NationStates Jolt Archive

The Wolf Hold: backwater
A woman stood in the wilderness, nearby was a damaged ZMW Royalle that looked as though it had been through a small war she looked at the clouds, the sun was slowly beginning to set; the day was all but over but it had been a good day. She waited a few minutes then picked up her mobile she dialled the number for the Wolf Hold government building that she had saved in it. This was the only number stored in an otherwise blank phone. The phone rang for awhile until she was connected to some secretary somewhere.

“I have a message for the 1st Marshall” she said, “please connect me to him” the sound on the other end was something like a snort; the phone line clicked and buzzed a little but remained connected. She doubted that the secretary had done as she had asked, “this message is for the first Marshall and protector of the Wolf Hold” she repeated. “It is for him to listen and for him to judge….” She began to recite what she had memorised:
“At two forty this morning we, the dark moons of Zaros, captured a Dosser dog worm within your territory. We know that the cowardly Dominion will likely seek to get what they lost back by involving you and your forces. I warn you do not come for us. In taking this one we have done you a service, this snake is so treacherous that poison spreads wherever he walks whatever reason they give you for his presence is a lie. We will take him to the corner of your country and we will break and kill him. This is for the good of the world, do not interfere.”

The woman hung up and threw her phone at a nearby rock. She got into the Royalle and turned the keys in the ignition, the engine spluttered and the whole car protested but in the end Zinarian engineering trumped whatever damage had been done to the vehicle and the car began to limp away.

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To: Cain, 1st Wolf's Marshall of the Wolf Hold, Wolf Hold
From: Fort Eggplant, Dominion military base, Wolf Hold

We regret to inform you that at 02:30 today local time a transport carrying a senior bureaucrat scheduled to conduct a review of Eggplant was ambushed and lost en route. Given that the bulk of Eggplant personnel are yet to arrive from Sarrowquand we are unable to spare any forces from the defence of the base and would like to request Wolf Hold assistance in recovering our lost bureaucrat.

Location of the ambush is attached, see map file.

Major Raw-Shark
Temporary commander of Fort Eggplant

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Wolf Hold: Hinterlands

Elsewhere 1st lieutenant Dwain Grass and a squad of Yellowjacket soldiers had just managed to catch up with the raider’s rearguard.

The warden and his unit had been dispatched from Eggplant at twenty past two that morning to respond to a call for help from an unidentified Dominion convoy. When they had arrived they had found that the convoy and its escort had been all but wiped out. After reporting back to base Dwain had received orders to search for the source of the attack he was told not to waist anytime or linger at the attack but that a unit would be dispatched to secure the area right away.

Unfortunately the unidentified raiders seemed too well armed to tackle with a head on assault with just seven soldiers. Dwain told his unit to hold back and stay hidden he radioed back to Eggplant for orders and was told to continue following the raiders. He sighed it had been a long day.

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Wolf Hold: Ambush site

Captain Isabella Ferrell was bored and felt dirty, she wanted to get back to base and switch out of her messed up uniform. Her platoon had been at the ambush site since four thirty that morning digging through the convoy wreckage, it was getting colder now and she was glad of the fire that her soldiers had built. Every now and then someone would through something onto the fire and it would burst upwards and warm her a little more; she would have liked to get closer but the smell it had been making earlier had put her of, it smelt okay now but had already set up her tent and chair and she didn’t feel like moving any of it: At least her uniform didn’t smell like some of her men’s did.

The Wolf Hold would be here soon, or if they chose not to investigate the ambush site then she would be finished up here in a few hours anyway.

Central Command, The Fang

Commander Johnson looked over the intel form, rubbing his temple with exasperation. When the first call had come through about the kidnapping they had thought it was a prank, if it had been from a population centre they would of traced the call and sent local law enforcement after the culprits, however as it was out in the wilderness and do they let it drop. However they had recived a confrimation from the Sarrowquand goverment, that had caused many facepalms and groans around central command. Luckily for Johnson he wasn't the one to inform the Marshall. That un-lucky person had been Colonel Yuriselv, he left the Marshall's office a major. He threw the orders down at where Johonson was sitting and then proceded to procede to clear out his office.

Looking down at the orders, Johnson sent out two messages, an offical reply to the Sarrowquand goverment.

To: Fort Eggplant, Dominion military base, Wolf Hold
From: Wolf Hold Central Command

We are deeply disturned by this kidnapping, rest assured we will not rest untill your bureaucrat is found and returned. We will use every avalible resource to aid in recovering the bureaucrat. We request that you send a file with a picture of the bureaucrat and his details so we can further enhance the search for him.

The other message was an alert to all forces in the Wolf Hold, military and civillian alike.


TO: WHSECCOM, WHGRNDCOM, WHNAVCOM, WHPOLCOM
FROM: CENTCOM-CinC
Alert......Kidnapping of foreign bureaucrat, all forces are to be on the look out for suspicous activity and are to assist the designated elements responsible for the diplomats safe return. We await information from the Sarrowquand goverment, APBs pending. CENTCOM out

Within minutes of the orders going out, a units were already en-route to the ambush site.

B 5896, Approaching ambush site

A UH-60 blackhawk flew above the convoy as it sped through the desert, kicking up quite abit of dust. Not that mattered. The sound the collective sirens of the 12 vehicles were making would carry for miles not to mention the light from the searchlights, police lights and headlamps. The convoy consisted of six RG32M "Fox" light tactical vehicles painted white with military police markings complete with sirens, lights and a 50 calibre M2 HMGs. Four land cruisers also complete with sirens, lights and military police markings. At the centre of the convoy were two armored vans, one with radio whips and stalite uplinks poking out of its top and the second was a bog standard armoured military police van.

The 12th Military police group had been the closest to the ambush site and had been directed there after being re-suplied at a near by airstrip. As the convoy apprached they came within vey of the crash and through his binoculars, Major Khaz picked out the soldiers picking through the wreckage on this cold desert night.

Fort Eggplant, Wolf Hold:

1st lieutenant Ashley Trumps was confused. Major Raw-Shark had quickly briefed him on the situation and then left Eggplant command building to take care of some unnamed base business. Not only had he left Ash in charge of coordinating with the Wolf Hold forces. This seemed like the kind of thing he would have preferred to deal with personally rather then leave to a newly promoted junior officer, but it seemed that hardly anyone was aware of the situation, just glancing out the window he could see that soldiers were going about their normal business, drill was taking place on schedule; and even inside the command building people were moving about in a normal brisk military pace rather then hurrying to solve this situation. It also seemed strange that he had received no reports from Captain Ferrell’s platoon; Major Raw-Shark had told him not to worry if she didn’t report in but it still seemed strange given that she was supposedly securing the ambush site. Given that he wasn’t in the loop with Ferrell and he’d been told not to report home to Yellow Jacket Command back in Sarrowquand he’d had little to do all day: He’d dealt with Lt. Grass’s request for more support by telling the man to hold tight, remain concealed and continue to track the raiders as best as possible, Major Raw-Shark had been clear on not engaging the group. Ashley wanted to get this situation resolved, get this bureaucrat back and get back to base administration but given his orders he could do little more then stare at he walls and slowly nap, Raw-Shark hadn’t even allowed him to bring some of his paperwork through to finish up. Suddenly the office’s computer chirped with an incoming email, Trumps jumped in his seat and opened the file immediately. The email was from Wolf Hold Central Command and was asking for the details of the missing bureaucrat and a picture.

Lt. Trumps referenced the number for the missing Grey in his data base and pulled up the guy’s records, whilst that was loading he also ran a search on the Bureau operation code he had been given that related to the bureaucrat inspection of the base; he flicked back to the first page. It read:
Grey 88
Department Of Ocean Management
8th Tier Bureaucrat, Permanent Staff
Team: Maritime inspection
Office: Maritime Salvage and Inspection
Desk: 88
Current Project: Inspection in Wolf Hold
Personal Details:
Name: A.Gray
Gender: Male (T)
Age: 48
Unfortunately Grey 88’s file didn’t contain a photo. The mission file mentioned that he was travelling with three aides, sourced from transferable staff, two non-permanent and one semi-permanent secretary, none of their files had photos attached either, there was a footnote attached to the files that stated that Records had had some trouble awhile back with data corruption in their photo archives and that these bureaucrats were yet to submit new photos. It was troublesome for the Wolf Hold but at least the data wasn’t marked for non-disclosure so he could pass on the contents of the file and the information about the aides. Then he thought about something, The Wolf Hold was a new member of the CIS and he’d heard that the Warden’s were conducting an environmental survey of all members; that they had diverted satellite time to this. It made sense that they would be watching ports and airports for pollution patterns for a few months to generate their data. He knew when and where the inspection team was supposed to have arrived and if he looked through the satellite footage from the morning and searched for Dominion GTVs he might get lucky and find a close up picture of the bureaucrats. It was better then nothing.

Asheley put a call in to his sister back home, she was working for the Wardens and he had decided to ask her if she new anything about the satellite coverage in Wolf Hold and if anyone he new was working on the data. He hit the jackpot an old acquaintance from college had access to the files and when he mentioned the timeframe she immediately had an idea of what he was talking about. His friend had been intrigued by a Dominion convoy moving through the area and had tracked it until it left the port. She didn’t even see the harm in dispatching the files to him. Ashley sorted through the images and chose a still that showed the four bureaucrats getting into their car. The faces were a little obscured but it would have to do. Putting all the data he had recovered together he submitted his findings to Wolf Hold Central Command, hoping that they’d be able to make use of it.

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Meanwhile in another part of Eggplant Major Raw-Shark was overseeing the arrival of a DAFI supply helicopter that was bringing in some necessary equipment and resources to the fort, he hoped that Trumps would follow his orders and not cause any problems for the recovery plan. That boy was a real go getter and he’d have rather buried him in paperwork for the duration of the kidnapping but he didn’t have any mediocre officers available and he knew that he had to be here when this chopper landed.
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Ambush Site, Wolf Hold.

Captain Ferrell was eating in her tent when the Guard Sarit who was organising the perimeter radioed in to tell her that a Wolf Hold column was approaching noisily. She put down her food and walked out of her tent. “Hurry it up” she snapped at her soldiers get it all finished, there wasn’t much left to do at this point, the fire had died but given the approaching noise she expected that the Wolf Hold would be able to see her forces ‘organising’ the wreckage before they had finished falling in.

Emergency Co-ordination Centre, Central Command, The Fang

Commander Johnson was enjoying a game of spider solitaire on his computer during his 15 minute break. Central Command was a hive of activity as area commanders argued and shouted at local police co-ordinators and military officers. The situation was not good, there was confusion amongst the upper echelon co-ordination staff as it appeared that some re-urgent anarchists had managed to car bomb a communications hub, therefore Central Command had switched to secondary hubs which had been overloaded with the effort of co-ordinating a nation wide search operation. So now there were several naval officers inside the control room adding their voices to the collective din as they and some IT techs worked over a coms board trying to take some of the stress of the overloaded secondary communication hubs and patch some of the coms through the giant communications suites aboard the WHS Lombax the Longsword-Class Super Heavy Guided Missile cruiser sitting alongside the WHS White Fang II and the WHS Red Fang, two Wolf-Class Command Battleships, which were in parked up in Lupus Bay.

He broke out of his revere as an e-mail from the Sarrowquand government popped up in his inbox. Closing his game and opening the e-mail, as he read through it, adding all the details to an all forces alert only one thing worried him, the fact that it appeared that Sarrowquand had satellites observing Port Palla Naval base. After fully reading the report and attaching the pictures he sent the AFA after some due consideration he also sent a second message to the WHSBWC or Wolf Hold Space Borne Weapons Command.

All Forces Alert

The report attached in this alert contains all the details of all persons believed kidnapped in relation to Incident 245864, this case is to be considered a Level 2 emergency and only in the event of a Level 1 emergency is this case to come second, that applies to all forces. Be aware that initial reports claim that kidnappers are probably heavily armed and dangerous and should be approached with extreme caution.

Be advised that overall command for the operation belongs to WHSECCOM and that the WHS Lombax alongside the WHS White Fang II and Red Fang are now relaying communications for all WHNAVCOM, WHAFCOM and WHPOLCOM, whilst Com hub 2 and secondary com hubs 1 through to 8 will relay coms for WHGRNDCOM, WHSECCOM and CENTCOM.

CENTCOM out

The second message was much more brief but probably had a lot more political punch.

TO: WHSBWC
FROM: Commander Johnson, CENTCOM
We have evidence to suggest that Sarrowquand has orbital’s observing PPNB, recommend you direct a WMD-2 or BI-4 to scare the orbital’s away, we don't want them seeing our preparations for Operation Morga or for that matter Project Orion.

Johnson relaxed in his chair as he waited for his next task in the mean time, listened into a rather heated argument between the Port Palla Local Commander and its police co-ordinator.
"I need two police units to respond to a tip off in sector 5 of Port Palla"
"No way, I have all local units tied down in a code 1 shoot out"
"I really don't give a damn! Direct units over there"
"We have got multiple 10-00s you aint getting any of my men"
Sensing the argument coming to a climax the Port Palla naval liaison interceded, "I got two squads of marines en-route now, just get your area commanders to liaise with them."
As the argument blended into one of many, Commander Johnson reclined in his chair amongst the chaos.

Ambush Site, Just off the B 5896

As the 12th Military police group approached the ambush site the 6 RG32Ms pulled in front of the rest of the convoy and accelerated off to the right and left of the B 5896, three vehicles to each side. The RG32s mounted small ridges lining the ambush site, cresting the top and illuminating the crash site with there large sets of headlamps as well the searchlights attached to the M2s sweeping across the ambush site, its blinding light sweeping across the small camp site. The rest of the convoy the 6 Vauxhall Insignias and
the two armoured vans pulled up in between the ridges and slid to halt there headlamps facing the ambush site.

Major Khaz had been unsure who the soldiers at the ambush site were so he had ordered his men to go in hot. So simultaneously as the RG32s and Vauxhalls pulled up the four military police riding inside piled out, half kicking the doors of the cars open, aiming their MAC-303 rifles over the open doors. The same went for the police inside the RG32Ms, the police manning the HMGs racked the slides as the other police piled out and took up firing positions. Out of the second riot van, ten more military police ran out, holding their weapons taking up cover positions behind the Vauxhalls. Finally the UH-60 hovered above the assembled police vehicles, its own flood lights adding to the blinding amount of light being shone at the ambush site.

Major Khaz stepped out of his police cruiser and took up a position in the middle of his officers. The only way to tell Major Khaz from the rest of his men was the red stripe along his Uniform jacket and the majors rank pin on his beret, the rest of the military police wore similar uniforms to the standard Wolf Hold Military however instead of the digital Camo jacket they wore a jet black combat jacket with Military police emblazoned across the back. Major Khaz holding is MAC-303 in one hand and a megaphone in the other he began to speak, "This is the 12th Military Police Group! Drop your weapons and place your hands behind your heads! This is your final warning!"

Space...over Wolf Hold:
The manoeuvres of WHSBWC satellites were not observed by the EOA(i)’s satellites and so any moves taking place amongst the Wolf Hold’s space defences were similarly unknown by their masters. Silently the satellites over Wolf Hold territory continued their observations of the landscape.
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Ambush Site,
Major Khaz’s soldiers quickly took up ideal positions around the Yellow Jacket detail even as the Dominion Infantry fell into place for handing over control of the site to Wolf Hold forces. Only the perimeter guards held tactical positions however their weapons remained lowered having previously received orders to not behave aggressively to the inevitable Wolf Hold detachment that would arrive to take over their position.

"This is the 12th Military Police Group! Drop your weapons and place your hands behind your heads! This is your final warning!"

Captain Ferrell bristled at Major Kahz’s words, she could be reasonably certain that this column was indeed what they claimed to be given the timing of its arrival and updates she had received from Eggplant, they should also be aware of her own identity, Major Raw-Shark would surely have informed the Wolf Holder’s of the fact that a force matching hers would be securing the ambush site and it would have been a small matter for him to confirm via the fort her legitimacy.
Her Imperial pride bristled and struggled against the generally sensible attitude of any Dominion citizen. She thought quickly... what to do... she wasn’t here to agitate the Wolf Hold further, what’s more their forces held a distinct advantage over hers given the relatively passive reception they had been about to give to Major Kahz’s troop. Still the Wolf Hold were a militant society, they respected strength, today that went hand in hand with discourtesy, what of tomorrow.
She quickly issued orders for her soldiers to maintain their stance and replied, by megaphone,

“We will yield control of the site once we have confirmed your identity and authority”

Her voice remained calm, her accent carrying with it a sense of casual arrogance that came so naturally to those of Nerontire descent. After speaking she began her enquires into Kahz’s legitimacy via Eggplant. She was answered by Lt. Trump who strangely seemed to be handling things there; he immediately put in a call to the Wolf Hold command asking about the convoy’s details and position.

Wolf Hold Space

The WHSBWC had decided to not directly shoot the Sarrowquand satellites but instead to manuver a SD-155 Anti-Orbital Defence Satellite in clear view of Sarrowquand’s orbital’s. The cylindrical satellite used its vectoring thrusters to place itself directly between the Sarrowquand’s satellite and the earth. The twelve anti-satellite missiles attached to the satellite was giving of the clear message "Move or lose your satellite"

Ambush Site

Major Khaz let out a low whistle of respect for the woman who commanded the small detachment of troops who weren't even in combat ready positions. He had been informed of a possible Sarrowquand troop presence however it had not been confirmed. After a quick observation of the troops arrayed in front of him, he decided they looked like national military instead of some rag-tag militant group. "All units stand down, stand down. I think these are a detachment of Sarrowquand troops, however hold your positions, don't hesitate to fire if they draw weapons" The military police as one raised there HMGs and stood up from there shooting positions. The vehicle drivers lowered the levels of the headlamps and the UH-60 killed its spotlight, however they all maintained there position.

Khaz decided to confront the troops face to face. Slinging his MAC-303 he walked out from behind his RG32M and walked in-between the two sand dunes. "I'm Major Khaz, who is in charge here?"

Emergency Co-ordination Centre, Central Command, The Fang

Johonson had just fetched another cup of coffee as he had been on active duty for fifteen hours now. He sat down at his station thinking he would have a quiet few hours, unfortunalty he phone rang. Picking it up, the caller ID saying it was Lt Trump at the Sarrowquand’s Fort Eggplant. "Central Command.......yes.........Major Khaz is who he says he is........yes he is operating under our authority...good day" Placing the phone back down, he sighed and sipped his coffee. "Junior officers, we are better off without them" he said to no one in particular.

‘Wolf Hold’ Space

The ecological observation satellite’s observation unit struggled to refocus on an object much closer to it then the landscape it was intended to watch. Back in Sarrowquand the warden in charge of monitoring the satellite’s feed was trying to work out if there had been a mechanical failure an interruption of the uplink or something occluding the sensor. She was able to determine that the uplink was fine as the satellite was still transmitting data. That left the possibility that either something had drifted between the world and the satellite or the more likely prospect that the satellite had sustained some damage or just broken. Whilst she ran a diagnostic of the satellite’s components she also instructed the computer to flick through each of the satellite’s observation units and see if anything else was able to see anything.

Ambush Site

"I'm Major Khaz, who is in charge here?"

Captain Ferrell stepped out to meet Major Khaz and approached slowly, without drawing a weapon. It seemed as though she would be able to meet the criteria of her orders, to secure the ambush site until relieved by Wolf Hold authorities, without having to deal with the dishonour of having to surrender her force to an allied unit, or even worse being forced to open fire on a possible force of friendly’s in a move that would not only guarantee her force was wiped out but cause a major diplomatic incident and likely ruin any hope of recovering the missing Grey. None of these concerns played out over her face as she walked out alone in a measured pace towards the Wolf Hold commander. Once she judged that she was close enough to be heard she called out to him.

“Major Kahz, I am Captain Isabella Ferrell heading a special detachment from Fort Eggplant, my instructions are to hand over this site to your authority and investigation and then return to base; once your identity is confirmed of course”

Her radio chirped and she reached into her jacket to retrieve it, no doubt this was Trump getting back to her, or one of her NCO’s relaying his findings.