NationStates Jolt Archive

The displaced Communists and Democrats of the 1920 Civil war all ended up here, the former Monarchy of Azilstan had not so much welcomed the influx of political refugees but was unable to stop it, the King whose power he believed came from God had ignored the Fascists warnings, that Communists would be the end to his power, for who would have the ability to break the power of a diety? And so without competition the Communists spread their word, amongst the farmers in the fields and the Iron workers in their factories, a true revolution emerged, with their Toopoxican tutors in leadership the workers of Azilstan stormed the grand Azil Palace, and Premier Vasilly Zaikov was angered, for it had been his action which had bought the Communist to Azilstan.

Azilstan, Present Day

Below the party of ten men sat the Stribog Corridor, scenic passageway from North to South Toopoxia, despite all that the Toopoxicans had done to defend this passage way, it was still the weakest point of their nation, all that would be done would be to send an army down the natural slope of the Azil foothills, following the descent down to the sea, this weakness had been observed, countless times, and yet through all their conflicts, the Stribog had remained a Fascist corridor.
IndentA rather unspectacular car pulled up beside the impressive Soviet Artillery, the group of men turned, their anticipation building, as, from the car, emerged Soviet hero General Vlad Mladen, the men on the hill bolted into a rigid salute, the five star General casually motioning for them to stand at ease, "Generals, Below me sits the Stribog, the tactical importance of which you all know." Vlad took up a position central to his audience, "If I were to give the order to these men right now, they could fill the Stribog and strike a blow for the cause our Fathers came here for." The idea of which seemed to sit well with the crowd, "This cause of equality for all around the world has become lost on a sea of words." Vlad paused, "I come from the Azil Winter House, having been informed that our fathers dream is over, in three months the territory of Azilstan shall be handed over to the Fascists." This announcment hit the Generals hard, they stood there gawping, almost scared of what this meant, "I know many of you as my most loyal allies, and I now know you all as the only ones I can trust, if you wish to stand for the phillosophy of our fathers then pledge your loyalty to me now."
IndentThere was a pause between this announcement and the first pledge of loyalty, it was no less confident, but placed on decision to betray the infalliable goverment, with the first came the rest, as the loyalty shifted quickly from the Soviet to the General, until only one stood, an old General, who perhaps considered his loyalty to worthless to give, he stood forwards, presenting himself before Vlad, "I cannot give you my loyalty, it stands only in the stead of the Soviet, however that may represented." Without consideration for convincing him otherwise, Vlad just turned his cheek away, grimacing from the reaction, swiftly he drew his weapon from its holster, a black 9mm pistol whose bullet tore through the wrinkled face of the shocked General, turning back round to the Stribog Vlad considered his next action.

Toopoxia, Kalshtoyan

The thick armoured walls of the Toopoxian coastal fortress stood as testament to a will against change, in the case of this fortress, it was a change in political attitude, the threat of Communism forever hanging over them, through the bleak well planned streets you could see the predictable patterns of accepted life emerging, as if each individuals actions were itself the plan of the goverment, were an uncalculated variable be added to the equation, the whole system would likely come apart, a mechanical cry of distress filled the orderly streets, piercing through the sounds of a large crowd, "Citizens, return to your homes and await the all clear sound!" Speakers placed around the streets cried out, ignoring the break in monomy, the citizens made their way back the paths they had just travelled.
IndentIn a manner of moments, the streets were emptied, and then filled again, where before there had been the regular visual confirmation of a civilian City, now there rolled the magnificent P68 Tank, modified for a more civil role it was escorted not by the family unit out shopping, but the heavily armed units of the elite Straznik Shtorma, these men had spent fifteen years in the world roughest school, learning everything they could about combat, before spending another ten years putting it all into practice on the streets, caught between Policemen and Soldiers their position in society was always unclear, today they performed both duties, ensuring that the streets were clear for the arrival of special cargo, and that said cargo did not come to any harm, behind the P68 Tank came the impossibly large Toopoxican military lorries, ready to deposit the essentials of warfare, as witnessed in the management of the citizenship, the Toopoxican mathematical skill carried through with its managment in warfare.
IndentDeep through the thick armoured hull of a specially modified Command Vehicle stood the command for the operation, word of action had spread swiftly to the men in charge of this theatre, five star General Lavrenty absorbed the information presented to him, it had been a quick and somewhat desperate maneuver from the Soviet, opened this morning the Soviet made a lightening attack on the Stribog area, targetting fortress towns and Airfields, by noon a Soviet army had forced its way deep into the Stribog, the action had been refuted by the Soviet as the seperatist goals of hardliner General Mladen, regardless of who was behind it, actions would be taken against the Soviet as a whole, "Sir!" Lavrenty looked up at the communications officer, "We have a direct satelite feed with Premier Deskot."
Indent"Patch him through officer." Mladen ordered.
IndentThe glowing white face of Waldemir appeared on the screen, "General Lavrenty, I'm sure you know the situation already, I won't hold you back for long, the Soviet has made it nearly all the way to the other end of the Stribog and time for reaction is now, contain the Soviets ability to establish themselves on the Coast, should they gain access to sympathetic goverments we will struggle to hold them back, make sure to note the Soviets action as agressor in this conflict, if there is to be world reaction I want it to be in our hands, lastly, and I'm sure you will already know, you are to minimise all damage done to Toopoxican home towns, we do not want to have to rebuild our country after this war." The screen emptied, denying Mladen the chance to accept and instead placing the burden immediatly on his shoulders.
Indent"Get me any Airfield East of our position, I want any available P22's to assemble, arm and fuel up ready to engage enemy Mikoyans, have the first second and third armour divisions encircle any lost cities and the fourth deployed to the coast accompanied by a regiment of Air Assault, have the Straznik mortar division join the eighth and tenth artillery divisions ready to hunt enemy artillery on our border, call up the Western first army, I want them to be ready if this conflict extends itself along the border, understood?" Mladen asked, the communications officer nodded, getting onto the first task handed to him, "Until further mention all actions in this war come through this van first."

(OOC: Map of Area (http://img398.imageshack.us/img398/1861/toopoxiamapna8.png), The Azil Sovs are coming in from the South Western border, in that thin strip of land between Sov and Sea, if you wanna supply the Sovs you'll have to come in either by airlifting to Azilstan itself, waiting for the Azils to secure a portion of the coast, or by securing the coast yourself, if you wanna help me you're pretty much inclined to do all of the above, except I already have a coastline)

(OOC: Fourth hour bumpage!)

(OOC: Correct, sorta, at the end of the Toopoxican civil war the displaced Democrats and Communists found themselves displaced to the Kingdom of Azilstan, which underwent a revolution at the hands of its new Communist residents, eighty years on the Azilstan Soviet is closing down, but before it does Sov General Mladen intends to secure at least a portion of it for his own hardlined Sov policies, essentially it's an invasion.)

OOC: Okay so Toopoxia is the fascist nation and Azilstan is a breakaway soviet nation that neighbors it founded by displaced Toopoxian communists who want to reclaim Toopoxia?

(OOC: Yah, are ye gonna post? I don't like having so many OOC posts clogging up a thread)

OOC: Sorry about that mate. My puppet, Leichstur, will be offering to send your fascists reinforcements shortly.

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Message to the Leadership of Toopoxia

Level V Encrypted Data

Greetings, my brothers. I am Prince Martin Leichstur II of The Principality of Leichstur. Word has reached my ears of your struggle against a communist invasion. I am willing to send you reinforcements from my nation to aid you under the guise of peacekeeping forces but beware, the communist pigs from the international community will no doubt soon be upon you with the rebels. We must act quickly and decisively to defeat them.

I will send you the 6th Infantry Division's 3rd "Underdog" Brigade, 1st Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regiment, and 104th Armor Regiment. Also coming will be the 1st "Unstoppable" Brigade, 2nd Battalion, 6th Field Artillery Regiment.

Please notify me when and where my troops can land. Long live the Fatherland!

Sincerely,
Martin Leichstur II
Prince of the Principality of Leichstur

Secure Message to Prince Martin Leichstur II
From Premier Waldemir Deskot

Your assistence in bringing down these Communist dogs is welcome, I am only ashamed that this event happened in the first place, and that we did not take the accurate precautions to ensure the Azilstani did not have to suffer.
IndentYour troops may land immediatly at Kalshtoyan Secure Harbour, General Lavrenty has been informed of your arrival and will be present to further breif you on our combined actions.

Signed,
Waldemir Deskot

Sailing into Kalshtoyan Secure Harbour

The LAS "Hornet's Nest (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Makin_Island_(LHD-8))" accompanied by the LAS "Stone Support" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USNS_Bob_Hope_(T-AKR-300)) arrived in Kalshtoyan Secure Harbor with LAS "Infinite Reach" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sejong_the_Great_class_destroyer).

Commander Alan Wake picked up the radio from the control room of the Infinite Reach and radioed to the shore. "Come in shore party. This is Commander Alan Wake of the Leichstur Armada. We are carrying the reinforcements sent by Prince Martin Leichstur II to assist you. Permission to dock, over." He released the talk button on the radio and awaited the reply of whoever was on the shore listening.

OOC: Permission to collaborate with Leichstur? He and I are looking to execute combined ops in the near future, and this looks like a good start.

(OOC: Permission granted, so long as it doesn't impeed the efforts of either Leichstur or Toopoxia)

To the leadership of Azilstan

I have heard you are at war with fascist pig-dogs, we are sending you Weapons and supplies as I speak, more may come

OOC: I have some heli's tanks, artillery, and roughly a thousand troops between my two ships, NAS. Just so you know what you may need.

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Bundesrepublik des Neuen Arischen Staat
Genehmigt durch das Büro der Generalstabs die Bundeswehr

The New Aryan State judges the invasion of Toopoxia illegal, unjustified, and counter to the national interest. In support of troops already committed to the conflict by our comrades in Leichstur, the General Staff of the Armed Forces has authorised the re-routing of 23.Marine-Sturm-Bataillon, currently returning from training operations in Pristinja, to Toopoxia.

Please provide appropriate disembarkation coordinates. Note that due to the nature of the vessels transporting the Brigade, complete port facilities are not required.


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Großadmiral Rudi Torsten
Kriegsmarine Chief of Staff

Mundus vult decipi, ergo decipiatur
The small briefing room felt crowded even before the fourth man took his seat. Now, as the the fifth and final body worked its way to the front of the undersized chamber, the room was absolutely oppressive. This, however, was how it felt everywhere in the Dominion, and not by any mistake was this done. Now, these men were gathered here to extend the favor.

At the head of the group was one who had seen many rooms like this, and given this same briefing many times. There, stood Mr. White, foreign affairs officer of the Dominion, and, by virtue of the years of sloth and avarice that frolicked beneath the cold steel exterior of the Pudite government, effectively, the head of state.

Assembled before him were four men, each representing a different dynamic of the ongoing struggle for influence and power in the bloated bureaucratic upper-reaches of the Dominion; a Field Marshal in the Imperial Army, an aide from the foreign relations office - an entity independent of White's foreign affairs office - as well as a Major General from the Praetorian Guard, a particularly imposing figure in the small room, and finally, a second aide, this one sent up from the Imperial Senate largely as a ceremonial gesture. He was meant to report what happened for deliberation, but it would never reach the ears of anyone outside the military, and he knew it. Nobody outside the military ever heard anything about anything.

Mr. White spoke, "Comrades, I am sure each of you know exactly why you are here. It was laid out in the memorandum that brought about this little gathering, however, for the benefit of the scribe," he waved his hand at the Senate's aide, "I will reiterate."

Behind him a screen lit up, bathing the white concrete room in a uniform blue-ish hue, "This is the nation of Toopoxia," he said, pointing at what suddenly became a political map, "Unlike the subjects of many of these briefings, this is not the first time my office has received word of this nation. They are, in fact, larger than many of the subjects that pass over my desk,"

The screen changed, now, where before there was one country, there were now two, "However, that is not how they want to stay. You see, they are experiencing some... difficulties in reigning in some of their more zealous subjects, and are experiencing somewhat of a conflict in maintaining that hoped-for order."

The screen changed again, returning to its dormant blue glow, before powering off. "Now, it has been some time since my office has come across an opportunity like this, and we would be doing a disservice not to seize every opportunity our Emperor grants us. He has granted us this one."

There was a pause before Mr. White continued, "It has been some time since the will of our Emperor has been felt on shores far from our own, and I believe , and not alone do I hold this sentiment, that that time has been too much. It is time now to remind those who might have forgotten, those who have been waiting in the wings, what we are."

"This civil war of the Toopoxians is not a small matter. In fact, it has attracted already the attentions of two independent peoples. They are of no importance, as their threat-mustering capabilities are minimal, but it is pretext for our own intervention. Both of these nations have declared support for the fascist government, who at this point, is in control of the majority of the nation. As declaring support for them would firstly, leave us with a more limited scope for our operations, and secondly, perhaps give the appearance of following an international trend, we have opted to support the smaller communist state."

The screen flicked back on, and after a second of blue-screen, a new map of the subject appeared, this one illustrated with a series of arrows and lines. "Here is what we will do. Each arrow," he gestured toward the three largest arrows bearing down on the fascist coastline, "represents one third of our force. By striking fast, and in multiple locations, we can deliver to the defense of the fascists logistical and strategic disadvantage. With their necessary operations against the communists draining manpower, and the three fronts of the invasion each requiring large amounts of troops, we can ensure that they cannot in any one place stay our advance, for fear of losing control of another."

For the first time, a voice beyond the foreign officers was heard. It was the heavy, resonating voice of the Major General of the Praetorian Guard, he was known as Kliapik Iaropkin, and had earned every ounce of his notable renown fighting in the opening months of the recent Grondian war. "What will comprise these invasion forces, if I may ask. For I remember only a year ago, on the shores of Gronde, it was the Imperial Navy who touched beach, even before the Guard's lead elements. I expect this trickery is not to be repeated?"

Mr. White remained calm, "No, General Iaropkin, you will have your beaches," the large man sat again, momentarily sated, "and the Imperial Navy will have theirs," finished White.

Field Marshal Mitkin, of the Imperial Army, replied to this, "What do you mean, segregated invasion forces?"

"Indeed, Field Marshal," Mr. White's hand returned to the board, gesturing at the northernmost arrow, pointed directly at the piece of Toopoxia's coast closest to the border shared by fascists and socialists, "This northern force will be comprised only of General Iaropkin's Praetorians, supplemented, of course, by other Praetorian units, but you get the idea,"

"Meanwhile," his hand shifted to an arrow coming from the south of the large peninsula, which impacted the landmass about halfway down the narrow isthmus, "this force will made up only of Imperial Armed Forces soldiers, the same as the third," he pointed to the final arrow, hitting the coast as far to the east of the peninsula as the borders of neighboring nations would allow.

"That is the plan, then. Generally. You will find a detailed series of orders awaiting each of you when you return to your own offices. In overall command will be Grand Admiral Fedorov Makarkov, I expect you in the Armed Forces offices will see him before he moralizes his fleet. In command of the Praetorian Guard will be General Soimanov, he is now more than one-hundred kilometers north of here, gathering his fleet."

Mr. White gestured for the men to stand, "The Emperor's blessing is upon you, may you do his bidding with fervor befitting of his magnificence."

The meeting was at a close, and the men stood to leave. The Imperial Senate never saw any part of the notes taken by their aide, who promptly destroyed them after the meeting, and nobody ever noticed.

In three days time, a fleet would said from the harbors and dockyards of the Pudite coastal compounds the like of which had not been seen in years. Two full battlefleets of the Imperial Navy, followed by a battlefleet of the Praetorian Guard, and each trailed by the hundreds of transports and support craft required to keep such an armada afloat.

In three days time, thousands of ships, planes, and tanks would leave the Dominion, led by millions of soldiers, pilots, and seamen. Ahead of it all, however, filtered one single, lonely message. The whole of the work of the foreign affairs office in the coming struggle.

---- ---- ----


Extrarius Res Defero
Urbi et orbi
Addressed to the Azilstan Soviet Republic in Toopoxia;
From the foreign affairs office of the Dominion of Emperor Pudu XLII;

The Dominion has taken notice in recent weeks of your valiant struggle, and in his infinite wisdom and generosity, the Emperor Pudu XLII has expressed his will to aide you in the struggles to come.

In fact, the Emperor has pledged to ensure the survival of the Azilstan Soviet Republic in the face of attack and annexation by hostile powers. Even now, there sails the Imperial Pudite Navy to the shores of hostile fascist Toopoxia to ensure that the Soviet Republic is maintained.

It will be by the grace and will of our Emperor that your lands are made safe, and indeed, they will be made safe. Soldiers are preparing for assault into the fascist-held Toopoxian lands, to relieve the pressure faced by the brave people of Azilstan. In the days to come, when the fleets draw closer, we will communicate again.

The Emperor gives Azilstan his blessing,

Good day,
Mr. White.

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Official Look Incorporated Statement


To: Leadership of Toopoxia
Subject: Help
Encryption Level: Very High

I, Nick Saller, CEO of Look Incorporated, sympathizes with Toopoxia, who is being invaded by Communist dogs from their so-called country. We wish to offer our two best infantry divisions to turn away the communists. They are from our private army.

I eagerly await your response.

Sincerely,

Nick Saller
CEO of Look Incorporated

Azil Foothills

The early sweeping advance of the Soviet army had been effectively halted by the Toopoxican counter attack, where the Azils had their outdated T-90's, the Toopoxicans charged ever ahead with their home made P103 Tanks, fighting on the lower terrain made it harder to gain the saught advantage over their enemy, but the superior technology displayed by the Toopoxicans evened the field, as with all modern warfare, the real victory was fought in the sky, the weak and small Mig divisions who had made the initial turn to Mladens cause were now the target of the vicious P22 Fighter, if this war were to continue on its steady path the Communists would be defeated.
IndentIt was never as easy as that, General Lavrenty had his Comms officer rapidly scanning the masses of correspondance and chatter coming through since the war started, a lot of it had been desperate phone calls to family by those caught behind the Sov lines, a lot of the communication within Azilstan suggested a mass panic in the goverment, the Sov system falling apart with those loyal to General Mladen turning the Cities into flaming wrecks, the confusion and panic in messages was increasing as the day went on, until it ceased, the panic was replaced with cautious optimism reaching all the way to the Red Building, "General Lavrenty." The comms officer called over, Lavrenty raised his head from the morass of maps, "Azil chatter has stopped, or... well, it's changed." The young Comms officer was still intently listening to the patched through translations of bugged meetings, "I think they said something about an ally, they seem very optomistic Sir."
IndentLavrenty walked over to the comms desk, taking a set of headphones, "They could have just accepted their..." He trailed off, "No, wait, there, they mentioned an ally!" He exclaimed, "Could be a misinformation ploy to distract our forces." Lavrenty paused, considering the next move, "Order the first fleet to return to harbour and await further orders, inform the Premier and our allies of this discovery, our currently engaged forces shall not distract from their objectives, Azilstan will still fall to our heels.

(OOC: EP, consider the Azil as saying yes, Greal, consider the Toopoxicans as saying yes, and allies start landing your stuff, looks like I'm about to get my arse thourghly kicked.)

Lieutenant Colonel Rudolph Schwartz stepped down the ramp followed by Commander Alan Wake as the LAS "Infinite Reach" and the ships that followed her pulled into the docks. They then watched as the LAS "Hornet's Nest" began to unload her thousand or so troops. LAS "Stone Support"'s cranes were well at work as they lifted Challenger 2Es (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Challenger_2_tank), M50 "Spartan II"s (http://www.forums.jolt.co.uk/showpost.php?p=13169289&postcount=163), and various other vehicles from her deck and from below the deck inside the cargo hold.

"Do you think these commies will cause us any trouble?", asked Commander Wake as he turned to face Lieutenant Schwartz at his side. "Well according to intel the Toopoxians are already advancing into Azilian territory. With the combined power of our troops and The New Aryan State's we can send these commie dogs crying back to their mothers.", he said with a slight chuckle as he pictured the enemy troops limping into houses and crying for their mothers.

Oberstleutnant Sigmund König, commanding officer of 23. Marine-Sturm-Bataillon stood in the floodlit loading bay of the battalion's assault ship, the KMS Mitternacht. Before him, the almost eight hundred men of his command stood in full readiness. At the rear of the vast bay, the battalion's motorised element sat idle, their vehicles silent. The Mitternacht broke the crest of another wave, and the ship lurched forward, sending a collective shudder through the marines before levelling out.

"Hauptmann Fischer!" barked König, "your company will secure the area upon disembarkation!"

Fischer, whose company was closest to the loading ramp, gave a casual salute.

"Jawohl, kommandant."

"Hauptmann Amsel! Your company will progress inland immediately upon disembarkation. If you encounter OPFOR units, you will retreat to the landing area!"

"Jawohl," replied Amsel.

"Hauptmann Drechsler and Hauptmann Fuchs, you will deploy your companies in positions overlooking the northern coastal approach to the landing area. You will use lethal force against any OPFOR units heading to our position."

The two captains nodded their understanding and assent.

"Hauptmann Kuhn, you will deploy your SAM teams around the landing area. And Bauer!" shouted König. "You're with me!"

The Mitternacht slammed into sand, sending the marines shuffling forward under the impact. With a screaming of steel followed by an impact that shook the ship, the assault ramp descended to the beach, and raw daylight flooded the loading bay.

"Marinen!" yelled Oberstleutnant König, "Sprung!"

OOC: Total Deployment

23. Marine-Sturm-Bataillon - 770 Personnel, 18 HMMWVs, 12 PzS 5 ATGMs, 12 FgF 88/5 AAGMs, 5 K95 Motorcycles, 3 Support Vehicles

KMS Mitternacht, Mitternacht-Class Assault Ship
KMS Ritter, Fürsprecher-class Destroyer
KMS Furst, Sachsen-class Frigate

Ad mores natura recurrit damnatos, fixa et mutari nescia

It had been three days since the Pudite Imperial Navy had sailed beyond the sight of their homeland, and taken themselves up fully in the events preceding the inevitable invasion of fascist Toopoxia.

At the head of a fleet numbering hundreds if not thousands of ships was the Imperial Navy veteran Grand Admiral Makarkov, leading from the bridge of his Calypso-class dreadnought, the Passion of Glory, one of four such ships accompanying the Imperial Navy's two fleets that made up the Toopoxian task force. Following in the wake of the two Imperial Navy fleets; each sailing, as it was, close but independent of one another's formation, were a pair of amphibious assault fleets, each prepared to open the beachhead for an Imperial Army invasion.

This is a function of the unique organization of the Pudite Imperial Armed Forces, in that, at its most basic level, each of the three branches of the armed forces are, in effect, their own independent military. The Imperial Air Force flew their own planes off the decks of their carriers, and the Naval Infantry that captured the Pudite beachheads were all naval personnel. These are not so different than other nations, however, it does not end there. For, behind the Imperial Navy's amphibious assault fleet sailed the ships of the Imperial Army, bearing their load across the seas to their next engagement, escorted within their fleet by Imperial Army combat ships. No one branch had to rely on another for any essential function of its duties, but no one could win a war alone.

Now, it was the fleets of the Imperial Navy, the Imperial Army, and a third fleet; a force of combat and auxiliary ships of the Praetorian Guard, carrying their portion of the coming campaigns along with the Imperial Armed Forces.

Looking out over this collection of forces, Grand Admiral Makarkov could see not the divisions in fleets or forces, naught could be seen, save for the brilliant shining white of the hulls and decks of the ships arrayed before him. Somewhere, over the horizon, the Praetorian Guard sailed a shadow fleet, a fleet of black ships, mirroring his own movements. He, however, could not see them, and they could not spoil his vision of splendor.

What could spoil the vision, however, was the call of a lieutenant on the bridge behind him, "Admiral; I have a radio transmission from General Soimanov from the Praetorian fleet, he wants to speak with you, sir,"

"For what does he break radio silence, his orders are clear, are they not?"

"Indeed, sir, it regards his orders and the coming campaign,"

"It must," Admiral Makarkov sighed, "Let me speak with him then,"

The lieutenant handed over his headset, and set the Admiral's channel to that of the Praetorian general, "Here you are sir,"

Makarkov spoke into the mouthpiece, "Is this General Soimanov?"

"Indeed Admiral, it is. I must speak with you."

"What regarding General, I assume my orders concerning your duties are clear?"

"That is the matter, Admiral. Your orders? The Praetorian Guard have been and are today a fully independent Imperial organization. What I do now is in the interests of our Emperor, not your command."

"General, I was placed in command of this operation, regardless of official chains of command,"

"You were named commander of Imperial Armed Forces assets, I was placed in command of the Praetorian Guard commitment. For this reason, I will be exercising that command shortly, as my fleet breaks away from yours to make for our landfall point."

"General, the protection of this fleet is essential if you intend to make landfall,"

"I believe you underestimate the strength of a Praetorian battle fleet, accustomed to, as you are, being the only force on the sea bearing the Emperor's Cross. Now, you are not alone. Remember, Admiral, this fleet I posses is the equal of your own, and such decelerations of your own weakness are not becoming of an Imperial Admiral."

"General, I posses two fleets, and you one. If they catch you alone you will have not three, but just that one, to defend yourself. Dividing our forces can only serve the designs of the enemy, not the Emperor,"

"I will speak no more with you. Be aware, the Praetorian battle fleet and auxiliary elements will be undertaking a change of course, and pursue a more north-easterly course than you now undertake. Rest assured, we will arrive on schedule. The attack will not be jeopardized by our failures..." The general finished with the emphasis on the second-to-last word. After that, the radio cut to static.

"Here," said the admiral, handing the headset back to the lieutenant, "I am finished with him."

The admiral moved back to the head of the bridge, but now facing his officers, "I have a simple deceleration, I want it made known to the whole of the fleet; firstly, the Praetorian fleet is breaking formation and pursuing their own course, do not follow. Secondly, when we come within one-thousand kilometers of the Toopoxian coastline, which I believe will occur in the next few hours, all fleets are to begin routine air patrols, both rotary and fixed wing. That will be all."

The message was sent, and the fleets split, just as was expected. In a few days time, the fleet would be within sight of the Toopoxian coast, and by then, imagined the admiral, they will have made contact, for good or for ill, with the indigenous forces.

Meanwhile, hundreds of kilometers to the front of the advancing Pudite fleets, a single craft slipped silently closer to the coastlines of the fascist enemy. This craft was the submarine, Zeal of Commencement, a ballistic-missile submarine on special orders.

It would be the Zeal who struck the first blow against the new enemy, and very soon, it would be time to launch that blow. The captain of the Zeal, one Maksim Solod, would be the sole judge as to that moment. So it was that, even as the Praetorian fleet was splitting from the larger naval task force, one single Imperial Navy officer was ordering the commencement of hostilities.

"Order the missile tubes made ready for launch, and prepare targeting information for all logistical priorities. Again, priority launch, auxiliary targets not necessary..."

Seconds later, sixteen missiles tore through the surface of the sea, bound for targets across Toopoxia, largely concentrated on or near the fascist's border with the Soviet Republic; it was the railroads, the highways, and the air fields of the Toopoxians that the Zeal was targeting.

A few seconds after the first wave, a second set of missiles followed the first, bound for the same series of targets. So it was that the attack was made, and the war began.

The hope was surprise. Officially, the Toopoxian Fascist Republic knew nothing of the Dominion, save perhaps what spies in the Soviet Republic and satellite spotting of the fleet could tell them, but still, there was no deceleration of war, not even an ultimatum. Now, thirty-two ballistic missiles were bound for their heaviest infrastructure, and they did not know who from, why, or what more was to come. That was the hope, at least.

At the very least, perhaps the attacks on the fascists would slow their own attacks, in turn, against the communists. As long as the conflict was prolonged this way, the Dominion's pretext for their actions stood, and the invasion would continue unmarred by foreign hypocrite-imperialists.

That was the hope, anyway.

the Zeal of Commencement carried on.

"Sir!", shouted a radar operator aboard the Infinite Reach. The XO approached the operator. "What is it?", he asked somewhat irritably. "It was brief, but we had any missiles in the air heading inland a few moments ago. Whatever they were, they came from the ocean. Definitely not Azilian."

The XO stroked his blond beard as he took this into consideration. "Alright. I'll notify the Commander."

He patted the radar operator on the shoulder and grabbed a radio. "Commander Wake. We have a problem..."

But before he could continue The Commander interrupted him. "I know XO. we saw them. I'm going to radio the Toopoxians, see where they were hitting."

"Understood that, IR out.", said the XO.

"Toopoxian Command this is Commander Alan Wake of the Leichstur Reinforcements. We saw the launch of enemy missiles on our radars and the impact from the harbor. Any idea where they hit? Over."

The battalion had been marching for four hours along a rough track by the coast. The sun beat heavily upon the marines' bare necks, their heavy jackets stowed in the heat. They marched in two columns, one either side of the track so that the vehicles could pass between them.

Oberstleutnant König stepped away from the head of the column to gaze over the glittering Western Sea. He shuffled loose his heavy pack, allowing the dead weight to drop with a dull thud on the knotted grass. He gazed back at his men, who marched heads forward with an intense focus, proudly determined to keep up the punishing pace which he demanded of them. König swung about, swigging from his canteen and fixing his eyes once again upon the horizon. A distant disturbance of the calm veneer of the sea made him stare for a moment... a whale cresting the surface of the water, perhaps?

No.

A plume of smoke betrayed the presence of man. König watched in morbid fascination as multiple missiles rose from the surface of the ocean to tear into the sky, the silence of their ascent made the moment all the more surreal. He heard rushing footsteps behind him and Hauptmann Eli Bauer, youngest of his six company commanders, appeared at his side.

"Herr kommandant!" he stammered, "are they Azil?"

König blinked, once, taking in the situation.

"Of course they're not Azil, you fucking moron," muttered König, still watching the missiles and still holding his canteen. "Azilstan's land-locked. Get me a radio link to our Toopoxian liason... I have a feeling something's going to go very, very wrong..."

This was a problem, not that the Toopoxicans expected this situation to go unexploited, BMEWS and DSP's had began to yell with panic and alarm at the approach the two ballstic missile volleys, a full sixteen missiles each, P22's had already been launched to reinforce the skies over Azilstan, but now they would be bought West to engage, lining themselves up behind the path of the missiles they had the difficult mission of getting a lock before the enemy missiles reached their targets, for only a few this process prooved too difficult, with six of the enemy missiles reaching their target, and another two detonating mid air, regrouping and better warned for the second volley, the mission prooved more effective, with only two making it through, five detonating mid air.
IndentQuickly the Toopoxicans aimed to end this enemy advantage, Toopoxican submarine warfare bombers were made airborne to seek out the enemy, based on the location of the enemies missile launches and the added advantage of Toopoxican sonobouys and MAD's, it made the probability of success for the Toopoxican torpedoes almost a certainty.
IndentGeneral LAvrenty looked over the damage caused by the enemy missiles, a successful hit against infrastructure, mass transit, those roads already closed down by warfare, if anything the attack had given them an advantage in slowing the enemy movement, but the added destruction of two Toopoxican Airfields, the destruction caused by falling shrapnel and the indication of a far more powerful enemy caused certain alarm in Lavrenty, but given the currently naval based position of the enemy, it would not be his theatre to command, and that had come as fortunate for Lavrenty, the boosted morale of the Azili had made more turn over to General Mladen, his full concentration was needed on this front.
IndentFleet Admiral Yuril would be in control of this task, defending the waters of Toopoxia, the First Fleet was already at full strength, having been mobilised for another purpose, ideally Yuril would have liked to have seen the Second and maybe the Third by his side, there was an enemy fleet out there, he didn't know the size, he didn't know where, but he knew how to find out, "All frequencies officer." Yuril had the comms handset held close, "Unknown Fleet, you have already pledged alleigence to a common enemy of Toopoxia, launched a missile barrage against our territory and we believe you have lost a Submarine to our actions, unless you are ready to lose more you will cease fire immediatly." Yuril let the ultimatum sit.
Indentone of the comms officers perked up, "Admiral, a radio conversation." Yuril walked over to the Comms desk, "We'll have sattelite coverage soon." There was a few moments pause as the foreign conversation continued, the image of the enemy fleet suddenly flicked up on screen, "Enemy is a few thousand kilometers from our coasts, they're... dividing." Yuril smiled, the enemy fleet was large as it was, and in division an advantage was gained.
Indent"Inform the Admiralty, have them mobilise the Second Fleet, prepare the First to engage the enemy divided fleet, we shall see them burn before they touch Toopoxican soil." Yuril stood, rather proud in emotion.

Extra territorium jus dicenti impune non paretur
Grand Admiral Makarkov listened to the foreign communication a couple more times, just to be certain he had heard it.

"Lieutenant, you're certain they were sending this to us?"

"Yes, Admiral, we are certain."

"That's strange, because it makes not even the smallest amount of sense," he paused for a second, looking around the bridge, "We haven't sent any pledges out of here without my knowledge, have we?"

"No, sir." replied the lieutenant.

"Good, I had thought so." the admiral took another pause, this time leaning back in to the communications station, listening to the message again. He had had it put on loop a few minutes ago, as it would have gotten tiring for the lieutenant to continue to manually restart it.

He continued, "Well, then it doesn't make sense. We have made no pledges to anyone, let alone anyone they're fighting, we have launched no missiles, and no submarine of mine has been lost to any action at all, theirs or otherwise..."

He stared off, taking the headset off again, "So it wasn't meant for General Soimanov's forces?"

"No sir, and reports tell us that they haven't made any long-range communications, nor have they been engaged, or engaged anyone."

"Well then. What do we say to these foreigners?"

The lieutenant responded, "I couldn't fathom a guess, sir."

"Indeed. Well, send a message; they told us to cease fire, tell them we do not suffer the commands of foreigners. After that... end the communication..."

Moments later, such a communication was sent, over the same frequencies the Imperial Navy had picked it up on, hoping it would reach someone, but not knowing what effect it would have on the clearly delusional operators on the other end. No matter, Admiral Makarkov's fleet was drawing closer, inevitably approaching their destination, on the fascist-controlled beaches of Toopoxia, strange messages or no strange messages.

Meanwhile, approximately two-hundred kilometers away, hundreds of feet below the surface of the ocean, Captain Solod of the Zeal of Commencement was watching on his strategic display as the radar returns that signaled low-flying aircraft continued to approach his position. This image, created by integrating satellite observation and tactical data from any other sensors in the area, in this case, the Imperial navy surface fleet a few hundred kilometers to the west-and-above of the Zeal, was showing Captain Solod exactly what he had feared; a response.

Quickly, he formulated a message to be transmitted to the Imperial Navy fleet nearby. He rapidly explained his situation, of which they were likely aware but not likely prepared to intervene in, as per the orders they had, or more accurately, did not have, regarding the Zeal. He then asked that, being that the aircraft they themselves had detected would be approaching so close to the larger fleet, and that this would prove a threat to them, that they could intervene on his behalf.

Only a few seconds later, Captain Solod received a response from Grand Admiral Makarkov himself, outlining his ability and desire to aid him, finishing with a perplexing, although not troubling "It all makes sense now..."

In minutes the Pudite aircraft that had been patrolling above the fleet since crossing the one-thousand kilometer mark, as per Makarkov's orders, had been alerted as to the presence of the foreign bombers, which they had seen, but as they had not yet crossed close enough to the fleet, were not preparing to engage. Now, with the aircraft identified as hostile, and with clearance to engage anywhere within effective combat range of the fleet, the bombers sent to hunt down the Zeal of Commencement had quickly been transformed from hunter into hunted...

With four-hundred fighters currently circling above and generally protecting the combined forces of the two Imperial Navy battle fleets, the offensive maneuvers were saturated with available craft. As it was, one-hundred and fifty F-63KB Tengriy fighters were assigned to fly out over the area of ocean in which it was reported that the Zeal was operating, and intercept and destroy any foreign aircraft passing within range.

First blood had been the honor of the Zeal, but that did not leave the pilots above the submarine without their own zeal for the coming fight...



OOC: By the way, linking the fleet to the sub to the intercepted transmission, although not outrageous, is quite surprising. Also, for the benefit of The New Aryan State; my ballistic missile submarines don't generally operate within twenty miles of the coast they intend to attack. That's why the missiles have such a nice long range, so you cannot see me from shore...