When Will the Sun Rise? (Closed|ATTN, Sondria)

[Deusaeuri]

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Army High Council

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Decleration effective 16 November 2014

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Following this point, it is the official policy of the Loyal Army of Markus Deusaeuri, in cooperation with the Crontorian Armed Forces that in recently ensuing conflicts, neither the Loyal Army nor Crontorian Armed Forces shall act in a directly hostile manner to each other. This declaration shall ratify the decision made properly and enter it in to official policy as Executive Decree 4731. As part of this policy, neither forces shall attack each other and maintain a status of neutrality. This decision is made with the best intentions in mind to preserve the healthy relations of the Dominions of Deusaeuri and the Imperial Federation of Crontor.

Signed,



Typhus Destructos
Grand Marshal of the Loyal Army of the High General Markus Deusaeuri

[The Greater Aryan Race]

Private Residence of the Führer
Reich Chancellery
Germania

The Führer stared out from the glass window in his room across the Wilhelmplatz as the residents of the capital Germania continued their business seemingly oblivious to the fire that was raging to the west in Alkharania. The meeting of the Reich Security and Defense Commission had adjourned earlier, with the members of the Commission rushing back to their workplaces to transmit the new orders of the Führer. Across the country and in nearly every governmental building, the telephones chattered and the teleprinters clicked incessantly as an endless stream of orders were issued recalling the civil servants and bureaucrats of the Reich Government back to their posts, causing many an apparatchik to curse at the unexpected and sudden interruption of his winter holiday plans. In the Wehrmacht, all troop formations were being brought to Readiness State 3, necessitating a call-up of some of the reservist personnel to their units. The AA defences at the Barents Islands were brought up to 75% of combat readiness, in anticipation of any possible outbreak of hostilities.

In any case the GAR, as much as anyone would loath to admit it officially, was already steadily sliding towards war, dragged in turn by an ongoing conflict in Jagisville that threatened to plunge Sondria into it's worse crisis since the Newcastle War.

As the Führer continued to watch the proceedings outside, his mind weary and overcome with exhaustion, Reich Foreign Minister Balck entered his private residence bearing some rather unwelcome news.

"The Sovereign Empire of Gristol-Serkonos has cabled a response to our peace proposal. They have declined, just as Marquesan did, to adopt our conditions and suggestions."

"I also regret to inform you Mein Führer that the Dominions of Deusaeuri have issued an ultimatum to Marquesan demanding reparations from them concerning their actions against Marquesan. I expect the Shogunate to refuse, in which case Deusaeuri will go to war."

The Führer said nothing in response to these happenings, and merely turned away from the window and walked to the leather sofa nearby and sank down into it with a huge sigh. Reich Minister Balck joined him in sitting down as well, expecting a response from the Führer.

"You think we'll have to go to war as well Hermann?"

"I don't know. I hope we don't Mein Führer but the prognosis looks increasingly grim. You know now that with the Triad and the DSA now involved, there's gonna be a drawing of battle-lines across Sondria. Nations will be scrambling to join either side. It'll be rather difficult for us to remain neutral."

"Well...if we went to war, I think it would be more advantageous for us if we happened to stand with Crontor and Marquesan."

"I concur Mein Führer. The Triad Alliance is too overwhelmingly powerful for the likes of Yalos and Mahdah to handle."

"Then do you have anything else for me Hermann?"

"Nothing else Mein Führer."

"Good, keep me updated as to the situation. Otherwise, I wish not to be disturbed for the rest of the day."

"As you wish Mein Führer."

---

KMS Hindenburg
Gerald R. Ford-Class Aircraft Carrier
Force H
En-Route to Alkharania

The KMS Hindenburg continued it's cruise towards the waters of Alkharania, along with the rest of what was now termed Force H. The Hindenburg had initially been stationed further South near Hellas with her sister ship, KMS Ernst Udet, along with their escort vessels. The little armada had initially been conducting a standard maritime patrol around the Sondrian waters, as part of the Reich's efforts to project it's military might on the high seas.

Yet a few hours ago, the Supreme High Command of the Navy (Oberkommando der Marine; OKM) had transmitted a new radio message to Force H, instructing them to change their course northwards. Instead of sailing down towards Marquesan waters, the fleet was now ordered to head up towards the waters around Jagisville and Yalos, for the purpose of monitoring the ongoing conflict that was taking place there.

Force H was a small and minor carrier task-force made up of two aircraft carriers, the Hindenburg and the Ernst Udet, along with four Ticonderoga-Class cruisers, the ships Baden, Königsberg, Blücher and Admiral Hipper, four Arleigh Burke-Class destroyers and several other support and supply ships. It wasn't an extraordinarily large flotilla, but it was perfectly capable of generating immense firepower against any enemy ship.

In command of Force H was Rear-Admiral Marius Stern, a seasoned naval officer who had served with distinction initially in command of the cruiser KMS Admiral Graf Spee in action against Poland, before climbing the ranks of the Kriegsmarine to clinch Rear-Admiral. Although he had never seen much action after that initial baptism of fire, a part of him still longed to experience the thrill and excitement of naval combat. However, he had his orders which were simply to sail towards Jagisville waters to monitor the conflict zone. Under no circumstances, according to the OKM, was he to cross into Yalosii or Mahdavian waters unless permitted to by High Command.

While he scanned the horizons from the bridge of the Hindenburg, Kapitan zur See Christoph Landau was more preoccupied with the navigation of the ship itself.

"How far are we from Alkharanian waters?" he asked his navigation officer.

"We should be able to reach Jagisville in four days, maybe even two if our journey is not interrupted Herr Kapitan"

"Excellent, keep me updated when we reach past the next navigational beacon."

"Jawohl Herr Kapitan."

Leaving the navigation officer to his work, Kapitan Landau headed for the Rear-Admiral to update him as to Force H's current bearings.

"We should be reaching Alkharania in roughly four days Herr Admiral, maybe shorter if we're lucky."

"Excellent Herr Kapitan. It is my intention once we reach Alkharanian waters to restrict ourselves to reconnaissance of all maritime activity in the area. High Command has expressively notified me not to undertake any actions that could endanger this fleet."

"Herr Admiral we're entering a conflict zone where several other navies are currently operating. Would it not be too dangerous to remain in that area? We could very well be exposing ourselves to a possible attack if we're unlucky-"

"I'm perfectly aware of the risks Herr Kapitan. But orders are orders and apparently the OKM wants to know what is going on in that blasted, god-forsaken place. Of course if anything untoward happens, you and the rest of this fleet are authorised to use force to defend yourselves if need be."

"As you say so Herr Admiral."

[Marquesan]

(Image)

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Correspondence from the Department of Foreign Affairs

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Recipient: Ministry of State, The Shogunate of Marquesan
Subject: Cease Operations Belligerent to the Alkharanian Workers Republic
Priority: High

11 King Parkway, Varnheim
Special Capital District
Dominions of Deusaeuri

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Greetings,

It is the formal declaration of the Department of Foreign Affairs, and the nation of Markus Deusaeuri as a whole that allegations against the Alkharanian Workers Republic (henceforth referred to as "Yalos") are unfounded, and the declaration of war against it are highly unnecessary, and an act of barbarism and militaristic imperialism itself.
Hence the Dominions of High General Markus Deusaeuri has requested that the Shogunate of Marquesan immediately renounce it's prior declaration of the entrance to a state of war with Yalos.

As part of this, the Royal Forces at Arms shall cease all military-related activies within five hundred kilometers (500 km) of The Dominions of Deusaeuri and the Alkharanian Workers Republic.

In addition to this, the Shogunate shall cede two hundred million NationStates Dollars (200,000,000 NSD) in restitution. One hundred fifty million NationStates Dollars (150,000,000 NSD) shall be contributed to the Alkharanian Worker's Republic, while fifty million NationStates Dollars (50,000,000 NSD) shall be contributed to The Dominions of High General Markus Deusaeuri.

Failure to comply with these requests shall result in action by the Dominions against Marquesan.

With Regards,

(Image)

Micael Cassius
Director of Foreign Affairs

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The Royal Policy Institute, Ministry of State.

• 18 Rue Lumière, Fatu Hiva, Préfecture Remire, îles Marquises.

• (+65) 1 22 57 66 32 90 • affairesdletat.min.mqs

• Dr. Claude Chalier, Minister.

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OFFICIAL CORRESPONDENCE.
From the Office of the Shōgun, Palace of the Ocean Throne,
La Citadelle Des Etoiles, Nuku Hiva, îles Marquises.

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• To: The Dominions of Deusaeuri.
• Importance: High.
• Subject: RE: Your ultimatum.
• Encoding: Encrypted, Secure.

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To Director Markus Deusaeuri.

We believe the Director savors too much of his youth. You cannot so easily revel your way into a victory against the righteous might of the Shogunate and her allies who, in great strength, press upon you and your dear friends the Yalosii. We do, however, believe that a diplomatic solution may still be found and, therefore, I have elected to send you this ton of treasure as temper for your youthful spirit, which you may find delivered with this message. In so doing, let The Marquesas hear no more of you.


With gravity,

Varnheim, Dominion of Deusaeuri.
Capitol Building Steps. Time: 0755 Hours.

A large flatbed truck pulled up on the road passing by the capitol steps, bearing the Sondrian Airborne Express logo on the truck. Carrying a large shipping container, it parked and began lowering the bed with its attached container to ground level. Once the container was on the ground, the driver stepped out, walked over to the container's doors and swung them open. What spilled out onto the cool, early morning streets of Varnheim was roughly 17,000 bright green, brand new tennis balls, timed to be delivered just moments after the diplomatic communique was confirmed as arrived in the hands of the Director.

[Havensky]

Havensky Republican Airship Rising Hope (HCZ-1)
Havesnky Humanitarian Airship Fleet
Outside Sondrian Airspace Border

The skies above Sondria were a sea of white puffy clouds broken up only by the white arrow shaped hulls of Skyan Humanitarian Airships. Three airborne hospitals, twelve search and rescue cutters, twelve aid supply airships, a heavy escort cruiser, and led by the airship carrier Rising Hope. Their hulls painted white with large medical markings to showcase their humanitarian nature.

On the bridge of the Rising Hope, Admiral Mohammad Moonwing stood next to the CiC console as information on the conflict below came streaming onto the glass board. The bridge was a cacophony of sounds, voices, and aircraft noise as the group prepared to enter Sondrian airspace. Crewmen in white uniforms with red trimming ran through checklists and poured over maps on their glass tablets. The large glass viewports of the airships were overlaid with incoming data on air traffic, weather, and troop movements.

Mohammad Moonwing was a Skyan Oathkeeper. In other countries, he'd probably be considered a Muslim Chaplin, but in Havensky Oathkeepers were usually granted more duties than just a Chaplin. They served as diplomats, counselors, and humanitarian aid workers. As news of the conflict had broken out across the globe and scenes of refugees pouring out of the country began to flash across living rooms throughout the Skybound Republic - it was decided by the Skyan High Council to deploy the Humanitarian Fleet and offer diplomatic assistance. Not only would this help the people hit hardest by the conflict, but it would also help establish better ties with the region.

Moonwing knew it wouldn't be the easiest of tasks. Like Gholgoth, several nations in this region didn't take kindly to foreigners. Additionally, there was an immense amount of military movement. And there was also the issue of Yalos killing in the name of Allah.

Havensky wasn't a religious nation and the population identifying as Islamic was only a minority. That being said, Moonwing took it somewhat personally when nations used the faith in this way. Moonwing was a man of peace.

Tall and slender with a beard showing many specks of grey, Moonwing looked almost grandfatherly if not for the military style uniform he wore. Small gold badges depicting a crescent and star were pinned to it's high collar rather than the traditional rank. Moonwing wore small thin framed glasses and spoke softly most of the time. His thoughts on the conflict were interrupted by a young ensign calling out.

Fifty kilometers from the border...fleet moving to full stop...shall I hail them Admiral?

Moonwing nodded, Yes, Ensign... go ahead with the communication. Let's ring the doorbell."

To the People of Region of Sondia,

We regret to bear witness to the violence in the Republic of Jagisville, the needless deaths of civilians, and the ever increasing refugee crisis that has resulted from the current state of conflict. We believe - as we hope you do - that a peaceful solution may be found that will see the end of the conflict. We recognize that transgressions may have occurred, but encourage the start of peace talks to find a peaceful solution. We understand this may be a long process.

Of more immediate concern is the flood of refugees to nations bordering Jagisville. We therefore offer the following: We shall provide the services of the Havensky Humanitarian Fleet to set up refugee camps and field hospitals to treat wounded civilians. In addition, we offer the services of Admiral and Oathkeeper Mohammad Moonwing as our Special Envoy to the Region.

Our Humanitarian Airship Fleet is now sitting just outside your airspace and can begin to provide assistance within a few hours.

With best regards - on behalf and the behest of the People of Havensky,

Prime Minister ,
Skybound Republic of Havensky

Message sent Admiral

Thank you Ensign.

Not spoken was the condemnation that the Skyan government wanted to give to those killing and butchering civilians in the name of God. However, Moonwing had wanted to see if he could at least open the door for peace talks and the condemnation wouldn't help with that regard. They'd see how they responded to the call for peace talks before moving on to the next phase.

[Yalos]

The Plains of Jagis, Enroute to Muhlgrib
Sondria, Alkharania, Jagis

Jean-Louis somberly observed his own face in the clear rippling waters of great Jagite streams that stretched off into infinity so that nobody could tell how or where they began or ended. His visage, once handsome and somewhat tanned was now grimy and disgusting, covered with his own excretions, soil, leaves and cracking, dried stains of blood and scarred, with a particularly nasty gash down the left side of his youthful face. His brownish black-hair and creamy black eyes were complemented by the soil that he couldn’t quite wash off his nose, and his muscles, once objects of his vain pride, trophies of his many hours in the gym, were merely aching reminders of what he had endured.

He shook his head, cupped the water into his hands, and tried again to wash it all off, grime and soot and blood. It was funny--Angela and her husband, Don, were off searching for wood to start a fire, and here we was, like always, pampering himself. In the end, however, he blood wouldn’t come off, and Jean was forced to simply rest on his back, the front side of his shirt wet, slowly sinking into the soils of the plans of Jagis, and for a few moments, believed and wished that we was going to simply die there, alone and peaceful, in the warm sun, by himself...

“Mr Jean,” Jean-Louis was snapped out of his day-dream as Melanie ran over to him, hiding something in cupped fingers. “Mr. Jean, I have a present for you,” Melanie giggled, her stunning blue eyes twinkling in the sun. She almost reminded him of his sister, Jane--Jean shook his head. Best not to think about such things.

“Oh hey, Annie,” he waved somewhat tiredly. He had taken to calling her Annie, because he didn’t feel like pronouncing her full name out. She hadn’t really minded, and in fact, adored the name. In fact, the last three hours in the truck had mainly featured Melanie singing her newly appointed name, which might have been annoying had it been during peacetime. However, in the duress of the genocide, Jean-Louis found her innocence to be rather amusing and sincere if anything else, and admired it greatly. “What is it?”

“I don’t know,” she giggled, presenting him a small bullet. “But it’s really shiny. See?” Jean cautiously took the bullet from her fingers, and stared at it. It was caked with blood, like his face was, and had been somewhat molded and deformed, probably in impact with a target. Heck, it had probably been used to kill a man. But Melanie neither understood nor cared, and she grabbed to bullet back, gaping at it like some rare doll or toy. And Jean was about to confiscate the bullet, but after a few moment’s contemplation, decided against it. It would be best, he agreed, not to despoil her fun and childhood. She could keep it, a toy to her, perhaps.

* * *

Suddenly, a shot rang out in the distance, and Angela could be heard screaming. Jean leapt to his feet instantly, and Melanie was petrified. The father, who Jean had later found to be named Don, could be heard cursing, loudly, in the line of trees, where several more shots rang out. Angela’s screams ceased and Don’s angry yells were silenced with yet another shot. Jean his eyes bulging with fear, bent over to Melanie to give her some quick instructions.

“Hide in the tall grasses, and don’t move until I come to get you, okay?” he whispered in a sense of urgency. “Just don’t make a sound, okay?”

Melanie nodded twice, frozen in all save her eyes, which blinked rapidly, tears pouring down the sides of her nose, and Jean patted her once on the head.

He fell to his hands and knees, and crawled, despite his roaring muscles, towards the treeline, pushing, willing himself to continue as his heart stabbed him, again and again, in the pain of the exertion, and he had to pause for a few moments before carrying on. There was no time for rest, not now, not when danger presented itself. His knees were torn and his shoulders were going to curse him in the future, but there wasn’t the time to consider that now.

He could see three Yalosii soldiers on the treeline, with Angela’s body intact, save the entirety of her head, which lay in sizable chunks in a pool of viscous red stew. One of the soldiers had undone her pants and Jean closed his eyes, unable to comprehend the inhumanity of such necrophilia and violation. Someday, he swore, Jesus would strike down these Islamic heathens. He felt disgusted and felt last night’s dinner on the verge of fleeing his mouth in terror, but he held it in, and scouted for Don...who dangled, suspended from a tree, where the Yalosii soldiers, young and arrogant, took turns whipping cruel gashes in his back.

“That was a big cut! Let me try!” Jean couldn’t help but overhear their twisted conversation. How was it possible for people to be this incredibly messed up?

And while Jean didn’t know it, it had been the existence of people like him, nobles and dukes, that drove these beasts into horrible savagery--years of squalid conditions in caves and serfdom had hardened their souls to the plight of the fellow man, and their convictions in the ideals of the revolution were augmented by their burning hatred of the men who had enacted the same torture upon themselves some twenty-odd years past. It is a universal truth that repression breeds monstrosities.

“Oh fuck,” Jean breathed. He attempted to crawl back and got a few yards, before one of the soldiers raised the alarm.

“Over there! Somebody moving-”

Before anything could be done, Jean bolted up and sprinted towards Melanie--and the edge of the cascading stream. The soldiers gave pursuit, luckily, low on ammunition, and relying on their bayonets and groping for cartridges in their pouches. Melanie screamed, but Jean grabbed her by the collar and, without thinking, flung her, along with himself, into the endless waters, where his head met a kindly rock, and for the second day in a row, he knew no more. The last sounds he remembered were those of Melanie screaming, and grabbing on to his arm. And Jean fell into the black sleep once again.

[Marquesan]

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Suggested Listening.

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S'ua Chiito, Yalos,
Alkharania, Sondria.
Sunrise.

A morning like any other, hazy and cold dawned on S'ua Chiito. A manufacturing and distribution hub in the beating heart of Yalos, recent orders by the nation's government had called millions of troops into the city, so its population had boomed. Just before sunset, a passing satellite had captured an image of S'ua Chiito under a cloudless sky with its streets choked by tactical vehicle traffic, and it was on this information that it had been chosen as a high priority target.

During the morning, forty Type-115 Anubis class arsenal ships had launched a missile strike of epic proportions; each ship had rippled off three hundred "Summanus" missiles, which now were screaming out of the hazy, pink/orange sky, dull with the brown smog of manufacturing plants and diesel car exhaust. At their terminal velocity, the Type-1610 missiles were entering S'ua Chiito's airspace at fifteen and a half times the speed of sound, their nosecones glowing white hot.

Twelve thousand missiles came out of the morning sky that day, in a continuous bombardment like the apocalypse itself raining hellfire and brimstone down on the city. Here, the hammer would fall the hardest, each missile's Type-2 Splinter Warheads separating only seconds before impact, spreading out the damage into a catastrophic, deafening cacaphony of explosions that would rend the earth and heave buildings. The bombardment went on for nearly an hour; the missiles concentrated on industrial targets such as power or water purification facilities, communications buildings, military targets of any kind, factories or distribution centers, runways, highway intersections, railway depots, fuel storage facilities, ammunition depots and of course barracks and hotels likely to be housing enemy troops.

By the end of the bombardment, no building taller than two levels would remain untargeted, no two roads intersected where the intersection had not been torn apart. When a missile hit, each warhead splinter carried two and a half gigajoules of energy, enough to penetrate into the earth and shatter water and natural gas lines. Fires erupted all over the city, even in places where the missiles didn't hit. In moments, the city's power and running water was completely knocked out, making firefighting efforts simply impossible. Every road into or out of the city was knocked out and the city's Air Traffic Control towers and communications centers including TV and radio stations had been knocked out. In an hour, S'ua Chiito had dropped off the face of the map, its building crumbling under the weight of a bombardment that, with every missile, brought a shattering sonic boom along with the awful sound of its warheads detonating, raining death at every turn.

When the last missile had fallen and the sky stopped raining smoking, screaming death onto the city, what remained below was no longer a city. Rubble covered everything, raw sewage flowed through the streets unchecked and fires raged skyward in every direction. A pall of black smoke was beginning to curl around itself above the city, twisting tighter and tighter as convective winds joined together from the superheated fires that raged below. Soon, fiery tornadoes began to spiral down into the city, fanned by the flames of the destruction wrought upon S'ua Chiito, a city that had been chosen as an exemplar; a sacrifice to atone for the sins of the Yalosii army.

[Deusaeuri]

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Correspondence from the Department of Foreign Affairs

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Recipient: Ministry of State, The Shogunate of Marquesan
Subject: Reply
Priority: Low

11 King Parkway, Varnheim
Special Capital District
Dominions of Deusaeuri

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Greetings,

It has recently come to the attention of the Department of Foreign Affairs the reply made by Akane Hyuga. While we were originally suspect that the vandalism made on the streets on Varnheim was correlated with the suggestion made by Akane Hyuga, we are happy to admit that Marquesan's reply and the event are not related. This was made on the basis that it could not be done, as Akane Hyuga has no balls to deliver to us.

With Regards,



Micael Cassius
Director of Foreign Affairs

[Crontor]

Sondria;
Hellas;
Imperial Federation of Crontor;
Crontor Administrative District;
Callion Province;
Relcovado Air Force Base:

Suggested Listening

Sitting in the mountainous backcountry of the Imperial Federation, Relcovado was a medium sized city scattered about the rolling hills and valleys. Citizens here enjoyed the tranquil atmosphere, far from the bustle of coastal cities such as Vienna or military hubs such as Rock City or Echeron. The people of Relcovado awoke each day to peace and tranquility, pledged allegiance to the Crontorian flag, and went about their day in the crisp mountain air and snow capped peaks. Ironically enough, the remote location was the first target of any nuclear strike launched by a nation with even semi-competent intelligence.

A few kilometers outside of the city of Relcovado and its surrounding suburbs was Relcovado Air Force Base. Every major city in the Imperial Federation was sure to have some manner of CAF installation nearby and Relcovado was no different. The movements of aircraft into and out of the base was commonplace to inhabitants of the city. What was unique about Relcovado AFB was that for a base spanning hundreds of square kilometers, it was home to only a handful of combat units and all of those were part of the Crontorian Air Assault Force. Aside from these Air Wings, every other unit at Relvocado AFB reported not to Central Command, but to Strategic Missile Command. Likewise, every unit within Strategic Missile Command reported to Relcovado AFB.

For decades, the unassuming base had been the headquarters of the Imperial Federation’s nuclear forces operating under Strategic Missile Command or STRATMISCOM. The base was mostly underground, dup deep into mountains to shield the nation’s nuclear command infrastructure from a preemptive strike and retain the ability to strike back with an equal or superior force. At Relcovado AFB were nine Missile Wings, each responsible for hundreds of nuclear tipped intercontinental ballistic missiles spread out in silos around the base. But aside from its striking power, STRATMISCOM played another important role for the CAF.

As a hub for the nation’s nuclear forces, Relcovado AFB sat at the center of a region wide intelligence network which was responsible for tracking and targeting of potential and real threats across Sondria. Combining land based, air based, and sea based radars, the CAF through STRATMISCOM had established an unparalleled unblinking eye that served as a constant watchman of all activity taking place around the region. Coastal Radar Stations, manned by STRATMISCOM personnel, lined the Crontorian coasts and occupied its foreign bases. Patrol flights of AWACs prowled international airspace and sea based X-Band radars occupied international sea lanes. What had started as an effort to track incoming ballistic missiles had transformed into an intelligence collection effort that rivaled anything that the Central Intelligence Service could produce. It only made sense that STRATMISCOM answered to Joint Military Intelligence Operations Command and not any other Joint Civilian Operations Command.

Sondrian operations dominated the time and energy of STRATMISCOM, tracking everything as mundane as passenger aircraft and commercial vessels to the very real threat of foreign missile tests or satellite launches. Long ago, however, the Imperial Federation had learned the value of looking outwards to threats beyond its immediate neighbors. The result was the reshuffling of considerable assets to watch the boundaries of Sondria. Foreign traffic was monitored and shadowed by available naval or air assets and if determined to be a threat, acted upon with extreme prejudice.

This investment had seemingly paid off as X-Band Twenty had detected a sizable fleet of airships bearing south towards Sondrian waters. The crew of the X-Band quickly relayed their message to Relcovado AFB where analysts began pouring over the incoming data. A message relayed from the Ministry of State, supposedly from the incoming fleet, had identified the fleet as that of a nation known as Havensky. Further communications with the Ministry of State and consultation with the Central Intelligence Service confirmed that said nation was one about the Imperial Federation knew little and had never had contact with.

Although claiming benign intentions, the lack of a history with the Imperial Federation made most uneasy to potential cooperation with these foreigners. Western Command was notified and immediately dispatched a trio of Crontorian Combat Fleets from their combat patrols off Fort Resolve in Erjunhuf to head off the approaching fleet. These fleets, already placed at a heightened level of alertness due to the war now raging on Alkharania, were told to prepare for combat should the foreigners attempt to evade the fleets and enter Crontorian airspace. With fleets moving to intercept, the Ministry of State dispatched a formal response.

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Sender: Crontorian Ministry of State
Receiver: Havensky
Encryption: Medium
Subject: Offer of Aid

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The Imperial Federation is fully capable of handling the refugee crisis now erupting across the continent of Alkharania. We appreciate your concern, but can assure you that Crontorian officials and the Crontorian Armed Forces are fully capable of assisting, feeding, and housing the current flow of refugees. There is no need for further outside assistance, which would only serve to complicate and hinder current efforts to assist needy populations.

Furthermore, it should be noted that any attempts to enter Jagis or its airspace or the borders of the Imperial Federation will be met with force. At the present, elements of our Northern Command are heading to escort your fleet away from Sondrian borders. The situation in Jagis is well under control thanks to the selfless efforts of the Imperial Federation. Your assistance is not wanted nor required, while the offer is still appreciated.

Alan Suderity
Ministry of State

Sondria;
Alkharania;
Free Jagis;
Wegstrabe:

Suggested Listening

Before the war, the city of Wegstrabe had been a sleepy farming city, home to hundreds of thousands of inhabitants, but largely isolated from the rest of Jagis. Compared to the nation of metropolises not too far west, the city of Wegstrabe was just another isolated backwater in a nation known ironically for being a backwater. But with the outbreak of the war, the invasion of the Yalosii, and the atrocities committed by the invading force, it was the quiet nature of Wegstrabe that made it so appealing to the millions and millions of Jagites now moving west away from certain death. The apparent collapse of the Jagite National Guard had hastened that movement, with some reports of entire towns and villages in the east of the country packing up together and leaving in massive convoys of scared Jagites.

Lacking confidence in the Jagite National Guard, the Imperial Federation had predicted from early on that there would be a pressing need for relief supplies and other aid to deal with the refugee problem. After the declaration of a safe zone, that need was assured and the Imperial Federation had immediately gone to work establishing the first of what would be many refugee camps across western Jagis. At Wegstrabe, the deployment of the 98th, 99th, and 100th Combat Support Regiments had been in order to lay the groundwork for the rush of Jagites. Tents were constructed, latrines dug, helicopter landing zones established, land cleared, all with haste as Crontorian bulldozers and work vehicles went about establishing an encampment. Luckily for the Imperial Federation, once they had announced their intentions, the local government had been happy to help, opening up public buildings to the anticipated onrush.

While the CAF laid the cornerstone, it fell to the Ministry of State Security and the Ministry of State to run the camps and deliver aid to the needy populations. The Federal Emergency Response Agency in Vrontor and across the rest of the Imperial Federation began a process of stockpiling relief supplies, flying in supplies from stockpiles across the nation to Jole which was then packed onto FERA aid trucks and trains taken to cities near the border such as Ablefield, Ahto, Rhysarum, and Elsium. From supply depots established at military facilities in these cities, aid was then directed to the camps springing up around Wegstrabe by truck, helicopter, or aircraft. Now directing traffic was the Ministry of State, specifically the Federal International Service Corps (FISC) which was in the process of deploying aid workers to work alongside the Federal International Development Agency (FIDA) and the State Logistics Division (SLD), both of which were integral to the stockpiling of all manner of relief supplies and transport of said supplies. A plethora of aircraft belonging to the SLD had been diverted to Vrontor in order to begin flying missions into Jagis.

Sondria;
Alkharania;
Free Jagis;
Eslekro:

Suggested Listening

The first units to enter the city of Eslekro were Leopard 2A7 Main Battle tanks of the 381st Guard Army, leading a long convoy of armored vehicles and transports into the heard of one of the largest cities in Jagis. As the lead tanks entered Eslekro, they found a city that had yet to be touched by the conflict. Unlike so many cities in the east, the streets were clean, devoid of rotting bodies, and the horizon was clear of smoke. But there was no guarantee that it would remain this way. Even as the jubilant Crontorians advanced with soldiers sitting atop of tanks and vehicles waving to the crowds, they got the sense that this population was already scarred. Despite their avoidance of conflict thus far, their faces conveyed a sense of worry and despair that could only be found amongst populations that had witnessed true horrors.

Eslekro was the easternmost city that the CAF had occupied within Jagis, thereby extending the promised safe zone to refugees and the inhabitants of the citizens of the city. In order to establish a solid defensive line, the 49th and 50th Guard Artillery Regiments began fortifying their guns on hilltops east of Eslekro. They were joined by the 381st and 382nd Guard Armies which passed straight through Eslekro and began establishing a forward operating base east of the city. While they established camp, the CAF looked to the skies, tuning their radars and observation equipment to the possible lines of Yalosii attack. The further east they traveled, the greater risk of encountering the Yalosii. An encounter would surely lead to conflict.

With the arrival of the 408th Guard Army, 409th Guard Army, 43rd Guard Artillery Regiment, and the 46th Guards Mobile Artillery Regiment, the Crontorian force at Eslekro had more than doubled in size. Under the command of NORESCOM, newly christened Army Group South had been ordered by Supreme Command Crogden to hold Eslekro. While the 43rd, 49th, and 50th Guard Artillery Regiments were to stay behind in Eslekro, the 408th and 409th Guard Armies along with the 46th Guards Mobile Artillery Regiment were ordered even further south to take the city of Lindstab.

To the north, having reached Begebiet, Army Group Center consisting of the 412th, 413th, 414th, 415th, and 406th Guard Armies as well as the 42nd Guard Artillery Regiment. The 42nd Guard Artillery Regiment was ordered to stay in Begebiet and await reinforcements with the 406th Field Army. While establishing defensive positions in Begebiet, the 412th and 413th Guard Armies set off towards Johanis and the 414th and 415th Guard Armies directed to Seulbitzer. Should the CAF manage to bring both sicites under control, it would stand a better chance at halting the atrocities being committed across Jagis. Then again, there was an underlying motive to the Crontorian advance.

In cities across the west of Jagis now under the control of the Imperial Federation, local flags were being replaced with the orange and blue of the Crontorian flag. Wegstrabe was the first city to watch as the flagpoles in its city square had their banners replaced. The cited reason from the Ministry of State, answering to city officials was that the flags were necessary to extend the safe zone to refugees. Surely no one would bomb a city flying a Crontorian flag. Further questions were asked when the Ministry of State that they were appointing officials from the Federal International Service Corps to oversee city affairs and the relief effort, but by that point the Ministry of State was no longer answering questions.

The city of Kreuz shortly found itself under Crontorian control as the 401st, 402nd, and 403rd Guard Armies deployed from Fort Worch rolled into the city with no resistance. A similar advance saw the 396th, 397th, 398th, and 399th Guard Armies from Fort Hyserium take the coastal city of Gewerberg. Both cities followed the fate of Wegstrabe as the entrance of Crontorian forces was followed by the removal of local flags and the appointment of FISC officials to begin what the Crontorians announced to the populace were relief efforts. With this capture, allied forces now controlled the northern coast of the country, opening a corridor for relief and possibly reinforcements. These reinforcements were coming by the millions. Around Fort Aro Tel, the CAF was assembling a task force to assist the forces of Gristol-Serkonos now operating around the city of Wilchens. From Fort Worch and Hyserium, added to the forces stationed at Fort Aro Tel, the 216th through 240th Field Armies totaling over 1.6 million personnel, were getting ready to march east. These were part of a mass of units moving east, as tens of millions of CAF personnel mobilized for combat. Yalos might have been hurting from the isolated strikes from the Shogunate, but they had yet to feel real pain.

Sondria;
Anchli Isles;
Anchli Administrative District;
Barrington Island Naval Base:

Suggested Listening

Amid the churning waters of the great Orange Sea, the traditional stomping ground of the Imperial Federation and its past incarnations sat the Anchli Isles, arguably the jewel of the Crontorian crown. Long a possession of the Imperial Federation, the Anchli had been colonized hundreds of years ago by Crontorian explorers that had carved out new lives on these tropical islands. Through the centuries, the Anchli had grown from isolated farming villages to industrialized islands home to hundreds of millions of Crontorians. A wildly popular vacation spot and center of luxury goods, the Anchli Isles were a fiercly guarded territory and jealously coveted by other regional powers.

Hundreds of islands made up the chain encompassing a plethora of terrains, climates, and populations. Some of the islands were completely devoid of civilian populations, set aside as natural preserves. Then again, many more had been delegated for use by the Crontorian Armed Forces. For many years, the atolls and isolated islands had been used to test nuclear weapons. To this day, the CAF made great use of the isolated nature of these claims to test new weapons or practice naval maneuvers. As would be expected, the Anchli Isles and the oceans that surrounded it were some of the most ruthlessly patrolled in all of Sondria.

Near the eastern edge of Crontorian control, Barrington Island Naval Base was one of the easternmost military facilities still contained within Crontorian territory. Devoid of a civilian population, the island was instead home to airfields, docks, and enough infrastructure to rival anything on the mainland. Usually the home base of a handful of air units and a pair of fleets, Barrington Island Naval Base was seeing a surge in activity as Eastern Command fleets from across the Anchli Isles had been deployed around the island. At a near rhythmic pace, transport aircraft were touching down across the islands airfields, ferrying troops, vehicles, and supplies to begin stockpiling an expeditionary force. Soon to be sitting off the island were fifteen Crontorian Combat Fleets, six Expeditionary Strike Groups, and ten Resupply and Support Fleets, the latter able to ferry the combined forces of twenty Field Armies to enemy shores.

These forces composed a sizable portion of the planned expeditionary force, but nevertheless, only a portion. Now assembling south of Fort Celfu was the second arm of the expeditionary group. From across the southern coast of Vrontor, nineteen Crontorian Combat Fleets, three Expeditionary Strike Groups, and another ten Resupply and Support Fleets. While the Field Armies were loaded onto the RSFs, the naval forces prepared to get underway towards their rendezvous point with the forces around Barrington Island. Their combined force, thirty four Crontorian Combat Fleets, nine Expeditionary Strike Groups, twenty Resupply and Support Fleets, and forty Field Armies, were to form the tip of a growing spear. God help anyone in its path.

Crontorian Broadcasting Company

“The Premiere News Source for the Imperial Federation Since 1945!”

Imperial Federation Calls for Peace Talks; SRC Action

Soldiers of the 99th Guard Combat Support Regiment deliver relief supplies in Western Jagis

Sondrian Regional Council, Sondrian Capital Islands- Speaking before the Sondrian Regional Council earlier today, Representative Gavin Cranico, ambassador from the Imperial Federation of Crontor, echoed growing regional sentiment for a peaceful solution to the raging war on the continent of Alkharania. Following the Yalosii invasion of the nation of Jagis, the region has jumped to the aid of either nation, setting the stage for a conflict far surpassing the devastation wrought by the Newcastle War. Citing previous calls for peace, Ambassador Cranico made his own plea, calling for all involved parties to come to talks in the Sondrian Capital Islands for an impartial SRC commission to work out a peace deal. Many critics doubt that the request will be respected by any nations in the region aside from those that have already called for peace, but praise Cranico for his attempt.

The situation on the ground in Jagis continues to deteriorate. According to the Crontorian Ministry of State, the Federal International Service Corps (FISC) and Federal International Development Agency (FIDA) were already beginning to receiving the first waves of refugees in camps established in western Jagis. Jagis has been defined by the Ministry of State as two separate spheres, Free Jagis, represented by the extent of Crontorian control and contested Jagis, land presently under threat or occupation by hostile elements. Coordinating with Marquesan and Gristol-Serkonan elements, the Imperial Federation has managed to carve out a sizable portion of the country that has been declared safe for Jagite populations.

But Ambassador Cranico stressed earlier today that these efforts were not enough, saying that, “All of Jagis should remain free from oppression, tyranny, and injustice. The people of Jagis deserve to return to their homes without the fear of death, without the worry of persecution, and without the realities of war. We cannot sit idly by and allow these atrocities to continue. The Sondrian Regional Council must act now, or we will be washing our hands with the blood of millions. This is not a genocide in a far forgotten land. These people are being slaughtered on the doorstep of the Imperial Federation and while we will not stand idly by, we implore the region to come to the aid of the Jagites.

Reporting directly to the Sondrian Regional Council, the Sondrian Peace Organization, an arm of the SRC tracking conflict across the region, has reported numerous events of ethnic cleansing and the presence of terrorist elements linked to Al Hafa. These reports have been verified by the Ministry of State and stressed by Cranico in his speech, who showed the assembled delegates satellite imagery of piles of bodies stacked in some Jagite villages. Despite the mass deployment of Crontorian troops, with the Imperial Congress considering a formal declaration of war, the Yalosii forces seem undeterred in their march towards Jagisville.

So far, the Imperial Federation has yet to fire a shot against enemy forces nor has it openly challenged Yalosii forces. This has drawn a mix of commendation and criticism. Many have praised the Crontorian effort thusfar which has been seen as a measured response focusing on helping Jagite populations affected by the war while others have called upon the Carter Administration to pursue the Yalosii far more aggressively. The Carter Administration has thus far denied commentary on this matter, referring the press to statements issued by the Ministry of State and Ministry of Defense on the course of the conflict.

“Mediation and reconciliation is vital,” added Cranico, “and if at all possible, SDF peacekeepers on the ground. This is not a Crontorian or Jagite problem. This is a Sondrian one and it needs a Sondrian solution.”

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This post is a work in progress.

[Mahdah]

Approaching North of the Arietale Islands, Alkharania

On the approach towards the Arietale Islands was the combined forces of the 5th Command Fleet and the 7th Command Fleet. It had been confirmed that their was a Marquesan naval presence just south of the Islands and a threat to the operations of the 4th Command Fleet within Yalosi waters. The orders of both Command Fleet's would be to fire only when fired upon or when ordered to as they would wait it out north of the Islands to keep an eye on their Marquesan counterparts to the south. Along side this deployment was the moving of the 6th and 4th Command Fleets to the Pozan Islands for possible future deployment into the combat theatre. Thus meaning that the reserve Command Fleets based in the port of Augustupolis the former capital were now being activated.

These reserve Command Fleets which were the 13th, 15th and 20th were all given orders to be prepared to be deployed for combat operations. They would be reinforcements in the case the first engagement of the war needed them.

The Gulf of Alkharania, Mahdah.

With the activation of the reserve command fleets it was suggested that a more easier way to ferry troops into Yalos would be to move across the Gulf and into unoccupied land that laid east of Yalos. The reserve fleets would work in unison to ferry the 6th and 10th Field Armies to the unoccupied land as a staging ground before heading into Yalos proper its self and then possibly further on into Jagisville. It had also been theorized that if Jagisville fell before Mahdavian ground forces could get into the fray, they would move to set up positions in Yalos Proper and await confrontation from Triad forces.

Mahdavian LY908 Warhawk flying above Yalos.
Mahdavian SRC Delegate to attend conference of possible peace talks, expectations of war still high within Mahdah.

On the brink of Region-wide war the Second Imperial Emirate agrees to attend SRC Confrence.
Khan Abdu
Reporter

Inisil, Mahdah At least a week ago had it been announced that the Alkharanian Worker's party of Yalos invaded the small nation of Jagisville. The obvious evidence of the barbaric treatment and killing of Jagis civilians in Yalosi controlled Jagisville territory forced the hand of the Shogunate and The Sovereign Empire to declare war on Yalos its self. The Second Imperial Emirate immediately mobilized forces to come to the aid of Yalos which knew it could not hold back the Triad by themselves. Mahdah's goals are apparent with it's involvement in the conflict between the Triad and Yalos, it considers Yalos a buffer state against the Crontorian territory of Vrontor and also a nation that shares similar ideas with the Second Imperial Emirate. With the encroachment of the Imperial Federation with it's taking of the land in Alkharania now known as Vrontor years ago, the Second Imperial Emirate had decided to mold Yalos into it's buffer state.

Now with regional wide war on the brink of occurring and the Second Imperial Emirate's buffer state now at war with the Triad with obvious Human rights offenses occurring through blatant genocide and ethnic cleansing. The Second Imperial Emirate had released a statement through it's own Emperor that they do not at all support the Yalosi sponsored genocide and war crimes it has been committing in Jagisville and also swore not to follow their path at all. In another statement it also said their SRC delegate was heading to the Sondrian Regional Council Headquarters to hear out the conference that the Imperial Federation had called to for a possible mediation of the conflict.

[Yalos]

The Alkharanian Worker's Palace
Sondria, Alkharania, Yalos, Ju'tozzo

Selos gripped the table. He was not feeling well—not feeling well at all. He’d woken up this morning with a terrible sense of dread, which was later reciprocated with the news of the past night. Hundreds of thousands of Yalosii soldiers dead, the nation’s military infrastructure all but crippled and the Red Guard barely maintaining order amongst the enlisted soldiers—and even that was only through mass shootings of deserters. Selos’ eyes bulged and he collapsed off the table, his face smashing against the floor as blood began to drip out from the cut near his eye, and he whimpered. Long gone was the optimism of two days ago.

And now, the Partisans were getting uppity, launching bolder and ambitious strikes, devastating Selos’ beloved army. His fleet of tanks, his powerful army, his feeling of invulnerability and power—all were slipping from his fingers. And the first time since he had to abandon Eyuka twelve years ago, he felt a strange sense of emptiness, as if he was no longer in control. His plans were collapsing, he was running out of ideas, and something needed to be done—fast. Pulling himself off the ground, Selos, in a stroke of inspiration, reached for his phone in desperation and agony.

In all, he just needed to buy time to come up with some kind of solution.

“Agree to it.” He croaked. “Just agree to it. I don’t care.”

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Selos Agrees to Discuss Peace
The Reclusive Dictator Is Out of Options, Claims He Played No Role in Genocides.

Neimio Sakkassa
Yalosii Expert and Ju’tozzo based correspondent

Ju’tozzo, Yalos Today, in a rare bout of vulnerability, the idiosyncratic and mysterious authoritarian figure behind the great Alkharanian Worker’s Union, Selos Manikato, has announced his full support for a peace proposal to take place in the Sondrian Regional Council. Since his rise to power, ten years ago, the man has been responsible for nearly a billion deaths—amongst the most vicious genocidal programs in Sondrian history.

Numerous Marquesite air raids crippled the Yalosii ability to wage war last night, all but annihilating the populace of S’ua Chiito, with only a few hundred thousand survivors out of a population of several millions. While most analysts agree that this strike certainly was able to defeat the Yalosii invasion in Jagis, others question the morality of such excessive force.

“All that’s known,” Jeremy Fischer, a professor at University of Aprahi admitted, “Is that Selos has been forced to the peace table. He’s not an idiot—he knows that fighting this war is impossible, and will try to salvage what he can from the ruins of his defeat. His army was strong—but not nearly strong enough o deal with the combined might of the Triad. This is clear.”

In any case, Selos has agreed to peace in a press conference this morning, claiming that he had no knowledge of the atrocities committed in Jagis. “I’m disappointed,” he declared in a charismatic, silky baritone growl, “that my own Generals could cover up such atrocities behind my back. I’m horrified, and wish to seek a remedy to my foolish actions. I will negotiate with the SRNN to find an appropriate solution and have had the men involved shot for betraying our national creed."

[Iohann]

The interior of a plane is never truly comfortable, it was as close to home as they knew. And a noisy home it was, though most of the men were sound asleep. It had been a long flight, all the way from Campus Iohannes, with a single stop left. One man, known to most of his peers simply as Quintus, looked up from his book and looked around the interior of the crowded plane, in part to crack his neck. He caught the eye of the man sitting in the seat across the aisle from himself. The second man had the usual short cropped cut of the Iohannian military, but the shaggy beard he had was anything but regulation.

"Another day, another tin can, am I right?" The man chuckled, then extended his hand "I'm Altus, by the way. INF originally".

Quintus grinned back, then took the hand offered him and shook it curtly "Quintus. Praetorian." He reveled a little in the way the man's eyes widened slightly, before continuing, in the half-rehearsed tone the Praetorians generally used when dealing with other military men.

"No, I'm not a child soldier, and I was originally an MP. I just got lucky enough to be given the express elevator to the top floor when it comes to MP work. Something about my test scores." The Praetorians had a bit of a.. reputation, though not undeserved. In most cases, the Primus' elite guard were either child soldiers from other countries, rehabilitated and given a home and a life in exchange for three shifts a week, or members of various other forces that scored particularly well in particular aptitude tests. Generally, they were highly intelligent, and while their marksmanship was a focus, they were used for intimidation, and each one could carry out a conversation with a foreign dignitary, if need be. They were rarely attached to Iohanni Homeland Security operations, but when they were, it was generally in an advisory role, not a combat one.

Altus chuckled, scratching slightly at his beard while he did so. The unkempt beard bothered Quintus a little, but the Navy men generally did whatever they wanted. Tough to tell a single one of those men about regulations. Altus then leaned back in his seat, an intrigued look on his face.

"I've run into my share of you stiffs, and every time I see one of you, I hear the same damn lines. Was more surprised at your age than your profession, kid. What are you doing out here anyway? 16,000 men being shipped to Pandora, and the Primus can spare some of his own crop? Either he has an even bigger hard-on for the Triad than we thought, or he thinks it's gonna be crazy."

"Official use of us is as an attachment to existing TSELI personnel in the combat zone, as you know. However, not all of us are going to be seeing use on the front lines. I'm here in an advisory position, and to relay the direct word of the Primus to command personnel, and vice-versa. I'm a glorified messenger, not a fighter. I was chosen because we needed someone who dealt with the Primus on a regular basis, someone who know how he thought. One of the men who walks him around on a day-to-day basis was the logical choice." Quintus looked over at Altus, who looked pleased by the answer, before continuing.

"You a draftee or a volunteer?" Though all served willingly, there was a request for volunteers three days before the draft that filled out the remainder of these forces from the ranks of IHS. In most cases, the numbers were about equal, but for this mission, the number of volunteers was almost twice that as the draftees.

"Are you kidding me? I was sick and tired of filling out police reports all day. If I wasn't the first person to sign up, I was definitely in the top 10." Quintus smiled at that answer, reached across the aisle, and punched the Navy man on the shoulder playfully. As he always felt when he signed up for an IHS mission, he may not be home, but he felt in damn good company with the men in the tube with him. He turned back to his book and immersed himself again as the plane began its slow descent onto Pandora, the fortress-island of the Marquesas.

[Marquesan]

Levuka Military Airfield,
Levuka, Pandora Prefecture.
The Marquesas.

The ride for the Iohanni elite troops rushed onto Pandora had been a smooth one, for the most part. Coming in over the mountains and approaching Levuka from the southwest, they got an eyefull of the island through their windows; a central mountain range with its peaks shrouded in snow and ringed in smooth orographic clouds almost too beautiful to be real; the island was heavily forested, but not so much that one couldn't see the outline of concrete bunkers and fortifications; there were wide roads, deep arteries cut into the forest that ran to the interior but disappeared into the mountains. Pandora was an island that lived and breathed, rumors had it that the nuclear furnaces that thrummed deep within the mountains did much more than generate power. There were veins of uranium here that ran deep, a fact the Marquesans had always done their best to keep quiet.

Pandora was home to the creme of the Royal Forces at Arms; it was a rock that bristled with weapons and every port seemed alive with military vessels. The five major cities on the island all sat along the rim of its coastline; nearly two hundred and fifty million people called it home, but it was not as a vacation paradise or a cosmopolitan realm that Pandora earned its legendary status. Here, the Marquesan RFA trained relentlessly, its artillery and naval gunnery ranges were widely regarded as the finest in Sondria and intense terrain made for challenging flying. Consequently, the island had been used to train Marquesan pilots as long as there had been powered flight. Coming in on approach, the squadron of Iohanni aircraft were escorted in by a wing of Marquesan "Hoplite" interceptors, who rocked their wings to bid the Iohanni men welcome. Once they touched down, they had entered a whole different world.

Stepping off the airplane, the air was redolent with the scent of aviation fuel and the howl of military turbine engines was pervasive. Levuka was home to many units, but the first thing the foreign men would see was a wing of twenty Sarissa bombers being loaded with heavy ordinance. Symbols of Marquesan military might, the Sarissa was as feared as anything that flew; the big bombers cut an imposing figure against the misty, long-shadowed sky perhaps forty five minutes before sunset. The air was chilled, but fresh; a mixture of the forested mountain air and the cold ocean wind. The airfield sat between the sea and an enormous military installation that stretched off as far as the eye could see in the failing light. What they could see was that row upon row of buses was beginning to pull up to the series of Iohanni aircraft.

Once safely aboard the buses, Altus and Quintus found themselves in the company of one grizzled-looking Marquesan safety officer. Senior Marshall Costreaux was a hard charger from a long line of hard chargers, a barrel chest and arms that strained his uniform coupled to a boxer's neck, a cut physique and a shock of salt-and-pepper hair with scruff on his face that looked hard as razor wire said volumes, but the spark of near-insanity in hazel eyes spoke what the rest of him couldn't. Here was a man built like a brick shithouse, but he'd very clearly seen some of the roughest bush Sondria had to offer. His voice was crystal clear and loud even over the bus; his accent was thickly French, but his English was impeccable apart from the slightly sing-song tone of his words.

"Gentlemen, welcome to Pandora. You aren't in Iohann anymore, respect that fact every second you are here! Your stay with us 'ere will be brief, so I will spare you the bullshit. You 'ave been chosen because you are the hardest sons of bitches your country has to offer, and we are sending you with a few of our own. Between you, there will be forty eight thousan' men; we are flying you to be the only forty eight thousand men with a clear head on your shoulders! In an entire country!"

The bus took a hard left and passed over a dip and a grate in the road, jostling everyone around. Just about everyone grabbed ahold of something to steady themselves; Costreaux did not. "Your objective is simple to say but not to do. You are the tip of the spear and your objective is to capture the Yalosii leader, Selos Manikato, secure the capitol city and its government, extract Manikato and hold the capitol district until reinforcements arrive. There will be air support, but no ground backup for several days; the fighting may be intense while units are moved up to relieve you. You must hold the city! You are going in with Her Majesty's Elite Light Infantry; four TSELI Lances and several 'undred light armored vehicles are going in with you; do not be 'eroic with your lives, men!"

"In Yalos, every living thing that crawls, flies or squats in the mud wants to kill you and eat your eyes for jujubees. If you wish to survive, you must cultivate a strong mental attitude, you must remember your training! The units you are going in with are veteran units; they were the last out of Mahdah after the Embassy crisis; many of these men are decorated veterans, respect them and they will fight with you and die with you."

The bus turned into another airfield, this one swarming with Reaper class Assault Transports. 320 Reapers stood fueled with their doors open; near them, tight formations of Marquesan soldiers with their full battle gear stood behind their flags, ready, waiting. When the buses pulled up and the doors open, 32,000 men snapped to sharp attention and bowed deeply; a sign of respect for the Iohanni men that had come to fight and die with them.

Every man knew this was a volunteer assignment; every man knew he was dead already. To be standing where they stood took years of training and sacrifice. The finest of The Marquesas' warrior-elite, the result of countless generations of breeding, of a culture that idolized its warrior caste; a proud people, each honed to the sharpness of a razor's edge. They remained at a deep bow for a long moment as the Iohanni disembarked their buses. Once they stood again upright, the formations released. They would be offered a few minutes to get acquainted; but not long. One by one, the Reapers began firing up their engines, the massive contrarotating tiltrotor blades swinging slowly at first, then progressively faster and faster as the turbines came up to speed. Whistles began to blow as Reaper Loadmasters waved on their human cargo, 150 men at a time. Costreaux, with a Morrigan Shotgun in his hands and a bandolier of grenades around his torso, was the last man to step onto a Reaper.

They took off in chalks of forty at a time, eight flights taking off and heading almost due north. They'd spent less than an hour on Pandora and now, men who had kissed their wives, girlfriends and children just this morning at breakfast were headed off to war. They'd arrive in Ju'Tozzo around three in the morning after flying all night. The Reapers were much less comfortable than the civilian planes they'd arrived on the island in. If they hadn't slept on the first flight, they weren't likely to sleep now. Not long after they'd all taken off, the Reaper chalks were passed by the squadrons of Sarissas they'd seen earlier, screaming by them at supersonic speeds. Not long after, four Capricorn class heavy transports passed below them, skimming above the ocean waves carrying the armored vehicles they'd use in the assault on Ju'tozzo.

The night ahead of them was a long one; they'd fly into Ju'tozzo low, slow and at night, hoping they could surprise the enemy leader before he had a chance to escape the city. The only thing they could do now is wait.


Lindstab, Free Jagis.

"Turn, forty five right, three hundred meters."

The Mithras Fast Attack Vehicle driver's helmet chimed in as a right arrow illuminated in his heads-up display. He glanced to his left and right quickly at the other vehicles with him. They'd been cutting across open land now for hours, avoiding civilian traffic on the highway but keeping it in their sights. Now, as they approached the city of Lindstab, they had no choice but to get onto a main thoroughfare as they moved to capture the city. They didn't expect resistance; this far west, Jagis was still free of the Yalosii Red Guard, but they weren't taking many chances.

Behind the front element of fast, four-wheeled attack vehicles was a squadron of Abraxas light tanks fitted with continuous rubber treads to allow them to run on highways more smoothly without damaging the road surface. Behind them were the heavier elements, Calvary Fighting Vehicles and the heavy tank armor along with APC's, Kraken IFV's and the like. Four long wedge squadrons of Hellcat gunships flew overhead, their rocket pods all loaded and ready for a fight if one needed to happen.

The vehicles found a highway onramp. A pair of Fast Attack Vehicles split off to block traffic, their big 30mm guns and high-intensity spotlights pointed toward the traffic who summarily slammed on their brakes and made it a point to keep their distance. In Free Jagis, none of the Royal Marquesan Army vehicles were flying their own flags; they were here to liberate and not to conquer, at least that's what the safety briefing they all got in Vrontor told them. The convoy seemed to go on forever; wheeled and tracked armor of every shape and size, engineering vehicles, bridgelayers, all the tools of war. An entire division passed through Lindstab, pushing traffic off the highway everywhere they went.

Here, they barely slowed down long enough to refuel their vehicles from tankers and change drivers before they pressed on. At the Crontorian-held city of Eslekro and in Seulbitzer, they did the same. The RMA movement toward Jagisville seemed inexorable, a swath a hundred kilometers wide pressing toward the capitol as fast as the vehicles could drive. The convoy pressed forward all through the night, stopping only for fuel and to change drivers. Air support was constant and heavy; at times, the vehicles would shake with the thunder of jets passing low overhead.

When sunrise came, hazy and red, the Marquesans held a line from Seulbitzer to Saas and fast-attack elements were pressing on the outskirts of the city of Nordlicher in the south and Johanis in the north, with a heavy armor spear of Shiva and Chimera tanks pushing through on the interstate from Eslekro toward Jagisville with CAF elements just minutes ahead of them. The frenzied all-night drive had paid off so far, but they were still in Free Jagis and had yet to encounter a single Yalosii soldier, though in Nordlicher, they'd seen the first real signs of the war, from a Mahdavian air raid that had knocked out the runway that now Sapper elements were working to patch up with quick-drying cellular concrete.

Screaming eastward were squadron after squadron of Divine Wind fighters, hunting in wolfpacks for Yalosii or Mahdavian aircraft, their bellies loaded with Tachi air-to-air missiles. Unlike the ground forces that had been driving all night, the pilots were well-rested and sharp. All across western Jagis, a push eastward was the order of the day.

Forward, into the rising sun!

[The Nuclear Fist]

The Rose of Shambhala
Frontline of Proletarian Journalism Since 1880

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International Edition - English

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COMRADE SALADIN ADDRESSES THE INTERNATIONAL STRUGGLE FOR PROLETARIAN SOCIALISM

Comrade Supreme Chairman Saladin Kvaratkshelia addressed the nation last night,
highlighting concerns about the future of Yalos and concerns regarding the conflict on Alkharinia

SHAMBHALA, RUSTONIA - In a broadcast at exactly 6:00 pm yesterday, Comrade Supreme Chairman Saladin Kvaratskhelia addressed the people of Rustonia with a concerned voice and a somber attitude. He made it clear that neither he, nor Rustonia, could support the actions of the Yalosii republic in any capacity, nor that though a certain amount of admiration could be had for their remarkable zeal in pursuing the cause of international socialism, their methods of doing so crossed an irrevocable line and would ultimately harm their cause in the long run.

The Supreme Chairman went on to say that, despite his unshakeable faith in the purity of their hearts, the Yalosii could not count on further economic or industrial support from Rustonia if the worst of the National Republic’s excesses were not dealt with. However, this would not mean that Rustonia would abandon an ally it helped establish. Afterall, the two nations were brothers in the proletarian cause, and it was no so long ago that Rustonia’s guilding hand helped establish the National Republic as a formal state in the tumultuous period of the Yalosii civil war.

Furthermore, Comrade Kvaratskhelia went on to condemn the actions of the Triad, decrying them as blatantly imperialistic and warmongering, and admonishing them for being so blinded by bloodlust as to not even attempt a peaceful solution to their grievances. Though he was happy that the Imperial Federation of Crontor had called for a ceasefire and for preliminary talks, he remained skeptical of their intentions.

Comrade Kvaratskhelia then highlighted concerns regarding that the events in Jagisland and Yalos would potentially pose a risk to the fledgling Zeiklan People’s Republic, which the guiding hand of Rustonia also had a hand in establishing. Citing concerns raised by the Zeiklan Premier in an emergency meeting held shortly after the initiation of the sudden breakdown of diplomatic relations between Jagisland and Yalos may pose a risk to Zeikla, our noble Supreme Chairman reaffirmed Rustonia’s position that it would remain the People’s Republic’s erstwhile ally, and was committed to the Zeiklan people’s territorial integrity.

The Supreme Chairman has stated that the Revolutionary People’s Front will deploy additional troops to support the five million already in Zeikla and eastern and southeastern Yalos in order to secure the People’s Republic, and to secure the bases that allow it access to trade by sea. These bases were gifted by the Yalosii government shortly after the civil war, with a special hundred year lease.

Revolutionary People's Front Naval Forces gear up and prepare to deploy to Yalos

[Mahdah]

OPERATION LIGHT BRINGER - Part 1

Coastal City of Kyotolkai, Yalos
Southern Alkharania.

The arrival of the 3rd Mahdavian Army meant several things to the inhabitants of Kyotolkai and the cities across Eastern Yalos. During the landing of the third army the Mahdavian General staff had gathered together and developed an operation that would get the favored outcome of the conflict for the Second Imperial Emirate. The operation was deemed "Light Bringer" and would have the Mahdavian armies entering Yalos from the east in Senera to enter the country and begin carving out Eastern Yalos for themselves. The first city that would come under the Mahdavian fold was Kyotolkai itself as the Third Army begun to secure the city inside and out. Yalosi authorities were temporarily stripped of their power as the Mahdavian Infantry asserted their control over Kyotolkai and it's inhabitants. Any contingent of Yalosi soldiers would be given a ultimatum which would carry on for the rest of the east. Either stay out of the way and co-exist with the Mahdavian Army or drop your weapons, abandon your posts and flee east into Senera and towards the Gulf to gain asylum in Mahdah.

Some chose to stay and co exist with their Mahdavian over-seers while others abandoned their posts and gave up their weapons and headed east with their families to be shipped across the Gulf into Mahdah for asylum. Of course not all of the Yalosi would simply succumb to the whim of the Mahdavians, several civil disturbances occurred during the taking of Kyotolkai which were all put down by the Mahdavian infantry. Once the city was fully ensured to be secured the Mahdavian 3rd Army looked towards the west at Hyailotta and Sekkanto. From the sea, The 4th Command Fleet moved its self to also cover the other cities of Hyailotta and Sekkanto who not only carried the third army but their own contingent of Mahdavian Naval Infantry. Each Command fleet had a contingent of twenty five thousand naval infantry to utilize with beach landings and ship security.

As night fell on Yalos, Amphibious assault carriers swooped into the ports of Hyailotta and Sekkanto letting off their contingents of Naval Infantry which pushed forth into the cities after making landfall. The Naval Infantry were not alone in securing both cities, a task force of infantry from the Mahdavian 3rd Army had been sent west to assist in securing them as well. The 12th Mechanized Corps had been sent fourth to also secure both cities and by dawns light, Hyailotta had come into the Mahdavian fold. Sekkanto would also come into the fold by noon and across all three cities flags were being changed. The Yalosi flag from every flag pole was taken down and replaced with the Mahdavian flag which if and when the Triad came they would have a predicament to deal with that Eastern Yalos was under Mahdavian control and not Yalosi.

It was then that the city of Shizeftzi was in the sights of the Mahdavian Army and as did the others, a contingent of the 3rd Army which was the 9th Tank Corps was sent off to secure the city and surely the Yalosi flag was taken down from the flag poles of Shizeftzi and replaced with the Mahdavian flag. With four cities under the control of the Mahdavian 3rd Army and further the Second Imperial Emirate, appropriate defensive measures had to be made to ensure a attack would not break the hold on these cities as it would compromise the operation surely sending it to failure. Logistic elements of the 3rd Army which included mostly engineers were sent out across the territory that the Army now held and went to work hastily preparing defenses.

SAM and SPAAG emplacements were focused on more higher level ground that could look over cities and towns along with also being some what camouflaged with the environment which they would use nature it self to complete the task. Units within the 3rd Army were also being shuffled around and moved to different strategic and tactical locations to serve as a permanent defensive position. The 5th Tank Corps was assigned to create a defensive perimeter around the City of Kyolokai while other similar units did so in Hyailotta and Sekkanto which would also have Mechanized infantry units within the cities themselves. Artillery units were also moved to more higher elevated positions and camouflaged as best as possible. Shizeftzi would see the deployment of the 6th and 7th Tank Corps followed by the 11th Mechanized Corps setting up defenses within and around it.

Air superiority and defense was a major factor of the operation and it's success. From carriers of the 4th Command Fleet, squadrons of LY908 Warhawks and Sparrowhawks took to the skies patrolling the airspace within the envelope of Mahdavian control. AA systems were placed with the greatest consideration for defense of the air from hostile air units and where they would operate best. The sea would of course be covered by the 4th Command Fleet which set out and spread themselves along the coast line covering the three coastal cities the Mahdavian Army now controlled. Anubis arsenal ships and the submarines of the 4th Command Fleet took up patrols of the waters they held the Carriers would serve as command central of the fleet.

The unorganized land of Senera, East of Yalos
Central Alkharania.

The unorganized land of Senera which was East of Yalos had become a staging ground and highway for Mahdavian military traffic. The land fall of the 6th and 10th Field Armies which were ferried across the Gulf by the Reserve fleets in Augustupolis were now within Senera and pushing towards the the border with Yalos. Of course along the way the land was not left untouched as the Mahdavian General staff had several things in mind for Senera in that it would serve the base of Mahdavian Air power over Yalos and a base for a logistics network going from Mahdah through the Gulf of Alkharania and into Senera before it's final destination in Yalos. The work began with the development of a string of Air fields across Senera by the Engineers of both Armies that made land fall along with even more now that CIOD had ordered the deployment of it's massive logistics reserve of forty million men and women to do the hard labor for the success of the Mahdavian Military.

Hundreds of aircraft such as the YA42 Corsaire which was the Air superiority fighter of the Mahdavian Air force along with the LY908 Warhawks and LY909 Sparrowhawks were being moved into Senera for placing in the several air fields already built or in the process of building by Mahdavian engineers. Rotor wing craft were also being moved into Senera for deployment in the air fields along side the aircraft themselves. As in Eastern Yalos, Air superiority and defense were a major key in the operation and the holding of the territory planning to be taken by the Mahdavian military. With the relative closeness to the mainland, air lifts of AA systems were done numerous times along as incorporating the AA systems already in theatre with the 6th and 10th Armies. S-300 and S-400 batteries were beginning to become established within Senera along with other mobile AA systems. Radar posts were also being established within Senera for use with AA defenses and the establishing air force contingent in theatre.

Outpost bases were also being built mostly centered around the Air fields being built or already built within Senera. Small contingents of soldiers would occupy these bases and act as fortified positions of defense in case of attack by Triad forces. It had already been planned that an additional Field Army from the mainland would be ferried across the Gulf and into Senera to establish more of a presence within the unorganized land now being turned into a large center for Mahdavian military power in Yalos.

The Mahdavian Navy would also be on hand for defense of Senera as it created a wrap around most of the coasts of Senera. Anubis arsenal ships and the Carriers would be the main point of firepower and response to any attack by Triad forces if they did assault East Yalos and further being Senera. The logistics network was also coming into fruition, engineers and logistic overseers would begin mapping out routes for the logistic network that would cut through Senera and further into Eastern Yalos.

[The Nuclear Fist]

ALKHARINIAN WORKER'S PALACE
JU'TOZZO, NATIONALIST ALKHARANIAN REPUBLIC OF YALOS

Enkidu Urkyeshka was not enjoying himself. Originally, he had looked forward to his placement as ambassador to newly formed Nationalist Alkharanian Republic. Rustonia had effectively acted as a strongman in the chaos of the Yalosii civil war, using the wits of the Section 12 (Rustonian foreign intelligence) to allow events to unfold that eventually ended with the socialists, if the cobbled, totalitarian garbage that the Yalosii enslaved themselves to could really be called socialism, under Yalos defeating the monarchists and forming a new government. Rustonian craftiness had succeeded where the blunt force of other nations had failed, and there had been much celebration.

Things since then had been tumultuous for the Yalosii, and they had grown ever more reliant on the Socialist Republic for aid, both in industrialization and infrastructure as well as economic and military development. And being the benevolent patriarchs that they were, the Rustonians were willing to provide a helping hand. In a roundabout way, that made Enkidu, as the official representative of Rustonia here in Yalos, an incredibly powerful man. The loyalist Yalosii were incredibly grateful to the Rustonians, and the number of drunken revelries he had partaken in had shown that. Of course, it helped that he had the backing of the Socialist Republic, of course.

Of course, things never go as well in practice as they do on the planning board. There had been some stumbling blocks here and there, but these were no so different from the stumbling blocks that had been encountered when building socialism in Rustonia. Now, Enkidu had a pretty good ear to the Yalosii Politburo and was on personable terms with most of them, and kept in contact with Selos enough that he was more than aware the man was undeniably in control, and was undeniably a megalomaniacal madman. But he believed he could be worked with, and communicated as such in his reports that he sent back to his superiors in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Shambhala. Hell, he was even aware of some vague ambitions Selos had of a grand military campaign to cement the new regime’s legitimacy.

But the wholesale invasion of Jagisland had largely come out of left field. Sure, he and the military adjutant had been aware of a general buildup of Yalosii military forces. Though calling the Yalosii army a ‘military force’ was stretching the term a bit, though the Red Guard showed signs of vague competence. But the buildup could have been for anything, and Selos had generally implied to the ambassador that it was for a purge of unreliable members of the regime, and to stem the flood of citizens flowing into Jagisland. This was something else entirely.

What was not unpredicted, however, was the international community’s reaction. Namely, flipping absolute shit. It was barely a week since the invasion and already the situation was proving increasingly perilous with each passing day. All the initial gains Yalosii forces had made in Jagisland were soon to be reversed by Triad forces, who had wasted little time declaring war, with Marquesani forces encroaching on the capital by sea and Crontorian forces tearing across Jagisland at a worrying pace. To make matters worse, Yalosii industrial and military strength had largely been obliterated by a Marquesani attack the day before. If there was ever a time that Selos would be feeling the pressure, it would be now.

Unfortunately, Enkidu couldn’t really help him there. Though he had been told troops were on their way, it would take at least a month to get the full force deployed and ready to be of any effect, and at the moment the Politburo was largely unsure of how to handle the situation. So at least officially, the current policy was to maintain control over the Rustonian bases in eastern and southeastern Yalos, and to keep Zeikla under lockdown. Still, he was ordered, by the Foreign Affairs Minister himself no less, to give Selos an offer he would be stupid to refuse. And if need be, the Supreme Chairman himself would be available to call the Yalosii leader to convince him.

And that is how Enkidu found himself jogging with a full retinue of bodyguards in tow across the street, from the embassy to the so called Worker’s Palace. Flashing his badge quickly got him through the door, and being a group of Rustonians on clearly official business, very few people cared to get in his way. So within fifteen minutes, he found himself staring at the ornate doors that led to the Politburo’s chamber, where he had been told Selos was presently at. Staring at the ornate carvings in the wood, Enkidu sighed to himself and knocked as loudly and politely as he could muster, fully aware that the two largely canceled each other out.

“Comrade Selos, this is Comrade Enkidu Urkyeshka. I’m the Rustonian ambassador, remember? I need to speak with you immediately, I have important news and a vital offer for you. Please allow me in, we have no time to waste.” He said in perfect Yalosii, his voice loud and yet somehow also diplomatic.

[Crontor]

Sondria;
Sondrian Capital Islands;
Crontorian Naval Exclusionary Zone;
Crontorian Embassy:

To say that Ambassador Gavin Cranico had expected any of the events of the past few days would be a blatant lie. His call to action, like so many others in years previous from nations across Sondria, had been expected to proceed just as the others had. Praise would erupt from some corners of the region, but the overall effort would soon fade into oblivion. Like all previous wars, the Sondrian Regional Council would watch in agony as its member states tore out one another’s throats in violent and bloody death matches, often over trivial matters. The Imperial Federation had expected the same here, quietly preparing for an all-out regional war that would necessitate mobilizations and deployment of forces unparalleled in modern history.

As for now, that looked like a potential but distant reality, with Yalos prepared to come to the table and the Rustonians showing similar sentiment. Gavin knew that his call to conference was never supposed to succeed, and he assumed, although her could not know for sure, that the Carter administration was locked in fierce debate over how to proceed. As the cards were dealt, the Imperial Federation was holding a rather potent hand. With the CAF creeping east and quietly planting its flag across western Jagis, the Imperial Federation had yet to fire a shot or face down an enemy army, all the while showing the capacity to deploy mass amounts of soldiers on short notice and arrange sufficient forces to deliver decisive blows.

Cranico had received a cable from the Ministry of State informing him that in any upcoming negotiations he was to avoid discussing CAF movements, operations, or intentions. The Imperial Federation, he was to stress, was committed to peacekeeping and stabilization. After all, the CAF had thus far into the campaign, not carried out any aggressive actions or made liberal use of ordinance on civilian populations. By the standards of the CAF, this was the most peaceful war that the Imperial Federation had fought which had allegedly begun to bother Crogden who was ordering units to head east at breakneck speed and ‘kill something for fuck’s sake.’

The goal it would seem, at least to Cranico, was to stall. There were a host of reasons to stall and all of them were generally agreed upon in the Imperial Federation as valid. Carter would take the lead, showing to the delegates that the Imperial Federation, the region’s indispensable nation, was still a political, economic, and military powerhouse capable of bringing together the warring states of the region and setting them on the right path. While the validity of the statement varied depending on who you asked, Cranico knew that the Carter administration would pursue some sort of advertising campaign highlighting the success of the Crontorian push for peace. Whether or not peace came soon or years from now with a flag flying triumphantly over the husk of a defeated nation, was now up to the Sondrian Regional Council.

---

Sender: Crontorian Ministry of State
Receiver: The Nations of Sondria
Encryption: Open
Subject: Peace Conference

---

The Imperial Federation is humbled by the positive response from both sides of this evolving conflict regarding the proposed peace talks. We believe that this problem has a peaceful solution that through mediation and compromise can be found amid the competing interests of our nations. Above all, our most important interest should be peace and through that peace, the advancement and protection of our most vulnerable populations. This is a cause that all nations should strive for.

We implore the nations of Sondria to send their delegates with all possible speed to the Sondrian Capital Islands for immediate talks. The sooner we get underway, the sooner our region finds a lasting peace. Thank you for your cooperation.

Gavin Cranico
Official Crontorian Ambassador to the Sondrian Regional Council

This post is a work in progress.

[Yalos]

The Alkharanian Worker's Palace
Sondria, Alkharania, Yalos, Ju'tozzo

A boy sat alone in his little red fishing boat as the lights of the big city shone all around him, rushing by him as life carried on, forever, while the rest of the world seemed to be rushing by, too fast to stop, unable to slow down. The lights, the rushing of freight and the powerful roar of a thousand industries sounded ever so softly in his youthful ears and he was like an angel anointed, lifted above, with a rare glimpse of the city from the eyes of ethereal onlookers. Trapped in the darkness, this boy, languid as ever, fondled his little black fishing rod and waited on the vast waters before the great harbor, feeling his breath condense in the air. He was alone and that was the way he liked it. Even at this late hour of the night, Ju’tozzo never slowed down or stopped. It was a city that raced on forever, frozen in its own bubble of time, only to hit the fast-forward button and accelerate perpetually until all that could be seen was a blur of colors and sensations that endured mere seconds.

The boy heard the unmistakable hum, like a thousand insects beating their wings over the endless waters and knew fear as the force of the invading craft hurled him into the water in their rapid flash of movement. His arms thrashed vainly, and he cried out, cried out for precious sweet air to fill his infantile lungs, but it was nonforthcoming. He was but a peasant child, unable to swim, and his body sunk to the bottom of the seas. And at home, his elderly mother would wait, her illness tearing her body down from the inside, and she would wail in grief when his little red boat was found in the morning, her sweet boy, beloved son and only source of income for the necessary expensive medicines, gone forever into the depths of the sea.

And as he sank to the depths, the vigilant Ju’tozzo night guard would do its duty admirably, the missiles of a thousand coastal emplacements and SAM platforms spiraling up from missile platforms to hidden positions within private homes, towards the skies, their sturdy fins and plumes of white smoke heralding the beginning of a fight. Sirens would be sounded, citizens would panic and armored vehicles full of rapid-response emergency response teams would thrash through the city’s winding streets, depositing hundreds upon thousands of soldiers where they needed to be as the soaring of enemy air assets were met by a night show that was nonpareil, hundreds upon thousands of missiles and so many Yalosii soldiers. The lessons of S’ua Chiito had been learned and the Yalosii army swore that they would not be repeated.

* * *

Meanwhile, the great Chairman smoked a thick joint as his secretary was busy taking the Rustonian’s coat and asking the man what kind of tea he wanted. Selos snorted once, oblivious to the violence outside of his protected palace, arrogant and wholly disrespectful of the Rustonian mongrel. These Rustonians were so damn savage, they could probably eat their own shit and pass it off as five star dining, or something like that. Selos didn’t actually understand, nor did he want to understand, Rustonian culture at all, and it would remain that way. Selos didn’t respect foreign cultures--Selos didn’t respect anybody. That was the kind of guy he was and he found absolutely no shame in it.

The only person Selos pretended to actually like was his son, Paul, who was busy off in Ganosia, meeting with some friends. The news of the Jagite invasion would probably have reached the dumb kid, probably. And good riddance, too—that kid was such a snotty brat. He would probably raise some ruckus about human rights and shit like that, and annoy the fuck out of Selos, and Selos would be forced to put up with it, or spank him. But spanking never worked. He’d always be back at it, condemning his father just because he fucking could, and it was galling. He would slap the kid with his belt and lock him in the palace basement, and the same old crap. Experts would tell Selos to stop drinking so much, but they were all incompetent fools, anyways.

And right now, Selos was unhappy. Mahdah was busting his balls, disbanding his forces in the East while the triad was busy moving down to smack his ass with all of its power. And Selos could probably expect a verbal grilling from the Rustonian man who was about to step through the door. Crontor was being all crazy interventionalist, Marquesan was bombing the crap out of Selos’ country and the Partisans had taken control of Ondor Kokka. If this was a game of chess, Selos would have been stuck with two pawns and a king against a full row of rooks.

“Welcome, Urkyeshka, old friend,” Selos replied, smiling grimly. “Won’t you take a seat? We have plenty of time to discuss, don’t we? What do you want to talk about?” he motioned to the mahogany coffee table like a seasoned salesman, masking the insanity lurking in the crevices of his mind.

[Erjunhuf]

Executive Mansion
Carthage, Erjunhuf
0130 Local Time
Two Days Ago

"Madam President, we need a decision."

Kyra Blackridge sighed and looked at her cabinet, anxiously awaiting her decision. For three days now, her administration had debated the merits of sending in ground forces against Yalos, a nation that was currently in the act of brutalizing one of its neighbors; while isolationist and non-interventionist sentiment still ran high in the Elder Republic, as images and video poured in from Jagisville, public outcry against the ongoing events had rapidly reached a boiling point, demanding that action be taken. The military had already taken precautionary steps, raising the readiness level of the GAER and putting all troops based in Triad soil on full alert, but the people demanded further action as more and more information was delivered out of Alkharania. Parliament had take a vote earlier in the day and had authorized the President to take whatever action she deemed necessary for dealing with the current crisis: now, at this late hour, a decision now had to be reached.

Many regional analysts liked to regard Erjunhuf as a "reluctant power", a potential giant still drowsy from decades of isolation: despite having the region's largest economy and one of the most potent military forces in Sondria, the Elder Republic had never deployed a sizable force into a conflict zone, preferring instead to give her allies moral and logistical support when required. Thus far, this policy had paid off: as of yet, the Triad had never encountered a foe it could not match in battle, and the situation had never called for Erjunhuf to actually mobilize a massive force. This had simply been the trend for decades now: during the Plague War, Erjunhuf had taken purely self-defense measures against the bioterrorists to ensure the disease could not spread further nor allow another nation to take advantage of their temporary weakness; during Newcastle, she had stood by and watched Crontor burn along with much of the region, unable to assist in any capacity until the larger fighting was already finished; even during the more recent Mahdavian-Marquesan conflict, by which time the Triad Pact had been formalized, the Elder Republic had done nothing more than provide logistical aid to the Marquesans and subsequently humanitarian aid to the humiliated Mahdavians. Up until the ultimatums provided by Deusaeuri, Kyra had been prepared to continue that trend; now, however, it looked as though a larger regional war was inevitable.

Kyra turned to stare out the window, contemplating the ramifications of what was to come. A heavy blanket of snow, nearly two feet deep, had covered the capital of the Elder Republic earlier that day and frozen over the Fola River almost completely, burying Carthage and much of Erjunhuf in the first major snowfall of the year; looking out the window across the city at this early hour, she could see nothing but lights from the city reflecting off of the snow and ice before her, giving Carthage a serene, peaceful look. Simply looking out at this scene of silent tranquility, one could never have guessed that a war was bitterly raging thousands of miles away, with the potential for a larger conflict on the horizon. There could be no standing on the sideline in the event of another major war, not . There was no question that there could only be one choice: Erjunhuf could not claim to be the regional paragon of Sondria unless she entered this war.

Kyra turned back to her cabinet, reassured that this was indeed the right move. "Mobilize and deploy as soon as possible." The ramifications of her words was not lost on her as her cabinet silently nodded before scrambling into action: the Elder Republic was marching to war.

---

The Alobordo Bastion
Alobordo, Crontor
0700 Local Time
Hours Later

The sun slowly rose over the largest overseas military installation Erjunhuf possessed as General Katherine Moore walked amongst the assembled ranks of her officer corps, busily planning the deployment of soldiers both in Alobordo, Beblis, and the Anchlis. Although they had been put on notice and, for all intents and purposes, mobilized earlier in the week as the war in Jagisville started to heat up, there had been little expectation that this would be followed through with an actual deployment; the Ministry of Defense had estimated that the Crontorians alone could easily fend off the relatively poorly trained Yalosii army. It had come as a surprise when, several hours earlier in the morning, an aide had walked into her room and handed her a message from Carthage.

ATTENTION: ALOBORDO BASTION, GEN. MOORE
NOTICE: WAR PREPARATIONS
ENCRYPTION: EXTREME

As of 0133 Carthage local time, the Elder Republic is in a state of WAR with the nation of Yalos and all allies actively engaging in the Jagis theater on their behalf. You are hereby ordered to deploy your forces at the Alobordo, Beblis, and Anchli Bastion to the Vrontor staging area for immediate deployment and movement into the ongoing conflict in Jagis as a forward element until reinforcements from Erjunhuf arrive. Additionally, you are hereby promoted to Supreme Commander of Erjunhite forces for the duration of this conflict. You carry with you the full confidence of the Erjunhite government and nation.

Honor dictates action.

-James Spurrier, MINISTRY OF DEFENSE

Since then, the Bastion had been a flurry of activity: the last of the three Fast Action Response (FAR) Corps, a force of 240,000 soldiers, had just taken off to act as the tip of the spear for the rest of the force in Alobordo, and was expected to arrive in Vrontor in just a few hours. Similar movements were taking place at the Beblis Bastion, where another three FAR Corps were expected to land in just a few minutes and then await deployment after contact had been established with fellow Triad commanders in the area; by evening, it was expected that all six FAR Corps, comprised of 480,000 troops, would have disembarked in Vrontor to await orders. Fleets from all three bases were currently still in port, but were prepared to ship out by the end of the day. The rest of the Alobordo Bastion would be a couple of days behind, likely arriving in sync with the bulk of the GAER expeditionary force. Katherine herself would move her base of operations to Vrontor along with the rest of her forces here, once the rest of her soldiers had finished packing up their gear and vehicles to begin the long trek north. For the first mass deployment in modern Erjunhite history, it was going smoothly so far.

---

ENS Dawnguard, 1st Fleet
The Bay of Tears, Primary Staging Area
Beaumont, Erjunhuf
2341 Local Time
Present Day

"Get onboard you lazy sons of whores! We've got a war to win!"

The cacophonous scene on the Bay of Tears, engulfed in the midst of a winter storm, was nothing short of organized chaos; for two days, the largest mobilization of troops in the history of the Elder Republic had gathered in Beaumont for deployment. The city itself had essentially shut down to allow for the massive troop movement flooding in from all corners of Erjunhuf to embark onto waiting Osiris airships and Charon transport ships with as much ease as was possible. Even in spite of the terrible weather, national news media, along with ordinary citizens, had flocked to Beaumont to see the expeditionary force off; while the media had been barred from broadcasting images or video of militarily sensitive equipment or material, televisions and computers across the Elder Republic had been plastered with updates regarding the deployment. Still, in spite of the media attention, most soldiers and citizens refrained from celebrating or gloating what was to come: there was a palpable seriousness and anticipation in the air, and an attention to professionalism. Celebration would come later: the victory would have to come first.

Deployment operations had almost completed as Fleet Admiral Bradan Noles watched the last few ships load up with men and materials from the bridge of the ENS Dawnguard, a Sea Dweller-class and flagship of the 1st Fleet. Where a quarter century ago the Erjunhites and Marquesans had formed the basis of what would become an enduring alliance, and what would eventually become the Triad Pact, it was here now that the 1st Fleet would sail to join its comrades in arms for the first time. Protecting a combat force of over 12 million Erjunhite soldiers, the 1st Fleet was a hallmark of how far the Erjunhuf Navy had come in twenty-five years; once regarded as merely a coastal guardian subordinate to the wishes of the army rather than an autonomous maritime force, the markedly upgraded naval arm of the GAER was now a force to be reckoned with, able to project power across all corners of Sondria with little difficulty and possessing quite possibly the most technologically advanced warships the region had to offer. Noles had been one of the architects behind this momentous and rapid shift, and was one of the most venerable naval minds Erjunhuf had to offer. While this would be his first, and given his age potentially last, war, the old admiral watched his powerful force in the bay and couldn't help but feel galvanized by the sight of it all: never before had the Elder Republic set loose such a powerful force, and Bradan was determined to utilize it as effectively as possible.

Joining the 1st Fleet were the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th Fleets, all just as powerful as one another; together they would sail with the transports and, once the ground force had reached safe harbors, would join up with the other four fleets currently operating in the Palmitas and Orange Seas. Phobos-class attack submarines were already vigilantly patrolling the surrounding area; while it was essentially impossible for a hostile surface fleet to have come so close to Erjunhite shores without being detected, enemy submarines were another matter, and while nothing had been detected as of yet, the Erjunhite submarine fleet was taking no chances.

"Admiral, we're ready to move out." One of the nearby helmsmen, a cadet, walked over and joined Noles by the windows as the last of the Charon ships sailed out of the harbor. Hundreds of ships were arrayed now, prepared to move at his command. It was an undoubtedly powerful feeling, and while peace talks had been announced only hours ago, Bradan had little doubt that talks would break down. After all, the region had hailed a "successful" peace summit before the Newcastle War broke out, and there seemed to be far more instability in the current combat zone than there had been a quarter century ago along the Crontorian-Marquesan border on those fateful days.

"Very good, son." Bradan nodded, walking over to a nearby tactical map. "We sail onwards to Vrontor; should there be any sign of hostile vessels, our orders are to eliminate the threat: the safety of the convoy is our primary mission." Orders were quickly passed along as the Dawnguard set forth; while it would take a couple of days for the Expeditionary Force to arrive at Vrontor, there was little doubt that once the Erjunhites arrived, they would lay waste to anyone or anything that stood in their way.

---

Sondrian Regional Council Islands
Embassy of the Elder Republic

Despite expressing a desire for peace talks every time conflict amongst nations flared up in Sondria, Ambassador Aidan Fel, along with the rest of the Erjunhite Ministry of State, had grown jaded to the constant disregard the organization, and consequently his post, received on an almost daily basis. Whenever the region was on the verge of conflict, the only time the Sondrian Regional Council ever seemed to get mentioned was either as an insincere attempt to appear peaceful or to deal with the humanitarian crisis after the dust had settled and the victor unwilling to deal with the issues they had initiated. The SRC may have been given the auspices of authority of the region, but that didn't guarantee that anyone would take it seriously or genuinely respect it, let alone heed its will. It had been a good thing the embassy came equipped with golfing clubs - a sport he had picked up from some of the other ambassadors and one that was nigh impossible to play in most parts of Erjunhuf, he had learned - and a bar, or he would have gone mad from boredom long ago.

Therefore, when talks between two blocs on the verge of conflict had actually agreed to a summit, Aidan had thought someone was pulling a practical joke on him. It took a phone call from Minister of State Misha Callahan himself to actually convince the poor ambassador that this summit was real, even if it seemed to have been agreed to only after the Yalosii military had been summarily devastated by a Marquesan missile bombardment. Aidan was just happy to be doing his job for once; progress was progress after all, even if it was gained at the tip of a spear or the utter destruction and ruination of an entire city.

He had his orders from the Ministry of State: the Elder Republic may have just launched the largest expeditionary force in its history, but if peace could become a reality in the next few hours, thousands, perhaps millions, of lives could be spared. Only time would tell if the peace conference was as insincere as the dozens of others before it, or was a legitimate attempt at halting a rapidly escalating crisis.

[The Greater Aryan Race]

U-2 Spy Plane
Somewhere over Yalosii and Seneran Airspace

The U-2 spy plane continued it's west-bound flight towards Senera, eventually reaching the eastern coats of the Alkharanian subcontinent. So far so good, no one in Senera had scrambled any interceptors or attempted to shoot down the spy plane with any missiles. They needn't have bothered. The U-2 spy plane was capable of flying up to above 70,000 feet, much too high for any SAM to target and much too fast for any jet to intercept.

In the early days of the Jagisville Crisis, when the first news reached the Reich that Yalosii forces had crossed the eastern border of the Republic of Jagisville, that the Luftwaffe, with the full authorization of the Supreme Armed Forces High Command (OKW), immediately began aerial reconnaissance overflights over Yalosii and Mahdavian territory, for the primary purpose of tracking the movements of the two belligerent parties' troops, information that could potentially prove useful for the GAR should it ever find itself compelled to enter the war. Many of these reconnaissance flights were often done using either the U-2 or the Global Hawk UAV System, although many in the Luftwaffe often preferred the U-2 because of it was considered more reliable than the more expensive and technically complicated Global Hawk UAV. U-2 pilots, operating from airbases on the Barents Island and the west coast of Utara, had flown countless sorties over wide swathes of Yalosii and Mahdavian territory, where they would proceed to photograph segments of key areas to be deciphered later by the Abwehr.

As this particular U-2 flew over Senera and began approaching the border with Yalos, the pilot began preparing the aircraft's camera and video-capturing systems and sensors located in the nose, wing-pods and the so-called Q-Bay. Over the north-eastern city of Nkatta, the cameras went to work, capturing sections of the city and possible e locations of Workers Army troop contingents. Once it cleared Nkatta, the U-2 began it's pre-arranged flight plan of circling around Yalos from the north and down towards the southern coast, taking pictures of various large cities such as the capital Ju'tozzo. The pilot needn't have worried about the risk of interception: Yalosii missile defense systems were already so overwhelmed by the onslaught of the Marquesan air offensive that they could not afford to spare considerable effort and attention to targeting one single plane. The U-2, having completed it's circle, now flew eastbound over Kokka and Seliokka back towards home at the Greater Aryan Race, where the pilot would be debriefed and the pictures and video streams recorded would be sent for analysis. While he headed home, another colleague of his in another U-2 would be proceeding to perform either the same route or fly over Mahdah or Jagisville instead.

---

Reich Cabinet Meeting
Reich Chancellery
Germania

With the Jagisville Crisis steadily escalating by the day, no, by the hour, the full German Cabinet was forced to meet almost daily to discuss the GAR's next moves in addressing the war that was threatening to start a region-wide conflagration.

The mood in the German Cabinet took a turn for the worse due to three things: Firstly, the unexpected announcement of several of the belligerent states, in particular Crontor, Yalos and Mahdah, which had set off alarm bells in various government circles within the Reich; secondly, news that Mahdavian forces had entered into Eastern Yalos from the rump state of Senera; and lastly, that the Elder Republic of Erjunhuf had mobilized and declared war on Yalos and her co-belligerents. There was no doubt now that the Reich had to react even faster to salvage the situation, if it could even be salvaged as all, as the more practical assessed for themselves.

The fact that the Crontorese government was now playing-up calls for a halt to hostilities and a peace conference, when earlier it's primary response was one of nonchalant indifference, now raised considerable suspicion and disbelief amongst the seasoned diplomats of the Foreign Ministry, schooled in the longstanding ways of hearing everything but revealing nothing. Knowing members had observed that Crontor was advocating for peace, even as the Wehrmacht had observed CAF units marching into Jagisville and towards the Yalosii Workers Army with no intention of halting their march, thereby casting further doubt on the Carter Administration's calls for an end to the fighting.

And then there was Mahdah, unpredictable and bizarre Mahdah. During the Cabinet meeting, Field Marshal Bergmann had presented photographic and video evidence, taken from several U-2 flights over Senera and Yalosii territory, which now showed Mahdavian military columns cutting through Senera, for all intentions and purposes a failed state that submitted to the will of its north-eastern neighbour, and into Eastern Yalos. And judging by their behavior, it certainly appeared as if they weren't invited by the Yalosii Politburo, which indicated that Mahdah was now carving up it's erstwhile ally for itself, leaving Yalos to face the full brunt of the Triad Pact.

Lastly, the entry of Erjunhuf into the war added yet another complication to this already-complex and multi-tiered conflict. Although Erjunhuf forces would take several more days before they could even reach Alkharania propor, the fact that another Sondrian nation entered the war now underscored the gravity of the crisis gripping the nation.

The Cabinet was now forced to deal with these three new developments, with opinion heavily split amongst the Reich Ministers and the Generals of the Wehrmacht.

Concerning Crontor, several of the Reich Ministers argued for the Reich to have nothing to do with the peace negotiations, fearing that they would simply be used to justify Crontorian expansion into Alkharania, an action that would not be accepted by the Reich Government. Others counseled patience, saying instead that the Reich should try to officiate the peace negotiations at the SRC to ensure it could guide the warring parties into eventually signing a conclusive peace.

"How ironic it is that the Imperial Federation, having conveniently remained silent towards our peace proposal, now sees fit to talk about regional peace and stability when it's own troops are already deep in Jagisville territory." sneered Propaganda Minister Warnecke.

"In my opinion, we should just do everyone a favor and not participate in these negotiations."

"Or maybe Crontor is in fact actually serious about peace and we shouldn't read too much into it's actions," rebutted Heinrich Heinke, Reich Minister of Special Affairs and Head of the Office of the Reich Chancellery, making him in effect, the Führer's man.

"Mein Führer, we cannot possibly abandon our efforts to orchestrate peace, not when we ourselves came up with our Peace Proposal. I am of the opinion that at the very least, we will take charge of the negotiations to check any ulterior moves by the Triad Pact or the Yalosii-Mahdavian Bloc. We have a treaty with Crontor which they would certainly be bound to abide by."

As the conversation drifted towards Mahdah, the Reich Ministers were more unified in their belief that Mahdah now constituted the biggest threat to Sondrian regional security. If left unchecked, Mahdah would seize perhaps the entirety of Yalos for herself, maybe even annex Senera and wage war against the rest of the regional powers. But even then, the Cabinet remained uncertain as to how to deal with that roguish state. The OKW, in an earlier report submitted to the Führer, claimed that it could not guarantee "100% success against the Mahdavian Armed Forces. Any offensive actions conducted against the Second Imperial Emirate would require considerable support from external powers.

Erjunhuf's entry into the war was considered the least important matter for the Reich, but it was nonetheless viewed with considerable apprehension by the Führer who even now, was openly discussing the possibility of the GAR entering the war. But wars are an expensive undertaking and the Führer, with his eye cast on long-term considerations, remained unconvinced that entering the war would be beneficial to the GAR.

The final decision made by the Führer was as such: The GAR would continue to participate in peace negotiations but would take charge of them. Considerable emphasis would be placed on ensuring no party, neither Crontor nor Mahdah (Yalos had by now ceased to be a major factor in the GAR's calculations). The Wehrmacht would continue to remain at Readiness State 3 but the Luftwaffe and Kriegsmarine would be brought up to war footing, in preparation for any possible limited military moves against whoever the Reich found itself at war against. The German Expeditionary Force though, was to be made ready to be shipped out to Jagisville to serve as the nucleus of a possible peacekeeping force to ensure Jagisville remained free from any foreign intrusions, if the Führer ever came around to making that decision.

---

Sondrian Regional Council Headquarters
Sondrian Capital Islands

Ambassador Gerhard Drexler, Diplomatic Representative of the Greater Aryan Race, waited in the chambers of the Sondrian Regional Council with the rest of the GAR delegation for the intended peace conference to begin, whereby representatives of the participating nations would seek to craft together a tentative peace plan to terminate the bloody war in Jagisville.

Of course Ambassador Drexler, like so many of his counterparts in the Foreign Ministry, had long believed that peace negotiations were futile and pointless. There was nothing to stop the warring parties from continuing the war and they clearly showed no inclination to do so, despite the fact that Yalos, Mahdah and Crontor had agreed to participate, along with the Erjunhuf Republic. A coded diplomatic cable from the Foreign Ministry had instructed him as to his new orders and tasks during the diplomatic discussions, in particular to ensure the conference remained on track. If the conference failed, and it was certainly bound to fail, then at the very least he was to make clear the intentions and actions of the Reich, while giving away nothing substantial. If on the other hand it succeeded, peace had to come about while safeguarding the national interests of the Reich, that is to preserve a balance-of-power arrangement in Alkharania to ensure no one state could dominate the rest.

---

Force H
Near the Anchli Islands

Without any serious obstacle, Force H by now had managed to approach the Yalosii maritime boundary, with the Crontorian Anchli Islands to the West. Led by the Hindenburg, the carrier battle-group began it's task of sailing alongside the maritime boundary of Yalos, taking extra care to ensure it remained outside of Yalosii waters.

Force H's primary goal was that of naval reconnaissance, in that it was tasked chiefly with monitoring the conflict in Jagisville and Yalos proposer and relay all information it could gather to the Supreme High Command of the Navy. There was nothing really significant or controversial about the actions of Force H, merely standard maritime intelligence-gathering. Nonetheless as an extra precaution, Rear-Admiral Stern had ordered the fleet to go up to full battle stations, just in case it had to defend itself against a hostile party. A fighter screen of FA/18s was immediately assembled and launched from the carriers Ernst Udet and Hindenburg to protect Force H from any air or sea attacks, although their presence was limited by the amount of fuel available to them.

Nonetheless, the men of Force H could rest easy. After all, their carrier task force carried enough firepower to lay waste to an entire city, or even an enemy fleet for that matter. It would've been absolutely suicidal for any other hostile power to even consider attacking the task force, which even now showed no intentions of actively intervening in the conflict without prior authorization from the Führer.

[The Nuclear Fist]

ALKHARANIAN WORKER'S PALACE
JU'TOZZO, NATIONALIST ALKHARANIAN REPUBLIC OF YALOS
TWO DAYS AGO

Ambassador Enkidu Urkyeshka dutifully took a seat as Selos gestured. The chair was relatively comfortable, and with the cup of steaming tea in his hand and the warmth of the office contrasting nicely with the bitter cold of the outside world, he could almost find himself resting at ease. Almost, were he not in a city about to be cast into perdition at any moment, in a nation being torn limb from limb by war, in the presence of a bloodthirsty, egomaniacal sociopath.

Smiling politely to the Yalosii in front of him, he quickly ordered the aid to leave the room, and they did so obediently. That being said, he wouldn’t be drinking any more of their tea. It could very well have a decent amount of spittle in it, he knew how fussy these Yalosii could be when their delicate sense of honor was bristled. Enkidu took another sip of the cup in his hand, enjoying the warmth as it ran down his throat.

Setting it down, he looked up into his counterpart’s eyes with a certain amount of awkward sadness, as if he was about to tell a friend he wouldn’t be able to help him move instead of giving a world leader a devil’s bargain. He couldn’t possibly imagine how Selos would react, having a penchant for instability, and could only fathom how the man could possibly feel.

“Selos, uh, I uh. . . I’ve come here not just on behalf of my own country. This is something more. I. . . I’ve been on the phone with my bosses back in Shambhala, and even with the, uh, Supreme Chairman. It was his idea that I say what I am about to say.” He began, placing a small manila folder on the table and opening it, revealing several satellite photos of the amassed Marquesani fleet just off the coast below Ju’tozzo, as well as an intelligence report suggesting the forces in the area.

“The Marquesanis aren’t bullshitting here, Selos. The Shogun wants you bad. They’re launching a full scale attack on Ju’tozzo to get to you, and we generally think they’re willing to obliterate the entire city and slaughter everyone in it. At least, uh. . . at least that’s what we’d do, were we in their shoes. Effective tomorrow, Rustonia will be closing its embassy in Ju’tozzo and relocating to eastern Yalos.

“We’ve already got as much as we could carry loaded onto cargo planes and on their way to our bases over that way. What we couldn’t take we burned. Some of our intelligence boys are going over every inch of the place and scrubbing it. In a few hours, anyone who sets foot in that place won’t so much as find a speck of dust, let along anything compromising or valuable.

“My staff is busy getting loaded into a few trucks and are on the way to the airport. In a few hours, we’ll be safe and sound in our embassy in eastern Yalos. The paperwork is already drawn up, we’ll either relocate to Zeikla for the time being, go back to Rustonia, or head up to Mahdah. That’s where I’ll be headed. Normally we wouldn’t tell you this, you’d find out right around the time the last of our planes touched down. But, things have gotten complicated.

“How long do you think Ju’tozzo can hold out against the Marquesanis? A few days, a week, a month? The city will fall regardless, Yalos just doesn’t have the forces to stem the flow. And when the bullets and bombshells stop flying, you’ll either be dead or in their custody. And do you know what they’ll do to you? Assuming they don’t kill you, they’ll parade you around on a goddamned silver platter like the main course in a fucking feast. They’ll sit you in some fucking kangaroo court and put you through a mock trial. It will be a circus act for the ages, and you’ll be the clown.”
Enkidu paused to remove a cigarette from a pack in his pocket and light it, inhaling the pleasant smoke into his lungs. After a second or two he exhaled, and resumed his speech.

“I understand there is a certain amount of glory in going down swinging. Not turning tail and running, cotyou’re not a fool, Selos. A lot of things, but not a fool. As soon as this conversation is over I’m getting into my car and getting the hell out of dodge. If you want to maintain some semblance of control over your nation, I’d suggest you be there with me. Ultimately you’ll do yourself and your cause a lot of good if you disappear for a while, if the Marquesanis don’t capture you or find your corpse in the rubble.

“Removing you from the equation denies the Triad the bargaining chip they’re chomping at the bit for. It’s important to you that we pry every advantage we can from their fingers. It’s important to us.” Next Enkidu placed a second manila folder on the table and opened it. In it was contained a Rustonian passport, several doctored photos of Selos with different combinations of cosmetic changes, paperwork, an ID, and a driver’s license.

“If you say yes, we’ve already got a new identity set up for you. Officially, you’ll be a Rustonian citizen working at the embassy in Mahdah. We’ve gotten in touch with the Mahdavians about this and they’re given the all clear for it, so long as we keep this under wraps. Don’t worry, it will only be temporary. We’ll keep you nice and cozy hidden in in the Imperial Emirate while we get things settled here in Yalos. Once that’s done, you’ll be given back the reins of power.” Enkidu finished and met Selos’ piercing gaze with his own for several seconds, gauging the mental struggle going on in the beleaguered man’s mind. Enkidu finished his cigarette and put it out in the teacup, exhaling the last of the smoke and contemplating taking out another from his pocket when Selos nodded, a somber meekness on his face where arrogance and assuredness had for so long been accustomed.

Enkidu stood up and put his jacket back on. “One of your aides will have put a bag containing some clothes, shoes, some fake reading glasses and a wig in your room. Gather a suitcase of personal items and get a disguise on. In a half hour my car will be leaving for the airport at the latest, please be there on time. The Marquesanis will undoubtedly begin their attack at any moment, we cannot afford to waste even a moment of time.”

With that, the soon to be former ambassador to Yalos nodded to the soon to be (temporarily at least) former leader of Yalos and made his leave. As he exited building and reached the street, he stopped and turned around, taking in the view of the Worker’s Palace one last time. It was a shame, really. The thing was as much a work of art as it was a place of governance. A damned shame it would be little more than a pile of smoldering rubble soon, Marquesani troops picking through its burnt out shell like insects picking at the last few bits of putrid meat clinging to the bones of a dead animal. But that was what war did. That was the fate of nations.

Enkidu looked down at his watch. It was almost time to go, he’d better get ready.

[Mahdah]

OPERATION LIGHT BRINGER - Part 2

Entering Fusil, Yalos-Senera Border
Alkharania.

With the success of the 3rd Mahdavian Army down in the more southern Eastern parts of Yalos securing the cities of Kyotolkai, Hyailotta, Sekkanto and Shizeftzi. The 6th and 10th Mahdavian armies were now crossing the border between the unoccupied lands of Senera and Yalos. The 6th Army entered the city of Fusil at pre-dawn hours and had secured they city at ten AM, the 10th Army pushed forward more as they crossed the border and secured Nkatta by the same time as Fusil was secured. By noon the cities of Fusil, Nkatta and Junotta were secured by the newly arrived Mahdavian field armies. Contingents of the 6th Army were further sent to swoop through and secure S'ua Righca and Selios Ju'tozzo. While the 10th Army sent it's own contingents to secure the cities of Kuvino and Kokka which were swiftly secured as the rest were by the evening time.

With control emplaced over the remaining cities of Eastern Yalos it was now put into motion to secure the Mahdavian Army foothold within Eastern Yalos. AA systems and SPAAG emplacements were beginning to be placed in strategic positions by both armies engineers along with being camouflaged as best as possible with what could be available to them by nature. The 6th and 10th Armies begun to shuffle their units around to further establish control over their zone. The 21st, 24th and 28th Mechanized Corps would take positions within the cities of Fusil, S'ua Righca and Selios Ju'tozzo while also being reinforced by the 2nd, 5th and 1st Tank Corps which would take positions outside of the cities.

Further deployments of Mechanized and Tank corps occurred through Nkatta, Junotta, Kuvino and Kokka as well. The coastal city of Seliokka would be taken by Naval Infantry of the 1st Reserve Command Fleet's contingent of Amphibious Assault Carriers who had further numbers of troops from the 13th Mahdavian Army which was one of the several new field armies established from the CIOD Army personnel.

The consolidation of defense across Eastern Yalos was becoming more and more solid with the installation of AA defenses across the territory. The 6th and 10th Armies Artillery units were also dispatched to elevated strategic positions which would have lines of fire over cities and towns through out the territory. The logistic supply network starting in Senera had finally mapped out routes it would use and had already begun getting supplies through into Eastern Yalos in convoys of logistic trucks and air lifts into local city air ports which from there would distribute the supplies where they were needed.

[The Greater Aryan Race]

Reich Cabinet Meeting
Reich Chancellery
Germania

"Unless the negotiations in the Sondrian Regional Council produce something fruitful, we may very well be forced to consider more active and overt forms of intervention into Alkharania." declared Propaganda Minister Warnecke, as the Reich Cabinet convened once more at the Reich Chancellery to discuss the crisis in Alkharania, which was by now approaching catastrophic proportions. In spite of the call for peace negotiations, the OKW detected no sign of Crontorian and Marquesan troops halting their advance across Jagisville and towards the eastern border with Yalos, where the Yalosii Worker's Army remained entrenched in areas of Jagis territory it controlled. Even in these areas, there appeared to be no sign of a halt to the mass killings carried out by Yalosii troops against the indigenous population. The humanitarian situation in Jagisville was practically reaching an all-out disaster, with basic food and water supplies and other amenities in short supply, if not nonexistent already. There was no doubting the implications of this man-made disaster in the the making.

"Millions of people will starve!" Reich Economics Minister Bödeker had written in his dairy. Experts in the Foreign Ministry were predicting mass famine and uncontrollable outbreaks of diseases if the crisis in Jagisville was not controlled immediately.

Meanwhile, the OKW had also noted that Mahdavian troops, in spite of the announcement by the Second Imperial Emirate that it intended to attend the peace negotiations, were continuously streaming into Yalos, although the High Command was unable to tell if they were crossing into Yalosii territory against the will of the Yalosii government, if there was even a functioning government in Ju'tozzo, or if they were being mobilized to help defend Yalos against the impending onslaught of Triad forces, now lumbering massively across Jagisville.

By now, several members of the Reich Cabinet were openly calling for the intervention of the Reich into the current war in Alkharania. The generals, for their part, were itching for war against the Yalosii-Mahdavian Bloc, with the Wehrmacht already close to a full-mobilization. Nonetheless, Field Marshal Bergmann was careful to avoid being caught up in the hot-headed sentiments of his younger colleagues, opting instead to recommend to the Führer a more limited form of military action against the Yalosii-Mahdavian Bloc. Others in the Reich Cabjnet however, countered instead by urging the Führer to stick with the upcoming peace negotiations in the Sondrian Regional Council. However, it was increasingly clear to many that the peace negotiations by now carried no real weight. They would serve no function, except to legitimize the military actions of the belligerent parties. They would achieve nothing, except maybe to further illustrate the uselessness of the SRC as a viable organisation.

After an agonizing three-hour debate as ministers and officers debated and rebutted and proposed and counter-proposed, the Führer finally made his decision, probably the most crucial ever made concerning the conflict in Alkharania. The Foreign Ministry was instructed to continue the peace negotiations but with an added eye on sounding out the Triad for a possible peacekeeping force in Jagisville to resuscitate the situation. The General Staff of the OKW was instructed to prepare for a military campaign against Yalos and Mahdah while the Wehrmacht was to be made ready for possible combat operations against the Yalosii-Mahdavian Bloc. The German Embassy in Yalos was instructed to burn all secret documents and undertake other "special measures as would be necessary". War was now all but inevitable.

But first, the Government would try one last shot at forcing the belligerent parties to take the negotiations more seriously in order to halt the fighting:

Official Communique of The Fascist Dictatorship Of The Greater Aryan Race

---

To: The Governments of all the nation-states of Sondria
From: The Reich Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Government of the Greater Aryan Race

Subject: Alkharanian Peace Proposal and Other Measures

Encryption: LOW

---

To the Respective Governments,

The Government of the Greater Aryan Race is immensely heartened to hear that the Governments of the Imperial Federation of Crontor, the Second Imperial Emirate of Mahdah and the Alkharanian Worker's Union have agreed to establish and attend peace negotiations at the Sondrian Regional Council, in the spirit of seeking to establish a just and honourable peace in the region of Sondria.

However, this Government has noted that in spite of the professed peaceful intentions of the governments of the belligerent parties involved in this war, Mahdavian troop movements into Yalos have continued unabated while Crontorese and Marquesan forces have maintained their eastward advance into Jagisville and Western Yalos proper, which in turn causes this Government to seriously question whether or not the belligerent parties of Sondria are seriously intending to work towards peace.

Nonetheless, the Reich, believing strongly that peace is the only mechanism possible in guaranteeing the security and stability of the Sondrian region, continues to maintain the importance of these peace negotiations in the Regional Council as being key to ensuring an honourable and just peace for all.

To that end, I have been instructed by the Reich Chancellor and Führer to reiterate our previously aforementioned demands and conditions for fruitful peace negotiations to take, taking into account the fact that it was the Greater Aryan Race that first put forward the Peace Proposal to serve as a framework from which peace with honour may be achieved.

The government of the Fascist Dictatorship of the Greater Aryan Race hereby calls for:

• An immediate halt of all military operations by all belligerent parties involved in the Jagisville conflict, including both the Triad Pact and the Yalosii-Mahdavian Bloc.
• An immediate ceasefire to take effect with the implementation of the above-mentioned clause.
• All military forces belonging to both the Triad and the Yalosii-Mahdavian Bloc as well as all other parties involved in this war are to withdraw immediately back to their home nations and vacate the territories of Jagisville and Yalos.
• All belligerent parties shall work within the framework of the SRC peace negotiations to establish a permanent and just peace in the region.
• The Greater Aryan Race proposes to deploy it's own military forces to the Republic of Jagisville for the purpose of forming a peacekeeping and peace-enforcing force in the region while preserving and protecting the territorial sovereignty and integrity of the Republic of Jagisville.

These are our demands, which we sincerely hope the belligerent parties involved would accede to in order to bring this war to a close. If however, any one party declines to adopt our demands and conditions or makes no official response whatsoever, then this Government, under the leadership of the Reich Chancellor and Führer, will be forced to undertake more vigorous measures to enforce the peace in Alkharania.

With regards,
Hermann Balck
Reich Minister for Foreign Affairs
Reich Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Official Communique of The Fascist Dictatorship Of The Greater Aryan Race

---

To: The Government of the Shogunate of Marquesan
From: The Reich Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Government of the Greater Aryan Race

Subject: Security of Diplomatic Personnel in Yalos and Other Measures

Encryption: TOP SECRET

---

Your Majesty,

The Government of the Greater Aryan Race has detected the movements of Your Majesty's Armed Forces towards the Yalosii capital city of Ju'tozzo, in what is most certainly a military operation aimed at seizing that city.

Recognizing that it would be pointless for the Reich to intervene and stop the movement of Your Majesty's troops towards Ju'tozzo, the Reich Government has instructed me to inform Your Majesty that the Greater Aryan Race maintains a diplomatic mission in Yalos, which is currently the residence of our Ambassador to Yalos, Mr. Theodor Kellermann, as well as our diplomatic staff and all German citizens in Yalos who have been instructed to seek shelter at the Embassy during the course of the war in Jagisville. We request that Your Majesty, in accordance with international law concerning the safety and security of all diplomatic personnel in conflict-zones, take the full necessary steps to ensure that the German Ambassador and his staff do not come to any harm in the course of your operations against the Alkharanian Worker's Union of Yalos.

On another note, I have been personally instructed by the Reich Chancellor and Führer to convey to Your Majesty's Government that the Greater Aryan Race may very well be forced to go to war against the Yalosii-Mahdavian Bloc within the next few days. Bearing in mind however that this is not yet the final decision of the Führer, we trust that any information of this that reaches Your Majesty remain strictly confidential pending any changes in the situation. In the event that the Greater Aryan Race is compelled to go to war, the Government of the Reich wishes to deliver the following request to Your Majesty:

• That the Wehrmacht be authorized and permitted to utilize the Island of Pandora of the Shogunate of Marquesan and it's military bases and ports for use as a platform to conduct operations against any belligerent force.
• That the Greater Aryan Race coordinate and cooperate with the Triad Pact in persecuting the current war in Alkharania against the Yalosii-Mahdavian Bloc.
• That the Greater Aryan Race May receive support from the Shogunate of Marquesan and the Imperial Federation of Crontor for a German peacekeeping force that will be deployed to Jagisville.

We look forward to hearing your reply and will consequently update Your Majesty on any changes to the situation.

I have the honour to remain, with high consideration,

Hermann Balck
Reich Minister for Foreign Affairs
Reich Ministry of Foreign Affairs

---

Embassy of the Greater Aryan Race
Ju'tozzo
Yalos

The German embassy was by now roused into a full-state of nervous activity, no doubt the result of the continuous air raids by Marquesan aircraft. Several times, as the air raid sirens wailed over the capital city of the Alkharanian Worker's Union, Reich Ambassador Kellermann and his staff were forced to take shelter in their underground bunker specially prepared for situations like this. Although silly, the Embassy was instructed to fly the flag of the Greater Aryan Race while at the same time, a large flag of the Reich was placed in the embassy's courtyard so as to identify the building to any combatant aircraft in case they tried to bomb the embassy.

There had been several close calls, as the surrounding neighborhood of residential and commercial buildings was devastated by the Marquesan barrage of bombs and missiles but thankfully, no casualties had occurred.

However, by the late evening, the telex and fax machines of the embassy suddenly jerked to life, spewing forth a top secret diplomatic cable from the Reich Foreign Ministry at home:

Official Communique of The Fascist Dictatorship Of The Greater Aryan Race

---

To: Embassy of the Greater Aryan Race, Yalos
From: The Reich Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Government of the Greater Aryan Race

Subject: Deteriorating Situation in Sondria

Encryption: TOP SECRET

---

Herr Reich Ambassador,

There has been a grave deterioration in the regional situation concerning the current war that is taking place in Jagisville between forces of the Triad Pact and Yalosii-Mahdavian Bloc. In view of this development, the Führer has instructed all organs of state and all government departments as well as the Wehrmacht to undertake all preparations for a possible war with Yalos and Mahdah.

To that end, the Foreign Ministry intends that, upon the commencement of hostilities, you will deliver our diplomatic declaration of war to the Politburo of the Alkharanian Worker's Party of Yalos, if it even still functions as a viable governing entity.

At the same time, intelligence that has passed into our hands from the military appear to indicate a possible Marquesan strike against the capital city, perhaps to seize the city as a staging-ground for further offensive operations. To that end, you and your staff are to take all necessary steps to protect and guarantee your own security and refrain from any unnecessary actions that would expose you to danger.

Until further confirmation can be obtained from home and in lieu of the above situation, I request that you adopt immediately Protocols D, H and M concerning the actions of German diplomatic staff in special situations like these. Burn all secret documents and decoding machines to ensure they do not fall into the hands of Yalosii, Mahdavian or Marquesan forces. Instruct the agents and officers of the State Security Ministry to ensure our special equipment in the embassy remains hidden from any foreign entity. This is a request that comes not just from me but from the Reich Minister for State Security, Honecker.

Stand by for further instructions from home and update the Ministry regularly as to your situation in Ju'tozzo. Sieg Heil!

With regards,
Hermann Balck
Reich Minister for Foreign Affairs
Reich Ministry of Foreign Affairs

The message was promptly passed to the German Ambassador to Yalos, Theodor Kellermann, whom we met in the Zeiklan uprising against the Yalosii monarchy. Recognizing the urgency of the situation, and needing no further confirmation, Ambassador Kellermann immediately ordered all such secret documents of the German embassy to be burned. Special quick-feeding ovens, which had been installed in the event of such an emergency, were quickly activated and the documents fed into them, causing a steady stream of black smoke to emerge from the Embassy's chimneys, an occurrence which the Yalosii would not fail to notice.

All decoding and encryption machines that the diplomatic service used to encode and decode all German diplomatic cables (The GAR remained immensely particular about transmission security and had instituted a very complex scheme of diplomatic encryption to ensure her cables could not be deciphered if they were even intercepted) were promptly smashed and broken to ensure they could not fall into the hands of foreign powers who might use them to crack the Reich's diplomatic code. Their code books were also fed into the ovens, along with all special files that the GAR's spies kept concerning espionage activities in Yalos.

[Crontor]

Sondria;
Alkharania;
Free Jagis;
Johanis:

Suggested Listening

Arriving in the city of Johanis, the 412th and 413th Guard Armies from Army Group Center had expected to find a garrison of battle hardened Yalosii of the famed Red Guard standing in defiance to the Crontorian advance. These units had approached the city on two fronts, scanning the countryside for hints of enemy forces. Mobile artillery detachments had established themselves in defensive positions that inched forward with the armored groups that were themselves followed by infantry. Reconnaissance units attached to the Guard Armies had been sent ahead to scout the city and their report was anything unlike NORESCOM had been expecting.

Firstly, there were no enemy soldiers present. There were soldiers present, but the Jagite National Guard was the only military force on hand. Weary and defeated, the Jagites were busy handling the influx of refugees that had turned the city’s streets into a confusing gridlock of suitcase laden civilian vehicles, retreating Jagite armored vehicles, and locals just trying to get around. Into this mess walked the tip of the Crontorian spear, now delegated to traffic control duties as Leopard tanks squeezed their way through city streets. When Fort Jole heard of the mess, infuriated commanders immediately ordered the armored units trying to make their way through the city to pull out and remain in the less chaotic suburbs surrounding the city.

Dismounting from their IFVs and APCs, Crontorian infantry now picked their way through the city of Johanis. The citizens of Johanis watched in bewilderment as Crontorian soldiers clad in full combat gear toting Echeron Rifles ran through their streets and backyards. Token resistance was expected, but none came. Soldiers instead found themselves separating fights between refugees and locals and reopening the roads. The purported liberators of Jagis from the brutal Yalosii regime had just been demoted to hall monitors. Even so, municipal authorities seemed appreciative although this quickly turned to discontent when the Jagite flag was stripped from its pole and the CAF informed the Jagite National Guard that they would be taking over their headquarters for use as a forward operating base.

The bulk of the CAF units now in Johanis were establishing camp at the jointly shared military and civilian airfield which had now been declared the property of the Imperial Federation. Not without dismay but without argument, the airport workers began moving the planes on the tarmac and still within the confines of the airport to make way for the airports newest residents for not more than a few hours after the capture, the airfield was buffeted by hundreds of helicopters making their way from the west. NORESCOM had ordered the 37th Airborne Light Infantry Regiment forward to Johanis from their successful capture of Freimauer, now under the control of CAF ground units. Further south, the 38th Airborne Light Infantry Regiment had been sent to join the 414th and 415th Guard Armies in Seulbitzer.

Both Seulbitzer and Johanis were in a similar situation. Despite both escaping the physical effects of the war so far, they had been inundated with refugees from the capital and as the stream grew into a flood, local populations and the rushes of displaced people were clashing, often violently, with the local authorities largely unable to contain the violence. Just like in Johanis, the CAF in Seulbitzer was performing a peacekeeping mission. Most refugees were directed out of the cities, instructed about Crontorian refugee camps being established further west and encouraged to proceed there.

It was the 39th Airborne Light Infantry Regiment that first encountered a population touched by the war. Flying fast and low over the Jagite coast, the Imperial Federation was to secure this coastal city to make way for Marquesan landing forces. As they approached, the scars of an intense bombing raid became apparent. Military positions, strewn with charred bodies and vehicles, surrounded the shells of what those flying by could only assume were previously bunkers and barracks. It appeared that the attack had happened a day or two earlier, as landing parties surveyed the damages. The fires were out and bodies swarming with flies. A stench of death hung in the air, interspersed with gasoline and smoke. At least the Crontorians had better air cover.

Air cover was beginning to expand its reach as Air Defense Command units began relocating to captured airbases and airfields in Jagite cities. In Eslekro, Begebiet, and Freimaurer, former airports began to play host to flights of military aircraft that were being transferred from CAF facilities in eastern Vrontor. AIRDEFCOM flights were pushing the envelope of friendly airspace, with each mission moving closer and closer to Yalos. Presently, squadrons of Cerastes fighters were regularly patrolling the airspace east of Muhlgrib, but this had been the extent of their advance. Western Jagis was a constant flurry of CAF air activity. Tankers were perennially airborne, with squadrons of KC-10 Extender’s providing the needed fuel for the long patrol missions through Jagite airspace. Managing the air forces were rotating flights of E-3 Sentry AWACs which were working alongside STRATMISCOM to relay a stream of radar data to the Crontorian Battle Network and thereby every relevant official from Fort Jole to Vienna.

This air cover was vital to the continuing advance of the Imperial Federation through Jagis as NORESCOM forces around Fort Aro Tel began to get underway. Christened Army Group Alpha by NORESCOM, these forces were now streaming across the border in a broad front covering dozens of kilometers. With well over 1.6 million personnel, Army Group Alpha was a powerful and well stocked fighting force, tearing across the Jagite forests towards Kulmbacher. From there it was onto Kranhaus then Bermecker before eventually reaching their Schwielees. But as the men and women of the CAF piled into their IFVs, as tankers throttled the engines of their war machines, and pilots climbed into helicopters, they knew, they all knew, that Schwielees was just a stop on a very long drive and it was far from the last.

Sondria;
International Waters;
East of the Anchli Isles;
Eastern Command Expeditionary Forces:

Suggested Listening

Having since departed from Barrington Island Naval Base, ESCOM’s Expeditionary Force was making headway east. Leading the fleets were the Crontorian Combat Fleets, their E2-D Hawkeye AWACs far ahead of the combined fleet, relaying information on surrounding naval units and greatly extending the eyes and the ears of the fleet. Nothing had been encountered so far aside from a handful of passing commercial vessels. All had been left alone, but the men and women of Eastern Command could only chuckle in amusement of the bewilderment of cargo ship crews checking their radar screens only to find an armada in their path.

Interspersed among the Combat Fleets were the Expeditionary Strike Groups, the ground component of the Crontorian Navy. These Marines were a well-respected entity, the first conventional Crontorian units into most combat zones. It was the men and women of the Imperial Federation’s Expeditionary Strike groups that were responsible for carving out small footholds on enemy shores. Their job was never easy and always came at a high price, yet remained an essential job. Landing and fighting their way inland long enough for the Crontorian Army to offload and continue the fight was absolutely vital to any combined naval landing.

While an Expeditionary Strike Group packed a potent punch, they were not the first blow to be delivered onto an enemy shore. Now sailing east was a naval force the size of which had not been seen in years, and this was only half the force. Eastern Command units were on their way to rendezvous with Northeastern Command units sailing southeast from Fort Celfu. Combining units from both Operational Combat Commands, the command of the Expeditionary Task Force had been given to ESCOM’s Field Marshal Thomas Maxwell with the personal blessings of Supreme Commander Crogden. As the two armadas prepared to rendezvous south of Ondor, there was no effort to hide this movement. It simply could not be done. But the Imperial Federation cared little. Knowing about the existence of an expeditionary force and defeating said force were after all, two separate matters.

Previously stationed at the rendezvous point was Naval Task Force South of Naval Guard Command which was now ordered to the western Yalosii coast. With the Marquesans preparing to make a thrust towards the Yalosii capital and the Crontorians following close behind, it was only polite to smooth their landing. If this meant flattening Ju-tozzo, than the city would be flattened. In either case, the task force would beat the expeditionary forces now making a beeline for the coast and ensure that there was ample fanfare for a proper landing.

Sondria;
Beblis Administrative District;
Little Beblis;
Fort Blestal:

Suggested Listening

Far less known than its famous, insurgent ridden sibling, Little Beblis was a quiet, windswept island sitting between the Aquilinian Empire and Beblis. Settled far after the original Crontorian colonists arrived on the coast of Beblis in the 16th century, Little Beblis was considered by most to be culturally, ethically, and politically part of mainland Beblis. Locals resented the comparison, regarding the Beblians, both native and Crontori, as radical troublemakers. By comparison, the people of Little Beblis were Crontorians through and through, not Beblians first and Crontorians second. Ironically enough, they had been part of the Beblis Administrative District ever since the founding of the Imperial Federation.

Militarily, the island fell under the jurisdiction of Northern Command. Little Beblis had never suffered from any insurgency issues, meaning that Crontorian High Command had long ago shifted control of the island to Northern Command. The shift benefitted NORCOM greatly, also allowing them to use Little Beblis as a staging ground for operations in northern regions of the region. As soldiers from NORCOM bases across the Lusitorian coast began to stream into Fort Blestal, Little Beblis began to resemble an arsenal ship. Forty Combat Fleets had been redirected from port or normal patrol activities along with fifteen Expeditionary Strike Groups. Pulled from Beblis Command and Central Command were twenty Resupply and Support Fleets able to ferry the forty Field Armies destined to storm a foreign shore.

The German peace proposal had been widely distributed among the mobilizing Operational Combat Commands within the CAF and the reaction was universal. Peace was pointless at this point. Negotiations were a stalling tactic. Cooperation was to be shunned. The Imperial Federation had taken Jagis and they would hold it. They would soon do the same with the lands before them. For the Imperial Federation, it would be a waste of effort to set down the hatchet at this point. The only common sense solution was to drop the hatchet and pick up a sledgehammer.

[Marquesan]

Ju'tozzo, Yalos.
Time: 0300 Hrs.

Waves lapped against a quiet wharf. Somewhere, a dog barked. Minarets were silhouetted against a velvet blue sky by the yellow/orange glow of countless sodium-arc lamps that buzzed in the night. The streets were quiet; here and there, a car's tires hissed against the asphalt of the city streets. Music echoed off quiet, darkened buildings from a nightclub where Yalosii youth laughed and danced and drank. Somewhere, the siren of a police car was heard responding to a call. Ju'tozzo was dark, Ju'tozzo was quiet. At the oceanside, the waves lapping against the beach was peaceful, a gentle rhythm that pulsed in the night. A wispy, faint mist was beginning to roll in off the sea, creeping into the low places, filling in the little dips in the street, clinging to the cool concrete with little curling trails that eddied and swirled and danced.

Like daggers from the belly of hell itself, twenty machines overflew the coast, their wings swept back, arrowheads of black against a backdrop of deepest blue, screaming with a terrible shriek that would chill a man to his core. Straining against their speed limiters they came, only meters above the tops of Ju'tozzo's buildings. They shattered glass and crumbled drywall with the fearsome crack of their sonic shockwaves. The screaming of their "Banshee" engines, four apiece would split eardrums; an oppressive, otherworldly sound like the fabric of the heavens being ripped along a seam. As a force unnatural they came, black and brutally fast, twenty Sarissa bombers laden with twenty four 907 kilogram thermobaric munitions apiece. Over the city, they pulled up, spiraling in a vertical climb, trading speed for altitude as they released their bombs from their launchers in an acrobatic pirouette. This terrible death dance, a trick requiring incredible skill on the part of a Sarissa bomber pilot was called Tandava for the spiral dance of destruction performed by the Hindu god Shiva, and in effect, it would hurl the bombs upward as the bomber climbed, sending them on narrow, ballistic arcs.

When the bombs came down, they would come down nearly straight at their terminal velocity. The bombers, once empty, simply laid over and performed a midair roll, making only one pass over the city before turning back for the coast and pinning their throttles. Since they'd come in off the coast only meters over the water, they'd advanced with nearly zero warning and by the time Yalosii SPAAG's were able to track them, they were already releasing their bombs. Two Sarissas succumbed to enemy anti aircraft fire, flaming out and falling to the city below in burning fireballs, but as they fell, so did their bombs. Erupting into wide flashes of white fire tinged at their centers with a filamented core of blue, each bomb detonated at roughly ten meters above the ground, hundreds of kilograms of highly explosive nanofuel bursting from casings and then, a fraction of a second later, being detonated not as a solid mass, but as a diffuse cloud, mixing with the air.

Each bomb created an enormous shockwave, spread out throughout the city as a diffuse, random pattern that covered perhaps seventy percent of the heart of Ju'tozzo. The dire cacaphony of four hundred and eighty thermobaric munitions detonating above an otherwise silent city was like pitching the entire metropolis into the jaws of hell itself. The chaos was instantaneous, brutal and deadly, with untold thousands crushed by collapsing buildings, cars being hurled through walls, a city full of burning shrapnel as supersonic detonation waves ripped through the city.

Into this fray, as harbingers of a coming apocalypse, rode the Marquesan and Iohanni warrior elite on their Reapers. Touching down on a beach just outside the city and meeting the Capricorn class transports that had approached the beach just as Ju'tozzo was overflown by Sarissas. It took only minutes to mount the soldiers into Boreas and Mithras fast wheeled armor, careening onto burning, rubble-filled city streets in a spearhead formation driving headlong for the Worker's Palace.

Their guns blazing, the wheeled tactical vehicles engaged any military target with 30mm and 40mm high-explosive munitions that blasted through antiquated Yalosii T-34 tanks and simply tore into BMP's and BTR's, rending metal with incredible force, sometimes knocking a BTR onto its side if a shell landed high on the chassis. They stopped for nothing, crushing running Yalosii soldiers beneath their tires if they ran into the path of the Marquesan armor.

Blasting through the walls on either side of the gats of the Worker's Palace with their 40mm guns, two Boreas Cavalry Fighting Vehicles burst through the wrought iron gate of the palace in unison, turning the stately arabesques of the gate's ironwork into flying hunks of worthless rebar, the armored lance crushed low walls and gardens that had stood for two hundred years, tearing through the stately reflecting pools and manicured rows of flowers and bushes with unabashed violence, a flanking element of Mithras Fast Attack Vehicles firing the first 30mm shells that impacted the columns and tiled porticos of the palace proper, sending plaster and stone and shattered tile clattering down onto the cobblestone of the driveway. A 40mm shell that left its barrel and fell low spiraled into the grand fountain, a sculpture hewn from granite of an ironworker with hammer raised up above his head, his eyes fixed on the anvil before him. When the shell detonated, the fountain came apart from below, the granite head of the worker flying back and flying through the door of the palace as it shattered on the interior floor, crushing the polished marble tile where it struck.

Once they'd reached the shaded patios attached to the palace, the vehicles ground to a halt, though a Mithras FAV, lightweight and compact ran up the polished marble grand staircase and burst through the remnants of the two-storey tall wooden palace door with its front wheels off the ground, its turret rotating up and firing three bursts of explosive 30mm shells at Palace Guards on the second floor balcony. The awful thud of its cannon in the reflective Grand Foyer shattered the tall stained glass windows of the palace outward as the room was flooded with Marquesan and Iohanni soldiers in full body armor and helmets with their night vision cameras switched on as they systematically put down the resistance of the Palace Guards and began the process of searching the palace for Selos Manikato.

After only minutes, every room of the palace was clear, its staff searched, stripped, tied and laid face-down, spread prostrate on the broken tile floor in front of the Mithras FAV still in the Grand Foyer, the guards bloodied and disarmed or killed. The Workers Palace had fallen and was now held by more than forty thousand soldiers and wheeled armor distributed around the grounds and through the capitol district surrounding the palace. Around them, the ruined city burned with lurid fires that danced toward heaven and the sky choked with smoke from infernos that raged unchecked. Fighting around the capitol district was fierce, with what remained of the Yalosii Red Guard flocking toward the half-destroyed Worker's Palace, drawn like moths to a bonfire by the sound of the Marquesan guns.

One thing was becoming agonizingly clear; Selos was not where he was expected to be.


Marquesan Ambassadorial Complex,
Sondrian Regional Council Headquarters,
SRC Archipelago.

"Son of a bitch, they didn't capture him?" Gabrielle muttered under her breath as her eyes flicked over the latest encrypted message from Pandora. She had only minutes before she had to meet the Sondrian Regional Council, and the Shogunate had risked the lives of 32,000 of its own from crack TSELI units and 16,000 Iohanni special operations troops in a desperate bid to apprehend Selos Manikato and topple the Yalosii government in one daring midnight raid. The problem was that Selos wasn't where Intelligence said he would be. Now, awfully outnumbered and in the enemy's capitol city, far beyond the striking reach of the Royal Marquesan Army's deployment into Jagis which had only just officially gotten underway, at the bleeding edge of the range of air support from Pandora and surrounded by enemy fleets closing in, the intended decapitation strike was looking more and more heroic with every passing hour. This was how medals got awarded; of course, most that earn the big medals rarely get to wear them.

Dr. Gabrielle Tasse, special advisor to the Shogun on foreign policy and official delegate to the Sondrian Regional Council was an angelic-looking olive skinned brunette with a ravishing, delicate figure and big almond-shaped eyes that could quicken the pulse of the most sedate men and women alike. She'd been a master dive instructor and a personal friend (some say much more) of Akane Hyuga before the Shogun came to power and, while qualified, was incredibly young for the position she held. She ran her delicate fingers through a thick mane of spiraling chocolate brown hair, shaking it loose as she adjusted the light green sundress she wore. While November it was, the tropical climate of the SRC islands meant that she rarely needed more than a light jacket and it would serve her well to show a little of her stunning physique while in the presence of the other delegates. She took a drink from a glass of sweet, steaming red tea as she glanced over to the door, apprehensive about the meeting.

She steeled herself as she stood and moved toward the door, shaking off the apprehension and melancholy that always followed it and putting on a poker face that was part model on a catwalk and part childlike innocence, turning the doorknob and stepping out onto a shaded walkway that led to the round building that housed the Council Chamber. The air was cool and sweet scented; a gentle ocean breeze carried the scent of tropical flowers like salt water taffy. Half a world away, men were fighting and dying, but here, it was up to her to justify the Shogun's actions as those of a brave leader trying to bring an early end to the war before the Yalosii Red Guard met the brunt of either Crontorian or Marquesan armies on the field of battle. It fell to her to color the midnight decapitation strike as an effort to capture the mad dictator alive and bring him to justice, to close the war before larger allies of the Alkharanian Worker's Party arrived in Alkharania. And for that, she needed to undo the top button of her sun dress and swing her hips a little bit more as an attendant opened the door for her and she entered the foyer of the Council Chamber, giving a polite smile and a flirtatious wink to Gavin Cranico, whom she saw just walking into the Chamber himself.

Showtime.


Jagisville Capitol District,
Free Jagis.

With CAF and RFA units finally in sync, the east-driving spearhead had picked up momentum. With Crontorians capturing cities on both north and south flanks and other countries joining the fight, the Marquesans were free to drive for the beating heart of the country, its capitol, Jagisville. Entering the city on a main highway, local police had blocked off the highway onramps, allowing the Marquesans a clear road and a crowd had gathered on either side to watch the foreign tanks enter the town. As in other cities in the western part of the country, much of what one would expect from a quiet democratic country in terms of civil order had broken down and six Sapper lances of eight thousand men apiece broke off from the main thrust to help local officials with repair, traffic control and quieting local murmurings about the government fleeing to the east. The truth was that most of the city's police force had fled and hundreds of Jagisville Public Safety Department vehicles sat unmoving in their fleet yards.

The Marquesans had captured the capitol intact and a press conference was held on the capitol steps with coalition leaders to assure the population of Jagis that the war was going well and that their country would be safe. Once in the capitol, Jagisville leaders were eager to show the army the scenes of horror they'd witnessed. While not released to the public, horrific images of a pyramid of corpses, flayed civilians and rows of beheaded corpses, disembowled infants and children and evidence of numerous gang rapes and necrophilic acts of the most depraved nature possible were shown to the RFA commander. Speaking at the conference later, his voice was broadcast on every television and radio channel across Jagis.

"We will not stop our eastward advance, we will not rest until Selos Manikato and his Yalosii Red Guard are captured or killed. Those responsible for these war crimes WILL be brought to justice and made to pay for their dear offenses. The despicable crimes that have been wrought upon the good people of Jagis will not go unpunished and I have assurances from my government that, wherever he is, Selos Manikato will be found, he will be captured and he will be punished. There is no mountain we will not climb, no military with which we will not contend, no country in which he is safe. We will go to any length, fight any fight to find and capture the evil dictator responsible for these acts. If any Yalosii Red Guard are receiving this, allow me to issue you a one time offer: Come forward to any coalition unit and surrender yourself with your weapon held above your head. If you do this, you will not be engaged as a target. You will be treated if you are injured and you will be fed. Do not resist the coalition armies; if you do, it will be a fight you cannot win. There is no option but surrender or death."

By sunset that evening, armored columns of Shiva and Chimera tanks backed by Kraken IFV's were seen cutting across open land in the direction of Jodenser and Muhlgrib even as the long trail of Marquesan armor was still entering Jagisville from the west. A steady stream of Marquesan and Crontorian units would take days to push down the highway in Jagisville, one unit relieving the next in keeping watch over the city and ensuring the flow of traffic was maintained on the main arteries. Tens of millions of soldiers would pass through the city, the rumble of their advancing vehicles clearly audible at every hour of the day and night. The wheels of the allied war machine had finally come up to speed and, at this moment, the eastward advance seemed unstoppable.

[Mahdah]

Sondrian Regional Council Headquarters,
SRC Archipelago.

Yasar Cevik in his stylish all black suit walked through the doors of the Sondrian Regional Council Chambers prepared for a lengthy not very friendly assembly of delegates here. Yasar took his seat at the conference table giving a nod of acknowledgement to the other delegates as he waited for the meeting to start. The Mahdavian government had instructed him to do what he could if questioned by Galvin himself or any other delegate present on the issue of Yalos and the conflict as a whole. Yasar in the mean time occupied himself with his cellphone which he checked messages and updates from the Mahdavian government along with also checking what was happening in various social media sites he had accounts in.