats out a little.

Also, I find it difficult to believe that your airship is not full of holes by now.

OOC: Mind if I jump in on the side of Bulgadina?

OOC: Mind if I jump in on the side of Bulgadina?

OOC: You'd be quite welcome, though I ask you not to bring HUGE armies. I'd be grateful if you'd play the Bulgadi forces too, as this would add some purpose to their actions.

(OOC: If you have autocannnons and missile emplacements in abundance in Bulgandia... I will slow down my advance, yes.)

The smoke, intermingled with a mist now forming, had reduced visibility to zero in Kirovsk. Captain Hotep was suddenly faced with something he was not used to: dead silence. He opened the roof hatch of the command vehicle, and poked out his head. He could not see a thing, so donned a pair of the driver's goggles. Instanly, everything cleared up, and he could now see a slightly blurry street around him. So far, they had encountered no resistance. Here and there, small fires still burnt in the craters from the screamer missiles. Something was not right. As he pulled his head back in, he heard a crack and the ricochet of a round right next to his head. He dived back into the vehicle and locked the roof hatch.

"This is Rupert 1, warning all squads of sniper presence. All personnel are to return to their vehicles or get in cover at once. Do you copy, over?"

A dead silence. He listened into his radio, and noticed a eerie crackling.

"They're jamming the radio signal." He almost whispered it to himself. He whipped round and grabbed his rifle, then snapped at the other 7 men in the vehicle.

"We need to get a signal to the communications hub. They have either taken out the entire communications system or they have a jammer in the area. Either way, we need to alert them to get the signals unjammed."

He pointed at a corperal sitting in the corner, brandishing a minimi machinegun with a belt of orange-tipped ammunition leading from it.

"You take fireteam Delta. Gunner, give us covering fire and then drive on to all the other groups. They haven't blocked the GPS yet."

There was a burst from the roof machinegun and the buildings down one side of the street were showered with a hail of rounds. The back door was thrown open and the men ran out in two groups into the nearest cover, on either side of the street. There was a crack, and the roof gunner's head exploded in a shower of blood, the helmet doing nothing to save him from a 12.7mm round. Another burst of machinegun fire, this time from the corperal, and Charlie fireteam ran across 5 metres of open ground and dived behind some bins. The lieutenant lay gasping as a round from another sniper puched a hole in the bins right next to his head.

"We are going to have to take out those snipers. With the last shot, I saw where he was."

The command vehicle drove by at high speed as a rocket shot across the street, missing the vehicle by centimetres. Bu then it did something odd: it shot up into the sky, before coming down on the roof of the command vehicle. The explosion was enough to send pieces of armour scything across the street. In the chaos, he could see the corperal running into a building, as he had signalled. A man running behind him collapsed as a round hit him in the back, dropping a pack of explosives.

"We need a diversion to get across the street: the snipers obviously can see very well, or they have IF gear. They also appear to have a man with a modern missile launcher. We have fallen into their trap."

He pulled from his belt a smoke grenade, and rolled it into the road, minus the pin. It exploded in a soft puff, covering the road with red smoke, designed to be opaque to IF vision as well as normal vision. In the building on the other side of the road, they stopped to regroup.

"Make ready men."

There was the similtaneous sound of the safety being checked, followed by the sights and then a cocking of each gun. They advanced slowly though the building, past a room with a women cowering under a table, and up a flight of stairs. They heard sudden gunfire, followed by explosions, and then silence. A Bulgandi man fell down the stairs with a knife in his chest up to the hilt, followed by an enraged Alfegan medic.

"Calm down. Are there any still alive up there?"

"Negative. There was a sniper and a guy with this."

He pointed at a missile launcher.

"Anyway, we've found another section across the street. They're in the building there. Thing is, there's a machine gun nest in there as well."

He ducked as the gun opened up.

"Leave them to deal with it. We need to get to the communication post. The rear line is 500m straight down the road. If only we had some transport."

"Recon suggests there's a tank dug in around the corner. They aren't coming out because someone placed an autocannon on a rooftop, and no-one's attacking it because of the guns on it and it's position. A right standoff."

"We take out the autocannon, get on or in the tank, then we get the hell outta here."

Conference Room C-4346
Lost Hills Department of Defense

As the projector whirred to life in the spacious oaken conference room, the Joint Committee on Asymmetrical Warfare and Subversion came to order. This emergency meeting had been called to deal with the crisis in Bulgadina, which appeared to have degenerated into open warfare.

As part of the previous Regent's campaign to support monarchies worldwide, the DoD had been ordered to support the Bulgadi military with surplus weapons and vehicles, funding, and advisers. Of course, that last aspect was kept totally secret. Nobody knew it, but over 700 Lost Hills infantrymen were currently operating with Bulgadi units.

This, of course, made Lost Hills' position tenuous. It was only a matter of time before the international community (and the New Aryan States especially) discovered Lost Hills' involvement in propping up the Kingdom, and the Secretary of Defense demanded a resolution to the problem that wouldn't mean the utter destruction of Lost Hills' credibility in the international community.

The generals and analysts on the Committee had been arguing for the better part of three hours when news came in from North Bulgadi. A Lost Hills squad of infantry "advisers" were captured and executed near the town of Temnikov. The executioners were not NAS troops, but, surprisingly, troops from Alfego.

There would be no declaration of war, but yet nine divisions (two airborne, one light infantry, two mechanized infantry, two armored) would be deployed in-country to repel the foreign invaders and guarantee Bulgadi sovereignty. A naval task force and air force attachment would accompany the army divisions to ensure Lost Hills/Bulgadi supremacy.

Even before the Committee Director had put down the phone, an alert airborne division was mobilizing.

Mariposa Airbase
Lost Hills

The 34th Airborne Division (Light) was composed of almost 14,000 elite soldiers. All divisions with the "Light" designation were SOC - Special Operations Capable. Well, this was a special mission. The 34th was to deploy in the area around Zverevo and hold the line against Alfego and the NAS until reinforced by the rest of the army.

As part of the Lost Hills Rapid Reaction Force, the 34th was ready to move within 24 hours, and they loaded into SuC-1 Stormbringer, SuC-2 Charriot, and TRU-94 Atlas transport craft. Within 6 hours, they would parachute just south of Zverevo. With no declaration of war between Lost Hills and the other combatants, there would be no opposition to the flyovers. By the time the enemy realized, it would be too late.

Of course, several squadrons of TSF-620A Xeon air-superiority fighters escorted the heavy transports in.

OOC: Will post further deployments later. My planes are approaching from the south, and my ships will be as well.

IC: Task Force 41, Two days sail from Bulgadina

There had been no official statement released by the Totalitarian State of Red Tide when Task Force 41 had sailed. 'Task Force', in the State Navies terminology, meant throwing together more then one detachment/transport convoy/battlegroup together and using them as a cohesive force.

Task Force 41 consisted of the 3rd Carrier Battlegroup plus the 7th Transport Convoy. The Transport Convoy was tasked with carrying the 125,000 men of the 9th Guard Corp. They intended too land in SouthWestern Bulgadina. The Red Tideans plan was too occupy as much territory as possible, strip the aforementioned territory of anything that would be valuable to the Red Tidean mainland, and then establish a seperate puppet government in the occupied territory.

They were approaching from the West. Soon, the boots and treads of the State Guard* would trample over the Bulgadinans, and, with a little luck, smash their faces in... forever.

OOC: I need info on the Bulgadina's Navy.

*State Guard=Red Tide Regular Army

And here is what I am sending:

Ground: 9th Guard Corp
1 Armored Division(20,000 men)
1 Mechanised Division(20,000 men)
3 Motor-Infantry Divisions(60,000 men)
1 Specialised Artillery Brigade(5,000 men)
1 Specialised Anti-Aircraft Brigade(5,000 men)
2 Specialised Engineer Brigades(10,000 men)
1 Specialised Heavy Armor Brigade(5,000 men)
Total: 125,000 men

3rd Carrier Battlegroup:
1 Carrier
2 Guided Missile Cruisers
8 M(issile) Battleships
2 G(un) Battleships
12 Multi-Role Destroyers
24 Anti-Submarine Frigates
12 TC-2C Anti-Submarine Warfare Helicopters
60 H/K-2N Carrier-Based Interceptors
30 H/K-1N VTOL Surface-Attack Aircraft
Assorted Supply Ships

7th Transport Convoy
10 Multi-Role Destroyers
20 Anti-Submarine Frigates
6 Amphibious Assualt Ships
10 TC-2C Anti-Submarine Helicopters
10 TC-2A Heavy Anti-Tank Helicopters
6 TC-2B Transport Helicopters
Assorted Other Transports & Supply Ships

I plan on attacking like this:
http://i69.photobucket.com/albums/i47/ObssesedNuker/pristinjabulgadinatt6.png
(apologies for the horrible job... I did it in paint)

1Bn, 45th Parachute Infantry Regiment
15km west of Zverevo

Colonel Sal Giddens felt this operation was a little too big for his britches. The regiment was dug in among the hilly terrain west of the town of Zverevo, and 1Bn held the left flank. 25 of the regiment's T-3 Burebista light tanks were under his command, and they were a welcome addition to the 1,500 men he commanded. The Division was spread in an umbrella-formation around the town - this would be the place to halt the NAS and Alfegos advance. Why Zverevo? Simple geography: Zverevo was built on a major hill with a commanding view of the entire region. If the Allied force bypassed it, they risked utter annihilation from native Bulgadi artillery emplacements.

Despite the additional armor, Col. Giddens was wary. SATINT indicated at least four large formations of soldiers heading toward the paratroopers, and Division HQ reported the Bulgadi 3rd Army Corps was being torn up by the invaders. Two regiments of mechanized infantry were retreating back to reinforce the 14th Div and an additional 2,000 irregular, local militia filled gaps in the lines. Although these were no more than farmers and delivery boys with rifles in their hands, more bullets flying toward the enemy was always a good thing. Still, the situation was tenuous, and without fast support from the rest of the Lost Hill Defense Forces, the 14th and its allies would be quickly wiped out.

But these were the cream of the Lost Hills Army. The 14th was no stranger to combat; Giddens himself had been a company commander during the brutal suppression of the West Lake Territories Miner Rebellion. Their power armor and carbines (not to mention their...heavier weapons) would serve well in the conflict to come.

Ultimately, it was all lunacy. They hadn't even formally declared war yet.

Bravo Company, 605th Infantry Regiment (Light/SOC)
Kirovsk

"Duck and cover!"

Automatic weapons fire pinned down the men of Bravo Company. Originally a Special Operations detachment of 250 operators training Bulgadi infantry in counterinsurgency, Bravo was now reduced to 79 men huddling in the bombed out ruins of a city under siege. Troops from Alfegos crept through the city like the tentacles of an octopus, one that had an ever more solid grasp on its prey.

The men of Bravo had not been killed by these tentacles, but actually by PLA bombings. They numbered 84 when the infantry unit they were attached to was shifted to the North to respond to the invasion, and Bravo had performed well given the circumstances. But now, with most of the city falling to the enemy, it was time to pull out.

1Lt. John Sachar was the highest ranking survivor, and he was in de facto command of Bravo pending relief. The unit was spread out around a courtyard roughly 100m from an Alfegos communications hub, and the local Bulgadi commander had ordered Sachar to take it. He had given him a platoon of native infantry and a couple tanks for good measure.

Sachar keyed into the command frequency on the comnet and subvocalized, First Platoon, form up on me. Second Platoon will provide covering fire from the rooftops. Third Platoon, take the natives and hit the left flank of the enemy hard point. Simple op. Let's do it!

As he heard confirmations from the platoon leaders, Sachar saw his "platoon," now around 25 men, form up around him.

"Second Platoon, covering fire! Move it out!"

As the light machine guns and rifles opened up from rooftop positions, enemy fire lessened, and Sachar took off in a run with his men following behind him. Bullets deflected off of his armor, but they were nothing the battlesuit couldn't handle. They advanced 50 meters forward and took cover in doorways and alleys.

While a fresh burst of MG fire swept some of his men off their feet, Sachar ducked into a doorway and signaled to a weapons squad from Second Platoon. A Spiculum fired a thermobaric rocket flew into the enemy machine-gun position as a barrage of rifle grenades exploded among the Alfegos infantry.

The Alfegos returned fire with a ferocity that Sachar had rarely seen. He fired several bursts and saw the enemy shifting to the left.

"Advance! Fire and maneuver! First squad, move it out!"

He advanced with First Squad and reached the enemy position within seconds. Alfegos were surrendering, but the Bulgadi troops with Third Platoon started executing them.

Well, serves them right, he thought, It's not like they gave my boys a chance at Temnikov.

Second Platoon advanced and ascended into yet another set of buildings to provide overwatch as First, Third, and their Bulgadi "friends" dug in around the communications post. The Bulgadis were checking in with their commanding officers, only to find that they no longer existed. The entire command and control network set up in the city had disintegrated. Bravo was on its own.

Luckily, the comm equipment at the outpost was significantly more powerful than what Sarchar's radio ops were equipped with. Sensing the despair among the Bulgadi, he realized the only way out of the city and quickly jumped on the horn.

"Mayday, mayday. This is Bravo-25 requesting immediate evac from grid coordinates 56.45. Mayday, mayday. Calling any Lost Hills personnel in-country."

Nothing but static.

"Mayday, mayday. I repeat, this is Bravo-25 requesting immediate evacuation from Kirovsk."

This time, the static let up.

"Copy that Bravo-25, this is Col. Giddens of the 1-45. We are 35km southeast of your position. What is your status, over."

"Colonel Giddens, this is Lt. Sachar of Bravo-25. We are outnumbered and pinned down with wounded. Request immediate evacuation from the city center."

"No can do, Bravo-25. Our Bulgadi liasons report Kirovsk is one big hot zone: lost. Hold on....I have you on satellite......if you can make your way 500m southwest to the outskirts of the city, I can have evac choppers on standby for you."

"Roger that, Colonel. We'll move out ASAP."

"Birds are in the sky. ETA 45 minutes. Good luck, Lieutenant."

Sachar got back on the command band and subvocalized. We're getting out of this dump, boys. Mount up and get ready to move out.

A squad leader from Second Platoon suddenly broke in on the emergency channel.

"Alfegos troops approaching from the west! We just lost a tank!"

Task Force 462
Three days from Bulgadina

Three days seemed like an eternity to Fleet Admiral Homer Berlinski, commander of Task Force 462. The fleet was steaming at full speed toward the conflict zone, but it would still take three full days to arrive in Bulgadina, plus an additional day to unload men and materiel and get them transported to the North.

Berlinski was taking no chances with his precious cargo. On the command dreadnought, Berlinski oversaw the deployment of CAPs, frigate and submarine screens, and all manner of things involving the panoply of war. His fleet was significant, with many warships and hundreds of aircraft.

At this point, there was nothing to do but wait.

OOC: OOC post with force strength to follow

Theater Strength - Land

Currently in-country:
14th Airborne Division (Light/SOC)
~14,000 men
240x T-3 Burebista LBT

To be deployed:
26th Infantry Division (Light/SOC)
~18,000 men
2x Infantry Regiments - 7,000 each
1x Special Regiment - 4,000
12x Arca IV. Nakil MBT
24x T-3 Burebista LBT
48x Arca. II LBT
60x SOV-06 IFV
48x SOV.17 Elijard IFV
36x Arica. I APC
60x ACI-39 Bellicus
12x UH-48 Highwind
24x MHX-20 Zenith
16x AH-23 Black Panther

12th Airborne Division (Assault)
~14,000 men
TRU-94 Atlas
972x ACI-39 Bellicus
162x UH-48 Highwind
162x T-3 Burebista LBT
324x MHX-20 Zenith
216x AH-23 Black Panther
64x MV-24 Peregrine

1st, 2nd Infantry Division (Mechanized)
~25,000 men each
1296x Arica. I APC
1296x SOV.17 Elijard IFV
240x SOV-06 IFV
288x Arca. IV Nakil MBT
576x Arca. II LBT
144x 150mm Panzerwerfer M-2000 MRLS
288x Corbulo Self-Propelled 155mm Field Gun
96x SPAA-1 [Sel Propeic Anti-Avianet] Self-Propelled Anti-Aircraft Vehicle
24x Praetorian II Mobile Surface to Air Missile Launcher
36x ACI-39 Bellicus
24x UH-48 Highwind
60x MHX-20 Zenith
48x AH-23 Black Panther

31st, 32nd Armored Division
~12,000 men each
1017x Arca. IV Nakil MBT
519x Arca. II LBT
60x Behemoth III SHBT
432x Arica. I APC
400x SOV.17 Elijard IFV
196x SPAA-1 [Sel Propeic Anti-Avianet] Self-Propelled Anti-Aircraft Vehicle
144x 150mm Panzerwerfer M-2000 MRLS
288x Corbulo Self-Propelled 155mm Field Gun
96x MHX-20 Zenith
60x AH-23 Black Panther

Total: ~120,000 infantry. Logistics, crew as needed.

Theater Strength - Naval

To be deployed:
Task Force 462
1x Battleaxe Class BDN (http://z3.invisionfree.com/SU_Defense_Industry/index.php?showtopic=9)
1x Conquerer Class CVN (http://z3.invisionfree.com/SU_Defense_Industry/index.php?showtopic=10)
3x Peel Class CVBN
15x Paramount Class ADV
8x King Henry V Class BBGN
6x Treaty Class BBGN
7x Ocean Class BBGN
4x Bastion Class BBGN
8x Consort Class CBGN
13x Princess Class CBGN
10x Regent Class CAGN
16x Morrigan Class CBN
18x Wallace Class DDG
24x City Class DDG
24x County Class DDG
40x Bullfinch Class FFH
10x Bloch Class SSN
10x Forthar Class SSN
12x Tichy Class SSN
4x Pectas Class SSGN

~800 aircraft
TF-62B/E Sparrow, TSF-620B Xeon, CSA-C/E/P, MV-24 Peregrine, various helicopters.

To be deployed on land (total not to exceed 500):
TF-70 Shukusei, A-7 Wraith, AWACS.

Map: http://img177.imageshack.us/img177/921/pristinjabulgadinaactivvz8.png

Let me know if you have any questions!

OOC: A quick BUMP for NAS and Alfegos.

"Apparently, the nation of Lost Hills is joining in the fray. They have snet military over for a paradrop south of us."
"And no official declaration of war?"
"No."
"This is not right: give them a warning to go home. If they don't, and continue to fly in, let them taste flak."
"Good thinking."

_______________________________

Across the battle-line, the LY220 shepherds prepared for short-range warfare, a pair of autocannons and battery of missiles brought to bear for attack. Mixed amongst these were more potent anti-air weapons: the occupied towns were filled with the wails of sirens as SkySinger missile platforms prepared to lock onto aerial targets, while the massive RADAR sensor units mounted on the back of lorries scanned a total area 200 miles in diameter.
________________________________

The captain signalled up towards the autocannon position, and nodded to the corperal. A second later, and the minimi machinegun ripped the roof of a building to pieces in hundreds of tiny explosions, ending with a crash as the roof caved in.

The men ran across the open ground, covered by Delta team. They came across as Charlie gave heavy fire cover. Behind them was the tank. What they had been looking for.

"Absolutely not! Already we are involved with the affairs of one resistence, will you have me enter another?!" Pacing Wilhelm runs his fine pianist hands through the mane of silver hair. Twenty-eight and already an old man. "Uncle we must! It is only through the righting of injustice that we raise ourselves about our debased origins!" Rounding the bear-like Dour finds himself thrown against the far wall. "However dare you throw that in my face! We are not debased, no more than any other people! I will not sacrifice yet more of our people as some sort of sin tax, now get out of my sight!"

Trembling the younger man leaves only to immediately run into the Heir's Tutor. "It seems the Old Man grows tired of fighting. What would the founder say?" It is quiet as they listen to a bookcase fall. "Talk to Faulken. He is in the stateroom... and we all know the circles he runs in." 'Of course, Faulken! Him and his group, Roots...' Before he can turn to thank the sly, slender man he finds he has forgotten what he was going to - "Roots." He walks away like a man drunk.

OOC: Roots will be sending in special-ops teams to aid in disrupting the organized structure of the prevailing force. However, trouble at home may see other fractions entering from Lorela on the side of the Red.

1Bn, 45th Parachute Infantry Regiment
15km west of Zverevo

The transmission arrived just as the last of the planes were departing. The Division was now at full-strength, and the Alfegos message was relayed up the chain of command. Hopefully there would be a declaration of war in support of the Bulgadi allies.

Conference Room C-4346
Lost Hills Department of Defense

The teletype in the corner of the room started rattling, and a communications ensign waded through a mass of maps and charts to reach it.

"Incoming transmission from Alfegos commanders. Message indicates we are to withdraw troops as soon as possible or face annihilation. How should we respond?"

"Respond with the following: Nuts!"

Within two hours, the Lost Hills Parliament had voted to declare war on Alfegos and the New Aryan States to guarantee the independence of the Kingdom of Bulgadina.

Bravo Company, 605th Infantry Regiment (Light/SOC)
Kirovsk

Shit, Sachar thought. The loss of a tank and sudden collapse of a building nearby was not a good thing for his small force.

That building had an autocannon on it...

Sachar ordered his unit to take up defensive positions in a courtyard near an abandoned tank. None of his men had experience with armored vehicles, and it was clear that the Alfegos troops intended on seizing it.

He hefted his rifle and fired off a burst into a screaming Alfegos infantryman.

"Set up the MGs! Take them down! Take them down!"

Automatic rifle fire and rifle grenades cut swaths into the advancing troops. Sachar wiped sweat off his brow and continued firing.

OOC: Will post the arrival of my fleet later tonight if no one has any objections...

(OOC: I see... thing is, I was RP'ing the tank crew as mine, the blownup vehicle as a command vehicle, and the advance by the small section into an area held by friends...
Well, can you sort it out a little please, or can we compromise?)

IC:

"We have a reply, sir."
"And..."
"Nuts."
"What sort?"
"No, I mean that is the reply to our message."
"Oh deary me. Tell the boys to blast a few cobwebs off the SkySingers."

Across the Alfegos-held area, there was the occasional wail as missiles were launched towards the bright dots appearing on RADAR. A mix of Rainbow CRWs and Sky Singer missiles flew into the sky: the Rainbows targeted on faster-moving craft that were fighters or other attack craft, carrying a continuous rod warhead towards the enemy. The skysingers found squadrons, before splitting into a hail of 100g cluster bombs that were designed to take out entire squadrons.

As planes got closer, the shorter-ranged missiles began to launch, and the airship currently blowing the hell out of anything that moved suddenly had an alert to prep all systems for an incoming air attack.

2201h, December 17th
Amursk, Bulgadina

The day darkened. So did the war.

Karuko Sushi had been a popular and thriving two-floor restaurant in the centre of Amursk. Paper walls compartmentalised dining areas, each with a qualified attendant who prepared the food in front of the guests. Purpose-grown bamboo displays and exotic plants gave the building a natural, relaxed atmosphere, while gentle traditional music calmed the nerves.

The top floor had taken a direct hit from a 105mm high-ex artillery round during the preliminary bombardment, collapsing the entire floor into the section below. The paper compartments had been shredded, the delicate bamboo splintered and destroyed. The building had been opened like a tin of tuna, the entire frontal wall having majestically collapsed forward into the road.

The rubble had been cleared into the street. The wall-hole was covered by tarpaulin. Wires now criss-crossed the pine floors, which were scuffed and scratched by careless boots and heavy equipment. The back wall housed a row of servers, while the remaining floor space was covered in laptop desk units attended by Aryan communications officers. The air hummed with electricity, and the dark room was illuminated by the glow of computer screens. This was the Divisionenstabs. The divisional headquarters for 22. Panzer-Division, spearhead of the Aryan attack.

Something was wrong.

"Herr General!" yelled Leutnant Huppert, his face reflecting the green sheen of his monitor. A twenty-three year old volunteer, Huppert was part of the Divisionenstabs communication staff, tasked with monitoring vox traffic and assisting field units.

Generalleutnant Berthold von Severin, his scarred face lit only by the dull red of a cigarette, approached the young vox officer. Six foot two, his shoulders broad and heavily muscled, he towered over the younger man like a giant.

"Show me," he said.

"There, Herr General." Huppert pointed to a selection of images displayed on-screen. "I was reviewing satellite imagery of the southern Bulgadi coastal waters, when I came across these. I caught some naval movements on a low-res image and requisitioned a new scan at three hundred percent zoom."

He switched the screen to a second set of images. Ships. Men. Tanks. Unidentified and almost certainly hostile.

"These images haven't been filtered by command, Herr General. OKH doesn't know."

Severin's meaty fists clenched until his knuckles were white.

"Get me through to General Kort" he ordered. "NOW!"

***

SIC:
Encoded Transmission to Operation Icicle Command
Unknown fleet sighted, south Bulgadi waters. Request immediate halt of advance, consolidation and fortification of positions. NAS reinforcements have been requisitioned.

Situation to be fully assessed before proceeding.

General Walther von Kort
Commander, Operation Pastille*

*Name for my operations in the area.

I was eating some fruit pastilles at the time...

(OOC: I see... thing is, I was RP'ing the tank crew as mine, the blownup vehicle as a command vehicle, and the advance by the small section into an area held by friends...
Well, can you sort it out a little please, or can we compromise?)


OOC: Oops...well we can just assume the two situations are taking place in different places? Making them two independent situations would clear things up I think. I'll RP the Bulgadi pulling out. Sorry about that!

Bravo Company, 605th Infantry Regiment (Light/SOC)
Kirovsk

Three waves of Alfegos infantrymen threw themselves at Sachar's position, but he didn't budge. There was constant chatter on the general band, as individual troopers signaled to their comrades about the movement of enemy soldiers. The Bulgadi's had run halfway through the battle, and without their men filling holes in the line, it was useless to continue to hold the position. Sachar ordered a satchel charge to be placed to disable the tank and switched onto the command band:

"Time to pull out, boys. Check your weapons and ammo and move out echelon left. Second Platoon on point."

His suit's HUD showed the final checkpoint his men needed to reach; a TRU-94 Atlas VTOL medium lift aircraft would, theoretically, be waiting to pick them up. A quick head count showed only 67 men left. A far cry from the 250 the unit had started with when they had deployed 6 months back.

"Move, move, move!"

As Sachar moved with his teams through the ruined city, it was clear the Bulgadis were in full retreat. A few units stayed behind to conduct a hopeless rear-guard action and cover the retreat, but by and large, Kirovsk had been lost to the Alfegos invaders. Lost Hills and Bulgadi would have to win another day.

Task Force 462
50nm off the Bulgadi coast

"Contact! CAP-4 reports missiles and bombs....we have lost contact with CAP-4."

The communications lieutenant looked nervous under his headset.

Damn, Admiral Berlinski thought. That was the fifth patrol to have been lost to Alfegos missile fire.

Straying too close to their lines...

The Task Force had just arrived in Bulgadi waters without being challenged by any hostile forces. At this point, the goal was to first unload all men and materiel and also provide air cover to the 14th Airborne Division dug-in around Zverevos. Two Peel Class Carriers and their escorts had been dispatched up the eastern coast to deal with the latter mission.

The first provided some difficulties. The Bulgadi commanders had neglected to provide Berlinski with a port with which to offload his men. The 26th Infantry Division (Light/SOC) had actually made it, but since they were light troops with little armor, it wouldn't be much help to the 14th. A port had finally been found, but it would be another 16 hours before the entire fleet was offloaded. For now, the 26th would travel toward Zverevos to reinforce the Lost Hills-Bulgadi lines.

A spot of good news was his promotion to Theater Commander. Berlinski would be the overall commander of Lost Hills operations in Bulgadina, and he had some grand plans. Already squadrons of attack fighters and air superiority aircraft were arriving from Lost Hills' airbases to Bulgadi airfields, and Berlinski had been ordering limited patrols of A-7 Wraith strike fighters into Alfegos-held Bulgadina to probe enemy air defenses and capabilities.

They were quite formidable.

However, one target stuck out. Alfegos appeared to have deployed some sort of airship or zeppelin in their territory, and it was a prime target for a missile attack. Not only would its destruction be a propaganda coup for Bulgadi-Lost Hills forces, but it would deprive the Alfegos air force of a major strategic Berlinksi ordered 104 TF-70 Shukusei air-superiority fighters to launch from bases in Southern Bulgadina. Each would be armed with 4 AIM-511B Starburst II extremely long range air-to-air missiles on wing pylons in addition to their standard complement of 10 AAMs in the internal bay. It was hoped their heavy 46kg warheads was prove helpful against the airship's armor. Since the missiles homed in on jamming technology and radar emissions, the analysts estimated a 60% hit rate. As soon as the missiles launched, the airplanes would be utterly invisible to conventional radar and would proceed to engage Alfegos aircraft. Several squadrons of A-7 Wraiths would follow behind and launch AGM-348A anti-radiation missiles to eliminate enemy radar positions. E-626 Scanner AWACS planes would provide C&C capabilities to the assault force.

It would be the first offensive strike of the war, and Berlinski was almost excited to see how his planes fared. Of course, it was always difficult to be excited to send men to their deaths, as would certainly happen today.

With a range of 600km, the Starburst missiles launched almost as soon as the Shukusei took off, streaking at Mach 6.2 toward the huge airship. There was simply no hope of masking something so huge, and a simple satellite scan of the region kept the missiles continuously updated as to its position. The Shukusei sped in the wake of the 416 missiles, with the Wraiths following closely behind.

The Navigation system controller aboard the consul-class airship yelled across the control room.

"We have incoming missiles!"
"Where from?"
"Outside our range: they were picked up breifly on the battlenet system, before they disappeared."
"Switch of the electronic countermeasures and radio. I have a feeling they will have launched radiation-seekers, since they're firing from that range."
"But..."
"DO IT NOW!"

Missiles began to arrive at the airship: guided in a vague line towards the airship earlier, they now had nothing to hit emission-wise, so all had to revert to backup: their heat-seeking capabilities (OOC: I am right in saying this? I doubt they would be able to home in by RADAR at this range since the entire RADAR image would be one big airship.)

The missiles began to home in on the engine gondola, impacting repetitivly against the armoured hull. After 5 impacts, missiles began to smash into the engine fuel tanks, igniting a reservoir of 22000 m^3 of hydrogen...

The remaining missiles found it hard not to home into anything: while not anything important, the missiles did their bit in contributing towards blasting holes in the now-burning rear of the airship. A stray missile hit the internal missile bay, setting off the remaining 100 tonnes of ordinance just as the crew of 9 people dived overboard, unfolding their parachutes as the entire airship began to collapse. Screams as emergancy structural addons failed and internal gantries twisted could be heard easily from the height of the parachuting crew, followed by another massive explosion as the internal lifting-gas tanks overpressured.
Around the former crew, pieces of burning kevlar, shredded mylar and massive support beams fell towards the ground, followed by the remains of the airshi, a large area still intact.

In total, Alfegos had just lost $1.8 billion. However, the enemy had just spent $1.3 billion in missiles alone, a fair amount one might say. Propeganda-wise, the crew were heroes, and with the right amount of spin put on it (heroics etc.) might turn out to be actually to their advantage.

"These are big boys with big toys, yeah?" They sit quietly on the edge of the battlezone. They have been watching for several hours... strange since they should not even be in this area... Not that it matters unless they are caught and they have ways of dealing with that.

Another shell sounds taking down an entire complement of fighters. "How long now?" The question is rendered mute as a large blast sounds the heat of which sears their airways even from here. "And now perhaps the others can stand up for themselves. Afterall communications are down for the big bullies, poor dears are but SOL. At least for another fifteen minutes."

Golemn smirks as he lights his cigar. The first of any number of surprises has detonated. And another of each will go every fifteen minutes for the next half-day. Idiots to leave so much material around, perhaps they have forgotten how easily a bomb might be made? No matter the sounds of fighting are growing closer and he needs to meet up with the squad.

Meanwhile back in Lorela:

The sound of flesh being impacted resounds in the dim interior. Face swollen Dour wishes he had not been so impatient. Wishes he had not been so foolish as to listen to the lying Snake. His life is all but forfeit and even if he escapes this the scars will never fade. "Uncle please! I did not think to overrule you, I merely lost my head under the influence of- of..." The words would not leave him, no one's Word could stand against the Tutor's. As the realisation of how badly he has misstepped finally dawns on him the light in his eye dies to be replaced with a glaze of terror. "Please." A boot descends on his face blacking out his vision abruptly.

A small farming village, SouthWest Bulgadina

The old farmer looked out too the large bay, somewhere across that bay, an insurgency was waged against his country, beyond that, foreign nations were invading his nation. His wirey mouth tightened as he thought about the invaders. He bent down too concentrate on some turnip plants, then looked out too the bay filled with warships again.

Wait... bay filled with warships?

He dropped his hoe in stunned disbelief, as the gun turrets on the two large heavy cruiser-sized ships tuned inshore.

G-BB-12

"FIRE MISSION!" The forward gun chief on the turret with three guns screamed at his crew, "TARGET AT EIGHT-FOUR-ZERO! LOAD!"

The massive shells slid into the three 18 inch gun barrel.

"SHELL LOADED!" A sailor in the turret yelled.

"ELEVATE!" The Gun captain screamed.

The guns lifted from their horizontal position into a more diagonal line. Sailors and officers covered their ears and opened their mouths.

"FIRE!"

BOOM!

Pause.

BOOM!

Pause

BOOM!

The guns fired one after the other, the first shell landed directly on the old farmer. Nothing was ever found of him as the rest of the ships opened up an unholy bombardment with their main and secondary armaments.

OOC: Yeah, theoretically there would have been a radar signal transmitted from the boots on the ground farther north. I'm sure there's a technobabble explanation involving integrated datalinks or some such. Or you could just use the IR feed.

Bump for NAS, and happy new year!

OOC: I'm sorry to have to do this, guys, but I'm going to pull out of this rp. It wasn't really intended to be a big one, and wasn't meant to occupy much time. As it is, I'm having trouble writing for it, and due to RL don't have much free time in the first place.

Hopefully you'll be able to continue without my involvement.

(OOC: I understand)

The Alfegos advance in the adjacent city had just been given orders to go into the "Foreboding Cloud" doctrine: that is, the advance of tanks and IFVs now proceeding south towards where paratroopers had been sighted as landing were advancing behind a massive band of tear-gas mixed with smoke: cylinders of yellow-band stun gas were being lobbed from mortars and from mobile Livens Projectors into the advance zone, where they formed a cloud about 150m wide, 400m high and in total 6km long. A tactic that had worked in the past very, very well.

______________________________


The tank was silent. The only sign of life inside was the occasional movement of the turret. It was an M1A3 Warhound, with space for four crew. Normally.

The lieutenant signalled for the remains of the section, 6 men in total, to take up defensive positions while he chatted to the commander of the tank.

"We took out the autocannon, and we really need to get back to the second line: there's comms jammers in the area, and the whole lot of us are pinned down."
The tank commander scrathed his chin.
"You see, we've only got space for one person inside, as we need a driver. The driver got hit by an autocannon round and got killed instantly. The rest of you will have to sit on the roof, and get picked off by snipers."
"Not if you drive hard and shoot fast. I can get one man on the roof gun, and the rest of us can take cover behind the kit you've got strapped on."
"Fair's fair. You got a driver?"
"Yep."

After a few minutes, the tank roared to life, its 1700 hp engine belching fumes from the exhaust as it revved. The tank then drove forwards quickly, before skidding as it turned and driving down the streets. The main gunner was watching though IF goggles, and saw the warm bodies inside buildings. He bellowed orders to the men on the roof.
"On your 7! On your 6! On your 11!"
There was a blast as the gun fired, followed by a chatter from the roof gunner. The rest of the squad were joingin shooting, giving covering fire along the street no rounds spared, since they had found some more ammo tins with full magazines. The machinegunner gleefully fired off HE rounds into buildings with his Minimi. shattering building fronts as he did. It looked like they would make the communications line.