NationStates Jolt Archive

-BREAKING NEWS-

A KNN international televised address
Lousewies van der Laan, the SLP prime minister seemed a bit uncertain and she rearranged her hair until she noticed that the camera was already running. Lousewies still looked a bit cheerless though, the death of Empress Joanna (http://www.nationstates.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=87656&start=0) had been a big blow to her personally. But with individual strength and some makeup you could not see that she had been crying. Conservative state-secretary Galadriël Táralóm stood behind the prime-minister and was positively glowing. She had just returned from Menelmacar and still suffered from a bit of jetlag, but still energy was radiating off her. This was truly one of her finest moments.

Lousewies van der Laan began to read from the autocue in front of her:

“Fellow countrymen,

I speak to you today as the bearer of good news. After short and productive negotiations, Knootian diplomats have managed to secure a military alliance with the Rogue nation of Skargarden. Our ally the Eternal Noldorin Empire of Menelmacar has also joined this military pact with Skargarden.

With this alliance, the Democratic Republic of Knootoss has gained 1.067 billion Skargardians as new friends, in the spirit of promoting good international relations with all nations and to promote world stability and peace. For Skargarden this will finally mean a bright future as an independent state and as a part of the world community.

The Skargardian government has also announced that they will change their currency to the euro. Their entry into the Eurozone means that our countries will be entering a monetary union. Foreign exchange risks and transaction costs will disappear; there is increased transparency in prices; a stronger "internal market", increased currency stability and lower interest rates will make it easier to realise planned investments. Like us, they can use the Menelmacari credit as international currency. In order to improve economic relations we have granted several valuable trade concessions to Skargarden and we will seek to develop mutual trade.

In order to protect the external security of Skargarden and as a symbol of our bilateral cooperation, Knootoss will establish a permanent military base in the northernmost tip of Skargarden. From this strategic location in the Aperin continent we will be able to guard the peace that is so essential in this unstable region.

Knootian and allied forces will engage in military exercises with and in Skargarden because there is nothing so likely to produce peace as to be well prepared to meet the enemy. While it is will be a friendly match, I still hope we will perform well. But whatever the result will be, our forces will be met with celebrations in Skargarden. General de Kaste will tell you more.”

Lousewies nodded to the camera and smiled and the view switched to that of a uniformed general de Kaste. De Kaste was a grave and handsome, but old man. His eyes were so deeply sunken under his white eyebrows you could hardly see his eyes and his moustache overhung the mouth from which his statement came:

“By the name of ‘Operation sabre rattling’ extensive war games will be held with Knootoss, Skargarden and an international coalition participating. Several of our allies from the South Atlantic Treaty Organisation will join, notably Der Angst, Menelmacar, The Vortex Corporation, Omz222 and Diablo. However the war games are also open to non-SATO members such as Tarasovka and Ruhr.

Our contribution to these exercises will be significant. About a quarter of a million men will be sent to Skargarden, this is including all logistical personnel. Featuring predominantly in the Knootian detachment will be ten divisions of mobile infantry, men on bikes and in armoured transport vehicles if you will. But we will also send two Eurofighter air superiority squadrons and a part of the fleet. The flagship of the Knootian fleet during the war games will be the formerly Angstian carrier the KDF Vogels.

Thank you for your time.”

Music: Command & Conquer : Tiberian Dawn, “Prepare for Battle”

Aperin western ocean
The carrier KDF Vogels navigated at a reasonably pace towards Skargarden territorial waters. The carrier had been imported from Der Angst originally, but had been Knootian for quite a while now. While technically a second-hand ship the Knootians were proud of the possession of this ship and were keen on showing it off at every available opportunity. The crew was keen on getting some good action, and was looking forward to training with some of the worlds most famous militaries. Bets on who would win the war games were almost always to the disadvantage of the Knootians though.

A Skargarden port
In several main Skargarden seaports, transports began to arrive and churn out soldiers bearing the insignia of the Democratic Republic on their uniforms. Purple white and green flags, with a handwritten “Democraten”. Below that was an insignia of the roaring lion of the Dutch regional military with it’s motto: ‘Je Mantiendrai’. Several units also wore little flags on their uniforms with the SATO star. The disembarked soldiers behaved friendly and politely and some handed out candy and chocolate to the people of Skargarden who were watching the ships. (OOC: if that is permitted.)

The Northern tip of Aperin
A rocky outcrop near the coast signified the northernmost part of Skargarden, where the land gave way so to the sea. A few kilometres to the south a group of Knootian engineers began to work at a rapid pace; setting up a construction yard for what was to be a permanent military and naval base. It would be one of the few bases outside the homeland that the Democratic Republic actually possessed.

Preparations for the actual exercise would soon begin when the other forces had arrived, and it was rumoured that State-secretary Táralóm would come to oversee the exercises herself.

OOC: If I still need to edit anything just say so. I’ll have to edit Ruhr’s presence if he really is away now. All participating nations please post here.

#OMG tag#

*Claiming place for upcoming post & tag*

OOC:
#OMG tag#
OMG tag, I like that term. Now please allow me to use this emoicon, as I rarely use it: :twisted:

Tag. And you're more than welcome to that emoticon, on a number of levels.

Vanku Military Sea Port, 55km East of Honjaksgrad

It is a very unusual, and new experience: performing a wargame with SATO. The force of 500 troops and 40 of the high-tech KAF-90D Main Battle Tanks will be presenting the Armed Forces of Omzian Democratic Republic, with the soldiers' morale high. The small force was told earlier that they've been selected for this wargame --- to test the Omzian Armed Force's ability and to catch a glimpse of foreign militaries. This small force is determined to represent their country well, in this wargame.

It is 3:02PM Eastern Omzian Time, when the tanks and troops finished docking onto a T-AKR-287 Algol Fast Sealift ship. The soldiers can be seen walking with high morale, while carrying their load of supplies, and weapons. One by one, tank by tank, the civilian crews of the ship finally finished loading.

A few hours later, finally, the ship leaves port, with 2 frigates as escort. The name reads "OSCS Agloba" can be seen, painted on the front. Followed by a number, "387". It is almost nighttime, and the frigate also set sail --- 2 Ikara Class Light Frigate to be exact, ONCS Wake and ONCS Sclera, it reads.

Indeed, it is also a non-regular experience for the whole Omzian People's Liberation Forces and National Guard, as this has gotta be the first exercise with the alliance the Republic is in, SATO. While the commanders are still somehow worried about the unit's performance, as usual, the commanders are also confident that they can show the best of the Omzian Armed Forces.

"What a bloody piss up."

Deep within the protected confines of the Tower, the gathering of officials of Anhierarch seems worn, perhaps even tired. Harbinger sips at a mug of acidic coffee, passing a half-smoked, hand-rolled cigarette to Lt. General Joren Asnare. He takes a deep drag.

"I think we can see that, Har. Personally I don't trust those whoresons one bit. I say this is nothing more than a cheap ploy to get their forces on our continent - a quarter of a million personnel? Bollocks."

Ejai Telenu sips a bowl of subtly flavored Xikuangese tea, a taste she'd acquired over the course of her career.

"Perhaps, perhaps not. At the very least this is brinkmanship, of the lowest and basest kind. They will be watching to see how we react."

She turns to the Lt. General. "I counsel we do not move troops.... yet. Mark you that our rail network can move things at an acceptable speed, and our bases on the western border are well staffed and well trained."

She muses momentarily. "I say we begin stocking up on logistical supplies in all bases in the NW and SW quadrants. Order them to commence additional drills and training... and put them on alert, obviously."

New Haven Academy

"Move people! We haven't got all day for this!"

"Get those rations on board!"

"3rd squadron taking of on platform Kappa. All units stay clear."

The area around New Haven was crawling with activity. As hoverdynes filled with equipment and troops hovered through the massive academy entry gates, crews of marines and support personnel were unloading the already arrived supplies. Amidst the logistical chaos, several Black Wolf teams, each fifteen men strong, could be seen heading for their dropships. Since yesterday afternoon, squadrons had been taking of, bringing troops and supplies to the war game combat zone in Skargarden.

As it was early winter and the day still young, massive beacons of light, placed on the two control towers and some of the nearby academy buildings enlightened the scene, compensating for the lack of sunlight at this early hour. Massive transport vehicles could be seen sliding up to the dozens of dropships standing by, guarded by determined looking security personnel.

"Make way! If you don't want to lose an arm, stay clear!"

In the light of dusk, one of the larger transports opened it's rear doors, and out came several women and men in grey suits, each carrying only light weaponry. Each of them, however, also seemed to control four huge Dogs of War, massive canines bread solely for the purpose of combat, almost equalling an adult bull in size. As maintenance personnel and even soldiers made way quickly for the fearsome creatures, they were guided into separate transports by their trainers. Minutes later, that particular dropship squadron took of, a fact that was silently appreciated by the rest of the military personnel at the base. Dogs of War were a good thing, but only when they were tearing an enemy apart.

Harsaphes Military Base

The clouds hanging above the land were broken as a massive vessel descended to earth. An old Imperator class carrier touched down slowly, half a mile from Harsaphes. While the engines slowly powered down, groups of massive hangar doors opened. The lights in the hangar bays illuminated the ground around the carrier, as squads of hoverdynes exited the vehicle. From light to heavy hoverdynes, they slided out of the belly of the huge craft. Shimmering in the light of dawn, their blue and white painting could be seen clearly in the morning light.

Occasionally, the stream of hoverdynes was interrupted by a battlemech, standing tall at several meters high, marching in the same direction as the path of the hoverdynes: the groups of dropships standing by on the base. While the unloading of the carrier continued, a second and third carrier touched down, and started to perform similar operations. Infantry, drones, terradynes and supplies were unloaded in high tempo. High in the sky, the careful observer could see several wings of fighter aerodynes, slowly circling above the seen, guarding the streams of metal plated vehicles and ammunition batches against the unexpected.

Hermod Military Airfield

A squadron of Condor Aedorynes was being prepared for long distance flight. The rays of the morning sun fell through the open doors of the hangar, while technical and maintenance crews were fueling and arming the craft. The day before, they had been inspected thoroughly and were brought into optimal state of functioning. Now, as Hydrogen Fuel Cells were placed inside the bombers, 'Tian' bombs were attached to the appropriate weapon hardpoints. The Tian was the TVC variant of the MOAB. Basicly, it was slightly more expensive, but had a bit more explosive potential. In a corner of the hangar, four bomber pilots were drinking their morning coffee, watching the technical crews to make sure they did nothing stupid with their aerodynes. Soon, they would be boarding their planes and take of for Skargarden, escorted by the 54th and 73th Fighter wings, both located on the same base.

Gilgames Military Base

Deep under the ground, a large command center was crawling with activity. While marines guarded every door in the complex, standing still like statues, everybody else seemed to busier than ever before. Documents, data banks, personnel, everything had to be put into proper position to regulate the upcoming exercises. As the minutes passed, things settled down, as more and more personnel finished preparations for the coming days and took a seat behind their desks and terminals.

One by one, monitors and holographic projectors flickered a few times and then came online, showing detailed images of troop movements, contact persons and geographical data. The central computer started running status check, with each system being diagnosed for possible flaws.

"Satellites A134,F132,S123,E144,T135 and R254 in position."

"Military analysis systems added to Council thoughtstream"

"All elements report being on schedule"

"All systems online and fully functional"

Uthar, press conference

....and it is for those reasons that TVC has decided to partake in this exercise. We look forward to matching our wits with our long time allies, and we are very confident that our men and women, with the skills and means that they posses, will represent the quality and flexibility that the Corporation tries to represent every single day. Ladies and gentlemen, any more questions can be asked to Daio Manaan, the Military Press Liaisons officer for this operation. Thank you very much.

Thousends and thousends of people had gathered in the otherwise quiet city in the western peak of Skargarden, cheering and calling out for the Knootoss soldiers on the ships. Children wawing home-made SATO-flags smiling happily thinking that this will make all the previous bad men go away for good, they also had shiny ships but this is really shiny.

And 2 soldiers standing guard outside the Limosuine carrying the Admiral himself was chatting generaly.
"Adolf you know that that is don't you?"

"It's a ship if thats what you mean" The younger soldier replied, even though he was only 19 he'd been in war already.

"No that's not what I mean, I mean you know what it means that SATO troops are coming to Skargarden"

"No you lost me, aren't they just here for the war-games?"

"So young and naiv, SATO forces on our soil means freedom at last"
He look at the ship and you could actually se his eyes getting teared.


The crowd split in half by soldiers coming marching towards the ship, creating a cleared road between the cheering crowd.
An officer runs to the first place in the line calling out "Presenting Admiral Johan Falk of the Skargarden navy"

Johan Falk walked down the road through the crowd waving to the public that cheered even more now that he showed up, behind him were 2 security guards carrying a briefcase each one wich had the Skargarden flag on it and the other carrying the emblem of the SATO. As he walked he saw one of the childrens home-made flags, he picked it up and put it in his chest-pocket so it waved in the wind. Then he continued his journey towards the ship.

ooc: Got writers block. So just stating what I'm sending. This times 3.

Army & Fleet

6 Conquistador Dropship's
18 Fox class Corvette's
12 Tatsumaki class Destroyer's
10 Dante class Frigate's
8 Avalon class Cruiser's
4 Agamemnon class Heavy Cruiser's
2 Mjolnir class Battlecruiser's
1 Thera class Carrier
1 Mckenna class Battleship


1st Army ground forces

144 Battlemechs
72 Heavy Vehicles
2688 Infantrie
1776 Battlearmor (1296 of wich are on Tatsumaki's)

1st Aerospace fighters

1178 (108 of wich are on the dropships)


1st Battlemech (Reinforced) Regiment is devided into 12 company's. Each company consists of 3 lances. Each lance is 4 Battlemechs strong.

Red Combat
Blue Combat
Yellow Combat
Orange Combat
Green Combat
Gold Support Command
Black Support
White Support
Brown Support
Purple Fast Attack
Pink Fast Attack
Teal Fast Attack

Combat lances are build out of: Uziel (Point) Hellspawn (Left Flank) Shadowcat (Right Flank) Couger (Rear)
Support Command Lance: Blood Asp (Point) Madcat MkII (Left&Right Flank) Blood Kite (Rear)
Suppot Lance: Madcat MkII (point) Madcat (Left Flank) Thor (Right Flank) Vulture (Rear)
Fast Attack Lance: Solitaire (Point, Left&Right Flank, Rear)


Heavy Vehicles are put into 2 Batallions of 36.

Cyan 12 Glory, 12 Heimdall, 12 Morrigu
Grey 12 Glory, 12 Heimdall, 12 Morrigu

The fighter force totally consists out of SHV-O Shiva's. 50% Primairy configuration. 50% Configuration C (I did this not to make my forces anymore diverce so that RP would be a bit easier)

As for Battlearmor it totally consists out of Infeltrator MkII's.
And infantry is build up in the usuall 7 troop squads. (This to was done for easier RP)

*Tag* for further reference.

Time of tag: January 10th, 2022
Reason for tag: Other- __DIA Reference__

OOC: I will be watching this with great interest.

Captain Rogers knocked on the Admiral's door. The taps echoed through the wooden-decor room. Ryan Dove swiveled his chair around and put his feet back on the ground, he extinguished his cigar and looked at the door. "Enter," he responded in a cold yet meaningful tone customary of a fleet admiral.

"Admiral, we have a situation escalating in Aperin. Seems like Skargarden has been given a means of defence from their regional enemies. Knootoss, Omzian and Vortex Corporation have all contributed defence measures. Admiral Fletcher was looking for you to do something. Here is the permission." The skinny-younger man walked swiftly over the floor in his black officer's uniform. He handed Ryan the file granting him permission for action.

Carefully looking through the file, he noted the sizeable amounts of forces contributing to the defence of Skargarden. He also saw the intelligence reports on the Seocc stationary defences. An extensive early-warning radar, an anti-air platform, and an anti-ship platform were protecting the arcologies of the nation. Certainly, the 1st Indian Ocean Fleet could deal with these, but this was not an overall conflict...yet.

Captain Rogers waited patiently in his office, he looked at the old models of clippers and the iron-clad monitors that once made up the early-era Ruhrian Imperial Navy. He moved down the room, as it were a time line to see the Sword Class BBGN, all four versions of the ship, as well as the Hamburg CVN. The last few in the room was the Rhine Class SSGN, the Victorian Class DDSG, the Lancer Class BBGN, the Lexus Class CGN, and the Delta Class DDGN. These were quite possibly some of the most powerful vessels sailing the sea, and Rogers expected to hear Admiral Fletcher ordering one of the task forces to monitor the situation. What he heard was quite frankly the opposite.

Admiral Fletcher finished writing his orders on the final page:

RNS Night Sky is to proceed to Aperin waters. It is to enter Skargarden territorial waters and advance to its Seocc border. Its task will be intelligence gathering on stationary defences as well as aerial combatants. It is also to assume the role of early warning radar and attack suppressant.

RNS Rhine and RNS Clark will be sent outside recognized Seocc territorial waters and escorted by RNS Denver and RNS Mason Henry. They will proceed to set up anti-defence protocol of the Seocc defence systems.

The RNS Maddox Battlegroup will report to active duty and maneuver 10 grids west of Aperin Regional Waters.

SEASAT and GSAT fly-overs will be scheduled and commence immediately over Aperin.

Operation Codename: Experience

---------

OOC Notes:
The Night Sky is a DDSG (Stealth Missile Destroyer, similar to the Zumwalt Class)

The Rhine and Clark are SSGNs in the Rhine Class, they carry 180 Juliet-XXV Sub-Launched Cruise Missiles, sea-skimmers and they assume the role of anti-ship/anti ground. The sub also carries 48 Juliet-XXII Sub-Launched Anti-Ground Long Range Missiles. These are cruise-missiles with copper-orb DCIMPS heads. In other words, these subs have 228 missiles suited for a first-strike role.

The two ships that are included in the defence of these are the Denver and Mason Henry, two Sea Fox class SSNs with 8 Mk52 torpedo tubes and 16 Juliet-XXI (General Sub-Launched Medium-Range Missile).

The Maddox is a Hamburg Class CVN Super-Carrier with 1 Lancer Class BBGN serving as secondary attack role. It comes with 1 Munich Class CVVN (VTOL Nuke Powered), 2 Lexus Class Cruisers, 5 Delta Class DDGNs, 2 Lytham FFGNs (Nuclear Powered Missile Frigate), 4 Trinity FFGs (ASW), 4 Defiance FFGs (Navalized-MLRS combatants), 3Sea Fox SSNs, 1 Rhine Class SSGN, as well as the normal battle-group suppliers. All in all, this is a heavy battlegroup.

[b]ump! Fer guud mezurez

OOC: Ruhr, you are back... for a little! :D

Also, Knootoss, can nations enter additional forces to the wargame before the wargame starts, but after the inital force enters? Because I said that I would enter some of my tank-killer jets in.

57 miles west of Terende City

The Sierra Depot

"Move!"

The base commander stands on a small raised platform, glad to be in the cool recesses of the subterranean portion of the facility. In the dim, warehouse-like space, he surveys men and women in uniform unpacking, reassembling and, of course, taking care of the paperwork. He'd always felt there was too much paperwork these days.

He turns to a passing sergeant, who waves and bellows at the logistics personnel. The sergeant pauses, saluting.

"Nevermind that, sergeant. How's it going?"

Another nervous salute.

"First shipment's almost completely unpacked, sir. Logistics is triplechecking the contents now, and sorting them for transit to the appropriate storage points. Second load should be coming in in two hours.... those boys in Gestad are fast." He shakes his head, disbelieving.

"Of course they are, soldier. That's their job."

"Yessir. Sir, you wanted an update on the new training schedule?"

The commander scowls. He hated being pre-empted.

"That's damned straight, soldier, and you're five minutes late with that. Out with it."

"Proceeding as planned, sir. Some complaints from the troops, but they'll get used to it. The supervisors from the special ops unit are due in tomorrow."

Andulos

"Well, should we?"

She looks around at the rest of the Commonwealth Synod, questioningly.

The Speaker picks up the latest announcement from the SeOCC Minister of Politics, scanning it quickly.

"I don't see why not. I think a quarter of a million hostile troops in our continental waters qualifies as clear and present danger. We'll have to sort out a little paperwork, though."

Inviolus speaks. "Shouldn't take longer than half an hour to clear that. And I'm in agreement this time..."

"Should I start causing a little.... trouble?" It was Harbinger, who was giggling. He wasn't actually part of the Synod, but they tended to let him in anyway. Inviolus sighs.

"Not yet, Harbinger.... the time will come - if it comes to that."

Ejai nods. "So it's going on standby, then. I'd just like to note that the transfer of logistical assets is going according to schedule.... slightly better, actually. Should we ready a fleet?"

OOC: Ruhr, you are back... for a little! :D

Also, Knootoss, can nations enter additional forces to the wargame before the wargame starts, but after the inital force enters? Because I said that I would enter some of my tank-killer jets in.

OOC:
*cheers because of Ruhrs semi-backness*

Omz: yes you can, and I believe you already mentioned close air support in your posting on the SATO board. Just be sure to clear it with the war game leadership. It should be withing the game parameters. :P

I am working on the next IC post. Should be up later tonight.

And a slight addition: 250.000 personell is just the Knootian contribution. We don't get to do many massive war games so we might as well do it right this time. And we have to compensate for being less experienced militarily compared to, say, the Menelmacari gravfleet. :wink:

Also, question for the CACE people, could SeOCC please post his condemnations/responses in THIS thread. I still read the CACE board now and then but not everybody does. Thank you.

Also: thank you all for posting so far. Very fine postings I've seen... :)

*goes back to working on post*

Panku Air Force Base, Near Osaria

A huge "Angry Pelican" Ultra-large transport can be seen. Its great body lies under the enormous shelter, blocking it from the everlasting rain and sunlight. The great body of her, shines the daylight. Its defensive measures --- ECM pods, chaff and flare pods, and even some CIWS guns, lies on tghe back and rear.

"All clear!", a commander from the Air Traffic tower said in a booming tune into the radio box, as he viewed the cluttered radar screen. "Transport craft takeoff may commerce. Runway 6:28IA."

The crew heard. Suddenly, the beast rolled out, displaying her ugly --- but enormous --- body, holding the 6 AMF-10 Manticore "tank-killer" jets. The jets will be used in the wargame, to provide CAS for the ground forces.

The Pelican moved again, this time, extending its wings on the way. Finally, the great propellers rolled, creating a great wind. Then, it lifts off the ground, with a booming sound. Probably coming from the engine, probably coming from the air.

It flies.

Background music: Skargarden national anthem. (http://www.svearike.com/media/allman/nationalsang.mid)
Western peak of Skargarden

The disembarking Knootian soldiers were a bit surprised. While the ordinary private had supposed that they would be welcome in Skargarden, they had never expected such a hero’s welcome. However they quickly adapted to their role of ‘liberators’ and a spontaneous parade though the city erupted into something of a carnival. One of the Knootian officers noted later:

“The welcome we received was a complete surprise to us. I had heard some things about the fate of Skargarden but these people were so happy with our arrival, that it seemed as if we had chased away some invading army ourselves. This was, of course, nonsense but somehow the whole feeling was catchy. At first we just paraded round the city with people watching but soon Skargardians were walking along with us and we gave the men cigarettes and the children candy and chocolate. Most of the boys that served under me had been uncomfortable about being sent to Aperin, but now they were proudly boasting stories about the role they had played in the liberation of Knootoss. That day, I truly believed in the glory of soldiering again. It was a feeling that I had not had since my engagement with the Brotherhood of NOD during the shadow war. Twenty thousand Nod soldiers had perished there in Holland and Eru knows how many SATO forces. – And every Knootian that I remember being there had been scared like shit. When it was over I was just glad to go back home to Arhnem. But now it seemed like the deeds of heroes and at that moment I was contend being a liberator. For what it was worth.”

…

A small destroyer, the KDF Bomhoff had made port as well along with the other ships. When she had moored, a Knootian military band disembarked while it played the national anthem of Skargarden, the nationalsang. (http://www.svearike.com/media/allman/nationalsang.mid) twice, and after that they played the Knootian anthem. (OOC: to the tune of the Russian anthem)

“Presenting Admiral Johan Falk of the Skargarden navy”
General de Kaste, commander in chief of all forces of the Democratic Republic, disembarked. He was dressed in full parade uniform and looked like an old French general from the First World War. He had been trying to get into the thing for about an hour on the boat, but it just did not fit very well anymore. De Kaste was no great fan of parades and this parade uniform was the same he had worn after the SATO victory parade in Lavenrunz.

However when he saw all the people outside de Kaste felt young again. Contentedly he took a small jump to get off the ship. Very uncharacteristically for the quiet man he acted on impulse he raised his open hand to the public, which responded enthusiastically. He waved and then stepped forward to greet his Skargardian counterpart…

OOC: reply to SeOCC mobilisation forthcoming when I get to it. I still have to answer X too...

Off the coast of Skargarden,
Aperin.

1st Taraskovyan Naval Battlegroup.

The admiral was standing on the command bridge of the TNV "Osvoboditel", watching at the fleet. The "Osvoboditel", which is translated into english as "Liberator" was a highely advanced battleship, featuring many various "capacities".
Several carrier launched VTOL aircraft proceeded on their patrol.
At the dropship carriers final preparations were being made. Voitel and Strij Light Orbital Dropships were filled with NGF troopers and some light armor.

The formation was standart - escort vessels on the perimeter with carriers and heavy troops transports in the middle. The entire formation resembled the tip of a spear.

On the transport ships the crew were also busy. Heavy armor was embarked into heavy dropships, combat personel followed.

The admiral turned his gaze away and spoke aloud, adressing the ship's BSI.

- Status on the fleet.

Immediately, a soft female voice resonated on the bridge.

- Combat personel deployment capacity at 60% with the dropships still being loaded. The fleet's battle readiness is estimated at 87% in current conditions.
The fleet will enter territoral waters of Skargarden in 54 minutes at current speed.
Anything else, sire?

- Status on the orbital strike group?

- No information available, Sire. Other BSI's report no Orbital deployment by the TSF.

The Admiral looked back through the observation windows.
An other patrol passed by near the Battleship.
The man adressed the communications officer.

- Establish commslink with all allid forcess involved in operation "Sabre Rattling". Inform them that the Taraskovyan 'participation' is arriving and ready to take part in the exercises.

- Yes, Sire...

OOC:
Sorry, not much of a post.
Have an exam session this week and brain weared out by all the preparations :(

OOC: Okay, as IC actions related to this thread are being described elsewhere I am linking a coalition body thread from the CACE here for everyone. I believed coalition body meetings were public, but troop mobilisations can also be seen of course. May I OOCly note that I find the title of the thread “somewhat premature” to say the least. The link:

’SeOCC Mobilises Against Invasion (http://invisionfree.com/forums/CACE/index.php?showtopic=455)

I would like to ask the CACE people again to post any ‘public’ IC actions they take (like troop mobilisations now apparently) in the NationStates forum, like some of you already did. Not everybody reads the CACE board. Thank you very much

Other small notice: I am currently working out sides for the wargame on the SATO board. Skargarden and Omz already agreed to my proposal, but some people have not and others can still choose what side to take.

Tarasovka: Your post is fine for now. You have been put in the 'invasion' side btw, if that's okay. You have pretty 'offensive-oriented' stuff and I think you'd like to work with Vortex. :)

ooc: Had been taken out for 36 hours due to broken computer (And from the looks of it, odds are that my onlinetime on weekends will be significantly reduced... to nothing.

ic:

This is... magnificient.

The soldiers were simply... amazed. They hadn`t thought of such a welcome. Especially since, Angstians were undoubtedly not the most welcome people in the world...

But it seemed like the Skargarden people were more... curious than frightened.

The transports didn´t take too long...

11000 men infantry, 300 tanks, 432 planes, and 33 warships...

A nearly complete strategic operation force.

There were many things to test... Mindmines, scorpion drohnes, non- lethal weaponery... mainly small equipment.

"I didn`t knew Aperin was that beautiful..."
"Yeah... well, they aren´t a state capitalism regime like their northern neighbors, so they have some sense for beauty."
"Yah... What was the issue, again? For the wargames, that is."
"Erm... no idea, the Knootians initiated it... but i think it was something about Urban warfare... with this megacities springing up everywhere... well, no wonder they`re interested in it."
"True."

ooc:

11000 infantrists = One division. 1000 heavy infantrists, 3000 medium infantrists, 7000 light infantrists

300 tanks = One division. 100 heavy, hundred medium, hundred light. 900 would be necessary for 'strategic operative' status.

432 planes = 144 bombers, transporters, fighters

33 warships = 3 battlecarrier, 9 cruiser, 21 destroyer. As always, all are subs

Edit: Wrong numbers. Should have used a complete operational force in the first place o.O

We implore our friends in Knootoss and SeOCC to stand down their military escalations, stay well clear from thr coastal waters of each others' regions, and go to the peace table with third-party mediation. Both sides profess peace. Both are escalating their military preparedness. This is insanity, and it should be resolved through talking, not through shows of force.

We suggest both countries now state that they will not be the first to attack the other, and that both pledge to not send military forces to within 5,000 km (or another agreed-upon distance) from the coasts of of Aperin and Holland respectively.

Violeta Bi Bere
People's representative for foreign affairs & human rights

We implore our friends in Knootoss and SeOCC to stand down their military escalations, stay well clear from each others' territorial waters, and go to the peace table with third-party mediation. Both sides profess peace. Both are escalating their military preparedness. This is insanity, and it should be resolved through talking, not through shows of force.

Violeta Bi Bere
People's representative for foreign affairs & human rights

"We didn´t even touch seOCC territorial waters.

And since when are wargames with good friends insanity?

It´s just that they happen to be on the same continent SeOCC is on... It`s like the USSR complaining about NATO- wargames in western europe."

~ Mr. Morden, with ooc thingy`s to clear up a few things.

"We didn´t even touch seOCC territorial waters.

And since when are wargames with good friends insanity?

It´s just that they happen to be on the same continent SeOCC is on... It`s like the USSR complaining about NATO- wargames in western europe."

~ Mr. Morden, with ooc thingy`s to clear up a few things.

ooc: i understand that DA. I actually just edited the post to suggest the Knootss and SeOCC (no mention of other countries) stay well away from each others' regions. I know you & K have may the right to do anything you want, this is merely a suggestion in the interests of peace. Also, it's only addressed to 2 countries, Knootoss and SeOCC, with whom we have diplomatic relations and thus feel we have a right to speak to constructively and in a more honest fashion that we would speak to a country like Der Angst with whom we have no relations.

I would ask that the CACE members please post in here as opposed to the CACE board.

OOC: *replies to edited version of the post*

We implore our friends in Knootoss and SeOCC to stand down their military escalations, stay well clear from thr coastal waters of each others' regions, and go to the peace table with third-party mediation. Both sides profess peace. Both are escalating their military preparedness. This is insanity, and it should be resolved through talking, not through shows of force.

We suggest both countries now state that they will not be the first to attack the other, and that both pledge to not send military forces to within 5,000 km (or another agreed-upon distance) from the coasts of of Aperin and Holland respectively.

Violeta Bi Bere
People's representative for foreign affairs & human rights

To:
Violeta Bi Bere
People's representative for foreign affairs & human rights
Tanah Burung

We are appreciative of your resolve to maintain the peace, and share the concerns that you have voiced. Therefore, we are willing to work with you to find an equitable solution.

However it is important to note that we are allied with the Rogue nation of Skargarden and that we are bound by our military pact to protect them. Therefore we cannot, and will not, agree to remain at 5.000 kilometres distance of Aperin, or any other to be agreed upon distance. Doing so would seriously hamper our ability to fulfil our pact duties.

However let me make clear that we will not in any way violate SeOCC territorial waters. The Knootian navy will remain inside Skargarden territorial waters for the purpose of this exercise, and we will respect their sovereignty. We ask that SeOCC do the same for Skargarden and Knootoss. We are in our full right here to stage these exercises and believe they are a invaluable contribution to the experience of our military forces.

At this time, we have no intention of starting a war or staging strikes against SeOCC targets. SeOCC on the other hand has called for full mobilisation of it’s forces and the moving of CACE forces into the area. Furthermore they have granted amnesty to known militantly anticapitalist terrorist groups such as the Volunteer Army. We perceive these actions as hostile and we will adapt our readiness level accordingly.

We have spent a lot of time trying to reach agreements with the SeOCC government but these talks were unfortunately cut off when their government froze all relations, including informal ones, and expelled all citizens of WBO/SATO countries. It was never the Democratic Republic that gave up on talks. Only when faced with the imminent acceptance of a motion stipulating a CACE-wide breaking of relations we have withdrawn our ambassador from their Headquarters in Celdonia. And even still, we retain contacts through the Xikuangese ambassador in The Hague.

But instead of playing the blame game we offer a tangible solution. We offer SeOCC and the entire CACE a treaty of non-aggression and non-intervention. This treaty stipulates that neither side shall engage in military action against the other nation, that we recognise each others national sovereignty, that civilians form either side are banned from entering each others territory (defined as the home state, ie Knootian mainland and SeOCC city + the homelands of CACE full membernations.) and that neither side shall kill, deport, harass, arrest out of political motives or otherwise unduly damage the interests of each others citizens abroad. This last condition specifically applies to citizens with the Knootian nationality and CACE citizens around the world. To facilitate cultural exchanges etc, travelling between nations who have signed the treaty can be allowed by means of visa.

Acceptance of the treaty will mean that readyness levels can return to normal.

Benevolently yours,

Lousewies der Laan
Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of Knootoss

EDIT: made it @CACE and not just @SeOCC, otherwise it's worthless. Added possibility of visa.

Madame Prime Minister,

As far as we know, relations between some CACE countries and Knootoss are still open. We regret that our suggestion is not acceptable, although we acknowledge that it is not our concern who Knootoss chooses to ally itself with. If, however, we can serve any role in mediation, we are certainly willing to do so.

In peace,
V. Bi Bere

Greetings to Ms. Lousewies van der Laan:

Your offer of a non-aggression and non-intervention treaty interests us, but we have serious reservations as to its specifications and content as well as its provenance. You will no doubt be aware that the situation with Skargarden is an unstable one, and it will not surprise you to learn that it is one the CACE-member Aperin nations have been monitoring most carefully, though from a non-interventionist perspective. We are hardly easy with the Svea Riga/Skargarden affairs, and we are all the more uneasy with the introduction of SATO-afiliated ships nearby.

I urge you to consider the sensitivity of the situation first and foremost. Neither of us wants this to escalate into hostilities, but we cannot sign the treaty you propose, fro two reasons: first, because the majority of the CACE has severed all relations with WBO/SATO nations, and secondly, because as I understand it there is a misunderstanding brewing concerning certain would-be colonists, whose proposed activities will not be countenanced and will meet with arrest should they persevere. Therefore we cannot sign such treaties as would pre-empt this action.

We hope you will view the stepping-up in security as an appropriate response to the presence of increased non-allied military presence in our seas, and will take it as such. If no attack on a CACE member is forthcoming, no retaliation will be made.

With benedictions,

Elected General Councillor Kham Khitai, Xikuangese Permanent Liaison to the CACE

PS. Privately to Ms. van der Laan: I well remember your friendliness when we met at the DNAC conference. I have been following events in Knootoss and I know that you have gone through considerable hardship. I hope that you are keeping well, and that we can reach a peaceable resolution in all haste, as I know neither you nor I, and neither our respective governments, wishes for any hostility to exist between us.

With benedictions,

Kham Khitai

At the central Valinon treaty port on Earth, New Bergia, recently promoted Admiral Perry reviews the reports from Knootoss. He leaves his office at the Great Blue Fleet command center near the harbor of the large port, and quickly takes a jet coptor to the HMS Bartholomew. There he summons his command staff, some are present, others are there via hologram.
Perry listens to Commodore Luthendorf, commander of the Atlantean-class submarine flotilla, "This situation raises some concern, Admiral, I think it would be prudent to dispatch a small force to observe these war games. If you want I can attend and-," he is cut off by Perry.
"No, Commodore, I shall attend. The Bartholomew can be readied and leave within the day and I can take her group along with elements of Blue Submarine #8's group. I will also have Major General Tierce send me a suiting group of Sardaukar personnel to accompany."
"A wise course," says Vice Admiral Vinders, commander of the Pacific segment of the Blue Fleet. "You will of course keep the theater commanders updated, Admiral?"
"Of course," Perry sighs. "I will also inform Lord Adonis on Proxima. Thank you, dismissed," the few officers present file out. Perry is left alone as the holograms flicker out. He opens a channel to the Knootoss high command.

******

Encrypted Message from Admiral Nathaniel Perry, His Majesty's Great Blue Fleet

The Empire of Valinon wishes to send a group of observers to see the efficiency of the Democratic Republic in these wargames. The task force will consist of as follows:

Blue Fleet Elements:
1 Megaledon-class carrier: HMS Bartholomew
2 Judicator-class battleships: HMS Guardian & Justice
4 Agrippa-class long-range missile cruisers
4 Persus-class secondary long-range missile cruisers
6 Hydra-class destroyers
4 Atlantean-class submarines

Sardaukar Elements:
Lieutenant Colonel Nylander
Captain Harth
Captain Wisson
28 junior observors
6 attached field AIs

(assuming Knootoss has forwarded the Valinon message to his allies)

Private communications to Knootoss

The Vortex Corporation is more than happy to work alongside Taraskovyan troops and combat elements in these wargames. However, we refuse to participate if the Empire of Valinon is allowed to observe the proceedings. Our primary reason for this is that we do not consider Valinon an ally, and that we have perceived their behaviour in the aftermath of the Shadow Wars as highly incoöperative. Secondly, the force they propose to send as 'observers' is a joke! An entire battlegroup to make simple observations that a team of civilians could also perform.

The presence of such a force in an already unstable region would be further destabilizing. We consider Valinon as an agressive, irresponsible and immature state, and refuse to participate if any Valinon observers or other participants are allowed.

Signed,
Councelor Robert Stone-Soban

The Fredericks Island naval base, located just west of Seocc, is put on maximum security alert, and throughout the day air squadrons are seen to arrive in greater numbers than anyone has seen previously.

Already the home of the Celdonian Advance Fleet (normally 3 aircraft carriers, 8 destroyers, 20 frigates, and up to 8 submarines providing tactical cover), shipping has increased around the island.

No public statement is issued from the Celdonian government.

OOC: Not got much time to post at the moment (damned work), but hopefuly this is enough to register my interest ;-)

ooc: i have no intention of posting anything here since i'm ic not talking to any WBO/SATO nations, nor do i intend to encourage this rather petulent and unrealistic political action. i will say this: it took the US government, a nation that spends way more cash on military than Knootoss and does it a lot better, about four months to move about 200k troops for the most recent Iraq slaughter. how long is it going to take K and pals?

i also have a life and a job that takes up 'time.' 'time' is thus a scarce resource and will not be squandered on some childish attempts at intimidation. anyone who wants to see the limited number of posts i will devote to this insanity can go to the CACE HQ, which K was kind enough to link to. toodles.

1. We have the right to hold military exercises.
2. This is not an intimidation attempt. You only perceive it as such.
3. Knootoss has significant financial and military aid from his allies and alliances.
4. Given the roleplay displayed so far and the quality of posts, I think calling this particular action "childish" is unjustified.
5. If you want to ignore us, then give a good reason to do so. If you want to play, then play. But don't whine.

Third Fleet Warlord Ferinion nos Círdan and his troops were taken aback by the hospitality of the Skargardeni. Some of the soldiers handed out little bags containing candy, lembas, and a few Menelmacari credits to the children, especially any with Menelmacari flags.

The fleet had arrived late the previous night, and the great vessels even now hovered low over the ocean - high enough to provide plenty of clearance for passing surface ships, but low enough to be clearly visible - and Menelmacari and SATO flags flew prominently from their bridge towers.

The equipment listing of the fleet was as follows:

Third Menelmacari Imperial Gravitic Battle Fleet
Commanding Officer: Warlord Ferinion nos Círdan

Capital Ships:
1 Fëanor-class gravitic dreadnought (1350 m long)
2 Daeron-class gravitic heavy transports (1100 m long)
3 Valarauka-class gravitic battleships (950 m long)
5 Maglor-class gravitic cruisers (675 m long)
7 Maedhros-class gravitic destroyers (350 m long)
12 Glorfindel-class gravitic frigates (180 m long)

Aerospace assets:
350 F/A-73 Thoron ("Eagle") fighters
100 B-91 Uruambalë ("Phoenix") bombers
100 C-48 Vilyulairë ("Skywraith") dropships
150 AG-57 Lómefion ("Nighthawk") gunships

Ground assets:
400 Tarmecil ("Claymore") gravitic MBT's
400 Tarocco ("Stallion") gravitic IFV's
100 Námië ("Judgement") gravitic self propelled artillery
1000 Bragollach ("Sudden Flame") jetbikes
1000 GUV's (gravitic utility vehicle - picture a Humvee, except gravitic)

Personnel:
15,000 fleet personnel
50,000 ground troops
1,000 Mornahossë ("Shadow Force") special forces

http://www.weirdozone.0catch.com/projects/nationstates/sirithil/sirithilnosfeanor.gifLady Sirithil nos Fëanor
Elentári of the Eternal Noldorin Empire of Menelmacar
Regent of Lavenrunz, Chancellor of CENNA
"We have known freedom's price. We have shown freedom's power. We will see freedom's victory."
~US President George W. Bush
We Love the Iraqi Information Minister (http://www.welovetheiraqiinformationminister.com)
Clicky-clicky!

OOC: just what Rezo asked for.

Teams:
Invasion camp
Menelmacar (gravship fleet is best suited for offence)
The Vortex Corporation (has dropships and other landing stuff, and an RDF)
Tarasovka (is going to work with offensive stuff, has cooperation with Vortex)

Defence Camp
Knootoss (army is tuned towards defensive roles)
Skargarden (it's his country - only a few men will participate btw.)
Omz (has tanks, no navy/parastuff so invasion camp will be difficult)
Der Angst (someone needs to be uberprofessional in the Defence team.

I'm not a military expert, so Diablo can pick whichever side he feels needs him most. :P *hopes defence side*

Description of the war games area in northwest Skargarden
Like Denmark. It's really flat in the innner pieces of the nation with hils that goes along the coast. The terrain is mostly grassland. (See map)
Map of the war games area in northwest Skargarden:

Click here!
http://mypage.uniserve.ca/~rogerk/DanMain/Dan09.htm

Will reply to Valinon later.

May we offer a further suggestion? Knootoss has offered a non-aggression pact, but some of its terms are unacceptable to CACE members. We suggest that instead, Knootoss and CACE members both make a pledge not to attack the home territory of the other side. If either side then broke their word, they would be declaring themselves an international outlaw.
- VB

In response to the evacuation of SeOCC civilians (http://invisionfree.com/forums/CACE/index.php?showtopic=455&st=0&#entry7050) the Most Serene Republic has fully mobilised our transportations networks and secured government control of major mountain pass road and railway routes on our Heliotis and Terronos borders for mass trasport of citizens. We will meet transports from SeOCC in Heliotis and Terronos by truck, train and carrier aircraft to transfer citizens to ourselves. Temporary housing facilities have been prepared in several provinces, from which SeOCC nationals will be fostered by Xikuangese households and communities throughout the nation. It is estimated that these measures will cut the evacuation period by no fewer than 6 days.

Further to this, we must ask those of our CACE allies who might have surplus foodstuffs available for assistance in this regard, as we fear our own supplies may be insufficient to meet the increased need.


With benedictions, and in hope for peace,



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


Kham Khitai,
Elected General Councillor,
Xikuangese Liaison to the CACE,
The Most Serene Republic of Xikuang.--

We have heard the call, and we shall answer.

In light of this new appeal for the provision of food supplies, the Department of Agriculture has announced the beginning of measures to prepare a significant amount of food surplus for transport. The Department wishes to assure CACE as a whole that the Department will do whatever is neccesary to provide for all in need in these dangerous times, while assuring the citizenry of Anhierarch that according to current projections and estimates, no shortfall looks set to develop.

The Commonwealth Synod also wishes to state that the resources of Anhierarch are at the disposal of the CACE in the evacuation of SeOCC nationals, be it accomodation, consumables or transport facilities.

~Orikhe Velane, Anhierarch Liasion to CACE

"This is 'Ghost Dog' task force requesting permission to enter and land in Skargarden territory. Please respond"

"This is Skargarden air control. Permission granted"

Half an hour later, a massive wave of dropships approached the Skargardeni coasts. As dozens of bulky transport ships flew over the Menelmecari gravfleet, squadrons of aerodynes could be seen flying above and alongside them, protecting then harm. In three waves, the Corporate elements entered this new allied nation, ready for the wargames, motivated to the bone.

Passing over the gravships, dropship followed by dropship soared over the Skargarden lands, proceeding in the landing zones. One of the largest aerial operations ever staged by the Corporation, the Ghost Dog taskforce was massive in the amount of dropships used. On board of one of the wing command vessels, the communications officers were busier than ever trying to relay all messages incoming and outgoing.

"Thank you, Taraskyovan taskforce. We look forward to fighting alongside with you. Let's show them what Sisgardian bred is capable of."

"This is Soma Command to Knootoss Taskforce Command. The Vortex Corporation exercise participants hereby announce their arrival. Thanks for inviting us."

"Thank you Skargarden air control. We are most honoured to visit your proud nation. May your future be one of power and quality."

"This is Ghost Dog command to the Angstian taskforce command. We wish you good luck, and are sure that your forces will be as good as their reputation. See you on the battlefield."

"Menelmacari Fleet, this is Ghost Dog task force. Thank you for your greeting signals, and also thank you for relaying the positions of your men and material. We'll be sure to avoid them in our flight vectors. It is good to finally work together with the Elves"

On the left flank of the taskforce, a squadron of Condor Bombers flew, flying near two squadrons of Dropships carrying marine elements. With the automatic pilot engaged, the flight crew of the command bomber had some time for conversation. As they stared at the green lands before and below them, with the sunlight shining into the pilot from the upper right, the captain asked his navigator a question.

"Have you seen the warnings about CACE mobilisations?"

"Yes I have. Talk about paranoid. All we're doing is holding exercises in a friendly nation. God, I hope none of those bastards fires the first shot. Our boys can keep their heads cool, that's for sure. But I don't know about them."

"Well, my wife's sister works at MI, and she says this is just an exercise, nothing more and nothing less. So we should be fine."

"The Workers of Calapooya have issued the call for the formation of Peoples' Brigades under the defensive provisions of our constitution. The response has been overwhelming and at present there are four fully formed brigades totaling 8,600 troops. The brigades are on their way as soon as transport is arranged. Two of the brigades are crack alpine troops from our mountain climbing and rifle clubs, one is a medical and auxilliary support brigade, and the fourth is specially trained in counterintelligence work. We leave the disposition of our volunteer forces to the discretion of the workers of SEOCC.
No pasaran!
SWC USSC "
This communication was issued at 1700 yesterday and the Workers' Military Command is pleased to announce that transport has been secured and our forces arrival in Aperin is imminent.
We are prepared to give all military and material aid to our fellow workers in response to the naked territorial ambitions of Knootoss and their mercenary henchmen.
-FLASH-FLASH-FLASH-FLASH-FLASH
Twenty CWS coastal defense vessels equipped with electronic countermeasures and Red Star ship to ship missiles have been scheduled for airlift using our new Spartacus transport planes. The vessels will be accompanied by an auxiliary force of 250 Red Berets.
We again assert our solidarity with the people of Aperin against capitalist aggression. The illegal territorial ambitions of Knootoss and the unprovoked escalation of hostilities gives the lie to their neo-liberal magic lantern show of civil rights and political openess.
We urge the people of Knootoss to rise up and throw off the shackles of imperialism and militarism.
Supreme Workers' Council
United Socialist States of Calapooya

The peoples of Sacco and Vanzetti are urging all sides in the dispute to stand down their forces and resolve this misunderstanding peacefully.

Further, we are making places available at our Bienventura Durrutti Academy of Street-fighting to trainees from SeOCC.

If war should break out, the peoples of Sacco and Vanzetti are likely to respond fully and extensively to the creation of an International Brigade by SeOCC.


Comrade Patty Hearst, truth and reconciliation delegate
People's Republic of Sacco and Vanzetti

The peoples of Sacco and Vanzetti are urging all sides in the dispute to stand down their forces and resolve this misunderstanding peacefully.

Further, we are making places available at our Bienventura Durrutti Academy of Street-fighting to trainees from SeOCC.

If war should break out, the peoples of Sacco and Vanzetti are likely to respond fully and extensively to the creation of an International Brigade by SeOCC.


Comrade Patty Hearst, truth and reconciliation delegate
People's Republic of Sacco and Vanzetti

The Empire of Diablo_NL joins the attacking camp. For we do not see the vallue in the lessons we might learn of defending.

*Private Satellite Encrypted Message to Knootian Prime Minister*

Ms. Lousewies van der Laan,

The Ruhrian government has been watching this situation closely, and it may have come to your attention that an entire battlegroup was sent to monitor the situation. After much debate in the Chancellor's hall, we have come to the decision to help the people of Skargarden.

With your permission, the Ruhrian Imperial Navy will be escorting a one hundred two ship larger merchant-marine fleet heading to Skargarden ports to drop off several hundred thousand tonnes of supplies including humanitarian aid and medical supplies. Along with this materiel will come the 263rd Medical Division (breaking up into 10 mobile-army-hospitals and 2 EVAC units), primarily to participate in the war games.

The 1st Indian Ocean Attack Fleet has already sent the Maddox battlegroup to observe the situation. More elements of that fleet will trickle in guarding re-supply vessels, accompanying a second and third battlegroup to show up in the near future.

The primary purpose for Ruhrian concern has been Svea Riga and Alvarezistan as close allies of Ruhr, yet both in affiliation status with CACE. We are using this as an opportunity to check up on CACE activities while maintaining a peaceful status. Hopefully, this will not escalate any farther than it already has. Seocc population has already begun moving out of the country and into safer areas of the region, this paranoia has our concerns that CACE members may wish for this to escalate to a full-scale war. Until then, we offer our supplies for the Skargardeni populace and our medical division for use of the military in the sovereign state of Skargarden.

Sincerely,

Mark Peters
Minister of Foreign Affairs

-----------------
Secret IC
-----------------

We will also be sending Ranger Division Battalion 26A, only as a safe-measure. The Rangers are a light-armour fast-attack force that uses Mercedes Benz Gelandewagen Attack Vehicles, LandRover Discovery Attack Series, HMMWV variants and a Light-Armoured tank developed by the New Genoese. The battalion is 6,000 men strong and has roughly 300 vehicles including several helicopters. These men will only be 'observers' to the war games planned.

Aboard the Bartholomew Perry receives reports of the Vortex message. He sits in his ready room with his second, Commodore Danziger, Lieutenant Colonel Nylander, and several other officers.
He waits for them to finish the reports then leans forward at the ready room table, steepling his fingers.
"I grow tired of the Vortex Corporation's continual interference in the foreign affairs of the Empire. We know have a standing defense agreement with the Democratic Republic of Knootoss, and now I find that I will merely circumvent this nuisance once and for all."
"By that you mean what, Admiral?" says the young Nylander.
"By that I mean it is time to instruct our Earth brethern that we will not allow them to dictate policy to us, especially on such hypocritical grounds. Nylander, you will take an initial party of yourself and a selected team and go aboard Blue 37." Perry now turns to the commander of Blue 37, "Commander Hellinson, you will take your sub into the area that Knootoss is operating in and launch a jet coptor carrying Colonel Nylander's team. If the Vortex forces give you any problems, contact me at once."
"Yes, Admiral."
"And what of negotiations with the Vortex forces, Admiral?" says Danziger.
Perry smiles, "I am acting commander of the entire forces on the Earth, Lee, they will talk to me or they will talk to no one. The fleet will continue on course as planned, and I want a comm conference with Vice Admiral Gersein aboard the Dominion as soon as possible. You have your orders, dismissed!"

The Empire of Diablo_NL joins the attacking camp. For we do not see the vallue in the lessons we might learn of defending.

"The attacking camp"? We were given to believe that these were peaceful war games.

The Empire of Diablo_NL joins the attacking camp. For we do not see the vallue in the lessons we might learn of defending.

"The attacking camp"? We were given to believe that these were peaceful war games.

"Are you stupid or what? Of course wargames consist of two parties, one attacking, one defending."

~ Mr. Morden, amazed by the amateurish politicians in Tanah Burung

---

ooc: So, the defending camp consists of:

Omz222: 500 troops, 40 tanks
Knootoss: 250000 men (unspecified, i need specifications... don´t tell me they´re all infantry...)
Der Angst: 11000 troops, 300 tanks, 432 planes, 33 ships

*works on defense plan*

Statement to SATO nations:

"Our paranoia in CACE is entirely justified, given the situation. A large force off the coast of the region where most major CACE members are situated, led by those who would undoubtedly love to see the end of anti-capitalist economies. I'm quite sure that if the CACE did the same near Knootoss or somewhere similar, we would recieve far less veiled threats."

"We in The Weegies are cautious at the moment, but as long as this remains within the borders of Skargarden, we see no need to mobilise any of our - rather meagre, it must be admitted - forces at the moment. But you can be assured we will not brook any agression against any CACE members."

Council Leader Alan Sharkey.

Highely Encrypted Secure Coded Secret message to the Vortex Corporate Authorities.[OOC: meaning that certain persons will not be able to get any reports on this message :roll: ]

The Grand Duchy asks that the Vortex Corporate authorities tolerate the presence of the forces incoming from the Empire of Valinon on the ground.

The Grand Duchy has... certain plans.

You are welcome to contact us in private to discuss this matter.

Thank you for your attention.

OOC:

Brief TNDF stats:

One NGF MI division, totalling 10.000 troopers.
4.000 NGF SODATs.
200 Assault Hoverdynes and tanks.
300 APC's.
50 Voitel Class Assault Dropships.
70 Strij Class Light Dropships.
20 Heavy Dropships.
300 Aerodynes, for low altitude assault.
14 warships.
4 various carriers.
2 Submarine carriers.
7 Attack submarines.
6 heavy naval transports.
Some ship personel, crew, etc which I am too lazy to calculate right now :wink:

If you need more - I am always ready to toss some :D , but 4.000 NGF SODAT by themselves are enough to wage a fullscale local war for a period of 12 hours :shock:
I am leaving the high altitude assault to Siri's fleets 8)

I'm quite sure that if the CACE did the same near Knootoss or somewhere similar, we would recieve far less veiled threats."


"You never tried.

But as an example, we could compare the SeOCC reaction on us building Oil rigs near the Aperin coast, which included paranoia, threats of war, terrorism, and other funny things, and our reaction when Svea Riga did the same to us. We were amused, nothing else.

I`m sure, in the case of CACE wargames near SATO- territories, the results would be the same.

Because unlike you, we`re not paranoid freaks."

~ Mr. Morden

"I suppose paranoia must be the price to pay for a non-exploitative, intelligent, compassionate society."

"I think it's worth it."

Council Leader Alan Sharkey.

"Paranoia and intelligence are mutually exclusive. A short UN survey will surely prove it."

~ Late night talk, quote of the day

"I suppose paranoia must be the price to pay for a non-exploitative, intelligent, compassionate society."

"I think it's worth it."

Council Leader Alan Sharkey.

Paranoia, good comrade, is the price to pay for being the flame in an ocean of darkness. Ever shall the shadow seek to extinguish the flame that would burn it away.

It is our burden, and we shall bear it.

~Speaker Myrios, First Among Equals

The Commonwealth of Anhierarch

"Paranoia and intelligence are mutually inclusive. A short UN survey will surely prove it."

~ Late night talk, quote of the day

"So, I'm guessing Mr. Morden isn't a fan of intelligence, then?"

"I wasn't particularly surprised. People are normally afraid of things they don't have."

- Satirical programme.

The High Administrative Council has, in response to pleas from our fellow allies and the results of the debates and votes during these last dire days, relayed this message to the CACE headquarters and, of course, anyone else who happens to read it:

[quote]In the United States of Free Socialism, historical events have passed.

In a nation that has been totally de-militarized ever since the Miner's Guild and the militias set down their weapons after the revolution, in a nation without military nor any conventional police, the people has been extremely opposed to any violence.

However, in the light of recent events in and near the nations of our closest allies, a sleeping people has awakened. After fierce debates on all the networks, and several votes in the Concils, the people of the Union has come to three important decisions:

Firstly, to re-militarize the nation by re-instating the communal militias. All municipal educational facilities, from primary to the very highest as well as all the worker's schools in all the working places, have begun teaching guerilla tactics and martial arts to the people - children, youth, working men and women. Attendance was initially compulsary, but very few have protested against it, and it has thusly been made volountary.

All these facilities teach the people how to protect our infrastructure and the best way to fight in and around their closest surroundings; the workers learn to defend their factories, the people to defend their homes, the children and youth how to defend the schools and services.

A volounary army has been formed for those who wish to go abroad and die to help defend our most threatened allies from the forces of fascism and capitalism. Trained by veterans sent from different anticapitalist allies with greater experience than the Union instruct them at a secret location on the islands.


An emergency non-regular High Production Council has been announced, and resolved after two days of debate, with the people granting a radically different production plan.

1/3 of all Technical appliance factories as well as chemo-technic facilities will shift their production from their previous goods to armaments and explosives, using plans provided from arms experts within Celdonia, Anhierarch, Cirdanistan and other nations, as well as production shifting experts from SeOCC.

Effective immediately, technical and chemical consumer goods are rationed with the public now recieving 2/3 of the previous Council allocations.


Also, all agricultural premises are to shift from creating non-edible crops to edible crops, effective immediately. In these areas, educational facilities will cut even more of the regular education in order to school the population in advanced farming methods and unorthodox foodcrops, in order to create a 75% increase in food production, calculated down for crop shifting problems and eventual disasters.

The disaster relief food stores have been opened, and food stuffs are to immediately be sent to our allies, until the agricultural production sector can begin producing the new suprlus. Food is to be rationed down to 2/3 in the Union, in order to for us to send aid to food importing nations.


After voting, the people has granted the Transit Sub-Council an emergency shift. All airborne and seaborne transports are to be taken out of regular traffic and start regular air- and sea routes to the mainland of Aperin, to where it will carry foodstuffs and volounteers, and then back to the Union, where immigrants and refugees will be taken, along with any eventual surplus arms of any sort.

All emergency crafts such as rough terrain emergency VTOL aircraft, helicopters, transporter planes and the likes will also participate in this effort.



In the towns, villages, cities and metropolitan areas of the Union, the pace of everyday life has been changed. The people is uneasy however determined, and many have been seen taking to spontaneous agitation on the working places, in the town centres, on trains and buses and in residantial areas, speaking of past battles fought, of the preservation of democracy, of the price to pay for freedom, of solidarity and unity between the peoples.

All parts and sectors of the Union, geograpcihally, democragphically and industrially, will participate in these efforts to help save us and our allies' sovereignity, peaceful life, democracy and freedom.

Chanting the old slogans and warcries of the past, the people of the free world are preparing for a new struggle.
The fascists will not pass - NO PASARAN!
THE PEOPLE UNITED WILL NEVER BE DEFEATED!
We will stand united, we will fall united, but we will never stop fighting.[quote]

GC-DCIS Central Command INTERFACE

~All aerodyne elements report arrival

~All hoverdyne elements report arrival

~All terradyne elements report arrival

~All infantry elements report arrival

~All civilian, logistical and monitoring elements report arrival

~Contact with all 'invading' forces established

~Base camps, communications facilities, supply depots being constructed

~Mapping activities, local reconnaissance, troop briefing initiated

-End-

A major looked at the monitor displaying the status of the Ghost Dog taskforce. Until this point, everything was running smoothly and as planned. Not that he was surprised about that. Logistical and pre-op activities were amongst the core competencies of the VC armed forces. All he had to do now, was the creation of a full battle plan in coöperation with the 'allies' in this simulation.

Aboard Blue 37, Commander Hellinson sits at the command station in the small, compact bridge.
"We will be entering territorial waters soon, sir."
Hellinson drums his fingers on one of his command consules, "Throttle to 1/3 of normal, activate the Kizomui system."
"Yes, Commander."
"Helm, take us down to 200 feet."
"Yes, sir."
Hellinson turns to Nylander, "Prepare your men, Colonel. Once we have slipped close enough in I will surface and dispatch your transport to the last updated location of the Knootian field command."
"Of course, Commander."

The Empire of Diablo_NL joins the attacking camp. For we do not see the vallue in the lessons we might learn of defending.

"The attacking camp"? We were given to believe that these were peaceful war games.

"Are you stupid or what? Of course wargames consist of two parties, one attacking, one defending."

~ Mr. Morden, amazed by the amateurish politicians in Tanah Burung

OOC: i was just being mischievous actually, should have added a winky emoticon. But is calling your adversaries "freaks" a sign of non-amateurish politics? :wink:

OK, i'll stop spamming the thread now, sorry all.

The 1st Army and fleet, was still in orbit of earth, from the AMF war. And was later joined with the 4th and 5th groups.
The large group of ships sat in high orbit of earth, but not near Aperin held space. The Thera class carrier of the 1st army group send out a encrypted message to all involved in the wargames.
This is General Renard of the Empire of Diablo_NL. Commanding officer of the 1st A&F. We will take part in these wargames, the other 2 A&F's might join in later if situation calls for it.
All of our weapons have been loaded with duds and low energy lasers. These laser will not destroy or kill anything. But if a person is shot he will feel slight pain. As for vehicles they will be shaken a little.
Our missles are all duds so that you will have a better simulation of seeing how effective your CIW system's are.
If there are any questions do not hesitate to ask. Renard out.

[OOC:i don' thave time to RP much of this unless it waits before starting, but i'm deploying some forces to whichever of us reds will have them. Oh, and if any grav-ships arrive, i've developped "quantum unified dynamics", have "qualitative matter detectors" and shoot you all with terawatt-class lasers. Last i checked, we had less stupid citizens than the WBO on the UN survey, so the more advanced tech you bring-the more ahead of you we are, because we're smarter so we get more R&D done. Point.]

[OOC:i don' thave time to RP much of this unless it waits before starting, but i'm deploying some forces to whichever of us reds will have them. Oh, and if any grav-ships arrive, i've developped "quantum unified dynamics", have "qualitative matter detectors" and shoot you all with terawatt-class lasers. Last i checked, we had less stupid citizens than the WBO on the UN survey, so the more advanced tech you bring-the more ahead of you we are, because we're smarter so we get more R&D done. Point.]

We're older than you. Point.

[OOC:i don' thave time to RP much of this unless it waits before starting, but i'm deploying some forces to whichever of us reds will have them. Oh, and if any grav-ships arrive, i've developped "quantum unified dynamics", have "qualitative matter detectors" and shoot you all with terawatt-class lasers. Last i checked, we had less stupid citizens than the WBO on the UN survey, so the more advanced tech you bring-the more ahead of you we are, because we're smarter so we get more R&D done. Point.]

We're older than you. Point.
[IC, you are not, idiot. or else do you think nations suddenly are magically created with a landmass and 5M pop? i'm sure that happens all the time in some fantasy universe, but some of us happne to RP pseudo-real nations, you know ;)]

[OOC:i don' thave time to RP much of this unless it waits before starting, but i'm deploying some forces to whichever of us reds will have them. Oh, and if any grav-ships arrive, i've developped "quantum unified dynamics", have "qualitative matter detectors" and shoot you all with terawatt-class lasers. Last i checked, we had less stupid citizens than the WBO on the UN survey, so the more advanced tech you bring-the more ahead of you we are, because we're smarter so we get more R&D done. Point.]
Intelligence has nothing to do with tech level. If Einstein lived in 1300 he would not have been able to make his Theory of Relativity.
There is a difference between intelligence and knowledge.

[OOC:i don' thave time to RP much of this unless it waits before starting, but i'm deploying some forces to whichever of us reds will have them. Oh, and if any grav-ships arrive, i've developped "quantum unified dynamics", have "qualitative matter detectors" and shoot you all with terawatt-class lasers. Last i checked, we had less stupid citizens than the WBO on the UN survey, so the more advanced tech you bring-the more ahead of you we are, because we're smarter so we get more R&D done. Point.]
Intelligence has nothing to do with tech level. If Einstein lived in 1300 he would not have been able to make his Theory of Relativity.
There is a difference between intelligence and knowledge.[yes, but he would have been able to advance his nation's knowledge better than some moron would have. R&D is dependant on whether or not the people doing it are smart]

To all CACE comrades-- After reading much of the diplomatic traffic in this escalating crisis, the Military Intelligence Council of the Calapooya Workers' State believes that we are being assailed by lunatics. Gravity ships? terawatt class lasers? Space hoodoo. Poppycock.
The capitalist pirates will be repelled with "fire and steel" so I hope they have something more potent than science fair projects with which to launch their illegal and unprovoked attack, an attack which they continue to refer to as a game.
No pasaran!
Supreme Military Council
Calapooya Workers' State :twisted:

Just to make the VC intentions clear, a message was relayed.

To all CACE nations

L.S.

First of, let us apologize for any inconveniences that our recent actions involving the Skargarden wargames may have caused. The intention of this statement is to clearify what our intentions in these simulations are.

The Vortex Corporation has sent the Ghost Dog taskforce to Skargarden to hold military exercises with SATO and SFN allies, in order to test and hopefully improve the combat efficiency of our armed forces.

However, judging by the mobilisation of your armed forces, you seem to take this as a threat against your sovereignty. We hope we can take away any suspicions that you might have concerning the current situation. Skargarden was selected as the terrain for the exercises for two reasons. First, it's geography matches the desired environment. Secondly, it is a chance for Knootoss and Skargarden to improve their relationships.

The proximity of the CACE base of power to Skargarden is completely irrelevant in this case. None of the nations involved in the wargames have the intention to initiate in armed combat with CACE forces. That would result in a struggle beyond imagination, and neither side would benefit from such an escalation of conflicting ideologies.

We know this letter will not convince you. We know that you will perceive our presence as a threat regardless of what we say or do. But we feel still that it is required to state our intentions, to make our sentiments clear to you. Therefore, we repeat that we have no intention whatsoever to attack CACE member states. We therefore also hope that neither of your military commanders will give foolish orders, and keep their heads cool.

Please, before getting tied up in emotions and paranoia, take a minute to look. Of course, in a similar situation we would also grow paranoid, we would also be suspicious. But if you were just to look at what is happening, you would see not a single offensive maneuvre has been executed towards you.

We do not desire armed conflict with CACE. And we hope that feeling is mutual.

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

The Vortex Corporation Daiamid Council
Corporate Coalition
Templar Alliance
CENNA
SATO
WTE
SFN

”We bring new worlds to Life”

ooc: message most definately not recieved since you have no way of contacting most of our governments...

posting only re: tech; let it be known that, in accordance with my longstanding policy, SeOCC ignores any tech that is more than modern +1. what is modern +1? modern +1 is tech that has developed what is being IMMEDIATELY developed right now. that does not include cybernetics, gravships, psychic powers, magic, fairies, shadow dragons etc etc. it does include QAP's, rail/gauss guns, active stealth etc etc. i'm pretty sure that most CACE nations concur in this policy, so when you do attack, please remember to scale down your tech accordingly.

OOC: You make the brash, and foolish, assumption that we intend to attack you. I suppose you have evidence supporting this assertion; if so, please present it. If not, kindly shut yer hole.

Further, as per the Menelmacari RP policy, you cannot selectively choose elements of Menelmacar to ignore while accepting the rest. It's a package deal, a box set. If you ignore our technology, you must also ignore the existence of the entire nation, which would make you quite incapable of interfering in anything we do. If not, where does it stop? "I declare war on you... but ignore the base protecting your capital!" "I'm going to hack your satellites, but will ignore all your electronic defenses because I find them inconvenient and a little too advanced for my tastes!" Sorry. No.

~Siri

OOC: You make the brash, and foolish, assumption that we intend to attack you. I suppose you have evidence supporting this assertion; if so, please present it. If not, kindly shut yer hole.

Further, as per the Menelmacari RP policy, you cannot selectively choose elements of Menelmacar to ignore while accepting the rest. It's a package deal, a box set. If you ignore our technology, you must also ignore the existence of the entire nation, which would make you quite incapable of interfering in anything we do. If not, where does it stop? "I declare war on you... but ignore the base protecting your capital!" "I'm going to hack your satellites, but will ignore all your electronic defenses because I find them inconvenient and a little too advanced for my tastes!" Sorry. No.

~Siri

OOC:

Don't have anything else to add, Siri has covered everything pretty well. If you ignore us - then we don't have troops in Skargarden, there is no Skargarden and more than that - there is no SATO, since SATO is a highely technologically advanced organization. So if there is no SATO, there is no critisism of SATO, there are no terror attacks against SATO nations, there is NO interaction with SATO nations.
And you HAVE interacted with SATO nations in past.
So why turn 180 degrees now and just say that you ignore them?
Your logic doesn't make any sence :?

And no, I am not member of SATO :roll:
And I have one last thing to state:

http://www.digikitten.com/playhousev2/files/Mishgan/SiriFoxBanner.gif

>cut tiny irrelevant mobilisation<
We again assert our solidarity with the people of Aperin against capitalist aggression. The illegal territorial ambitions of Knootoss and the unprovoked escalation of hostilities gives the lie to their neo-liberal magic lantern show of civil rights and political openness.
We urge the people of Knootoss to rise up and throw off the shackles of imperialism and militarism.
Supreme Workers' Council
United Socialist States of Calapooya

Knootian comedy central
A group of comedians has heard the storm of diplomatic statements and wanted to do a comedy act on it. Blending the different responses into one, they picked this one up and decided to use it in their show.

…

A ridiculously megauberbombastic happy soviet tune is played as a rusty hammer and sickle appear on a red (slightly pinkish) background. The sharp point on the sickle rips the pinkish curtain apart.

“This is the Calapooya News – Inspiring fear and obedience since the revolution.”

A concrete desk, in front of a cheap and also concrete grey background is shown. A deiform picture of a grinning SeOCC-player wearing the ‘Imbecile hat’ hangs on the wall. A fiercely communist woman shouts the news with shrill voice:

“Calapooya News has been told by the Sea Orc MFA frontdesk that the fearsome capitalist forces will begin nuclear carpet bombing on us all IN THIRTY SECONDS and after that they will move in troops! But they are so stupid they do not realise that this will fail! Long lives our superior intelligence!”

She now screams into the camera:

”We will still defeat them! Witness the brave and defiant forces of equality!”

The TV shows a bunch of poorly dressed farmers standing around resting on their hayforks. A military officer in a red uniform gets in the picture in front of the camera and begins to shout to the farmers in an incomprehensible language. As the officer walks away from the camera the farmers appear again with their backs straightened and hayforks dangerously thrust forward.

The screen cuts back to the communist woman news anchor:

”A revolution has been started by the brave workers of Knootoss after our mighty government called upon the proletariat to revolt! There are massive demonstrations throughout the country and the people are demonstrating everywhere!

The TV shows footage of people in a crowded street in Knootoss, going pretty much about their business. Judging by hairstyles and such the footage is at least ten years old.

“To outsmart the capitalist invasion which should already be happening Our Great Leadership has proclaimed that food, water and electricity shall be rationed for all normal citize…”

The screen blacks out.

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

...::General transmission coming in from a communication relay station::…
Coordinate origin: >northern Skargarden< – Knootian military base signature detected.
Relay network: communication satellites in orbit triangulate and enhance the signal, making it heard on non-jammed television signals and radio frequencies.

[Vidlink enabled]

A guinea pig crest is displayed against a blue background.

Dressed in a stately red garb, state-secretary Galadriël Táralóm appears, her expression is unemotional, cold. Positioned behind her are the flags of the Democratic Republic of Knootoss, SATO, UNAOTO, the UTP-CDF, the Dutch Roleplay Army and the Netherlands. Behind that in the background is a European flag background – blue with yellow stars. –

As the Elvish woman speaks her dark eyes glimmer brightly in the light. Reflective glory.

Citizens of Aperin,

Your nations leaders lead you to believe that war is on the brink. They tell you that it is inevitable. They tell you the capitalists are coming and that they are going to eat your kids. But what I see in the Aperin nations right now troubles me deeply.

The pacifists of Aperin who rally to militarise their countries…
The wealthy of Aperin who ration their food…
The children of Aperin who are trained to fight as soldiers…
The proud citizens of Aperin who run and hide…
The humanitarians of Aperin who enlist help from regimes they would rather overthrow…

By choosing these means you have become that which you say you hate.
By giving up your pacifism, wealth, childhoods, pride and humanitarianism you betray your own principles. Is this the right thing to do?

If there ever was a war, then ‘evil capitalism’ will have already have won it…”

Galadriël made a dramatic pause and stared right into the camera. Then she continued, raising her arm in a wide gesture.

“Citizens of Aperin,

I ask you, look around you for a moment and think. Think for a moment! Why is your food being rationed? Why are your sons sent off to battle? Why do have you been ordered to produce machines designed to kill? Is this how you have been raised? Are these the ideals you profess? Is this the modern, civilized way of life? And most of all – is this necessary?

The warmongering propaganda that is coming from the ministry of politics is nothing more then lies and deceit. The assumption of war is based solely on the presence of allied troops training in Skargarden. These troops are only there because Skargarden is our friend, and their mission is only to train. We do not desire a war of ideologies. Such a war could only end in millions, if not billons of deaths and we do not wish to take the responsibility for this.

War is not inevitable! Think and learn for yourself, we are a nation of peace and you are peaceful peoples. Be informed. Say no to war.”

In the middle of the screen an Internet address appears:

www.thethruthaboutthewar.gov.kn

The screen blacks out and normal programming resumes…

OOC: Re: tech debate
Let’s all just be considerate of each other please. Tech levels are a longstanding discussion on NS and it is a discussion that can never be solved. Like SeOCC you could consider me ‘+1’, yet I manage to RP it with others. Whatever the guns are called, they will still kill you. Just be considerate OOCly. With the ‘spacedyships are out’ rule it went perfectly okay in the Shadow war. (Knootian war, whatevah) which is also why there are no spacedyships in this exercise.

Also: there is no war so you won’t even NEED to bitch. Just sit back and watch us. ;)
Less OOC and more IC please, as soon as everyone is ready I will begin the actual war games in another thread. (To avoid needless confusion between war game movements and CACE mobilisations.)

I am busily working on a longer reply to address the other replies here, but I thought I could just as well give you this already.

OOC:

Can we quickly address the tech issue here and sort out any future arguments.

M, I remember a thread from a looong time a go when you and Seocc actually agreed that some sort of levelling was appropriate when two nations of different tech went to war. i.e. it's not very fair if a young nations claims to have future tech and therefore massive superiority over a much older and larger modern tech nation.

We all trying to RP here, so I assume no one is simply going to declare themselves the winner on the basis of tech. Anyway, Celdonia is only a few weeks younger than Menelmacar and for anyone having a pop at nations younger than them...well, let's not go down that road.

I accept that SATO is highly advanced, but you guys have to accept that the people living in CACE nations aren't exactly in mud huts. We're generally playing modern tech nations, and within that context we're technologically advanced.

Also, I'll happily concede that SATO has overall military superiority - you spend much more on on the military than most CACE nations (don't forget that some of us still maintain decent militaries though, so no invasion would be a walk in the park) but I do think we have a legitimate claim on EDW supperiority (it's the one area we've made a big deal of and I think it would be unfair to downplay it), so if any conflict became "electronic" I think we can certainly deliver a few bloody noses.

Ok, enough of that. If we can can agree to a leveling of different techs for RP purposes and that we have our different strengths then I don't see a problem.

I will say though that (and despite the fact that I see this SATO action as being highly provacative) if it degenerates into throwing OOC insults I'll be walking away. That last comment is non partisan as well...please, no mud-slinging on either side.

Blue 37 surfaces from the undersea depths. As the water drips down its smooth hull, a the small hanger on the specially modified Atlantean opens. Rolling down a mag-track, a modular jet coptor, carrying Lieutenant Colonel Nylander and his adjutant, Captain Wisson sit in the cramped cockpit of the smaller than normal coptor.
Hellinson's voice comes over Nylander's headset, "You are cleared for lift, Colonel."
"Understood."
"We are giving you the coordinates of the last known Knootian field command position."
Nylander makes one last check of his systems and calls up the new navigation data.
"Received, Blue 37. Lifting off now."
"Stay in contact, Colonel."
"Of course, Commander."
Nylander lifts the jet coptor off the Atlantean's "back" and begins to move toward the Knootian field command post. He looks back and sees the submarine is already beginning to recede below the waves.
"Captain?"
"Yes, sir?"
"When we are close, begin to broadcast our signal of identification."
"Shouldn't we start now?"
"In the middle of a war game? No, I don't want to attract any more attention than absolutely necessary."
Nylander keeps the jet coptor low, shrieking over the water as he moves toward the command post.

BIG FAT OOC:
I agreed with SeOCC back then, and I agree with Celdonia here now. But I also agree fully with Siri. There just has to be some goodwill. Let me explain. In all practicality this means that I, for example, acknowledge that gravships and dropships exist BUT they are not invunerable. (Even if they are really strong.) They better be vunerable btw because I have to defend a few cities against them in this war game. :D

For example I shot down a few Dominion dropships during the Shadow war using tanks and AA guns. So it can happen. My troops were still being slaughtered en masse but that is because I acknowledge military superiority of, say, the brotherhood of NOD over me. :wink:

That said though, I'd like to keep massive spacefleets and ortillery out of the exerise and so far they have been automatically. Basically because people have the common sense to do this. It will also be a nice change to see Menelmacari troops actually landing instead of people pressing buttons on a high altiture. ^_^ This no-spacedy thing also goes for Valinon whom I still have to reply to. Sorry... it's gonna be an integrated post. I have spacedyships we can play with in "the future." k?

Technology is merely a plot device, a means to reach goals. A way of giving colour to the way your nation interacts. It is not to be used to determine the plot of a story or RP and it is to be used responsibly.
~Der Knoot, at 2:36 AM.

That does classify me as a freeform RPer who attempts realism rather then a "simulation" roleplayer. Well... so be it. You will have to "assume away" some problems at any rate. It is just a matter of degree. (Like in the Red Bracelet conflict in Der Angst, where "combat mages" engaged Diablo "battlemechs" and the mages used wind to tumble the battlemechs over. No OOC bitching there.)

I am not staging this whole thing out of OOC reasons because that kind of RP sucks. So I'd also like to keep things civil OOCly. Note that does not prevent me from being cruel ICly. *points to Knootian comedy central * Actually I love to hate this Thatcherite Galadriël character. This politeness rule goes for the CACE people but ALSO for the SATO people. We can mock and complain on IRC as far as I am concerned. CACE has the white room. Everybody happy.

If anyone else wants to discuss "the tech issue" or specific tech problems then by all means, but please make a new thread because it is cluttering up this one. :roll:

-end of rant / statement-

More from me tomorrow.

Federal Republic News Network(Channel 14 local, Channel 251 Satellite TV):

"Today the 2nd Battlegroup departed today from Staten Island Naval Base with express orders to proceed toward the military wargames being held in the area in and around the nation of Skargarden. President de los Santos has said that the Federal Republic will not be entering in the wargames however will deploy in a role that is conductive to monitor and act as neutral observers in the wargame. The deployment also comes admist threats and stirrings from the violently anti-capitalist left wing CACE."

Screen goes black and then cuts into footage of 3 visable Carriers with wake trailing heading out toward the open sea. No other vessels are seen before the screen fades to black once more.

"General Marshall has announced that the moblization level has risen from low level in a moderate level of moblization. Draft boards across the nation are going on standby and numbers are being mailed out to every woman, and man of age in the nation eligable for military service. The General said this was not in response to the CACE which he said, 'Had a military comparable to a bunch of bums with dull rusting switchblades. We could probably take on the combined military might of the CACE and walk away with meager losses in our own troop numbers. But we arent going there to fight the CACE, we're going there to watch SATO beat up on SATO odd as that may sound.' The 2nd Battlegroup which consists of 21 surface warships and 12 submarines is expected to take up to a week before arriving in the general vacinity of the wargames. In other news..."

Two dropships cruised through the afernoon skies, the sun in their backs, heading for the Knootian command post. Their orders were simple. To improve communications and overall coöperation they were to set up a monitoring and communications station near the command post. The information would not be used in the wargames, but it would allow the Corporation to more accurately judge reations and counter-reactions to their own movements. By studying the enemy, it would be possible to detect flaws and weaknesses in the VC battle strategies.

The cargo of the day was therefore monitoring equipment, civilian operators, plus a whole lot of paperwork. Making a slight turn to the left, the dropships continued for a few more miles and then started descending.

Minutes later, they had touched down near the Knootian command post. As the large cargo doors opened, three large hoverdynes slided out. Each was designed as a mobile monitoring posts. Every friendly, hostile and unknown unit in the area would be monitored, as well as the radio traffic. After the wargames, the data stored in the data banks would, without doubt, be very useful in improving combat efficiency. As the three hoverdynes proceeded to their predesignated locations, the commanding officer of the flight walked over to a waiting captain. This captain was in charge of Vortex/Knootoss relations during the wargames, and thus had to sign both the mission orders and the receival of these three vehicles. He quickly put down his signature, after which the pilot saluted and went back to his craft.

As the dropships powered up their engines and slowly lifted into the sky, the three hoverdynes seemed to come to life. The soft humming of internal systems starting up could be heard, small dishes slowly started to turn around, and streams of data started coming in. Monitors inside the vehicles came to life, giving accurate measurements of the environment and the objects in it.

"Engage Wraith I"

"Powering up........Wraith I online"

The Wraith I system was designed to mask outgoing signals and provide added stealth to tthe vehicles. The system made it extremely difficult for a third party to find out they were monitored, and it also made detection of the three hoverdynes more difficult. The last step of setting up was when the technicians placed three small generators around each hoverdyne, and activated them. Each generator batch seemed to cover a hoverdyne with a shimmering camouflage field. Designed by Corporate scientists, these generators did the same as the nets that normal armies covered their vehicles and command posts with: lowering the possibility of physical detection.

ooc: just legitimizing knowing about Knootian moves after the wargames. I need information to evaluate my performance, after all

OOC:I had no idea that this would cause so much fuss when I agreed on the war-games being held in Skargarden. But now they are being held here.

To Valinon:Whare are you doing here?
There's so much surveillance and troops/boats/submarines/satelites monotoring the sea that if you surfaced and we hailed your boat and it didn't respond, we'd blow the shit up without a doubt.

Will respond again IC this evening.

posting only re: tech; let it be known that, in accordance with my longstanding policy, SeOCC ignores any tech that is more than modern +1. what is modern +1? modern +1 is tech that has developed what is being IMMEDIATELY developed right now. that does not include cybernetics, gravships, psychic powers, magic, fairies, shadow dragons etc etc. it does include QAP's, rail/gauss guns, active stealth etc etc. i'm pretty sure that most CACE nations concur in this policy, so when you do attack, please remember to scale down your tech accordingly.

You knew of our different techlevels in the past. You decided to interact. You could have ignored us, you didn´t, knowing what we have. So, a big No, no.

Now i COULD add a rant regarding CACE´s 'superiority' in different sectors, but i wont do it.

Why?

Becasue this is a fucking SATO wargames thread, not a CACE invasion.

Less than 500k troops are of course VERY useful for an invasion of a complete continent...

Therefore, and i will demand it only once:

STOP HIJACKING

With your ooc posts... if you want to ridicule yourself with IC paranoia, no problem with that. But SeOCC like ooc bitching is not wanted, and has to cease. Immediately.

And I suggest that anybody with more ooc stuff starts a new ooc thread.

A couple of OOC points:

The deployment also comes admist threats and stirrings from the violently anti-capitalist left wing CACE."

The CACE is not a violent organisation. We have never, ever been aggressors in any conflict whatsoever. Indeed, a fair few CACE members are pacifists. Including me. Although, if I'm cornered, I will retaliate to the best of my ability. Which, I must admit, isn't very much.

The General said this was not in response to the CACE which he said, 'Had a military comparable to a bunch of bums with dull rusting switchblades. We could probably take on the combined military might of the CACE and walk away with meager losses in our own troop numbers.

This has to be the most arrogant thing I've heard in a long time. Did you not even read the above OOC posts? Even though quite a few CACE nations operate a policy of demilitarisation, leaving them with small militaries (Although even then, they aren't the "bunch of bums with dull rusting switchblades" you seem to think they are) a few CACE nations have large militaries. Celdonia, Cirdanistan, Anhierarch (although, his isn't that large, merely highly trained.) An invasion of the Aperin region, as said before, wouldn't be a simple walk in the park.

Even in IC, think before you type.

As of now, any irrelevant OOC posts will be cheerfully deleted. CACErs and SATO members alike, anything OOC to say, start a new thread.

~Siri der Moddess, hoping to keep this thread from getting further hijacked.

OOC:I had no idea that this would cause so much fuss when I agreed on the war-games being held in Skargarden. But now they are being held here.

To Valinon:Whare are you doing here?
There's so much surveillance and troops/boats/submarines/satelites monotoring the sea that if you surfaced and we hailed your boat and it didn't respond, we'd blow the shit up without a doubt.

Will respond again IC this evening.

OOC: I figured some where near the fringes of Skargarden territorial waters. I wondered about a hailing signal, but since no one hailed me I don't considere the sub to be endangered. Unless you want to go back and add that. Besides, once he gets close to the Knootian field camp, our coptor will begin to broadcast a neutrality observer unless it it intercepted in some form or fashion earlier.

The OOC thread is up, credits to Xiguang

http://www.nationstates.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=89660

A new thread. (http://www.nationstates.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=2020696#2020696)

With compliments from the Fluffy Bunny department,
the Elected General Committee for Domestic Harmony,
the Most Serene Republic of Xikuang.

Monitoring operations, Knootian command post

"Sir, we've detected a relatively small craft heading our way."

"Track it and make sure you don't lose it. Is it on any of the flight schedules?"

"Negative, sir"

"Then warn the Knootian commander and keep following it. Call me as soon as you can confirm it's identity or origin"

"Affirmative sir"

---

Coded message
Source: TVC monitoring post Epsilon
Destination: Knootoss command post commander

Unidentified object approaching base by air. Monitoring it as of now, and sharing data with your people. Signature and trajectory transmitted to your computers.

Nylander watches as the sun begins to rise over the horizon, casting orange and red fire across the water.
"Beautiful," he mummers.
Wisson speaks across Nylander's headset, "We're coming close to the Knootian field command post, sir."
Nylander looks at his instrumentation, "Still plenty of time to start the signal. I can't believe that we have not spotted any other craft."
"Nothing other than that radar ping earlier, but nothing came of it."
Nylander breathes a sigh of relief, "Excellent, it is nice to have something easy for once. Begin broadcasting our ID signal."
"Yes, sir."

******

The sensor officer at the Vortex command post suddenly sees the unidentified craft flare to life.
The code is simple, merely identifying it as a jet coptor in the service of His Majesty's Armed Forces. The final lines indicates that its occupants are neutral observers, here only to oversee the Knootian forces in the war games.

Two VTOL attack aircraft approach the jet coptor and, having received the identification signal, pulled out to a following distance...
The two pilots were talking over one of the highely coded TNDF frequences, especially set up for the exercises.

- Do we shoot them out?

- Do that and its martial court. Now stop with your dumb jokes and retransmit their position and vector to command.

- Looks very much like a military craft, besides...
Says it's a neutral team. Why would they try to 'insert' a neutral observer team?
Sounds shady.

- I don't know and its none of our business. Communicate your thoughts to command and leave them with the thinking.

- Yes, sir! Attention Operation Command, this is Patrol #26...

Over at the fleet, the sensors were surveying Valinon's submersible, while the last soldiers boarded their dropships.
Patrols were flying around the ship constantly.
The fleet took stationary position inside of Skargarden territorial waters and dropships were leaving the carriers and transports, ferrying troops and armor to the land.
There were already the first NGF deployed, which assisted the 'warm welcome'. But somehow, they felt uneasy among all those SATO flags and emblems.
The Grand Duchy was not part of SATO and so the troopers felt themselves... foreign... to all the festivities.

And so, they regrouped with Vortex forces, pending further deployment orders.

As the sun was rising, the last wave of dropships left the fleet and headed for the mainland, accompanied by waves of aerodynes and high altitude fighters.

Scene: Xikuangese capital city of Lhijir, Lhai Province, the halls of the Elected General Council of the Most Serene Republic of Xikuang.

http://www.drnightshade.org.uk/images/xikuang/lhijirl.jpg


The Halls themselves are built in the traditional style: square, solid edifices of slate-coloured brick topped by tiled, eaved roofs and joined together by covered verandas and corridors, the severity of the style broken by arched, shuttered windows edged in colourful tiles forming symmetrical patterns. Within the expansive Conference Chamber, the shutters of the west-facing windows are open, and the impressive Lhai mountain range can be seen not far beyond.

Though nowhere near full to capacity, there are a great number of people present, television crews and journalists representing no small part of the assembled. This is only to be expected, as most proceedings taking place within these halls are broadcast to the Xikuangese people and those abroad.

In the area designated for the Elected General Council-- only one of the 13 seats unoccupied, Elected General Councillor and Chair of the Elected General Committee for International Affairs Mr. Xiang Kalsang being abroad on Council business-- two figures stand: Councillor and Chair of the Elected General Committee for National Security Sarekh Djijirin, and Chair of the Elected General Council, Dr. Xu Xian. Djijirin is a man of impressive proportions, particularly by Xikuangese standards: well over six feet tall and powerfully built, it is rumoured that he can bend a tire iron in his bare hands. He is also well known for a habit of feeding small birds out of those same hands. Dr. Xu, not even five feet high and all of 90 pounds dripping wet and with a brick in each hand, ought to be dwarfed, but something in the very presence about her sets her on a level with her counterpart.

Looking about, meeting the eyes of the assembled, Councillor Xu speaks.

Televised address from the Halls of the Elected General Council, Xikuang


"Countrypeople, comrades, friends:

"Recent events have obliged the councils and committees of the Most Serene Republic into fervent debate over certain policies we have maintained since the creation of the Republic. We have heard the concerns of the people, we have tallied the votes of the Councils and Committees, and the Elected General Council now expresses the will of the Xikuangese people and our personal conviction that reversal of one such policy is now necessary.

"Risking the opprobrium of our allies, we have defied the CACE vote and maintained diplomatic relations with Knootoss in the honest belief that to keep lines of communication open was the best course of action, best serving the interests of ourselves, of our CACE allies and of the people of Knootoss. We have regretfully been forced to reconsider.

"We have earnestly and consistently striven for understanding between Knootoss and the CACE. Knootoss has responded by contriving to assemble a vast military presence of nations openly hostile to our allies. They have responded to Aperinian CACE nations taking defensive precautions with barely veiled implications of open belligerency, belligerency which does not exist. They have lied to their own people, deceived and misled a subsection of their own population into believing that a Knootoss-controlled colony in Aperin is not only welcome, but have funded and continued to push the colony despite our abundant clarity that the proposed colony in the form upon which they insist is not acceptable.

"We feel that our faith and trust have been betrayed. It is with sadness, but firm resolution, that we now follow our allies in severance of diplomatic relations with all WBO/SATO nations. We can reconsider this decision only as and when military forces are withdrawn from the waters immediately surrounding Aperin."

Councillor Sarekh now takes the floor.

"Though we have no objections to friendly military exercises, we would have hoped that a peacefully-minded Knootoss would have been mindful of the sensitivity that would attach to the assembly of military forces of WBO/SATO nations so near primarily CACE Aperin. We would have hoped that a Knootoss mindful of the sensitivity of the situation that has been created would see the stepping up of security by CACE nations as a natural response to a possible threat to our homelands and the lives of our people, not as a statement of belligerent intent. We would hope that a peacefully-minded Knootoss would remove these exercises to the WBO/SATO friendly waters around their own nation, as, even if conceived and executed peacefully, the tension created by this situation is not one the CACE can easily bear.

"Thank you, and benedictions."

Telecommunications now move to clarifications and debate.

ooc: Though directly related, lest this should prove thread-hijacking, also posted here (http://www.nationstates.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=2022453#2022453) for related discussion Anyone wishing to respond to this, please do so there. Thank you.

Tower of the Prime Minister, The Hague, Knootoss
Letters had been coming in en-masse from foreign nations since the preparation for the war games had begun. But Lousewies van der Laan had been shocked by the death of Joanna and letter upon letter had piled up. Civil servants had been assigned the task of preparing replies to them but they still needed her to sign. As Lousewies returned from the funeral in Lavenrunz that evening her office seemed cold and empty. She was nearly alone, except for her loyal personal assistant. But he was out to get a few reports from downstairs. Her eyes trailed over the view she had of the Hague for a moment, but then she picked up a report lying prominently on her desk. It was marked as highly classified, and the swastika indicated that it was concerning Reich matters. She took a quick peek:

… prepared by Mat Herben…

… leadership has expressed interest in joining in such an endeavour should the damage done to the Christian minority be sufficient…

… highly unlikely that statements are reliable…

… recommend against informing SATO intelligence publicly, instead to bilaterally inform the Menelmacari, Angstian …

…continue to monitor the situation…

She put down the report. Galadriël had been busy again in her absence. She took up an empty coffee cup that stood on her desk and smashed it against the wall. “What is this woman thinking!” she pondered throwing away the report immediately but then something stopped her. It was a gloomy, grim feeling. If everything would come to the worst then it would. “Be a pragmatist”, she reminded herself. She softly repeated the words in the report: “We will continue to monitor the situation.”

She got to work…

CROSSLINK: MORE ON THIS HERE (http://www.nationstates.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=2023085#2023085)

Madame Prime Minister,

As far as we know, relations between some CACE countries and Knootoss are still open. We regret that our suggestion is not acceptable, although we acknowledge that it is not our concern who Knootoss chooses to ally itself with. If, however, we can serve any role in mediation, we are certainly willing to do so.

In peace,
V. Bi Bere

Dear Ms. Bi Bere,

Any role you wish to play in mediation is most appreciated. Everything that can be done to prevent escalation is most welcome. However we do intend to continue these exercises as we believe it is our full right to do so. It is sad that this apparently has provoked such a response from the Aperin nations. We believe it is gravely exaggerated and hope that the situation will return to normal when the exercises are completed. In the meantime I hope to ensure continued cooperation and friendship between our peoples.

Any proposals you make will be viewed favourably by this administration.

Yours,

Lousewies van der Laan
Prime Minister of Knootoss

*Private Satellite Encrypted Message to Knootian Prime Minister*

Ms. Lousewies van der Laan,

The Ruhrian government has been watching this situation closely, and it may have come to your attention that an entire battlegroup was sent to monitor the situation. After much debate in the Chancellor's hall, we have come to the decision to help the people of Skargarden.

With your permission, the Ruhrian Imperial Navy will be escorting a one hundred two ship larger merchant-marine fleet heading to Skargarden ports to drop off several hundred thousand tonnes of supplies including humanitarian aid and medical supplies. Along with this materiel will come the 263rd Medical Division (breaking up into 10 mobile-army-hospitals and 2 EVAC units), primarily to participate in the war games.

The 1st Indian Ocean Attack Fleet has already sent the Maddox battlegroup to observe the situation. More elements of that fleet will trickle in guarding re-supply vessels, accompanying a second and third battlegroup to show up in the near future.

The primary purpose for Ruhrian concern has been Svea Riga and Alvarezistan as close allies of Ruhr, yet both in affiliation status with CACE. We are using this as an opportunity to check up on CACE activities while maintaining a peaceful status. Hopefully, this will not escalate any farther than it already has. Seocc population has already begun moving out of the country and into safer areas of the region, this paranoia has our concerns that CACE members may wish for this to escalate to a full-scale war. Until then, we offer our supplies for the Skargardeni populace and our medical division for use of the military in the sovereign state of Skargarden.

Sincerely,

Mark Peters
Minister of Foreign Affairs

-----------------
Secret IC
-----------------

We will also be sending Ranger Division Battalion 26A, only as a safe-measure. The Rangers are a light-armour fast-attack force that uses Mercedes Benz Gelandewagen Attack Vehicles, LandRover Discovery Attack Series, HMMWV variants and a Light-Armoured tank developed by the New Genoese. The battalion is 6,000 men strong and has roughly 300 vehicles including several helicopters. These men will only be 'observers' to the war games planned.

Lousewies read the message and then noted that a reply had already been written for her by her civil servants. The message conveyed that Knootoss would agree to the sending of the fleet, as long as this was in accordance with the wishes of the Skargarden government. ”If Skargarden agrees, we agree”, she summarised as she put her autograph under the return message.

The Prime Minister then bowed herself over the various notes and reports surrounding ‘the Valinon situation.’ She waded through the reports and the messages of the angry Vortex Corporation officials and the concerned Skargardians. She answered the concerned parties that they need not worry, and wired a message to the various militaries urging them to stand down. When she was finished she composed another message:

To: His Majesty the Emperor of Valinon
CC: Admiral Nathaniel Perry, His Majesty's Great Blue Fleet

I thank your Majesty for your concerns about these war games and we welcome your interest in it wholeheartedly.

However, several of our allies have voiced serious concerns regarding your presence at the war games. Chiefly amongst those are the Skargardians, on whose sovereign territory these exercises take place and whose interests we have vowed to protect. As we wish to preserve good relations with all nations involved, I ask if the Valinon military would remove all of it’s forces from Skargarden and the surrounding area. I sincerely hope you understand that this is not out of malice or distrust but out of diplomatic concerns.

I promise you that Valinon will receive a full report regarding the results and lessons learned by the Knootian military. Also, I hope we ourselves can stage war games in the future. Perhaps in a trilateral Sunset/Knootoss/Valinon alliance setting. I am sure we can have our space forces commit to some useful mutual exercises in the future.

May we continue this alliance and all good relations between our peoples.

Yours,

Lousewies van der Laan
Prime Minister of Knootoss

Perry stands aboard the bridge of the Bartholomew his hands grasped tightly at the small of of his back. Standing ramrod straight he looks out over the assembled ships of the Blue Fleet task force. His mouth is pinched into a grimace. He scans his eyes over the report from homeworld once more.
"Commodore!" he barks.
Danziger approaches, "Yes, Admiral?"
"Contact Commander Hellinson, he is still be traced by the Tarasvokyan (sp?) forces correct?"
"Yes, Admiral," says Danziger looking a little unsure.
"Order him to lose them."
"But, Admiral, why?"
"To show to them that we can, the skill of the Blue Fleet will not be mocked any further," he ejects the data disk containin the message from Proxima from the comp-pad.
"And take this and dispose of it as is required. Also, have the supply convoy for the Dominion meet with us off of Britanny and tell Vice Admiral Gersein he is to rendezvous with us off the coast of Portugal."
"Yes, Admiral."
"I am not to be disturbed while I am drafting a letter to Prime Minister van der Laan, understood?"
"Of course, sir," says Danziger. But on his way to his ready room, Perry stops.
"And contact Assistant Director Klogden at New Bergia, I must speak with him at once," Danziger's eyebrows arch at the mention of the ESS director for the entire Sol System.
"Yes, Admiral," but before he can ask anything Perry is gone.

******

Aboard Blue 37 Hellinson stares at his orders with a certain amount of disbelief.
"Perry, one day your arrogance will get us all killed," but he knows he cannot refuse the offer.
"Put us fully on the Kizomui system, I don't want a sound detectable from the impellers. Take sensors down to moderate passive. Deploy the scrambler probes one through eight, pulse set at the Alpha-Vee-13 pattern. Ready two Orcas for launch as well. Take us down to 200 feet, but keep the same course heading."
"Sir, the Orcas can only take to 180."
"I know, have them grapple with us and break off at 175. They are to serve as a distraction, but they are not to head for Skargardians."
"Kizomui system at full operational levels, sensors at moderate passive we are now at silent running level 2."
"Orcas and scramblers deploying."
"Have the Orcas pickup the scramblers when we are gone."
"Yes, Commander."
On the underside of Blue 37 the launcher for the Orca mini-subs drops open and sends two of the small craft away from the safety of their hangers. Meanwhile, eight scrambler probes blast away from their own launch ports. The scramblers all fall behind the descending submarine until they activate their small manuvering impellers. Meanwhile the Orcas deploy grappler arms and grab hold of "mag rails" of the Atlantean sub.
Hellinson watches as the scramblers move into position, "Activate jamming and sensor bafflers now!"
"Were at 170 feet, Commander."
"Tell the Orcas to break off, they are to stay relatively under the scramblers."
"Yes, sir. Orcas breaking off, staying with scramblers."
"Increase descent speed to match rate of ascent by scramblers. Let us make it appear that we are surfacing, shall we?"
"Yes, sir."
"Have fun chasing ghosts," Hellinson mutters to his watchers.

******

Message to Prime Minister van der Laan
Direct Diplomatic Channel Link

Madam Prime Minister,

I wish to know if it would be acceptable for Lieutenant Colonel Nylander and Captain Wisson to remain with your forces. They would limit themselves to Knootian deployments, and to the Knootian command post only if necessary. If not they shall be lifted out at once, but I would beseech you to allow them to stay. After all, I doubt that anyone would see a mere two men as a significant threat.

Regards,
Nathaniel Perry

Urgent Message

To: All involved, and Valinon
Source: Ghost Dog command

L.S.

One of our monitoring stations has detected a Valinon helicopter entering Skargarden sovereign territory, attempting to land at the Knootian command post. Also, our Taraskovyan collegues have detected a naval Valinon taskforce in or near Skargarden waters. The Vortex Corporation has stated its intentions regarding Valinon before. We therefore hope that both the 'neutral' observers and the naval elements are removed from Skargarden territory, and must not be allowed to monitor the wargames.

If that does not happen, the Vortex Corporation will request Skargarden to engage the Valinon units, since they have violated their sovereignty by entering their territory without permission. Ghost Dog task force will assist in that action.

We remind all of you that an entire naval taskforce is hardly something you can call mere 'observers'.

---

Urgent Message

To: Valinon government
From: The Daiamid Council

L.S.

We have some concerns regarding the Skargarden wargames. A taskforce of your nationality has entered the Skargarden waters, and has sent one or several aerial units into Skargarden territory. This all happened wthout permission from the participating nations or Skargarden itself, for that matter. We do not know if those units are acting on your command, or if it is their quest for personal glory that drives them.

However, we request that you pull them out as soon as possible.

On board of a Taraskovyan ship an operator remarked many-many pretty targets all of a sudden.

He turns to towards the captain of the ship.

- Sire, the Valinneese(sp?) submersible has... uhm... breaken up into... uhm... multiple targets. Orders?

- Continue to survey the... targets.

The captain took a commsdevice and called the admiral.

Aboard the "Osvoboditel", the Admiral listened to the captain of the detection vessel and sighed. He switched to the captain of one of the attacksubs escorting the fleet. The Admiral had neither time nor mood for a ghost hunt, so he went the good old way.

- Captain Vasiltsov, send a neutralizer torpedo at each of the targets.

- Neutralizer? Why not a combat charge? We'll sink them right away.

- Do as I say, Captain, chase that thing out of this area. If they don't learn the diplomatic way, they will learn the hard way.
But right now, I do not want a big incident on my shoulders.

- Yes, Sire.

The Admiral then typed in a small message, which was immediately received by the Thylacin in orbit over New Koln(sp?) and retransmitted to the Grand Duke's personal adjutant on the surface.

O: SR
V ship, R double D, AEM, given CH.

The Adjutant leaned over to the Grand Duke and showed his the small screen, with the letters on it. The Grand Duke whispered several letters, which the adjutant typed in and sent away.

O: SR
V ship, have DIR.

The message was retransmitted to the Thylacin Dreadnaught, which sent it back to Earth. The admiral received the order, incoming directly from the Grand Duke and grinned.

The attack submarine broke formation and released a neutralizer torpedo at each target. These toys did not destroy a target, they instead created a nice little impulse that deactivated the energy systems in a radius. Thus - very dangerous if used at close proximity, since they can harm friendly craft.
And the very fact that these toys hit their target in 95% of cases, bypassing all counter measures, made them very dangerous.
The purpose of it all was to just make the vessel leave the area, using diplomatic means, in the military understanding of the term.

***

Meanwhile, the two Taraskovyan VTOL aircraft are still following Valinon's jet copter at a distance...

OOC:
You can have your sub hit the 5% and dodge the torpedo anyway.
I don't really care much, just know that arrogance will be met with arrogance from now on :wink:

ooc: Knootoss, the exact composition of your quarter of a million troops, god knows why the hell you need them, is still necessary for me to know :P

---

ic:

The preparations were... complicate. And the work they had to do was hard. After all, 40cm guns were not THAT easy to transport...

Fortifications were necessary... the Knootians did most of the work, since they made ~95% of the entire defence force. Not exactly a reasonable number, but...

"It simply has to work."

At least, the work seemed to be done with sufficient efficiency.

Not long, and the 'games' could begin.

He watched a few children watching the ongoing work. It seemed like they were significantly amazed by the equipment standing nearby.

Better not to tell them that that is the broken stuff needing maintenance., he thought, smiling. Beautiful memories, his own youth...

---

ooc: I`m working on the map... i assume both forces will already possess ground bases.

And there was something else... ah, perhaps i will remember it later on.

#tag#

God bless,

The Republic of Syskeyia

OOC: Thank you for correcting the spelling on Taraskovyan, and my own nationality is just Valinon. New Koln was spelled correctly as well. I'm not taking kindly to the fact that you can abserve me but I cannot overview Knootian situation whom I have aq defense agreement with. So I will continue on this course. And finally the full Valinon task force never entered Skargarden, only Blue 37 did and it only skirted the edge.

"Torpedos in the water!" says one of the sensor officers. "Bearing down toward us at 9-9-6-9! Appear to be Taraskovyan neutralizers."
Hellinson smiles, "So you decided to come out and play then. Excellent."
He activates the overall tactical display showing him the whole zone near the rapidly receeding Skargarden territorial waters.
"Flood counter-measure tubes 8, 10, 12, and 14. I want Lightening interception torpedos flying at those neutralizers now. Set the tubes for fire rounds at one per minute until the neutralizers are taken out. Have the Orcas intercept what neutralizers they can as well. Finally launch and additional 6 scramblers."
"Yes, sir."
"Where is the fleet?" Hellinson inquires.
"The Bartholomew is moving out to sea, in a presumed course toward Portugal."
"Send a message, tell the Admiral we will meet with the fleet once we have lost our pursuers."
"Yes, commander!"
"First wave of interception torpedos away! They are moving to intercept neutralizers."
"Finally take us down to 225 feet, make descent speed at double. Also increase Kizomui impellers to all-ahead 1/2."
"Yes, Commander!"
The sleek counter-measure torpedos streak away from Blue 37. The soul purpose of the Lightenings are to intercept incomin warheads. As soon as they are released, they begin to streak directly toward their neutralizer brethren. Another salvo is prepped in the tubes waiting to see what survives.
Finally the Orcas drop back toward the very edges of the scrambler net and activate their own weapons, and begin targeting neutralizers that may get to close to the scrambler net.

OOC: I presume that you are still targeting the scramblers rather than the sub its?

******

Diplomatic Message from the Imperial High Command
To the Vortex Corporation

The High Command of His Majesty's Armed forces has sanctioned the dispatchment of a small party of observers to see the Knootian forces in action and see what they have learned since the Shadow War. To our knowledge, the task force under the command of Admiral Perry has not entered Skargraden territorial waters. The only craft that we have been informed of entering the Skargraden territorial waters are a small jet coptor carrying Lieutenant Colonel Nylander and Captain Wisson, our chosen observers, and finally a destroyer was to come near Skargraden waters in order to serve as a launch pad for the jet coptor. We will take this up with Admiral Perry at once.

In haste,
Lord Young
Supreme Commander of His Majesty's Armed Forces

OOC: Thank you for correcting the spelling on Taraskovyan, and my own nationality is just Valinon. New Koln was spelled correctly as well. I'm not taking kindly to the fact that you can abserve me but I cannot overview Knootian situation whom I have aq defense agreement with. So I will continue on this course. And finally the full Valinon task force never entered Skargarden, only Blue 37 did and it only skirted the edge.

OOC:
I never told you to stay out of these games. That was Vortex.
I share his feeling about the orbital battlegroup though - its a tad too much.
If you just came in with a shuttle from the start, there wouldn't have been any arguing.
But don't you believe that coming in with an entire battlegroup and saying that they are 'observers' is a bit... uhm... misplaced.
Then, Skargarden is the one to decide who to allow to participate. Remember - its his territory, and Knoot has no power in decision making. :wink:

And what do you expect - my fleet is on rather high state of alert right now, besides - I never said you can't see my fleet :?
It is there and its seen... :?

IC:

The Captain of the attack submarine monitored his target getting away.
The Neutralizers were rushing towards their targets. One and two and three, several dots, representing the neutralizers vanished from the screen.

- Counter-measures, - he thought to himself.

- Gunnery team!

Several officers immediately responded.

- Yes, Sire!

- ETA on target impact?

- 30 seconds, Sire.

- Good then. Initiate Self-Destruct sequence 5 seconds before impact. I want to shake those targets a bit but not to harm them in any way. I am sure the Admiral doesn't want a diplomatic scandal on his shoulders because of us. Now... Locator team?

- Yes, Sire?

- Has the target moved out of the 'direct influence zone' of the fleet?

- Yes, Sire.

- Good, turn this ship around and return into formation.

A lieutenant from the gunnery team suddenly spoke up.

- Sire, we have follwoed your order and self-descructed the torpedoes 5 seconds before impact. We have confirmed area hits.

- Main target?

- Negative, it is cruising away. The 'alternative' targets seem to have been hit, though.

- Good. Congratulations gentlemen, you have just cost the Taraskovyan budget an other couple of millions of franks.

A quiet laughter went through the control bridge as teh submarine was getting back into the formation with the rest of the fleet.
The Captain glanced at the holoprojector on which the pictogram of the 'main target' was cruising further away.

- Bon voyage home, - he whispered and went on with his duties.

On the move

There wasn't a lot of them, but who ever said you needed numbers?

The trucks rumbled through the dusty wastes of Anhierarch's southwestern desert, caked with dirt and entirely unglamorous. Onwards they went, towards a shimmering horizon.

Roughly two hundred combat troops in total, elements of the S-2 special operations divison endured the scorching heat, awaiting the welcoming, climate controlled environs of Anhierarch's westernmost airbase, perhaps 50 miles distant now.

They needed no war cry, no songs to stir the passions of the heart. When the bonds are stronger than any kinship, no word needs to be said.

They were professionals. They would do their job, if they needed to.

Western Xikuang, wherever they've made room for Cirdani troops
General-colonel Abigail West shook her head at her intel reports. they say they mean no war....but what army has ever been mobilized, only to be called back? even if they mean not to invade....could they keep control of their militaries after this? they have brought huge forces....half a million troops, more than enough to take an entire continent if it were caught unprepared. More than enough to establish the first toehold they would need. They have brought them to the brink, training for war on the border of one of the CACE's major nations... war is inevitable. But we are prepared-we shall win. The People will stand united, and crush the invasion.. She looked around her- the plains that the Xikuangese had only recently swept clear of mines were now covered in "folding bunkers", sturdy prefabricated buildings that could be moved around in kits and assembled or dissassembled at a moment's notice. Paths of mud churned by the constant passage of tracked and wheeled vehicles scared the land between buildings, and clearings, where repeated VTOL operations had blasted the graas down, dotted the forward base. The First field Army was ready.

Amerigo is a land of contrast

(just posting to get rid of that annoying "no posts exist for this topic" thing: I am working on something more substantial)

Aperin is a land of contrast? :)

~Siri

OOC: I beat you to it by a minute Siri. :P

Northern Skargarden, Knootian command centre
A weak sun was shining over the base-in-building in northern Skargarden. The shadows of two navy vessels resting on the waves near a provisional dock loomed over the base. Towers with revolving satellite dishes, antenna’s and various military paraphernalia peered at the sky. Inside the Knootians had settled themselves comfortably in this new land. The coffee vendor had been flown in just yesterday and was already heavily used. This particular base was here to stay.

Proceed to the assigned zones within the war game theatre. Begin
Work under Angstian command inside the zone while setting up their defences

Inside, a chaotic host of officers, commanders and messengers twirled around the centre. The beating heart of the military in the region. Communications officers were busily relaying orders.

...Soma Command, Knootoss Taskforce Command here, we read you. Vortex Corporation arrival has been noted and logged. Welcome in Skargarden…”

…'Ghost Dog’ taskforce proceed to prearranged coordinates. Buses will be waiting to…

… Confirmed. All defence side teams report ready. Relaying status to Omzian and Angstian divisional commanders. War game command will be relinquished to the Angstian commander in T minus…

…Submarines Walrus S802, and Zeeleeuw S803 both report incoming Celdonian freighter convoy through passage into the bay. Marked headings transmitted and confirmed by SATO satellite network...

…Menelmacari vessel reports a slight delay as the ‘Résunïa…’ umh… ‘Sword of Righteousness’ is still having the polarisation problem…

Going for that final check now. All navy vessels report…

…Stand on the ready..

[I]…’De Zeven Provinciën’, check. ‘Tromp’ reading positive. ‘De Ruyter’ also in the green. ‘Evertsen’ positive…

Everything was set for the games.

Useful-OOC: I am sooo bad at numbers and militaries but here goes…

Specifications for Knootian detachment
-39 percent of the 250.000 personnel are dedicated to support roles in the different branches.

-7 mobile infantry divisions. Divisions are 6.000 men each. Armed with import AK47/Russian stuff. 1 division is still equipped with weapons imported from FARC rebels before the Chimean/Knootian, umh, and “peacekeeping mission” in Columbia. Some of these use older material like bikes, others have APC’s, jeeps etc. Newly introduced is the YPR-765 Tracked Armoured Vehicle.
-3 ordinary infantry divisions, similar armament. 6.000 men for every division.
-1st SpecOps division. Snipers, recon, that sort of thing. Usually works integrated under the command of mobile infantry divisional commanders.
-13th Heavy Artillery Company. 1800 men and women
-3rd Light Armour Division. Soviet import light armour.
-2 Eurofighter Air Superiority Fighter Squadrons: designated pink and purple. 3.813 pilots according to the calculator but I think this is way too much. :S
-A significant fleet, but I doubt exact numbers are important for this exercise.
1 carrier, the [I]KDF Vogels[I], and the Angstian battlegroup you sold me will be there in any case. I can look it up if you need that too. Change is also possible. My numberwanking prowess isn’t what it ought to be.

Aperin is a land of contrast? :)

~Siri

Aperigo is a land of contrast then. 8)

OOC: Tarasovka, I think there has been a misunderstanding. I don't have a space fleet near Skargraden, I just have an old aquatic navy. In fact currently there are only three heavy cruisers and a carrier in the mid systems, and they are all near Mars. The whole battlegroup under Perry was as it sounds His Majesty's Great Blue Fleet as in blue for water.

Goodnight BUMPO. Tarasovka please reply to Valinon in the OOC thread.

Goodmorning BUMPO.

Der Angst, Mönchengladbach, Associates & non- incorporated business meeting:

"This is... troubling information."
"Indeed. We need to take care of it."
"How?"
"Very, very simple. First of all, our forces will be increased. We need a complete operative force. Then, inform all participants about the situation. The wargames will contine as planned, but the possibility of a CACE- aggression due to the troop concentrations in the north is just too high."

The men and women in the room smiled, and left one after another.

It wasn`t exactly a pleasent complication, but... well, one could deal with it.

Shortly after this, reinforcements were on their way, to get a full operational force to Skargarden.

---

ooc: I`m going to send the TG´s within the next hours. Will, in some cases, include RP content.

ooc: Skargarden probably told you guys already but i thought i'd post it to avoid any unsightly confusion.

any ships or radar installations on the eastern coast of Skargarden (consult your maps) will have probaby picked up a trawler sized vessel sailing up and down the Skargarden coast. that is all.

ooc: Skargarden probably told you guys already but i thought i'd post it to avoid any unsightly confusion.

any ships or radar installations on the eastern coast of Skargarden (consult your maps) will have probaby picked up a trawler sized vessel sailing up and down the Skargarden coast. that is all.

Brilliant RP.

Brilliant RP.

ooc: uh ... thanks! i like cake and pie!

Fredericks Island was abuzz with activity. All non essential staff, and most of the combat personnel, were being relocated; the bulk of the fleet had put to sea, mostly heading in the general direction of Seocc; and the number of return flights being made by the airforce was gradually dwindling.

Engineers ticked off their checklists as the island's defensive systems were given the once over, and radar and comms operators continued to monitor the comings and goings nearby.

Elsewhere in Xikuang, the relocation of infantry, armour, and aircraft continued unabated.

Ghost Dog command

"Sir, we're fully operational as of now. All units are in starting position, and we are just waiting for the other participants to confirm their completion of preparations and transport. The monitoring stations are all online and receiving the appropriate data. The only complication is bad weather in the east, which seems to distort our communications every now and then. The system is still a little fragile, but the egg heads think they can have it fixed by tomorrow morning"

"Thank you sergeant. You're dismissed. Get a good night of sleep before the games begin."

Monitoring station Epsilon

"Valonian helicopter still approaching our position. Skargarden government reports the craft has no permission to enter their sovereign space."

"Do we have any military units in the vicinity?"

"Two Delta aerodynes. They're running a patrol along the coastline, and were supposed to meet up with the GDT fighters that are already tailing it."

"Excellent! Order them to intercept. Either that chopper goes back to where it came from, or we're taking it down. With the denial of Skargarden permission, their presence here is now an official act of espionage."

"Affirmative sir"

Somewhere above Skargarden

"...roger that"

Two agile fighter aerodynes made a slight turn, altering their course to reach their new mission objective. Cruising to the blue skies, every now and then ripping through a cloud, both pilots engaged the aftreburner systems on their craft. Immediatelly, they were pressed back in their seats as the aerodynes accelerated to the maximum of their capabilities.

Fifteen minutes later, they established visual contact with the GDT craft and the helicopter they were following.

"Attention Taraskovyan craft, this is Grey Wraith 1, aerodyne on TVC patrol duty. We're here to force that chopper to turn around. One of our monitoring stations is tracing it, and the Skargarden government has confirmed they do not have permission to be here"

"Roger that GW 1"

"Attention Valinon helicopter. This is Grey Wraith 1. You do not have permission to enter Skargarden sovereign space. You will turn around immediatelly, or we will be forced to take you down. Repeat: you do not have permission to be here. Turn around or be shot down. You have one minute to comply."

Taking position behind and a little bit above the helicopter, both aerodynes locked a couple of Mosquito W-T SR-II rockets, projectiles designed specifically to take out airborne targets. Both carrying advanced targeting computers and image intensifiers, they soon got a permanent lock on.

Office of the Prime Minister, The Hague
“Yes, Althena, I understand.”
Lousewies van der Laan nodded submissively. Time and time again she had to admit that the Angstians were one step ahead of her.
“I’ll make it so. I will inform… oh, you already informed them. In that case I will make the announcement immediately.”

The vidlink to Der Angst was broken leaving nothing but a black screen. Lousewies watched the debate in parliament (http://www.nationstates.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=84773&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=77) as it droned on from the television set in her office. “Galadriël is in her element”, she thought. “But she isn’t going to get SLP support with such a speech.”. She sighed, knowing that the Elf could have stood on her had rehearsing children’s rhymes for all that mattered and the outcome would still have been the same. She watched the politicians play on the stage that had been set before them, defending the grand principles and ideals.

She reached for her phone.

Knootian News Network special report
…”Just in that government ordered a so-called orange alert after CACE military units continued to move in the direction of Skargarden. SATO spy satellites have detected continuing troop movements from eastern CACE nations in the direction of Skargarden. Military intel provided KNN with this imagery…”

Vague images of blocks resembling tanks rolling into the mountain plains of Xikuang were shown.

"Knootoss Strategic Air Command and security forces in Skargarden have been placed on orange alert, while the rest of Knootoss military have gone on yellow. Government has also alsked allied forces in the region tasked with providing security for the war games to do the same. ‘Yellow’ is an increase in force readiness above normal readiness ’Orange’ signifies a further increase in force readiness, but still less than maximum readiness. Orange alert has only been given a few times in history. The last time it was given was after Dominion dropships had breached Knootian airspace. Other occasions were the sixth world war when a Drum Gods invasion of Knootoss seemed imminent after their leaders and the Melkor war where the Democratic Republic had sided with coalition forces but did not intervene in the invasion of Arda.

A government representative voiced fears that the CACE might attempt a pre-emptive strike to what they perceive as a prelude to invasion. The ministry of Defence stressed that the war games will continue as planned, but security will be increased. They refused to comment on which measures would be authorised.

KNN has done a poll that suggested that 37 percent of Knootians believe that this conflict is going to escalate into war. 52 percent however believes what has now evolved into a crisis will not escalate. 11 percent does not know. When we asked the people who believed there was going to be a war whether it would be initiated by SATO or the CACE a stunning 89 percent said they believed it would be initiated by the CACE. Five percent believed SATO would initiate a conflict and another five percent did not rule out either option. One percent claimed not to know. When asked those polled whether they would support such a conflict the opinions were less divided though: a majority of 69 percent of eligible voters was polled as “strongly” against military conflict with the CACE. 9 percent of voters were also against war, but to a lesser extend while 22 percent would support a conflict if there were a good reason. The number of people supporting war regardless of the circumstances was negligible…”

[OOC: Xikuang, your post is also forthcoming.]

The two Taraskovyan aircraft were still trailing the Valinon craft. With the Grand Duke on visit to the Empire, they had to be extra careful to not provoke... anything...

- Operation command, this is Patrol #26, Vortex aircraft are targetting Valinon's craft now. Orders?

- Pull out to tracking distance. Repeat - pull out to tracking distance.

- Affirmative.

The two fighters pulled back to a further distance from Valinon's aircraft.
The two pilots were talking things over over their highely coded frequency.

- And now the TVC guys are going to get all the glory from shooting this thing down.

- Shut up. The Supreme Commander is in Valinon. If we shoot that thing down - it might have consequences.
I am also fed up with Valinon's arrogance, but hell, orders are orders. You disobey and its martial court!

- Yes, sire...

We are very sorry to announce this, but because of the very-recent grown Sniper Country-Omz222 Crisis (http://www.nationstates.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=90203), we have to pull out.

The sealift ship, still there, will immediately leave.

We are very sorry for the inconveince. We hope our SATO allies can understand the condition we are in right now.

Nylander hears the Vortex demand, "Odd," he says over the intra-coptor comm, "Admiral Perry insured us we had full clearance."
He selects an open channel, "This is Lieutenant Colonel Nylander of His Majesty's Sardaukar, we were informed by our commander that we have full clearance. However, we will return to our ship and make sure of this."
He switches back to intra channel, "Get me Hellinson, Wisson."
"Yes, sir," Wisson begins to signal Blue 37. After a few minutes he looks up worried, "Sir, Blue 37 is leaving."
"What!" Nylander looks out at the approaching Vortex aerospace fighters. The he looks at his fuel gauge.
"Damn," he mutters, fervently wishing he had taken a full jet coptor from the Bartholomew rather than the scout model of Blu 37. He does not have the fuel left to make it back to Blue 37.
He hits the all-channel broadcast, "This is Lieutenant Colonel Nylander, I must now formally request assistance. My craft is running out of fuel and I do not have the necessary supply left to make it back to the fleet."

Taraskovyan News Wire Special Report.

"The Taraskovyan National Defence Next Generation Forces have finished their deployment in Skargarden, amidst highetened tensions around the so called Operation "Sabre Rattling".

Indeed, this Operation "Sabre Rattling" is the codename for upcoming large scale military exercises, involving tens of thousands of Combat and Support personel, which are to happen in Skargarden shortly."

A map of Aperin appears on the screen, with Skargarden shown in blue and CACE nations in red.

"These exercises, led by the members of the South Atlantic Treaty Organization, have sparked an agressive reaction from the members of the Coalition of Anti-Capitalist Economies, which have expressed concerns about the ongoing full scale SATO deployment.

Just recently, CACE nations have cut all diplomatic ties with SATO nations, amidst an ongoing full scale CACE military deployment in the direct vicinity of Skargarden."

Several red arrows and pictograms indicate the movement of CACE forces, with blue pictograms representing SATO forces in Skargarden.
The image then switches back to the presenter.

"The High Commander of the TNDF, Leib-Marshal Valery Berilov, has issued a statement, calling all Taraskovyan personel in Skargarden to be, quote "more carefull and attentive to the overall situation", end of quote. Which defacto means that from now on, all Taraskovyan personel are also put on a higher state of alert. Although the TNDF command has refused to put the Expedition on an official alert level.

We are now joined live by our correspondent aboard the TNC "Gromoverjets"..."

The image switches to the deck of a Taraskovyan dropship carrier.
On the forefront are standing two men, one in a vest with "TNW" written on it, the other one in the combat armor of a NGF trooper.
Special signs on the plaudrons indicated he was a Colonel.
On the background, a number of NGF SODATs, in their powerarmor, are boarding a dropship. An other one has just taken off and was immediately joined by 6 Aerodynes, the entire party then flew off towards the coast.

- Yes, I am joined here by Colonel Karmanov of the NGF 65th MI division. Let me remind you that this division is the core of the Taraskovyan forces present in the exercises. There are also two SODAT regiments.
Now tell me, Colonel, what is your opinion on the situation?

- The situation is pretty tense, but I judge it as stable.

- Do you think a war might break out?

- I do not believe that a war with CACE might errupt.

- If a war breaks out, are the Taraskovyan forces ready to meet the threat?

- We are always ready, my dear sir.

- Tell me, Colonel, what is the morale of the NGF?

- The morale of the NGF troopers is quite high, my dear sir, and I am sure we will complete the tasks with maximum efficiency.
Now please excuse me, I have a train to catch.

The Colonel pu on his helm, closed the visor and marched off towards an other dropship, which was being boarded by NGF in medium combat armors...

- So we have just received the opinion of a TNDF officer. It would seem that nobody here really expects a war to happen, but all personel seem to be very cautious and the personel serve in 'combat' schedules...

ooc: once again, for the sake of thoroughness, those observing the trawler will notice the trawler is dropping inflatable motor boats at varying points in the water, each with several people wearing diving equipment and carrying big metal cases. boats sputter around, divers jump into water and dive.

that is all.

Off the coast of Skargarden.

The two Taraskovyan aircraft were ordered to bring the Valinon's copter down to a Taraskovyan carrier, to avoid any possible escalation.
After all - the Supreme Commander was in Valinon...
One of the craft speeded towards the copter and positioned itself between it and the Vortex aerodynes.

- Attention Valinon aircraft, this is Taraskovyan AirForce.
We are ordered to bring you to a Taraskovyan carrier.
Repeat - have orders to take you to one of our carriers operating within 100 km from this location.
Please respond...
Refusal to cooperate will have dire consequences.

The second aircraft made contact with the Vortex aerodynes.

- Attention, this is Taraskovyan Airforce. Request your pulling out, have orders to take custody of the Valinon craft and bring it to one of our carriers.
Repeat, request your pulling out...

ooc: once again, for the sake of thoroughness, those observing the trawler will notice the trawler is dropping inflatable motor boats at varying points in the water, each with several people wearing diving equipment and carrying big metal cases. boats sputter around, divers jump into water and dive.

that is all.

OOC:

Don't you think that's enough for others to... uhm... monitor the coast very carefully? :?

"Taraskovyan Craft, we'll comply. If you can ensure the crew of that helicopter will not be able to observe any part of the wargames, we will be glad to leave them to your custody. When you speak with them, tell them they owe you their lives. Five seconds later and we would have fired on them. Grey Wraith out."

The two aerodynes took a sharp turn, proceeding to fly parrellel to the Skargarden coast, continuing their patrol.

Northern DA, The Manor:

Althena looked out of the window, looking to the slowly darkening sky as if searching for something.

"You know..."
"Yes, i know. But i`m not willing to allow that. To many lives are at stake. We have already lost one opportunity. It doesn`t really matter, however, i am NOT going to allow this to happen. A line must be drawn, a line WILL be drawn."
"I understand."
"Good."

And again, she looked at the sky... as if she searched... yes, for heaven. Somewhere out there, it had to be there...

---

Skargarden:

"Well... so far, it looks good."
"Yah."

The two officers looked around. The territory looked like... well, it had been changed. Massively.

He watched the giant 40cm guns, aiming at the sky. Air defences, minefields. It was all there.

Somehow... somehow it`s beautiful.

That it was.

The beauty of death.

Birds in the air, singing.

And at the ground, the war machine.

Although this was intended to be friendly wargames, it still looked... scary.

"Will be fun."
"Yeah. Well, for most of them. I have never witnesses a wargame without casualities."

---

Meanwhile, patrols were increased everywhere.

Terrorist warning

Of course, inofficially, one didn´t intend to scare the population... although there were enough reasons to scare them...

Don't you think that's enough for others to... uhm... monitor the coast very carefully?

ooc: don't follow. i'm posting this because people are monitoring the coast so they'd be sure to see what's going on. also, to clarify any confusion, the trawler is in international waters. divers are under water with their metal cases. that is all.

ooc: once again, for the sake of thoroughness, those observing the trawler will notice the trawler is dropping inflatable motor boats at varying points in the water, each with several people wearing diving equipment and carrying big metal cases. boats sputter around, divers jump into water and dive.

that is all.

Northern Skargarden, Knootian Command Center
The command center was still busy, and the orange alert had added extra pressure to the work that had to be done. Besides the final coordination before the war game they now also had to coordinate strict security measures and the arrival of yet another Angstian taskforce. A constantly flashing light attached to the wall reminded them of their current situation.

A communication officer turned around to face her superior but the officer was just talking so someone else
"... launching these long range strategic bombers is considered? What is the ministry thinki..."

"...Sir? the Zeeleeuw S803 reports something unusual." she interrupted.

"Well, what is it?", the officer bowed over to the woman manning the comm station.

"Well, Sir, there is a trawler sized vessel that has been sailing up and down the Skargarden coast. The Zeeleeuw was assigned to monitor that sector of the coastline..."

"As are most of the submarines", the officer remembered. He glanced over the communications logs.

"...Well, Sir, and it appears they have unloading something once. Maybe dumping things in the water; it isn't exactly clear. I thought we could do a sat..."

"Thank you lieutenant. Please tell the Zeeleeuw to keep monitoring closely. I'll take it from here..."

He walked off at a fastened pace, the only thing keeping him from running were the cables that were spread out everywhere over the floor.

Aboard the KDF Zeeleeuw, Eastern Skargarden coast

The Walrus class submarine S803 plowed through the waters in the bay that closed Aperin like a dagger. Monitoring.

“…Celdonian patrol unit is moving out of range bearing 212…”

Captain Jessica Laarbrug nodded relieved and stroked through her blonde hair. Somehow these CACE patrols made her a bit jittery. “Keep following that ship then. Communications? Any updates”

The young redheaded woman shook her head. “No changes, ma’am. ”

She concluded that her transmission had been received and that Headquarters was on it. The message from SOLDATS had been somewhat disturbing but informative. But for now there was nothing she could do but monitor: “Well then, I think it’s time we took a closer look. Never hurts to see for yourself what is happening up there. Helm, take us to periscope depth!”

The Zeeleeuw adjusted her engines and began to climb at a steady angle. Finally she was at the right depth and the ship went back to her normal horizontal position.

With a feminine yet authoritarian voice Captain Laarbrug gave the order: “Up Periscope!”

OOC: what do they see SeOCC? Inflatable motor boats by any chance? :P
Oh, and as I posted previously we are observing this kind of thing. I even mentioned specifically the monitoring of CACE traffic in the area by submarines. As you could see in some of the above postings we have a fair share of paranoia by now. Especially now that we are at a regional orange alert.

And please wait with continuing this… we have to wait for someone to get online and post. We needed time to even respond to the first post, so as far as I know you have NOT yet finished dropping off and we have been observing it. Thank you. :)

ooc: well it's almost my bedtime so i'll post in response and that'll be it; no worries waiting for anyone.


OOC: what do they see SeOCC? Inflatable motor boats by any chance? :P
Oh, and as I posted previously we are observing this kind of thing. I even mentioned specifically the monitoring of CACE traffic in the area by submarines. As you could see in some of the above postings we have a fair share of paranoia by now. Especially now that we are at a regional orange alert.

re: your last point, yes, which is why i told Skargarden and now everyone about it.

ok, so you're watching the trawler? well i don't know where exactly they are but i'll give you full skinny and assume you were watching for ages.

the trawler is a trawler (duh) with lot of attennas and stuff coming off it. nothing gaudy but not a fishing boat clearly; no nets. there are guys with computers on the deck typing or readying one of the dingies (however that's spelled). the dingies are those inflatable yellow ones, powered, and if you were lucky enough to see one loaded or leave (the dingies puttered around for a while before casting anchor and the people on it jumped into the water with their stuff) you'd see five or six people get on board, all in wet suits, carrying waterproofed cases. most are about the size of overnight coolers, so like a meter by 50cm by 50cm (roughly).

over the course of the day the trawler will have dropped off six seperate dingies. i'm assuming this is still one day so we won't go into the rest of it unless it's more than one day etc etc. the people on the boat are always busy doing something, though you can't tell what because you're in a submarine.

hopefully that's enough to be clear. toodles.

OOC:

Just so we're all clear, Celdonian patrols from Fredericks Island will be between FI and Seocc. FI is located in the bite, but no patrols will be approaching the wargames forces, or attemtping to enter Skargarden waters. If this changes I'll be sure to let you know.

Also, and as everyone seems to have a satellite above us, you will notice that any forces entering Xikuang go no further than Xikuang's western border. We do not enter Heliotis or Terranos. Again, if this changes, I'll let you know

Nylander listens to the Vortex Corporations comm traffic, he sighs but dials up the channel for the Taraskovyan forces.
"Thank you," Nylander says to the Taraskovyans, "I don't know where the mistake is, but I will try to find its source. Also, I will try not to impose upon you for any longer than I have to."
Nylander deactivates the comm to the Taraskovyans. In reality he knows all to well where the source of this problems lays. He shakes his head at the words of the Vortex Corporation fighters.
"They still do not understand. Perry wanted us to get shot down, and if they had done that they would have played right into the hands of Perry and the Baron-Administrators. They should be thanking the Taraskovyans, not us."
Wisson looks at him quizzically, "Sir?"
Nylander sighs, "Captain, the nations of Earth do not realize that the entire SSTF is underfunded, undermanned, and antiquated especially on Earth. They do not realize they are fighting ships and technology that is ten years old or older most times, they do not realize that the Empire considers Earth to still be a backwater. And they do not realize what desperate links those in charge here will go to in order to see their positions and power increased. Let us pray that Lord Adonis returns soon, with any luck he can reassert some sense upon this becrazed planet."

******

Perry was still talking to Klogden when the pager sounded through the ready room. He knew that report could mean only one thing, either his plan had suceeded or he had to think of something else.
"Pardon me for just a few minutes," he says to the ESS assistant director. "Enter."
A young officer enters and hands Perry a report. His eyes flash with rage.
"Get out," he whispers in tones that send chills down the officers spine. He rapidly leaves. Once he is gone Perry seals the chamber and turns back to Klogden.
"Damn the Taraskovyans and their continual interference! Damn them to the gates of the Seventh Circle of Hell and back! They ruined everything! And damn homeworld for trying to court them!"
"I take it things did not go according to plan?" Klogden says with an arched eyebrow.
"No they did not," Perry says beginning to regain his composure. "Get your insertion teams in place, Director, the Baron-Administrators and myself will not be foiled again."
Klogden smiles, "Of course, Admiral."
Perry stands still long after the Klogden's hologram has dissolved. He finally exits the ready room and returns to his command station.
"Danziger!" he barks.
"Yes, Admiral?"
"Detach one of the cruisers, tell them to pick up Nylander."
"Yes, Admiral."

OOC: Ruhr asked me to post this for him. Everything in the quote tag is his. And Valinon... I'm not sure I really get what you're posting about there.

-------------------------------
Skargarden Waters
-------------------------------

The RNS Night Sky ran quickly through the Skargarden territorial waters at high speeds. The Ruhrian Defence Intelligence Agency had reason to suspect that this trawler was not actually a normal fishing trawler. The stealth destroyer’s radar had already picked up it’s radar bands and satellite signals, she was no ordinary trawler. The reverse clipper bow sliced through the blue water, the run off spread out over the slick deck of the vessel. Captain Reicher did not even care to turn on the stealth vessel’s active camouflage, as it was pointless with the wake it was throwing up. The active-stealth would provide a defence against the trawler, anyways.

The CIC was coated in the crimson red, the silver trim of Captain Erika Reicher’s black officer suit of the Ruhrian Imperial Navy reflected the dim light. She hovered over the active-map, her eyes tracing the scene, memorizing it. The DIA suspected that the trawler was an Seocc attempt to put special operatives behind the lines, possibly to stir some trouble as a precursor to war. She dismissed the latter part because she ultimately knew Aperin was in no shape for battle, especially against the combined forces. She did, however, fear that CACE would do something without thinking. Her mind raced through the situation, but she had a duty to perform.

The interactive map in the CIC was clustered with activity, the Menelmacari battle group over Skargarden, the hundreds of thousands of troops in war games, the aircraft in the sky, and the ships in the sea. Her eyes traced the map, studying it, memorizing it. The trawler was only 14 nautical miles away, and the Night Sky had three different target solutions: the rail gun, which would only be used in last-minute attacks; the vertically launched Juliet-XX Cruise Missile, which would be a huge waste of money while still be effective; and the Juliet-XVIII Ship-to-Ship Missile, the best option in the event of a conflict. Reicher was confident that it wouldn’t get to that, though.

Erika’s eyes noted the surrounding Ruhrian forces. The SSGN squadron was now in their respective positions and monitoring Seocc defensive positions. The Maddox task force had also been moving closer to Skargarden waters, trying to cover the gap between Svea Riga and the SATO forces. The Admiralty was just using this as a precautionary measure, but a necessary one nevertheless.

She focused once more on her target and her ship, the rest of the screen blurred out as the two became the sole relationship in her mind. They were gaining on the trawler, it was time. Erika looked up at her officers and crew in the CIC, they were watching her every move. Her eyes trained across the room, preparing her orders mentally. Reicher couldn’t delay it any longer, “Weapons, maintain firing solutions on all available weaponry. Radar, check for any hostile contacts. If there are any, report it to me. Aviations, launch the Sea Apache and the Seahawk. I want that trawler surrounded ASAP. If they fire first, disable it. Communications, I want that ship contacted right now. Get to it!” She turned to the door where a tall man in a green fatigue leaned against the frame. “Major, load the RIBs. The ship is to be boarded and secured, not shot to pieces.”

An echo of ‘aye-aye’s filled the room. The two helicopters took off heading for the slow trawler. The forty-two feet long rigid hull inflatable boats were loaded with marines, their objective was to board and seize control of the trawler.

----------------------
The Trawler
----------------------

The Apache was first to reach the trawler, it circled the trawler as the machine gun trained towards the deck. After a few minutes, the Seahawk appeared flying two hundred feet off the deck. It paused infront of the trawler’s bridge and a loudspeaker turned on. The man on the line spoke in a monotone voice accustom to loudspeakers: “Unidentified trawler, turn off your motor and prepare to be boarded. Your vessel is being inspected by order of the Ruhrian Imperial Navy. Turn off your motor and prepare to be boarded…” The message repeated itself as the two helicopters circled the trawler. Within the next ten minutes, the five RIBs had arrived. Two of them maintained a perimeter around the boat while the other three prepared to board the vessel. All precautions were taken, the helicopters remained around the trawler as the RIBs docked one by one and let their crew off onto the trawler.

A lieutenant jumped on last and walked to the bridge with his M4 Carbine raised. Two marines walked with him through the surprisingly clean vessel. With his gun lowered as he entered the cockpit, he gently said. “Your vessel is being seized by order of the Ruhrian Imperial Navy until further notice. You are to cease all operations and report to the deck. Move.”

OOC: Seocc, you had best RP a response to this, and no more of your OOC crap saying what our militaries might see.

-Ruhr-

OOC:

Valinon, I believe your post meant that you accept to follow my fighters to the carrier.
And sorry for foiling your plans, I can't allow an escalation right now 8)
Not until my Grand Duke is in your territory. :?

IC:

Off the coast of Skargarden.

The three aircraft, two Taraskovyan and one Valinon's head to a VTOL carrier operating not far from the 'interception' point. The carrier is neither very big nor large, enough to launch VTOL aircraft and dropships.
Several dropships leave it and, escorted by aerodynes and high altitude fighters, set course on the mainland.

The aircraft land swiftly. As Nylander and Wisson get off, they are approached by a small squad of men, wearing the uniform of Taraskovyan Naval Marines. These types of forces usually serve on capital ships as a defensive force and very rarely used in assault operations. After all - there are the NGF for assault operations.
The men form a circle around the Valinon's 'observers' and a TNM lieutenant comes up to them.

- Gentlemen, by authority of the High Command of the TNDF, you are being taken into temporary custody.
I request that you surrender your weapons and that you follow us without resistance, which would be preferable to both sides.

The Valinon men look around them and do not see any friendly faces. It is clear that these marines would shoot... and lots...
Behind them, a cargo lift is activated and the helipad with the Valinon copter on it is lowered into the interior hangar.
Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide...

***

Headquarters of the TNDF,
Capital City of Vigvar,
Grand Duchy of Tarasovka,
Sisgardia.

Several men were gathered in a room, around a table. The room was used for secret encounters since a long time now, and so it was perfectly secure.
Among the men was the Head of the TDI, Crown Archduke Mikhail Shakhovskoy the IInd, the High Commander of the TNDF, Leib-Marshal Valery Berilov and some other TDI and TNDF top ranked officers.
A TDI officer has been giving a report on the current situation...

- ... And so, it is clear that, judging by the strange attitude of the Empire of Valinon during these exercises, their unconventional means of bringing observation teams into the area, the open diplomatic hostility between Valinon and Vortex Corporations and the fact that Valinon directly gave its team to Vortex forces, leaves nothing else to think but of a standart provocation type.
Get in an aircraft of yours into some space, have it shot down and then yell that you had the clearence. Works perfectly if all the sides are in an already pretty tense mood.

The Leib-Marshal nodded.

- So you mean that they want a war?

- The probability is high, Honorable Leib-Duke. I would not affirm anything, but in my personal opinion and that of my Bureau - yes, the Empire of Valinon is seeking a conflict. I currently ignore the exact reason, only that I presume that its influence on Earth is being shaken and it needs to... reaffirm it...

The Leib-Marshal burst into laughter.

- A war against Vortex Corporations? Are they mad? They would have half of the Earth nations on their back. SATO, CENNA, SFN and others!
The TNDF and TSF as they are are enough to crush Valinon's presence in the Solar System...

The Crown Archduke raised a brow.

- Are you really that sure, Leib-Marshal. Even if our equipment is highely up to date and we upgrade it all the time and maybe we have even reached a higher level than that of Valinon's military...
But do you think that the TNDF would be enough to go against the PCDI?

- No, not against the PCDI, I fear.
Well, we could try of course, but well...
We would have to warp into Proxima Centauri and our ships would be targetted as soon as they exit into normal space.
If we combine the TNDF and Vortex military, we have a very powerfull force, though...
Add to that some of our other allies...
Which brings me to my question, Your Highness, what about Knootoss and Der Angst?

The Crown Archduke nodded to an other of TDI Bureau chiefs, which immediately began a report.

- It would seem that both Der Angst and Knootoss are allied with Valinon. Indeed, the leadership of Der Angst has talked us out of a conflict with Valinon on several occasions now.
But if we consider the geopolitical situation, I think Der Angst would either give preferance to its regional allies, such as us and Vortex Corp, or remain neutral. Of course, in the latter case, it would have a bad impact on our allied relations.
As of Knootoss...
They have a defence pact with Valinon. So they are allies, too. But yet again, Knootoss is also member of the KRS-ONE treaty, which has three members. Us, Vortex Corps and Knootoss. I doubt the Knootians would pull out of that treaty if we and Vortex Corp. attack Valinon...
I believe they will remain neutral, which also will ave bad consequences for relations between them and us.

- What about Mars nations?

- The Empire of Valinon has a number of treaty ports on Mars, I guess they will support the Empire...
Although... if we get a sufficient number of Earth nations to support us, Mars nations will fear any escalation.

- Such nations being?

- Menelmacar, EOTED, SATO members, CENNA members...

- Elves and their acolytes...

- We have no other choice, Sire. Times change, Honorable Leib-Duke, today - we have to ally ourselves with elves to... uhm... "kick"... arrogant Proximans.

The Leib-Marshal rubbed his chin.

- Well then, I hope that no war will break out during the last months of the reign of your father, Your Highness. Once you are in power, you do what you wish.

The Crown Archduke nodded and grinned.

- Of course, Honorable Leib-Duke...

Soban, ruling city of Kiith Soban

Standing and sitting around a large table, covered with maps and holographic projections, stood the military commanders of Kiith Soban. The Sobani had a long military tradition, and except for a few members of Kiithid S'Jet and Paktu, almost the entire military command of the Corporation was either Sobani, or trained in one of their academies. The walls of the room were covered in ancient banners of war, reminding the attendants of the meeting of the long history of combat and struggle that their Kiith had. Some of the men inside the room were in charge of the Ghost Dog activities, others came from other military and intelligence branches.

"Gentlemen, ladies, we have a problem. This meeting does not concern the Ghost Dog activities. That particular taskforce is still performing better than expected. The entire logistical phase of the process is almost completed perfectly, save for a few Gun batteries that are still being set up. Everything else has run smoothly until now.

But there is another issue, and you all know what it is. That issue, my friends, is Valinon."

Entering a series of commands into a small console, the speaker activated a rundown of the images and data relevant to the helicopter incident. Each of the attendants was already fully briefed, yet a short reminder was never out of place. The speaker remained silent after the short presentation, as a young Sobani woman, an expert in international military/political relationships took the word.

"The actions of the Empire of Valinon are clearly a provocation. We know their behaviour in the Shadow war aftermath was already not very coöperative, and it seems they are trying to interfere with our matters again in this situation. The best thing, for us, would be that this incident was an accident, a result of flawed communications in their military.
However, in a worst case scenario this was a planned provocation, to tempt us into a war. Today, we must discuss what our reaction will be."

"Do we know for a fact that Valinon does not have permission to enter Skargarden waters?"

"Yes"

"Good. Now, our military strength is able to easily dispatch of Valinon. Total destruction of all their military and commercial assets should not be a problem. Even if one or two allies join their cause, we will still emerge victorious. Please note that this data comes from a worst-case scenario, in which Valinon troops have all possible advantages. If more allies join them, we are also able to call in our allies, and still spell certain doom over our enemies. The problem is, however, that Valinon will try to make us look like the agressor, thus gathering international support beyond expected levels. That is something we must prevent."

"Indeed, the empire of Valinon....."

The discussion went on for the remainder of the afternoon. At the end of the meeting, several points of action had been drawn up, lying in front of the chairman.

1. Run full diagnosis on Psionic Rig, OMMA defence systems, Monolith Defence systems.

2. Run full simulation of SRDF deployability against Valinon assets.

3. Increase monitoring of Valinon commerce, military and politics.

4. Engage in debate to assess strength of DA / Knootoss relations with Valinon.

5. Send visual evidence to Skargarden government of the 'helicopter incident'.

6. Engage in debate with Valonian ambassador*

A little bit later, all relevant data regarding the helicopter incident was sent to the Skargarden government. It was up to them to decide what to do with it.

Also, the Valonian ambassador was requested to come to Uthar, in order to discuss the relationship between TVC and their own nation, before conditions would get any worse.

--

OOC
* Valinon, please assume you have an embassy in TVC. If you accept, please start a thread with the ambassador coming to my capitol, and we'll have some nice paranoia roleplay. If not, just ignore point 6 of the to-do-list.

And t-gram me the link if you set up a thread, please.

OOC: Yes please do set up a seperate thread for this. And I anwered your TG.

----------------------
The Trawler
----------------------

The Apache was first to reach the trawler, it circled the trawler as the machine gun trained towards the deck. After a few minutes, the Seahawk appeared flying two hundred feet off the deck. It paused infront of the trawler’s bridge and a loudspeaker turned on. The man on the line spoke in a monotone voice accustom to loudspeakers: “Unidentified trawler, turn off your motor and prepare to be boarded. Your vessel is being inspected by order of the Ruhrian Imperial Navy. Turn off your motor and prepare to be boarded…” The message repeated itself as the two helicopters circled the trawler.

ooc: okay, can we turn back the clock a bit on this? you didn't give me a chance to respond to your demand i turn off my engine. did i turn off the trawlers engine? well you seem to think so, and i think rule #1 is you can't decide my actions. so i'm going to write a response to the stuff i wrote up above, ignoring the bit where you boarded my boat because you kind of jumped the gun, and you can either respond to what i type or explain why i should accept your original.

ic:

A young man wearing an ironed VA uniform, an unusual sight at any time, stepped out onto the deck with a bullhorn.

'Ahem, uh, hi, i'm Stu Duncan, I've got two first names and I'm the security guy, uh, for this trawler. Nice of you guys to, uh, come out but on whose authority do you get to board us or tell us what to do? We're very much in international waters, and in our own god damned sound! Go back to Ruhr and boss around your own people, because unless you've got a warrant from the international waters police, or a damn good reason, we've got no reason to comply, do we?'

Duncan was very pleased with himself, and grinned as he thought, 'See how they like the international waters trick now.'

The trawler's captain, a squirrely man named Randy, tapped Duncan on the shoulder. 'Do you think it's smart to antagonize the guys with big guns pointed at us?'

'Fuck them,' Duncan laughed, then picked up the bullhorn again. 'Yeah, fuck you, fascists! Internationals waters is code for sod off!'

'Are you nuts?'

'Please, it's international waters, these fools wrote the book on doing whatever the hell you want in international waters. They've got nothing.'

The rest of the crew, with the exception of another Volunteer who'd come on deck to see what the commotion was about, didn't look convinced. Randy called down to the radio operator, 'Send a message to the EDWD authorities back in SeOCC, tell them we're being threatened by the WBO!'

'Ruhr isn't in the WBO you putz,' called the Volunteer on deck.

'Well it's their mercenaries then, say that.' Randy dashed a look at Duncan, who shrugged.

'Can't argue with that.'

ooc: hope that satisfies, your move.

ooc: For the record, those nations that have stationed troops in Xikuang have contacted me and have my explicit permission to do so. I probably won't be back for a bit, but they have my ic sanction to be there.

OOC: Okay, can we turn back the clock a bit on this? You didn't give me a chance to respond to your demand i turn off my engine. Did I turn off the trawlers engine? Well you seem to think so, and I think rule #1 is you can't decide my actions. So i'm going to write a response to the stuff i wrote up above, ignoring the bit where you boarded my boat because you kind of jumped the gun, and you can either respond to what I type or explain why I should accept your original.

IC:

A young man wearing an ironed VA uniform, an unusual sight at any time, stepped out onto the deck with a bullhorn.

'Ahem, uh, hi, I'm Stu Duncan, I've got two first names and I'm the security guy, uh, for this trawler. Nice of you guys to, uh, come out but on whose authority do you get to board us or tell us what to do? We're very much in international waters, and in our own god damned sound! Go back to Ruhr and boss around your own people, because unless you've got a warrant from the international waters police, or a damn good reason, we've got no reason to comply, do we?'

Duncan was very pleased with himself, and grinned as he thought, 'See how they like the international waters trick now.'

The trawler's captain, a squirrely man named Randy, tapped Duncan on the shoulder. 'Do you think it's smart to antagonize the guys with big guns pointed at us?'

'Frick them,' Duncan laughed, then picked up the bullhorn again. 'Yeah, Frick you, fascists! Internationals waters is code for sod off!'

'Are you nuts?'

'Please, it's international waters, these fools wrote the book on doing whatever the hell you want in international waters. They've got nothing.'

The rest of the crew, with the exception of another Volunteer who'd come on deck to see what the commotion was about, didn't look convinced. Randy called down to the radio operator, 'Send a message to the EDWD authorities back in SeOCC, tell them we're being threatened by the WBO!'

'Ruhr isn't in the WBO you putz,' called the Volunteer on deck.

'Well it's their mercenaries then, say that.' Randy dashed a look at Duncan, who shrugged.

'Can't argue with that.'

ooc: hope that satisfies, your move.

OOC: I did not say that you turned off your engines, and it is just fact that marines WILL board the ship wether or not the engines are off OR on. So either way, the message was just telling you to, wether or not you did is not that important. You should also recognize the Ruhrian Pacific Waters Act of 2014, which requires Ruhrian vessels to board suspicious vessels that possibly are a threat to other sea-fairers.

Also, a very important thought for you: Ruhr is very much in WBO, both as a full member and a Liason of NATO. Hah! Not only that, but I am allied to these people from former RPs and CENNA. Hah! And, well...yeah...mercenary state. Oh yeah, Titles are awesome! But anyways...

IC:

An electronics officer onboard the helicopter transfered a relayed message from the vessel to the RNS Night Sky. "Sir, we have them on Jammer but we are not sure if they can break ours or not. Please move in to jam. They are trying to communicate with Seocc bases."

A faint voice came through on the line, "Captain Reicher to operatives, we are moving in to jam."

The lieutenant spoke calmy as the VA officer attempted to harass his men. His eyes remained locked on the apparent captain. "Your vessel is being boarded due to possible transfer of terrorist soldiers. Pacific Waters Act of 2014 requires Ruhrian Vessels to board said vessels and hold the suspects under arrest. Until you are proven guilty, this ship remains under Ruhrian control." His eyes shot at the VA officer, "Now exit the pilot house and get to the rear deck ASAP. Corporal, inspect the cabins with Alex."

He walked slowly and cautiously out of the cockpit, he waited for the Seocc officers to exit. Getting his men's attention, he yelled. "Vallers, Coleman, Lisenby, Bars secure the crewmembers on the rear deck. If they try to use any equipment, use force to get them down. Everyone else, beginning inspecting. I want equipment lists, radar charts, maps, weapons. I want them all in the main cabin, right now."

The Lieutenant tapped his headset, which was attached to his combat-information helmet. "Squad 2 to Sea Gull, we are beginning search and confiscate operations now. The SeOCC crew will be assembled on the rear deck. Requesting the ship moves forward for safe cargo transfer."

"Seagull to Squad 2. Captain has ordered the bird forward. Running on course three-two-eight. Over." He smiled, as this has gone easier than planned. He just hoped that the crew would buy his answer to their questions about international law. He wasn't about to tell them what he was looking for and why.

He turned to his head back to the Seocc troops. For the first time, he raised his M4 carbine. "Are you going to move or stand there? Get to the rear deck ASAP."

ooc: dude, what if my guys had guns? what i they had AAM's to shoot at your helicopters? what if they resisted the boarding? you can't just jump on a boat without giving me a chance to stop you.

but anyway, i don't have a problem with being boarded so for my own sanity:

ic:

'Uh, Duncan,' yelled up the VA member, Tasha, from the deck, 'Ruhr is in the WBO.'

Duncan blushed, quite surprised. 'When did that happen?'

'Dunno, a couple years a go I guess. How long were you in Svea Riga.'

'Six years. They don't have TV's over there, only hokey Rigan programming about mooses and stuff.' Duncan licked his lips, tried not to look at the captain, and picked up the bullhorn again. 'Didn't you hear, they pardoned me! I'm a free man now!'

'I don't think they're talking about you, putz,' Randy spat, trying to keep something metal between him and the helicopters.

'Oh.' Duncan continued in the bullhorn. 'Well we haven't got any terrorists, but you guys can com aboard if you like and look for some. But they pardoned me, right? Good.'

ooc: and then your bit about the boarding and jamming.

ic:

The crew lined up on the trawler's deck, hands on their heads, while Tasha and Duncan shared a joint and giggled. Duncan had flipped his hat around backwards and was making faces at the soldiers whenever they didn't look.

'Dude, dude, you're gonna get us shot.'

'No way, no way, these guys are like, no way.'

'Way, dude.'

'No way.'

'Shut up!' a soldier yelled at them, illiciting more laughter but a general end to the conversation. The silence, though, was short lived.

'Hey, while you guys are here, could you like pick me up a pizza? These hippy biologists are all vegans, and I've got a wicked craving for pepperoni.'

'Sausage for me,' added Tasha.

'Hur hur, sausage.'

'Shut up.'

'SHUT UP!' the soldier yelled again, prompting more muffled laughter.

While the Volunteers were harassing their tenders the remaining soliders were tearing apart the boat. Cabins were turned inside out, beds flipped over, footlockers were smashed open, computers were collected and deposited as per their commanders orders. What they found, overwhelmingly, all related to the Inward Ring Mollusk, an aquatic creature native to Aperin coasts, and its mating habits. There were exhaustive three ring binders on their breeding grounds, their diets, their place in the eco system and other incredibly boring facts of no use to anyone. They also uncovered, inside the storage cabin, a broken water proofed camera and several underwater flood lights.

Deep in the ship, in an unmarked cabin, the soldiers turn up a large, very heavy, metal case with a radiocative symbol on it. A search of the effects in the cabin reveal the cabin belongs to S. Duncan.

ooc: hope you don't mind me telling you what you turn up, that's what's on the ship right now.

SeOCC: Check TGs

OOC: Seocc, if your men had SAMs and they fired, it would be an act of war. I would think that you would have noted that. After all, why would you fire missiles at a helicopter unless you were really that desperate to hide something.

IC: The Lieutenant walked in the cabin to find the other Marines' upturned files. The tanks line with mollusks, he takes one of the files and reads the title: Mating Habits of the Inward Ring Mollusk. He grew angry, as the radar towers on top of the trawler suggested one thing but the damned cabins contained nothing. "Marines, find those communications arrays. I want this vessel torn apart!" He clicked his headset and contacted the Seahawk still hovering around them. "Sir, we have found a bunch of Mollusks here." He looked at the title again, "Inward Ring Mollusks."

The crackling voice on the radio yelled back, "Inward Ring Mollusk? What the hell are they doing in Skargarden?"

The Lieutenant looked up, confused and checked the tanks. "Well, they are on the boat."

The Electronics operator on the Seahawk smiled as his knowledge of aquatic life came back to him in a heartbeat. "Lieutenant, I am a part-time marine biologist," he said happily. "Inward Ring Mollusks are not, repeat, not found in Skargarden waters, or around them for that mater. I took the time to look up the sea-life before I came here. Lieutenant, what are they studying?"

The man looked at the folder once more, not because he couldn't remember only because it intrigued him. "The mollusk's mating techniques, sir!"

"Like I said, they are not native to Skargarden waters, which would be questionable as to why this vessel is patrolling just off of it. Continue to search for something, they are hiding whatever is there."

The Lieutenant went back to work, the marines heard everything over the headset. They began to check the engine room and bulkheads for cracks and the sort. "Sir, I have a door here!" One of the marines continued, "Looks like it was hastily shut too! Its cracked just a---little." He forced the door open as the Lieutenant crossed the boat to get to the Marine's location. "You better take a look at this, Lieutenant."

Um, sorry to burst your bubble there, Ruhr, but Inward Ring Mollusks, while not originally native to waters around Skargarden, are an established, somewhat invasive, species. They are thought to have been transported in the bilge of some vessel or other, but the provenance of the original colony is unclear. I'm sure if you send down some divers, you'll find them all over the place.

Um, sorry to burst your bubbe there, Ruhr, but Inward Ring Mollusks, while not originally native to waters around Skargarden, are an established, somewhat invasive, species. They are thought to have been transported in the bilge of some trade vessel, but the provenance of the original colony is unclear. I'm sure if you send down some divers, you'll find them all over the place.

OOC: Well, considering I only said they are not native to the area, I can still be correct. And wether or not they are there does not change the fact the marines will completely search the vessel.

ooc: didn't imagine for a second it wouldn't, so on you go. Just addressing a rather academic question of marine biology. ;)

ooc: didn't imagine for a second it wouldn't, so on you go. Just addressing a rather academic question of marine biology. ;)

OOC: The divers would be sent latter, after this whole matter is cleared up. Then we will see. :wink: And if they are there, I will use some good old Soviet measures of: Nothing was there, Stalin is good, blah blah blah, death to enemies.

ooc: ok look, whatever it is, it's down there. Inward Ring Mollusks or Jelly Finned Guppies or some fun little creature. my guys are still making fun of your soldiers on deck, feel free to continue.

ooc: ok look, whatever it is, it's down there. Inward Ring Mollusks or Jelly Finned Guppies or some fun little creature.

OOC: That will be a matter for another RP. Until then...

my guys are still making fun of your soldiers on deck, feel free to continue.

OOC: Very well.

IC: Several boxes cluttered the way and after sorting through them and placing them in the cabin behind them, the Lieutenant found a suspicious waterproof case. The meter-large box had some odd markings on them, and he backed out of the little bump out room for a second. "Randy, get me the Gieger counter," he ordered. The private handed him the box and it instantly started clicking. His steps were slow and cautious as he approached the suspicious box. His hand hovered the detector (OOC: can't think of the word) over the box, and it started clicking faster. The meter on the counter skyrocketed as it got closer to the source.

The Lieutenant once again backed out of the small room, handing the gieger counter to the private. His right hand tapped his headset, "Squad 2 to sea gull. We have found something, Sea Gull. We used the geiger counter has clicked quite a bit on this one object. I think we found it, Sea Gull."

"Seagull to Squad 2, you are authorised to confiscate and secure the box. Do not let the captives know that you have found it."

"Roger that, Seagull. Squad 2 Leader out." He nodded his head before barking orders to his soldiers. Clicking his headset again, "Marines on deck, bring the suspects to the port side of the vessel. We have the container and we are transporting it to RIB 2 on the starboard side. Marines, move out!"

A valley

Southwest Xikuang

2200 Hrs

"Lights preserve us, it's cold out."

"Shut your trap. We've had worse, this is just.... crisp."

The first soldier stamps his feet, squinting a little in the stiff wind. He'd been born in Terende, the biggest city near the forsaken southwestern wastes, hot enough to kill the unwary traveler. Obviously, the climate didn't agree with him. Esconced as they were deep within allied territory, about a thousand kilometers from the nearest hostile, the commander of the unit had insisted on patrols and guard duty.

He looks down at the valley, at the the base of operations of the S-2 2nd Battalion. Figures scurry to and fro, ferrying crates and other assorted paraphenalia of war between tents of various sizes, which miraculously stayed intact in the wind. Turning his head slightly, he could see a group of figures headed to the neighbouring valley, where the commander had hopes of establishing a short, crude runway of sorts.

A subtle change in the howl of discordant wind, imperceptible to the untrained ear. The two soldiers look up.

Right on time.

Within minutes a helicopter appears in the darkness, laden with supplies.

The preparations had begun.

ooc: uh, there are no radioactives in that chest, so your Geiger counter must be broken.

ic:

Duncan took the last drag of his joint and flicked it overboard as the soldiers started ushering the crew to the other side.

'Hey mister man,' Duncan cried as a soldier grabbed his arm, 'hey mister man, I want to talk to your leader. I've got something important to tell him. Okay? Hey mister man, damn it, ow, that's my arm asshole.'

ooc: how about it?

(OOC: This should have gone up last night, but my connection crapping out on me prevented it. Der Angst and Most Glorious Hack can vouch that I've been working on this.)

Meanwhile, all along the coastline, troops had been sent out... Menelmacari soldiers, and a few from the other nations as well, patrolled the beaches with remarkable regularity and frequency. It was growing dark, and night had fallen... one patrol group in particular watched - though remarkably unsurprised - as a group of what looked to be frogmen emerged from the waves pulling sealed cases behind them. When the arrivals stepped off the beach into the trees, they were greeted with the muzzles of Menelmacari rifles jammed into the sides of their heads.

"Hi. We're the welcome wagon."

Guns - and the cases - were dropped, and hands went up.

This scene repeated itself up and down the coastline, sometimes with divers, sometimes with small groups on Zodiacs. One case was much larger than any of the others... and read as being radioactive.

(OOC: You're probably wondering how we knew... it all ties in with this:

ISN: Fireside Chat with Lady Siri, on SeOCC (http://www.nationstates.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=2045930#2045930)

Surprise. :twisted: )

http://www.weirdozone.0catch.com/projects/nationstates/sirithil/sirithilnosfeanor.gifLady Sirithil nos Fëanor
Elentári of the Eternal Noldorin Empire of Menelmacar
Regent of Lavenrunz, Chancellor of CENNA
"We have known freedom's price. We have shown freedom's power. We will see freedom's victory."
~US President George W. Bush
We Love the Iraqi Information Minister (http://www.welovetheiraqiinformationminister.com)
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From here (http://www.nationstates.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=83414&highlight=)


Attention all ships in the vicinity of Aperin. We have recently sighted an Objectivist Insurgent fleet en route to engage a Constantinopolis fleet. OI fleet includes 1 carrier croup, numerous assault ships. Expected to be reinfocred by two Iesus Christi fleets, number of IC ships unknown. Survival of Syskeyian/Constantine fleet uncertian. Request help if possible.

God bless,

Admiral Raymond Chathai
Syskeyian Navy

God bless,

The Republic of Syskeyia

Things were going not according to plans for the forces of DNL. These were to be wargames. But from monitoring what was going on all seemed chaotic.
Renard stood in front of a large viewscreen wich was zoomed into a squad apprehending people on the beach. This is not what I was briefed for. Renard thought to himself. We shall have to improvise.

A minute or two later all over the ships speakers system's of all 3 fleets Renards voice could be heard.
"Honourable warriors. These were to be wargames. But from monitoring surface activity and communications. Everything seems to have worsenned. That is why all weapon systems have now been rearmed with live ammunition.
Orders have changed to landing in Skargarden and securing positions, and prepare for an honourable battle. Time has been short so no complex battle plans have been set up. But I and Sirithil have every bit of faith in you.
Fight with honour to the death brave warriors."

Not much later the ships launched their dropships. The spacefleet was to stay in orbit and act as spy satelites.

As the dropships entered the earth atmosphere they started to glow red from the immense heat from the friction. But this was only shortlived as they continued to speed down towerds the ground...

This is General Renard from the Empire of Diablo_NL. We have launched our dropships and they are now on their way to land in Skargarden. Please do not engage.

As the dropships apprached the surface they started to level out.
They flew over to ocean towards Skargarden at high speeds. The men on board the dropships held on as the flight was anything but smooth.
In the lead dropship Liam Dresari once again sat ready to command his forces. I have a bad feeling about this. He thought to himself.
The dropships approached the western coast of Skargarden and flew over the land. They din't care if it was to loud. They were in a hurry...

When they approach the eastern coast the dropships land in groups of six, spaced out over tens of miles, from each other.
First the mechs walk out, followed by tanks and infantrie. They secure the area and set themsefs up in defensive positions, as the engineers start walking out.
They set up the communication, intelligence, power generators, you name it.
In just a matter of minutes a base is starting to form. And as the infantry divisions start putting up their tents everything is ready. In just a few hours an open patch of land is turned into a militairy base.

Surprise.

ooc: the surprise is all yours. we've known about Sailune for quite some time, we know that Knootoss has been logging in as Sailune. this entire thing was a plot to smoke out the spy and put the WBO in a spot, which i'm about to do because:

there is no nuke.

there are no operatives.

Ruhr just illegally boarded a totally unarmed science vessels.

surprise! you've been the victim of a disinformation campaign!

OOC: Actually, planning this has been the most fun I've had in NS for some time :P

I don't really want to say anything until Seocc posts IC, and I've just spoken to him and he's experiencing connection problems at the moment. A bomb has just went off in Saudi and I beleive the telephone system is overloading so he's having problems getting on.

Really though M, there is no nuke. We worked out that we had a mole a while ago. At first we weren't sure exactly who it was (although we had our suspicions) but I'm afraid knootoss is just too careless and eventually gave the game away. You come into our domain, we can see IP addresses as well you know.

Some of us thought the bait was too obvious and SATO wouldn't be dumb enough to bite. Oh well...seems we were wrong... :roll:

Anyway, that's all I'm saying at the moment.

Surprise.

ooc: the surprise is all yours. we've known about Sailune for quite some time, we know that Knootoss has been logging in as Sailune. this entire thing was a plot to smoke out the spy and put the WBO in a spot, which i'm about to do because:

there is no nuke.

there are no operatives.

Ruhr just illegally boarded a totally unarmed science vessels.

surprise! you've been the victim of a disinformation campaign!

[whistles a cheery tune and hangs out the bunting]

OOC: Diplomatic reply pending tomorrow. :roll:

Knootian protectorate of Ale-Yarok
“This is Gamla control tower LRB 432 – cleared for takeoff. LRB 433 – cleared for takeoff. LRB 434 is cleared for takeoff. Green leaf LRB is away.”

http://www.hagalil.com/israel/images/parteien/ale-yarok.gif

In rapid succession, the planes took off from an airfield in Ale-Yarok. A purple-white-green flag waving on top of the control tower reminded the population of who was really in control here. The benevolent masters – the keepers of the fragile peace in the land of the green cannabis leaf.

The wind played though the ancient city nearby as the planes passed over the remains of a massive fortification wall. Inside the streets of the city men and women stared at the machines of death flying overhead. In front of the synagogue of Gamla a rabbi said his prayers: ”lige'ulat Knootoss” (for the redemption of Knootoss) “What will they do next?”, he pondered as his mind was distracted from religious affairs. The roaring sound of bombers disturbed the quiet piece of a dry Sunday morning in Ale-Yarok.

At the RecDrug Incorporated headquarters in Gamla it was always busy. Their contacts in the corporation had just informed them: General de Kaste had ordered several long-range strategic bombers on airborne alert. The bombers were in the air, and if anything were to go horribly wrong they would be able to deliver their deadly payload quickly and efficiently.

Orange alert still only meant a heightened state of alert though, and the pilots comforted themselves with the thought that it would probably end with nothing. It always did.

[OOC Note: If you are wondering, I don’t use Ale-Yarok to boost military numbers or economy. It’s merely a plot device here. Keyword: “active air defence”.]

((OOC Then it is the most Foolish disinformation Campaign EVER, there is a reason people took the bait, because NOBODY would joke or lie about Nukes. What if they decided the best response was a Pre-emptive strike? What if your little PLOT started Nuclear war? You idiots should have used something else because using Nukes as a bluff in that manner COULD have led to full scale Nuclear war.

In the end the only view point I come out with is a bunch of fools rushing around within your alliance, who think that nuKes are a cool thing to joke about. Strangely enough with the consquences you played with for no REASON, a better solution for smoking out the fake could have been arranged, I am unimpressed.))

((OOC Then it is the most Foolish disinformation Campaign EVER, there is a reason people took the bait, because NOBODY would joke or lie about Nukes. What if they decided the best response was a Pre-emptive strike? What if your little PLOT started Nuclear war? You idiots should have used something else because using Nukes as a bluff in that manner COULD have led to full scale Nuclear war.


OOC: What preemptive strike? Of course we knew knew there wouldn;lt be a preemptive strike because none of the informaton could be proved ICly so who the hell wanted the reputaion of nuking us first? We did it this way because we were pissed (yes, of course they were pissed) that they were hacking our forums. They couldn't nuke us first because this particular brand of fascism has PR managers.

I'll be honest about this (and the offenders will deny/rebuke/post any nonsense they can) we knew exactly what the response would be becasue they aren't that hard to predict. Hell, we KNEW for ages that they wanted to invade us, but we also knew there wasn;t much we could ICly do to prove it.

The reason I'm so pissed at this is because whenever a CACE member suggested infiltrating the WBO/SATO forums I, and others, always said "no". I had two reasons: one was that it just can't be RPd properly (and last time I checked, this was still supposed to be an RP game); the other was that with Menelmacar being a game mod she could (and would) easily flush out anyone running a duplicate nation so it just wasn't worth it - we'd be discovered and before long everyone is spying on everyone else and no one has anywhere to set up any RP out out of public sight. The WBO obviously didn't see it that way.

What we know is that SATO planned to invade Seocc, and that certain SATO members (Knootoss was only dumb enough to get caught, but we know there were others) were reading our forums. So we threw them a line about nukes and waited until the took the bait. We ASOLUTELY knew they wouldn't lauch a preemptive strike because they would want to catch us red-handed and find an excuse to execute their plan. Fortunately for us they took the bait - even to the extent at Menelmacar posted about forgmen turning up in Skargarden. Jeesuz, talk about crap RP, saying what someone else does. Hell, they couldn't restrain themselves to the extent they had to start posting our responses. Have you any idea how hard we're laughing at this?

Maybe some people should ask themselves why it is when Siri says "jump" they automatically answer "how high".

[ooc: If there's going to be more OOC discussion, I think we should move it to the OOC thread.]

ooc: bumb for Ruhr finishing this RP.

finish this, don't just back out because you've been caught and don't tell me you're keeping the boat. you need to finish what you started here before you can claim anything.

[ooc: Assuming that things went bad and that my people were informed overnight]

Ghost God command post

"Oh crap"

"What?"

"Read this"

The second officer accepted the short document from his collegue, and leaning against a desk he quickly browsed its content.

"Oh crap"

"GC-DCIS just confirmed it. It appears that the Councils have warned Knootoss and Ruhr that it was too easy, and that Seocc probably had something up his sleeve. Well, now we know they were right."

"Irrelevant. We're as much of an idiot in this as the rest of the participating nations."

The first captain looked out of the window, where a patrol of marines was just passing by in the Skargarden autumn rain. He shortly nodded, and then continued his conversation.

"You're right. But the question is: does CACE still think we intend to invade them, or have they known these games are just games all along?"

"I do not know. But mobilising half of their entire coalition seems a little bit expensive for a possible deceiving of our forces."

Both men knew the scenario's that had been coming in all morning yesterday. If this conflict was to escalate, the air wings attached to Ghost Dog were to proceed into enemy territory and destroy all food storages and military assets that TVC knew of. After that, dams, water supplies and political leaders would be the next targets. The simultaneous destruction of both primary needs for survival, as well as military and national leaders would bring down any nation fairly fast.

But as for now, both men prayed that CACE would realize that these, in fact, were just games. However, both of them also knew it would only take very little effort to let this conflict escalate.

With grim looks of their faces, they saluted each other, and continued their tasks for the day.

--

Extract from a Daiamid Council meeting

“It is the opinion of this Council that the boarding of the Seocc trawler was completely legal and justified. Seocc, and possibly allies of him, deliberately mislead the nation of Knootoss to believe that the trawler was placing nuclear devices on Skargarden territory. So from a Knootoss / Ruhr viewpoint, their reality was that they possessed information that indicated the possible use of nuclear weapons by Seocc. Therefore, their boarding of the vessel is completely justified, since they had information that made the boarding necessary. The fact that that information was flawed is irrelevant here, since it was presented as real and reliable data by Seocc, and it was done so intentionally. Thus, not only did Knootoss and Ruhr have the right to board the vessel (since they were convinced it was a significant threat to the lives of the Skargarden population), it is also the case that Seocc has deliberately spread false information, increasing the chance of polarisation and conflict between CACE and SATO. Therefore, this shameless bluf is to be seen as the cause of any possible violent consequences of Seocc’s plotting.

Extract from a Daiamid Council meeting

“It is the opinion of this Council that the boarding of the Seocc trawler was completely legal and justified. Seocc, and possibly allies of him, deliberately mislead the nation of Knootoss to believe that the trawler was placing nuclear devices on Skargarden territory. So from a Knootoss / Ruhr viewpoint, their reality was that they possessed information that indicated the possible use of nuclear weapons by Seocc. Therefore, their boarding of the vessel is completely justified, since they had information that made the boarding necessary. The fact that that information was flawed is irrelevant here, since it was presented as real and reliable data by Seocc, and it was done so intentionally. Thus, not only did Knootoss and Ruhr have the right to board the vessel (since they were convinced it was a significant threat to the lives of the Skargarden population), it is also the case that Seocc has deliberately spread false information, increasing the chance of polarisation and conflict between CACE and SATO. Therefore, this shameless bluf is to be seen as the cause of any possible violent consequences of Seocc’s plotting.

semi-IC: a similar statement was made in the Knootian council of ministers. The head of the AIVD intelligence agency was fired.

OOC: Oh, and Siri? that plan I talked about this morning is OFF.
*refrains from commenting on contents of that plan*

ooc: bumb for Ruhr finishing this RP.

finish this, don't just back out because you've been caught and don't tell me you're keeping the boat. you need to finish what you started here before you can claim anything.

OOC: Yeah, sorry. Dog broke my laptop, pulled it right off my desk and crushed the wireless card in it, and time on the family computer is limited.

IC:

The tall, fair skinned Lieutenant had his attention taken away from his duty and onto more direct problems. The gieger counter was broken. The 'marine biologists', or so they claimed, were pushing to speak with him. He had no patience. The RNS Night Sky was now within clear sight and most likely only a kilometer away. Her slowed pace was to only give a facade in the event they were hiding something, and the quick acceleration of the destroyer would easily allow her to catch anything (OOC: Figuratively speaking) trying to get away. The Lieutenant watched as the destroyer's six inch railgun trained on the boat as it angled to run parallel to it.

His eyes fixed themselves on the bridge as he clicked his headset, "Captain. Geiger counter is broken. I am afraid this might not be the box or the ship for that matter. It does have SeOCC crew on it, but it may not be the one we are looking for. Over."

"Seagull to S2 Leader. Secure the vessel and begin the transfer of suspects. The vessel will be confiscated until further notice by orders of Admiral Wallace. The vessel's communications are currently being jammed. Over."

"Roger that, Seagull." He clicked his headset off as he briskly walked to the other side of the boat, choosing to lower his M4 carbine. The SeOCC man ordering to speak with him, who went by the name of Duncan, was in plain sight now. "Can I help you?" he asked, his voice projecting his anger.

Nylander strips his small sidearm and instructs that Wisson do the same, although the Captain does so with much reluctance. He clips its holster open to show the safety is on.
"You may dispense with the intimidation act," Nylander says coldly to the Taraskoyan officer. "I must now speak with your immediate superior, especially if you want to avoid this conflict escalating. For soon I fear the Earth contained officials of Valinon may be plotting something that will be a detriment for all parties involved. I can say no more unless it is to your immediate superior, preferably to the Admiral of this Fleet."
He grasps his sidearm in his hand, the belt dangling down, awaiting the Taraskovyans reply.

******

New Bergia, Primary Treaty Port of Valinon on Earth

The room is sealed, guarded by members of the ESS Nightwatch. Gathered are the twelve Baron-Administrators, Assistant Director Klogden, and Admiral Perry in the form of a hologram.
Klogden is speaking, "The plan is flawless, My Lords, homeworld will be forces to see the importance of Earth once again, our positions will be saved, and we will cease to be a backwater."
"You are certain we can do?" one of the Baron-Administrators says looking concerned.
Perry laughs, "The nations of Earth still have not realized that the forces of the SSTF are outdated, undermanned, and are leftovers of the true fighting units of the Empire. Once our plan goes through, this will all change, and even homeworld will be forced to see that Earth is not just some backwater post."
"What of the Sardaukar?" says a Baron-Administrator with raised eyebrows. "Are they a dependable asset."
"No," say Klogden, "but with the combined assets of the ESS and with Admiral Perry and the Blue Fleet, the scattered and limited Sardaukar garrisons will not know that the situation is created through our careful.....acceleration."
Perry nods at the ESS chief of Earth, "My colleague is right. Prepare yourselves, My Lords. If we move fast enough we can carry out our grand endeavor before that lap dog Adonis returns from Proxima. Ready your carefully hoarded supplies, make contact with those that will support us secretly. Homeworld will be forced into this course, even the Sardaukar will be used to our own needs."
With a few closing reports, the meeting breaks up.

******

Consul Pieter de Luvre, acting chief ambassador in the absence of Lady Rolt, had received the priority message from The Vortex Corporation early that morning. Minutes later he had been aboard a Windjammer sonic jet headed for the Vortex capital.
However, he felt uneasy. His attempts to speak with Admiral Perry, Baron-Administrator Strausburg of New Bergia, and Assistant Director Klogden had all gone unanswered. Perry had been in a strategical conference with Vice Admiral Gersein, Strausburg was erstwhile occupied with administrative affairs, and Klogdens gruff, belligerent receptions merely said the Assistant Director was "not to be disturbed at this time." He had only been able to contact General Edmund Vernis of the Sardaukar. Vernis had said he knew nothing of the event, other than he had dispatched to representatives to the Knootian/Skargraden war games who he was assured by Admiral Perry had been cleared.
The Sardaukar co-pilot enters the main compartment from the cockpit.
"Consul, we will be at Uthar in two hours time."
"Thank you," de Luvre says nerveously. He then goes back to looking distractedly out the window.

OOC: Sorry, busy this weekend. TVC, if you want setup a thread. Currently I do not have the time to start another, but start one and I will show up definitely. I'll be on for most of tonight and some tomorrow. And just to let you know the government on Proxima has only sketchy reports of the doings of Earth and no clue of Perry and his co-conspirators. But that might change soon enough.

@ Valinon: http://www.nationstates.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=91123

[*insert nice post killed by the forum here* <.<]

ok, take two:

ic:

The night was about to begin... the sun was only a dim red light at the horizon, while crows were flying above the manor, hoping to find something edible.

Althena sat in front of her dest, alone. Praying.

The latest reports were coming in.

Maqxwell imprisoned... The national guard takes over... documents are destroyed.

She sighed. Well, it wasn`t too bad. After all, they had risked it, knowing the possible results.

And, despite everything: The evidence shown was impressive. A long, successful operation had found it´s end. Not a perfect end, but an acceptable one.

Finally, she closed the folder, and went to bed.

Nylander strips his small sidearm and instructs that Wisson do the same, although the Captain does so with much reluctance. He clips its holster open to show the safety is on.
"You may dispense with the intimidation act," Nylander says coldly to the Taraskoyan officer. "I must now speak with your immediate superior, especially if you want to avoid this conflict escalating. For soon I fear the Earth contained officials of Valinon may be plotting something that will be a detriment for all parties involved. I can say no more unless it is to your immediate superior, preferably to the Admiral of this Fleet."
He grasps his sidearm in his hand, the belt dangling down, awaiting the Taraskovyans reply.

Just as the two officers were giving their sidearms to the TNM troops, a Strij Class Light Dropship landed on the deck.
http://www.digikitten.com/playhousev2/files/Mishgan/GBTransport.jpg
The Lieutenant nodded to Nylander.

- I already have orders to take you to the Osvoboditel Battleship, which serves as flagship for this Battlegroup. Please follow us to the dropship.

The squad formed a V formation around the two officers, with them taken between the two branches and the Lieutenant led his men to the dropship.
The two officers got in to be greeted by...

a man in formal uniform of a TDI Leib-Colonel and five persons, wearing black light combat armor, their faces masked. They did not have any weapons in their hands but it would be suggested that the said weapons would appear in their hands pretty much out of nowhere if there was trouble.
The Leib-Colonel nodded to Nylanded.

- Welcome, Honorable Colonel, do not be offended by the actings of the TNM and rest assured, the hospitality of the TDI is much, much better...

He grinned and invited the two officers to sit. The compartment was done in a luxury style, with leather armschairs, small bars with lots of various drinks around...

The Dropship took off and headed towards the Osvoboditel...
The TNM troopers remained on the deck of their ship and headed back to their duties.

"Can I help you?" he asked, his voice projecting his anger.

Duncan smiled, smelling slightly of ganja. 'Ahem, well, what I'd really like you to do is stop looking for a nuke, or weapons, or any of that jazz and give us our ship back. I was told to give this-' Duncan takes off his hat and pulls a folded paper from inside it '-to you.'

The letter, printed on EDWD stationary, reads:

You are now the victim of EDWD disinformation. This trawler is a SeOCC research vessel, completely unarmed, inside international waters. You have forcibly boarded this vessel, held the crew hostage, all to find a purported nuclear weapon, weapons and some EDW gear. These implements of war do not exist on this trawler. You will find a large footlocker with a nuclear sticker on it. Please open it in the presence of Mr. Duncan and you will see that, in fact, there is no reason to be scared.

Once you have opened the container and established to your satisfaction that this vessel is not nor has ever been armed we would appreciate your hasty withdrawal from the ship. Should you need any further evidence, please allow the trawler captain, under your strict escort I'm sure, to pick up the divers dropped off earlier today. You will find their containers were packed with underwater video equipment and GPS units to prevent them from straying into Skargarden territory.

Enjoy your visit.

RF, EDWD Controller.

As soon as the soldier finishes with the letter Duncan says, 'So, shall we get my trunk or should we just call it quits and go out for pizza?'

Evidence of SATO's palnned aggression towards CACE is presented here (http://www.nationstates.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=91160)

OOC: All right, fair enough, no n00kz on the boat... I can run with that. Well played.

IC:

"What the hell do you mean, there were no nuclear weapons on the trawler?!" Siri turned away from the window to stare meaningfully at Serendis. She picked up the coffee mug from her desk and for a moment looked like she was going to throw it at something - though probably not at the Defense Prefect - though soon thought better of it and set it back down.

"It was, milady, a frame-up. A rather well-executed one, actually. Almost worthy of me, though there were some inconsistencies we probably should have seen. A full inquiry is already underway. The people over at MISSION are decidedly displeased about all this, as you might imagine." Serendis was, as always, exquisitely cool under fire.

"So what do we do now? Damage control?"

"I suggest against that, milady," replied the Prefect of State, Lord Turelio. "So the nuke plot was a red herring; the remainder of your allegations remain valid, proven, and true, and have yet to be addressed by CACE. They are attempting to deflect blame upon us, while conveniently sweeping under the rug their own nefarious plots which, if successful, could have left the world destitute. Further, loyalties are already pretty deeply ingrained in most nations. Those that support us will always do so, those that support the communists will always do so. Actions speak louder than words, but it seems that in this world, ideology speaks louder than actions."

"All right," Siri answered. "Let's see how things pan out, and we'll deal with it as it comes. Not much we can actually act on at this point."

http://www.weirdozone.0catch.com/projects/nationstates/sirithil/sirithilnosfeanor.gifLady Sirithil nos Fëanor
Elentári of the Eternal Noldorin Empire of Menelmacar
Regent of Lavenrunz, Chancellor of CENNA
"We have known freedom's price. We have shown freedom's power. We will see freedom's victory."
~US President George W. Bush
We Love the Iraqi Information Minister (http://www.welovetheiraqiinformationminister.com)
Clicky-clicky!

Nylander strips his small sidearm and instructs that Wisson do the same, although the Captain does so with much reluctance. He clips its holster open to show the safety is on.
"You may dispense with the intimidation act," Nylander says coldly to the Taraskoyan officer. "I must now speak with your immediate superior, especially if you want to avoid this conflict escalating. For soon I fear the Earth contained officials of Valinon may be plotting something that will be a detriment for all parties involved. I can say no more unless it is to your immediate superior, preferably to the Admiral of this Fleet."
He grasps his sidearm in his hand, the belt dangling down, awaiting the Taraskovyans reply.

Just as the two officers were giving their sidearms to the TNM troops, a Strij Class Light Dropship landed on the deck.
http://www.digikitten.com/playhousev2/files/Mishgan/GBTransport.jpg
The Lieutenant nodded to Nylander.

- I already have orders to take you to the Osvoboditel Battleship, which serves as flagship for this Battlegroup. Please follow us to the dropship.

The squad formed a V formation around the two officers, with them taken between the two branches and the Lieutenant led his men to the dropship.
The two officers got in to be greeted by...

a man in formal uniform of a TDI Leib-Colonel and five persons, wearing black light combat armor, their faces masked. They did not have any weapons in their hands but it would be suggested that the said weapons would appear in their hands pretty much out of nowhere if there was trouble.
The Leib-Colonel nodded to Nylanded.

- Welcome, Honorable Colonel, do not be offended by the actings of the TNM and rest assured, the hospitality of the TDI is much, much better...

He grinned and invited the two officers to sit. The compartment was done in a luxury style, with leather armschairs, small bars with lots of various drinks around...

The Dropship took off and headed towards the Osvoboditel...
The TNM troopers remained on the deck of their ship and headed back to their duties.

Nylander surveys his surroundings, "This is certainly a rather dramatic change," he mummers to himself.
Nylander turns to the Lieb-Colonel, "Tell me, how long do you expect it will take us to reach your commander?"

Nylander strips his small sidearm and instructs that Wisson do the same, although the Captain does so with much reluctance. He clips its holster open to show the safety is on.
"You may dispense with the intimidation act," Nylander says coldly to the Taraskoyan officer. "I must now speak with your immediate superior, especially if you want to avoid this conflict escalating. For soon I fear the Earth contained officials of Valinon may be plotting something that will be a detriment for all parties involved. I can say no more unless it is to your immediate superior, preferably to the Admiral of this Fleet."
He grasps his sidearm in his hand, the belt dangling down, awaiting the Taraskovyans reply.

Just as the two officers were giving their sidearms to the TNM troops, a Strij Class Light Dropship landed on the deck.
The Lieutenant nodded to Nylander.

- I already have orders to take you to the Osvoboditel Battleship, which serves as flagship for this Battlegroup. Please follow us to the dropship.

The squad formed a V formation around the two officers, with them taken between the two branches and the Lieutenant led his men to the dropship.
The two officers got in to be greeted by...

a man in formal uniform of a TDI Leib-Colonel and five persons, wearing black light combat armor, their faces masked. They did not have any weapons in their hands but it would be suggested that the said weapons would appear in their hands pretty much out of nowhere if there was trouble.
The Leib-Colonel nodded to Nylanded.

- Welcome, Honorable Colonel, do not be offended by the actings of the TNM and rest assured, the hospitality of the TDI is much, much better...

He grinned and invited the two officers to sit. The compartment was done in a luxury style, with leather armschairs, small bars with lots of various drinks around...

The Dropship took off and headed towards the Osvoboditel...
The TNM troopers remained on the deck of their ship and headed back to their duties.

Nylander surveys his surroundings, "This is certainly a rather dramatic change," he mummers to himself.
Nylander turns to the Lieb-Colonel, "Tell me, how long do you expect it will take us to reach your commander?"

The TDI Leib-Colonel smiled at Nylander's words.

- By my estimates, it would take us several hours to get to Vigvar, where my commander, the Head of the TDI, currently is.
You should know, Honorable Colonel, that even if the TDI is ever present in every TNDF deployment, the TDI contingent is not under the command of the local TNDF commander.
To make one long sentence short - we do not cause trouble to the TNDF and they do not order us around. So the Admiral of this fleet is not my direct superior.

And as of the Osvoboditel flagship, we will be there very shortly.
A couple more minutes...

As they say that, the dropship enters the formation of the Taraskovyan ships, different cruisers, destroyers, corvettes and carriers passing under the craft.
They all seem highely advanced, very efficiently maintained and very, very clean[OOC: :) ]...

The dropship starts approaching the landing pad of the Osvoboditel Battleship.

OOC: RP the introduction. And it sounds like your fleet is like the Great Blue Fleet. Partly because Perry demands that every ship be so clean he could eat out of the gunports. It is also because he is just vindictive and takes out whatever he can on his suboordinates.

SPIN OFF!

Knootoss establishes Christian colony on Skargarden Island (http://www.nationstates.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=2058987#2058987)

I thought I'd mention it here. :)

OOC: RP the introduction. And it sounds like your fleet is like the Great Blue Fleet. Partly because Perry demands that every ship be so clean he could eat out of the gunports. It is also because he is just vindictive and takes out whatever he can on his suboordinates.

OOC:
Nah, abuse of authority is severely reprimended in the TNDF.

The cleanness is just to show off to all those pretty SATO nations that the TND NF knows its job and never forgets its duties, whatever they may be 8)

And gonna RP the introduction tomorrow, CET. :wink:

The Lieutenant was furious, he folded up the paper and placed it in a plastic bag he pulled from one of his belt-buckled pockets. The pothead marine biologist ridiculed them as the NCO of Squad 2 read the paper. The radio-active box was already opened in the search. There was nothing on the boat, just a bunch of smelly mollusks and pothead scientists.

"What a disgusting group of people you are. Bluffing nuclear weapons just so you can laugh? What the f--- is your government thinking?" The angered lieutenant clicked his headset, "Seagull, stand down. There is no nuclear weapon nor any sign of ever having one. The vessel is clean, report, the vessel is clean. Orders?" He looked directly into Duncan's eyes.

"Report back to the Night Sky for debriefing. This was not a failure of yours, Lieutenant, but one of intelligence's. Helicopters are ordered to land and RIBs are ordered to be reboarded. As for the marine biologists, they are in no way involved with any of this. Issue an informal apology and get the hell off the boat. We do not need any more criticism. Over and out."

He shook his head, the talking fool on the other line did not understand the extent of his anger and that he could not simply issue a formal apology, much less an informal one. He took a long breath as his eyes squinted in the dimming sun. His jaw dropped, but nothing came out. He paused again, as his right hand clicked the headset, "Squad Two, hit the RIBs. Our mission is done."

After spending roughly an hour on the boat, he was preparing to step in the last RIB. Duncan watched him closely as his leg lifted to get over the wall. He froze and placed it back on the deck, "On behalf of the Ruhrian Imperial Navy, Marines and Defence Intelligence Agency, I apologize for this incident." He jumped over the side and into the boat, and the boat speeding off to the sleek RNS Night Sky. This mission was over.

Captain Erika Reicher sent all the information to the DIA, who in turn sent it to other agencies, who were expected to have sent it to their government heads.

(OOC: And there we are. I had a change in heart and didn't keep the damn worthless trawler or hurt a single one of your people. If you note, I only broke one international law and that was boarding the vessel. But even then, in hopes of preventing a nuclear war, wouldn't you do the same? There was legit purpose, I just didn't feel like telling your men what the hell they should have known. And why should I tell them? If I boarded, they would know exactly why I boarded. And no, Seocc, I don't want to have a pizza with you. P.S.: You are lucky I didn't fire a warning shot, and I did attempt to contact your vessel also, it was just not RPed-through. If you look back to my first post on this matter you would recognize the part where my communications officer was ordered to hail the Seocc vessel. It was Seocc's choice not to go through. Blar!!!!!)

Encoded Message
To: Knootoss
From: TVC

Wij denken dat Zeetrol wel een nucleair wapen heeft geplaatst. We denken allemaal dat het oplichting was, maar wat als oceaanork er toch één heeft geplaatst? Dan heeft hij a) zijn politieke overwinning en b) toch een wapen in plaats.

Het is heel goed mogelijk, dus kijk goed uit.

---

ooc: heheh, how about that? Real encoding.

Interesting thought. :)

~Siri

Encoded Message
To: Knootoss
From: TVC

Wij denken dat Zeetrol wel een nucleair wapen heeft geplaatst. We denken allemaal dat het oplichting was, maar wat als oceaanork er toch één heeft geplaatst? Dan heeft hij a) zijn politieke overwinning en b) toch een wapen in plaats.

Het is heel goed mogelijk, dus kijk goed uit.

---

ooc: heheh, how about that? Real encoding.

A team of Celdonian code-breakers got to work on the intercepted message. It didn't take long to crack, although they had to infer some of it based on context. Maybe not perfect, but it painted the picture


"However, we think that Sea Ork [Seocc] has placed a nuclear weapon. We think that it was all a swindle, but what if Sea Ork [Seocc] has nevertheless placed one? If he has then it is a) its political victory and b) nevertheless a weapon.

It is complete well possible, therefore keep looking."


The team leader read it over and commented "Hmm...close, but maybe not exact." He scratched his chin. "And the first two sentences seem to coflict slightly. No matter, it's probably close enough. Pass it on to Seocc security, they'll get the idea."

OOC: Do I get a prize :lol: ?

And I'll only attach IC significance if you say so.

Duncan screamed at the departing helicopters, 'I still want my god damned pizza!'

Sighing, with a bad case of the munchies, he returned to his actual job. 'Captain, we can get our divers now?'

'Yep,' Randy said, visibly relieved to be alive. 'And then the hell out of here.'

'Sounds good to me.'

OOC: Celdonia gets the cookie. I thought an actual intercepted message would be nice for once. Feel free to use your info IC.

The Strij Class Dropship makes one last turn and heads directly for the landing pad of the Osvoboditel Battleship.

The men debark onto the deck and the dropship immediately takes off. the Osvoboditel resembles in many ways the Kirov Class, only that it is much more technologically advanced, equipped with the latest weaponry and defense systems and other equipment.

The Leib-Colonel leads the way to the private apartments of the Admiral, the two Valinon officers behind him, followed by the five TDI operatives.
Going through numerous corridors, up and down the stairs, the men finalyl end before an entrance. The TDI Leib-Colonel invites the men to follow.

The men enter a medium-sized room, decorated with wooden furniture and usual stuff encountered in the private apartments of admirals: maps, swords, old compasses, etc.
The five guards stay outside.

A man in Taraskovyan naval uniform, that of an Admiral to be precise, is awaiting inside.
The Admiral is a rather aged person, appearing to be a pure human in his sixties, of Russian origin. He invites the three officers to sit and presents himself.

- I am Admiral Vladimir Dalnostrelny, commander of the Taraskovyan Battlegroup dispatched to assist in the exercises. And I see you have already met TDI Leib-Colonel Keathat.

The Admiral takes a seat in his own armschair. The four armschairs are positioned in circle around a small table, with drinks and some food on it.

"I am Lieutenant Colonel Nylander of His Majesty's Sardaukar and this is my adjutant Captain Wisson," Nylander says. "It is an honor to meet you Admiral Dalnostrelny, however, I wish it could be under better circumstances."
Nylander takes his chair, "It seems that my knowledge that our flight was cleared was some what of a misnomer. Also, I have reason to suspect that there may be a plot being brewed by some members of the hierarchy of the Empire here on Earth. I would appreciate it greatly if you will debrief me on the current situation that has occured since I departed Blue 37. And in turn I will try to answer any questions you may have regarding my own actions and the actions of the men directly under my command."

Global News Network - 2 August 2022 - A Closer Look at Ruhrian Involvement

Ruhr's recent application acceptance into the World Business Organization is under fire with its recent actions to investigate and board the Seocc trawler that was suspected of carrying nuclear weapons. While the Admiralty clearly puts it that in the moment of clear and present danger, all actions taken are legal and for the safety and security of the human race, contestants of the Ruhrian Imperial Navy's actions state that Admiral Wallace acted out of line and should have contacted the vessel first.

On the night of July 29th, the RNS Night Sky allegedly commenced boarding and inspection operations to verify urgent intelligence passed down ranks of a nuclear device that Seocc black ops were trying to sneak into Skargarden. The groups protesting the actions demanded to see the transcripts of the night's operations, but Admiral Wallace refused to send them because of operational security of the Ruhrian fleets operating in and around Aperin.

However, Wallace did release the fact that the vessel was hailed multiple times without receiving a return signal from the trawler. Actions taken from there were 'strictly from the book in an emergency situation', as Wallace declares. He said that this action was necessary to saving lives, and that the Seocc Government's irrational actions could have inadvertantly caused hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of lives had there been a nuclear weapon or had that boat returned fire on the RNS Night Sky.

http://www.mod.uk/img/dcsa/admiral.jpg
---File Photo of Admiral Wallace
of the 1st Indian Ocean Attack Fleet

The Arctic Fleet Command issued a press conference in Admiral Brumos' Alaskan offices that the entire force would be sent to patrol around and operate until this event blows over. With the AAF's activity, the Ruhrian involvement will be brought to well over one hundred twenty capital ships. More criticism has come from the Liberal Party that a fleet of this size sent to operate in a close proximity with the enemy is dangerous. Brumos did not ignore this issue and admitted that 'anything can happen, but all precautions will be taken.'

Needless to say, the CACE governments are certainly very paranoid by the military excersises taking place in Skargarden, which the 236th Medical Division took place in training on 'cadavers' and refreshing their triage practices. The hundreds of thousands of tons of humananitarian aid shipped to Skargarden to feed the populace needing to relocate and any whom lined up made it to the ports along side the medical units. Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mark Peters, assured the public that the wargames were mere excercises in a new territory that could simply aid readiness and effectiveness allowing our units to gain expertise against a well trained 'enemy'.

The DIA has not released any report on predictions to what will come next, only a hope that we can bring back our soldiers as soon as possible without any loss of life.

Encoded Message
To: Knootoss
From: TVC

Wij denken dat Zeetrol wel een nucleair wapen heeft geplaatst. We denken allemaal dat het oplichting was, maar wat als oceaanork er toch één heeft geplaatst? Dan heeft hij a) zijn politieke overwinning en b) toch een wapen in plaats.

Het is heel goed mogelijk, dus kijk goed uit.

---

ooc: heheh, how about that? Real encoding.

To: TVC
From: Knootoss

Wij delen dit vermoeden ook, al is er op dit moment nog geen bewijs om dit aan te nemen als waar.

Knootiaanse beveiliging is op dit moment bezig met een operatie in Skargarden om de bom te zoeken. De actie heeft echter een laag profiel, aangezien we geen onrust onder de bevolking willen wekken.

Mocht Zeetrol zoiets proberen kan hij uitgaan van onmiddelijke en volledige nucleare vergeldingsacties. Verder vinden wij dit ook een geldige reden om het 'von Schliefen' scenario opnieuw te overwegen. Mochten onze vermoedens bevestigd worden zal onze respons deste efficienter zijn.

Amerigo is een land van contrasten

To: TVC
From: Knootoss

Wij delen dit vermoeden ook, al is er op dit moment nog geen bewijs om dit aan te nemen als waar.

Knootiaanse beveiliging is op dit moment bezig met een operatie in Skargarden om de bom te zoeken. De actie heeft echter een laag profiel, aangezien we geen onrust onder de bevolking willen wekken.

Mocht Zeetrol zoiets proberen kan hij uitgaan van onmiddelijke en volledige nucleare vergeldingsacties. Verder vinden wij dit ook een geldige reden om het 'von Schliefen' scenario opnieuw te overwegen. Mochten onze vermoedens bevestigd worden zal onze respons deste efficienter zijn.

OOC: Celdonia, when you decode that one, will you send a copy to me please too. :lol: :wink:

"I am Lieutenant Colonel Nylander of His Majesty's Sardaukar and this is my adjutant Captain Wisson," Nylander says. "It is an honor to meet you Admiral Dalnostrelny, however, I wish it could be under better circumstances."
Nylander takes his chair, "It seems that my knowledge that our flight was cleared was some what of a misnomer. Also, I have reason to suspect that there may be a plot being brewed by some members of the hierarchy of the Empire here on Earth. I would appreciate it greatly if you will debrief me on the current situation that has occured since I departed Blue 37. And in turn I will try to answer any questions you may have regarding my own actions and the actions of the men directly under my command."

The Leib-Colonel grinned but said nothing. The Admiral was the one doing the talking here, for now.

- The situation is that Valinon military assets had no right to penetrate into the sovereign space of Skargarden, be it air or naval.
The Blue 37, you mentioned, was in breach with these rules, more than that - it was in the Direct Influence Zone of my fleet. You can understand - a 'ghost' vessel of combat design in the direct vicinity of my ships does make me... nervous...
I had to dispatch a Hunter submarine to chase it away.
Rest assured, no combat ammunition was used.
As for you, gentlemen, the fact is that you did not have clearence to penetrate into Skargarden airspace. If it wouldn't have been Vortex airdynes that would have shot you out, it would have been Skargarden Anti-Air defense systems.

As such, your proceedings raise a number of questions.
Why infiltrate an observation unit when you could request authorization from the local governement and send the team officially?
Why deploy an entire naval submarine vessel to take the team to the appointed location in secret?
I expect to hear some answers, Honorable Lieutenant-Colonel...

Nylander sighs and shakes his head, "You and the Vortex Corporation still do not understand this do you? I was told that I had been given full clearance by Admiral Perry and that this clearance was from the Knootian High Command. I think you have missed the greater plot here, Admiral. Perry would have loved it if I had gotten shot down, the Vortex aerodynes would have played into his hands. As for the matter of Skargraden aero defences, I trust you their prescence as a threat was not as great as you think. The Empire's countermeasures cut their teeth on nations such as Greater Ironholm (still around) and the Dominion of Outer Centauri (sadly deleted, I forever miss him) and they were masters of it in their own right."
"As for the matter of what you have dubbed an 'insertion', Admiral, I was informed that that was being done so that my arrival would not unduly hinder the wargames. In fact, to my knowledge Commander Hellinson's initial course did not actually take him into Skargraden waters, merely close to them but still safely within the boundaries of free international waters."
Nylander eyes one of the drinks longly but decides to press on, "I am afraid, Admiral, that you and the Vortex Corporation have found yourself ensared in the power politics so common of the Baron-Administrators and the more politically oriented officers in His Majesty's Armed Forces. And I think that neither of you fully understand the fact that Earth is considered to be the backwater posts of the Empire. Frankly, I am thankful that my tenure here is only temporary until I am transfered with my command to Mars, things are so much more simple at Sheffield."

The TDI Leib-Colonel grinned even more and the Admiral peered at him.

- Hochesh prodoljit'?

The TDI Leib-Colonel nodded.

- Da.

With that, he turned back to Nylander.

- I think you underestimate us, Honorable Lieutenant Colonel. The provocationism of your actions under the orders of Admiral Perry was clear as daylight during a sunny day.
The TDI has even discussed 'counter measures' with the Secret Services of the Vortex Corporations, and our respective militaries have already received appropriate orders.
You must know, dear Honorable Lieutenant Colonel, that if ever a war breaks out between Vortex Corporations and the Empire, all the odds are at the Corporation to win.
No - truly.
Lets imagine it all triggers a huge war and you bring in the entire PCDI into Earth Orbit and attack Vortex Mainland in Sisgardia. Not only will you trigger a responsive action from the SFN, but also the SATO and CENNA will join in the defense. And of course - some of our other, powerfull, allies.
And once the PCDI attack group is blown up to dust, we will all happily debark into Proxima.

But let us not speak about the most dreadful consequence.
Honorable Lieutenant Colonel...
From your words it is clear that Admiral Perry and some other elements of the Imperial authority in the Solar System are plotting in the back of the Central Imperial authority...
Will you be ready to certify this when time comes?

"One more on this thread of comment on consequences, Admiral, your tactics are a little blunt. You are still thinking that the Empire will fight to preserve its meager holdings on Earth, more than likely, Proxima would be willing to write it off. However, at least you, Vortex, Perry, and his co-conspirators are on the same page as to thinking that Earth still holds a high amount of value to the Empire."
He clears his throat, "And in regards to your last question, I believe this is exactly what is happening. Normally I would report this immediately to the ESS, but knowing the current administrator of Earth I suspect strongly he is in on this plot as well. I must meet with the commanding officers of all the Sardaukar divisons on Earth, Admiral, along with several of the ambassadors and the ERTS, I believe we can deal with this matter on our own."
He stands, "Thank you for your.....hospitality. If you would be so kind as to fuel my coptor I will make my way to deal with this matter appropriately. But before I go, Admiral, remember this carfully. Earth is the backwater post, it is where the Empire has sentenced its exiles, its rogues, and its less skilled. There are a few exceptions, such as Lord Adonis and Lady Rolt, but they are few and far between. By meeting them you have not met the Empire, and you may still find that we have several surprises left to throw at you, some I have a feeling which might cause a change in tune. Pass this along to the good officers of the Vortex Corporation as well, for if there is war between the two of us I have a feeling neither side will survive."

OOC: All right, fair enough, no n00kz on the boat... I can run with that. Well played.


[by SeOCC and co?yes thye played well. But what the heck are you who don't veen know the difference between OOC and IC knowledge, doing saying that? you have no inkling what well played would mean, or you would have played better yourself.]

[by SeOCC and co?yes thye played well. But what the heck are you who don't veen know the difference between OOC and IC knowledge, doing saying that? you have no inkling what well played would mean, or you would have played better yourself.]

whoa whoa whoa, let me be the first to say, calm down. no offense but that was unncessary.

OOC: All right, fair enough, no n00kz on the boat... I can run with that. Well played.


[by SeOCC and co?yes thye played well. But what the heck are you who don't veen know the difference between OOC and IC knowledge, doing saying that? you have no inkling what well played would mean, or you would have played better yourself.]

You really need to pipe down before somebody hurts your. For your own safety.

You really need to pipe down before somebody hurts your. For your own safety.

nor was that necessary, but i have a way to solve this:

TONIGHT, ONE NIGHT ONLY, ON PAY-PER-VIEW.

Cirdanistan 'I Ain't No Pansy' will fight Ruhr 'Neither Am I' TO THE DEATH* in the steel CAGE OF PAIN (pain pain). Order now and be sure to see this action yourself OR YOU'LL BE A LOSER.







*no death is guaranteed, some restrictions apply, all proceeds, including illegal sale of usable organs, go to fund the New People's Army of the Philippines.

You really need to pipe down before somebody hurts your. For your own safety.

nor was that necessary, but i have a way to solve this:

TONIGHT, ONE NIGHT ONLY, ON PAY-PER-VIEW.

Cirdanistan 'I Ain't No Pansy' will fight Ruhr 'Neither Am I' TO THE DEATH* in the steel CAGE OF PAIN (pain pain). Order now and be sure to see this action yourself OR YOU'LL BE A LOSER.







*no death is guaranteed, some restrictions apply, all proceeds, including illegal sale of usable organs, go to fund the New People's Army of the Philippines.

/me takes advantage of the oppurtunity to n00kz0r Cirdanistan OOCly. Seriously, I was simply saying that its better to not be sooo angry.

EDIT: Was that decent humor...from Seocc???

EDIT: Was that decent humor...from Seocc???

Doesn't surprise us much. Agents in Xikuang are already tapping the Cable lines and eight year olds are reputedly betting pirate Pokemon cards on Cirdanistan.

You really need to pipe down before somebody hurts your. For your own safety.

nor was that necessary, but i have a way to solve this:

TONIGHT, ONE NIGHT ONLY, ON PAY-PER-VIEW.

Cirdanistan 'I Ain't No Pansy' will fight Ruhr 'Neither Am I' TO THE DEATH* in the steel CAGE OF PAIN (pain pain). Order now and be sure to see this action yourself OR YOU'LL BE A LOSER.







*no death is guaranteed, some restrictions apply, all proceeds, including illegal sale of usable organs, go to fund the New People's Army of the Philippines.

Pay per view? Vile capitalist oppressor!

[quote="GMC Military Arms" Pay per view? Vile capitalist oppressor![/quote]

no, it's violent inhumane exploitation for the greater good! ah ha!

Pay per view? Vile capitalist oppressor!

no, it's violent inhumane exploitation for the greater good! ah ha![/quote]

stupid cookies, TA is me.

Pay per view? Vile capitalist oppressor!

no, it's violent inhumane exploitation for the greater good! ah ha!

stupid cookies, TA is me.

Yeah, I saw when you said so over on CACE forums once. Something to do with them having Sectoid spaceships hidden in their toolsheds or something...

Yeah, I saw when you said so over on CACE forums once. Something to do with them having Sectoid spaceships hidden in their toolsheds or something...

hehehe, yeah. always have a back up plan if M tries something and there's no trawler to save my ass.

Well, it´s not like puppetwanking is frowned upon...

Again, i admire your RP.

~ Ministry for international mockery and ooc insults, DA

Excerpt from ANN:

[b]Navy Mobilization to Frederick's Island

In a brief press release from the Defense Synod today, it was announced that the Delta Battlegroup of the 1st Fleet would be leaving Anhierarch within a week, bound for the Celdonian naval base in Frederick's Island, off the west coast of the Aperin Continent.

The Defense Synod's release states categorically that the battlegroup's move from Anhierarchi naval bases stands both as a symbol of partnership and solidarity with the CACE, as well as a pragmatic move to increase the operational efficiency and effectiveness of the Navy.

In other news, further funding increases for the NDD have been approved, and......

OOC: Anierarch, indeed. Thank you. ICness...

KNN:
"And welcome as you are watching our new infotainment show...

Eye On Aperin
*jazzy news lead*

"Hi, I'm your host Michael Turbaas and in cooperation with the Ministry of Defence I bring you Eye on Aperin giving you a unique insight into the happenings on the continent. And for all the military buffs out there this is the opportunity to get some great views of modern military equipment in use today.

KNN has worked out deals with JANES and with the Knootian ministry of Defence and they agreed to provide us with sublime military footage of the movements of all Aperinian nations exept for Skargarden and Svea Riga. This footage is unique, as intelligence did not significantly downtone the quality of the footage as is usually done to preserve military secrets. So you crazy terrorists out there better be watching "

*audience laughs*

"On today, Armies of Anhierarch, first in series. Here you can see footage of Delta Battlegroup of their first fleet 1st Fleet leaving port. Their local news reported they would be heading for Frederick's Island, dangerously close to Nieuw Nederland"

*audience makes "whooooooh" sounds*

[insert some nice technical specification charts on the Anierarch fleet here, if you want you can indulge yourself A. :P ]

General de Kaste said that the war games are may have been posponded because of the recent international incident but that they will continue nevertheless. He did not specify when they would actually start but it would be 'soon'. (OOC: as soon as I have time)

*audience claps*

I would have liked to show you some new Knootian military equipment that was going to be used in this exercise but unfortunately there really is none. The peace corps isn't participating in this one, so we're basically stuck with the more standard stuff. Some archive images:

*Television shows men in cover behind a low wall firing an AK 47 at an unseen target. Then it switches to a Eurofighter firing an Air-to-air missile.*

Next in Eye on Aperin: biological weapons being produced in Celdonia? We provide you with the insights. But first this message from our sponsors...

OOC: of course, the quality of the footage is still downtoned a little so we don't give out our full capabilities. And of course the information is selective: the ministry show what it wants to show.

Amerigo is a land of contrast.

Amerigo is indeed a land of much contrast. :lol:

---------------------------------------------------
Arctic Attack Fleet - Rapier Task Force
---------------------------------------------------

Commodore Bradbury leaned against the rail on the superstructure of the RNS Rapier, seventh in class of the Lancer style Battleship. The smooth, sleek lines of the long vessel made her pleasing to the eye while very seaworthy. Her powerful nuclear reactors powered her at a cruising speed of twenty-nine knots, along with the rest of her nuclear powered task force made up of one cruiser, one VTOL carrier, two destroyers, and four frigates. Beneath the blue waters surrounding Aperin swam the three Sea Fox SSNs designated to protecting the Ruhrian Navy's billions of dollars in investments that made up the small task force.

Bradbury had ordered the task force into a broad wedge formation, the battleship in the lead, with the RNS Walter S. Kelly[I] VTOL [I]Munich class carrier following seven hundred yards behind. The Cruiser was on the port side of the Bradbury, operating another thousand yards off her rear port quarter, and the lead destroyer in the group was in the same position on the starboard quarter panel. The frigates fell into place guarding strategically angles from which an enemy can sprout out of without warning.

Radar had been active all morning, with flights from the Kelly roaring over battleship’s stern. Everything was quiet, the battle group seemed very distant from the events in and around Skargarden, but he quickly reminded himself that the sea has three planes: one from the surface, for which famous wars had been fought and either won or lost on; one of which the air that anyone can strike from any angle as they please and agility is a common word; and one from which the dark blue beneath, where dangers crawled at their own pace, hunting, seeking, killing. The duty of the Navy was recognized as making the decisive actions that would evidently affect the outcome of a land war.

Bradbury looked down towards the deck, where sailors worked on cleaning and maintaining the great ship. Their work was quick, seemingly monotone with no true thought. The Ruhrians prided themselves in their navy, and in doing so they were trained as the best and did the simple tasks with ease. Their true colours came out during battle, where the crews rallied and sail towards triumph, manning their stations for the greater good of Ruhr.

One hundred thirty capitol ships had arrived and were operating around CACE dominated Aperin. Right now, the fleet’s six task forces were heading to surround Aperin in a patrol pattern. Several hundred miles off International recognized waters, the RNS Rapier Task Force was sailing around the tip of Southern Aperin and making turns to station themselves to the north of the Weegies. Russia[n Navy] had declared their intentions to set up a task force there, and would be arriving soon, Intelligence said. Bradbury’s orders were to monitor the military presence in Southern Aperin and report to Admiral Brumos any developments towards the CACE military preparedness. He saw his duty as intelligence gathering and a challenging sail, and probably a good time to test the Rusky’s sonar recalibration methods. Certainly, this would be an unofficial cold war between the two states. Only a few hundred more miles to go before they reach the beginning of their patrol.

I thinkum I should keep track of this thread now.

http://cace.thegrimproject.net/aperinmap.jpg

or:

http://cace.thegrimproject.net/aperinmap.jpg

Ruhr, if you could begin marking where your fleets are on this map, 130 ships is a little excessive.

Gladly, Sea Orc. How do I do that though? Unfortunately, I will have to resort to using PAINT.

http://www.image4u.org/ruhr/aperinmap2.jpg

We are concerned that your war games could disrupt joint Free Outer Eugenian, Sacco and Venzetian and Weegian sustainable fishing operations. We sincirely hope that no live munitions or spilled fuel enter the pristine waters, and we will of course expect your sailors to refrain from discarding anything into our seas.

-Marge Inkvest,
of the Joint Eugenian/Weegian/Sacco and Venzetian Sustainable Fishing Collective

ooc: FOE is 6- 7000km from the place where the wargames take place... an entire continent is between them and the wargames... don`t you think your diplomats looks more than a bit stupid after such a statement? :P

ooc: FOE is 6- 7000km from the place where the wargames take place... an entire continent is between them and the wargames... don`t you think your diplomats looks more than a bit stupid after such a statement? :P OOC:

1. Diplomat? Since when does being a member of a fishing collective make one a 'diplomat?'

2. Take a look at the map. Specifically at the 'Rapier' battle group.

I just found out that the Rapire Task Force comes dangerously close to Sacco and err....Vaccontoni, vaccinto, Something like that....

In that case, the Rapier Battlegroup will stop before crossing territorial waters and essentially turn around on its patrol route.

We repeat our request that you respect the environmental integrity of our beloved seas.

-Marge Inkvest,
of the Joint Eugenian/Weegian/Sacco and Venzetian Sustainable Fishing Collective

We repeat our request that you respect the environmental integrity of our beloved seas.

-Marge Inkvest,
of the Joint Eugenian/Weegian/Sacco and Venzetian Sustainable Fishing Collective

The sea is the source of our pride. It is our duty to protect her. There will be little to no pollution of the waters we patrol.

1. Diplomat? Since when does being a member of a fishing collective make one a 'diplomat?'

one thing i love about anarchists is that they'll give the mic to anyone.

*Official Memo to SATO Commanders Participating in Wargames*

Due to a lack of stability in the region, the hundred ship merchant marine force will be escorted back to Ruhr's Chilean ports. The civilian vessels will be in convoy formation and protected by elements of the Indian Ocean Fleet.

The last of humanitarian aid for the Skargardenese people will be unloaded and the vessels refueled, paid for by the Ruhrian Imperial Navy, before they make the journey home.

The medical units will remain in Skargarden but not only treat wounded allied soldiers, but civilians if they need it.

-Theatre Commander-
-Lt. General Mario Coumo-

*Official Memo to SATO Commanders Participating in Wargames*

OOC: Can't you guys put "SATO/Allied" sort of thing?
I am not in SATO, but I am an 'objective ally' for these wargames :roll:
Because you all leave me no other choice then either crack the transmissions or do not even remark them :shock:

Skipper Nanette Newman, teeth clenched firmly on her pipe, barely looked up from the winch as the boy started yammering about the big ships making a U-turn up ahead. The catch wasn’t going to be good, in an 80-boat fishing flotilla spread over nearly 100 miles of sea, why’d she always manage to find the spot where the fish weren’t?

She glanced up to see the taskforce cutting its wide turn, the wake of the lead ships clearly visible even at this distance. The boy was still yammering and dancing some kind of caper on the deck, paying no attention to his duties. Damn, the whole crew was fond of him, but somehow she hoped his medical studies really took off soon.

Looking up again, lingering this time, squinting against the dance of the sunlight on the blue water, studying the fleet as it turned tail. They’d come close, she thought, fair screaming along. Not much further and those big nuke engines of this “rapier taskforce” would have been just so much flotsam on Sacco’s west coast beaches.

She looked across to where Jimmy Jewel, the skip of the next boat in line about a mile away, was also purposefully hauling in his nets.

“Boy! Stop that caper and give a hand. Let’s get these nets in. Reckon we’ll go further out and set the deep nets.”

Gunnery Chief Deweese was busy scrubbing the rifled barrel of the massive six inch rail gun. His rag, covered with grease and soap, drew intricate circles and patterns across the cold metal barrel. Typically, this would not be the job of a NCO, but the sailor scheduled to scrub and maintian the turret was in sick bay. It didn't matter to him, he enjoyed being outside and in the breeze doing a small task.

The massive destroyer began its slow turn to port, the large nuclear steam reactors pushing the vessel to its side as he felt the ship list a bit to the right. Deweese paused and looked out to the sea. On the horizon, or what seemed to be the horizon, he saw the fishing trawlers dropping their nets. They weren't much different than him, cleaning their boats, living off what they find or are given by their government and spending time with the vast blue sea. The slow turn took what seemed like an hour, but it was only his imagination playing games on him.

The task force reformed and headed back out to orbit The Weegies' territorial waters. Making radar scans of what was in the skies, on the seas and on land.

*Official Memo to SATO Commanders Participating in WargamesThe last of humanitarian aid for the Skargardenese people will be unloaded and the vessels refueled, paid for by the Ruhrian Imperial Navy, before they make the journey home.

The medical units will remain in Skargarden but not only treat wounded allied soldiers, but civilians if they need it.

-Theatre Commander-
-Lt. General Mario Coumo- We will Gladdly assist in your humaniterian operations. A small fleet of hospital ships is en route.

-Sara Gonzalez y al-Hatab
of Doctors Without Borders

Jimmy Jewel had also seen the taskforce turntail. He could just see Nanette was getting in her nets. Far out to starboard Frankie Detori was doing likewise on the boat he was skippering.

Up ahead, the big ships were already dots, soon they would be over the horizon.

Damn, he thought, if Nanette and Frankie are going, so are we. And he knew all along the line, fish or no fish, they'd be hauling in and doing the same.

He supposed no one had thought to radio the southern fleet, so he'd give them a call anyways.

Glancing back along the deck to check progress, he saw they were hauling fish. Typical. Just when you didn't want it, here was a catch.

"Heave away boys and girls! Let's not be left behind.

"We're going deep sea."

And he scurried below to put out the call.

The slow turn took what seemed like an hour, but it was only his imagination playing games on him.

The task force reformed and headed back out to orbit The Weegies' territorial waters. Making radar scans of what was in the skies, on the seas and on land.

The 'Red Tester' observed the Ruhrian Task Force completing it's manouver and skipper; Capt. Smilies made the appropriate report on an open radio channel back to BRightOn.

'Si, Si -this is Lickabill. - The Ruhrians are heading back west - we'll be stocking up at the Weedgies, but we'll follow their wake in the meantime. Don't know what the Hooley's will make of it, over'

The radio fizzed and popped a little before a Shiree voice answered;

'Bueno Bueno Capitan Smilies - the Hooley's have been in touch with a few Sacconians already mate - keep us posted. over & out'

(ooc: hey Ruhr > radar scans will reveal the 'Red Tester' to be a 70m long vessel. It will follow the Task force back west before docking north of the Weedgies, although as its top speed is only 20knots, we will no doubt lose visual relatively quickly... for the moment ;-)

By the time the boy had lashed the nets along the deck he’d missed the last glimpse of the Ruhrian taskforce disappearing over the horizon. But he knew there’d been a lot of activity over the radio and now he could see that all the visible boats in the western fleet were converging on the waters that, not long before, had churned in the wake of those nuke-engined behemoths. Not far behind, the Watfordshirean Red Tester appeared to be joining the flotilla.

“Nan? Nan!?” He called, trying to raise his squeaking adolescent voice over the thump of the trawler’s engines.

She turned and nodded him up to the wheelhouse. “Nan, are we going after them?”

“Nah. They’re far too quickie for that. Just a-following them along a wee while. Then we might call in at The Weegies and stock up a bit ‘fore we get out again into the deep blue. Then we might bump into them again I dare say. You get yourself some sleep.”

Over on the starboard beam, not far off now, Jimmy Jewel finally put down the radio handset. Those southern lot were a chatty bunch, typical Vanzetti. But they liked a party and they sure sounded like they didn’t want to miss this one. What was it now, 63 boats or so? It’d be a long haul for them for sure but at least the Red Tester was here and the Hoolies were on their way.

Old Nan was cracking on fit to bust, he thought, but she never was one to hang around. Still, better keep up, even though it’d be days before everyone was here for the shindig.

OOC:

I will write a response shortly. Until then please do not post. What will happen is the fleet turning around and heading around Weegies water and head back. But that is OOC knowledge. ;)

-----------------------
RNS Rapier
-----------------------

Lieutenant Schilling had been sitting at his bulkhead all day. The radar skematics coming in were outstanding, and he couldn't have been happier about it. But now, as the vessels were making their way to the northern point he noticed the line of small craft at the end of his radar chart. Fishing vessels, Commander Cavuto told me to watch out for these guys. "Captain! Radar contacts bearing one-zero-two. Small craft numbering in the dozens. Distance: 212 miles!"

Bradbury walked swiftly to the radarman's post, leaning over his shoulder to check the map. His eyes ran across the scan as the coordinates were locked into the computer. It was a chain of vessels moving under twenty knots. "These are the fishing boat protestors. Are they in our way?"

"As soon as we make the turn they will be directly in our path, We make the turn in 20 minutes, Sir." Schilling looked at the Captain, it was at these times where the Captain needed to use his best judgement.

"Let us make the turn first. If they are still in the way we will make a contact." He said sternly, confidently. That was the best way to do it. He walked back to his chair in the CIC and rested his chin on his fist, his eyes closing. He needed all the rest he can get as he quietly dozed off---

----------------------------
20 Minutes Elapse
----------------------------

It was first the droned out sounds that woke Bradbury's senses, but his feeling came next. The arm grasping his shoulder and shaking lightly. Two rings went off in the ship, signalling a change in course. After the vessel had turned, Bradburry sighed. "Radar, are they still there?"

"Yes, Captain. Bearing one-seven-four maintaining speed. Distance to the vessels is one hundred ninety two." His eyes squinted as he turned to look at the captian who dropped his jaw in preparation to speak.

"Communications, hail the vessels at any means necessary. Use public channels though, no coding. Get me a direct contact to the Tolkin, I want flight operations ready."

The communications officer switched frequencies and began an open air broadcast to the vessels, "Ruhrian Navy Ship Rapier to unidentified vessels bearing one-seven-four. Rapier to unidentified vessels, you are requested to scatter for Ruhrian military vessels. Please identify yourselves." The message repeated on several channels, and the captain anxiously awaited the response.

“Roger, roger, Rapier. Are you that big one? Speaking personally, this is skipper Nanette Newman of fishing boat Daisywheel oh-niner-five-er…wait..”

She never could remember these damn numbers.

“Roger, again, this is fishing boat Daisywheel repeat Daisywheel. The light blue one with the reddish mast.”

She looked back over her shoulder, reddish was near enough, reddish-needing-a-touch-of-paint seemed undignified somehow. Turning back she gave the boy a quick glance up and down. A bit wide-eyed and windswept but he’d do.

“Roger Rapier, please heave-ho and prepare to be boarded. I want to have a few words with that captain of yours.”

She dropped the handset back into the cradle on the radio. Smoothing her tweed skirt with one hand, she pushed the big yellow sou’wester more firmly on to her head.

Quickly snatching up the handset again:

“Young man? Young man on the Rapier radio? You can call me Nan.”

That’s better, she thought, squinting forward through the spray-speckled glass of the wheelhouse, bit of first name friendliness never hurt anyone. Then back to the radio:

“Oh, I meant to say ‘over’ as well.

“Over.”

"Captain, we have contact with one of the vessels." The communications officer shouted. "Orders, sir?" He inquired calmly.

"Order them again out of the way, nicely though." The captain frowned, aparently angered by the response the fishermen gave.

"Daisywheel, you are ordered to scatter and move out of the way of the Task Force by order of the Ruhrian Imperial Navy. Repeat, you are ordered to scatter."

The man on the other line demanded to speak with Captain Bradbury, but he was in no mood to deal with protestors backed by governments.

Slightly further back from the action, a ship began to try and hail the Red Tester.

"Red Tester, Red Tester, Dae ye read me? This is Radio Operator Frazer o' the Weegie Trawler "Vital Spark". Red Tester, Red Tester, dae ye read me?"

Frazer then continued on to try and hail the Daisywheel.

"This is Captain Smilies of the 'Red Tester' to the Rapier, are you receiving me?, over"

The communications officer arched an eyebrow to his nearest colleague and replied:

"Go ahead Captain.."

"Hola Che, call me LickaBill please. Now I'm no diplomat..."

the communications officers' raised brow was joined by a smirk, before a stern glance from Lieutenant Schilling snapped his expression back into disciplined concentration...

"...but I'm aware that the Eugenians have pointed out to you lot already that the waters your military taskforce are traversing are the traditional fishin' zones of of Eugenian/Weegian/Sacco and Venzetian sustainable fishing collectives. Now the Shiree enjoy a cruise as much as anyone, but you seem to do your holidayin' a little heavy handed right?... a bit overly tooled-up perhaps..."

Capt. Smilies took a sniff of coffee before continuing.."

"...your military presence isn't appreciated in these waters, and while I'm not about to put my vessel in front of a great big hulk like yourn, some of mis amigos out here might well do so. In the spirit of peace, perhaps you'd like to make your way back to where you came from, and if you fancy a sail around Aperin again you'd do well to turn up in a nice yacht instead... ..you might find us a little more welcoming,.. "

Capt. Smilies chuckled as if suddenly remembering a joke...

"..oh yeah, you may have noticed the 'We are carrying Nukes' graffiti on the side of our ship, but I can assure you that as a Shiree scientific research vessel, we offer you no military threat at all...anyway, we'd be interested to hear your intentions, over"...

The communications officer looked questioningly up at his superior, as coarse laughter crackled over the radio before the Shiree Captain broke off the communication.

"Red Tester, Red Tester, Dae ye read me? This is Radio Operator Frazer o' the Weegie Trawler "Vital Spark". Red Tester, Red Tester, dae ye read me?"


LickaBill sipped his coffee lounging in the sparse comfort of the 'Tester's bridge, and opened a channel..

"Hola Frazer, this is LickaBill reading you loud and clear... how can I help. over?"

*tag*

hey, any people's that use "nan" don't deserved to be harrassed.

ooc: looks like the CACE is currently the world's leader in lippy, incompentant sailors. go us.

ooc: Please hold, will post later.

“Roger, Rapier, this is Daisywheel again...”

The boat was skipping over the waves like a kangaroo on a trampoline. Nannette held the handset away from her mouth, looked over to the boy and nodded her head towards the rest of the fishing fleet that was straggled out behind them.

Raising her voice above the engines and the slap of the waves on the hull she called across to him: “Give ‘em the ‘Gone Fishin’ signal.”

The boy left the wheelhouse and scurried to the stern of the boat where he could be seen as clearly as possible. He raised both arms above his head, holding them there long enough to make sure the signal was visible, and then slowly arched them backwards and forwards.

The boats in sight began their turns, dispersing into fishing formation and preparing to deploy their driftnets. All down the line, beyond the horizon, the whole fleet was following suit.

“Roger, Rapier, this is Nan…Message not possible. Daisywheel is a single boat. Not able to scatter.

“And another thing, young man, I don’t take orders from anyone. We don’t have a government and I’ve been too long at sea to take orders from yours.

“Now then, heave-ho or heave-to or heave-over, whatever, and get a ladder over the side of that boat of yours. We’re coming aboard to speak with your captain.”

Nanette paused and ran her tongue over her lips.

“And another thing, tell him to put the bloody kettle on. I’m parched.”

OOC:
*watches with interest.
Nice RP so far. :D

"Aye, guid seein' ye, LickaBill. Well, when us lot get in visual range, at least. We're joinin' the protests, partly in solidarity tae you an' the S&Vers, partly cuz it's oor watter tae. An' when ah say "we", ah don' just mean the scunners aboard on this tub. There's twenny ither ships laggin' behind us to join the protests. We just got sent in front cuz we're the Speedy Gonzalezes o' the Weegie Trawlers, get what ah'm sayin? We were just tae notify ye and the S&Vers as soon as possible. We'll be in visual range in aroon 10 minnits, the rest aroon 10 minnits later. See ye soon. O'er an' oot, LickaBill."

OOC: Errm, Watfordshire: How are you looking at my person? Last time I checked radio doesn't transmit faces. None the less. I will continue. P.S.: Schilling, if you read correctly, is a radar officer, not the communications officer. Good try though. ;)

IC: "Rapier to Red Tester. You are requested to clear a twenty-five nautical mile radius of the battlegroup. Oh, by the way I am not a diplomat, that is not my job. Over." The captain shook his head, their presence there was not well appreciated. But what could they do about it? It was international waters. Twelve miles was the limit for claiming waters.

OOC: Sacco and Vanzetti, you seem to be missing the point about me caring about your vessels. By scatter I mean leave the path of the battlegroup.

IC: "Rapier to Daisywheel, Rapier[ to [/i]Daisywheel[/i]: you are requested to relocate to a twenty-five, repeat two-five- nautical mile radius of the battlegroup. Repeat, you are requested to relocate to a twenty-five, repeat two-five- nautical mile radius of the battlegroup." The communications officer was becoming weary of the fisherman demanding to board the vessel. For some reason they felt that they had a right too. "If you maintain a position within twenty-five nauts you will be given a warning shot. Repeat, warning shot if you do not comply the first time... Over."

Bradbury ignored any request to board the vessel to 'speak with him.' He knew very well what the doctrine was for possibly hostile vessels to come within twenty-five miles. If they attempted to board, they will be shot at. He let his communications officer deal with it though.

Bradbury ignored any request to board the vessel to 'speak with him.' He knew very well what the doctrine was for possibly hostile vessels to come within twenty-five miles. If they attempted to board, they will be shot at. He let his communications officer deal with it though.

ooc: point of information, the horizon ends at 11 miles, and you're going to start firing on ships that are more than twice that far away? you've got some pretty insane rules of engagement.

Bradbury ignored any request to board the vessel to 'speak with him.' He knew very well what the doctrine was for possibly hostile vessels to come within twenty-five miles. If they attempted to board, they will be shot at. He let his communications officer deal with it though.

ooc: point of information, the horizon ends at 11 miles, and you're going to start firing on ships that are more than twice that far away? you've got some pretty insane rules of engagement.

Artillery has the capability of firing over the horizon. :)

[quote="Ruhr"]Artillery has the capability of firing over the horizon./quote]

i know that, but it doesn't change that you've got some pretty unbalanced military planners if 1) fishing boats are hostile and 2) 25 miles is their point of no return.

The western fishing fleet was busy deploying its driftnets. Three miles of nets and bouys were slowly snaking their way through the winches at the stern of each boat, a spiderweb of nets spreading over the horizon. The Hoolies were unlikely to be here in time but at least boats from The Weegies would soon be laying out their nets.

Nan leant against the radio set, shaking her head sadly. Pietrov was a good man on the wheel and the Daisywheel was breasting the waves, despite the swell. They were going to face some pretty lively backwash from those big grey monsters before they could get alongside.

Still, this captain seemed a hignorant sort of fellow, getting the sailorboy to do all his talking for him. It was plain rude and she’d be damned if she was going to let a lily-livered chap who hid behind his crew come a-spoiling their fishing grounds without so much as a debate. It just wasn’t the way things were done.

A mental shrug and she was lifting the handset: “Rapier, Rapier, son, your guns are not valid here. Here, we talk about things sensibly, sometimes a bit heated like, but mostly it’s best that way.

“Now then, fire your warning shot if you like, if that’s your protocol for greeting people you never met before, but we’re coming in.

“I’m not intending to search you for weapons or anything so there’s no rush to be scurrying around hiding stuff and I don’t expect no ceremonial twaddle with white gloves and such, but me and the apprentice are coming in for a chat. Over…

“And out.”

[quote=Ruhr]Artillery has the capability of firing over the horizon./quote]

i know that, but it doesn't change that you've got some pretty unbalanced military planners if 1) fishing boats are hostile and 2) 25 miles is their point of no return.

OOC:
A US CVBG opperates with a slightly larger exclusion zone, in an age of guided missile systems no nation can be to careful with who they call neutral or not, especially after the Cole incident. If a missile were fired at 10-12nm at a ship, it would give the ship little to no time to track, lock, and fire upon the missile. Honestly now, a commander would be unbalanced if he let those ships closer than 25nm or as it seems right now closer than 12nm. In '88 a US Cruiser shot down an Iranian plane because it came within 12nm of the ship and its established security zone.

Of course it is different dependant upon the size of the vessel but here it is for the USN for trawler sized vessels and the like. NVPZ=Naval Vessel Protection Zone, you'll see this accronym pop up a lot.

http://lists.samurai.com/pipermail/trawler-world-list/2002-August/050708.html

"Wey-hey!" shouted two of the crewmen of the Vital Spark, as they unfurled a banner down the side of the trawler saying "We've always preferred the city. We don't like things too Ruhr-al." as they drew up near the boats from Sacco & Vanzetti.

"Set oot the nets, boys." intoned the Captain, Katrina McGurk. "Ye've had yer fun, noo's the hard part. Get tae work."

She drew up her megaphone and started shouting over at the nearest boat, by the look of it probably from Vanzetti, as they drew close enough to see people clearly.

"We're here, and the rest ain't tae far behind. Hoo's a' the crap wi' they battleships goin' on?"

- Double post -

ooc: watching now with interest. Lost it a bit for a while there, but I'm really enjoying this!

--------------------------
Rapier Task Force
--------------------------

Bradbury had other things to worry about aside from the fishing trawlers lining his paths. However, he was getting ridiculously tired. Twenty-hours on duty left him weary and slow. His brain couldn’t function, and as the youngest and lowest ranked officer in the Ruhrian Imperial Navy history to command a carrier battle group, Bradbury needed to sleep. He stood from his post, “I am taking two hours off. Wake me up if anything goes wrong. Commander Silen?” A tall, thin man standing over the active navigational map looked up. “You have the conn.”

Silen smiled, “Aye, Captain!” His enthusiasm was great for the weight burdened on his shoulders. He had to command a battleship, what was often times referred to as the ‘Sword and Soul of the Ruhr’. It was a battleship that ran the blockade back in 1943 that split Japanese invasion forces in segments, that battleship bore the flag of the Ruhr and was the reason for its existence. It was considered the highest honor in the Ruhrian Navy to serve on any of battleship, and it was an even greater personal achievement to command one even for a brief time.

Bradbury’s exit was unnoticed, or perhaps it was just the focus on Silen that made his leave possible. He climbed down the steep stairs and took a right, and right next to the Officers Mess was his luxurious quarters. The rest of the vessel was not furnished as impressively, in fact the Rapier’s actual intent was to become an Admiral’s flagship. He considered himself lucky to be in command of such a vessel. Although at the moment, his thoughts were on his sleep. His legs collapsed as he neared the bed, his black officer’s shirt lying on his oak chair. He fell into the deep sleep he often required when pulling such long hours.

His state of hollow consciousness was disrupted some time afterwards. The first sense to come back was the droning siren that went off in emergency situations. The door to his room opened with a metal click, and an ensign ran into his bedroom. He regained his nervous system as he felt the man’s grasp on his shoulder, tightening and pulling. “Captain! Captain!”

Hearing these familiar yet dreaded words, he jumped from his comfortable bed and got to his feet, ignoring his shirt and running to the CIC. One of the lieutenants saw his entrance and he stood to attention shouting: ‘Captain on Deck!’

His response was cold, “Edes! What’s wrong? What’s our status? Silen, you are relieved!”

Silen was at the communications bulkhead, the red lights still going off. “We went to Red Alert, the Tolkin is sinking! A series of four explosions tore her bow off and she is now listing. We have the frigates moving in to get a hold of her, but I think we might have lost her. She is going under too fast!”
“What the hell went wrong?” He demanded to know as he ordered Silen up to the bridge with him so he can see exactly what was going on. “Why is our carrier sinking?”

“Sir, we don’t know. Nothing in our airspace, none of the subs or surface ships had anything on sonar either! Could have been their reactor going off, could have been a series of explosives set inside the vessel, could be anything.”

”When did this happen?” the captain inquired sternly.

“You were summoned as soon as it blew.” Silen responded sorrowfully, feeling as though he reacted as fast and as best as he could.

They were now at the observation deck looking to starboard. The ship was turning and moving in close now, and he had a clear view of the ship. Three F/A-22 Raptors (VTOL) rolled down the deck and into the water, the vessel’s remaining flight deck was now reaching the waterline. Fires raged across the large vessel’s deck and hanger openings. Life boats surrounded the Munich Class nuclear powered VTOL carrier, each maneuvering to rescue the crew. Every ship closed in to surround the sinking ship, the Rapier would be first to reach it though. “Good god, what the hell happened?” A sailor jumped from the superstructure into the water, even from the distance he could hear the screams from the crewmen and women. “For Christ’s sake,” he exclaimed as he turned to return into the bridge. He picked up the ship’s phone and dialed the CIC. “Continue with rescue operations. We are staying here for a while. Order those fishermen out of the area, but remember this time not to order. Suggest. When you get on the line with Fleet Command, inform me.” His eyes traced the scene: men were running across the deck to help in any way. “Commander Walker Silen, looks like we will be enjoying our stay in Aperin waters.” Bradbury checked his watch, he only got a half hour of sleep. He shook his head as he closed his eyes. This was going to be a long day.


OOC: Now will you guys get away from me?

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