Unstoppable Wrath [Closed/ReDo - ATTN: Ukraine, Rostil]

[-the Ukrainian SSR-]

Kiev, Ukraine
Siege of Kiev - Day 16

"Sir the foward defenses have crumbled and we can't hold the line here any longer without expecting mass casualites."

"Very well, pull back toward the Red Palace, keep the fire going though."

"Yessir."

---

Estainia

Their high arc's abruptly ended; the re-entry vehicles jetting away from the rocket body's that were swallowed by the atmosphere and space. The RVs continued though, dropping back into the atmosphere into the skies of Estainia as they headed for their targets only to find a wall of obliterating defence. Missile after missile were knocked from the sky, electronics fried or simply obliterated; within a few seconds of their twenty minute objectives the first wave of the nuclear missiles had been annihilated; the second wave began to arc the horizon...

---

[Best I can do for now, sorry guys.]

[Polski SAF]

tag on request of Solyhniya.

[Birkaine]

tag on request of Solyhniya.

Lol puppet

[West Estainia]

[This. Thread. Is. ****ing. Closed.]

[West Estainia]

"So this is.." "Star Trek America, yep." "Looks like a ten thousand square miles of." "Shit, yeah." - 1st Recon - Rostilian War

Kiev - Ukraine
Siege of Kiev - The Final Push - Day 16

"Disregard the losses, the city is ours to take!" The booming voice washed over the battered legions of Estainia with strength and vigor. "They wanted War; they got it. Let them fall! Forward the Banner, Forward the Greater Russo-Spanish Empire!" It wasn't a speech, it was a command. Sixty five thousand men pounded at the defenses of Kiev pushing its valiant defenders closer to the heart of their murdering nation. "Blockades? Use the tanks as battering rams!" Inspiring, powerful. "Kiev is burning, the Union is fallen! Behold what you unleash!" The clatter of machineguns, the falling of bombs, the boom of artillery; so fierce the thunder of guns. The Estainians pushed forward as the Ukrainians retreated through the city. "Absolute Dominiation, every rock and stone. Building by building, block by block, room by room. One murderer at a time!"

---

Mu Empire of The Naacal

Patterson was just adjusting a rather nice tie when Neirda found him, at the words 'nuclear launch' and 'Estainia' the old man's eyes lit up with worry and an amount of sorrow as he followed his savior and friend.

---

Estainia

Sirens blared, alarms went off and as though it had been done a million times before every person dropped what they were doing and in a semi-organized manner they were led in the thousands as quickly as possible into massive underground shelters. "They can't save us all." Someone noted sadly. "They never claimed they could; just as many as they can." It wasn't reassuring but at least it was honest.

[The Naacal]

Fire Unit 1
SDS Mobile Battery Lan-Ain 14
Novograd, Estainia

"KEEP FIRING!" Lt. An'Lnel shouted into his mic. "Second wave is crossing the teminator! Lens system aligned...Energy column at 100%...FIRE!." There was a hum and a whipcrack sound from superheated air in the beam path as the FEL fired. "Target vaped, aquiring next target... he said as he watched the screen, atmospheric sifting separating the lighter decoys from the RV's with their deadly payloads.

"Lieutenant, this is Fire Unit 2, we have accelerator overheat! Recycle time 90 seconds!." An'Lnel cursed Ninety seconds might as well be an eternity. "Roger that unit 2, resume firing as soon as possible," Switching channel to the Imperial Navy's frequency he contacted the IMS Nialyth. "IMS Nialyth this is SDS Lieutenant An'Lnel. We have accelerator overheat in one unit covering target sector Pe-8, cover for us while we cooldown!"

The focussing crystals glowed deep blue from ionization plumes as the UV beams, momentarily one less in number, stabbed into the skies, Outside the only sounds were the blare of warning sirens and the thundering sound of dozens of Sun Falcon and Falknerai missiles rocketting into the skies of Novograd.

IMS Nialyth
Novograd Harbor
Estainia

"FEL batteries Aleph and Bith contiuing to fire." Came the voice of a tech in the CIC of the BMD battlecruiser. Captain El'Nethriel, Nialyth's CO looked on. "Continue engaement, the second wave is incoming, third wave will be crossing the terminator soon." he ordered his crews. Commander Atriel, in the FEL control station reported over intercom. "All systems nominal, 2 RV intercepts successful." We are slowly running low on Sun Falcons. El'Nethriel thought to himself.

The harbor was a pandaemonium of sound and chaos. DEW and missiles streaking upwards, the supercarriers IMS Star Falcon and KMV Rolf Munzel leading their non-BMD capable escorts out to sea just in case a warhead got through the wall of destruction Nialyth and the othe BMD ships of the Mu and Belkan fleets were sending skyward.

Minister Neirda's Estate
Mu Empire of the Naacal

Neirda walked into his estate's situation room, followed by Edward Patterson. The room was a large chamber filled with consoles, all standing dark. The situation room had the atmosphere of an ancient sepulchre, something that had been unused for an uncounted period of time. Neirda ascended the steps to the central dais of the room to a chair as ornate as the Imperial Throne. Sitting down he said to the Core. "Status"

Readouts and display screens came to life on the silent, obsidian like surfaces of the control panels. A large screen on the sloped front wall of the room lit up, showing the display of the estate in it's totality. Patterson's eyes widened slightly as he took in the display's view, as well as the view of Alythren-Naras outside the row of windows, the Imperial Pyramid visible in front of and below them.

A large projected sphere came to colorful life, floating in an area of the room and showing the ongoing battle above the skies of Estainia. "Things go well for now Mister Patterson." Neirda calmly said as the battle went on, the fate of millions in the balance.

[Solyhniya]

OOC: The Mirages weren't within range of the subs. I'm not trying to wank them out of the meat grinder but frankly, if they were within torpedo range it'd be absolutely suicidal for the, as they would be well within missile and aircraft range. After all, you don't need much proximity when sending one-way radio noise. You should have them move towards the ships before you fire.

OOC: Sure, but my torpedo subs were moving as soon as hostility was detected. I don't expect the torpedoes to hit immediately, I've allowed some travelling time since, firstly, you haven't mentioned what your SONAR capabilities are so you have some time to organise, and secondly, I wanted the Force 7 agent's detonation to coincide with your attack to further confuse the Solyhniyan command.

IC:

Odesa, Ukrainian SSR
The Solyhniyan camp had grown, the perimeter now widened to a large area in central Odesa. The civilians gradually became more accustomed to the Solyhniyan presence; whilst initially they were suspicious of foreigners - Ruthenian or otherwise - the total lack of a language barrier meant that the peacekeepers and the refugees were able to establish a rapport. This, coupled with the safety assured by the looming watch towers and the Solyhniyan tanks which were decades ahead of their Ukrainian cousins created a slightly calmer atmosphere in this microcosm away from the chaos of the land scorched by a vicious Estainian blitzkrieg.

The large personnel presence was not simply to cope with the strains of feeding and sheltering thousands of people; the Rada wanted hard proof that Estainian had been targeting civilians, a potential justification to aid the USSR to which many rumours had alluded to. Patrols, backed up with IFV's went into the various rajony of the city, all troops equipped with helmet cameras. This had gone on for days, and the many hours film had been sent back to Boryslav for "government approval" before being shown not only on Solyhniyan TV but on stations in many other countries all over Slavija.

Images of entire Ukrainian families with the clear signs of systematic execution were broadcast at primetime.

"Operation: Berkut" was well under way.

---

Iron Sea, Rostil
"Between twenty-five and thirty SSM's inbound. Their signature's not picking up right."
"They're trying to avoid our detection, inform interceptors of the areas they have to cover and let them use heatseekers."
"Yes Comrade Admiral."

Positions were relayed to the MyRo-34's already airborne, allowing them to easily pick off most of the SSM's as they were travelling at similar altitudes. One-by-one, the air superiority fighters manoeuvered between their targets, destroying them in glorious harrowing fireballs above the sealine. However, others appeared to be navigating a flanking course around the task force. Aimed for the largest Solyhniyan ships, the SSM's came into contact with the Hoplit AA cannons on board all the ships, which opened up a furious blaze of fire. Yet, they could not engage most of the missiles which were flying at too high a speed to be effected. One SSM however was detonated less then 50 meters from the SRS Slava, the shockwave throwing men like they weighed nothing whilst another skimmed over the SRS Maryk, narrowly missing its target and crashing into the waves below. More missiles were yet to come from this angle and were still being engaged by the MyRo-34's, desperately trying to avert disaster and inevitable defeat.

"We can't continue like this." Admiral Sydorenko spoke with the captain of the Bratyslava as frequent reports of "Target neutralised" could be heard on the brig. "The Birkanians know we have no SAM capabilities whilst they're jamming us. They're trying to cause our fighters to reequip en masse by forcing them to concentrate on a relatively minor SSM threat. They'll launch an air attack any second and we will be unable to do anything about it."
"Sir, I have technicians working on finding the right frequency to superpose and counteract the jamming wave. Upon their success, Kolčuha will be online and an enemy air attack will be easy to avert."
"If there's anything you can do to speed that up, Comrade Captain, make sure you do it."

A brief sense of relief from the salvation from the Birkanian missiles was soon wiped away from the Solyhniyan command as an approaching flotilla of unknown origin sped forward and launched a number of missiles flying at various velocities. The Solyhniyans did not have time to react with their inferior radar system as hypersonic ballistic missiles collided with the SRS Maryk, tearing into the hull and a fireball. The armoured ship was still afloat, but the runway was heavily damaged, and it was unknown how long it could survive before the order to abandon the noble hulk would have to be given.

The onslaught was followed by another three SSM's targetting the Bratyslava, the aircraft carrier and current command ship of Task Force: Rostil. This time more prepared, Hoplit batteries spewed rounds towards the missiles. Their straight and direct path brought them into contact with an airspace that was filled with thousands of high-explosive AA bullets, yet two of the Nightbringers were able to make it through. One penetrated the carrier's thick hull whilst another glanced off the side, leaving breaches in several areas.

"SUPCOM shows that the attack came from a Naacalian naval force travelling at a high speed. There are more SSM's inbound."
"Naacal have attacked us? Those treacherous swines! Not even decent enough to declare war, they strike like cowards hoping to kill and destroy whilst a neutral nation is unprepared. Inform HQ, inform Boryslav and inform Colonel Milanenko."
"Yes Comrade Admiral."

Travelling at a far slower speed, the other missiles were far simpler to shoot down, and were neutralised well before they could get near the task force. Some travelled at less than the speed of a fighter, whilst others a speed closer to the Birkanian rockets and the sheer number of Solyhniyan air superiority fighters in the air meant that whilst the Kolčuha AA SAM system was unusable, the Solyhniyans would be able to deal with any slow-speed missile threats that were expected.

---

[Solyhniya]

Comms Room, SRS Bratyslava
"I AM INVINCIBLE!" A young technical officer launched from his chair waving his fists in the air, much to the confusion and embarrassment of his fellows. Grabbing a receiver from his panel, he quickly dialled for Admiral Sydorenko.
"Comrade Admiral! The enemy jamming signal is being polarised and my team have created a partial model of the Iron Sea, communications have been partially restored."
"Good work. Start mapping out enemy forces and make sure that the cruisers have the info they need to start retaliating."

[Birkaine]

Onboard the bridge of the imposing Cherepov the reports of the missile volleys were arriving, denoting a somewhat ineffective barrage with one ship significantly damaged and the flagship being hit, as well as one of the Kh-101s almost achieving its goal. However, the Mirage-class ships were too busy operating in their anti-electronic missions and by the time the torpedoes were launched they were taken completely by surprise. the alarms were suddenly sounded all over the twin ships which immediately proceeded to begin evasive maneuvers.

"Torpedoes!" The sonar operator yelled as the conmotion got to the command bridge "Range yet to be estimated!"

"Do you have a vector?" the captain shouted getting back from his seat "Helmsman, I want flank speed evasive!"

"Yes, sir!"

The helmsman put the rudders at full left, and the officers onboard had to grab onto anything they could to prevent them from being thrown to the other side of the bridge by the sharp maneuver, while the Sonar systems tried to track the torpedoes more precisely. Finally, active sonar was activated and managed to spot the incoming torpedoes. The ship was preparing for counterattack but by the time it managed to get an effective sound signature of the torpedo, it swam beneath the rear section of its keel and detonated.

The explosion sent the rear half of the ship flying several dozen meters up into the air in a massive pillar of water killing everybody on the reactor room, bending the ship in an arc after its back had been broken and crushing the jamming systems in its own structure. The destruction of the jammers caused sparks and liquid nitrogen to be sent flying all over the place in a cacophony of destruction as on-deck sailors simply jumped for their life as the boiling cryogenic fluid entombed the ship in a gloomy white fog. All the ship's reactors were automatically sealed by dropping all cadmium control bars into the cores as the ship swiftly began to sink.

The scene was not watched by the other Mirage due to the concentration of the crews onboard to fight for their life. The vessel had more time to bring its weapons to bear, and the two RBU-1000 anti-submarine launchers on its back immediately became active. The two launchers fired off all of their shells onto the incoming torpedo. All of the ordnance detonated at once, destroying the torpedo and causing a massive implosion behind the second jamming vessel that the propeller shaft and rudder were torn off from the keel, rendering the ship immobile and flooding the aft compartments. However, to the relief of the captain the ship still hadn't been sunk.

"Dammit!" The captain yelled "I want a damage report immediately!"

"Torpedo succesfully intercepted, but it seems the blast still hit us" One of the officers said "The aft section is sinking, engineering is trying to get the pumps operative at full power!"

"Understood, reload the rockets as fast as you can and get the medics from section C to the aft deck!" He ordered with an authoritative tone "Prepare for additional anti-submarine operations but keep up the jamming!"

"Sir, we lost all contact with the Spektr" One of the comms officers said, and then a couple sailors notified from outside that their sister ship was sinking on their 6 o'clock "We should go provide assistance"

"We will when we finish this" The captain intervened "For now we have a more important duty. Increase jamming to the maximum and contact the Cherepov. Get all emergency personell from sector A to help the Spektr's survivors, evacuate all personell from decks 3 trough 7"

Some minutes of silence were interrupted by the crew making a small exodus. With the engines unusable now, two of the reactors were shut down and power was rerouted from jamming to keep up basic systems like the Sonar and navigational radars, as well as lightning. However, all non-vital systems were shut down. The captain knew that they were sitting ducks and would not have half his crew needlessly stuck in the lower levels of the ship waiting for certain death if the submarine struck again. Thus, the non-vital personell was evacuated from the bottom decks to the top one, to avoid heavy casualties in case another torpedo hit the ship. The Spektr had not been that lucky, and half of its crew had been wiped out instantly, with more going down with the ship.

While the remaining vessel kept radioing for help, most of its emergency crew disembarked onboard RIBs and lifeboats and immediately headed off to the shipwreck of the Spektr, where dozens of stranded sailors waited for rescue. The humble Ka-27 was brought onto the bent and broken helipad by the crew of the remaining ship, named the Illyuziya, and began fueling it up and loading it with lightweight torpedoes in a desperate attempt to counterattack before the submarine gave a killing blow. Everybody onboard began rushing for the life jackets, life rafts were preventively inflated and thrown to the sea, and finally sonar decoys were dropped on the sea to try and confuse the enemy sub.

---

BSK Predavitel Cherepov
Detachment 12
Iron Sea

Overflown by the 45-strong aircraft detachment of the Cherepov, the officers onboard the supercapital vessel attentively listened to the pleas of their comrades at the Illyuziya, and prepared their own response. However, the captain quickly took hold of the matter, a hard-headed puritan Rear Admiral that was still focused on his mission. The last captain of the Cherepov had died due to a heart attack shortly after his final victorious battle against the Estainians that they were now fighting alongside, but this didn't seem to bother the captain in the slightest. Instead of seeing the potential short-term human loss he kept his mind focused on the bigger picture, ordering his vessels to stand back. A grave disadvantage of the Upor's design was that aerial operations on the flight deck would be dangerous with the jammers at full power.

"The Spektr went down, jamming is at 55%" The electronic warfare chief said "Requesting orders, sir"

"Make up for the lost power with our own jammer, I want full power within safety limits." The captain said in the characteristic tone of supercapital warship captains, giving him an air of veterancy and patriotism "And load firing solutions on our missiles, our time has come."

"Understood" He said, before the captain intervened.

"We've been informed they're using a lower frequency, search and jam, it should be simple enough" He said, looking at the horizon from the ship's superstructure. "The Mu vessels have redirected their efforts towards ballistic defense. That leaves us alone with the task of engaging the enemy fleet. Any objections?"

He looked at the dozens of officers in his bridge, then smirked, standing up. "I supposed so. By our ancestors we shall best them in glorious battle"

The Birkanians quickly picked up the old non-variable frequency used in the antiquated backup radar system of the Solyhniyans, and began broadcasting radio noise in that frequency too, apart from reinforcing the jamming currently put up by the Illyuziya. The ships then moved towards the enemy fleet, remaining at a distance of some 800km while the missiles were loaded with targetting data. As the battleships lacked any form of heavy ASM despite being full of SAMs, the Cherepov alone took up the duty of engaging the enemy fleet. The VLS doors on the ship's prominent bow opened and personell was evacuated from the sector to protect them from the flames as the missiles were individually loaded with targetting data.

When all the 45 missiles were ready, the captain began the small ceremony that characterized first shots when there was no hurry. He stood up from the captain's nest, and walked some distance towards the firing console wearing his full regalia as everybody stood silent looking respectfully. When he finally arrived, he flipped the cover of the firing button open, saluted the machine and prepared to press it.

"The moment we have waited for!" He adressed his officers, then pressed the button.

15 R-311 Kvarts heavy missiles and 30 R-700 Ametist missiles came forth from the ship's bow and its sides respectively, submerging the vessel in white smoke from which lance-like plumes of smoke with blazing missiles at their tip emerged and headed towards the enemy fleet. The Kvarts missiles, comparable to the Naacalian Nightbringer albeit generally larger and with a heavier warhead, targetted the enemy flagship and the other carriers, while the smaller Ametists went for the rest of the fleet.

Both types of high-supersonic missiles darted for a high altitude. Now that the enemy fighters were pretty much glued to the sea as they intercepted the sea-skimming Kh-101s and Nightbringers, they were distracted enough for the Birkanians to attempt another strike. Flying in a semiballistic pattern, they were planned to stay above the engagement range of enemy fighters and come down almost vertically on their target ships, reducing the effectiveness of whatever defense the Solyhniyans could muster.

This was accompained by a launch of 50 additional sea-skimming Kh-101s, thus depleting most of the ground launcher's ammunition. Given the -101's low survivability and speed, it was merely used as a distraction to keep the enemy aircraft too busy with low-flying targets to be able to do anything about the supersonic missiles that would be raining down on their fleet soon enough.

---

Rebla Forest
Krovinozh Oblast
Birkaine

"Allright, everybody pack up and move the hell out" The captain of the coastal defense unit said while the forest was still submerged in smoke. "Congratulations guys, we sunk two of their ships and damaged one. If we sink more we'll be notified, but our job here is done"

<<Understood, sir>> His radioman relayed from one of the batteries. <<Where to, now?>>

"Back to base" The commander ordered "We're going for reloads and then we'll be on standby. The 131st will relieve us"

<<Roger that>>

The ligthest vehicles such as scouting vehicles, SAM tanks, command trucks and such were the ones to leave first, easily going through the muddy terrain back to the roads, while the launchers took some time to lower their missile launcher tubes and retract their radar antennae. A large coordinated effort to get the entire batteries out of the forest then started with no particular hurry as the Birkanians had not been informed of any potential counterattack Now more than ever they would be pretty sure that the Solyhniyans would be too busy with the missiles to engage the launchers. The captain's MT-LB vehicle was the last one to leave the firing grounds and head back to the base, its prominent antennae swinging around each time the vehicle passed over a ditch.
After the batteries began to leave, several vehicles pertaining to EOD detachments arrived to the scene, in heavy blast-protected MRAPs. MPs secured a perimeter of several kilometrers for them to work close to the dangerous warheads of the failed Kh-101s, now currently marinating in a small pool of their own fuel. Given the nature of the explosives, the EOD technicians didn't even bother to put their bomb suits on.

To relieve the battery, another unit was readied. It consisted of a dozen "Bastion" three-shot TEL trucks for the launching of the imposing Oniks missile, with their respective AA coverage and radar vehicles, as well as some trucks carrying spare rounds for additional fire totalling 50 vehicles that began to move out of their base in a lenghty convoy, heading towards the firing position that was occupied moments ago with an ETA of a hour and a half. As the main vulnerability of the Kh-101 had been its low speed, Birkanians were now going to change tactics, and simply fire faster missiles.

[-the Ukrainian SSR-]

"Fate is fickle, the day belongs to the Estainians. Make them pay for every minute of it." - Mark Valshannar - 'Death General' of Ukraine

Kiev, Ukraine

"Hold the line! Hold the bloody line!" The Tactician bellowed between cracks from his own rifle as they pushed with all their might to hold back the Estainian Shock and Awe campaign. Reduced to ash and rubble at this point this part of Kiev had become a slaughtering ground for both sides; the Ukrainians fought hard, very hard but they were fading fast. "Fight back! Die if nessecary but we must stop them!" The orders were no longer needed; every man fought double his worth in effort to stop the invading Russo-Spaniards in their genocidal advance into the Motherland. "Make them pay the price of war!" The crack of bolts, the rattle of machineguns and the bellow of tank barrels drown out all noise joined by another sound. The roar of flamethrowers. "That is more like it." The Tactician noted simply; he was tired of playing with these invaders who so marched on his home without any reason. "Burn them, the fuel hungers!" The OI-4 rolled forward spitting flame over rock and stone that had a greatcoated man on it. The screams were incomprehensible; the smell so horrid it caused many men to wretch empty stomachs. "Yes, Comrades. Fight them back!"

---

The Red Palace, Kiev

The Red Guard had learned from the attemped coup; they fortified the hell out of the government building with everything they had, sandbags, concrete slabs, ruined cars; everything. Machinegun nests stood two abrest on each steep stair creating a never ending corridor of fire, RPG's were everywhere and an Anti-Tank Gun was set up along each side of the gargantuan staircase, men armed and ready lined every knook and cranny of the large complex building that consumed four city blocks in every direction with only one entrance point. Every room would be a battle ground shortly and each would be fought to the death for.

---

[West Estainia]

"Forward the Greater Russo-Spanish Empire!" Gen. Alastaire King [Ironic how the Communists are more loyal to the Empire than the Imperialists.]

Kiev Oblast - Kiev - Ukraine

"Push forward! Send in all the reserves, secure their utter defeat! Soldiers of the Empire forward the banner, let these fascists burn in hell!" Alastaire bellowed from his position atop his E-190, his voice amplified by a megaphone so that he wasn't drown out by the ear blistering noise. His steed rounded a rubble choked corner to come to face to face with a Ukrainian tank. "Open fire!" The tanks main guns went off simultanously and the smoke billowed...

---

Ural Mountains - 101st State Guard Platoon - 106th Imperial Guard Regiment

"I don't want to imagine what lives it took to get this location." One of the Guardsmen spat bitterly as the C-138's, two of them flew in tandem with four Gu-214's designated their body guards. "Time to go." One noted as the mountains became more omnious and notable on the plane of vision. The bay door of the C-138 opened wide and some twenty four parachutes went out from one of the C-138s as the other dropped a single parachute, something bulky and quite shiny in the moonlight. "Wee." Someone said boredly as they floated toward the ground. The advancing plains came up quickly as with soft thuds the Guardsmen landed, the dark blue of the Imperial clashing against the deep maroon of the State. "Lets go." Both commanders spoke at once as some three men procured the larger object; a Birkanian made tank that looked somewhat like a T-34 whose engines broke the fragile silence.

[Star Trek America]

SDI Command - New Alexandria - Star Trek America

"Code Black; Missile Launch confirmed. Location confirmation: The Ukrainian Republic" The advanced computer sensors began going off immediately. "Trajectory calculation in progress...Multiple targets; Estainian Empire..." Several people at that point looked up from the screens and concentrated attentions. "ABM possiblities: Null." The commanding officer on deck swore loudly. "God have mercy on their souls." The computer screen flickered to a sat-camera, the sat was about five miles above the Earth so it could only look straight down but as the icy burst of nitrogen shifted the massive lens waves were on the horizon. "Sir...I don't think God's mercy will help if those hit." ...

---

New Cairo - Star Trek America

"The Ukrainians have lost their minds." The Emperor's words were slow; sagacious even but dilberate all the same. He stood before the assembled Congress with a single purpose. Response. "They have already utilized nuclear weapons in this conflict and they have gone one step further; they have launched a massive attack against the Estainian Empire; one of the Federation's greatest allies despite our strained past." His words washed over the men and women slowly. "The United Federation must respond accordingly. I ask the Congress for an unconditional declaration of war against the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic." Though barely a figure head the Emperor had been there through some of the toughest times in American history; he had led them through depression and back and his opinion was respected by all hated by few; still the robust man held his breath as the Congress sat whispering around the semi-circle to one another.

Then finally the speaker of the house stood along with the chairman of the senate. "In accordance with the will of the Emperor and a vote from the Senate and House of Representives; the Congress of Star Trek America shall allow the passing of an immediate Declaration of War against the Ukrainian Republic." The two spoke as one and the Emperor called for such a document to be drawn up.

Twenty Minutes Later - New Cairo - Press Conference

"We do not go to war for imperialist means. Should the Estainian Empire be destroyed by the Ukrainians; an entire people will be wiped from the face of existence. It is within our best efforts to at least assure something like that can never happen from these people again; if one would dare to call them people." The Emperor spoke into a microphone facing the barrage of cameras and reporters. "The American Federation does not take war lightly, and Star Trekian lives will pay the price for Ukrainian folley I will not lie in that. However it is my hope that Estainia will be preserved; and that we all might recover from this mistake so made by the Ukraine." He then shifted his focus directly to the gobal broadcast camera. "Those who stand with the Ukraine; stand in the way of annihilation. Your shields will crumble. You have been warned."

[Belkaland]

Rostilian Defense Fleet-North
Vladivostok, Estainia

"All inbound reentry vehicles have been neutralized, I repeat, all inbound reentry vehicles have been neutralized!" Reported a Fire Control officer as he watched roughly 300 RVs be destroyed by Naacalian FEL & Belkan ABM fire. "Don't get too ahead of yourself, we still have 2 more waves inbound." cautioned the CIC-CO. "Right sir, sorry sir. Detecting the second wave now, engaging targets now..." As Fire Control officer sent the command to the ABMs to fire, the first missile cell malfunctioned and the VLS cell's hatch failed to open.

On the bridge of a neighboring ship that had also began to fire, the crewmen stationed there watched in awe as the forward bow of the Prinz Eugen-class CGN just across the dock is literally blasted off, flying off into the harbor and nearly hitting an evacuating Kraken-class TT. The Prinz Eugen that exploded then settled on the bottom with the water coming up to just a foot short of the deck while crewmen throughout the ship began closing off the forward section to hold off the water from reaching further into the ship.

Meanwhile, more Ml. 576 Falknerei are sent flying to intercept the inbound RVs. However with the loss of a Prinz Eugen, fewer Ml. 576 Falknerei could be guided to target.

Southern TransRostil Canal
Eisenmeer, Belkaland

As RDF-North fought off ICBMs, orders reached segments of the Belkan Home Fleet based in Eisenmeer, a small port on the southern end of the TransRostil Canal. The Solyhniyans, in their first clash with Naacalian & Birkainian, showed that they were not pushovers. Thus to prevent a possible invasion of the Canal Zone, 15 Dinsmark II-class SSIs were ordered to proceed to the battlezone. As the Dinsmarks headed out of the port and dived into the depths of the Iron Sea, several unmarked cargo containers were hauled off into the countryside to the south of Eisenmeer.

[Solyhniya]

PCRS Akula
Iron Sea
Rostil

"'Target destroyed."
"And Piranja's?"
"Negative, though the ship was still hit, possibly immobilised."
"Finish the job."
"...wait, there are more SONAR signatures..."
"They're decoys. Spread out your fire according to signal strength and proximity to other signals and it'll work. They were miserably unprepared for us and this last ditch attempt will not save them. Nonetheless, place ADC's on standby, they may well have subs of their own."
"Yes Comrade Captain."

The two submarines fired another four torpedoes each at the remaining Mirage, hoping to swarm past its defences and finish it off, allowing the remaining subs to return to the flotilla and prepare to defend against the next attack wave.

---

SRS Bratyslava
Iron Sea
Rostil

The significant lull in the jamming signal was met with a sharp increase in activity amongst the Solyhniyan technical personnel, chiefly those aboard the last remaining carrier in the flotilla, incidentally also the flagship.

Within minutes of the demise of the Spektr, fourteen Lantset anti-ship missiles were launched simultaneously from the remaining seven destroyers. The medium-sized missiles were designed not to cause massive materiel damage, but to penetrate a thick, armoured hull. Controlled independently by each destroyer, they travelled at Mach 4 and spread out upon firing in order to hit their target - the Cherepov[i/] from various angles.

In truth, however, this was not the main component of the attack. Had the large number of missiles heading for the [i]Bratyslava not been detected, then the Solyhniyans may have attacked with aircraft. However, there would be no refuelling, as the massive impending Birkanian attack would be impossible for any force to evade.

Instead of attacking, all remaining fighter aircraft were dispatched from the Bratyslava and sent to the airfield that Solyhniyan troops had set up in Ukraine. If there was to be any fighting this war, it was now obvious that Solyhniya would have to concede the Iron Sea and go to ground. All personnel were ordered to board H21 gyrodynes and head in the same direction. The mass exodus quickly filled the runway; with the air superiority fighters and strike fighters already on their way, hundreds of naval personnel clambered onto eight of the enormous gyrodynes. The faster they moved, the more likely the transports would be to outrun any potential interception.

Not knowing if there would be any response, one of the H21 pilots attempted to establish communication with Ukrainian air traffic control. The base was about forty-five miles inland and the Solyhniyans did not want to be mistaken for a threat.

The Bratyslava was gutted and left to the mercy of Birkanian wrath.

---

Task Force: Rostil,
Iron Sea,
Rostil

Non-naval personnel from all other ships followed suit; helicopters and dinghies headed for the coast to begin a long and brutal march to the inland base. Yet the battle was not surrendered. One man from the Bratyslava had remained: Admiral Sydorenko. He was picked up by two seamen on a dinghie and headed straight to the Slava to continue the fight.

After the torpedo subs had finished off the last Mirage, Solyhniyan and Birkanian naval forces would be pitted against each other in a fair but cruel battle to the very last ship.

Speeding through flotsam as seaspray was thrown into the air, Sydorenko, whose uniform was not far from drenched, clutched a radio and held it to his head as he barked orders.
"Captain; those batteries need neutralising! We either inevitably burn down an entire forest, or we use Z21 to pacify that area cleanly and humanely. I have made my orders, now I want to see those rockets in the air yesterday!" The admiral snapped down the receiver before slamming it down, a look of frustration across his sullen, middle-aged visage.

Sydorenko had obviously made an impression on the captain of one of the cruisers, as, sure enough, two small SSM's ejected white smoke all over the cruiser SRS Tovarysh as they launched from its deck towards the artillery batteries in Rebla Forest. Before the jamming had returned somewhat, technicians had mapped out where the Birkanians were and the same coordinates were used. It was unlikely that the launchers and personnel could get far before the medium-altitude Zmija SSM's would detonate above them, spreading the lethal nerve agent Zural-21 across a precise target area that covered the whole artillery battery.

[Star Trek America]

USS - Ebon Atoll - Ebon Atoll-class Guided Missile Cruiser - South Rostilian Sea

Having been on firing duty for days the VLS cells aboard the Ebon Atoll were exhausted, half-melted from the dumb-warheadless missiles that the Federation used as the equalivlant of fire testing on their modern navy. When they returned to port the Ebon Atoll would be refitted and repaired inside of twenty four hours and then she would join the naval force being sent to Ukraine; forty thousand marines, two battlecruisers and the Atoll were all that was being sent; the Estainians had the airspace completely dominated and the Birkanians were pounding the Solyhinians out of existence so the presence of a massive Federation-class Super Carrier would've been over doing it.

The crew prayed to Jesus Christ that the Estainians would make it through their struggle; not out of their desire to see the Estainains fulfill their vengence but rather that the innocent people be spared nuclear armamgeddon; even if the Estainians had once visited that horror upon the Americans themselves. Still; the Federation held no grudges of the past American Empire and as such they prayed; along with a good percent of the nation that those affected by a war they didn't ask for[in case of the Ukrainian civilians] and those who did but didn't deserve what they were getting [in case of the Estainians].

The sleek-bodied hull of the Ebon Atoll passed into the harbor facilities outer gates to the small island harbor. She was moored and docked and repair crews set to work right away.

[OOC: This is a filler basically; Ebon Atoll-class is similar to Kirov-class but with upgraded abilities and a lot more Electromagnetic Warfare ability.]

[-the Ukrainian SSR-]

Kiev, Ukraine
Siege of Kiev, Day 17

"Longest night of my life." Someone noted idly as the sun began creeping up over the skyline. It was natural so they weren't overtly worried. Their trump card had failed miserably so now they had one option left. Bleed them dry; make them pay for every block and house they gained. Unfortunately when one was running out of bullets it was neigh impossible to hold the enemy for long. The Estainians recovered their wounded and dead almost daily so scavenging was reaching a level of impossible.

The only respite against the push was the OS-4's occasional spurt of flame; the screaming, the blood curtling screams that followed though...Haunting, inhuman. "G-general. Order them to stop, I can't stand this anymore!" Another line of Estainians were disintergrated while Mark's cold brown eyes watched without any hint of remorse or mercy. "The price of living is dying. Everybody pays. They are the aggressor; they will suffer." He said simply, coldly. "Pull back to the next line." He followed up with a bit of softness. "Y-yes sir." The private and tactician both ducked into the rubble and skirted behind the tank just as it bellowed flame once more like an angry dragon. "Perish in flame." The Tactician spat bitterly as the screaming continued.

The Red Palace, Kiev

The fighting intensified with every single step the Estainians took; crawling over rubble of the city; and the bodies of it's defenders. Disgarded, desolate; ruined. The once shining marble of Kiev was dirited, covered in dirt, muck and blood. Still it fought on, the city serving to help it's defenders. Ambushes took the day now over traditional combat, but it was clear that they wouldn't stop them. "We have to get the Premier out." The General of the Red Guard spoke simply and to the point, an armored Mi-24 was on the roof of the building, rotars already spinning. "The air force is already en route to escort her."

"I dislike this government in exile ****." The other general said bitterly as he stared down the scope of a Mosin Nagant; at the lines of advancing Estainians in the pre-dawn light. The thunder of guns continued as their artillery unleashed another hail of shells, half the city was ruined, half the country was overrun and now they were running away? To where? Where!? They had no where else to go. "Where are we sending her, exactly?" "Bokar." "Disgusting." ...

[West Estainia]

Estainia

From the conception of nuclear weapons in Belkaland to the discovery of their actual use against other human beings in Alexandria; Estainia[Both of them] went to great lengths to know they were protected from them; the only thing the West and East agreed on ever. So when the Ukrainians decided to play the most deadly card in their hand, the Estainians had been ready. The combined fire power of the Naacalian DEW units and the Rostilian Defense Fleet from Belkaland had annihilated a good percentage of the Ukrainian missiles; but when it came to Estainia's turn to prove they could defend themselves? That was easy.

Various high-end interceptor missiles were fired, streaking into the skies above and out of sight into the lower atmosphere past the cloud line to impact the incoming re-entry vehicles. When this first stage was surpassed; second stage interception was done similar defenses, interspersed with only the highest caliber surface to air missiles and stage-two interception rockets. Then came the third stage; by that moment almost every missile had been annihilated, the RV's either 'fried' or destroyed physically. All but two...

Durandana - Estainia

The Durandal Tower is an anti-ballistic laser tower situated in Durandana, a city of 45,000 people and the corporate headquarters of Aurora Technologies, the most advanced technological firm in the country pulling technological advancement from every source they can, from the supra-advanced Naacalians to the Belkans to the Americans. Thus, Durandal was born. Similar to the Belkan Excalibur Tower it is an anti-ballistic missile site but the science is less...Advanced; fifty years of communism had damaged the understanding to some level but the basics remained. The flashing epitical eye on the massive tower; ironically shaped in the form of a long sword glowed an errie red light, like the ruby in the legendary sword it was named for.

It smote the modern incarnation of the fire it's ancient counter part once did. The first RV barreled toward the Earth at incomprehenisble speeds; and the tower kept up. It's laser-eye concentrated on the fragile electronics and systems within that shell. The shell that was disintergrating beneath the combined assault of reentry and the laser. What seemed an eon later the RV disintergrated; falling into harmless peices into country side. As the tower realigned...There was a flash on the horizon...

"Luciella, have mercy. We failed."

---

Estainian Forward Command - Siege of Kiev - Day 19

Darkness. "There's no way in HELL I'm dead yet." Light? He shot up on instinct and regretted it instantly, a firm powerful hand put him back down. "You move like that again and you're dead. You know what they're callin' yah now? King of Kiev!" His Colonel laughed joyously as Alastaire got his barings. "Bloody Hell my head." The General put a hand on his forehead and did a mental check over of his body. Arms, there, legs, there. "The hell did I get hit?" "Oh you didn't." The Colonel answered with a chuckle.

"The E-190 you were in, the Sabot round skipped off and you got glanced by shrapnel. We were rightfully worried for a while there, I lead the charge into the Red Palace itself you know, personally just like you would've." The Colonel seemed sad by that. "Wish you could've been there."

"What about those bastards who got us?"

"Oh, they're with the Goddess now."

"Bloody shame, deserved a medal or three."

"Speaking of which...During your absence; we'll say. Not to say my strength was not significant. The Lt. Colonel responsible for Pripyat vanished; and..." There was a pregnant silence as Alastaire stared directly at the Colonel. "There was...An incident in Rostov." "Define.."

The silence became stifling as the Colonel sat down slowly. "Twenty five hundred."

Alastaire dropped back down onto the field cot. "Dear Goddess."

"All of them...Civilians."

". . . Did you apprehend the officers responsible?"

"They're awaiting courtmarshall."

"Very well. I swear; I will not have us remembered as murderers even if I have to purge these murdering bastards from the highest admiral to the lowliest private."

"Very good sir. Excuse me please."

[Birkaine]

The significant lull in the jamming signal was met with a sharp increase in activity amongst the Solyhniyan technical personnel, chiefly those aboard the last remaining carrier in the flotilla, incidentally also the flagship.

OOC: Solyhniya. Unless that post of yours is trying to explore new methods of microchip architecture, there is no reason for you to post in such a tiny font. It's not funny, has no purpose whatsoever and comes off as if you're trying to pull a trick on us all.

Please clarify and expand your post.

[Solyhniya]

The significant lull in the jamming signal was met with a sharp increase in activity amongst the Solyhniyan technical personnel, chiefly those aboard the last remaining carrier in the flotilla, incidentally also the flagship.

OOC: Solyhniya. Unless that post of yours is trying to explore new methods of microchip architecture, there is no reason for you to post in such a tiny font. It's not funny, has no purpose whatsoever and comes off as if you're trying to pull a trick on us all.

Please clarify and expand your post.

OOC: What? Oh, you posted this when I had clearly hidden the text in my post by using a white font colour and a small typeface. Now I understand.

P.S. In case you don't know why someone would do that, I was half-way through my post, and seeing that I had already typed half of my response before my last-minute fixed PC crashed again, I wanted to save what little I had in preparation on the forum itself. Your RL hostility is really getting quite hard to bear now.

[The Naacal]

The significant lull in the jamming signal was met with a sharp increase in activity amongst the Solyhniyan technical personnel, chiefly those aboard the last remaining carrier in the flotilla, incidentally also the flagship.

OOC: Solyhniya. Unless that post of yours is trying to explore new methods of microchip architecture, there is no reason for you to post in such a tiny font. It's not funny, has no purpose whatsoever and comes off as if you're trying to pull a trick on us all.

Please clarify and expand your post.

OOC: What? Oh, you posted this when I had clearly hidden the text in my post by using a white font colour and a small typeface. Now I understand.

P.S. In case you don't know why someone would do that, I was half-way through my post, and seeing that I had already typed half of my response before my last-minute fixed PC crashed again, I wanted to save what little I had in preparation on the forum itself. Your RL hostility is really getting quite hard to bear now.

OOC:

You must surely be aware that the timing and sequence of events can be viewed in a manner that could be considered...suspicious?

Why were you typing in the small font size anyway? Should be pretty easy to just have posted that short line in normal size font, with a note at the end like "Sorry for shortness of post, I am experiencing technical problems." or such?

I am trying to be understanding, but you seem to respond to questions with hostility. I know Birk is not the most diplomatic (Hell, I usually am not).

Oh, why would Peacekeepers have Nerve Gas?

[Solyhniya]

The significant lull in the jamming signal was met with a sharp increase in activity amongst the Solyhniyan technical personnel, chiefly those aboard the last remaining carrier in the flotilla, incidentally also the flagship.

OOC: Solyhniya. Unless that post of yours is trying to explore new methods of microchip architecture, there is no reason for you to post in such a tiny font. It's not funny, has no purpose whatsoever and comes off as if you're trying to pull a trick on us all.

Please clarify and expand your post.

OOC: What? Oh, you posted this when I had clearly hidden the text in my post by using a white font colour and a small typeface. Now I understand.

P.S. In case you don't know why someone would do that, I was half-way through my post, and seeing that I had already typed half of my response before my last-minute fixed PC crashed again, I wanted to save what little I had in preparation on the forum itself. Your RL hostility is really getting quite hard to bear now.

OOC:

You must surely be aware that the timing and sequence of events can be viewed in a manner that could be considered...suspicious?

Why were you typing in the small font size anyway? Should be pretty easy to just have posted that short line in normal size font, with a note at the end like "Sorry for shortness of post, I am experiencing technical problems." or such?

I am trying to be understanding, but you seem to respond to questions with hostility. I know Birk is not the most diplomatic (Hell, I usually am not).

Oh, why would Peacekeepers have Nerve Gas?

OOC: Their not peacekeepers. I've already explained that EXPA are peacekeepers. The fleet is the contingency that can provide ground fire in case EXPA ends up in combat.

And how can this be suspicious?! What the hell do you think I'm doing, crashing your computer with posts that are deliberately small? I don't understand what your problems are. Nearly every other war I've seen, people cut posts short when they have problems or a lack of time. It seems like as soon as I do anything you just bitch at me. Can we all just calm down?

[The Naacal]

OOC: The FONT SIZE, not the shortness of post!

What is suspicious is a line of "stealth text" that quite frankly I only discovered when trying to copy/paste a bunch of text.

Bitch? Why do you INSTANTLY respond with hostile terms and or language? Everything I said was saying "seems to" or "could appear as". Yet this is "bitching" apparently.

Sure, would love to calm down, but your not the only one who is upset at seeming "RL Hostility".

All I was saying is it's not too much trouble to just post that you had a tech issue in a normal font size. It was the small size and white color that was suspicious, as to normal viewing it's invisible.

[Birkaine]

OOC: The less OOC the better.

BSK Illyusiya
Iron Sea

"Sir, we've got more torpedoes!" The sonar operator yelled above all the chattering in the bridge.

"How many?" The captain asked, putting down the sea charts he was looking at.

"We've got eight incoming!" The sailor shouted "Eight!"

"God dammit" The captain was immediately filled with dread and ran up to the comms console. He took the microphone of the intercomms to adress the ship. "All hands evacuate ship! I repeat, all hands evacuate ship, we're going under!"

As most of the life rafts were already floating empty on the vincinity of the vessel, the evacuation was merely a matter of the sailors jumping off the ship in what was less an organized evacuation and more a horde of Birkanians jumping over the rails while the torpedoes approached. Even the officers panicked and began running away from their posts as all the alarms began sounding onboard the vessel. The reactors were remotely sealed and thus the jamming was cut off even before the vessel was sunk. The Illyusiya's captain ran out of the bridge alongside his top officers, and immediately when they got out they saw two large pillars of water rising up from near the ship. Two of the torpedoes had detonated against the sonar decoys, but six were still en route.

The RBU mortars hadn't yet reloaded when the ship was struck. The ship didn't really sink in the literal sense of the word, for it was instead just simply raised almost 50 meters into the air in a gargantuan mountain-like explosion of water and foam, consuming itself into a rain of metallic shreds that came down on the sailors. Everybody who wasn't on the life rafts was killed by the unimaginable overpressure that tore their bodies to shreds, and some of the life rafts were struck down by the shower of car-sized pieces of the Mirage. The bow of the ship flew more than a dozen meters, giving all the surviving sailors a good look of its name and hull number engraved on its prow and crashed near several life rafts and on top of another one, overturning them so that panic soon took hold of the survivors as boiling liquid nitrogen casted a thick fog over the whole disaster scene.

"Shit!" One of the crewmembers of the lifeboats rescuing the Spektr's survivors yelled, looking at the large explosion cloud rising above the horizon "The Illyusiya has been sunk!"

"Mother of God" A medic said "At least we were here, I don't think anyone survived that"

"Sir, where do we go!?" The pilot of one of the lifeboats asked.

"Stay here, I will get the Illyusiya" The commanding officer replied "Contact high command, we're getting fucked here! We need help ASAP!"

While around 150 survivors dotted the waves around the Spektr's wreckage clinging to debris and rafts alike -counting for the loss of more than half of the Spektr's crew-, the Illyusiya's crew had been anihilated despite the captain's many precautions, with only 23 surviving, mostly low-ranking sailors and people who were in charge of coordinating the evacuation, many of them wounded by shock and requiring medical assistance desperate calls through radio were made to the coast guard, as the sailors knew that the admiral and his retinue would be more worried about the enemy fleet to divert their ships at rescuing themselves, but the coast guard was certainly not going to face submarine-infested waters.

To appropriately deal with the threat, three small Lada-class submarines sailed from the extensive port facilities on the city of Voskov, Rybyzak-Oblast, alongside a single Kondrashov-class submersible cruiser. The cruiser wasn't especially optimized for fighting against other submarines being notably noisier and less agile than a normal submarine, but most of the submarines would take some more additional time to prepare and the sailors needed help as soon as they could get it. The Ladas advanced towards the sinking sites of the two jammer vessels, with the Kondrashov tailing them some distance behind.

---

Rebla Forest
Krovinozh Oblast

The two SSMs fired by the Tovarysch passed unnoticed, flying below the aperture of the powerful scanning radars being focused on the Solyhniyan aircraft, straight into the Rebla Forest. The batteries were already moving out, celebrating their additional kill while the EODs were finishing the deactivation of the damaged Kh-101's warhead. The TELs and radars were packed up so they didn't see the missiles coming either, while the SAM tanks didn't manage to detect them through the thick foliage until it was too late.

The missile detonated some distance away from a road, slightly above the third battery. Most of the TELs stopped immediately as their drivers slammed on the brakes. However, the support vehicles for the battery, that came a couple hundred meters behind, didn't stop and actually increased their speed, some of them simply rolling out of the highway and crashing against trees and some others rear-ending the heavy TELs, turning the battery into a pile-up of vehicles. Before the soldiers had time to react to the crashes, thei fell against the consoles of their vehicles, lifeless.

The same macabre scene was repeated with the fourth battery, turning the perfect formation into a lenghty car crash and the EODs simply dropped dead on the missiles they were deactivating. Animals also simply stopped moving and birds fell from the sky, and civilian vehicles suffered the same fate as their military counterparts. The new coastal defense regiment lost all contact with three quarters of the unit they were supposed to relieve, including their CO, and thus cancelled their operation as the Birkanian command tried to figure out exactly what had happened there. Several nearby helicopters were rerouted towards the Rebla Forest.

---

BSK Predavitel Cherepov
Detachment 12
Iron Sea

Many information was coming to the admiral in charge of the Cherepov, who received it all with the same calculating seriousness regardless of what he was told. The confirmed kill of the carrier brought a sense of relief after the news of the sinking of the Illyusiya that had reduced the operational power of Detachment 12 to 35 percent of what it had been when the battle started, with only 3 percent being put up by the Cherepov's escort. The admiral seemed to be enjoying all the situation deep down, whereas everybody else was just too concentrated on their respective battlestations to show any kind of emotion. So far things had been easy for the detachment.

"All enemy aircraft carriers destroyed" The first officer told him "Congratulations."

"Understood." The captain said "Reroute all ECM to air scan frequencies. We're running out of jammers and we have to use the remainder as efficiently as possible."

"Sir, we got a transmission from the Army Aviation" The chief comms officer said as he looked at several screens.

"What does the army aviation have to do with us?" The admiral asked in a curious tone, as no Army Aviation units had been even near the battlefield.

"Not with us sir... it's the battery" The chief officer said in a somewhat strange tone, as if his worry was supressed by his professionalism and veterancy.

The camera feed from several helicopters was shown to the top officers of the Cherepov, showing the ravaged coastal defense batteries, some of which had their soldiers exterminated mere meters away from their vehicles as they had rushed towards them. The helicopters hadn't confirmed what it was, although the lighting-fast effects of the attack indicated it might have been some form of extremely powerful and fulminating biochemical attack. The helicopters themselves were flying at high altitude, as nobody wanted to come even near that place.
Upon analyzing this, the admiral simply let out a few comments on the extention of the damage and the battery's capacity, seemingly not caring about the 500 men that had been instantly killed by the chemicals.

"Sir" Yet another officer reported. "AWACS is tracking several Solyhniyan slow contacts. VTOLs, judging by their size they are transport."

"The rats are leaving their doomed ships right in front of us" The admiral said and raised his voice "They will pay for that imprudence dearly. All antiair personell prepare for immediate engagement. Drench our ancestor's grave with their blood!"

The hundreds VLS cells on the Cherepov, equipped with nothing but with anti-aircraft missiles began opening up while the crew evacuated the areas thay would be set ablaze by the potent missiles. Only the Cherepov was armed with long-range SAMs but the Korols could provide some form of independent targetting, as well as the two Yak-44 AWACS that were flying above the imposing ship. Many window frequencies were open for the missiles admist the Cherepov's own jamming as the sirens began sounding while the ship prepared for launch.

After a countdown, the missiles began firing. They were ejected from their launch tubes, slightly angled away from the ship to prevent defective missiles from crashing down on the vessel. As they reached some distance away form the launcher their main thrusters ignited, sending the missiles flying at breack-neck speed upwards, before they did a wide turn and headed towards the Solyhniyan aircraft, targetting the gyrodynes with particular priority. The missiles themselves were quite varied in both type and trajectory even though they were all components of the S-400 system. This was to give the Solyhniyan gyrodynes even less of a probability of survival. A total of 130 missiles were fired by the Cherepov, 24 of them at the 8 large gyrodynes, while 18 inert missiles fell to the sea.

There were more missiles meant to be fired, but the AWACS soon picked up fourteen enemy missiles coming towards the fleet at low altitude. The air defense protocols were immediately readied and 10 already-airborne missiles meant to engage the MyRo's made sharp turns in midair and headed below the horizon to engage the missiles with varying success, shooting down 4. The main line of air defense were the Korol-class battleships that flanked the Cherepov. While they were now less than spectacular against ships given their size, all their WWII-era antiair complement had been replaced by point-defense missiles and CIWS which they used to great effect. As soon as the missiles entered their operational range, the Korols fired dozens of 9M331 short-range SAMs against the Lancets, downing an additional 6 missiles.

However, the last four missiles did manage to get through even after the torrent of CIWS fire that the battleships ineffectively fired upon them. Everybody on the bridge of the Cherepov covered in fear instinctively, sending papers flying into the air, but the captain instead stood up from his seat.

"Fight me!" He yelled -presumably to the missiles- in the almost-demential ecstasic patriotic zeal that characterized him "I'm here!"

The missiles came from above the horizon and were met by another hailstorm of bullets and missiles that only managed to shoot down one of the enemy munitions, as in the rush for self-defense they had jammed some of their own missile. The first one made contact with the prow, making a low-pitched grumble reach the ears, submerging the bow in a gigantic ball of fire when the second missile struck the side of the ship, igniting the magazine of some of the AK-630s and CIWSs, sending the turreted guns flying hundreds of meters away in what looked like fireworks when ignited ammunition flew in all directions blazing white-hot. The last missile struck the armored belt and sent a good portion of the armor flying away, destroying many of the heavily-protected VLS cells and causing a chain reaction with some of the missiles still in storage, creating a large gash in the starboard side.
In the blink of an eye, the shockwave of the explosions and shrapnel reached the bridge, tearing the thick bulletproof windows to pieces and temporarily deafening the admiral, who was probably too submerged in his adrenaline high to even notice the pain.

After the explosions there were several minutes of chaos in the bridge as broken communications lines tried to be re-established. All the radars of the front of the ship had been shredded and the front guns of the main battery were disabled alongside all of the SSM launching ports, but the Korols had prevented hits from the sides and rear and thus the flight deck, reactors, prop shafts and jammers were still intact. The admiral quickly re-established order and ordered a damage report. The bow of the left hull of the catamaran dreadnought was gone, and with it the maneuver thrusters, the ELF antenna, the two sonars and some torpedo tubes had been disabled by the flooding that made the leviathan tilt to the left despite the efforts of the pumps, that sent enormous arching torrents of waters flying into the air.

"They have been given their opportunity" The admiral said. "Back on your feet, this is the moment we have waited for"

<<This is BSK Diktator>> The officers finally got contacted <<Please respond, you got hit pretty badly>>

"This is the Cherepov, we are still operational" The admiral replied "But I lost all missile capability. You have your orders."

<<Understood.>> The captain of the Diktator replied. <<This is the greatest moment of our lives>>

"As for us..." The admiral then sat down on his chair again. "Order aviation to engage and destroy whatever our SAMs left. Get turret B operational and prepare for shelling."

The gunnery bridge, easily the most densely armored part of the ship apart from the belt, was still rather stunned by the shockwave. The explosion had embedded a 103mm naval gun on the wall and the shockwave had destroyed a lot of the equipment and wounded some of the officers. However, they quickly got the orders from the admiral and ordered the also-stunned crew of the B turret took some minutes to do their job. However, after recovering themselves, the turret began turning a couple minutes clockwise and the gun began elevating. A huge 60cm saboted shell was brought into the chamber by an elevator, and the elaborate loading process began as the gun elevated to its maximum of 45º. The coast guard cutters got near the Cherepov and sooon began trying to put out the fires.

Meanwhile, the admiral's other orders were carried out. The five battleships that escorted the Cherepov quickly readied their side launchers and fired off 21 R-533 Long Lance standoff torpedoes. The Long Lance consisted of a large but stealthy GPS-directed missile-like carrier with three light torpedoes clustered on its warhead. While the torpedoes didn't have much explosive compared to the ones used on the Spektr and her companion, they would easily avoid enemy SAMs and CIWS, while they would provide overwhelmingly numerous for enemy anti-torpedo measures.

The one in the image is actually the smaller Short Lance, but it gives an idea what the LL looks like

[-the Ukrainian SSR-]

"What pretty lights; the sight of a battleship going up in flames."

Kiev, Ukraine

"So that's it then." The cloak fluttered lightly and the cold-brown eyes stared directly into the eyes of the Minister with loathing. Pure unadulterated loathing. "We just give up; surrender and hope these genocidal maniacs don't kill us all?" Seething rage; unbridled anger, hatred. "We would have gladly held until we bled them dry. We would have fought against the denizens of hell itself and you DARE to surrender us to them?" His voice rose.

"Who are you!? But a mesley pencil pushing politician. You have no place in war; you have no right to dictate the actions of soldiers, MY soldiers. We are the ones who bleed and die for this nation; these PEOPLE. NOT YOU, You who so twist words and flowery sentences to brainwash. You are absolutely disgusting, How DARE you surrender the mighty of the Ukrainian Union over to an INFERIOR military." There was a moment of silence, seething uncomfortable silence that festered with anger. "I will not surrender, we will not surrender. Enjoy your loss; Politician." The cloak flared as he walked out of the room, up a flight of stairs and into a barely working hand cranked elevator. The ancient beast moved on adreniline soaked fury until it stopped gently at the roof.

He walked off and approached the gargantuan red and blue banner that fluttered from it, battered, tattered and war soaked. Beside it, above it as though it were inferior was his target. That standard that so insulting his very sense of being; It fluttered harmlessly toward the blood soaked ground below. Landing at the feet of one of them. His icy glare shot downward toward the screaming subhuman as it took aim; instinct took hold as he ducked in cover, a rifle mere inches from him. He lifted it and recycled the bolt from his cover.

"Це наше місто, ви не будете приймати його у нас!" He leapt up, firing the old bolt action rifle into the subhuman's chest. Blood spurted as he leapt from his position, darting across the roof as he recycled again. "Стоїте і боретесь!, Стоїте і боретесь!" He fired again as bullets skipped around him, bouncing off of air conditioners and other obstacles. "Стоїте і боретесь!" He screamed again firing once more into their ranks.

He was joined soon enough, the resistance was not desperate; it was professional; brutal and literally hand to hand. It didn't last long but it sent the revberating message the cloaked indivudual desired, even as he dropped down to street level, afixing a fallen bayonet onto the rifle. It was quickly used, jabbed into the gut of one of the would-be conquerors...After that he knew no more than fear. He raised the rifle at the comrade of the pig and fired. Click...What a horrifying sound; he jabbed forward and the Estainian back peddled on instinct, firing. He knew no more after that...

[The Naacal]

SDS Command Station Ebon Phoenix
High Orbit above Mu
Rostil

**NUDET--Hermosa region in Estainia** came the voice of the battle computer.

The main display showed the ongoing defense against the Ukrainian ballistic missiles. N'Lyth looked to the actinic blue light flashing over the Estainian city.

General N'Lyth grimaced... One Impact so far.... he thought... Hopefully no more...

The comms handset at the General's station beeped. Picking it up, the General quickly said "Ebon Phoenix Actual" and listened to the report coming in. General N'Lyth's expression grew grimmer as the party on the other end reported yet another attrocity... "Roger that Admiral, will relay to the Imperial Pyramid.". Returning the comms handset to it's cradle, N'Lyth thought "The Emperor is not going to be pleased..."

Imperial Pyramid
Alythren-Naras
Mu Empire of the Naacal

The conference room was very busy... Officials of all the services, a delegation from the Ministry of State, all took their seats at the triangular table as Emperor Nerys XV sat down at the table's point, his back to the looming Ebon Pyramid.

"We are faced with an escalation of the conflict, beyond the nuclear launch by the Ukrainians. As you know there have been cruise missile exchanges between Solyhniyan military adventurers and our naval forces, and those of the Birkainians. Well, I have just received a report from Admiral Lysanne, commanding our forces in that theatre." Nerys XV looked around slowly at the assembled officers and ministers.

"It seems the Solyhnian adventurers have utilized chemical weapons, specifically lethal nerve agents, against Birkainian coastal defenses." The Emperor waited for that to sink in, the looks of disgust apparent on all the faces at the table. "I am dispatching Task Group Adrien's Light to the theatre, As well as Amphibious Assault Group Lianyth, and the 14th and 10th Armies. We will be prepared to render what assistance we can to the Birkainians and Estainians. In the light of this latest development I am authorizing the use of Marel against Solyhniyan forces if it comes to more fighting... Assuming of course the Birkainians leave some alive for us... The Grand Fleet shall remain near Mu to thwart any other adventurist incursions into Rostil. SDS will remain on full alert, as will or strategic missile forces."

Pausing for a moment, the Emperor continued. "I am also ordering the dispatch of humanitarian assistance and decontamination units to Estainia, apparently so far one Ukrainian warhead has impacted and detonated. In addition, steps are being considered for the potential pacification of Ukraine, and the neutralization of all remaining Ukrainian strategic weapons. If we have to conquer Ukraine... or burn it to ash, it will be done. One way or another, this madness ends now..."