Sub Hasta (Atlas FT Group ONLY/FT)

[Stasnov]

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Sub Hasta

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"Si vis, para bellum"

The Wolfstern System is an 7-planet system located right on the Imperial-Collectivist border, with three inhabitable planets: Eintsberg, Engels and Windhelm. The Class K "orange dwarf" star, named "Wolf", resides in the centre of the system. The Wolfstern system was colonised by a group of germanic colonists originating from Atlas, however, when the inhabitants of the system made first contact with another human interstellar civilization, the Collectivist Union, all information of their national origins had been lost. The Wolfsterners had formed a democratic, neutral state of their own confined within the borders of their system; the Republic of Wolfstern, and lived peacefully between the two larger powers, benefitting from trade with both of them. However, influence from both the Imperial Fatherland and the Collectivist Union found their way into the peaceful system. While Collectivist agitators and revolutionaries rose at one part of the system, pro-Imperial reactionaries gained popularity at the other.

When the Great Galactic War broke out not long after most major human and non-human civilisations made first contact, war for the Wolfstern system was inevitable.

In the early morning of the 25th of June, heavily armed Collectivist revolutionaries flooded the streets of every city on Stadt (now Engels) and took over administration and government buildings. Officials and buisnessmen were being arrested and after brief trials by People's Courts, were sent to the gallows and the firing squad. The 2 kilometre-high Geld Tower, seat of the powerful Zahlungsmittel banking clan was stormed by the Revolutionaries and later set on fire. The tower had collapsed by midnight. The next thing the locals saw next morning, were Collectivist battlecruisers and transports above the planet. VeK fighter jets soared through the skies as Division after Division of Collectivist conscripts landed on Stadt, which was later renamed Engels, in honour of an ancient Collectivist theorist. The Wolfstern Democratic Republic had been formed, and the crimson banners of the Revolution flying over major buildings reflected the blood of the reactionaries that covered the roads bellow.

On Windhelm, things were going towards the oppossite direction. During the night of the 26th of June, stormtroopers of the pro-Imperial Wolfstern National Party, often with local police and military support, started assaulting parts of cities that were inhabited by aliens, including Barescans and other aliens that fled to Wolfstern to escape the purges and forced labour in the Imperial Fatherland. Those we were deemed as "impure" or as "traitors of the nation" were also rounded up and executed along with all non-human inhabitants of the planet, or set to "re-education camps". The full might of the Imperial Star Navy fleet soon appeared over Windhelm. Thousands of Imperial Marines came out of the dropships. The Imperial banner and the flag of the newly-formed Confederate Republic of Wolfstern flew together above the main administration building of Windhelm's capital city as local stormtroops and Imperial Marines marched together bellow them.

Meanwhile, the capital planet of Eintsberg had turned into a huge battlefield. CRW and WDR forces battled over the planet for a week, with massive lossees for both sides. It was then that the Imperial military arrived. The massive Harbinger-class battleships and other vessels pounded the positions of the newlly formed Volksarmee, the military of the WDR, to submission, and the Confederate forces, along with the recently arrived Imperial Marines achieved a breakthrough, and made their way towards the planetary capital of Herne. However, their advance were brought to a halt by a wave of Collectivist reinforcements, and a renewed force of reorganised Volksarmee Divisions. From a fast-pace mobile theatre, the battle for Eintsberg had devolved into a war of attirtion. As space battles raged across the system, the front on Einsberg remained stale. It was one of the few non-mobile theatre in the Imperial-Collectivist front, and non signs of progress were evident for either side.

With the decicive Collectivist victory in the Battle of Lebedgrad, the Imperial advance into Union territory was brought to a halt and reversed, as the Collectivist counter-attack was now pushing into Imperial space. However, after the massive Collectivist losses in the Battle of Xuocury, and despite their victory, the Union's advance slowed down. Not much later, the intergalactic peace conference began to bring and end to the Great Galactic War. After intense talks, a peace treaty was signed.

The peace treaty included what came to be known as the Herne Accords. According to the Herne Accords, the Wolfstern System was to be split between the Confederate Republic of Wolfstern, and the Wolfstern Democratic Republic, with the former under Imperial protection and the latter and Collectivist protection. The capital planet of Eintsberg was to be split between the CRW and the WDR as well. However, the treaty also called for the immedeate withdrawal of the majority of both Collectivist and Imperial forces from the system. Trying to ensure regional peace, both powers complied and pulled their fleets and armies back, not without leaving a small garrison behind, of course.

Now, it seems that peace has returned to both the galaxy and the Wolfstern System. But how long will it last...

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Terrorist bombing in Herne

Massive bombs go off in Wolfstern Democratic Republic capital city of Herne; death toll in the thousands

Aufstand District before the attacks.

[box]^{SHARE THIS}:

Dimitri Ibraimov (@dimitriibraimov)
^{---DATE--- | , Lebedgrad}

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Greetings comrades, citznes of the Collectivist Union. Horrible news came earlier today from the capital city of the Wolfstern Democratic Republic, Herne, on the divided planet of Eintsberg. Several large yield bombs went off at the same time at several locations within the centre of the city, including the market district, at the time full of innocent civilians. More than 20 bombs were detonated, three of them in the large, central square of the city, Juliplatz, one of the busiest places in all of Herne. An explosion also rocked the Volkspolizei Heardquarters in the Aufstand District, causing the buidling to collapse with everyone inside. Rescue teams are currently removing the rubble to find any survivors. Other bombs went off in numerous residential areas and in the suburbs. As a result of the bombings, over 6,000 civillians have been confirmed dead, and more than 12,000 wounded.

Volkspolizei counter-terrorist special forces have been dispatched throughout the city to arrest certain suspects, and roadblocks and checkpoints can be seen in almost every road. The WDR Minister of Defence, comrade Hans Albrecht, announced that Volksarmee units, will be helping with the counter-terrorist operations as well. There have been reports of Luftstreitkräfte (LSK) VeK-337s and VeK-200s flying over the city, and Mi-54 gunships full of heavily armed soldiers are pefroming patrols in most districts. Tanks and IFVs fron the 12th Panzerdivizion have also blocked all exits from the city.

Just 30 minutes after the last bomb went off in Adrastusplatz, a short video was sent to the office of the WDR News Agency, the AWN. The video depicted a masked, heavily armed man, flanked by two other, armed men with similar clothing. The man in the front declared that the attack was carried out by the "Wolfstern Purity and Reunification Front", and that they took whole responsibility for the attacks. The man claimed that the attacks signaled a new era that would bring about the reunification of Wonfstern after the destruction of the "xenophile and Collectivist puppet government" of the WDR.

In a televised address to the public, President of the State Council of the Wolfstern Democratic Republic, comrade Gerald Pieck, vowed for justice and revenge

"This cowardly attack proves that the enemies of the people did not vanish with the end of the Great Galactic War. Those who want to see the working man and alien in chains again still stalk in the shadows, and today they finally emerged to strike hard on our peaceful nation. This will not, cannot continue, not as long as i'm breathing. This much i vow: those responsible for the massacre of innocents will pay dearly for their crimes! We will find those rats and bring them to justice . And if it is revealed that there are others supporting these terrorist actions, we shall unleash such terrible vengeance, that generations yet unborn will cry in anguish!"

Premier Ulyanov has not yet made any comments on the situation, though he is expected to eventually have his say. Meanwhile, the Central Collective of Defence has confirmed that Collectivist military units stationed in the Wolfstern System have been put in high readiness, though neither ships nor ground troops have left their ports or bases.

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[Patria Imperiala]

Oberleutnant der Verbündeter Stoßtruppen
Dieter Koenig
Kaiserstadt, Windhelm

Two Confederate Stormtroopers in the Kaiserstadt Operating Base

A strange mix of libertarians, communists and anarchists had gathered in Kaiserstadt, following increased persecution of Aliens and Communists following the end of the Great War, those deemed a threat to the Confederacy were shown no mercy, whether they were distributing communist propaganda, attending meetings of the various communist groups scattered around, or simply getting too close with the variety of alien minorities on the planet. Stormtroopers were now deployed to get the situation back under control, most of them were equipped with Imperial-issued kfk AmK, which were designated SMi StG in the use of the Wolfstern Landwehr. The rifles were aimed at the protesters as two loudspeakers competed for the most decibels.

"PUT YOUR HANDS ON YOUR HEADS AND LAY DOWN FLAT, COME PEACEFULLY OR FACE HARSH CONSEQUENCES," the police loudspeaker blared.

The screech of feedback from the protesters loudspeaker sounded for a moment before fading away, "ALIEN RIGHTS! HUMAN CORPSES!" it sounded, and the chant was picked up by the rest of the group.

Then a crack of gunfire sounded, and time seemed to slow as one Koenig's men, less than half a meter away from him, was struck in the chest by the bullet, it must have been gauss powered by the mess it made of the man and his armour. No orders needed to be given, and the Stoßtruppen opened fire. The automatic rifle fire cut down the protesters, as they scrambled over their dead friends, abandoning their picket signs and banners. The streets were blocked by the Stormtroopers. While the bulk of the stormtroopers massacred the protesters, Koenig and his men ducked into a building to their right where the gunshot had come from, their rifles at the ready.

The inside of the building looked bathed in blue and red to Koenig and his infrared night vision goggles, a set of stairs led upwards into the top of the building, where they could hear more gauss gunshots firing every so often. They encountered a locked apartment room door, Koenig nodded and his second in command stood back for a moment, before rushing forwards and bashing through the door.

"BEKOMMEN AUF DEM BODEN, SCHEIßKERL," he shouted, over the sound of the Stormtroopers on the ground firing at the window. The man was an alien, a disgusting and strange looking beast with three fingers, no hair, and light blue skin, Koenig wasn't familiar with this particular breed of Xeno, but he didn't much care. The alien looked at the multiple assault rifles pointed at him, and hesitated, and slowly dropped his gun. Koenig rushed forwards and smashed him in the face with the butt of his rifle. He pushed a button on his toolbelt and his radio came on. "We have him," he said.

The gunfire died down outside. The alien on the ground had a large red bruise on his blue face, Koenig grabbed him by the throat and lifted him up off the ground. "You are a fucking biological mistake, Außerirdischen Bastard." One of the other troopers picked up the gun the alien was using, some kind of bolt action gauss rifle. "You should know better than to kill your betters."

"Scheissratte, kill me, you Feiglinge!" the alien spat a hock of blood onto Koenig's goggles. Koenig pulled out his pistol, and held it to the alien's head.

He pushed the barrel of the pistol against the aliens head, "Halt die Klappe, Scheissfotze," he said.

"Kurva, állj meg!" he heard, and looked to the door, three Imperial Marines stood there, and approached Koenig slowly, "Put him down, he's not worth it," one said in broken German. Koenig gripped the alien's throat tighter, then dropped him to the ground. The alien lay on the floor, spluttering and coughing up blood. Two Marines stepped forwards, picked him up and carried him out onto the street. "Now go outside and clean up your mess," the Marine captain ordered.

---

Imperial Ambassador to Confederate Republic of Wolfstern
Ervin Tolvaj
Auflingen, Eintsberg

Ervin barged into the Confederate Minister of Internal Security's chamber, reports in hand of violent riots, and terrorism rising throughout the WDR and CRW. "What do you know about this?" he demanded.

Sieghard Jäger, the Minister for Internal Security, looked over the papers quickly, detailing the attacks in Herne, protests in in Kaiserstadt put down with gunfire, and a rising trend of escalating tensions across the Wolfstern system. The first report, of the attack in Herne, pointed to a significant possibly that his Ministry had been somehow involved in the planning and execution of the plan. "Close the door," he said simply, and Ervin complied. "Neither me, nor this Ministry, had any involvement in the attacks on Herne, understand?"

"I cannot believe that, it is entirely in your interest to provoke attacks across the system, provoke war with the Democratic Republic. The Fatherland is not ready for another war with the Collectivists, Jäger," Ervin said. "We are already breaking the damn accords, I am sure you know our troops in the Confederacy are well above the limit set by the Collectivists, if they catch wind of that, all the provocations we are giving them are just a begging for them to declare war on us."

"I'll step up patrols on their border, and increase the garrison on Eintsberg, if they want to start a war, we will be ready," Jäger said.

"You'd better be fucking ready," Ervin said.

When he returned to the embassy, the immediately wired a telegram to his Collectivist counterpart in the Democratic Republic.

Code: Select all

To: Collectivist Ambassador to Wolfstern Democratic Republic
Encryption: Subspace XCV-92 Encryption, Very High
From: Ervin Tolvaj, Imperial Ambassador to Confederate Republic of Wolfstern
Tensions rise system-wide, and It is time that discussions take place between Imperial and Collectivist leadership regarding the future of Wolfstern. The Confederate Republic will not be privy to these discussions, and I hope you extend the same courtesy and exclude the leadership of the Democratic Republic from these talks, in the hope of maintaining peace and upholding the terms of the Herne Accords.

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Oberkommando Eintsberg

Confederate Landwehr, 13th O.K.E. Heeresgruppe, in base at Eintsberg

The 13th Landwehr O.K.E. Heeresgruppe, numbering a total of 750,000 men, had been raised from reservists, conscripts and volunteers from Eintsberg and Windhelm. The large Army Group was a direct response to the Volksarmee of the illegitimate Wolfstern Democratic Republic, the build-up on the border began as internal tensions in both nations rose exponentially, Imperial advisers were terrified that Confederate leadership was doing all in it's power to provoke a war. The Imperial Fatherland Marine Corps, and Star Navy, were ill prepared for any major conflict, especially with the Collectivist Union, which seemed to have a limitless supply of men, bullets and ships.

Hopefully the buildup would end with the deployment of the 13th Heeresgruppe, but most doubted it. Factories across the Confederate Republic were churning out tanks, atmospheric fighters and guns, while two Imperial Fleets awaited in a neighbouring system, prepared at any moment to warp into Wolfstern and secure the system of any Volksarmee star ships, but more importantly, engaging any Collectivist reinforcements sent to the system.

The Imperial Fatherland may not currently want a war, but if war was to come, they had every intention to win it.

[Union of Collectivist Systems]

Arbeits Straße, Luxemburg District, Baader
Engels, Wolfstern Democratic Republic
2nd Company, 1251st Mot.-Schützen Battalion, 417th Mot.-Schützen Regiment, 46th Mot.-Schützen Division
2320 hours

The massive column of BTR-7s and BMP-19s rolled down the wide Arbeits Straße, as puzzled and somewhat terrified civillians observed them from the windows of the large buildings that towered over the street. The vehicles were all coated in the kakhi, grey and black camo scheme of the National Volksarmee of the WDR. The Divsional Panzer Regiment, with its massive, four-track T-37M main battle tanks headed the column. The tanks were painted with the same camo scheme as the other vehicles in the column. The Arbeits Straße, the "Worker's Street" was the massive highway that ran through the planetary capital of Engles, the city of Baader. Standing about 200 metres above the ground, it had 10 lanes, and was used for military parades and other celebrations. Several Mi-54 heavy gunships flew above the column, their spotlights checking the corners of the smaller streets.

Captain Rainer Kessler rode on tope of a BTR-7 with some of the men of the 2nd Company, 1251st Mot.-Schützen Battalion, his unit. He was near the head of the column, and could clearly see the civillian vehicles rapidly disperese in the sight of the tanks. The the voice of the 421st Panzer Regiment's commander, Colonel Klauss, blarred on the loudspeaker mounted on the lead vehicles "This is a military operation of the Volksarmee. Please move your vehicles out of the way." The 46th Mot.-Schützen Division was deployed to the Luxemburg District so quickly, the Volkspolizei didn't even have enough time to set up checkpoints to limit civillian traffic before the heavy vehicles arrived. But it didn't matter. They were almost at their destination. Kessler quickly unslinged his ADK-45, pulled back the charging handle to check if everything's ok, and then loaded a 30-round curved magazine into the assault rifle before cocking it. They had been ordered not to have their rifles loaded until they reached their destination, so as to not scare the civillians.

The BTRs of the 1251st broke formation from the rest of the column and went down a side road, the led to the lower level of the city and the Artus District. The Artus District, mostly dominated by old, pre-Great Galactic War buildings that the reforms of the Collectivist government hadn't yet managed to tear down and replaced, housed the heardquarters of the Wolfstern Union State Movement. The WUSM was a centrist, democratic organisation that seeked reconciliation between the two Wolfsterner nations, in order to achieve a reunification under a neutral and democratic government. The government of the Wolfstern Worker's Party let the WUSM be as a sign of their will to cooperate with the Confederates. However, after the attacks, there was no place for bourgoise and reactionaries in the Democratic Republic.

That was the mission of the 1251st: to arrest and apprehend the leadership of the WUSM and as many of their prominent supporters as possible. Normally, this would be a Volkspolizei operaration, or the Stasi's work at worst, but given the concequences, the government of the Democratic Republic wanted to give it a military character, to make the WUSM and similar organisations seem as threats to national security. Additionally, they wanted to have the military on the streets in order to quickly put down any possible demonstrations or riots as a result of the purges and suppression operations. The 1251st wasn't the only unit with such a mission. The entire 46th Mot.-Schützen Division had similar missions all across the northern part of Baader, and the entire Democratic Republic was on alert, with similar purging operations and mass arests taking place across WDR territory. Military vessels had also increased their patrols, and Grenztruppen patrol ships patrolling the border regions with the Confederation were reinforced by Volksmarine warships.

It had started rainning. The column rolled into a large square surrounded by old, tall apartment buildings. The civillians gathered there, going about their daily buisness, staired at them with puzzled looks. The square didn't have a name, but those who lived the called it Einheitplatz, due to the WUSM HQ that towered over it.

"Get off your vehicles, go, go, go!" Kessler yelled at his men who quickly jumped off the BTRs and started gathering by platoon.

"This is an operation of the Volksarmee. Please remain calm and gather in the centre of the square." a sergeant from the Company HQ Platoon shouted with a loudspeaker.

Some of the civillians followed that order, but many didn't budge. They were suprised by the whole thing that was unfolding before their very eyes. They had never seen the military operate within the city. However, they all complied when the soldiers approached them with their rifles at the ready. They were lined up in a square formation in the middle of Einheitplatz, with the soldiers from 1st Company guarding them. Meanwhile, 3rd Company dispersed and quickly started running into the appartment blocks, breaking down doors and strorming the buidlings when necessary.

"2nd Company on me!" Kessler ordered and about 100 men gathered behind him.

They approached the WUSP HQ; a tall pre-GGW era building, that was renovated with private funding by the organisation. They entered the reception with their weapons in hand. The receptionist abruptly stood up with a shocked look on her face. Two soldiers quickly seized her and dragged her out of the building.

"3rd Platoon, take first, second and third floor, 2nd will take fourth, fifth and sixth. Me and 1st will search the rest. Go" Kessler ordered and the Company quickly split up.

The 1st Platoon, led by Kessler burst through the doors and entered the offices of the seventh floor. The soldiers quickly started to round up the civillians and office workers there. Many resisted, but were instantly greeted with a rifle but to the face, or a pistol barrel on their forehead. The men also started searching and gathering documents, papers, name lists and other such information. Even computer memory chips were also taken .

Several minutes later, over 300 people were assembled in the square. The headlights of the BTRs were aimed straight at the crowd. Office workers from the WUSM HQ, civillians that happened to be in the building at that time, and people that were confirmed as supporters and followers of the movement. The were sitting down in the middle of the square, the soldiers walking around them with their weapons drawn, screaming at them to stay down when someone complained or tried to ask questions. A Mi-54 was hovering above the the area, scanning the scene with its searchlight.

"Everything's set, comrade Major" Kessler reported to Major Steiner, a 55 year-old, tall career officer of the Volksarmee, with short grey hair and blue eyes.

"Good. Now we wait for our friends" replied Steiner

Just then, a 10-vehicle convoy of large trucks rolled into the road next to the square. They were painted in a Kakhi colour, and had no insignia, other than the inscription MfS on the their doors. Several men in grey uniforms got out of the vehicles, all armed with sidearms and batons, and some holding ADK-45s or shotguns. One wore an officers uniform with a peaked cap. The man was bald with green eyes, or eye, rather, as a bionic optical device was in place of his left eye. Both Kessler and Steiner knew the man. He was Oberstleutnant Erich Mielke, a feared Stasi officer, known for his extreme methods. The man approached the two soldiers.

"Kameraden" he said and slightly tipped his cap.

Both men saluted "Kamerad Mielke, you arrived right on time. The suspects are ready for transportation." said Steiner

"Suspects?" Mielke giggled "These people are confirmed enemies of the state and the people of the Democratic Republic. There is no doubt of their guilt"

There was no use going against the Stasi. The Kommando Landstreitkraefte, the Land Forces Command, was to cooperate with their "friends" from the Ministry of State Security, and everything should go smoothly. Steiner would risk both his position and those of his men by even making the slightest comment on Mielke's sadistic statement.

"You're right, kamerad Oberstleutnant. These traitors are yours"

Mielke nodded. With a simple move of his hand, he ordered his men to quickly load up the rounded up civillians onto the trucks. Some resisted, and took a rifle butt of a baton to the back of the head. The soldiers didn't actively help the Stasi operatives, but remained vigilant in case someone tried to run. About 15 minutes later, the civillians were loaded up into the Stasi trucks, who accelerated away from the square and left the area, heading for the planetary Stasi HQ in the central district of the city. It was the start of Operation Reinigung.

---

Union of Collectivist Systems
"Workers of the Galaxy, unite!"

Central Collective of Foreign Affairs

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To: Ervin Tolvaj, Imperial Ambassador to Confederate Republic of Wolfstern
Subject: Negotiations
Encryption: Subspace XCV-92 Encryption, Very High

---

Greetings,

We too would desire some extended form of communication between the Imperial Fatherland of New Rodina and the Union of Collectivist Republics, as well as between the Confederate Republic and Democratic Republic. It has been a long time since we were seated around the negiotions table, but that time has come again. It is of utmost importance to preserve peace in the Wolfstern system, and we are prepared to go to great lengths in order to achieve that goal. However, both the Collectivist and Democratic Republic governments hope that you and your Confederate collegues are prepared to do that too.

We would like to propose that negotiations take place onboard the Krasnaya-class dreadnought CRS Gordost' Kvirova of the Collectivist Navy. The Gordost' Kvirova is one of the largest vessels of the Vryzv Red Banner Fleet, and her commander, Vice Admiral Alexei Nestorov, has volunteered his ship for the negotiations. The Gordost' Kvirova will arrive at no man's space near Eintsberg in two days, as it is currently taking part in exercises in another system. The Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Woflstern Democratic Republic, comrade Hans Mecklenburg, will also be present.

---

Signed,
Valery Nikolaevich Kratsev
Collectivist Ambassador to the Wolfstern Democratic Republic

[Takhshiyt]

Kaiserstadt, Windhelm

---

The Tukuyua Class Cargo Ship was unloading its cargo on the space dock. The dock was filled with busy Eseecoan workers unloading crate after crate. The Tukuyua is the largest cargo ship in all of United Eseeco. A massive behemoth, the ship could easily carry 100,000 containers, each weighing 67,000 pounds after they are fully loaded. There were only thirty of these ships built due to budget reasons, and are reaching twenty years of age, but still kick butt in the cargo business.

Captain Umeriw Ignaruhak was the head of Task 347, a naval task force designated to protecting the cargo being sent to the Wolfstern Confederacy. Twenty-nine Vitor Class Frigates and one Axalti Class Cruiser were responsible for protection across trillions of miles of space. The trade between the Confederacy and United Eseeco was that important. That is because the crates being unloaded are not full of exotic foods from one of the UE's distant territories, but were filled with ammunition produced in the UE. The ammo was built to Confederacy specifications, and there is no where cheaper to produce raw material heavy items then in the UE, due to laws and standards of living, and the abundance of materials.

The Aritagnar himself commanded Ignaruhak to oversee this agreement, and make sure no one attempted anything against it. Although the UE was officially neutral, as per the laws set in the UE Code of Government, they were not breaking the code by sending arms shipments, as it was technically classified as trade, not support. However, the Aritagnar was afraid that if a incident did break out, the shipments would stop, and so would the money flowing back to the UE. Captain Ignaruhak looked out over the dock. He then looked back towards the dock manager.

"Thank you for your time, here is the manifesto, pertinent papers and cargo information".

Ignaruhak handed the manager a tablet where the information was stored.

"Thanks", said the manager as he opened the file and transported it to his main computer. There the computer AI translated the documents and then checked them for accuracy and legitimacy. Ten minutes later, the Captain was walking back to his shuttle.

Another day, another dollar. He mused to himself as he was walking back.

---

[Patria Imperiala]

Ervin Tolvaj
ISS Viktor Olasz
En route to Wolfstern

The ISS Viktor Olasz en route to Wolfstern

After receiving the Collectivist messages, the Empire-Class Battleship, ISS Viktor Olasz of the Constanteren Star Flotilla was dispatched, carrying a complement of Marines and Diplomats, preparing for the meeting with the collectivist Union. They hoped to arrive at Eintsberg half a day ahead of the Collectivist Ship, it was outfitted and ready for combat, the Empire-Class was the pride of the Imperial Star Navy, but the Krasnaya could be potentially just as powerful. Some Confederate border patrol Vessels would be accompanying them once they reached the Wolfstern System, but they would be little more than nuisances to massive Dreadnoughts like the Empire and Krasnaya.

IMPERIAL FATHERLAND OF NEW RODINA
Imperial Foreign Agency

---

To: Valery Nikolaevich Kratsev, Collectivist Ambassador to the Wolfstern Democratic Republic
Subject: Re: Negotiations
Encryption: Subspace XCV-92 Encryption, Very High

It is good to hear that the Collectivist Union shares our desire to uphold the Herne Accords, as per your request, the Confederate Minister of International Affairs, Reichsminister Paul von Böhmer and the Field Marshall of the Landwehr, Feldmarshall Adolph Rommel, will be joining us as part of our delegation. We will be taking the Empire-Class ISS Viktor Olasz to these delegations, which will remain in visual contact with the Gordost' Kvirova for the length of the negotiations. In addition, a Confederate Stormtrooper and Four Imperial Marines will serve as our personal bodyguards during the negotiations.

We will arrive in the Eintsberg no man's space approximately four hours before the Gordost' Kvirova. We will await your arrival with bated breath, then board the ship aboard a Falcon-Class Multi-mission Light Craft.

---

Signed
Ervin Emanuel Tolvaj
Imperial Ambassador to Confederate Republic of Wolfstern

---

Stoßtruppen-Haubtsturmführer Horst Großer
Karl-Forst-Platz
Braunover, Eintsberg
Horst Großer stood in the Square in the Centre, the rain poured down but he was protected by a large aluminium roof. Soldiers with ceremonial Pickelhaubes and Bolt Action Gauss Rifles flanked him to either side, small camera drones recording the event live across the system. Crowds watched in the rain with anticipation, huddled together under umbrellas against the rain.

"Today, the Collectivists in the so-called 'Democratic Republic' have displayed their barbarism, suppressing voices across the nation calling for freedom, the arrest of the Union State Movement shows the failure of the Collectivist Ideology as an idea able to compete in any reasonable debate. The National Partei does not fear this free flow of Ideas, to that end, the Union State Movement has been invited to attend Volkspartei meetings in the Reichshalle and have their voices heard, to show our continued support and solidarity with the WUSM."

"However, this Ideology which tramples over all we hold dear, Collectivism, must be eradicated from this system before we can be truly free. As long as our brothers remain under an iron Collectivist Jackboot there can be no rest, and eternal vigilance."

A ceremonially dressed Stormtrooper dragged a hooded and cuffed man from behind him, followed by four other Stormtroopers with four other Prisoners.They placed them in a row ahead of Großer, who pulled out a pistol. "Today, our vigilance has paid off, before you stands the threat that we all must face, our backs straight and eyes forwards." Cheering broke out through the crowd as he stood closer to the first Prisoner.

He pulled the hood off the first prisoner and put the pistol against his head. "Arnold Muhlfeld, you are found guilty of Treason and Collaboration with Collectivist organizations. By the power of the Wolfstern Nationalen Reichspartei, I hearby sentence you to death, what are your last words?" he said, and the cheering reached a fever pitch.

Muhlfield bit his lip and said nothing, camera drones flying closer, and televised images of his face blared on the giant television banners across the Square, a few moments later, there was a loud gunshot as Großer pulled the trigger and the man slumped forwards, blood pooling onto the aluminium floor of the raised podium, eventually collecting in the centre and flowing down a drain below them. He stepped sideways to the next prisoner, and pulled off the hood, a woman, she was hysterical, begging for her life.

"Rita Hintzen, you are found guilty of Treason, Collaboration with Collectivist organizations and consorting with non-human organisms. By the power of the Wolfstern Nationalen Reichspartei, I hearby sentence you to death, what are you last words?"

"Please no," she begged. "I'll tell you whatever you want to know."

Another gunshot.

He moved to the third prisoner, and tore the hood off to reveal a stonefaced older man with a full beard.

The process was repeated for the other two home grown communist sympathisers, until he reached the final captive. "Ivan Aleksandrov, you have been found guilty of Espionage against the Confederacy," the final captive was a Collectivist Spy. "By the power of the Wolfstern Nationalen Reichspartei, I hearby sentence you to death, what are you last words?"

"The will of the Proletariat will never--" before he could finish the Hauptsturmfuhrer put a bullet through his skull, a look of pure contempt on his face.

"These are the fruits of our vigilance, the Collectivists are everywhere, and we must never let down our guard. Should you come in contact with a Collectivist, ensure that they are brought to justice," he finished.

As he made the rest of his speech, Imperial Embassies began buzzing with activity, sending messages to the Fatherland, other Embassies, and the Collectivist Union, as this latest move was certain to draw their ire. The Imperial Fatherland were terrified that they were losing control of the Confederates.

---

Raumschiffmann Wessel Koenig
Kaiser Bismarck Spaceport
Orbit of Windhelm

The Kaiser Bismarck Spaceport

Koenig was walking across the spacedock to his own vessel, passing the many alien traders with a scowl on his face. One approached, he looked something similar to a Cenusian, those disgusting little aliens that the Imperials had somehow convinced themselves were better than the rest of the biological mistakes that were Xenos. When the alien got closer, Koenig grabbed his arm. "Fick Dich, Schiess-Ausländer, Your kind aren't welcome here." Another Wolfsterner appeared behind the alien, and grabbed him too, Koenig smirked and punched him in the stomach, hard.

After a few more punches against the unfortunate trader, a couple of Imperials, a Cenusian and a Human, rushed towards them, the Human grabbed the other Wolfsterner and pulled him away, while the Cenusian attempted to grab Koenig, but Cenusians are generally rather weak, and Koenig threw him to the ground, kicking him in the stomach, shouting insulting remarks at both Xenos.

[Union of Collectivist Systems]

Eastern fringes of the Wolfstern system
National space of the Woflstern Democratic Republic
CRS Gordost Kvirova
0300 hours Kvirovgrad time

The massive hulk of the Krasnaya-class Dreadnought Gordost Kvirova, which meant "Kvirov's Pride" in Slavic Standard, disengaged its massive warp drives and emerged out of hyperspace and into realspace in the eastern fringes of the Wolfstern system. The warp jump to the Wolfstern system took exactly three weeks and two days. The Vryzv System, were the Vryzv Red Banner Fleet operated from, was not so close to the Wolfstern system, and the Krasnaya too more time to arrive than the Imperial battleship. Navy Command could dispatch a cruiser of the Collectivist Force in Wolfstern to participate in the negotiations, but the Krasnaya-class was the pride of the Collectivist Revolutionary Navy. A huge space leviathan with weaponry to wipe out whatever was thrown at it. It was a propaganda and indimidation move.

The warship was of gargantuan dimensions, dwarfing both of its biggest Imperial equivalents, the Harbinger-class and Empire-class battleship. The Krasnaya sported rows upon rows of autoloaded macro-guns on both the port and the starboard side, that were additionally complemented by the feared multiple torpedo launchers, also knwon as "barrage torpedoes" as well as the larger, forward looking, extremely long-range torpedoes and the oversized PTP-80 missile batteries. Aside of its already massive firepower, the Krasnaya's weaponry also included was the mighty SP-230 Heavy Nova cannon. The SP-230 was a much larger variant of the Collectivist Nova Cannons found on smaller vessels, such as battleships or battlecruisers. It could destroy three sizable ships with one shot, if they were clustered together.

However, the tip of the spear of the Krasnaya was its large air wing. Four Fighter Aviation Regiments, two Bomber Aviation Regiments, two Gunship Aviation Regiments and one Haevy-lift Transport Aviation Regiment. With that force, a single Krasnaya dreadnought could launch a small planetary invasion of its own. The fighter Regiments were mostly composed of VeK-240KMLD and VeK-337K interstellar/atmospheric fighter-bombers (also known as multirole fighters), while the Bomber Regiments flew in the heavily armed Ly-64 strike bombers. The gunships on the Gordost Kvirova were of the Vi-47 type, with some newer Vi-58 also present, while the Heavy-lift Regiment used the huge Vi-60 heavy VTOL dropships.

It is said that a Krasnaya is a fleet of its own. That it is an instrument of war that embodies the burning rage of the Proletarian Revolution, and crushes all of its enemies with brute power. However, today was another mission. One of diplomatic nature, that would decide the future of the Wolfsterner Proletariat. This time, the Gordost Kvirova would be the fist of the Revolution, but instead, would serve as the negotiating grounds for the WDR-WCR negotiations, to decide how to defuse the tension in Wolfstern.

Some minutes after emerging from the warp jump, the massive thrusters on the rear of the ship lit up, and the Gordost moved forward, to join its Volksmarine escort of two Arbeiter-class cruisers (local variants of the Rabotnik class) above Engels and proceed to the meeting point near no man's space.

Staging Point, Sector Anna
Verloren Wastes, Engels
261st Guards Tank Division
0858 hours local time

The atmosphere was thick, and the sodden yellow-ish skies over the Verloren Wastes dominated the scenenery. The Verloren Wastes took up most of the surface of Engels' Satt continent, almost 3/4s, and spanned over 900,000 square kilometres. The fourth that remained was the Hoch Mountains, that did not have any minerals or other recources to be exploited. Located in the north-eastern portion of the continent, the Verloren Wastes were formerly the largest industrial area in the system. Massive factories and industiral complexes covered the massive piece of land, which was used to be known as the "Stadt Industrial Area Secundus" before the Great Galactic War. Centuries of exploitation of the mineral-rich underground basically destroyed the area. Where decades ago were rolling green fields and hills, there was just an endless expansion of grey, rotten ground, covered by industrial dust and mud. Massive craters and man-made canyons were a common sight, created by digging and mining operations. The atmosphere was poluted so much, the entirity of Satt was covered by thick, yellow clouds.

After the end of the Great Galactic War, the government of the Worker's Party declared Satt as uninhabitable, and whoevevr lived there, mostly workers and their families, moved over to the other continents of Engels. Additionally to the threat it posed to those wroking there, the continent was almost devoid of recources after years of exploitation, and served no use to the nation. Despite the operations to dissasemble the factories and industrial equipment and move them to other industrial zones, some were left behind due to the limited funds the newly-born Woflstern Democratic Republic had at its disposal. Aandoned, half-collapsed factories were a common sight in the area, left there to decay, as were massive mining vehicles lying alone in the open areas of the Verloren Wastes. The atmosphere was in fact so toxic, that one required a rebreather or a gas mask in order to breathe. If someone breathed the "air" in the Wastes, almost certain death awaited him.

Regardless of the depleted recources of Satt, the Wastes did have a purpose for the Democratic Republic: trainning grounds. The rolling fields of decaying ground provided excellent terrain for mechanised warfare manuevers. And it was mechanised warfare that was the core of the Volksheer's, as well the Collectivist Revolutionary Army's doctrine. Additionally, the climate proved excellent to practice such manuevers under hazardous conditions in, and so, many times during the year, the Volksheer and its Collectivist allies trainned for NBC warfare in the Wastes. This was one of these days.

Major General Ivan Mikhailovich Petrenko scanned the horizon with his magnoculars from the hatch of his T-37K command tank. All he could see was rolling plains of rotten ground, with some hills here and there. The towering chimneys of an abandoned industrial complex to his 11 o'clock were the only buildings he could see, and he wouldn't see any other for the next 800 kilometres. Beyond the horizion, he could se flashes from artillery shells striking their targets, and he could hear the cacophony of guns blazing several. He left his magnoculars hang from his neck, and fixed his rebreather to be more comfortabe, before he put his tank helmet on. He took a look at his watch. 08:59:20. He activated the intercom and ran a quick check through the Company, Battalion and Regiment level communication channels. He looked at his watch again. 57...58..59...09:00. It was go time. He switched to Division-wide comms.

"Povelitel to all 261st Guards Tank Division elements. Bagration, i repeat, Bagration. The 1140th Guards has achieved a breakthrough. Good hunting."

The large, 3,000 hp multifuel engine of the armoured beast came to life, and the tank sped up, spitting black fumes from its exhaust. Behind it, were more than 600 armoured vehicles, tanks, trucks, combat walkers and scout striders, and other mobile assets of the 261st Guards Tank Divsion, which also started moving. The massive mechanised and armoured formations rolled over the wastes, raising a massive, thick dust cloud. Behind them, over 300 guns, rocket and missile launchers opened fire in concert, launching their destructive payload at their targets, to further reinforce the breakthrough. Shortly after, Vi-47 VTOL gunships soared above the 261st, coming to reinforce them, while VeK and Lyukov fighters ensure that the sky and orbit remained in Collectivst and WDR hands.

The mission of the 261st Guards Tank was to pour into the gap in the enemy lines that was opened by the 1140th Guards Motor Rifle under Major General Surov, and quickly overwhelm the defenders. It was a rulebook operation for the Collectivist Revolutionary Army and its allies that had adopted the same doctrime. Breakthrough, reinforcement, envelopment. It represented the swift brutality of Collectivist combined arms and mechanised warfare, that originated from the ancient times on the Old World.

Some one and a half kilometres to their west, the men of the Wolfstern 84th Fallschirmjägerregiment, the paratroopers of the Democratic Republic, loaded up on their large Vi-60 heavy-lift VTOL dropships. The Democratic Republic Fallschirmjäger wore a uniform similar to all Volksarmee forces in such enviroments: a short, protective trenchcoat (which had different camouflage than the regural Volksheer equivalent), a variant of the regural Volksheer helment and rebreather unit, that is more specialised for airborne operations, and long, NBC-resistant leather gloves and boots. The Fallschirmjäger also carried a local, specialised and compact carabine, the StK-91, which was initially produced just for their corps, only to later see wider use in the Volskarmee as a replacement or supplament of the Collectivist-made ADK-45 assault rifle. The 84th Fallschirmjägerregiment was to quickly deploy to the breakthrough point to aid in the creation of a bridghead before the main manuever force of the 261st Guards Tank arrived to exploit it.

Two days later, the exercise was dubbed a success. The 261st had poured into enemy lines and destroyed, enveloped, or captured all simulated targets and objectives, while the 102nd Panzer Division of the Volksheer managed a similar feat on a breakthrough achieved by the 224th Motor-Schützen Division on the Wolfsterner front of the exercise. The Motor Rifle troops rapidly and proffessionally disembarked from their BTRs and BMPs and assaulted enemy postions, taking them one by one with limited losses. Only two Companies from the 1143rd Motor Rifle failed to take their objectives, and their commanding officers received the punishment they deserve for failing the Revolution. The pilots of the Volksmarine, Luftstreitkräfte and the Revolutionary Navy aircraft that were tasked with air superiority above the battlefield achieved favourable kill to death ratios against OPFOR aircraft, which, despite outnumbered, were flown by veteran trainning officers.

The success of Exercise Engels-1069 was broadcasted all over the Wolfstern and Collectivist media. Aside from being a massive propaganda success for the government of the Democratic Republic and the Collectivist Union, that bolstered the Wolsterner population's trust in teh Volksarmee and its Collectivist allies and reinforced patriotism, Egnels-1069, that was planned for over a year, it was also a message to the Imperials and their Confederate puppets.

If they wanted a fight, the forces of the Revolution would offer them a fair one.

[Patria Imperiala]

Ervin Tolvaj
ISS Viktor Olasz
Wolfstern No Mans Space
The Viktor Olasz had been waiting for the Gordost Kvirova for almost a day now, they had met up with the Kaiser-Class Pocket-Battleship, CWS Kaiser-Franz, and two Kaiserstadt-Class Destroyers, the CWS Horst-Wessel and the CWS Gneisenau. Most of the Confederate Navy was locally made, although they also used a significant amount of Harbinger-Class Battleships which had been brought out of service in the Imperial Star Navy to be replaced by the Empire-Class.

They received a sensor reading of a ship of massive proportions leaving warp into the system, moments later confirmation arrived from the Collectivist ship that this was in fact the Envoy ship they were awaiting. As it reached visual range, an image of the vessel was superimposed on the view-screen of the main bridge, the captain of the Viktor Olasz looked agitated, at the present time, the Empire-Class was the pinnacle of the Imperial Arsenal, and while it's true capabilities had largely not been publicly revealed, it seemed the Empire would be no match for this Leviathan.

The Gordost Kvirova began moving closer, and the Captain escorted Ervin through the bowels of the ship to the Hangar bay. They went down countless floors in elevators, through golden corridors adorned with digitised computer information screens, crewmen passed them constantly, performing maintenance or simply walking around in their time off.

They reached the hangar bay and boarded an Falcon-Class Light Attack Craft. It was different to the Collectivist equivalent, the VeK-337K, it was significantly larger, about the size of three VeKs, with corresponding superiority in armour and firepower, but was unable to fly in atmospheric situations, and was also less numerous.

This Falcon was disarmed, with the ammunition/bomb bay converted to a large capacity crew transport. The diplomatic mission climbed aboard the Falcon. The Hangar deck was evacuated of personnel and the bay was depressurised, and the two Fusion Engines of the Falcon began to fire up, within moments they were speeding across the smooth surface of the hangar deck and shooting out the side of the Battleship into space.

They turned slowly, and began flying towards the Krasnaya.

"Gordost Kvirova, Gordost Kvirova, this is the Delegation from the ISS Viktor Olasz, requesting permission to dock. Over."

---

Captain Roman Szalci
Aboard the ISS Grozyar
Szlingan System Outer Belt

Recently had begun the final trial stage of the KC-V104.7, the newest prototype ship in the Imperial Star Navy, the first working model was the ISS Grozyar, and would go on to be the namesake of the new Grozyar-Class of super-heavy dreadnought. Along with the Grozyar were three others, which were currently undergoing the final stages of construction in the New Veraglia Spaceport.

The Grozyar was a fantastic feat of engineering, although expensive enought that the development of the huge vessel required significant corporate sponsorship to front some of the extensive RND and construction costs. These companies would receive compensation in the form of limited access to some of the state of the art systems developed for the ship.

The main armament of the ship was the PHZR-673 Laser array. It was the largest spaceborne laser cannon fielded by the Fatherland, with an output of an extraordinary 200 Gigawatts, the 673 was originally intended as a heavy duty Planetary defense emplacement, and was found ill suited to this task due to its massive weight and size. Instead of scrapping the project, some bright spark floated a plan to construct a new dreadnought built around the cannon, turning the ship basically into a massive capital ship hunter.

Apart from the 673, the Grozyar boasted hundreds of Laser CIWS' to deal with enemy strike craft or incoming missiles, as well as dozens of traditional 300MW laser arrays, and a number of antimatter torpedoes. One of its distinguishing features as opposed to the closest Collectivist equivalent, the Krasnaya-Class, was it's total lack of strike craft carrying capabilities, due to Imperial Naval Doctrines reliance on aircraft carriers to carry their attack craft.

The real purpose of the Grozyar was not a siege ship, or a space superiority brawler, there were other more inexpensive ships in the Imperial arsenal which could perform these roles better. No, the Grozyar existed to destroy Battleships and Dreadnoughts.

The trials were almost done, and Captain Szalci was almost salivating in anticipation, the ship dropped out of warp in the final testing area for the prototype. ahead of them lay an old model battleship, used by the Wolfstern Confederates before they were replaced with Harbingers.

The Wolfsterner Kaiser-Class Pocket-Battleship were still being used intermittently by the Wolfsterner Raumflotte, but were largely replaced by Harbingers. Their weaponry was fairly lackluster, but the armour on the old ships was nothing to dismiss lightly.

The cannon warmed up for a moment, and the Captain felt the power of the vessel underneath him.

"Main Phaser ready, Commandant!" his weapons officer said.

Szalci smiled, he checked his surroundings to make sure their escort was a safe distance, and turned to the officer. "Fire," he said.

The 673 burst forth with unprecendented power, for a few moments the weapon fired, blasting a hole over 200 meters wide in its hull, and out the other side.

In a seconds time the beam had dissipated, and it was all over for the Kaiser.

The ISS Grozyar fires on the test dummy, ISS von Schlaftheim

---

Operation Kesselring
Misthaufen Forest, Eintsberg
Oberkommando Eintsberg 242nd Infanterie-Division "Nordfront"

The Confederates were threatened by ongoing military excercises on the planet of Stadt by the so called "Democrats", the illegitimate bolshevik puppets and their occupying masters. The Landwehr were preparing for excercises of their own in a much more provocative location. The Misthaufen Forest bordered the Democratic Republic, and spilled into wide plains at its end near the Confederate side. It seemed to be perpetually covered in mist, and would be an important contested point in any war between the two Wolfstern powers, the dense forest proving to be an obstacle for anybody to advance through.

Operation Kesselring involved a quarter of a million men, mostly infantry, the dense forest held gargantuan trees that stretched far into the sky, their roots, often the height of a man, stretching out for meters and making vehicle maneuvers next to impossible. The 118th Panzer-Division would move down the main highway connecting to the Democratic Republic, where most armoured engagements in the region would be likely to occur.

They and their "enemies" carried specialized laser rifles, set to stun and mark those they hit, temporarily blackening the skin or clothing where it struck and knocking the victim unconscious. The kfk ELW are Relatively harmless, and very useful for wargames.

Infantry dressed as Democratic soldiers stood in long lines, taking cover behind the large roots of the trees, with sandbag positions along the line festooned with soldiers with practice rifles, and mock armoured vehicles for support.

The Confederate Infantry were supported by a single regiment of the Imperial Fatherland Marine Corps, the infamous XII "Eletvédelmi" Gep.Ten.Légiósezred which were the spearhead of their simulated operation, impeccably trained in the use of the laser rifles, and supported by effective armoured vehicles of the Sz.KGp-1393 "Legionary" variety, their nimble legs able to navigate through the dense woodland.

Ezred-Commandant Walter Balan
XII "Eletvédelmi" Gep.Ten.Légiósezred

The Commandant looked out over the dense forest, he could see sporadic blue laser fire cutting through the mists, easily distingushable from the red laser fire of the full-wattage rifles. The mist and tree cover made the visibility in the forest incredibly poor. The long range advantage of the lasers over traditional projectile weapons was essentially nullified.

A Legionary Bastard Tank, (a mix between a walking mech and a traditional tracked tank), was standing behind a massive root system which almost reached as high as the tank itself. With a slight movement of its tracked, the Legionary raised its turret over the wooden wall, training it's main gun on a mock Democrat armoured vehicle some 300m away. The main gun fired it's 200 Megawatt laser bolt, cutting through the IFV's armour like hot butter, when the beam struck the fuel supply, the entire vehicle exploded spectacularly.

Kesselring would continue for another few days before concluding when the mock Democratic forces were driven to the border.

[Union of Collectivist Systems]

Wolfstern No Mans Space
Near the Wolfstern Star
CRS Gordost Kvirova
0400 hours Kvirovgrad time

Vice Admiral Admiral Alexei Nestorov, master and commander of the CRS Gordost Kvirova, stood on his ship's bridge, gazing upon the ISS Viktor Olasz and its Confederate escorts. The Gordost imposed itself over the Imperial-Confederate force, outgunning and outperforming their combined fleet just by itself. Its precence was reinforced by the two Arbeiter-class battlecruisers of the Wolfstern Volksmarine. He knew all of that, and was filled with pride for striking fear in the hearts of the Union's enemies just by the precense of his ship. The 56 year-old, white haired, and notably strut Vice Admiral knew he had the upper hand.

He stood among rows upon rows of engineers, petty officers and other specialists that sat in front of their computer screens on the bridge's lower decks in front of the captain's seat, all clad in their black naval uniforms. Nestorov himself wore his official uniform for the occassion, as oppossed to the standard one he wore on a day-to-day basis while "at sea", his chest addored with medals and ribbons.

Next to Nestorov stood two men formally dressed in black suits. They were the Wolfstern Democratic Republic Foreign Minister Hans Mecklenburg and the Collectivist Ambassador to the WDR, Valery Nikolaevich Kratsev. Mecklenburg was a tall, slim figure in his early 40s, with round, old-school glasses and short black hair. Karstev, on the other hand, was older, in his late 50s, shorter and with a heavier built, with sparse grey hair. He wore a red armband with the Collectivist coat of arms on his right hand, while Mecklenburg wore on with the WDR one.

"Vice Admiral, sir, a lone Falcon-Class Light Attack Craft is asking permission to dock. They say they are the delegation." reported a female sensor operator officer from his computer screen.

"Send two VeKs to escort them and grant them access" Nestorov ordered before turning to the two men "I believe its time to go meet our guests"

Both men nodded in agreement.

---

The hangar bay of the Krasnaya-class was massive. Hundreds of metres long, located in the ship's underbelly, it housed her large air wing. Rows upon rows of VeK fighters, Lyukov strike bombers and Miyanev dropships were parked on both sides of the wide runway. In front of them, were arrayed two full Battalions of the 571st Independent Naval Infantry Regiment, the ship's ground force contigent, along with hundreds of the ship's crew members and officers, for a total of roughly 3,500 men and women. Officers were running last minute checks to ensure everyone was in the right place, that their uniforms are worn correctly, and so on and so forth.

In the middle of the runway, waited Nestorov and the two diplomats, along with the ship's political officer, Commissar Viktor Chervenkov, and the 571st's commander, Colonel Mikhail Bakhin. Chervenkov wore the standard black uniform of the Commissariat with the peaker cap and red armband, but with an anchor logo on his sleeve to indicate that he is a Naval Commissar. Meanwhile, Bakhin himself wore the black dress uniform of the Naval Infantry, with his medals and commendations proudly displayed.

The large Imperial Falcon entered through the energy shield that protected the entrence of the hangar, lowered its gear legs and slowly touched down. As the Imperial and Confederate delegates walked out of the attack craft's cargo bay, the Commissar gave the command to stand at attention.

"Smirna!"

As one, the Naval Infantrymen and sailors went from the rest position to a position of attention. They stood straight, looking forward and without moving, their ADK-45 rifles held across their chests. As the Falcon's engine's were turned off, the massive cargo bay went entirely quiet. The Collectivist and WDR officials walked up to their Imperial and Confederate counterparts. The military men saluted while Kratsev took a step forward.

"It's is a pleasure to meet you. I am the Collectivist Ambassador to the Wolfstern Democratic Republic, Valery Kratsev." he went on to introduce the rest of the group "This is the WDR Minister of Foreign Affairs, comrade Hans Mecklenburg, i'm sure that he and Reichsminister Paul von Böhmer have met before. This is Vice Admiral Nestorov, the ship's commander, this is Commissar Chervenkov, the ship's political officer, and this is Colonel Bakhin, commander of the 571st Independent Naval Infantry Regiment."

[Patria Imperiala]

Ervin Tolvaj
Aboard the Gordst' Kvirova
Wolfstern No Mans Space

The Falcon landed in the massive hangar bay, and the ten men of the delegation stepped between the thousands of collectivists to either side. Ervin was dressed sharply, with a black suit and green tie, it was easy to tell the Imperials from the Wolfsterners, the Imperials all had the typical Golden skin of their kind, a trait gained in the harsh tropical environment of New Veraglia. The Confederates, conversely were very pale, with blond hair and blue eyes.

Confederate Reichsminister von Böhmer wore a similar suit to Ervin, with a red tie he was an older man, completely bald with a bushy mustache. Feldmarshall Rommel wore the typical uniform of a commander in the Landwehr, while his Stormtrooper bodyguard wore the same Stosstruppen full-body nano-composite armour worn by all his peers. The Imperial Marines did not wear their helmets, opting instead to wear ceremonial red and gold kepis with their standard armour.

Kratsev, Tolvaj's counterpart, stepped forwards, and Tolvaj shook his hand. Tolvaj felt little respect for most of Kratsevs 'comrades', but he couldn't help but feel some for Kratsev himself, both of them were diplomats to the core, and knew more about the current situation than any of the three thousand people in the hangar.

"Good to finally meet you, Mister Kratsev. My name is Ervin Tolvaj, Imperial Ambassador to the Confederate Republic of Wolfstern" he pointed out his delegation. "Reichsminister von Böhmer, Feldmarshall Rommel of the Confederate Republic." The two Confederates presented a fascist salute. "And this is Flottacommandant Nicolae Albanescu, Admiral of the Ostpruszar Flotilla, as well as Commandant Ferdinand Hotchkisz of the Imperial Garrison in Wolfstern, now, we should proceed to your conference room," he said.

[Zeribru]

The Black Empire, the old man of the galaxy, imperialist pigs, the Demontronian’s don’t care what they are called for all they care about is survival. Survival in an ever aging galaxy. Birth rates rise and fall, but one thing is clear for the old dogs. War is not a matter of death, but it is full of life, life being destroyed, and life being granted through mercy. Today was a similar day in war, but different in it’s own right. Admiral Kartoff of the 7th fleet was dispatched by Grand Admiral Furnte on a daring strategic operation to show the Galaxy who runs it.
The Demontronian, Aridian, and Sang citizens of the Black Empire were worried about the nearly genocidal actions by the Humans of Patria Imperiala, and were taken back by their slaughter of many who were demonstrating one of the few things the apathetic citizens held to heart; political demonstration. After a long time of waiting in voting in the Senate, the Senators each representing a portion of the populus took their decision to the Kaizer, a 1005-495 vote. Two thirds of the Empire called for war, however the Military did not to enact operations of such a magnitude upon a nation that did not harm any of their citizens yet. The Kaizer discussed with the military upon what they shall do, and came to a middle ground. Three mobile fortresses will be placed just outside the Wolfstern system as a show of force towards the Patria Imperiala, and a show of defense towards the “Alien” population within the system. With nearly 100% of the Black Empire being non human it is simply right of the Empire to defend those that the Humans despise, as in their eyes they are one in of the same.
Thusly Admiral Kartoff was dispatched, and thusly he rode towards the outskirts of the system. They plan to set up shop in a star system 5.3 light years away from the Wolfstern system within neutral space. Here they shall build up a military outpost powerful enough to stand it’s own in the rather hostile system. Three mobile fortresses that can fastly dispatch a cruiser with multiple destroyers and flotillas of corvettes to defend and attack at will. Several battleship squadrons and cruiser divisions will also accompany the mobile fortresses. As far as the Empire is concerned all innocents Human or Xeno within the Wolfstern system are under this force’s protection. The massive hunks of metal rumbled as they exited small space, as the frozen water from small space ripped and cracked off the ships and slowly vanished into the inky black of space.

“Another successful jump into and out of small space sir. We are only off the trajectory by .2% and only ended up one hundred kilometers off course. We should be arriving by planet XC-401b within the next hour or so.”

“Beautiful NOX, absolutely beautiful. Find the fastest route and have the Comms officer send it to the fleet.”

Admiral Kartoff twirled his long black hair and smirked.

“This is a nice change of pace. To think that this is the first time this work of art of a machine has been used in decades is exciting. Very very exciting.”

The inexperienced Admiral continued to smirk as the fleet began heading towards Planet XC-401b, but he couldn’t help but ponder at the fact that the Black Fleet had all these powerful machines of war, yet they havn’t been used in decades, and some in centuries. These life times and half life times of peace almost sickened him. Especially sinceh rose to this rank without seeing an ounce of combat. This compared to Geraldir Gideon who served in the Great War made him even more angered that so few are given the honor of fighting with these machines. He made it his personal goal to show these young races what the Black Fleet can really do. The fleet continued its path towards the planet. And many could almost feel as though something wasn’t right despite their mission.

[Union of Collectivist Systems]

"Likewise. And of course, comrade ambassador, please follow me"

The group began walking down the massive hangar. The Naval Infantrymen continued standing still as the diplomats and representatives walked by the, their eyes fixed forward. The delegation approached a large double door, that later slid open, revealing itself to be then entrance to a huge elevator. They entered and as the doors closed, the marine commander shouted the order and the Naval Infantrymen stood at ease. Only when the doors closed completely were they given the order to dismiss.

The elevator climbed several floors up, and now they were walking down a long and wide corridor. About two hundred metres down the corridor wes an oak double door, adorned with the Collectivist coat of arms. An tall marine in dress uniform stood on each side. Both walls of the hallway were filled with portraits of the ship's previous commanding officers and notable sailors. They reached the doors and the marines opened them after snapping at attention and saluting.

The doors revealed and spacious room with a large wooden table in the middle. Two small flags were on each side of the table: the Collectivist and Democrat flags on the left, and the Imperial and Confederate one the other. Marines stood guard around the walls of the room. The wall behind the Collectivists had a large portrait of Kvirov hanging on it. The diplomats took their seats on their repsective side of the negotiations table. Two waiters served tea, coffee and alcohol to the delegates.

Kratsev cleared his throat "Shall we begin?"

[Patria Imperiala]

Ervin Tolvaj
Aboard the Gordst' Kvirova
Wolfstern No Mans Space

Tolvaj followed the Collectivist ambassador, through ranks upon ranks of the so called Naval Infantry, he didn't think much of them, he knew the training of the IFMC was second to none, and some of the UCS troops looked like boys plucked from farmhouses with rifles thrusted into their hands. He had to give credit for their discipline and obedience though. Perhaps they weren't untrained conscripts after all. They reached the elevator and waited silently while it drew them up floor after floor. The Confederate Wolfstern delegation had an obvious look of contempt on their faces, whether it was aimed at the Democrats or the Collectivists, Tolvaj couldn't really tell. He just hoped that the hotheaded Confederates were capable of holding back their anger long enough for a reasonable discussion.

They entered the room, and it looked nice, wooden furnishings, and a large, ornate table in the middle. The flags too, were a nice touch.

"Shall we begin?" Kratsev said.

Tolvaj answered first. "Of course, now, I don't believe in bandying words, and I hope we are all of the same philosophy. So let me say this, we have a real problem. Significant changes need to be made before the partition can be called a success. I am sure you are as concerned as we are at the continuing terrorist agitation in both nations, first order of business should be solving that problem, only then will defusing the situation be possible. I recommend a widespread deportation program-- any suspected communist sympathizers in the Confederate Republic are to be deported to the Democratic Republic, and vice versa for anti-government activists in the Democratic Republic. With luck, that will solve the problem of terror and guerilla attacks in both nations, without causing undue harm to citizens, or antagonizing the opposing side. Would you be in favour of such a plan?"

[Union of Collectivist Systems]

CRS Gordost Kvirov
Wolfstern No Mans Space

Ambassador Kratsev carefully paid attention to the words of his Imperial counterpart. He liked to observe every move, every expression and every look of the man that sat on the table across him and the Democrat-Collectivist delegation. Tolvaj's retinue was of no interest to him, he knew that they were there more or less just for show. He also knew that his comrades beside him were in the same place. It was him and Tolvaj that would decide the course of these talks. Kratsev had clear instructions directly from the office of Premier Ulyanov on how to act and what to say in this conference. He had no intention of going against those instructions. When the Imperial finished talking, a toothy grin formed on Kratsev's face.

"I am happy to begin the conference with something we can agree on, comrade ambassador. I am sure both sides agree that such a "population exchange' is critical in order to preserve peace in the system"

The WDR Minister of Foreign affairs sat next to him,Hans Mecklenburg, nodded in agreement.

"However, i'm also sure that we can agree that this exchange must occur with extremely high security. Thusly, i'd like to propose that while both sides send warships in the exchange location, they should remain within their respective space, and outside no man's space. This way, we can avoid incidents such as extremist officers getting all trigger happy on the refugee ships. Thoughts?"

[Patria Imperiala]

Ervin Tolvaj
Aboard the Gordst' Kvirova
Wolfstern No Mans Space

"Your proposal sounds reasonable, I trust our Confederate friends will find it acceptable?" he said, and the Confederates nodded reluctantly. "Another important question, however, is whatkind of vetting process can we use to ensure that this method is not used to insert millions of potential spies into the opposing nation? It is a difficult siutation to defuse, and we must ensure we don't further escalate the issues that already pervade Wolfstern."

Franz Joseph von Stadt
20km from the CRW border
Eintsberg, Wolfstern Democratic Republic

The 314th Sturm-Schütze Fallschirmjäger Kompanie had inserted into enemy territory, well, the WDR wasn't officially the enemy of the Confederates, but everyone still knew otherwise. Their official mission was that of recon, like hundreds of others along the border. This one was different, Captain Franz Joseph von Stadt had volunteered for this mission, for reasons which still perplexed the high command. The real reason was his history, his mother and father were refugees from the planet of Stadt (now Engels), in the Wolfsten Democratic Republic. He didn't know what had come of his aunties, uncles and grandparents, who were wealthy industrialists, but somehow, he didn't want to know, he had heard the horror stories of what the Democrats had done to the upper and middle classes on Stadt.

In Retrospect, a Captain with a vendetta would hardly have been a good choice for a recon mission such as this, although, perhaps it would have been exactly what Confederate leadership wanted to provoke a war with the Democrats.

Regardless, when the SS-FlsJgr-K reached their accepted range from the Democrat base, Franz stopped them setting up their recon equipment, and ordered them to continue towards the base. At 200m from the base the troops set up their laser snipers and laser amchienguns, both of which were fantastic at range, although suffered somewhat at close quarters engagements. 100 of the 120 troops carried the MP-41 Submachine-Carbine which was considered highly effective at mid and short range combat. It fired the 6.5mm cartridge that the rest of the Imperial and Confederate forces used. But it had advanced recoil mitigation technology, which made it able to lay down sustained fire at medium ranges, such as the 100m range where Franc would begin the assault.

The 120-odd men of the Company were eager to follow. Confederate propaganda was very effective at portraying the subhuman Collectivists and Democrats for what they really were, and their soldiers were anxious to prove their loyalty to the fatherland by sending the Democrats to their graves. At the 150m range, Franz ordered the machineguns and snipers to set up, and left a few Fallschirmjägers behind to cover them.

They could see, in the night's darkness, through their blue-red infrared displays, the few Democrat forces patrolling the air base below. With a simple "Angriff" from Franz, the snipers opened fire, quickly dispatching those Democrat forces that were patrolling the airbase. Sirens sounded, and Democratic soldier rushed out of their barracks, quickly cut down by the lasers of the the Confederate forces, while Franz and his Company advanced, firing their Carbines wildly at the Barracks.

They reached the Airbase and split into multiple groups, Feuerwehrteam 1 and 2 would plant explosives in the Democrat hangars, while 3 and 4 would enter the various barracks, and clear them of whatever cowards still hid within.

Franz watched with satisfaction as the blood of the Democrats which had wronged his family was spilt, and the aircraft of the illegitimate "Democratic Republic" were destroyed in fireballs. Before long, Weizen Air Base had been captured, the 300 men of it's security complement (woefully unprepared for a serious assault) were dead, and most of the aircraft stationed in the base were destroyed. Franz felt a sense of satisfaction as he ordered his men back. The real trial would be exfiltrating to the Confederate Republic, hopefully no Democratic Forces would be able to respond in the time it took for the Confederates to return home.

[Union of Collectivist Systems]

CRS Gordost Kvirova
Wolfstern No Mans Space

"Of course" Karstev nodded "It's for that reason that the temporary WDR camps for these civilians will have checkpoints manned not only by Grenztruppen personnel, but also by Volkspolizei interrogators and agents, and protected by Volksarmee detachments. Each refugee's files will be checked thoroughly, and there will also be a brief questioning process in the checkpoint before entering the camp. The Wolfstern Democratic Republic will take extreme measures to prevent this from happening. Collectivist officials may also be present in the campsites to help monitor the incoming refugees. We expect the Imperial-Confederate site to do the same."

Eintsberg, Wolfstern Democratic Republic
29 kilometres from the Confederate-Democrat border
251st Fallschirmjägerbataillon, 84th Fallschirmjägerregiment
Unspecified time

The 84th Fallschirmjägerregiment had returned from the Engels-69 trainning exercise in the Verloren Wastes on Engels just a week ago. The return trip was uneventful, thankfully, and despite some broken bones because of grav-chute failures and other mishaps during the exercise, the 251st Fallschirmjägerbataillon was at full complement and a potent fighting force, ready for everything. However, in contrast to the constant readiness of the WDR troops near the border, the 251st's men were enjoying their extra free time granted to them by Regiment command. The more lax rules were a result of the ongoing talks onboard the Collectivist dreadnought Gordost Kvirova. It seemed that finally, after all these weeks of renewed tension between the two Wolfsterner nations, the standoff would finally end. But that wasn't the case.

The sirens sounded in the base. The soldiers relaxing in their barracks stormed out in the cold breeze, some of them struggling to get their gear on while they were running to their transports. The loudspeakers cracked as the control tower officer announced that this was not a drill. 10 Mi-96 heavy-lift VTOL transport aircraft waited for the 900 paratroopers on the runway, their pilots already starting their agents. NCOs and officers barked out orders, shouting to their men to get onboard quickly and equip. On the second runway of the base, the 15 Mi-54G VTOL gunships of Kampfhubschraubergeschwader 55 were also starting their engines. 6 minutes after the sirens sounded, the men were ready in their transports. About half a minute later, all 26 aircraft were airbourne.

The paratroopers were briefed onboard by their officers about the mission. It appears that a small company-sized hostile troop element - that was never referred to as Confederate or Imperial - had assaulted and destroyed a large portion of the Weizen Air Force Base, located 9 kms west of the 251st Fallschirmjägerbataillon's base. The 251st's mission was to locate, encircle and capture or eliminate the enemy force. It would be the first large scale battle on Democrat soil since the Great Galactic War.

As the gunships made their approach to the target area 2 transports split from the group and raced forward, one going north-west and the other south-west. These would drop their paratroopers from high altitude; the Democraft Fallschirmjäger would use their grav-chute to land safely and take blocking positions to the west of the target area to prevent the enemy from escaping. Two other gunships also split from the group; they would drop paratroopers on the northern and southern flanks of the area. Meanwhile, the main force, 6 Mi-96's escorted by 9 Mi-54s would land to the east and begin advancing on foot westwards. The 251st basically formed a circle around the target area, a circle that would tighten more and more until the enemy was found, and then exterminated.

An hour or so later...

Leutnant Eric Ebert lay prone on the ground, hiding in a bush in the forest. Behind him was his entire Platoon, over 70 men, but even he couldn't see them. The WDR Fallschirmjäger were the best of the best, specialists in concealment, sabotage and the annihilation of the enemy all the same. He scanned the area ahead of him with his thermal vision googles, trying to see if he could pick up any heat signatures. After 45 minutes of waiting in place, his patience finally paid off. He saw two man-shaped, armed heat signatures coming out of some bushes about 150 to 200 metres away from him. The two men scanned the area with the sights of their weapons. Finally one gave a hand signal, and more heat signatures emerged from the flora, among them a light armoured vehicle. He counted around a hundred of them. He opened comms to 5th Platoon, that was hidden 300 metres to their north.

"Schwert - 5-4 to 5-5, we have visual on enemy element, how copy, over"

"Schwert 5-5 to 5-4" the whispering voice came in clear "reading you loud and clear, we have a clear line of sight too. I'll contact Battalion to inform them, over"

"Copy that 5-5, get ready, out"

Some moments later, without revealing himself, Ebert shouted from behind cover.

"Hostile troops; you are surrounded from all sides" at this moment a Mi-54G appeared above the area, its headlights pointed directly at the Confederate soldiers "You are outnumbered and outgunned. Drop your weapons and surrender. You cannot escape"

[Patria Imperiala]

Ervin Tolvaj
Aboard the Gordst' Kvirova
Wolfstern No Mans Space

"That sounds satisfactory, I believe the Kaiser-Franz Spaceport has plenty of room for the Confederates to... interview... refugees when they arrive." He said. "I suggest we part ways now, and discuss further when the refugee program is underway. I recommend the next meeting take place aboard the ISS Grozyar, which is the most state-of-the-art vessel in the ISN." He then continued. "I also recommend we set up a permanent neutral meeting place inside the Einstberg DMZ, where further talks of lesser importance can be discussed by dignitaries."

The meeting had perhaps ended prematurely, but honestly, none of the Imperials or Confederates wanted to stay on the Kvirova any longer than was necessary. If their plan worked, they would be able to continue these discussions. If not, well, further discussions would be pointless.

---

Franz Joseph von Stadt
20km from the CRW border
Eintsberg, Wolfstern Democratic Republic

Franz heard the sound of heavy VTOL engines in the distance, Franz and the rest of his men were just out of the airbase, there were several patrols which were probing forwards. His radio crackled to life, and he heard the sound of one of these patrols, "Scheisse! Democrat forces, we are surrounded Kommandant!"

"Für das Vaterland, Kameraden! Don't let these Bastarde take you alive!" Franz commanded. A few moments later there was an explosion, then a series of explosions in quick succession, the sounds of gunshots pierced the air. Franz ordered his 50-odd men out, towards the sound of explosions, they kept their heads down, their infrared vision scanning the horizon.

As they got closer, they could see a large gunship hovering around, scanning bushes with its headlight.

"Ficke, someone take that down!" he ordered. One of his men confirmed the order, a couple of moments later a bright laser beam cut through the air, it struck the gunship, melting through it's armor quickly, after a moment, it struck the fuel tank, and with a massive explosion the gunship was set alight, the beam was cut off, and it came crashing down to earth.

"LECK MICH AM ARSCH, DU FEIGE RATTE!" he shouted with satisfaction as the burning wreck of the gunship shone brightly on the infrared HUD. The rest of his company continued to scan the horizon, sporadic gunfire erupted as the two sides caught sight of one another. Franz himself attempted to radio their pickup, trying desperately to call for air support, predictably, Confederate leadership was incredibly wary of dispatching any aircraft within Democrat borders. They were on their own.

The firefight continued for what felt like hours, his men slowly succumbing to the Democrat fire, but in truth it was only a few minutes. Many of the Democrats were surely killed, but they were within their own borders, with air support, there was no hope for victory.

"Report in, Kameraden," he said over the radio.

Sixteen of his men replied, the rest were killed.

"Fuck this," he muttered to himself. "Put down your arms men... we have shown these dogs what the Confederacy is made of... It's over..."

He tore his helmet off, tears beginning to well in his eyes. He pulled his pistol out and put it against his temple, he pulled the trigger and everything went dark.

[Union of Collectivist Systems]

CRS Gordost Kvirova
Wolfstern No Mans Space

"Well, that went better than expected"

Kratsev's comment triggered a smirk from Mecklenburg. The Democrat Minister of Foreign Affairs was a veteran diplomat and politician, and never took the results of peace talks for granted. As much as he'd like to believe that peace was finally secured in the system, his experience prevented him from doing so. He knew the Confederates and their Imperial masters all too well. Kratsev and Mecklenburg stood on the Gordost Kvirova's bridge, overlooking the Imperial-Confederate fleet across their own task force. They saw a little blip of light racing towards it, as the foreign delegation's ship left the dreadnought.

"Let's hope that this lasts" he said simply and straightened his tie

The massive Collectivist vessel had engaged its thrusters and prepared to set course for Engels, where a visit was scheduled for the city of Baader, the planetary capital. The Gordost would enter orbit and enter a grav stasis above the city's starport, and the sailors and Naval Infantrymen onboard were granted a week-long leave within the limits of the city. It would be a pleasant change from constant patrol duty in the northern fringes of the Vryzv sector that was crawling with raiders and pirates. Now that the negotiations had ended succesfully, it would finally be time for some R&R for the men of the Vryzv Red Banner Fleet, the pride of the Union's Navy.

Suddenly, a Democrat soldier appeared on the other end of the bridge and came running towards the two men. The soldier belonged to a Platoon-sized element from the 4th Kampfschwimmer Abteilung that was sent onboard the Kvirova as a bodyguard unit for the Democrat Minister. In contrast to the Collectivist Naval Infantrymen on guard duty on doors and hallways, the soldier was in full combat gear, and had his ADK-45M rifle slinged on his hip, something that triggered a reaction from the Collectivist Marines and Navy armsmen on the bridge. Kratsev ordered them to stand down with a move of his hand.

After saluting and snapping his body at attention before the Minister, the soldier offered Mecklenburg a data slate "Kamerad Minister, a message from High Command"

The tall Democrat took the data slate and unlocked it. He saw that the message was of high importance. He opened the text file and started reading it. A few moments later, while the Minister's expression hadn't changed at all, Kratsev noticed a drop of sweat racing down his forehead. This couldn't be good. Mecklenburg slowly turned his head to meet the Collectivist's eyes.

"Everything has collapsed" the Democrat said calmly

Some minutes later...

The sirens sounded onboard the Gordost Kvirova. All sailors, armsmen and marines were roused from their quarters and the intercom cracked again and again with the all to well known order "Attention all quarters, all hands man your battle stations. This is not a drill, all hands man your battle stations. Repeat, this is not a drill" Men and women were running up and down corridors and command rooms on the ship, trying to get to their stations as fast as possible. There would be no delay in getting the vessel ready for combat. The servicemen oboard erased the thoughts of a relaxing and refreshing leave from their minds and focused on their jobs.

VeK and Lyukov fighters and fighter-bombers started their ion engines and launched from their hangar bays, all armed to the teeth, as Democrat fighters from nearby vessels joined them. All Collectivist and Democrat vessels in the system were preparing for combat. Turrets on the Kvirov sprung to life and rotated around to find targets, as the torpedo launching tubes opened up, revealing the deadly weapons inside. The large armoured coverings on the top of the ships prow retreated and folded, revealing the massive SP-230 nova cannon inside, that was aimed directly and the Imperial flagship.

All craft and warships stood by for the order to be given.

Inside the Gordost's command bridge, Mecklenburg, Kratsev and Vice Admiral Nestorov stood before the massive telecommunications screen in the centre of the huge room. The instrument operators seating in their seats in front of them all had their eyes fixed on the screen and the three men.

"Hail the Imperial flagship. Tell them they better answer" Nestorov ordered his chief communications officer, who followed the order immedeately.

This would be the reckoning. The start of a massive war, the scale of which would likely cause the death of millions, if not billions. The Imperials and their Confederate puppets would pay their treachery in gallons of blood.

[Patria Imperiala]

Ervin Tolvaj
Aboard the ISS Viktor Olasz
Wolfstern No Mans Space

The Falcon docked in the deck of the Empire-Class Viktor Olasz, and the Imperial-Confederate Delegation stepped off the gangplank into the hangar bay. They were greeted by a frantic looking aide, who pulled Ervin aside.

"Sir, we have... confirmed reports, of gunfire across the Democrat border, the O.K.E. has also confirmed the mobilization of both CRW and WDR forces on the border... The O.K.E. is beginning Operation: Guderian," he said.

Ervin looked stunned, all the talks were for absolutely nothing. "What the kurva?" he swore, before turning to Feldmarshall Rommel. "What did you do, szuka?" he said aggressively. Rommel looked as stunned as him, and just shook his head.

Flottacommandant Nicolae Albanescu turned to the aide. "Contact the Flottila, tell them we need immediate, and I mean immediate, fleet support."

"While you are at it, make sure you contact the garrison on Eintsberg, make sure they are mobilized and ready to move as soon as possible," Commandant Ferdinand Hotchkisz chimed in, the aide nodded and rushed off.

They quickly made their way to the lift, in a tense few moments ascending in the lift, they reached the bridge and marched through to the center. The shields were already at maximum capacity and all the Laser Banks were charged, the Torpedo tubes were loaded, and Confederate vessels approached from every angle.

"Sirs! The Collectivist Vessel is hailing us!" said the comms officer, a Cenusian.

"Navigator, prepare to about face and go to warp. Put the Kvirova Onscreen," ordered the Captain.

The image of a few very angry Collectivists filled the main screen as thei.

Ervin took the initiative and was the first to speak. "Greetings, I must extend our most sincere apologies for the incident across the border, I assure your that the Imperial Fatherland had no part in the attack." A crewman rushed over to him and whispered in his ear. "We have just heard reports it was a rogue agent of the Confederates to blame, there is no need for this to blow up into a full scale war, which I am certain neither of us wish for, give us a day, we will cool things down, the plan can still go ahead," he said, he knew it was probably a lie, but he had every intention of getting out of this godforsaken system in one piece.

---

Operation Guderian
Misthaufen Forest, Eintsberg
Oberkommando Eintsberg XI Heer

Operation Kesselring had only finished a few weeks ago, and almost a quarter of a million men were still in the Misthaufen sector, providing a massive tactical advantage for the Landwehr, allowing it to make a lightning fast attack. But the orders had not yet come through yet, and the Heer waited impatiently for them to come through. Aircraft waited in their hangars and on their launchpads, full of fuel, missiles and eager crews.

It was excruciating, the war wasn't officially declared, but the moment it was they would be ready to deliver their wrath to their enemies.

---

Operation Guderian
Eintsberg
1. Panzerkorps, Oberkommando Eintsberg, XI Heer

The Complete Deployment of the XI Heer on the Misthaufen sector included the 1st Panzerkorps, 50,000 men of the most elite units in the general Landwehr, their tank crews were second to none and their Panzergrenadiers and Stosstruppen were some of the best shock troops in the Galaxy. Imperial and Confederate Armour had a certain number of advantages compared to their Collectivist counterparts, but weren't without their disadvantages as well. They were generally of a far smaller size, which made them faster, cheaper and more agile, but meant a large sacrifice in terms of protection. Their guns, too, were generally more effective, the 200MW laser cannons of their Tank Destroyers had incredible range compared to their railgun-armed rivals, if sacrificing slightly in stopping power.

The 1. Panzerkorps were to secure the flanks of the rest of the XI Heer, to press deep into enemy lines and blast open their lines on the opposite end of the forest, allowing the main force of infantry to advance through the wide and dense forest, which stretched from sea to sea, and made up the border between the CRW and WDR, with only this small corridor of plains between the forest and the sea. Once the Misthaufen was secured, it would be very difficult for the Democrats to retake it without a massive contingent of infantry.

All along the border they waited for the order to push forwards, to be the iron fist of the Fuhrer, pressing into their hated foes, humiliating and crushing them.

Two Panzer XI Ausf. G Tanks of the 1. Panzerkorps

---

Führer Heinrich Koenig
Germania, Windhelm

The national anthem of the Confederate Republic blared over loudspeakers all throughout the rally grounds, cheering could be heard from all over as the citizens awaited their Führer. Stormtroopers lined the rally grounds, and holographic imaging created a breathtaking "Cathedral of Light" effect around them. Banners showing the "Wolfsangel" symbol of the Confederacy waved in the night wind. There were almost a hundred thousand adoring citizens in the Rally Ground itself, and Billions were currently watching the speech all over Windhelm and Eintsberg. Pirate radio broadcast also sent the signal into the WDR.

"Kameraden, People of Wolfstern," the Minister of Propaganda announced by the podium, "I present to you, our Führer!"

The cheering reached a fever pitch and Heinrich walked out onto the podium, his image broadcast to massive screens all around, and the untold millions of screens across Wolfstern.

"This day," he began "Marks a new era for Wolfstern! The cowardly Democratic Republic has attacked some of our own brave kameraden! I have only one message for these so-called 'Democrats', we, the true sons and daughters of Wolfstern, are determined to defend our lives and our traditions by all means necessary, whether the rest of the galaxy perceives the necessity for our struggle or not." He paused, and cries of "Heil Wolfstern" were heard for miles.

He held up his hand and the crowd fell silent. "Therefore, should it come to it, Total War is the message of this hour, the powers arrayed against us, the Collectivists and Democrats, are enormous and furious, our resistance against them shall also be enormous, and far more furious! The time has come! We must abandon our silk gloves, and don the carbon-fibre gloves of our Fatherland's most honoured individuals!"

Another pause, and an other round of applause.

"We will approach them, fists clenched and faces determined, the more powerful the fist we give our Fatherland... The more wrath can be laid unto the Collectivist dogs! We can no longer entertain foolish dreams of peace in Wolfstern, the German people can only rely on thoughts and actions of war! Do you want the Collectivists, and their alien minions, to march through the streets of your town? The jackboot of Collectivism falling over your family?"

"I ask you, do you believe as I do, that this total war will be won by the Confederate Reichswehr?"

A resounding "JA!" erupted from the crowd.

"Do you want Total War?" he roared into the microphone.

Another "JA!" pierced the night sky, followed by the cries of "Heil, Wolfstern!"

"Do you want a war more total and radical, than any war that has been?"

"JA!"

"Will you follow our brave soldiers, as the phalanx of the Fatherland, as you fight with every fibre of your being, until victory is ours?"

"JA!"

"Are you all willing to raise our flag in Herne? To force humiliation and wrath upon those Collectivists and their weak puppets?"

"JA!"

The Führer raised a fist in salute, "HEIL, WOLFSTERN!" he shouted.

"HEIL, WOLFSTERN! HEIL, WOLFSTERN! HEIL DER FUHRER!"

---

ISS Grozyar
Ostpruzar System, Confederate-Imperial Border

The Ostpruszar Flotilla, as well as two others from neighbouring systems, had just received word of the impending war in Wolfstern, they had moved out of spaceport and were stationary now on the outer rim of the star's gravity well, their warp drives glowing, in this flotilla alone there were 2,500 vessels, another 4,000 were spread between the three other fleets currently headed for Wolfstern. They would reach Wolfstern, annihilate any resistance they encountered in space, begin an orbital bombardment campaign, and land an Army Group of Imperial Marines on Engels.

The Warp drive was fully charged, and the Captain of the Grozyar, Captain Roman Szalci watched as the other ships in the flotilla blasted away at multiple times the speed of light, disappearing into the blackness of space. "Engage," he said, and the Grozyar followed them, slipping into warp and shooting across space.

They should arrive in Wolfstern in a few days, hopefully, they would arrive before any Collectivists, and be able to gain the initiative with a quick and decisive blow. Peace was impossible now, the orders had been given, and were already in motion. But hopefully the Collectivists hadn't realised that yet.

A Section of the Imperial Fleet

[Zeribru]

The fleet within the neighboring system was quickly running out of supplies, and they needed them desperately. Without a means to continue upon the dictated path of defending the xenos of Wolfstern, as due to the complete denying from High Command of them being given any permissions to assemble, and go so deep inside foreign territory. They have been labeled rogues, and will be dealt with immediately. However the inexperienced Admiral took the title with pride. Renaming the small force The Fleet of Black Sins. This act of defiance and the resulting purge of those who felt that they could argue and testify was the last straw for High Command.


Black Military Headquarters, Aridia
Black Year 578.5/25


A long table within a room on the outskirts of the massive underground chamber that was Headquarters for the Black Military. The room was dimly lit in order to allow for the dated holographic technology to work. Along the long table was Grand Admirals, Grand Generals, Grand Captains, along with many of the High Council. At the head of the table was Julvious Korni Kanis Emperor of the Black Empire. He stood slowly due to his ageing figure. With the exception of a few he was one of the few to have been alive during the rebellion of Blake I of House Black.


“Highly experienced gentlemen and ladies of my high command we are facing the largest threat to our future since the Battle of Reach during the Great War. These rebels, these murders and rogues must be brought to justice as soon as possible. As long as I am Emperor I shall not have rabel like this insult my rule and power. Now how do we deal with them?”


The room remains silent not stating a word, as the Emperor grows displeased.


“By the hands that fed you as children this is of the highest matter, and if none of you can provide a solution to an entire rouge fleet. Then I will find someone who will.”


A tall slender figure stands and stares at the Emperor.


“My lord, and upholder of the doctrine of Blackness, I shall volunteer the third fleet to move in and defeat these rogues, and prevent them from doing as much damage as possible. If this council feels as though one of us needs to go and correct this wrong. I will personal erase this threat.”


The Emperor looks back at the young Admiral who volunteered in a room among warriors and much more experienced souls. He then spoke


“If this council says aye that one of you has to go, then you shall move immediately from this table and take your fleet, and engage these rebels. If not then you shall sit down in silence at the other issues at hand and speak when spoken to ‘half breed’. Any objectors to this brave fool’s endeavor?”


The room remained silent, not daring to come in between the ambitions of a half Sang half Demontronian, and the Emperor's prejudices.


“Very well. Admiral Blake Vinz Takario III you may move out immediately.”


The proud young Admiral bowed, and walked away from the table. Doing an inline pivot and halt before leaving the room, and saluting the High Council before exiting politely. He took the nearest transport to his flagship, and compiled his formation. For “Small-Space”. He looked at his Second in Command, his NCO, the Commander of the Ship, and his personal assistant in his flagship’s command room.


“So then a triangle formation for the battleships surrounding our dreadnoughts with the flagship at the head with Cruisers on one side in standard line, and destroyers on the other in a Bulk formation? What of the grand Cruisers, battlecruisers, and carriers?” Asked his Second in Command High Rear Admiral Jonirs Keyes in his standard polite tone


“Simple.” The NCO responded “We should have the grand cruisers ahead of the formation, with the battlecruisers to the side of both the cruisers and destroyers. Carriers would be nearly useless in this fight due to their high amount of anti small craft weaponry.”




“Then the plan is drawn up, NCO prepare us for warp, and make sure all ships have sufficient power. We are gonna be at it for a few hours with little room for stops.”


The personnel in the room then went to attention, and saluted moving to their stations, as the fleet got into formation. The ships started moving maintaining formation, as their speed ratios remained intact as they got faster and faster. A dark blue hue surrounded each ship, as the call was made and each one entered ‘small-space” moving at unbelievable times the speed of light. Their arrival is estimated at a few days.


The Complement of the Third Fleet's Foreign Dispatch

Flagship: IBS Ardent’s Spire
Dreadnoughts: 1
Battleships: 125
Grand Cruisers: 70
Battlecruisers: 70
Cruisers: 100
Destroyers: 250
Total: 617
*Not Involved*
Carriers: 15
Frigates: 500
Escorts: 1,500

[Union of Collectivist Systems]

CRS Gordost Kvirova
Wolfstern No Mans Space

---

Kratsev was furious. He looked at the telecommunications scree with dark eyes. Next to him, Minister Mecklenburg was conflicted within. He was enraged and deeply saddened at the same time. He wanted to appear calm and keep a professional posture, but at the same time he wanted to take a shuttle to the Confederation and punch the Fuhrer in the face with his own hands. He took a deep breath and tried to tolerate the excuses the Imperial spoke so arrogantly. There was no doubt, it was time for war. Total war.

"Keep your excuses to yourself, Mr. Ambassador" Kratsev growled "You and your Confederate puppets not only destroy any idea of peace in the system, not only do you lie to our face, but you also use the talks as a distraction to gain enough time to prepare for war"

A communications officer ran up to Kratsev and gave him a data slate, which Kratsev unlocked and read. The Collectivist turned off the slate and looked up to the screen again, suddenly with what looked as a calm face.

"I have news from both Vastava and Herne, gentlemen. Premier Ulyanov of the Union of Collectivist Systems, and Prime Minister Pieck of the Wolfstern Democratic Republic, have declared open and total war on the illegitimate, treacherous and terrorist government of the Wolfstern Confederate Republic. All Imperial vessels within the system are and will be considered hostile to both the Union and the WDR. Your actions will not go unpunished."

The telecomms screen turned off abruptly. Kratsev dropped the data slate and took a step backwards, trying to hold himself together. Mecklenburg took a cigarette with his now shaking hand, put it in his mouth and barely managed to light it with his old school zippo lighter. All eyes on the bridge, sailors, officers, armsmen, marines, and the Vice Admiral's, were fixed on Kratsev. The Collectivist ambassador run his hand through his hair and sighed. He turned to Vice Admiral Nestorov, and slowly nodded.

Nestorov sharply turned around to face his instrument operators "Fire" he said simply.

The ion engines of hundreds of Collectivist and Democrat fighters, bombers and small attack craft blazed as they accelerated forward, launching their payloads and firing their guns with great fury. The Collectivist and Democrat vessels, generally larger than their Imperial and Confederate counterparts, unleashed hell on the enemy. Tracers from conventional kinetic weaponry lit up the empty darkness of the void in concert with the bright beams of energy fire from lance cannons, striking hard at the enemy ships. Hundreds of swarms of smaller torpedo propelled themselves out of their multiple launch systems, as the massive torpedo tubes in the front of the Collectivist-Democrat ships unleashed their huge counterparts, which often had plasma and other specialised and destructive warheads.

However, the true power of the combined task force wasn't the lance batteries, nor the light torpedo swarms and heavy torpedo salvoes. It wasn't the large complement of fighters and strike craft that the ships launched from their massive hangars. It wasn't the powerful macro-cannon broadsides the two Democrat battlecruisers turned around to bring to bear. It was the overcharged SP-230 heavy nova cannon in the front of the Gordost Kvirova. With a terrifying flash of light, a massive light blue beam burst forth from the Collectivist leviathan's prow towards the Imperial flagship. The Heavy Nova Cannon was able to shatter cruiser squadrons with a single shot among their grouping. Its destructive power concentrated on a single ship would bear devastating results.

The Krasnaya-class dreadnought and its two Democrat Battlecruiser escorts would soon be joined by the 2nd Flotilla of the Volksmarine, over 400 capital ships (destroyer or larger) and roughly 900 escorts (smaller than destroyers), with the 1st and 3rd Flotillas above Eintsberg and Engels respectively. Meanwhile, the 4th and 5th Flotillas were in active reserve, with the rest of the Volksmarine sitting in dock.

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Confederate-Democrat border, Einstadt, Wolfstern Democratic Republic

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A Volksarmee Kpz T-37L (left) along with a Kpz T-37U (right) on the frontline

It was finally time. After years of fragile peace, the Wolfstern System would again turn into a bloody interplanetary battlefield, a meat grinder rivaling powers would send their men, women and material to perish in the flames of war. The Confederate treachery would not be overlooked, and could not go unpunished by either the Democratic Republic nor their much more powerful allies. It was not time for weakness, but time to show strength and resolve. It was time to act The Union demanded blood. And blood would be spilled by the ton.

However, the Collectivist leadership did not want it to end up in a stalemate, a war of attrition like the Great Galactic War. Both Supreme Collective and the Volkskammer both wanted this to be a quick and overwhelming victory against the Confederates and their Imperial masters. The leadership of the Democratic Republic needed a lighting victory over their sworn enemies to reinforce their position and to show the populace that a unified Wolfstern under the black and red banner of the WDR was the only and right future for their beloved system. But this would be a war fought by soldiers and officers, not politicians.

Eintsberg's had two continents, Jenna and Dessau, in the western and eastern hemisphere of the planet, respectively. Both continents were divided in half between the two Wolfsterner republics. Following the Collectivist system, the Volksarmee had divided their areas of responsibility in Military Districts, the Eintsberg and Engels Military District, with each having their own subdivisions, called Local Military Districts. WDR territory on each of the continents was divided in 4 Planetary Military Districts - North, South, East and West. Each of the military districts would be reactivated into Fronts during wartime, and that was what took place when the first orders came in after the declaration of war.

The Local Military Districts of Jenna were as follows: North was formed into the 1st and 2nd Eintsberg Fronts, South into the 3rd Eintsberg Front, West into the 4th and 5th, and East into the 6th, while on Dessau, the North was reformed in the 7th, the West - where Herne was located - into the 8th, 9th and 10th, the South into the 11th and the East into the 12th. Each Front was composed of three Combined Arms Armies and one Panzer Army, for a total of 10 Motor Rifle Divisions and 6 Panzer Divisions, mirroring the Collectivist organisation. Each Combined Arms Army numbered roughly 103,200 personnel, while each Panzer Army numbered roughly 88,240 men, giving a total of 397,840 to each front. This made the total number of regural Volksheer personnel on Eintsberg about 4,774,080 in 120 Motor Rifle and 72 Panzer Divisions, with 10 out of 12 of them being on or near the border. In addition to them, about 20 Fallschirmjäger Divisions (10 on each continent) are stationed on Eintsberg, along with several Independent Luftbewegliche (Air Assault) Brigades. Supporting them, are the 4th, 5th, 9th and 10th Air Armies of the LSK (WDR Air Force) and about a dozen Divisions of the Marineflieger (Volksmarine Naval Aviation) on the vessels of the 1st and 3rd Flotillas in orbit and nearby the planet.

The 1st through 5th (on Jenna) and 7th through 11th Eintsberg Fronts (on Dassau) were the ones near or on the border on the two continents of the planet, with the 6th and 12th moving to reinforce them. The Democrat doctrine mirrored that of the Collectivist military, that was designed to counter both Imperial and Confederate tactics. The Armies of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Fronts on Jenna, would man pre-prepared defence positions, as would the 7th, 8th and 9th Fronts on Dassau. Meanwhile, the formations of the 4th, 5th, 10th and 11th would be gathered in strategic reserves. The aim of the National Volksarmee was to wear down the enemy on pre-prepared defences while gathering and preparing said strategic reserve. Once the initiative had been achieved and the enemy had been worn down, strategic reserves would be committed to finish off the remaining enemy force, while Fallschirmjäger troops would be dropped on their axis to retreat to slow them down and aid in their encirclement and final destruction. Meanwhile, the arrival of the 6th and 12th Fronts would see the initiation of a massive counter attack that would break into enemy territory.

This would be known as Operation Rettung.

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Belovy System, Vryzv Sector, Union of Collectivist Systems
Task Force Nakhimov, Red Banner Vryzv Fleet

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It was indeed a majestic side to behold. Task Force Nakhimov was a massive collection of ships making up the core of the mighy Vryzv Red Banner Fleet. The Task Force took its name from its flagship, the Admiral Veselov-class carrier CRS Admiral Nakhimov. The Admiral Veselov-class was indeed a series of vessels of massive size. At a length of about 4,000 metres, it was only rivaled in size by the almighty Krasnaya-class dreadnought. But what the Veselov lacked in seer weaponry and armour strength, made up in a massive air wing. A total of 700 fighters, strike craft and bombers could be carried in the vessel's massive hangars, ready to strike at the enemy at any time. However, despite being the only remotely dedicated carrier in Collectivist arsenal, the ship carried a potent range of heavy and devastating weaponry on its own.

Alongside the Nakhimov , were six others of its class, able to unleash a swarm of attack craft to their enemies. Forming the tip of the spear of the Task Force, were 220 Soyuz-class battleships, the so-called Hammer of the Union, while the backbone of the group were the 400 Rabotnik-class cruisers, the workhorse of the Revolutionary Navy. Reinforcing them were 300 Lebed-class battlecruisers, equipped with their powerful SP-120 nova cannons, and 1,000 Molot and Urarnik-class destroyers, the CRN's fast and reliable blockade runners. The roughly 2,000 smaller escort ships were mostly Ekran-class and Storonnik-class frigates, as well as Mech-class and Gnev-class corvettes, with many of the latter docked within the three Admiral Veselov-class carriers. Task Force Nakimov numbered about 3,726 vessels (1926 capital ships and 2,000 escort vessels)

Following the combat vessels, were about 1,500 massive transport vessels. Many were actual Kovcheg-class, military-grade, heavily armoured and shielded transports, but even more were retrofitted freighters requisitioned by Navy command for the operation. These ships carried the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th Belovyan Fronts, 15 Combined Arms Armies and 5 Tank Armies, for a total of 1,989,200 men in 50 Motor Rifle and 30 Tank Divisions. Alongside the Revolutionary Army troops were 8 VDV Divisions and several Naval Infantry Regiments. These were reinforcements for Eintsberg, and would land to aid the Volksarmee to push back the Confederates and their allies.

When ready and assembled, the Task Force's commander onboard the Admiral Alexey Kerensky gave the order, and all ships engaged their warp drives and shot through space as they reached FTL speeds. They would arrive arrive two or three days after the Imperial Fleet. For all their overwhelming firepower, size and numercial superiority, the ships of the Collectivist Revolutionary Navy were known to be slower than those of their sworn enemies.

But they weren't the only ones headed to Wolfstern.

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Vega System, Vryzv Sector, Union of Collectivist Systems
Task Force Gordost, Red Banner Vryzv Fleet

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Task Force Gordost, as the name suggests, was the original Task Force of which the Gordost Kvirova was the flagship. Left without its flagship and under command of acting Vice Admiral Irina Kornilova, the Task Force was granted a week long-day leave in the Vega System, not far from border with the Wolstern System. The Task Force's temporary flagship was the Admiral Veselov-class carrier CRS Admiral Ignatiev, one of the four carriers of the same class in the force. Task Force Gordost included 180 Soyuz-class battleships as well as 50 older Marat-class battleships, 350 Rabotnik-class and 80 brand new Varyag-class cruisers, 230 battlecruisers, 1,200 destroyers and roughly 2,300 escort-size vessels. Task Force Gordost numbered exactly 4,294 vessels (1994 capital ships and 2,300 escorts).

Task Force Gordost Would be escorting ground troops into the combat zones themselves, though a force much larger than the ones from the Belovy System. About 2,500 transport ships were being assembled, carrying the 1st through 5th Vegan and the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Khadoran Fronts. Along with them would be 25 VDV Divisions in addition to the dozens of Naval Infantry. Regiments on the Navy ships. This force, in contrast to the ground troops in Task Force Nakhimov, had a different objective: Windhelm. Once space superiority would be achieved in the system, this force would carry out a massive planetary invasion of the Confederate planet. However, if need be, part of the force could be re-directed to Eintsberg while the rest remains in reserve.

Task Force Gordost wasn't yet assembled, however. It would take about four days for the remaining combat vessels to prepare for warp jump and the three Khadoran Fronts to arrive from the neighbouring Khador system and prepare themselves.

---

[Patria Imperiala]

Ervin Tolvaj
Aboard the ISS Viktor Olasz
Wolfstern No Mans Space

The ship shook as the guns of the Gordst Kvirova turned on her. A turbolift quickly brought the Imperial delegation to the carrier section, the ship shuddering with pain with every collectivist shell fired at her. The delegation rushed to a stealth falcon. A standard Falcon, with only light laser armaments, but it had the impressive Imperial Semi Active Stealth System, which made the small vessel invisible to both the naked eye, radar, and most other types of sensors.

They shot out of the back of the Empire-Class, and looked back, the Laser CIWS of the Viktor Olasz desperately taking out the torpedoes, missiles and fighters as they approached, being struck time and again by the heavy guns, returning fire with her own laser cannons and antimatter torpedoes at the collectivist ship.

Captain Auguszt Ingens
Aboard the ISS Viktor Olasz
Wolfstern No Mans Space

The captain saw the warnings, constant blaring sirens, of system after system, deck after deck being destroyed by the barrage.

"Ahead, full speed," he said. "Az Isten és a Haza."

The engines fired, and the Viktor Olasz pushed forwards, gaining speed quickly, on a direct collision course.

Captain Ingens thrust forwards with a closed fist. "DEATH TO THE COLLECTIVISTS! A DICSŐSÉG!" He shouted, the cry which was taken up by the rest of the crew as the ship hurtled towards the Gordst Kvirova increasingly quickly. At the point of impact, the bridge was crushed as it collided with the Kvirova. There were no survivors from the Imperial vessel.

Oberkommando Eintsberg
Dessau-KH

Confederate-Imperial Battleplans, flags represent Heeresgruppe, or 400,000 troops, with a total of 3.4 million Confederate Troops currently on the frontlines, and 400,000 Imperials, the rest in Reserve.

The Ground War

The Confederate Reichswehr had prepared so very hard for this day. Battle plans had been drawn and redrawn, over and over. Computer simulations and espionage, along with experience from the Great Galactic War, had lead the Confederates to settle on Operation: Guderian. Two Heeresgruppen would co-operate to exploit weak points in the Democrat defensive lines, hardpoints and military bases that the Democrats had set up would be rapidly hit in the coming days with devastating shock-and-awe tactics, involving massive artillery and orbital strikes, as well as an air campaign detailed below.

The crushing attacks would be dynamic, and initally strike the point in the enemy line which was determined to be the weakest, with almost reckless abandon, primarily with armoured units and heavy mechanized infantry such as Exo-Suit Infantry. While most of the fighting was done by the Confederate Reichswehr, the Imperial Garrison on Eintsberg also numbers a full Tengeri Munkacsoport (Marine Task Force), the IFMC's version of a Confederate Heeresgruppe or Collectivist Front. This garrison was in clear violation of the Herne Accord which had brought peace about in the first place, but although whispers of the Imperial breaches might have reached Collectivist ears, at this point, a breach of a now-void peace treaty would be the last things on their minds.

Collectivist Doctrine had been largely examined since the Great Galactic War, and the same basic principles that had prevailed in most battles of that time were deemed to be essentially, still the best option. However, significant modifications had to be made to account for a likely Collectivist development of their own military doctrine. Defence in depth was the name of the game for Collectivists, and they expected the Confederates to tire themselves out pushing into their lands. Provided they didn't get too greedy and overextend their lines, they could perform a form of military judo, and use the doctrine of the enemy against them. A quick but methodical and unceasing advance into Dessau. The assault on Jenna would come later, and would involve a much larger amount of Imperials, as the Imperial troop ships would begin arriving.

The assaults began on the first day of the declaration of war. The first few harrowing hours were short and brutal, many thousands were killed on both sides within moments of the general offensive beginning.

Imperial Troops engage Democratic Volksheer forces, central is an Imperial Prowler tank.

The Air War

An extensive air campaign would be waged against the Collectivists, involving millions of Cezar fighters. The Cezars would attack in a squadron utilizing 3-3s formation, with three Electronic Warfare aircraft in front, to neutralise enemy anti air, followed very closely by air-superiority variants. The final part of the squadron trailed a few hundred meters behind, and was the hard hitters, carrying Plasma Rocket Pods, high-velocity and long-range air-to-ground missiles, as well as one 500kg bomb each. Air losses were expected to be extreme in the first few days, but were expected to level out and diminish after the air campaign had secured air superiority.

In addition to the Cezars, a number of Horst-Wessel J-449 "Schwalbe" high-altitude multiroles would also be widely used. The Schwalbe utilized a sophisticated anti-gravity drive, which allows the vessel to hover in place, and is capable of carrying extremely heavy loads, as well as being capable of performing adequately in lieu of a helicopter gunship, high-altitude air support, or as a transport for infantry regiments. Two types of Schwalbes would be widely used for this campaign. The first was the J-449 "Sturm-Schwalbe", which would carry massive payloads of up to ten 500kg plasma bombs, which would devastate the countryside where the Democrat Infantry would hope to fight.

The second variant of the Schwalbe would be perhaps the most important of the air war, high altitude gunships utilizing 400MW autolasers and semi-active stealth systems, would communicate constantly with Cezar fighters in the air, and provide precision strikes against enemy anti air. These were not available in large quantities, and the stealth systems were not perfect. However, the anti-gravity of the Schwalbe reduced infrared emissions to zero, and the stealth made it invisible to radar, however, the vessels were still visible to both the naked eye and any advanced sensor suites detecting energy fields.

Orbital Weapons Platforms were expected to be the first to be destroyed should the Volksmarine gain spatial superiority, which the Confederates expected, at least until the Imperial Star Navy could arrive. In fact many had already been destroyed by ground based anti orbital and space based weapons. Those remaining loosed their payloads, and a significant amount of orbital destruction was rained upon Democrat positions on the border, causing some damage and chaos, but unlikely to cause any lasting damage. The deaths from orbital strikes would be hardly exceeding a thousand across the entire front, the real damage would be in their destruction of enemy materiel.

Two Horst-Wessel J-61 over a hostile military base.

The Spatial War

The Confederate Kriegsmarine had a simple doctrine to follow in the early days of the war. Prevent Volksmarine or Collectivist invasions on Windhelm, and ensure that the enemy could not gain any significant advantage before the Imperial Star Navy could arrive. Unfortunately, the Gordst Kvirova was in the system, something not accounted for in the endless projections of the Confederate Military. The Kriegsmarine had a total of 3,000 ships, mostly Destroyers and Cruisers, but with a significant amount of the old Wolfsterner Pocket Battleships, as well as more modern Imperial Battleships like the Harbinger.

Most of them would avoid decisive encounters for now, but stick to smaller engagements.

Lieutenant Zobor Milán
Imperial Eintsberg Garrison
76. Marine Task Force "Reikstern"
415. Mechanized Army Corps

Lieutenant Milán commanded a platoon of heavy Mechanized Infantry, dedicated shock troops for breach-and-clear missions and high stakes assaults on enemy positions. They were heavily armoured in light power armour exoskeletons, and armed with hard-hitting gas-operated 12.7mm (.50 caliber) battle rifles capable of tearing through enemy infantry and unarmoured vehicles at 800 rounds per minute. Eight Pancegyalogság (Armoured Infantry) sat in each Legionary IFV, (which could usually transport 15 regular soldiers). From within, Milán could hear the sound of explosions outside, roaring engines, and the sharp zing of their armoured escort's railguns penetrating through the air.

A green light flashed and the rear doors swung open, power-armoured troops poured out, they were now at a ridge some 50m away from the enemy base, safe for now from Democrat small arms fire, although most small arms fire under 12.7mm would be unlikely to penetrate the thick armour. They lined up behind the ridge, checking and rechecking their rifles. Four massive Exo-suit GTR-4 Troopers stood ahead of them, with power armour even more heavy duty than their own, capable of withstanding all small arms fire, only able to be brought low my mid-wattage lasers such as the 150MW Lezerokol, or projectile weapons exceeding 30mm.

The Four GTR's went first, their hydraulic legs pumping quickly, each one firing their PVL gatling lasers and Veraglium high explosive grenade launchers, the massive Veraglium explosions would case massive damage to whatever was caught in the fireball, which also included tungsten shrapnel bits. The Pancegyalogság charged up next, with ferocity, small arms fire from infantry rifles deflecting off their armour. A Democrat NSVT opened fire, the large calibre gun penetrating the armour, but still taking three hits to kill the man beneath, at least three were killed by the HMG before it's position was levelled by a supporting Prowler tank, the massive 152mm Veraglium shell rocking the entire structure and causing the ground to shudder slightly.

A T-37U Tigr with Democrat Markings rounded a large rock to their side, its heavy frontal armour facing them, a bright red beam from a Lezerokol cut through the air, and deflected off the frontal armour into the sky. The T-37s 152mm cannon fired, striking an IFV which exploded spectacularly with a massive fireball. A Prowler aimed it's turret at the T-37 Tigr, the traverse speed on the Prowler was exceptional due to the extremely low weight and profile of the turret, it fired once, and twice. The first struck the lower glacis, unable to penetrate, but still likely causing some damage with spalling, while the other knocked out one of the tracks of the tank.

A Tolto light stealth tank appeared from almost nowhere behind the enemy tank, it's high speed and semi-active stealth capabilities allowing the tank to gain the tactical advantage, but it's rapid-fire 50mm railgun often insufficient to deal with larger targets such as this. It fired it's magazine of seven rounds into the rear of the Tigr, smoke began billowing from the hostile tank's engine, but it's turret continued to traverse towards the lighter tank, which began to back up, before speeding away, the stealth systems coming online and making the tank appear like a shimmer of a mirage. The Tigr was not fooled, and fired, striking the Tolto and destroying it with a single shot, the crew bailing out the top frantically.

The Prowler fired again, and again, striking the Tigr twice in the turret, severly damaging the gun mantle and rendering the enemy tank effectively impotent.

By now, the heavy troops reached the compound, and began to enter, sporadic fire cut through, but the armour of the heavy troopers giving them a massive advantage for this type of fighting. Regular Imperial Marines began to rush up from the ridge as well, with a breach made by the heavy troops, it would take all of them to successfully exploit it.

He looked back to see twelve more IFVs drive past the compound, followed by four supporting Prowlers, the offensive would not wait for this compound to fall, they would keep pushing.

He turned back to the fight, peering down the long, wide corridor which was littered with makeshift defenses, titanium half-walls, and a variety of other litter. He looked down his sight, and let out a loud burst of .50cal fire as his men continued pushing, lasers and tracer bullets cutting through the air.