NationStates Jolt Archive

The year is 1939. The Empire of Exponent was in a continual state of decay for the last eighty years. Today, however, all of this would change. Decimus Brightlight was just appointed to the position of Chancellor by the aging Emperor Liberius XXI in 1936, and he promised to restore the greatness of the ancient Empire, no matter what the costs. Brightlight proved to be wildly popular, and before long he had his face everywhere. Mass rallies were held in which he swore to throw out all foreign influence and bring about another era of greatness to Exponent.

Today, that era was about to come. The nation of Polarus, a medium sized nation to the north of Exponent, was about to become the first victim of the Imperial Army. Just as the sun rose over the countries vast desert expanse, literally hundreds of CC-112 dive bombers began screaming out of the sky, shattering the poorly constructed defenses of the Arabic Polarussians. Behind them, even more light tanks came blowing into the area, followed by hundreds of thousands of truck mounted infantry forces.

The cities of Exponent, mostly made up of white Catholics, came to life as thousands of people came out to the streets in celebration of the attack on the Polarus, and huge ticker tape parades took place in the streets of every major urban area. Marching bands blared out all around, and in Paradise City, the capital of the Empire, Chancellor Brightlight rode in his open top touring car, saluting at the cheering crowds as he passed. Behind him, members of the elite Imperial Guard marched in a rigid formation, the intimdating balck uniforms and new submachine guns and rifles creating quite a spectcle for the onlookers.

At sea, the Imperial Exponential Navy set out to attack a nearby island chain owned by one of the many foreign colonizers in the area. This one was the nation of Walmington on Sea, a nation which has long held a military and economic presence in the area. Port Mavis was going to be the target of this attack. Three aircraft carriers, the Corvus, Ciconia, and Larus, were all deployed, along with a small contingent of escorts to launch the surprise attack. It would be followed up later in the week, depending on its success, by a massive landing campaign send from the Empire. Walmington would be the first to be struck, but the many other colonizers in the area would soon find themselves under attack by the IEN in a matter of months.

Exponent was prepared for war, and planned on making itself into the leader of a New World Order, an order that would be supported by the Empire of Pyeki and the nation of Ralkovia, both nations firmly opposed to the exponsionist ideas of the so called "democracies" of the world. Nothing could stop Brightlight in his quest.

"...with the continued efforts, I believe that we will be able to strike at Tarentum. If we can drive the 3rd Republican Army away from the city with the planned diversion, than we will be able to quickly use Godrovsky's 6th Army to seize the city. We can wipe out much of the Republican Navy with that blow and thus we will also have a major propaganda victory."

Tenarius pointed at various locations at the map showing the division between those who supported the military junta and those who supported the Republic. He made a grimace - while he knew the attack was risky, the potential rewards were great, and he decided to roll the dice to attain a great victory.

"That is all, men. You are dismissed."

Tenarius strode out of the headquarters and into the cliff bordering it, with his personal aide accompanying him. Pulling out a cigar, he chewed viciously on it, watching those who served him and the future Empire drilling and practicing various military formations.

The crunching snow of someone behind him walking in the snow stopped. Tenarius did not even bother to turn around - his Director of Media Relations was not worth looking at.
"What is it, Arnold?"

The weaselly man smiled and whispered in the general's ear, and then quickly departed. Tenarius stood there for several minutes, simply chewing on the cigar without lighting it, letting brown stains of tobacco stain the pristine snow. Turning around, he signalled to his aide, and the two left for headquarters for another meeting.

............

"But leader, are you sure about this?"
The other military leaders were completely surprised. They had puzzled as to what was the purpose of having another meeting so soon after one detailing the attack on Tarentum, and they were incredibly shocked to learn what Tenarius's scheme was. While the Imperial forces had been winning, it was a costly and bloodly war, and many of the other commanders felt that they had to throw everything they had at this point to acheive final victory. The result was that they were completely shocked to learn that Tenarius was considering to withdraw 5000 soldiers from other fronts that were not attacking and fling them into some distant African continent, and many were wondering his logic on this.

"I am sure about this."
Tenarius's reponse was to take a stick and point at various locations along the Western front of the civil war.
"As we all know, this part has been a relative stalemate, and there really is nothing fighting for, particularly during the winter. Even if the Republican Front were to somehow make a break here, which is highly unlikely for quite some time given their various logistical problems, they would be capturing nothing of value and we would capable of bleeding them quite heavily for a few thousand square miles of land that is worth absolutely nothing. I think we can afford to with draw 5000 troops from this area, and this will not distract us from the Tarentum attack, which should be our main focus for now."

"But what would we gain from fighting alongside these Exponent forces."
"Nothing, really"

The other generals were stunned, and this shocked silence enabled Tenarius to continue,
"Except recognition. The fact is that we are the rebellion, and there are plenty of countries who view as a mob of ruffians despite our numerous victories. However, to be able remove 5000 of our men and send to a distant front such as Africa sends a message. It states that we are winning to a point that we do not need them, and thus shows that we are the stronger power. This fact will also demoralize those cursed Republican troops, who will feel as if the Empire no longer looks upon them as a worthy enemy - and demoralization is a powerful tool in light of our major assault. We will show that we, the junta, are the legitimate government of Kayazistan, and in sending these men, will gain a great propaganda victory even as we annihlate the forces in Tarentum.

Do not worry. It is hardly like I am sending the Blackwolves or our elite soldiers. These will be veterans, but I am confident that we can take Tarentum with the forces we have now and end this war - all while gaining a propaganda victory. Do you men have any objection, my good sirs?"

Many of the generals were stunned by this rationalization, but none dared to speak up against their charismatic commander. In retrospect, this may be viewed as a mistake - but Tenarius, still a young commander, was confident that he would be able to finish this war quickly and smoothly and quickly bring peace to Kayazistan. It would perhaps be the biggest mistake of his career.

"...and in conclusion, we believe that the attack on Polarus is merely a first step in Exponent's expansion. This could severely threaten our influence in the region and pose a large obstacle to future colonization." As the Minister of Defense finished, Prime Minister Blake was deep in thought. Telvira's influence in the region was threatened by this Brightlight character, and God help them if he got a large enough navy..."I have decided to support the Polarussians," he declared. "We'll send VI Corps and a naval contingent, and help them repel Exponent. If necessary, we will then advance into Exponent and remove Brightlight from power."

At Southport, activity consumed the docks. VI Corps consisted of two infantry divisons and an armored division, along with supporting units, so almost 1/5 of Telvira's merchant marine were going to be involved in transporting them. In addition, the carrier Lion and two Washington-class battleships, Endurance and Intrepid, as well as 8 heavy cruisers and a score of escorts, were coming along as well. As the last of the fleet pulled out of the docks, the troops began familiarizing themselves with the situation, Exponent and allied equipment, and working out strategy.

Port Mavis, The Walmingtonian Cape Colonies

"Wimbley Common, this is Milkfloat, come-in Wimbley Common from Milkfloat... one bogey inbound for your position..."

This call, from an Acorn twin-engine utility aircraft on maritime patrol southwest of the city, would be the closest thing to a forewarning that the Empire would receive prior to Exponent's attack. And it was interperated as pertaining to a single aircraft, perhaps a wandering civil flight or even a RWN or RWAF training flight, and given no great priority. Walmington was not at war, after all. 'Milkfloat' was ordered to attempt contact with the unidentified aircraft or at least try to identify it, and the three crewmembers left to their own devices, so the slow-moving aircraft attempted to move closer to the inbound bogey as the port city was brought ever nearer.

Port Mavis, headquarters of both Vice Admiral Peter Giallo's South Seas Fleet (SSF) and Field Marshal Gerald Pierce's Army Group South Africa (AGSA), was a restless city at the Empire's southern extreme. This last year had, for the first time, seen pro-independence agitation by white settlers, and a dockers action that had RWN ships turned away from port after workers refused to unload their cargo until tax law concessions were granted to the colony. Sweltering in Cape Town, the Governor General, Lord Christopher Bagley, had a lot on his hands. It was eighteen years since the Second Cape War saw to the last major native revolt, but now the Colonial Parliament's 180 Provincial Ministers were in rebellion against his royally-assigned mandate to legislate over fifteen million subjects of the crown.

The city of Port Mavis was named for Walmington's second monarch and first -greatest- Queen, who ruled for a record 76 years between 1507 and 1583. Her legacy included war with Spain in support of England, and very nearly war with England, too, when Queen Mary restored Catholicism and won the ire of Anglican Walmington. In her vast port when the Exponent attack converged upon it were twenty-two of the South Seas Fleet's thirty-one warships, including the flagship, the battleship King Godfrey I, named for Walmington's founding monarch, father of Mavis.

Across the port was the fleet carrier Minos, and all around these two largest ships were scattered the three heavy cruisers Rock Dove, Baltic and Bear, light cruisers Lesotho, Togoland, Saint Thomas and Knave, the escort carrier Bishop, destroyers Falcon, Facetious, Fantastic, Forayer, Fairy, Fashionable, Fulmar, Fathomless, Fusilier and Favourite, and the corvettes C-11 and C-12.

If they'd been paying close attention, the attackers would know that the port was also home to a battlecruiser, a second fleet carrier and escort carrier, a fourth heavy cruiser and fifth light cruiser, two more destroyers, and two more corvettes, which were not at anchor on this day but out, somewhere, on the high seas.

Across the great sea, a slight murmur of discontent against Exponent's actions. The invasion was initially considered foolhardy and trivial, since everyone knew their economy had languished almost a century behind the developed nations of the world.

Later that week, it was seen as merely a flexing of muscles so they wouldn't cramp when pursuing harder quarries.

The king decided it was time to teach these savages some nieghbourly manners. The country prepared for war in earnest, although it had not yet been declared. Trade became restricted to escorted convoys to ward against raiders, and talk of embargoes were in the streets.

Foriegn delagates (headed by Charles Andreass Baker) were sent immediately to Exponent in order to calm the savages down and talk about a mutually beneficial agreement of some sort.

The Admiral of the Imperial fleet was a tall man, and a member of one of the very, very few families in the Empire that did not adopt an Anglicized last name some two hundred years ago. His family was long of nobility, tracing all the way back to the early days of Rome, where his ancestor was a Senator prior to wrecking on the shores of Exponent so many years ago, and that man would help to lay the foundations for the Empire today.

Admiral Quintus Benenatus stood at the bridge of the Corvus, watching as dozens of aircraft took to the sky. Dive bombers, torpedo bombers, and fighters all flew towards the unprepared Walmingtonian fleet. The primary targets of the air group was the carrier Minos and the battleship King Godfrey I, but with around a hundred and fifty aircraft in the air, one hundred of which were dive bombers and torpedo bombers, the rest of the ships at Port Mavis were targetted as well.

Benenatus stood with his hands clasped together behind his back, silently watching as the last CC-112 flew from the decks of his flagship. He was unsure where exactly this course of action would lead. He had full faith in the abilities of the Empire, but did not know whether such an attack would bring in foreign intervention, rather than force the foreigners to pack up and flee with their tail between their legs as Brightlight had believed. Whatever the case, the admiral was prepared to fight, and die, in the service of his Emperor and his homeland.

Meanwhile, in Polarus, the situation had ended nearly as quickly as it began. Within a matter of weeks, the entire countryside was seized by the fast moving Imperial tanks, and now all that was left was to capture a few key cities, which had since the beginning been under seige. The Imperial Army would now begin to see its first real resistance on land as it moved into the cities of Al-Kahril and Mossaw.

Several ships were also sent around the coast, to enforce a strict blockade against any attempt to supply the failing nation. Submarines lurked in the waters, ready to sink any ship that ignored the warnings being issued to every nation on earth, and surface ships prowled the waves looking for their prey.

Meanhwile, the delegation from Hurtful Thoughts was welcomed into the Chancellory with open arms by Brightlight, who hoped that this could be an invitation to improve relations between the two nations, and hopefully help to keep HT out of the war, and possibly even procure Hurtian supplies for further warfare. This was unlikely, but it was still a possibility in the mind of the Chancellor.

The Telviran armada carrying the 17th Infantry Division and the 34th Armored Brigade approached Polarussian waters. The convoy had a large ASW screen and had aircraft from the light carrier Sikara to provide cover as well. The leader of the ground force contacted the Polarussians and gave them the offer of support and asked where they wanted the Telvirans.

OOC-Blackhelm, do you mind allowing my troops through? That way I can get a "Pusan Perimeter" type thing going...

Port Mavis

"Exponent? What would Exponent be doing with an attack wave off the Cape?" Vice Admiral Giallo set down his beer in order to take the mouthpiece of his stemmed telephone in hand and get to his feet. Turning to his office's broad windows he could look out over the port, the light cruiser St.Thomas and the carrier Minos dominating his view from this position. "Mh." He grunted. "Well, send up one-oh-four flight, tell them to have a poke around, and then you get back to me, eh?"

The Vice Admiral set down the telephone and picked up his beer, a Slope's Imperial Bitter poured from a can in which it had been transported from the home islands to this distant colony, then returned to the window. Four minutes later he could just see a quartet of Wychwood Wren fighters making their way out to sea on what would turn out to be their last sortie.

Moments later, just beyond Giallo's sight, the four RWN Wrens found themselves entangled in a hopelessly one-sided dogfight with fifty hostile fighters and their hundred wards. Against the CC-112, the Wren had about a fifteen knot speed advantage and greater agility, but against the NA5 it gave away almost twenty knots and losts its aerobatic edge. The only advantage was the rather pitiful armament of the enemy aircraft: each Walmingtonian fighter carried a battery greater than three NA5s, and so while a relatively short burst from their .33" guns would tear open a flimsy Exponential fighter, the Wrens each took a concentrated attack before their inevitable overwhelming. RWN aviators were actually a little better trained than their RWAF counterparts, but against these odds in a surprise attack the four could not even hope to really slow the incoming wave.

As the sky over Port Mavis began to be dappled with inbound carrier strike fighters, Vice Admiral Giallo could only exclaim, "Good Lord!" as half a glass of bitter fell from his grasp in time with the first torpedo dropped into the deep waters of the port.

Milkfloat was still broadcasting reports to Wimbley Common, the port's aviation control centre, alerting controlers to the fact that fighters in Exponent's colours were engaging 104 Flight, but confusion and complacency remained in the ascendancy for several crucial minutes before RWAF Port Mavis was even made privy to the Navy's information, and a whole squadron of Wren fighters -twenty-four airframes- remained grounded just a few miles away as the first explosions jarred the South Seas Fleet.

Giallo saw a couple of 30kg bombs burst harmlessly upon the armoured flight deck of the Minos before St.Thomas was struck on the superstructure by a 250kg weapon that tore open the roof of the conning tower.

1" and .50 calibre anti-aircraft fire was going up from a few stationary vessels around Port Mavis, but most of the heavy batteries were less readily manned by skeleton crews aboard many of the idle warships, and likewise on the docks it was a few small calibre weapons that were most quickly put into action, and even so the majority remained silent. Even in the Anti-Fascist War the Cape Colonies hadn't worried about anything more than submarine harrassment of passing merchantmen, and a hundred and fifty aircraft assault on the port was foremost in nobody's mind before today.

Seven minutes into the battle, with all four RWN fighters shot-down and smoke billowing from the cruisers St.Thomas, Lesotho and Baltic as well as two destroyers, and with Knave listing dramatically having broken free of her moorings, the first RWAF fighters appeared overhead. Half a dozen Wrens flying in two V-forms entered the fray, soon to be joined by the rest of their squadron, but the inferior tactics of the Air Force were likely to be exposed against the fast moving enemy, and even as the first bursts of machinegun fire rung out, Minos was struck amidships by an air-dropped torpedo.

Attempting, often still in tight formation, to run-down torpedo bombers making attack runs on the ships below, one Wren after another was splashed, often without even seeing the incoming NA5 as the V-form proved its worthlessness yet again. The Vice Admiral was close to tearing out his remaining hair as he watched the Air Force's farce unfold at the expense of his ships, the now burning escort carrier Bishop proving far less resiliant to bombs impacting on her cost-cutting wooden deck.

A few miles out from Port Mavis was the aged Morridane cruiser HMMS Boudica, was sailing home from distant waters to face the cutter's touch as part of her decommissioning. Her magazines were largely empty save for small arms and machine gun ammo to defend herself with, her turrets having been made in-operate due to the ship's impending withdrawal from service.

The skeleton crew were not prepared for battle when action-stations were called upon a mass wave of aircraft being spotted bound for the Walmingtonian colony. A message was hastily boardcasted to Port Mavis whilst the Boudica lazily turned to face the oncoming planes, a move that would hopefully reduce the chances of a torpedo strike if the planes decided to attack the Morridane vessel.

All the crew had left to do now was to hope that the planes dismissed the aged cruiser like a person would dismiss a fly...

Meanwhile, in Polarus, the situation had ended nearly as quickly as it began. Within a matter of weeks, the entire countryside was seized by the fast moving Imperial tanks, and now all that was left was to capture a few key cities, which had since the beginning been under seige. The Imperial Army would now begin to see its first real resistance on land as it moved into the cities of Al-Kahril and Mossaw.

Meanhwile, the delegation from Hurtful Thoughts was welcomed into the Chancellory with open arms by Brightlight, who hoped that this could be an invitation to improve relations between the two nations, and hopefully help to keep HT out of the war, and possibly even procure Hurtian supplies for further warfare. This was unlikely, but it was still a possibility in the mind of the Chancellor.
C. A. Baker and his associates arrived without incident, although one was visably shaken from whatever they saw when flying over Polarus. The ground crew promptly unloaded their things.

"So where is this gringo were supposed to meet?"

Several ships were also sent around the coast, to enforce a strict blockade against any attempt to supply the failing nation. Submarines lurked in the waters, ready to sink any ship that ignored the warnings being issued to every nation on earth, and surface ships prowled the waves looking for their prey.
A number of tramp steamers flying under the Hurtian flag had broken rank with their convoys in order to make stops at nearby ports due to a surge of cholera outbreaks, hoping to recieve medical treatment in Polarus.

They flew the yellow ensign of a quarantine-ship. It was early dawn with the sun rising in the east.

The Boudica was not touched by the Imperial pilots, who blew past the aging war ship, some of them waving to the Morridane sailors as they went. There was no need, at least not at this point, to create any more enemies than was necessary.

Meanwhile, the scene over Port Mavis was an awesome one for the pilots of the Empire. Only a handful of their planes had gone down in the surprise attack, but the Walmingtonian fleet was in ruin. Billows of smoke rose high into the sky as the massive ships of the foreign colonizers tipped into the oil filled water. Exponential pilots began making their final passes at the mighty machines, as the NA5's made their final strafes against the enemy postions on shore. As the aircraft began to leave the smouldering harbor, the message was sent out from one of the flight leaders.

"Laurus! Victoria! Laurus!"

Admiral Benenatus smiled as the news came over the radio, and turned from the window overlooking the carrier deck back towards the other officers on the bridge. With a smile, he announced to his colleages a message which would be written down in the history textbooks of Exponent and later the Confederacy for years to come.

"This, men, is the first step in a war that will decide the fate of the Empire. The blow we have struck today will either force the foreigners to leave after seeing their fleet crippled, or will bring about the wrath of the world upon us and our allies. Today, the fate of our Empire has been sealed, be it for better or for worse. I hope that all of you men will stand behind me to see just where this path will lead us."

Benenatus believed that the Empire would prevail, but he still maintained reservations about the war. Should Walmington and her allies decide to use their full military might, Exponent, and even her ally in Pyeki would not be able to hold out against the sheer power arrayed against them. Soon after announcing what he believed, he telegrammed High Command, informing them of the events at Port Mavis, and also asking them to do what they could to find more allies, should the need arise. High Command would soon find a new ally, in the nation of Ralkovia, and Chancellor Brightlight was quick to attempt to win their charm.

In Paradise City, a car had arrived to escort the Hurtian delegation back to the Chancellory, where Brightlight was eagerly awaiting Mr. Baker's arrival. The entire building was lavishly adorned with the Triskelion symbol of his regime, and massive dragons, the symbol of the Exponential Empire, adorned the flag poles not just at the Chancellory, but all over the city.

Of the coast of Polarus, a pair of Tonitruum class destroyers, the Pygargus and the Panthera , moved to meet the Hurtian vessels. The two ships moved in and blocked the path of the oncoming vessels, and then radioed the Hurtians. They warned them not to advance any further, and that they were enetering a restricted area.

King Darcia D. Fell the I was happily enjoying a glass of brandy in his study when an aide entered with a piece of paper. King Fell whilst being a king in name and birth right, he was far from it in nature. The people said he was more like a president then a king due to the way he dressed, the way he acted and the way he presented himself to his people. Instead of fur robes, large jewellery and a pompous crown, he wore a simple black suit with a blue and white striped tie, a little wolf's head badge pined to his suit. He looked up from his glass of brandy and the paper next to it with the headline "Expotent becoming more potent?", the aide who had entered his study was his military liaison officer, Leftenant Colonel Barcly.

"Colonel Barcly, how can I help you on this cold morning?" The king asked as he waved to the window, outside there was a light snow making the roof tops of the imperial palace. Barcly remained silent as he strode over and placed the simple piece of paper down on Darcia's desk he stood back and stared silently at him. Cautious now, Darcia placed his glass down and picked up the piece of paper, his eyes scanning over the contents. "Is this confirmed? Have we recived the proper confirmation words?

"Yes my King, confirmed by observers in nearby ports as well. Expotent as launched a full on surprise attack on Walmington on Sea" Darcia stared at the report, shocked for a moment. He knew Expotent was on a fanatical drive but he never expected for them to actually take on a larger nation. "I have already raised the defence fleet's readiness. We just need you to give the order for overall increase in readiness, my king"

"Very well, raise all alert levels, begin an increased recruiting campaign and make sure our early warning systems are online. I will contact Walmigton" Snapping a salute, Barcly left the study at a brisk pace. Leaning back in his chair Darcia sighed, it was only ten AM and he was already tired.

There were two well-placed Iansislean observers to the shooting gallery at Port Mavis. One could be expected: Lieutenant Paul Attwood, IN, the omnipresent Naval Intelligence Office's primary man in the Cape Colony. He had already noted the departure of a small squadron to parts unknown, assumed to be part of routine exercises. Attwood, like most in the Iansislean Navy, regarded the Walmies' fleet as a quaint rural cousin and took the massacre as something that could never -- would never -- happen in his own country. As they were discovered, causality figures were relayed to the local consulate and from there along the established lines of the NIO back to Lenore Room under the Admiralty House.

The other observer was perhaps something more surprising: Harold Northen, the famous naturalist. He had been in the Cape Colony studying the social and reproductive habits of the bontebok and other highveld antelope for his forthcoming study of African mammals. If Lieutenant Attwood viewed the situation with detached bemusement, Northen was becoming quite the ardent Walmingtonian nationalist. Standing on the high road perhaps closer to the action than was prudent, Northen cheered every Walmy victory and moaned at every Wren to splash or bomb hit on a ship.

It was a few tense minutes onboard the Boudica as the vast wave of planes flew overhead, the crew waited with finger poised on the triggers of their rifles and machine guns. Fortunately the planes flew harmlessly overhead, clearly uninterested in the sole vessel, a great sigh went up amongst the crew of a crisis averted.

However the Walmingtonian weren't responding the Morridane transmissions, though there was no doubt that Port Mavis was being attacked though there was little that the Boudica could do aside from helping with recovery efforts in the battle's aftermath. The captain gave the order to turn back to see if there was any help they could offer.

Official Statement
From the Office of the President of the Republic

It is my considered opinion and that of the National Assembly that the unprovoked attacks on Walmington on Sea in Ceyloba and on the Cape will destabilize the world and are a humanitarian disaster. After conversation with the other presidents of the Federation, we must insist on presenting a unified front against such unilateral action. If an immediate cease-fire is declared amongst the warring parties, the Republic will host a conference of all parties to come to an equitable settlement.

God save the Republic,

N. Ranalte, President

((ooc: copied and pasted from the other thread. See this post (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?p=14734294#post14734294) for the entire post.))

As the Hurtian diplomats were arriving, Imperial High Command was already preparing their next step to crush the colonizers and expand Exponential borders and ideology even further. The news of the victories over Walmington on Sea had given the Imperial military minds the confidence to carry out their next mission, and before long, another expansionist power would be sent reeling, this time much closer to the Exponential homeland.

Within a week of the attacks around the world on Walmingtonian assets, a massive flight of A33 heavy bombers began taxiing down the runways around the southernmost city of the Empire, in Bungussi, which today is the capital of the independant state of Bungussi-Djanvalaland. Forty-three of the Angelbridge manufactured aircraft took off over the jungle, but rather than carrying bombs, all but three carried a different type of payload.

The forty bombers each carried three BA3 Parasītus fighters each, all packing a significant amount of incendiary rounds. The revolutionary tactic drew heavily upon the findings of the Soviet Zveno project in the 30's, and now the Imperial Air Force was hoping to test these findings. The other three bombers contained a full loadout of bombs, which they would use to hit key positions around the port near the Exponential Cape where the Wolf Hold had set up their colony.

The BA3's were not the only things the forty bombers contained. Within their bodies, paratroopers awaited their orders to jump. As soon as the Exponential aircraft had reached their intended drop point, a dozen men would jump from each plane, leaping through the open bomb bay doors from their now cramped positions, hopfeully to float down and seize the harbor below. Should this mission fail, none of the aircraft were given enough fuel to make it home, and the operation would be a total loss.

Meanwhile, across the continent, Imperial forces began marching proudly through the newly captured Al-Kahril, leaving only one more major holdout in all of Polarus, the besieged city of Mossaw. Within the city, food was running low, and Exponential forces made sure that power and water was cut off from getting into the city.

Port Mavis

The Iansislian, Northen, had not been alone at his vantage point on this historic day. Hermione Bagley, doe-eyed daughter of the Governor General, planned to attend the University of Cape Town next year, to study biology and natural history, and had lately taken to trailing about after the visiting naturalist. She had noticed -and forgotten- the departure of four RWN Wrens flying with what she took to be uncommon haste and purpose, and continued with her day, collecting a few flowers and seeds for pressing as she walked along the road, having noticed Mr.Northen near-by. It took her longer to spot the incoming aircraft from Exponent, and when she did it was the strangest feeling of the young woman's life. An unsettling drone filled her ears as the clearly not-right spectacle of a hundred and fifty massed aircraft unfolded over the port. She tried to maintain the proper demeanour but, despite not having a way to know what it all meant, certainly felt a good deal of fear. Hermione hurried up the road, taking a corner that meant she would miss the first actions of the battle, to find Northen flailing his arms about as the first bombs struck Minos.

As the battle's most intense period gave way to a gradual lull, a cursory assessment told of seventeen Wrens shot down (four naval, thirteen air force), two large harbourside warehouses and several other buildings alight, the Gull Class corvette C-12 blown to smithereens, the three Falcon Class destroyers Fairy, Fashionable and Fulmar sinking or critically damaged and burning, three Kentonshire Class light cruisers Lesotho, Saint Thomas and Knave badly hit with the latter capsizing in the middle of the harbour, the Wayne Class heavy cruiser Baltic going down quickly by her stern after two torpedo hits, the Sparrow Class escort carrier Bishop gutted by fire, and the Phoenician Class 1st rate carrier Minos rendered inoperable and the focus of a frantic effort to avert her sinking. The first truly modern battleship built entirely in Walmington, King Godfrey I, had been straffed and bombed in the dying moments of the battle by the last CC-112 to make its attack, and though in no danger of sinking had suffered extensive damage across her superstructure and would need perhaps months of repair before she was up to scratch.

The heavy cruisers Rock Dove and Bear had not been spared the attentions of the enemy, but both had come through with light to moderate damage. Bear's main rudder was stuck but she was otherwise intact, and Rock Dove had suffered only shrapnel damage to her upper workings and several direct hits by 30kg bombs that had failed to make a significant impression. Numerous destroyers were likewise superficially damaged, and like Rock Dove those that were partially manned during the action had sustained casualties as splinters flew. In all some 1,207 Walmingtonians had been killed and more than 1,800 wounded, more than two thirds of them military personnel, primarily from the RWN.

Preliminary Loss Overview
1 battleship out of action
1 fleet carrier out of action, possibly damaged beyond recovery
1 escort carrier sunk
1 heavy cruiser sunk
3 light cruisers sunk or damaged beyond recovery
3 destroyers sunk
1 corvette sunk
17 fighters shot-down
Several port buildings destroyed
1,207 killed, ~1,800 wounded

The wider Cape

The first Walmingtonian Cape colonies had been established 314 years ago, and the current Governor General Lord Christopher Bagley would be damned if he'd be the man who lost this foothold.

Some way from the action, in Cape Town, Lord Bagley and his military attaché surveyed a chart covered in coloured pins while the Governor's secretary dashed back and forth with word from Port Mavis. "They must be off here, somewhere, but it isn't good. They've hit Good Godfrey and Minos, and one of the Wayners is going down." the attaché said, adding to earlier reports about the light cruisers. "Maybe so" replied Bagley, "but they'll have to answer to somebody."

Urgent signals were sent to Captain Henry Bingham aboard HWMS Brixton. The Eden Class battlecruiser was leading a squadron comprised of the 1st rate carrier Typhon, the cruisers Kite and Thresher, and the destroyer Fulgent on an exercise announced only hours before they'd been hurried out to sea, Vice Admiral Giallo having decided that the response to recent disturbances on the Cape had been seriously wanting in promptness. Seek and destroy was about the gist of it.

Including half a dozen Wheatear floatplanes aboard the Brixton, Kite and Thresher, the squadron had sixty-four aircraft to call upon, and a wide area aerial search was immediately begun, helped greatly by the fact that Milkfloat was still airborne and now shadowing the Exponential planes as they headed back towards their carriers.

The transmission from Boudica was now belatedly brought to the attention of Vice Admiral Giallo and Lord Bagley in their respective headquarters, and Giallo requested any information the ship from Morrdh could give on the heading and position of the inbound attackers at the time of their sighting.

Swallow Bank House, Great Walmington, Walmington on Sea

Prime Minister George Mainwaring, after breaking news of the attacks on Port Mavis and Vollumbo to an alarmed public, announced that the Empires of Exponent and Peiki would be given twelve hours to cease hostilities and indicate their intention to attend the proposed conference in the Gull Flag Republic, "...to discuss substantial recompense and stern probationary measures", and that if no such undertaking were received by the expiration of this time period a state of war would be officially declared by the Walmingtonian Empire upon the aggressors.

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PM Mainwaring addresses the world

While the American conflict had left a generation jaded by futile war, Walmington's youth was in no small part hankering for a chance to restore the nation's dented pride. The First Anti-Fascist War had ended in disappointing stalemate, and now a naive age group saw a chance for a second, more decisive campaign.

The Boudica relaid its log of the inbound attackers, the report contain detailed on the strength of the attacking force along with position and projected course at the time of sighting. The Morridane vessel also transmitted that it had spotted some of the enemy planes as they withdrew and gave an estimated heading.

Finally it transmitted the offer of assistance with the post-battle recovery, chiefly the rescue and treatment of casualties.

OOC-Unfortunately, I'm going to have to drop out of this thread due to RL issues. Sorry.

It seemed Ralkovia would be drawn into this war. Well it was okay with Ralkovia as far as Emperor Justintine "Joshua" Raskov was concerned. It was the perfect pretext to run over the Estlonian colony of St. Marx. The small colony had bordered Ralkovian interests in the African continent.

This was of course a distraction, the trumpet of war had outplayed the cries of famine and pestilence that had plagued the Empire for the past 60 years. The coffers of the grand imperial power of the world now laid empty and the spirit of war called for alchemy to fill them once again. Lead and young men's blood would create prosperity. So the Rjekguard was mobilized. Using the same tactic as the blackhelmians, heavy bombers and fighters clearing the way for light tanks and infantry transports allowed Ralkovia to overwhelm and eat up the colony of St. Marx in little more than a week.

Over 20,000 soldiers took St. Marx with only minor casualties inflicted but the treasury was soon filled with the spoils of war. Paintings, valuables, and slaves were taken and split among the country. Ralkovia could have easily walked out of the alliance its thirst for wealth and land had been staked by the fruitful oil and riches. However now Ralkovia wanted more. It had been weakening over the years but now now it looked like it was on top of the world. A move was made one that would be remembered for years.

"RALKOVIA DECLARES WAR ON WALMINGTON AS PART OF THE DICTATORS PACT" read the newspapers of Ralkovia. Of course this was merely a declaration of war and no troops would be present for a while.

The next target of the Imperial Fleet was going to be to the north, in the islands of Sao Tome and Principe. The three carriers and their escorts, returning from their successful attack on Port Mavis, would meet up with strike group Grypsis, and begin the strike.

Strike group Grypsis consisted of three Episcopus class light carrier, Nonna, Metropolita, and Archimandrita, a number of destroyers, and several landing craft. The goal of the force was to establish a foothold on Walmingtonian Africa, and from there begin their assault on the rest of the continent. Once again, if any luck was to be had, another successful blow would be landed upon the foreign colonizers, and the Empire of Exponent would see victory once again.

Meanwhile, the response to the Walmingtonian was a simple one, which the Exponential embassador did not even bother to translate. The note was left at the Walmingtonian Parliament, and read as follows:

Sic vis pacem para bellum

Walmington

"...having received no such undertaking by the stroke of that hour, and being in receipt of this declaration from Ralkovia, it is my somber duty to inform you all that, for the third time in my career as a public servant, this country is at war. War with the Empires of Exponent, Peiki, and Ralkovia. Suaviter in modo, fortiter in re. God save the King."

Despite more than a thousand deaths and the loss of a large part of her navy, the Empire had calmly offered its attackers the chance to make peace, and, rejected, the time for firm deeds was come. If there was a country on earth that knew what it meant to fight total war against Fascism, Walmington was surely it. Having been poised for twelve hours, Walmington's renowned Home Guard became officially mobilised, and the register drawn up and kept reasonably accurate through the last conflicts used to hurry its organisation. The Empire may appear exposed, but the home islands could be defended by one of the largest fighting forces known to man, even if the bulk of that was made up by those unfit for the army.

A fresh recruitment drive for the regular armed forces swung immediately into action, and even before PM Mainwaring's wireless broadcast was complete there were young boys filling the streets with posters calling young men to arms. Factories and workshops began the impressively rapid and formidable conversion to war production, many being run with a dual use capacity in mind after Walmington's conflicts with Germany, America, Ercolana, Chiang Mai, Hainan, and others, and the nation's large register of fast merchant ships began war time duties, armaments being mounted on some while others set out between Empire and home.

None of this would be in time to help with the defence of St.Thomas and Prince's Island, but Captain Bingham and HWMS Brixton's squadron in the South Atlantic just might.

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Prime Minister Mainwaring, pictured in his RWA Captain's uniform, appeals to His Majesty's subjects; for King, Country, St.Aldhelm and St.George!

Off the Cape Colonies

With Milkfloat following the attack wave on its way back to the carriers and the information sent by Boudica, a Wheatear floatplane from Bingham's battlecruiser had sighted the Ciconia, still awaiting the return of her fighters, and the rest of the fleet was assumed to be near by.

HWMS Typhon, sister to the crippled Minos, turned into the wind and began launching her complement of twenty-six Wheatear torpedo bombers and thirty-two Wren fighters.

Though first used in the Spanish Civil War, the RWN had begun to make standard the use of droptanks to extend the range of its aircraft, further reinforcing the fact of its greater modernity against the RWAF. Though the Wheatear was a biplane, it was driven by a 1,020hp engine turning an all metal three blade variable pitch propeller, and sported retractable landing gear, making for a machine capable of reasonable speeds as well as great agility, and the same propeller unit was fitted to RWN carrier-borne Wrens, making them superior to RWAF types.

The launch was piecemeal, part of the airwing having been fitted with droptanks while the rest would need some moments for the tanks -standing ready- to be mounted. Typhon was two hundred miles from the enemy carriers, and though all of its air wing could get there and back, doing so would live little room for error after combat while flying with tanks would leave the pilots free to use as much fuel as they liked in fighting the enemy.

With fourteen torpedo-carrying biplanes and sixteen fighters in the first wave, Walmington's first counter attack was being attempted. Though three quarters of an hour divided the Walmingtonian carrier and its targets it was very much hoped that the recovery of the bulk of a hundred and fifty aircraft from an operation far over the horizon would mean that the enemy air wing would not have had time to return to and reassemble upon its carriers when the first of Typhon's aircraft arrived to attack them.

Meanwhile, the battlecruiser Brixton, heavy cruiser Kite, and light cruiser Thresher broke from Typhon, leaving her with the destroyer Fulgent, and accelerated to just over thirty knots -or around 35 miles per hour- in the direction of the enemy force, not knowing their chances of catching up though it would take over five hours to reach their position as reported at this moment.

St.Thomas and Prince's Island

With a combined population of just seventy-five thousand, these islands perhaps did not appear likely to be the jewel in Walmington's imperial crown. They were, however, protectorates of the crown, and politically distinct from other territories. They belonged to HRH King Godfrey III and were administered by his son and heir, Prince Edryd Newry, who spent four months a year practicing his family business on the islands. The Prince was due to depart in May, to begin his four months on Newry Island, just off the south coast of the Walmingtonian mainland, and refused to leave early despite the exposed nature of this outpost.

Four hundred St.Thomasians and Prince's Islanders and one hundred Newrians made up the Heir's elite personal guard. Defences were boosted by a small local constabulary -these islands were one of the happier and more stable parts of the 'Walmosphere'-, and 2 Commando Royal Walmingtonian Marines, on station as a rapid reaction force covering both islands with the ability to deploy quickly to Togoland and, if necessary, to Walmingtonian West Africa and the Cape Colonies. This force had been recently augmented with armour, artillery, and air support after terrorist incidents in Togoland and widespread unrest in the Cape.

In all, the colony had only a couple of thousand men at arms, but the vast majority of them were elite troops with the most modern equipment available in the Empire.

#3 Jameston Place
Ianapalis, Iansisle

"Well, that's it." A newspaper flopped down on the table. It was the Star-Tribune, late edition. "Walmington's declared war."

Nicodemo Ranalte looked up at his Director of Foreign Affairs. Ben Rinehart had been an old man when he first marched with Charles Bradsworth at the beginning of the Revolution; now, a decade, a disastrous premiership and a coup attempt later, he looked positively ancient. His eyes were dark gaps in his face, his cheeks were sunken, his hair was a gray wisp surrounded by liver spots.

"You never expected them to take our offer," Rinehart said, sinking into a chair.

"No. No, I did not. It was political grandstanding at its finest. But grandstanding can have its uses." Ranalte leaned over and pressed a button rather ungraciously grafted onto his two-hundred-year-old mahogany desk. "Come in, Subdirector."

Peter Inden, the Subdirector of War for the Admiralty, walked into the Foreign Director's office. He had obviously been waiting just outside the room.

"Pete, Walmington's at war. I'm sure you'll appreciate the timing of it. My second anniversary is just two months from now. Do you think it can be ready by then?"

"What can be ready?" asked Rinehart. "I need to be in on this, Mr President."

"They'll be ready, sir," said Inden. "Even if I have to tow them from Mansmouth myself."

"It will be quite a celebration."

GFS Titan
Mansmouth, Iansisle

For almost two years, Titan had laid silent and black in the Mansmouth Roads. One of Ranalte's first orders after being 'elected' had been the mothballing of Iansisle's fleet. Eight of her eleven battleships, two of her four battlecruisers, four of her eight fleet carriers and all of her escort carriers had been laid up in ordinary and allowed to rust at their moorings. But now, the order had come from Ianapalis: the President wanted a show for his second anniversary, and nothing spoke to the Iansislean people better than a long line of ships firing massive ordinance.

Titan was soon swarming with contractors documenting where the years of neglect had worn at her and calculating the price of repairs. Some wondered whether the President would truly appreciate the value of this anniversary present for himself. After all, wasn't the country still struggling under the massive weight of debt that it had incurred fighting Effit? But orders were orders, and the same scene replayed itself at dockyards around the Republic, from Mansmouth to Furthingham to Ianapalis itself.

In Paradise City, a car had arrived to escort the Hurtian delegation back to the Chancellory, where Brightlight was eagerly awaiting Mr. Baker's arrival. The entire building was lavishly adorned with the Triskelion symbol of his regime, and massive dragons, the symbol of the Exponential Empire, adorned the flag poles not just at the Chancellory, but all over the city.As the Hurtian diplomats were arriving, Imperial High Command was already preparing their next step to crush the colonizers and expand Exponential borders and ideology even further. The news of the victories over Walmington on Sea had given the Imperial military minds the confidence to carry out their next mission, and before long, another expansionist power would be sent reeling, this time much closer to the Exponential homeland.
Envoy C. A. Baker greeted Chancellor D. Brightlight with a smile and a bow and asked if such blatant display of nationalism was absolutely necessary in recently occupied states.

Of the coast of Polarus, a pair of Tonitruum class destroyers, the Pygargus and the Panthera , moved to meet the Hurtian vessels. The two ships moved in and blocked the path of the oncoming vessels, and then radioed the Hurtians. They warned them not to advance any further, and that they were enetering a restricted area.
QRZ? CQM CQM CQM. Rpt SS Devonshie TO Pol CQM.

The ships slowed, but maintained their course, the stacks putting out exceptionally large amounts of smoke and steam. On each mast was a large checkered yellow/black square pendant. In the prows of a few of the ships, passengers could be seen waiving towards the Exponential ships that had come to greet them.

Towards the convoy, a Hurtian corvette, an armed and disguised merchantship, changed course to investigate the radio-disturbance from a distance.

The Fang, The Empire of The Wolf

King Fell was writing a telegram which he intended to send to Walmigton on Sea as soon as possible. His nation, its colonies and himself were outraged by the Expotent's unwarranted attack on Port Mavis, there were many crying out for a declaration of war against the Expotent and now their apparent ally Ralkovia. Fell was in complete agreement with these voices as he finished the telegram and passed it on to be sent with all haste to Walmigton on Sea.

To: Prime Minister George Mainwaring of Walmington on Sea
From: King Darcia Fell the I of The Empire of the Wolf
subject: Outrage and support

Dear Mr Mainwaring

We first wish to offer our condolences on the losses of so many of your brave sailors, airmen and other citizens on the despicable attack on Port Mavis by the Empire of Expotent. Such an attack can not go un-punished or forgotten, we wish to offer you are full support in any matters relating to The Empire of Expotent, as you receive this I will be meeting with my key advisors on how to pursue the next several days in regards to this recent outbreak of un-warranted militarism on behalf of Expotent and its ally Ralkovia. We also have heard that Ralkovia has 'declared' war upon your good country for no reason what so ever, for that you also have our support in dealing with Ralkovia. All I need is your wish for us to support you and you will have it.

Yours sincerely King Fell the I


Meanwhile.....
Makforth Garrison, Naval and Air Station

Commodore Varin looked over his command from the top of the air traffic control tower. His command consisted of the medium sized joint services military base that was nestled in a valley about three miles away from the civilian colony. The Makforth GNA Station basically consisted of a port with basic harbour facilities, an airstrip and supporting facilities for the airbase and two barracks complexes. The air traffic control tower and base control bunker sat next to each other to enable ease of communication, it housed two squadrons of Hawker Hurricanes, a squadron of Supermarine spitfires and a flight of Handly Page Halifax’s as its air complement. Its naval complement consisted of a Hawkins-class cruiser and three River-class frigates and to round off the full joint service garrison Charlie, Fox and Golden company of the 25th Light Infantry regiment with support from Cracker company of the 81st Light Tank regiment and detachments from the 105th Artillery regiment. It was a pleasant day over Makforth GNA Station, however soon the skies would be full of Expotent plane and paratroopers. Not that Makforth wasn’t equipped to deal with such an attack, the base was littered with 3, 3.7, 4.5, 5.25 inch AA guns in bunkers and emplacements as well as 40mm Bofors AA cannons lining the control tower and runway.

The attack on Makforth had been planned for some time before the Empire had finally decided to actually go to war, and now it was finally time to see if all of the long sleepless nights spent by many an Imperial military man would prove worth the effort. Dozens of the small BA3's began their movements, rolling off the wings or dropping from beneath the much larger A33's. After a few moments of the terrifying fall, the little aircraft began to pull up, and began their maneuvers, a hundred and twenty of them in all.

The Parasītus' were also flying cover missions for the bombers, most of which were packed full of some of Exponent's most elite men. The three that were not, the ones full of bombs, flew a bit ahead of the other forty. They were beginning to prepare for the assault, making sure everything necessary was in order for the attack. In a few moments, six thousand kilograms worth of bombs would be falling upon the defenses of the colony below.

Off of the coast of Polarus, the destroyers stayed in the path of the Hurtian vessels, denying them entry to the area. If Hurtful Thoughts wanted to get in, they would need to literally ram their way through the Imperial destroyers.

In Paradise City, Brightlight eagerly shook Baker's hand and led him through the ornately decorated Chancellory, explaining how nationalism is something that the people need to restore faith in their country, until they finally came to the meeting room. A grand oak table sat in the center of the room, and Decimus beseeched him to choose a seat around it. Overhead, an expensive chandalier dangled, and around the room were portraits of various men considered to be heroes of Exponent. Massive windows allowed the sun to sign in on the meeting, and a servant soon appeared with a bottle of expensive whiskey in one hand, and a pair of glasses in the other, which he set on the table and began to fill. The press was already outside ready for photo ops, and everything seemed good, at least for the time being.

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Photograph of Decimus Brightlight

The carriers and their escorts were still some time away from joining up with strike group Grypsis, and were busy trying to get their planes refueled and back in the air when the first of the Walmingtonian aircraft appeared as small dots over the horizon. Admiral Benenatus was shocked with the rapid response from the colonial power, who he was sure would not strike back for at least some days. Only a handful of the NA5's were actually refueled and ready to face the oncoming enemy aircraft. Six of the nimble fighters soon flew up to meet the Walmingtonian Wrens in a much similar fashion to the opening actions of the ambush of Port Mavis, which only hours before were being ridiculed by these same pilots.

Meanwhile, the destroyers of the carrier group pulled up as close as possible to the three large carriers in an attempt to screen the inevitable torpedo attack. It was now only a matter of time to see what kind of destruction the daring attack would bring about.

Super-Highwayman piston engines hummed a relentless pattern fit to send a baby to sleep as, forty-six minutes after launching, the air-wing of His Walmingtonian Majesty's Ship Typhon finally brought the Exponential fleet into view. Perhaps it was good fortune and the hand of a god who appreciated proper Anglican observation, but then again perhaps it was just the fact that these invaders had sent a fleet against an important colony that lay on a major shipping lane and been sighted by a third party in Boudica and neglected to silence a defensive spy in Milkfloat.

"Goldbar from Gold Leader, reporting places set." - "Roger, Gold Leader, serve when ready."
"Red Leader, fish course for table one." - "Roger, Gold Leader. Red Section, with me."

Coming to bombing speed, six Wheatear biplanes began to descend and line-up an attack run against the carrier Ciconia, while the remaining eight split into two quartets and began to circle broadly about the enemy fleet in preparation for their own attacks.

"One of the Drunks is trying to get in my way, Red Leader... I'm going to try to put mine under him! Red Four, with me!" One of the attacking aircraft indicated that he was going to try dropping his fish so that it went deep enough to get under the destroyer in his path without also going under the big carrier further ahead, meaning that he and Red Four would probably try to drop them just short of it while the remaining four biplanes would carry their torpedoes over the destroyer and hope they weren't then too close to attack the carrier effectively.

"Gold Leader, we have a party of six walk-ins, looks like Black Shucks" - "Roger, Green Leader, you're with me... let's get them seated."

The eight Wrens of Gold and Green Sections were vectored to meet the six VA5s, and made sure to come at them from a greater altitude than that at which Red Section was attacking the fleet, hoping to keep the defensive fighters as far from the biplanes as possible. They did seem to be going for the Wrens, which was all right by the Walmingtonians.

Grey Section's four Wrens, meanwhile, launched an attack of their own. Armed only with six medium machineguns they couldn't possibly sink a fleet carrier, but if they were to find a deck crowded with newly recovered aircraft they could certainly give it a good strafing and perhaps tear-up some thin-skinned fighters. The remaining four Wrens circled high overhead while two quartets of Wheatears prepared their own attacking runs on the other carriers.

The destroyers threw up a massive smokescreen in an attempt to throw off the aim of the oncoming torpedoes. As they did this, the two twin mounted forty millimeter anti-aircraft guns began to fill the air with lead, the thirteen millimeters following up soon after, displaying surprisingly long range for a machine gun, reaching out to an effective range of three thousand meters, with stray bullets flying even farther. The Wheatear's slow speed would hopefully play to the advantage of the Imperial Fleet, something which Admiral Benenatus had prayed for.

The one hundred and twenty millimeter guns were also quickly being loaded to provide support for the fleet. Crew members scrambled about to load their guns full of shrapnel shells, set to explode on timers. They would, hopefully, act as a sort of flak gun to assist in the defense of the carriers.

Aboard the carriers, the bombers were being rushed beneath the decks as soon as possible while men tried to pump fuel and ammunition into the fighters as fast as possible. The first wave was beginning to close in on the Ciconia, however, and time was running short.

As they closed on the enemy, the WRN fliers were aware that intelligence on this enemy newly-made may not be flawless, and were less certain of what they faced than had been the case when they took on German and American opposition. It was believed that the enemy's destroyers were Tonitruum Class, understood to be smaller than Walmington's Falcons, perhaps marginally faster due to a relatively impressive power output, but SOW had it that while their primary and torpedo batteries were basically identical, a single Falcon Class destroyer carried an anti-aircraft battery comparable to perhaps three Tonitruums (DP main guns being equal and aside). If the firepower of the enemy's nippy little fighter aircraft was any indication, intelligence may actually be correct about this one, or so the pilots very much hoped... because the enemy's Corvus Class aircraft carriers were said to be armoured like a battlecruiser, and expected to be jolly hard to sink. Walmington's equivalent had only a little over a third of the belt armour of a Corvus, for example, and much lighter main guns, but once again the air-defence capability of a Corvus was in some question.

This wasn't actually much comfort in truth. At a guess, fourteen 25mm guns could be aligned by a single carrier against four or six incoming aircraft, which was nothing compared to the thick AAA defences of a Phoenecian Class fleet carrier, but still not to be enjoyed.

The Exponential navy, though, would be shown that a wave of well-piloted military aircraft flying at two hundred miles per hour could perhaps not be reliably defended against by destroyers with only two mid calibre anti-aircraft weapons and a couple of heavy machineguns (Walmington was yet to discern whether all guns could even be brought to bear in the same direction, or whether they were situated on opposite sides of the ship) plus a primary battery pressed into dual-purpose use. Even some Italian and Ercolanan destroyers had anti-aircraft batteries twice as strong, and some of these RWN pilots had flown against them in recent years. Only one Wheatear was brought down by fire from the destroyers, though several suffered damage from near-misses by 120 and 40 mm guns and non-critical hits by 13.2mm rounds. It was one of the 120mm weapons that brought down Red Three, doing so before he could drop his torpedo. The Wheatears and strafing Wrens would find the carriers' 25mm guns more challenging.

But, while the skilled and in many cases experienced RWN pilots were not overly intimidated by the enemy's anti-aircraft preparation, the enemy was no more likely to be impressed by Walmingtonian torpedoes. They were, on the face of it, quite advanced, having been developed hurridly in the last two years in response to Japan's deployment of the Type-91, and could be dropped in rough seas at speeds in excess of two hundred miles per hour without being destroyed or put hopelessly off course. However, their engines were underpowered, limiting their speed and range, and were unreliable, as were their relatively small warheads and tempremental fuzes. There was a reasonable prospect of torpedoes failing to detonate correctly even in the case of a direct hit, and there were serious doubts about the potential of the small warhead to take down a ship alleged to be so heavily armoured as the Corvus Class (though it's underwater protection was unknown and only assumed to be strong based on other armouring).

In the dogfighting overhead, RWN Wrens put up a better fight than had been seen over Port Mavis, using better tactics than their RWAF cousins (giving up the restrictive V-form, for example), but even with their better airscrews they were still giving away some speed to the 'Black Shucks' as Great Walmington called the VA5. Again, though, the enemy would be finding it hard to bring-down Walmingtonian aircraft with their anemic gun batteries and in big trouble when a Wren managed to get a bead on them and open-up with half a dozen comparatively powerful 8.4x63mm machineguns. With the Wren almost as agile as the VA5, it was perhaps a battle of firepower against speed.

Perhaps exactly this struggle would yet come to characterise the war at large.

((Sorry, that post was crap, I'm not sure what happened!))

The Walmingtonian torpedoes hit home against the Ciconia and the Imperial Navy was beginning to realize its flaws. Only being able to bring half of their AAA against the incoming aircraft at a time was seriously damaging the ability of the escorts to do their duty, and Benenatus noted this as he watched the havoc unleash upon his ships. The Tonitruum, after this battle, would begin to be withdrawn from active service as a fleet escort in favor of the more powerful Sphyraena class, practically the same thing with a few more AA guns, but they would not be taken out all together. They would still be heavily used in convoy escorts, and would make a burst back onto the scene towards the wars end, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves, eh?

The Ciconia absorbed much of the torpedo damage better than if she had been a more lightly armoured vessel, but still, the damage was undeniable. A slight starboard list was developed as water began to surge in through a hole punched through the ships armour where two torpeodes both struck, and the crew desperately tried to pump it out. Steering was also damaged, but only just slightly, and the attack on St. Thomas seemed like a far off idea now, with this vessel being rendered out of commission. The light carriers were still a long way away, and help from them was thus put out of range.

In the air, four more NA5’s came up to join the fray and replace their fallen brothers. Most of the original six had splashed down into the ocean, and their pilots bobbed over the waves awaiting rescue. The Willies, as the Exponential forces began calling the Wrens, were far more heavily armed than any of the Imperial aircraft, but the NA5 could reach a great speed and achieve tighter turns than almost any other fighter at the time, something which Imperial High Command had hoped would make all the difference in the war. It wasn’t the Willies that the Imperial pilots were after, however. It was the Wheatears, or Bobbies, that were the real targets. They were slower than the Wrens, made easier targets, and were the actual threat to the carriers. A pair of CC-112’s also took to the skies from the Ciconia in a vain attempt to intercept the Bobbies and protect their mothership.

From the bridge of his flag ship, the Corvus, Admiral Benenatus was amazed. The Walmingtonians were proving to be a far more difficult enemy than he had ever imagined. As he watched a blast of water rise up from the sea, he dropped his head, knowing that yet another torpedo had hit the Ciconia. The war was going to be a long, and difficult war, and one which he had not forseen.

Off of the coast of Polarus, the destroyers stayed in the path of the Hurtian vessels, denying them entry to the area. If Hurtful Thoughts wanted to get in, they would need to literally ram their way through the Imperial destroyers. OOC: Or go around, perhaps you missed the sheer number of ships involved in this blockade run...

Seeing the blockade form, the flotilla of ships spread out into a loose wedge formation, in hopes that the two destroyers couldn't stop them all. The brakes on the turbines were released, and the proppellers spun-up again back to full revolutions.

From the Radio-hut of the 'SS Devonshie': "CQ rudder and turbine-room unresponsive, collission imminent, brace for impact."

OOC: Ramming works...

In Paradise City, Brightlight eagerly shook Baker's hand and led him through the ornately decorated Chancellory, explaining how nationalism is something that the people need to restore faith in their country, until they finally came to the meeting room. A grand oak table sat in the center of the room, and Decimus beseeched him to choose a seat around it. Overhead, an expensive chandalier dangled, and around the room were portraits of various men considered to be heroes of Exponent. Massive windows allowed the sun to sign in on the meeting, and a servant soon appeared with a bottle of expensive whiskey in one hand, and a pair of glasses in the other, which he set on the table and began to fill. The press was already outside ready for photo ops, and everything seemed good, at least for the time being.
Baker sat, one of his associates went out into the hall to converse with the press while another slipped outside to discretely gossip with the townsfolk.

Baker then began to pitch his agenda:
"Sir Brightlight, as you may know by now, we had some pending and lucrative business arrangements in Polarus funded largely by our banks. Now, it would be quite silly to declare war upon your fledgeling empire for instituting a regiemn change, as we thought that they were trying to cheat us. However, if your government were to subvert or try extort funds from these arrangements, it would make many people from our country very cross with you."

Baker paused to pick up a tumbler of whiskey, as he swirled it around before continuing.

"On the other hand, we could expand upon our existing contracts with Polarus, benifiting the current authority of the land, your authority that is, Chancellor Brightlight. As a rapidly expanding nation, surely you could use a little help here and there to keep the gears of your industry well lubricated."

Baker set the tumbler down upon the table, making sure there was a coaster underneath beforehand, and concluded his speech.

"Well sir, what says the Government of Exponent?"

The two destroyers skipped out of the way of the steamers, narrowly missing a collision. They saw that somehow, a whole fleet was having engine trouble, and they knew something was fishy. Additional ships were called in, and the pair of vessels began to follow the fleet as it moved to shore. From around Polarus, fifteen more surface vessels and six submarines began to deploy, and two squadrons of CC-94B's were launched to keep an eye in the sky over the Hurtians. Even if the whole thing turned out to be nothing, than at least it made a good exercise.

On the beach, a large force had assembled, complete with plenty of doctors to take care of the supposedly sick men on board. If the ships were to change course, it would be reported by the destroyers, who would relay the message to the men and sure. Upon recieving the news, they would hop in their trucks and simply adjust their positon.

In the Chancellory, Decimus was slightly intrigued, but not much. In the back of his mind, he disliked Hurtians, and believed them all to be scum. On his face, however, there was no way of knowing this. He sipped his whiskey a bit, set the glass down, and spoke.

"Tell me more of these contracts Mr. Baker. We are quite industrialized, thanks mostly to help from our friends in Praetonia, and we plan on being able to keep these 'gears' as you called them runnimg with resources from the colony we are in the process of liberating from the Empire of the Wolf."

Moments after saying this, the same servant who had come to pour the whiskey was once more at the table, this time whispering into the Chancellor's ear. The large doors were then closed off, and the massive red curtains with nice gold trim were drawn over the windows, drowning out the sunlight from outside. After a second of darknes the large fireplace next to the table flickered to life, and was now the only source of light in the once bright room. Decimus' attitude quickly changed as he leaned in towards Baker.

"There seems to be an entire fleet of tramp ships whose engines have failed. Odd, don't you think? An entire fleet all catches cholera off of our newly acquired coastline, and all the ships seem to have problems steerig or even slowing down?"

He made no mention that it was Hurtian ships, but it wouldn't be difficult for Baker to understand that he was being implicated in the whole plot.

"I'd imagine it to be quite a spectacle, what with a fleet of tramps seeming to be an oxymoron in itself; but may we stay on topic?"

Baker was quite unaware of the outbreak, or the insinuations being raised against him.

"Why with oil, steel, and fresh currency of course! Polarus was merely to provide cheap labor, it's a rather interesting economic theory... specialized industry by region for global efficiency, not by local need. This of course, would require vast amounts of resources devoted to improving their infrastructure for speedy and efficient transfer of goods, so that we may specialize in what our countryside does best, while they specialize in their own fields to meet both our needs. All for a handsome profit due to the lowered cost overhead and of course by eventually flooding the market with inexpensive quality products to drive otherwise self-sufficient economies bankrupt."

I am not some dimwit who will be wowed by your use of basic macroeconomics Mr. Baker. We will maintain an absolute advantage in all of those fields once our expansion is complete.

"Good shot, Red Two!*"

Seeing the second torpedo impact on an exponential carrier cheered the Walmingtonians a good deal, but as they fought on, losses mounting, they had no way of knowing the details of the destruction back at Port Mavis, and indeed were ignorant that an attack had been made on Ceyloba. Many wondered if Walmington itself might be under attack.

As the battle went on and the fourteen Wheatears either expended their torpedoes or were shot down -or both- while the sixteen Wrens divided themselves between tackling interceptors and strafing flight decks in an attempt to disrupt further launches -suffering AAA hits as they did- it began to appear that the two strikes on Ciconia would be the extent of the improvised counter-attack. Presently, though, the second wave from Typhon appeared in the distance, droptanks having been fitted and expended. Twelve further torpedo-carrying Wheatears and another sixteen Wrens meant that the carrier's entire air wing was committed, and so it was absolutely imperative that the enemy's carrier strength be depleted.

With Ciconia clearly damaged, the new Wheatears split into two sections and pressed home attacks against the two unscathed carriers while the fresh Wrens tried to engage airborne enemy fighters and those remaining from the first sixteen broke off and were to use the last of their ammunition strafing the flightdecks of whichever carriers they could get at.

Some hundred and eighty miles away, Brixton, Kite, Thresher and Fulgent were still steaming as fast as the battlecruiser could manage in hopes of closing the gap before the enemy realised the threat of gun ships existed and while they were distracted with the air battle and damage resulting from it.


((*Sorry, couldn't resist.))

"Cēveō" Admiral Benenatus whispered as he saw the next wave of aircraft coming in for another round of strikes. Another half a dozen NA5's flew from the deck of the Corvus, and three more rose up from the Larus before the forth was destroyed on takeoff, delaying the takeoff of any more aircraft from that ship. Anti-aircraft fire tore into the sky from the over forty guns on each carrier, the hundred and twenty millimeter weapons still firing off their deadly shrapnel shells.

Meanwhile, the three support carriers were also nearing the ranges of launching their own wing of aircraft. On the decks, each carrier prepared to launch half of their fighter complement, four NA5's each, to attempt to support their struggling main fleet.

From Pardise City, the IEN Typhon, ironically having the same name as the ship now tormenting the Imperial Fleet off Walmingtonian Africa, set out with a small group of escorts. Its mission was to sail out into the Atlantic and disrupt the convoys going to or from Walmington proper. The Admiral in charge of the mission, Rear Admiral Gaius Leathervest, was sure that he would be able to outrun any ships that attemptedf to stop him, and could also overtake any armed merchantmen they met with relative ease. The mighty battleship, along with six Sphyraena class destroyer all gallantly set out into the sunset in search of Walmingtonian vessels.

The Battle of the Western Cape as Walmington's leading newspaper, The Standard, would later call it, was an extremely intense affair given that just eighty-four aviators in fifty-eight airframes were fighting the Walmingtonian corner against an entire three-carrier fleet. They were, of course, unaware of the possibly impending launch of more enemy aircraft from light carriers, or they may already have broken-off the attack.

Presently though, survivors from the first attack wave, running low on ammunition and fuel, were forced to disentangle themselves and return to HWMS Typhon. Though several of the first wave had been destroyed, sixteen Wrens from the second were giving the faster and marginally more agile Black Shucks a good fight, showing that they too had a fairly good rate of turn, and while one carrier was damaged and another had a wrecked plane on its deck the numbers were not badly against them in their efforts to protect the dozen Wheatears of the second wave in their attack runs.

Nothing had been done, though, to get the enemy's destroyers out of the way, and even if their defensive fire was not terribly effective they still represented barriers to the biplanes' attacks against the carriers. As the Wheatears came in along straight lines their roughly two hundred mile-per hour attack speed was reasonably impressive for high-seas torpedo bombing drops of the age and meant that the enemy's modest anti-aircraft strength didn't have all day to pick and successfully take on targets, but with only six attacking each of two carriers they weren't likely to overwhelm defensive batteries with their numbers, and they were quickly spotted and chased-down by NA5s.

Tied to their attack runs, the usually nimble biplanes could do relatively little to shake their pursuers, but the two-seat torpedo-bomber models had marginally more rearward defensive firepower than the Black Shucks had in their offensive batteries, the second crewmember having a pair of .33"-Walmingtonian (8.4x63mm) machineguns on a flexible mounting with which to engage fighters attacking from the side, rear, or above. Meanwhile, a single machinegun mounted on the upper wing could be used by the forward creman to resist head-on attacks, though with less firepower and some complication during torpedo-run.

One Wheatear passed low over Larus already trailing smoke and banking steeply high and to the left, its torpedo dropped, a wingtip just missing the upper works on the carrier's conning tower. One crewmember bailed out almost over the deck, his parachute opening only an instant before he hit the waves on the ship's far side, leaving him drifting unconscious. The second crewman failed to escape his crashing aircraft.

((More on the state of merchant shipping et cetera next time.))

The twelve NA5's were maiking full speed from their light carriers to attempt to rescue the main carrier fleet as it struggled to send more of its own flyboys skyward. Crews aboard the Larus struggled to toss the wreckage over into the ocean and get more planes up, when suddenly the vessel shook violently. A torpedo rocked the ship dead center, and water began pouring in. With the Larus damaged as well, there was now absolutely no way the Imperial Fleet could continue to move towards St. Thomas at this time.

Benenatus ordered a full withdrawal of his ships from the area, and even as the Walmingtonian aircraft were buzzing their ships, the Exponential fleet began to turn around, both the Ciconia and Larus limping away and many of the fleets NA5's scattered throughout the ocean.

Back in Paradise City, Imperial High Command was in a state of shock. Their master plan to cripple the Walmingtonians in the area had backfired, and the tremendous speed which the enemy had retaliated had left the Exponential fleet in a bad way. A new attack was planned for later in the year, and many new keels were laid to prepare for the coming conflict.

With aircraft beginning to return to Typhon, casualties could be counted. In the first wave, five Wrens and seven Wheatears had been destroyed, while from the second three more Wrens and three Wheatears would fail to return, leaving the carrier with twenty-four Wren and sixteen Wheatear, several of each being significantly damaged. Twenty-eight naval aviators were, as such, unaccounted for.

The squadron continued its effort to chase-down the enemy. Battlecruiser Brixton, heavy cruiser Kite, light cruiser Thresher and destroyer Fulgent were quite some miles ahead of carrier Typhon and destroyer Fatidical, but all accelerated in an effort at catching an enemy fleet that they hoped would now be slowed by damage to two of its centerpiece vessels. Wheatear floatplanes from Brixton and other large ships maintained observation of the enemy from a distance, but were now warey of the possibility of interceptors being sent to tackle them.

It took significantly less than an hour for the aircraft to cover the distance between the battle and their carrier, and they were quickly refueled, rearmed, and sortied again in hopes of pressing home a perceived advantage... partly Bingham -who had just been informed of his Vice-Admiralship as commander of the only force yet in action- was simply afraid of the enemy massing an attack wing and finding his squadron.

A wave of twenty Wren and fourteen Wheatear, representing all of the remaining undamaged aircraft in the carrier's wing, was soon returning towards the enemy fleet, hoping that it would not slip the shadowing floatplanes and escape in what ought to be a reasonably tight turn-around time.

Walmington

Exponent may have been surprised by Bingham's squadron, but Walmington desperately needed the enemy to be seriously wounded or, perhaps better yet, sapped of his confidence by what was in truth a stroke of luck more than it was a sign of Walmingtonian skill or even preparedness to fight a major war.

Under Prime Minister Mainwaring's stewardship the economy had recovered strongly in recent times after a slow-down following the Empire's last wars, but no small part of this had been achieved by a halt to spending on new military equipment and a rather unfavourable balance of trade for the colonies, which had become consequently restless.

In the hours leading up to Walmington's declaration of war on Exponent and her allies, Mainwaring agonised with thoughts of what he may have to sacrifice in able to make this weary army of his win another war. To hold on to the Empire while fully committed to an exhaustive conflict may mean taking unsavoury steps, and his people's reputation was bloodied enough by the American debacle. Despite having been the victim of Pyekan-Exponential aggression, he could almost picture Walmington coming out of this looking like the baddies.

By the time he began to receive potentially catastrophic damage and casualty reports from the Cape and Ceyloba, George would be grimly resigned to the horror of total war.

((Sorrysorry! I could have sworn I'd already posted this! Then I got distracted by this infuriating Tribalwars game that I want to quit, but a whole tribe of other players is attacking me and, on principle, I can't stop until I've taught the blighters a lesson ;) Ugh, I think I owe Pyeki a post, too!))

I am not some dimwit who will be wowed by your use of basic macroeconomics Mr. Baker. We will maintain an absolute advantage in all of those fields once our expansion is complete.
Baker was amused by this statement...

Oh really? And how exactly do you propose to maintain a position that at this time you have yet to attain? Surely your total material wealth is trivial to that of even a Walmington colony at this time. I came to you with an offer, you seem to have refused. I shall not bother you with such matters if you do not wish to be bothered about your own path to financial ruin.

The two destroyers skipped out of the way of the steamers, narrowly missing a collision. They saw that somehow, a whole fleet was having engine trouble, and they knew something was fishy. Additional ships were called in, and the pair of vessels began to follow the fleet as it moved to shore. From around Polarus, fifteen more surface vessels and six submarines began to deploy, and two squadrons of CC-94B's were launched to keep an eye in the sky over the Hurtians. Even if the whole thing turned out to be nothing, than at least it made a good exercise.
The remaining 3 ships bunched around the 'crippled' Devenshire, offloading personel and nudging it roughly towards some remote cliff-face, hoping it would break-up upon impact. If not, the time-delay scuttling charges would have to suffice.

They then resumed a fairly normal course towards nearest port, keeping watch of their 'shadows' and aggressively attempting to prevent their path from being blocked this time. The decks were stewn with hundreds of soot-covered crewmen from the Devonshire... which was an oddly large 'crew' for a tramp-steamer... Liferafts were being swung-out and filled to provide additional deck-space...

Even more strangely, these ships rode very high in the water...

OOC: Glad to see this isn't dead!

IC:

A group of soldiers went to the areawhere the Devonshire was headed, and set up on the cliff it was expected to shatter on. Meanwhile, the destroyers conitnued to box in the tramp ships, taking care to not got in front of the clearly hostile ships, as they did not want to make the first move and open up yet another war. Hundreds of men and vehicles continued to follow the path of the Hurtian ships from the beach as well, making sure no funny business was about.

Meanwhile, in the Chancellory, Decimus was infuriated. "Take him to the catacombs!" he roared to his guards. He did not like having his nation compared to a Walmingtonian colony at all, and he planned on having the Hurtian diplomat pay for it. Four large men quickly descended upon Baker, and were about to carry him off to the labyrinth beneath the Chancellory.

Meanwhile, Rear Admiral Redprint, a member of Benenatus' staff, was convinced that he was on the recieving end of a massive Walmingtonian ambush. He even believed that the entire fleet at Port Mavis may have been a decoy to draw a foreign power in to strike it. Benenatus, however, kept a cooler head. He ordered the fleet to return home for repairs and rearmament, but demanded that the light carriers and their precious cargo of Marines continue on their way. He assumed, hopefully correctly, that there was now only one Walmingtonian vessel capable of being a threat to his ships, the Typhon.

He planned to use his light carriers to keep any other possible attackers at a distance, and the marines could than take St. Thomas. From there, aircraft would begin to pour in and a major foothold on Walmingtonian Africa would be gained.

Interesting bit of irony...
A group of soldiers went to the areawhere the Devonshire was headed, and set up on the cliff it was expected to shatter on. Meanwhile, the destroyers conitnued to box in the tramp ships, taking care to not got in front of the clearly hostile ships, as they did not want to make the first move and open up yet another war. Hundreds of men and vehicles continued to follow the path of the Hurtian ships from the beach as well, making sure no funny business was about.
The now empty Devonshire smashed at 2/3rds ahead power, crushing the frame pretty well, which managed to sink until the bow managed tocatch on a sharp rock, had it been fully loaded or not carrying set explosives, it would have torn itself in half due to its mass. However, it remained there for a time as a feasable, though treachurous salvage.

However, as mentioned, the explosives went off as planned, 3 hours after initial break-up, and tore the broached bow clear off allowing the amidships to settle in up to 200 fathoms of water.

The other ships finally made harbor without incident. Although there was still the question regarding what was to be done with these 3 plague-ships.

Meanwhile, in the Chancellory, Decimus was infuriated. "Take him to the catacombs!" he roared to his guards. He did not like having his nation compared to a Walmingtonian colony at all, and he planned on having the Hurtian diplomat pay for it. Four large men quickly descended upon Baker, and were about to carry him off to the labyrinth beneath the Chancellory.
[Plz] C. A. Baker was initially taken by surprise at Decimus's sudden change of hospitality. Clearly, even should he ever see the light of day again, the current government may very well be too unstable for its own good.

By the time the gaurds had started to drag Baker out of the room, all he could say was "Oh dear, what would the missus think?"

Meanwhile, his aides were still busy conversing with the locals.

After some time alone, Baker was no longer concerned about his political duties, and rather simply of getting out, prefferably with the least discomfort.

Kingston, The Crooked Beat

News of fighting off the Western Cape, and across the Walmingtonian empire more generally, causes quite a stir in the normally subdued Crooked capital, where large crowds turn out, in spite of the city's typically wet and gloomy weather, to demonstrate in support of the Walmingtonians. Anti-fascist sentiments run deep in the Crooked republic, and such 'naked aggression' on the part of the Exponent and its Pyekian allies triggers no small volume of popular outrage. Even the National Assembly, in the best of times a legislature characterized by byzantine back-room dealings and complex coalition politics, passes a resolution condemning the fascist powers' 'dastardly sneak-attacks,' and offering moral support at the very least for Walmington, in record time and with a healthy majority.

Sympathy for Great Walmington's predicament is also very strong within the Prime Minister's cabinet, although the executive, wary of committing itself to what may well be a confrontational policy too soon, does not announce those feelings in the public sphere. However, Prime Minister Wallace Radnitzky approves a wide range of proposals for secret military assistance in the short term, while General Max Amsterdam, commandant of the Army Staff College, is ordered to begin the process of assembling an expeditionary force as soon as possible. The Navy is also placed on a higher level of readiness, and if either Pyeki or the Exponent happens to have spies in the republic, they may well notice that an unusually large portion of the Crooked submarine fleet is at sea.

A communique from the Prime Minister's office quickly finds its way aboard a long-range courier aircraft, bound for Great Walmington along with a high-level representative from the Crooked foreign ministry and a Crooked Navy officer. The Crooked Republic, the communique says, is not about to let the Walmingtonians go it alone.