Black Seeds Of Vengeance [The Great Crusade, Part 1]

by **Groko** » Mon Apr 05, 2010 12:01 pm

Royal Palace,
Groko City

A small crowd of around two hundred citizens had gathered at the gates of the Palace. Mixed throughout the crowd, twelve different news reporters were scattered about, interviewing citizens. Then, a loud bell rang in the distance, and the heavy iron gates began to open. The gates swung inward, allowing the spill of people to move into the Palace grounds. The crowd gathered at the foot of a marble staircase, which led up to the Palace's front entryway. At the top of the stairs, a small podium had been erected.

Suddenly, the massive oak doors for the Palace opened and three men appeared. The two men on the right and left of the envoy were marked as security officers from the headset and holstered handguns, now at their sides. They stopped, allowing the middle man, who was formally dressed and bore an expressionless face, to walk up to the podium.

The crowd fell silent; the reporters had found their ways to the front of the group, video cameras and mikes pointed at the podium in front of them. Scattered throughout the area, security monitored the area for potential danger.

The middle man, now identified as Michael Rolenfath, the Minister of Defense, shuffled some papers on the podium and began to speak.

"Earlier today, one of our great allies, The United Socialist States of Sharfghotten, was attacked by Capitalist aggressors. The aggressors, most of which are known as members of an alliance called Gholgoth, have commenced their imperialistic campaign, on the grounds that the government of Sharf insulted them. In short, they have ordered the death of millions, based on the words of a few."

He paused for dramatic effect.

“These despicable people, and the corrupt nations that help them, have declared themselves crusaders, and declared that their true enemy is the people supported communist party of Sharf,” his words were filled with disgust and hatred, as if the people he was discussing made him sick.

“ They plan to crush the people of Sharf, and force them to bow to their tyranny. “

“This, is a tyranny we cannot, and will not, allow. We shall take up arms, and fight alongside our Sharf brethren. We will defend justice and freedom against those who wish it destroyed!”

He continued on for another few minutes, rallying the crowd and countless citizens listening in. The message he sent was clear. The Grokoan Military machine, fueled by the full support of Grokoan citizens, was about to go to work, for the defense of Sharfghotten.

Official Message

TO: The United Socialist States of Sharfghotten
FROM: Prime Minister Duncan, of Groko

My nation has moved to support you. I apologize for the delay, as Parliament spent the last few hours arguing about the support, and other related issues. However, the decision has been made. We are planning on sending the Fourth, and Sixth naval Fleets to assist you in the defense of your homeland on the seas. These Fleets will be escorting a series of cargo freighters and the lead deployment of an armored division containing twenty-four hundred soldiers in addition to supplies for your nation. As we wish to avoid confrontation with the enemy while our troop transports are vulnerable, we wish to have the Fleet arrive from the north, or south, sailing along your coastline. Please notify my government of which is more practical, or if we could be of better service elsewhere.

Vesi Naval Base,
West Groko

Admiral Nagal stood on the flight deck of the UKG Vanquish, one of the three Gerald R Ford Class Carriers assigned to his Battle Group. All around him, the base was bustling with activity. Helicopters ferried supplies to and fro, sailors ran back and forth moving ammo and other supplies around, and ships waited impatiently as they were loaded. He watched as, some distance away, the twenty-four hundred soldiers and their machinery filed into their transport ships. Despite the noise, his heart raced with excitement.

Still, he thought sadly, it’s unfortunate that we must march into battle under these circumstances. Pain and suffering is a terrible thing indeed.

He straightened up; some of the repair crew were slacking off. Frowning slightly, he marched off to reprimand them.

by **The Master M** » Tue Apr 06, 2010 11:28 am

It was indeed a curious sight to any who were watching; a mass of ships, slowly creeping its way across the horizon, disturbing untold numbers of marine life in its path of destruction. As the vanguards of the fleets reached a point eight hundred miles from Sharfghotten, a massive barrage of missiles was launched; seventeen hundred and fourteen AGM-86C cruise missiles, fired in three waves, streaked away from the lead missile frigates. Their targets had been identified by the surveillance satellite SN115a ‘Watchful Spectre’, which was stationed in geosynchronous orbit over Sharfghotten; a moderately sizable fleet, heading from the Arelfenn area. As the thin bringers of death streaked onwards, the men and women of the invasion force steeled themselves for the invasion that had seen it’s opening shots fired...

Operations Room 2
Master M Ministry of War
Two Hours Previously

“...and we cannot guarantee air superiority within the next forty-eight hours unless the carriers are in position by oh-three-hundred.”

The speaker rubbed his forehead, evidence of the copious amounts of alcohol that he had readily consumed the night before. The taste of whiskey hung heavy in his mouth, its sharp bitterness a reminder of the urgency of this meeting. Having been unceremoniously woken from his stupor, Karl Svensson, the Master M Minister for War, stood unsteadily, leaning heavily upon the leather backed chair he had been seated in a few minutes previously.

“The carriers will be in position by then; can we ensure that they will be protected whilst maintaining this blockade?”

Wearing the pretentiously ornate uniform of a Sea Lord, the man who spoke cast a barely concealed glare of suspicion upon the other occupants; he could remember too many times in the past when the navy had been left to fend for itself against almost impossible odds, too many friends lost to the hellish fire and icy harshness of battle at sea. He himself bore an eighteen inch scar, stretching from a point just below his left eye and arcing down to his right collarbone – the lasting reminder of his time onboard the shattered and rusting hulk that had once been the proud carrier MMS Destruction, when a stray piece of shrapnel had almost taken his life.

Refusing to rise to the bait, Svensson replied to the Sea Lord’s words in a calm manner.

“Long range bombers will provide cover where they can, the carriers are carrying more than half again the aircraft they were designed to carry. On paper the ships we are sending forth are the most capable and advanced we have ever fielded; what more can we do?”

“Just as long as we are not left out to dry; our supply lines will be long and vulnerable, thus I ask upon you to release more vessels to this operation.”

Svensson raised his head incredulously, mouth almost agape at the Sea Lord’s suggestion.

“More ships? You have the combined strength of eight carrier fleets, seventy submarine squadrons, eighty four assault fleets and enough destroyers to make a bridge from here to Sharfghotten! What the bloody hell could you need more vessels for?”

Shaking off the hyperbolic sarcasm, the Sea Lord calmly stared Svensson down with the cold look of a man who was not to be messed with.

“We need more vessels because our admittedly large deployment will face problems in simultaneously forcing troops ashore, defeating any surface vessels that Sharfghotten may have afloat, maintaining this bloody blockade and defending over twenty thousand miles of supply chains. If you really want this to succeed Minister, you will have to accept my judgement. Remember what happened the last time I asked for assistance and you ridiculed me? Remember how many good men we lost that day? Damn you man, damn you to hell and back!”

The Minister for War looked taken aback as the clearly angered Sea Lord slammed his fists onto the table. Composing himself, he continued with his facade of serenity.

“Peter...you know that full apologies were made for the incident you speak of. Nothing could have prevented it from happening...no matter how unfortunate it was that you lost so many men. We cannot be held responsible for th-”

“Not held responsible!?! I requested assistance because we were gravely outnumbered, and you left to the bloody wolves. A pox on you man, a bloody pox on you, you dishonourable piece of scum!”
“Insult my honour would you? Draw man, draw or be damned!” Svensson’s face broke into rage as he drew his rapier, an act followed by the scraping free of the Sea Lord’s sabre.

“Enough!” The shout from the now stand Minister Martins was enough to separate the two men who were at this point almost head to head. Sheepishly they took their seats, clearly embarrassed that their display of emotions had displeased their leader. Both sheathed their swords. “I hate to break up a clearly civil exchange of conversation, but there are more pressing matters than your little disagreement of events long passed.” Martins turned his head to face the Sea Lord, barely veiled sympathy behind his eyes. “Now, you have over a thousand combat vessels already given over to this operation. I understand that you feel you need more. Karl, how many vessels do we have in reserve?”

“I have to disagree si-”

“How many Karl?”

“Little over four and a half thousand, including the home defence fleets; one thousand seven hundred stationed here, three hundred stationed at both Ethya and Marusis, one thousand stationed in Tezdrian and the rest on patrol somewhere in the world. Around half of those at home are either out of rotation or in dry dock, so it will take around two weeks to mobilise them for action, not to mention cost several hundred billion deanetinmarks. And that is without taking into account the cost of keeping any extra ships supplied.”

“Detail five hundred from the Tezdrian Fleets, one hundred from the Home Fleets and all of the Colonial Fleets to converge and head for Sharfghotten. Allocate an extra fourteen trillion from the treasury to keep the operation running smoothly.”

At this, the Sea Lord’s face lit up; he had just basically been handed a blank check with which to wage war through – a sentiment mirrored by the variety of other military commanders present in the room. As they began debating the finer points of how to keep the increasingly immense invasion force supplied, all hell broke loose for the nation of Sharfghotten...

Space
Satellite Band 146b

A procedure that had taken place many times before, a procedure that had cost many billions of deanetinmarks before, a procedure that had proved more than effective before, began once more. Hundreds of SA12 ‘Suicide’ Kinetic Satellites activated, shaking off the icy harshness of sleep in space. They were of a simple design; a targeting computer received split-second updates from the supercomputers transmitting from the Master M Intelligence Service on the planet below, a single large combustion engine allowed it to achieve a lot a thrust in a short space of time, two folding solar-panelled wings that provided the satellite power regeneration whilst resting that were now shed, and a large, tungsten/depleted uranium head that gave the SA12 series their killing power. Within this head lay a large shaped charge of PE4; once within half a kilometre of its target, the charge would detonate, showering large pieces of shrapnel in a concentrated cone towards any target. Whilst expensive, in the past they had proven effective, with a ninety-four percent mission kill rate and an eighty-nine percent kill rate.

The bringers of destruction descended onto every identified military grade and civilian observation satellites identified to belong to the nations of Sharfghotten and The Arch Ilands. Hundreds of tiny pinpricks of light appeared around the darkness of the globe, as each SA12 satellite powered their thrusters with one long, controlled burst – the length of each dependant on the distance to their target. Slowly they neared, until one by one the shaped charges exploded; out of eight hundred, only three failed to explode; and thousands of pieces of shrapnel tore towards each target satellite...

MMS Hood
Force Skyflame
Four Hours Later

The Atlantis class megacarrier MMS Hood was a majestic sight as she parted the waves before her; the countless aircraft on her deck hung matte and lifeless on her enormous deck, refusing to reflect the sun’s magnificent glow; bristling rows of Phoenix CIWS guns ended any misconceptions that this was anything other than an instrument of war; men and women scrambled about the vessel, just a fraction of the twelve thousand crew that kept the massive beast alive and capable. In short, she was the perfect killing machine.

Arrayed around the Hood were a collection of escort vessels; a helicopter carrier, seven missile frigates, nine Type 45 destroyers, an electronic warfare frigate and four Akula II attack submarines. Whilst around half of the usual escort compliment that accompanied an Atlantis, Master M Naval Command had deemed it sufficient. Not the first foolish decision that Command had made, thought Admiral Kelso, his mind on other matters as he looked over the hourly report in his hand. Destroyer Espionage forward launchers out of operation. Second Air Wing missing several spare part crates. Barracuda BC105 out of operation due to left engine intake malfunction. The list went on...
His musings were interrupted by one of the Hood’s radar operators hailing him from across the bridge.

“Lead elements of the fleet designated as belonging to Arch Ilands just entered within range of our long range missiles sir.”

Without thinking, the Admiral gave the order to fire, and a mere twenty four seconds later the seven missile frigates were launching barrage after barrage of Sea Scorpion Mk VI Anti Ship Missiles fired out into the sky; after sixteen minutes of firing and loading that was testament to the skill and training of the launcher operators, the seven frigates had all but exhausted their supply of long range missiles; two thousand, nine hundred and forty Sea Scorpions streaked towards the Archian [?] fleet in thirty waves of ninety eight...

by **Sharfghotten** » Tue Apr 06, 2010 12:17 pm

Arelfenn fleet

The sixteen-strong Areflenn fleet heard the missiles a few minutes the relatively low-tech radar systems picked them up. Evasive manouvers began instantaneously- with the lack of a cutting-edge countermeasure system, vessels were reduced to spamming the incoming with 23mm AA shells. Of course, this measure was horribly inneffective. Two frigates, PNV October and PNV Potemkin, were struck by the M's missiles in multiple locations, holes erupting through their hulls and allowing in the water that once kept them afloat, but now sucked them down to their graves.

Lifeboats began humming away from the stricken vessels, heading for the large PNV Ivan Engel-class Aircraft carrier. But this was no safe haven- even as the first survivors were helped onto the behemoth, a hostile missile detonated right on the Ivan's flight deck. The vast runway collapsed in on itself, sending men and planes alike into the gaping void. The ship was crippled- it's combat efficiency standing at 6%.

Admiral Fritzl, from the bridge of Broadsword-class cruiser PNV Justice, watched all this with incredulity. His ship was one of the most modern in the entire fleet, and its more advanced anti-missile countermeasures certainly showed their effectiveness.

"Retaliate. Weapons free." Ordered the Admiral, ever-calm and collected. Their offensive capacity was only a fraction of what the Master's fleet could deliver, but any enemy vessel taken down was a godsend.

From the Justice itself, six DH-10 cruise missiles were launched, with an extra twenty coming from other members of the fleet. A pitiful number when compared to the veritable rain from the Master's fleet, but of course the Sharfs had the home field advantage.

Altressen Plateau artillery base

In the mountains surrounding the base, work was underway. From small bunkers flung far and wide across the peaks, launch systems were activating. Sections of rock simply slid away, revealing batteries of CJ-10 cruise missiles pointed to the sky. The electronic timers in centeral command ticked down to zero. Long-stationed bunker crews watched in awe as the sky lit up with the trails of 100 missiles heading towards the Master's fleet. As they receded out of the naked eye's range, crews went to load the second salvo.

Space

The Sharf satellites were knocked out instantaneously by the suicide sat's explosives. The majority belonged to civilians, but the few governmental platforms were included in the destruction- apart from one. Dubbed Eva, the name of the engineer's daughter, the camera-equipped platform was fitted with its own afterburner- a little 'insurance policy' for the multi-million dollar intelligence sat- originally intended to escape from stray asteroids, but now utilised instantly to escape the shrapnel. It managed- just. Peices of supersonic metal clipped the small satellite, spinning it out of control.

At the space command center, the engineers fought to regain control of the object. It shouldn't be too hard- they had ran countless simulations- but it would take time for the satellite to begin broadcasting intel again. Time was something the Sharfs didn't have.

by **Tahar Joblis** » Tue Apr 06, 2010 12:30 pm

Colonel Rowan Silvus had been assigned as the primary advisor to Arch Iland ground forces, overseeing the distribution of the Coatl missiles and all the other ground warfare systems the Arch forces had not necessarily asked for, but had received. An estimated total of fifteen hundred to two thousand cruise missiles fired aimed at her designated site of operations made her a little antsy.

"You have a little over one hour until that salvo lands. What you're wanting to know, sir, is this: Can the anti-air missiles we've supplied you with shoot down something the size of a cruise missile?" She paused for effect.

"The answer is yes. These are large enough and slow enough targets that Coatl I and Coatl II anti-air missiles can indeed successfully intercept them prior to impacting the target, with accuracy rates well in excess of fifty percent. I hope the question you already asked is this: Does the enemy have air superiority over you yet?"

"You're dealing with a seven-meter long missile with a wingspan of close to four meters and a speed close to mach, fired at what is likely close to its extreme range. They can be shot down with aircraft-mounted 20mm cannon and are unlikely to be able to evade. Without opposition from enemy fighters, a wing of TJF-3 Mongooses could destroy that entire concentrated flight well before enemy cruise missiles entered the range of the best Coatl IIs you have." Unfortunately, Tahar Joblis had not sent aircraft. Only Sharfghotten and Arch Iland planes could possibly be available for such a mission, and those might even be busy elsewhere.

"I would advise using air assets to thin down that massed flight over the ocean before they even arrive. At the very least, it will make it easier to shoot them down using anti-aircraft guns and missiles, and make less of a dent in the supply."

by **Of The Arch ilands** » Wed Apr 07, 2010 4:20 am

ANV Heartless Rage
Now

Missile Warning Alarms and Proximity Radar Alarms Blared out over the entire Fleet,From the Command Deck of the Juggernaut Heartless Rage There Long Range Radar and Sonar had picked up the Hurtian Fleet Turning towards them and a few seconds later they had Detected the Missile Launch.

"How many missiles have we got coming towards us!" Screamed Admiral Helios over the Blasted Sirens

"over Two Thousand sir!"

"shit!" Helios swore under his breath " SOME ONE TURN THOSE BLOODY SIRENS OFF!"

Helios Ran up to the Radar console pushing the young officer aside to look at the Readings him self, Huge Waves of missiles where 30 minutes out and closing fast, the Hurtian Fleet was another 40 minutes from reaching them but could possibly be in range for there missile strike sooner. Helio stood up "Launch All Interceptors, Anti Missile Manoeuvre Beta six" The Command desk simply lit up in chatter from the command deck and the fleet the Arch Island Fleet was an incredible modern fleet.

a Few moments Later the Diamond Wedged Formation of Vessels began to manoeuvre Turning to Port they began to Encircle The Fleet Carrier and her Escort Carriers. The Heartless Rage Being part of the inner circle of the formation also Encircled the fleet carriers but much closer. With in Seconds Streaks of Smoke Left Almost every ship in the Fleet Sea Sparrow Anit Missile Defense systems had locked onto Targets and Fired The ANti Missile Missiles Found there Targets and to any one watching under neithe the Sky would seem to erupt into Fire and sound of exploding Missiles and cruise Missiles defending to any unprotected ears.

"How are we doing?" Helio continued to stand over the radar Operator

"sir the first wave has been downed Successfully Few Stray Cruise Missiles got through but they should be to much to handle. Sea Sparrows have just Fired again 4 more Shots till they need reloading against sir."

"very well have we scrambled the Interceptors yet ?"

"squadrons 1 through 5 are in the air sir and Are on an intercept route with Waves 10 through 20 sir"

"Excellent, and are the Hurtians with in Range of Our missiles ?"

"um...2 the Radar Officer Checked the Hurtian fleet Readings "Yes sir... they should be in range of our Rail Guns Soon also"

"I Want a Full Spread Fire on the Hurtian Fleet, Be Sparing on the Missiles 15 missiles to Each ship they have.... also Tell The Argentine to Fire a Full Wave of there Black Hole MKII Missles"

"aye aye sir"

With this the Message was Sent a Few moments later the Hatches on the Missile Frigates and Cruisers opened up with a Distinct Pop and hiss as the Missiles Rose Up there Tips just visible, with in a few moments later Targets where locked and the Missiles Fired in two Waves At the Incoming Hurtian Fleet Sent to engage.

The Argentine how ever took a few seconds longer to Fire but eventually the 32 Slightly larger Cruiser missiles from the Belly of The Argentine Rocketed upwards through the Cloud cover, unlike the others they did not Ark and Head in the Direction of the Hurtians they simply flew upwards, eventually reaching a height of 30,000 feet the Missiles Arked and Started to Plumit down towards the Hurtian Fleet Aiming to hit from Above instead of the side, the BlackHole Cruise missles would would take longer to Impact against the Hurtians but hopefully they would not be noticed before it was to late.

by **Hurtful Thoughts** » Wed Apr 07, 2010 11:42 am

((OOC: Inconsistant range and bearing detected> 40 minutes away = 20 to 40 nautical miles, nowhere near the 6,000 nautical miles I was @ in my previous post. I also read the specs on your railguns+cannons, and if 'm firing my missiles just now, I'm still well outside your range. Our weaponry is not symetrical. Anyways, you also got the order of attack from my fleet all wrong when you jumped way ahead. 2,000 missiles is pretty much the combined weapons-stores of my fleet, nor do my ships have the capability to spamfire so many at once.))

Moving forward at the speed of plot now...
______________________________

Hurtian AEW, two HF-7E, in flight
After four airial-refuelings, the brace of planes were reaching the limit of their practical range, with hardly a sign from the enemy fleet.

Even though they were running dangerously low on fuel, and would require immediate refueling if they hoped to land safely, the flight-leader decided to continue; placing the value of finding the enemy first more important than his personal safety.

The WSO at some point, nudging his elbow into the pilot's chest, and pointed at a large blob on the RWR-PPI.

"We got noise, time to triangulate and head home."

The planes then banked at right-angles away from each other to separate themselves as much as possable. The datalinked reading from their RWRs would use the enemy's own much more powerful radar against them by use of simple inertial guidance and trigonometry, followed by relaying their location back to the fleet, alowing them to pinpoint the planes and with that, the enemy fleet.

Hurtian Assault-fleet 243 3,000 km from Heartless Rage and the Arch-fleet
(Just a BTW, 6,000 nautical miles = the distance from NYC to Paris, I sped things up so now we're at a quarter of that distance, comparable for an Alaska-to-Japan voyage. NS is BIG. Especially since we're using the Haven-map.)

The fleet -although still officially outside of range of EVERYTHING- was making preparations.

Enemy bombers and recon-aircraft would surely be looking for them from beyond the radar horizon. Interceptors and buddy-tankers were sent-out to intercept and make sure the reconosiance-flight made it back safely.

Meanwhile, on-board the Katanas, crews were busy loading AShMs and SAMs onto rail-launchers, and dispatching additional ASW helicopters.

By this point, the amphibious-assualt force had departed to find a way around the blockade.

Beneath the waves: lead element of Tango.
Even with advanced electronics, discerning a high-speed prop of a carrier from the rest of the white-noise from halfway across the sea was pretty much an excercise of futility. But they still tried.

Finding and sinking the fleet, though it wasn't their sole responsability, would be a nice thing to do for the surface-dwellers.

Their primary task was to find and goad enemy ASW resources into a trap.

So far, no luck, not so much as an active sonar-ping...

((OOC: Okay, so I lied a bit in the TG, this is going to be similar to Midway in regards to the fact that niether fleet can see shit at these ranges...))

by **Groko** » Wed Apr 07, 2010 5:39 pm

Five Hundred and twenty Nautical miles southeast of Sharfghotten,
UKG Vanquish

Admiral Nagal sat in his office aboard the Vanquish, the lead carrier assigned to his battle-group. Only moments earlier, the carriers had launched six AEW, and twelve ASW helicopters to patrol the area around the Battle Group. As he leaned back, now finished with his paperwork, the chair groaned in complaint. The Admiral stretched, then leaned forward to look at the latest satellite feeds of the naval exclusion zone around Sharfghotten.

Hmmm, he thought to himself, three hundred miles around the Sharf coast. If this is going to work, we'll have to find a way to outmaneuver the enemy ships.

He sighed. He had a idea, but it was reckless, and their was no way to guarantee its success. What's more, he had to maintain radio silence as long as possible, which meant that he wouldn't be able to coordinate his efforts with Sharf.

Maybe. Just maybe.

He reached for the com hanging on the nearby wall. He had to check if the Fleet was up to it.

Meanwhile,
Battle Group Alpha

The Grokoan Fleet had formed a defensive circle with the destroyers and frigates on the outer edge of the circle, followed by cruisers along the inner edge of the outer layer. Next, the Battleships formed a tighter inner circle around the larger supercarriers, which sheltered the smaller Invincible-Class carriers in between them. The Supply ships were scattered throughout the Fleet. The transports on the other hand, were along the interior of the "safe area" created by the battleship's circle. The fleet's subs were stationed, in packs of two, 1 mile in front, to the right and left, and to the rear of the outer circle. Resting comfortably on the deck of the Vanquish, and her sister ships were Alert Squadrons. Each squadron had four F-35s and each supercarrier had one, prepped and ready to launch at any sign of danger.

by **Kriania** » Wed Apr 07, 2010 6:12 pm

Fort Vladimir, Northeastern front reserves, 5000 hours

PFC John Rosov wakes up from his barracks along with the rest of his squad,

They go over to the mess hall to have breakfest and then be briefed on the days events

They head over to the command building

Magor Toranov annoucnes, "Today is your first day at the front"

"The trenches were just recently completed and to day we man them"

After that they head over to the arsenal for our weapons

Each man receives a AN-125 assault rifle, UMP submachine gun that they put into there packs, and a .45 caliber sstandard service pistol

Kosov and Jorvin received RPD's and John received a shot gun instead of a UMP

Then they mount up into their BTR and prepare to move out to the front

2 hours later,

"First day at the front' John saids to himself

Sgt. Lorov said "Trenches here are well built, sturdy and not filled with mud like usual"

Then the squad settled down and waited for new orders

by **Dephire** » Thu Apr 08, 2010 11:20 am

Space (Approx. 40,000 miles above Sharfghotten space)

The Leviathan was nearly at its destination outlined to it through the Briskan International Communications Satellite Array, a cluster of several thousand communication satellites plotted in space at various regions of space between the exosphere of Earth and the Moon. Within the next several hours to even a few days, the weapon will settle itself into firing position, but its target was not yet specified. The shrapnel from M's satellite attack only helped mask the Leviathan's movements, which were at a creeping pace. Soon, the might of the Leviathan would be tested. Very soon.

Aboard the Defiance

Archerus became more restless and annoyed as the time passed slowly on. His fleet was crawling slowly towards Sharfghotten. In fact, the fleet had only traveled about nine hundred miles from the furthest port of Briska. The High Lord's men looked towards their leader in confusion every day that they remained at their slow pace, but they knew why the fleets did not move into full speed. Archerus Reynolds wanted to wait for the leadership of Sharfghotten to pull through with his demands. He knew not who they were, but he did not need to know. All he wanted were his demands to be met. The leader of the Briskan Empire paced slowly in his quarters pondering if the Sharfghotten people saw his message before their satellites were attacked. He wondered if the people of Sharfghotten were trying to reply, but could not because their satellites were destroyed. He then thought that it could have all been a ploy to coerce his military to attack anyway. Markas told him the message had been sent, but for no reply to be received? This just brought on bigger thoughts and ideas into the man.

"Maybe they did not receive the message in time, brother," Markas broke the silence in the room.

Archerus held his poise, despite being slightly startled, "Perhaps so. Although, a little bit more effort on their part would have been appreciated. I offered them one last chance to live and it feels as if they spat in my face. Oh how dreadful these days have become..." The emperor made an overly exaggerated sarcastic tone come off of his words and emphasized with a long sigh.

Markas, amused, chuckled softly at his brother's 'pain', "Oh yes, how dreadful and hard these times have become indeed. I only wish it were back to the old days when we only had to worry about when the next civil war would come about."

"Ha! That's what we need! A new civil war! Those jungle folk been thinking some weird things.." The emperor rubbed his chin as if he were actually thinking about doing so, but then stopped and laughed, "You know, why the hell should I be worried if those C-men got my message? Not like our brothers and sisters of Gholgoth nor our allies would let up even if they did. Even if they did, there's still that other joke of a monkey."

"Aye, that could be true. I am sure that everyone would be happy to at least have.. Nevermind. Shall I try resending the message once more?"

Archerus thought for a minute, "Yes. Resend the message. Beam it directly from our 'satellite' to their televisions if you have to."

Within an hour, the Leviathan was told to beam a message to the nation of Sharfghotten. Whether or not it was picked up, it is unknown. However, the video input was now edited to include a running banner reading:

**Attention: People of Sharfghotten**
Attention men, women, and children of Sharfghotten. High Lord Archerus Reynolds, Supreme Commander and Emperor of Briska, wishes for no blood to be spilt between our nations. All he asks is for the complete surrender to the Lords of Gholgoth and allow for a smooth transition of power from your current government to one we wish to institute. If you do not give in to our demands or a desirable compromise thereof, we will go through with our plans of a full invasion of your nation without mercy from any of our forces. We have the power to destroy everything you hold dear. Do not mock our message, or we will move onto our plans without further hesitation.

These are the words of the High Lord Archerus Reynolds.
**This is your last notice from the Briskan Military! If you do not make any attempt to reply with your acceptable answer, you will be destroyed! No answer at all will mean NO mercy!**

by **Sharfghotten** » Fri Apr 09, 2010 5:02 am

Engelsburg, Ministry of defence

Walter Kees was standing in the centeral control room of the Sharf MoD, situated four stories beneath the ground floor and lined with concrete and lead. In front of him, the lines of operators attended to their resective consoles, manipulating the juggernaut of the Sharf war machine into position. One wall was almost entirely taken up by an enormous digital map of the whole country, updated in real-time as pixels denoting military formations moved across the Union.

Thank god the Ghothic fleet are so slow, mused Kees, or we'd already be overrun.

His thoughts were interrupted by a bleeping to his left. He tore his eyes away from the map and read the urgent telegram.

Code: Select all: To: GenSec Walter Kees Category: URGENT Citizens in panic. Propaganda from ghothic forces relayed via satellite onto all media outlets. Find copy attached.

**Attention: People of Sharfghotten**
Attention men, women, and children of Sharfghotten. High Lord Archerus Reynolds, Supreme Commander and Emperor of Briska, wishes for no blood to be spilt between our nations. All he asks is for the complete surrender to the Lords of Gholgoth and allow for a smooth transition of power from your current government to one we wish to institute. If you do not give in to our demands or a desirable compromise thereof, we will go through with our plans of a full invasion of your nation without mercy from any of our forces. We have the power to destroy everything you hold dear. Do not mock our message, or we will move onto our plans without further hesitation.

These are the words of the High Lord Archerus Reynolds.
**This is your last notice from the Briskan Military! If you do not make any attempt to reply with your acceptable answer, you will be destroyed! No answer at all will mean NO mercy!**

"Shit" hissed Kees. For a moment, he considered the surrender. But he took another glance at the screen in front of him. Millions upon millions of men and women, ready to lay down their lives for their land. If they succeeded, the Union would be heralded an international superpower. Millions would flock to their banners. And if they lost, Kees would be dead. Surrender would paint him a coward. His memory defiled either way.

"You, there! Get these loops off the air. Any way possible. And you!" he motioned towards a bored-looking telephone operator. "Get me Ebenen!"

Ebenen Festung, Sharfghotten military base

A pair of SU-27 fighters began took off from he extensive runway and immediately began their climb into the upper atmosphere. They kept climbing into the stratosphere, soon finding themselves on the edge of space itself.

"Tower this is callsign Narodnik and callsign Hellfire, seeking permission to engage" hummed one of the pilots into his helmet mic. Confirmation soon followed, and the fighters launched two S-188 ASM's into the position where the rouge satellite beaming the message into Sharf homes had been roughly triangulated to be. Sharf detection systems were not cutting edge, so it was possible the missiles would find nothing at all. But it paid to be sure...

Message to Briskan high command
Your demands to surrender are futile. The Sharf army is fully mobilised and intends to stay exactly where it is. Let it be known we will fight to the death to preserve the strength of the Union.

by **Rhods** » Fri Apr 09, 2010 8:55 am

The Gothic propaganda was relayed on Rhodsian communication lines as well and in many bunkers the small radio sets they had blared said messages. Many of the Rhodsian troops stood firm but some of them were reduced to tears as the full scope of the forces arranged against them became tangible. The Rhodsian soldiers who did not stand tall like some immediately wondered why were they here in Sharfgotten so far from home?

Why did they have to die to save this hellish nation that would surely see them all dead? The Commissars in the Rhodsian force Vlad included tried to stifle these doubts with cries of patriotic slogans and pamphlets on the merits of preserving Communism, but for some this was not enough. There were several suicides in the days immediately surrounding the Gothic propaganda's initiation. Men too desperate and too afraid to survive in battle anyways in the eyes of many of their fellow Rhodsians but a small worm in almost everyone's mind cried out, "Are they right?"

To show that the Motherland was behind them several Frog-7 medium range missile systems were airlifted to the Rhodsian forces from the supply depot on the beach. This depot was still being moved as the supplies for one million men and supporting armor was a nightmare for logistics. These missile systems were symbolically pointed towards the sea and thus the enemy but every Rhodsian commander knew that they would be best employed stemming an enemy advance on land.

The Spetsnaz in Altressen itself had slowly begun learning Sharfgotten's language and as such were able to pass around some crude posters and pamphlets dehumanizing the Gothic foe. The strong tradition of anti-enemy propaganda that is associated with Rhods coming to the fore once again. The heavy M201 rifles the Rhodsians were issued suddenly became augmented by the MPPSH04 as a shipment arrived from high altitude supply drop. This inaccurate and altogether inefficient way of delivering supplies was used successfully with an equal combination of luck and the skill of Rhodsian pilots for once as the crate of one thousand sub-machine guns landed with a thud in the soft loam of a farmer's field.

With these new weapons that were fresh off the production line many Commissars and Officers traded their AN-125 assault rifles for the deadly sub-machine guns. The woods of Rhods personified in their stocks many men began to feel homesick. It seemed the main weakness of the Rhodsian force was psychological in nature.

by **The Master M** » Fri Apr 09, 2010 11:01 am

The harsh shriek of cruise missiles evaporated into the distant horizon; less than an hour later one of the AWACs circling overhead reported a multitude of hits on the Sharfghotten fleet. The killing had begun; the deaths of the Sharf sailors but the first trickle of the river of blood that would flow. Blood for the Blood God. Death so that darkness would prevail.

It was a mere four minutes after the confirmation of missile strikes that the piercing wail of early warning klaxons sounded on every ship within the front most Task Group – an ominous sound, warning the men aboard each vessel that death was coming. Instantly the first wave of countermeasures was activated; four hundred SparrowHawk anti-aircraft missiles were launched, four for every identified missile coming towards the vanguard of the fleets. Blazing through the sky, they glinted in the sunlight as they shot towards the enemy missiles, intent on shooting them down.

Thirty minutes later, the first confirmation of hits took place; just over a hundred enemy missiles had been accounted for, and eighty four had been shot down before they could reach anywhere near the Mian fleet. At this point, with over thirty missiles bearing down on them, the sixty destroyers that made up the Mian vanguard simultaneously switched their signal and radar frequencies; a towed radar beacon suddenly switched on. Broadcasting the signals that the destroyers had been broadcasting a moment earlier, but on a much more intense level, the beacon was designed to draw any missiles that had locked onto the radar signature of any vessel. Several thermite buoys had been fired a kilometre ahead of the lead destroyer, in the hope that any missiles seeking the heat signatures of the vessels would be drawn to the high-temperature burning of the buoys. As a last resort, each vessel prepared its CIWS systems; a hail of high calibre rounds fired at close range fired in veritable wall of projectiles to attempt a final destruction of the missiles.

Unfortunately, only a handful of the missiles fell for these countermeasures, and fourteen continued onwards towards their targets. Most of these were defeated by the harsh spray of bullets fired from the Phoenix CIWS guns on the destroyers, but two managed to sneak through; the escort destroyer MMS Burning Rose’s CIWS guns had malfunctioned, meaning that no hail of bullets awaited the two missiles that fired menacingly towards it.

There was a moment of silence, one last serene second of peace, before the Burning Rose exploded in a vicious cascade of metal, flesh and flames. A spire of flame and debris arced skywards, showering the once peaceful waves with chunks of metal and flesh. The first missile had exploded twenty metres from the Rose, tearing a gash in her portside hull. The second had not detonated on impact, but had penetrated through the gash made by the first and exploded within the destroyer. The Burning Rose was designed to take hits such as this, but a lucky malfunction within the missile allowed to continue inwards, piercing the internal bulkhead that usually protected the magazine for the ships 55mm cannon. The explosion of the missile was amplified as it set off a chain reaction of 55mm shells; from the outside the ship appeared to almost lift out of the waves, as flames tore apart the hull, almost ripping the ship in two.

When the ship settled, the battered survivors began a mad scramble to get the few remaining life rafts into the water, leaving behind ninety seven dead and at least fifty mortally wounded. The badly listing destroyer was not sunk yet, merely staying barely afloat whilst shells continued to explode within.

In angered response, the two hundred and twenty missile frigates of Task Group 2 launched a full volley of Sea Scorpion Long Range Anti-Ship Missiles towards the Sharf fleet; fourteen launchers on each ship fired three times; nine thousand, two hundred and forty missiles in three waves streaked towards the battered remainder of the Sharf fleet, as the crippled Mian destroyer continued to burn without mercy.

Atlantis Class Megacarrier MMS Atlantis
Four Hundred Miles from Sharfghotten Territorial Waters

Pilot-Lieutenant James McBride continued with his final pre-flight checks; Fuel tanks full. Missiles secure. Firing computer online. His attention was caught momentarily by the far off white streaks that denoted a mass missile launch, a strike that would hopefully lessen the task that he and his men would have to accomplish. As his F/A-38 Sentinel taxi into the launch catapult (for his squadron was the first to be launched from the Atlantis) he touched the small piece of metal that he carried everywhere on the chain around his neck – the bullet that had nearly taken his life four years previously, now serving as a lucky talisman. His TAC radio barked with the harsh accent of the air traffic controller.

“Squadron 114 launch in ten...nine...eight...”

PL McBride steeled himself, moving his aircrafts throttle into the ready position. As the count came to one, he pushed it forwards, and the aircraft shot forward as the launch catapult fired. Eleven minutes later he was one of four hundred pilots that raced towards Sharfghotten at nine hundred miles per hour, their goal: the elimination of preliminary anti-aircraft defences and opposing aircraft...

by **Allied Governments** » Fri Apr 09, 2010 12:07 pm

Since the Federation of Allied Governments came to the forefront of international politics, adages were forged from dealings with Federation ambassadors, but perhaps none were more famous and well known as, "Aegeans are as easy to convince as it is to tell a stone to break apart. Only difference is you can use a hammer for the latter" and, "Aegeans are like wolves, they'll gnaw their own leg off to get out of a trap. Only difference is that the Aegean would get stuck in the trap on purpose" which dealt with their knack to get stuck in wars for reasons apparently unbeknownst to most.

It was understandable, then, that it was out of place for the Federation banner to not be seen in the aptly named, "Great Crusade." Maybe the Federation was getting old, maybe it was having a bad year, the reasons why were as plentiful as the people asking in the first place.

Perhaps, however, the Federation was preparing, gathering it's pawns and formulating strategies for what it perceived to be the last great war of the century. After all, one must spend time on the surface before making the last plunge into the abyss.

by **Groko** » Fri Apr 09, 2010 2:50 pm

Three hundred and six Miles East of Hafenstadt

The distant whoop whoop of chopper blades faded into the air. Four pairs of choppers, each containing a AEW Merlin AgustaWestland AW101 and the ASW variant, were patrolling the area around the Fleet. While the Fleet was sailing directly towards Hafenstadt, they were being extremely cautious. The entire Battle Group was on alert, and ,although they were running on silent, the atmosphere was tense. With few signals, the entire fleet went to General Quarters, and crossed into the blockade zone.

Elsewhere

Two other Grokoan Fleets were also closing in on Sharfghotten from just outside the blockade zone. While Group A, the Fleet heading for Hafenstadt, hoped to create a distraction; Group B, who was closing on Gellen from the south, was transporting 2/5ths of the Grokoan Rapid Deployment soldiers and their ammo. Meanwhile, Group C, who was just North of Nordfestung, was hurrying towards Sharf lands with the other 40% of the RD troops. The remaining two hundred and twenty soldiers were stationed on various fighting ships in Group A, while volunteers sailed the transports that transported their ammo.

by **Brewdomia** » Fri Apr 09, 2010 3:16 pm

The Scuds approached with vigor, carrying the weight of the people of Sharfghotten, it was hope. Such false hope would not be granted. Upon detection, Brewdomian missiles sprung out of their cages, releasing smoke and ash into the godforsaken earth. Precision and target coordination was in effect, missiles angled at the incoming Scuds, readying to destroy. One after one deafening booms reverberated through the sky, the scuds shattered into pieces, each one falling into the depths of the ocean. With each Sharfghotten missile destroyed, the fire of their nation grew smaller and smaller. One missile broke through however, claming a destroyer and sending it to the dark depths of the ocean.

Each commander barely gave a second thought to the Sharghotten missile strike, and continued on with their operations. F-22’s screeched of the deck, arming their weapons and identifying targets in the Arelfnenn base. The planes, devoid of emotion or mercy formed into combat air patrols, each one craving for blood. Resistance that they would encounter would be met with full force of The Brewdomian Air Force. The window of opportunity for Sharfghotten was closing with each passing moment, as allied fleets began their assaults on the country.

The Brewdomian fleet began it’s final assault before landing upon the blood stained shores of Sharfghotten. More and more Poseidon AsHM’s skimmed the seas, stalking the ships that remained of the Sharfghotten fleet and the newly discovered Grokoan fleets.. These final anti-shipping missiles contained thermo baric warheads, designed to obliterate the enemy fleet into great balls of flame.

Drones hummed above the battlefields, moving closer to the Sharghotten base which was under duress from the sulfur warheads launched earlier. Incendiary missiles carried by the lifeless drones were fired at power stations that powered the Gebirgfestung base. Missile after missile careened toward designated areas of the power plant. There was no end toward the destruction.

Acidic weapons were present in the subs that lurked near nordfestung. Inside the intricacies of the long ranged hypersonic cruise missiles, there were insidious concoctions, made by the most demented of all leaders. Chemicals that brewed up magnificent storms while absorbing the lives of the men who were at the base. While the chemical only lasted for a short time, the massing of such a weapon proved to be insane and oblivious to all human rights conventions.

Shrouds of ash would form while the people that stood guard suffocated from acids that seeped into their internal organs. Blinding and destructive pain was everywhere. There was no safe haven.

by **Dephire** » Fri Apr 09, 2010 3:34 pm

Aboard the Defiance (Approx. 1100 miles from Briska)

"Archerus, the Leviathan has detected anti-satellite missiles being launched from two fighter aircr-" Markas began, but was cut off by his brother's laughter, which increased in volume over the course of a few minutes.

"The fools have finally done it. By firing their missiles at the Leviathan, they have put it into full action!" Archerus smiled and looked up at a screen, watching it closely.

The screen Archerus examined was directly linked to the Leviathan. Every bit of information the Leviathan collected, he could see. Not only did the Leviathan have the two missiles, their trajectories, their make and model, and effective range being displayed, the Leviathan still was calculating a new target, Ebenen Festung, the Sharfghotten military instillation from where the fighter jets originated. The satellite weapon took in the Earth's rotation, weather patterns, temperature of the atmosphere, wind speeds, everything necessary for its attack was being displayed. Archerus could not hide how impressed he was. Jaw-dropped and eyes wide open, the emperor stood stunned by all of the calculations being run at once. My great grandfathers knew how to build a weapon, he whispered to himself.

Leviathan (Approx. 35,000 miles above Sharfghotten)

As soon as the missiles were launched and detected, the Leviathan's war systems activated. Immediately, the Leviathan began to calculate when the missiles would hit. It even calculated on if the missiles could even reach it. Even so, the massive satellite finalized its calculations and launched a barrage of counter-measures. Four anti-missile pods, missiles with heat-seeking capabilities that detonate and release hundreds of small metallic balls designed to rip apart missiles, dashed towards the two anti-satellite missiles as well as ten anti-missile rockets. As soon as the counter-measures were released, the Leviathan then turned its attention to the two retreating fighter aircraft and fired two long-range anti-aircraft missiles with re-entry coating, but only to amuse itself. No sooner were the two missiles fired that the satellite took in the data for its attack of the base from which the aircraft came from.

Ebenen Festung, the culprit for housing and launching the aircraft which 'attacked' the Leviathan were now being observed. It took in the hangars, buildings, airstrips, roads, population densities, movements, etc. It slowly began to decide on the type of round to use in the strike. The satellite finally activated the power to the tri-barrel cannon, causing all other functions to power down for a brief moment. Three large rounds consisting of three metal slugs were loaded into the chambers. A countdown starting at five minutes was then beamed down to the nation. The countdown of the inevitable doom.

The Leviathan began to descend into firing range at a rapid pace.

Aboard the Defiance (Approx. 1200 miles from Briska)

Archerus smiled with joy as the countdown appeared on his screen, "Apparently the Leviathan did not like being shot at. It does have a very bad temper indeed!"

Markas was looking out the observation deck just outside Archerus' control room. Archerus was inside the control room observing the Leviathan's actions, but walked away and out onto the observation deck to join his brother. The fleet had already begun to increase its speed due to the Leviathan being fired upon, but the increase was going to be gradual as Archerus was making sure the rest of his invasion fleet was able to catch up from the mainland. All in all, several hundred thousand men and women would be involved in the initial assault, but they would still be several days away.

"Leviathan has acquired its target and is prepared to fire." A loud electronic voice spoke from the control room.

"So begins the end of a nation from our view," Markas muttered.

The Leviathan's countdown had finished, and by now was at thirty thousand miles above Sharfghotten. As soon as the countdown hit zero, three large metal rounds seventy feet in length and twenty feet in diameter shot through space traveling at fourty-five thousand meters per second. The weapon had aimed at the highest density in population at the military instillation. Estimated time of impact, less than twelve minutes

by **Tahar Joblis** » Fri Apr 09, 2010 5:50 pm

LEO/MEO

The orbital chaos spurred by The Master M's assault on Sharfghotten satellites continued. Debris from Sharfghotten satellites was in many cases kicked into higher or lower orbits, or eccentric orbits. The cost of placing a comprehensive anti-satellite system in orbit capable of taking out another nations' entire satellite network had required a great investment by Master M; the collateral damage to third-party nations would exceed that price tag by more than an order of magnitude.

Several Tahar Joblissan satellites were damaged. The government of Tahar Joblis lodged immediate protests and demands for reparations paid by Master M into the coffers of all nations affected by the spread of debris.

A couple old and apparently damaged Tahar Joblissan satellites winged towards large expensive-looking Gholgothic satellites suspected of being orbital weapons, all perfectly plausible deflections following collisions of those satellites with large pieces of debris from the ongoing chains of collisions. The p-value of it being coincidental might have been estimated at around 0.12 by a particularly good supercomputer, given sufficient years to analyze the data and sufficiently good data on satellite positions. The orbital dynamics of LEO are chaotic at the best of times. With radar data available to modern technology and a short deadline, the p-value of coincidence would more likely be computed around 0.34 through the propagation of generous error bars and rounding errors - suspicious but nothing outstanding.

More remarkable coincidences would be happening within the orbital collision dynamics in any event. MM's action had been similar to throwing a barrel of marbles at a roller-hockey player during a casual hundred-player pickup game being played on a frozen-solid pond with five goals and six teams - effective, but introducing a hazardous element into something that was already growing entirely too crowded and too dicey.

Under the boardwalk, down by the sea:

Breve Maartin, Volunteer. The androgynous person, whose medium-toned voice did not give good clues as to his - or her - gender identity, was fiddling with a control linkup for a torpedo buried half a kilometer out in the water. He - or she - had pledged to wait underwater, for days if necessary, in a scuba suit, personally guiding seven meters of silent death into the jaws of the enemy. A pair of night vision binoculars tied to the underside of the boardwalk and an antenna wrapped around a pile represented a link to the outside world and outside intelligence - a key thing. Breve could receive up-to-date information on what was happening above the water. Breve wouldn't be broadcasting any time soon.

Breve's torpedo was powerful and modern, fully capable of breaking the spine of a mighty aircraft carrier and sending it straight to the bottom of the ocean, incredibly difficult to detect, long-range, fast - capable, even, of seeking out its intended prey very intelligently without Breve's help, should the command line be severed by another torpedo or an explosion in the water. Breve ultimately represented only a minor improvement in the ability of the torpedo to intelligently navigate around decoys and evade countertorpedoes, arriving hopefully completely undetected at a precious Gholgothic target, but the personal touch was important to Breve.

On the mountain, over the hills, and everywhere:

Tahar Joblissan volunteers were by and large passionate and full of fire in response to the beginning of Gholgothic propaganda. We have not, they said, yet begun to fight. The capitalist anti-democratic pig-dog imperialists' child soldiers, baby-eating cannibals, slavers, and genetically engineered monsters would not conquer Sharfghotten. Any suggestion of mercy was clearly being laid lie to by the enemy's uncivilized behavior, chemical weapons, and other unsavory practices.

The birds of the air and fish of the sea:

Thus far, Tahar Joblissan reconnaissance drones - light, cheap, largely solar-powered, and high altitude - had not been targeted by either side. While no given drone provided excellent sensor data by itself, careful mining of the data was providing valuable detailed information on the capabilities of military hardware and the doctrines governing naval warfare strategies used by the combatants.

by **Of The Arch ilands** » Sat Apr 10, 2010 10:28 am

OOC: Retaliation to Dephires Suicide Satellite attack, still in the process of kitting out my vessels so Reply to Hurtian will come soon

Arch Islands
Approximately 17 hours ago 1.32am Arch Island Time
Leavenworth Space Centre

Lieutenant Mackie Lent back in his comfy leather Computer Chair sipping his Mug of coffee as he lazily watched his screen. his job was relay operator for the Military Satellites and the Manned military space station, in GEO orbit over the Arch Islands. It was his shift to watch over the Satellite network that linked every listening post and Observation satellites all over NSearth, a boring job with hardly any activity apart from the Odd meteor Shower.

Another night of event less watching he thought to him self while yawning. looking about him he saw the Odd civilian Operator and his Overseer Major Johnson, asleep in the control room. Taking another Sip of his Coffee he sighed watching his screen, to his astonishment one of the Satellites simply blipped out of existence, Then another and another. Baffled Mackie set down his coffee and took a closer look the Tacking Blips where disappearing one by one.

Mackie finally Came to his Proper senses, he Turned and Smashed his Hand over a Red Button, with in an instant the Control room filled with the sound of sirens.

Startled by the Sirens Johnson Awoke Falling off his Chair onto the floor quickly composing him self he ran out of the Control room to where Mackie was feverishly working away to find the Problem.

"what on this earth is happening Mackie!"

"not a clue sir out Observation Sats and other Sats simply started disappearing off the Grid sir, im not getting any response from any of the ones missing sir."

With that said the Main screen suddenly lit up and Revealing the Face of a Rather Young man in a Zero-g Suit his Rank slides Visible, he was a major just like Johnson.

"sorry for the interruption Control but we are losing contact with Sats all over the grid just checking in to make sure its not a sensor glitch."

Johnson Looked up and nodded Moving up in front of Mackies row of consoles. "Its not a Sensor Glitch Major we are getting the same readings here."

The Major on the Screen suddenly turned as he was addressed by one of the Members in the Control room of the orbiting Space Station after nodding a few times he turned around to address Johnson. "Ive just been informed the some of our sensor sats have picked up colidable man made objects before they have been destroyed, we are under attack Major."

Johnson was clearly took back by the news he looked around the Control room was very much full now with operators and other Relay station workers just like Mackie.

"do we have any idea by who?"

"Not at the moment Major but we are deploying counter measures now!"

Johnson Nodded "if.. if you'd excuse me i have to report to our superiors seems like some one has it in for us"

The major on the other end nodded before turning to issue orders of his own. Johnson turned to Mackie. "co-ordinate our efforts im going to make the Call"

Mackie Nodded and got up him self.

Arch Islands Space
Approximately 17 hours ago 1.35am Arch Island Time
Overseer Military Space Station

The Overseer was a Marvel of Arch Island Military engineering, starting off as a simple manned observation Station the Overseer soon Grew into a Rather Large Military Grade Space station. it had been built up over the Years to the size it is now sporting Several Anti Missile Systems and other Electronic Warfare countermeasures, the Space station also Supported a small but deadly Missile Launcher for Orbital Strikes.

Major Killigan was the Commanding officer of Current Rotation of crew members. he had been an Astronaut for over 7 years and Had signed up to the military payroll 5 years ago.

"Activate the Arch Angel systems Calibrate them to the Signals Being Given off by what ever is taking out our sats i want to stop them in there tracks."

The Arch Angel Missile Defence system was essentially a Modifiable Version of the Patriot Defence System the Station its self had 4 Patriot Launchers. it took a few moments before they where fired but they where fired Streaks of Gasses where the only thing left behind by the missiles as they hurtled towards the incoming suicide Sats, the Station could not defend all of the Satellites with in orbit so it Tried to intercept all of the Most valuable Satellites in orbit that where under threat.

Seven hours later

"Status Report?"

A young female officer replied " Sir We lost roughly 54 Observation satellites and 37 relay satellites, and 104 Commercial Satellites of various kinds. our over all affective Network is at 37%"

Killigan Winced at the Final figure, that would severally dampen Arch Islands Military efforts in over seas theatres. Let High Command know the Figures.

"sir one of the surviving Sensor satellites over Sharghotten is picking up up a massive object moving Towards the Planet sir getting a feed now"

"put it on screen"

Eventually a Rather Disrupted Real Time view of the Massive Dephire Space Station appeared on the Main Display

"holy hell..."

"sir We Can hit it from where we are...."

Killigan Turned to the Missile Launcher Operator "excellent what have we got currently loaded?"

"we have 2, 5 Kila-ton High Explosive ICBMs loaded sir, if fired they would take 25 minutes to reach the Target."

"do it i want that Thing taken down!"

Moments later the Missile Bays on the Arch Islands Military Space Station opened up and with in a minute the Two non Nuclear ICBMs where Fired Dropping into Upper Earths Atmosphere before there Guidance systems and propulsion systems started up Catapulting the two Warheads towards Dephires Station.

by **Amazonian Beasts** » Sat Apr 10, 2010 10:07 pm

Amazonian Australia
Nova Oceana, Fleet HQ

"Fleets ready to move out?"

"Indeed they are."

"Then move them out."

It was rare for rainy days to hit Nova Oceana, glistening paradise city of Amazonia - yet here one was, thick with dark cumulonimbus clouds leaving a drenching downpour upon the now-dour streets of the 100 million-strong metropolis. Fewer walked the streets than normal, with wet tourists and working-class people crammed aboard the maglev trains to avoid the storm. Lightning crackled down from the sky infrequently to match the sheets of rain howling in off Azul Bay, striking down with force and power from the torments of the aether above - the sky's fury unrelenting through the storm.

This did not stop Sekhmet Arakus - Executor of the Imperial Triumvirate that ruled from the dark spire of Necropolis, far away from the paradise city. Here in Republic Naval Command, away from the eyes of the public...he could say as he wished amidst the howling precipitation outside.

"Gothic forces have already begun moving in on Sharfghotten," replied a slightly smaller man to Sekhmet's right, standing about 6'2" with light skin and fierce green eyes. "We are slightly behind in deployment."

"No matter," Sekhmet aired, folding his arms. "We are never too late. We are finishing up loading Force Commander Thanatos's forces...take them with three armadas. Go with the wind."

The other man, Aegeron, smiled at this. Three armadas? A lot of ships right there...more than enough to inflict some lethal damages of godly proportions. Thanatos was one of the Republic's toughest commanders...if he got ashore, he would fill all the duties about slaughter there were. Aegeron wouldn't have to worry about that...

"And, our orders, Executor?" the naval commander inquired darkly of Sekhmet. "Specifics?"

"Slaughter them."

In perfect legions, Vanguards and Shock Troopers below marched aboard the landing ships and transport vessels - with combat warships out to sea. The lightning from the heavens, sparking down into the war in a mesh of air and ocean, guided the armadas of the Republic to the gates of war and Hell - the first step, their journey across the Styx to enter the world of the warrior far across the seas to Sharfghotten. The armies of Gholgoth already lie in combat, awaiting those who had pledged their duties to join in this crusade...who came to stand by those pledges.

by **Tiurabo** » Mon Apr 12, 2010 7:40 pm

Fort MacNeill, The Tiuraboan Commonwealth.

Deep underground, in the bowels of Tiurabo's greatest military stronghold, the four officers who held control over the whole country strode briskly down a bare, gray-stone tunnel, trailed closely by their seconds.

Leader of the pack, General Robert MacNeill, supreme commander of the Tiuraboan military, Janissary, national hero, and former Strike Commander. On his right, the man who currently held that position lumbered alongside; his name was James Grant, also a member of the elite Janissary brotherhood. To their left, Doyle Brandt, Line Commander; unlike his fellows, he was not a Janissary, but he made up for it by being built like a brick shithouse and twice as ugly. All were long-time soldiers, and all walked with the same swagger that is only found in those who have seen the elephant.

Last, but certainly not least, walked Marshal Cain Tiurabo. Shorter, slighter, and less obviously warlike than his comrades, he still held more power than the three of them put together. He had many names and titles; to the people of his own nation, he was the Unifier, the Warforger, founder of the Commonwealth. To many of those who had fought on the wrong side in the Unification War called him butcher, Ender, and many other such names. Some even called him the Anti-Christ. Whatever they might call him, this old man had fought a war that had changed the face and soul of the country irrevocably.

He had taken a situation with no hope, no way out of endless conflict, and what did he make from the crucible of war? A nation, one without fear of foreign aggression or internal conflict, and for that people fought and died in his name. As they would do very soon. In front, MacNeill opened the door to the war room; it was mostly bare, furnished with clear fluorescent lighting and a large, square table with four comfortable chairs, set with four pints of Guinness and four slim glass screens. These last stood up directly from the tables surface, oriented specifically for their users ease of reading. Each was blank at the moment, but soon enough they would be spewing information forth.

James was speaking now as the made their way into the room. "I don't see what all the damn fuss is about. Why's everyone runnin' around like a one-headed Vigilant?" Cain took his place at the square table, sitting across from his Striker counterpart; defense and offense. "I believe that is what Robert will be speaking on when we've started. He looked up at the younger man, eyes questioning. Brandt was silent, simply taking his seat and picking up his drink. As soon as MacNeill, the last to come in, were seated, the thin glass screens lit up, ready to be accessed.

The General picked up his glass and drank from it before starting. "As you all know, Conglomerate operations are currently being undertaken against a series of upstart nations who have done something to offend the Old Guard. You may also recall that we were planning to deploy the majority of our active forces into of the Conglomerate Theaters, a place known to the locals as Sharfghotten. Under this plan, the navy was to transport our forces and provide support to allied elements as necessary. That plan is now off the table." Reaching out, MacNeill tapped the face of his screen three times and the entire Deployment section of the operation disappeared.

This received several raised eyebrows from the other three, but they said nothing as he opened another file. "As of 2200, Abril tenth, a state of war has existed between the Conglomerate and the Oceanic Defense Coalition. This represents a major threat to all global trade with any but the nearest of allied nations," he he paused to list a few names. "Ralkovia, the Ageans, Ustio North... as such, I have decided that the best course of action is to task the navy with the defense of our shipping while maintaining some semblance of naval defense on our coast. Thoughts on this?"

Cain leaned forward, putting his elbows on the table. "We can leave the west pretty much open, ship-wise. The guns at Port Stirling can hand out a beating without a fleet being able to do much back. Once a force lands, it's just a matter of chewing them up and spitting them out, but I'm worried about nuclear weapons." Brandt nodded, giving the table an unflinching thousand yard stare as he spoke. "Once they figure how hard a nut we are to crack, they'll just drop the fuckin' sky on us. Nukes, God-rods, the works."

Cain shook his head and went on. "No, they wouldn't dare. The Amazonians are already prepared to blow up the world just for someone attacking them, there's no way they'd risk it on Tyrrhenian soil." Grant drained the last of his beer and slammed his pint down. "Let's get back to the point here: What are we gonna do about shiftin' my boys into the Goth fight?" The other three looked at him silently for a second, then each looked at their screens.

MacNeill was the first to speak then. "I'd call airlift a no-go, this fights too hot. It's not skinnies in the land of sand, these guys have been around and they can and probably do pack more than us. Fleets in sector, fleets to sector... Okay, how about this?" All at once, the other screens showed an Amazonian fleet, destination: Sharfghotten. Grant nodded at the screen, then slapped the table with his open hand. "Sounds good to me, those Amazonians know how to scrap almost as good as us. Handle the water better too." MacNeill made a gesture of assent and blanked the screens. "I'll make the call. Get your section ready to roll, James."

As they filed out, MacNeill held Cain back. "I'll be leaving the Guard at home this time, sir. I hope you understand." Cain nodded amiably, half-smiling. "I understand. You want to fight a war without me looking over your shoulder and telling you what you're doing wrong. And if you do it by stationing me here so I can make sure you've got a home to come back to, that's fine."

MacNeill grinned, gripping his mentor's wrist firmly, as Cain did to him. "Unfortunately, I'll be the one making sure you come home. I want you to liaise directly with the Conglomerate, get on the inside track with them. Make buddies with the UD, we've got enough problems as it is. If you get bored doing that, go to Sanctuary. I heard they were having construction problems, and an old hand like you could probably get the whole thing straightened out." Cain shook his hand and released it. "I'll be on the first plane. Now, stop telling me how to do my job and do yours, or I'll take the sword back from you and send you off to 'liaise'."

by **Jenrak** » Tue Apr 13, 2010 9:22 am

by **Sharfghotten** » Tue Apr 13, 2010 2:51 pm

Arelfenn Fleet

"Jesus, comrade admiral. In excess of two thousand Mian missiles coming our way. We destroyed... One of their Destroyers."

Admiral Fritzl simply stared at his various monitors, eyes boring into the LCD screens. At length, he finally spoke.

"We'll return fire. Alert Altressen base and get them to do the same."

"But comrade admiral, the launch procedures. If we initiate them now, they take a good few minutes to fire up. And then we need to manually launch the missiles. If we stay for all that, we'll only have a few seconds before the Mian rockets are due to hit us."

"I know how to do this, comrades. You don't have to stay with me."

ten minutes later

The PNV Justice's missile doors swung open for the last time. Along with the other remaining ships in the once-proud Arelfenn fleet, a total of fourty DH-10 missiles were majestically launched from the vessels. Seconds later, the first Mian ordinance began raining onto the fleet. As the surrounding Frigates and Destroyers were taken out one by one by the weight of the rockets, the Justice's CIWS's did their best to save them from their inevitable fate. The Ivan, once a grand feat of Sharf engineering, was rocked by explosions from within its hull. As the last salvageable planes took off from its decks, the entire vessel collapsed in on itself, sending hundreds to their deaths. The Justice weathered the storm as best it could. Further missiles were fired off into the Mian fleet, but the Cruiser was soon depleted.

Admiral Fritzl stood alone in the bridge of the ship. Only minutes earlier his crew had departed via the GG-67 helicopter usually attached to the back of the ship. Red lights blinked- the CIWS were all dry. The admiral lit up a cigarette and took one last drag as a hail of Mian ordinance ripped through the skin of the cruiser. Explosion after explosion ripped through the valiant craft, cleaving it into hundreds of seperate pieces. The whole fleet was gone, nothing but scrap metal slowly dragged under the dark blue waves.

Arelfenn naval base

The news of the lost fleet was met with grief, for sure, but there was no time left to shed tears for the fallen. A massive combined air force of Mian and Brewdomian warplanes were heading straight for their shores. Within minutes, massive wings of MiG 31's and 35's, with smaller numbers of Su-33 and 35, lifted off from airfields all over the Eastern seaboard. The planes numbered at about 600 in total.

The vast majority went at the Mian and Brewdomian wings, but a total of about fifty were assigned to deal with the Ghothic drones wreaking havoc over the major military installations. But they were not quite fast enough.

Gebirgfestung base

The Brewdomian drones had succeeded in their mission, wiping out the generator that was the main supplier of energy to the Gebrigfestung base. As AA missiles began streaking up through the air towards their robotic harrassers, the troopers within the highest peaks surrounding the base began the activation of the cutting-edge self-powering solar generator that would provide them with enough power to survive for months. What nobody was expecting was the wave of Sulfur chemical weapons that landed in and around the base only a few minutes later. Whilst the troopers lay coughing up blood in the dirt, or ran to retrieve their NBC suits, the higher-ups had worse worries. The sulfur clouds would render the solar generator about as useful as a big box of scrap metal. They were without power.

Nordfestung base

The chemical weapons launched at the Nordfestung base were devestating. Thousands of the millions strong garrison were reduced to so big a pile of molten goo as the chemicals made contact with them, snaked down their airways, crept behind their eyes. Blaring klaxons screamed with untold urgency at the troopers to don their 'Noddy' NBC suits, which they did with gusto. Everyone withdrew from the peremiter and the base was locked down, allowing the denfence teams to get on with their job. Sharf-built Patriot missiles (dubbed the 'Unionist'), were launched from defence silos surrounding the base at any further incoming.

Altressen Plateau artillery base

In light of the attacks on the other large Sharf bases, the artillery base commanders got cracking. Within a few minutes, further waves of CJ-10 cruise missiles were leaving bright trails in the sky as they were launched towards the Mian and Brewdomian fleets- 150 in each direction.

Ebenenfestung base

The sight of callsign Narodnik and Hellfire tumbling from the sky in plumes of flame was enough to worry the Ebenen Festung command. Whatever was up there was not dead, and planned to make mincemeat of them. The evacuation was poorly organised- speakers simply shouted orders at anyone within earshot to get out, as fast as possible, and take whatever wasn't nailed down with them.

Twelve minutes later

Personel were leaving the base in their millions, vast columns of human milling out of what was soon to be hell on earth. None of them registered the supersonic screech of the metal rods as they slammed into the dirt of Ebenen- and kept going. Neither did they register the initial kinetic explosion, the shockwave of which annihilated over a million souls within nanoseconds. The furthest away, however, did. And they registered something else- something not even the sattelite could have intended.

Deep underneath Ebenen Festung base was an experimental nuclear fusion reactor, intended for supplying the base during months, even years of seige. There was no way the Dephirian intelligence could have known its location- it was purely chance that one of the Leviathan's metal rods penetrated the inner reactor of the station, resulting in an explosion equivalent to over 80 megatons of TNT. The mushroom cloud, despite the reactor being situated over half a mile underground, reached several kilometers into the rended sky. Ebenen Festung was gone, that much was clear. As was a good 10% of the Sharf total military might.

Across Sharfghotten

The people watching these developments simply stood there, shocked into silence. Their country was to fall, of that they were sure.

One by one, they dropped to their knees. Religion had been banned in Sharfghotten for over a hundred years, but these people cared not. They began to pray.

by **Ekraysia** » Wed Apr 14, 2010 3:58 am

Fleet Carrier SEN Biaoqiang
Ekraysian Ninth Fleet,
International Waters
16:40 Local Time

So far, so good. The old phrase gave Admiral Yu some satisfaction, as he strolled quite briskly along the wide walkway that ran universally along thed sides of the ship, hugging the flight deck which was set a few metres above it. The flight deck was again, quiet, relatively speaking. So far, the Ekraysian 9th Fleet had lost 34 men to the attack of Arch Islander submarines, although thankfully the fleets' 230mm rocket mortars - thought by many to be an old piece of equipment for the anti-submarine role, but still very useful against anything from torpedoes to divers - in addition to the massive combined countermeasures barrage that the fleet was capable of putting out, had put paid to that attack. A torpedo each had struck the Paloh-class destroyer, the Longpan, and a Leistungi-built Blitzschnell-class destroyer. Both, limping quite badly, but still afloat and able to defend themselves, had been left for the first fleet which was making good speed, and was now approximately 175 nautical miles behind. They would have air cover all the way.

He had been out here for a further five minutes, leaning against a convenient 25mm automatic cannon, when an adjutant ran out across the flight deck. This was his favourite spot, so the adjutant knew exactly where the admiral would be, and leaned over the flight deck railings to talk to him in Hokkien.

"Sir! Captain Zhao requests your presence inthe C2 centre as soon as it is...convenient"

"He was more succinct than that, wasn't he?"

"Yes, sir. Er...he wishes to show you some rather surprising developments, if you could"

Yu lifted himself from the steel walls of the gun position, that were painted a very slight shade of pink by the sun, and rearranged his holster - he'd managed to sit on it, which was quite uncomfortable - before striding broadly to an access ladder to take him up to the navy-blue-coloured flight deck, and then proceeding to follow the young Lieutenant to a door in the rear island, from where the shortest route to the ship's Command and Control Centre was. The Biaoqiang was a huge vessel, over 350 metres and 100,000 tonnes, so it took him three minutes to get to the command centre, what with all the people in the way. It was so much quicker once General Quarters had been sounded. Eventually, however, he carried all five-foot-ten of him through a reinforced bulkhead door, from where the much younger Captain Zhao was waiting for him.

"Yes, captain?"

"Sir, some rather interesting developments in Sharfghotten. Results of cruise missile strikes in, er...Gebirgfestung" - being Chinese, even though he spoke good English and other languages, German gave the captain some difficulty - "chemical weapons were a success, large death toll as of yet unconfirmed and base power appears to be down. Next, chemical strikes in Nordfestung appear from geostationary sattelite reports to have liquidised much of the garrison, the bodies of whom would need to be washed into a gutter rather than buried as such. Missile launches from Altressen artillery base, but what really caught my eye was this. See for yourself, this was about twenty minutes ago in Ebenenfestung - "

The mushroom cloud was unmistakeable. The towering column of fire and rings of an inferno ranged out from a point several kilometres into the air, and the base was incinerated into nothing, into a blazing ball of destruction into which nothing could live. Even though to the Ekraysians, nuclear weaponry was nothing new - large arrays of nuclear artillery were allocated at corps-level and up - the sight was still...unsettling, maybe?...for Admiral Yu.

"Yield, captain?"

"The blast is so huge, it's difficult to calculate, but we estimate sixty-five to ninety-five megatons TNT equivalent, approximate survival - no-one, at least not for a long way. Best guess, maybe 80 megatons yield?"

80 million tonnes of TNT equivalent. One tonne was devastating, that in itself was difficult to comprehend; a few thousand tons had obliterated Hiroshima. But a million, eighty of them, could rip a hole in a continent.

"Did anyone we know do it?"

"I don't think so. It was the centre of the Dephirian attack, but I don't think they did. It just doesn't fit, because from the pattern of the explosion I'd guess that the blast was underground in relation to the type of damage caused and height of the blast cloud. Normally, a nuke is detonated over the ground, or less likely at ground level for maximum destruction. Plus, in my own professional opinion, the Dephirians aren't stupid enough to start a nuclear war"

"Ebenenfestung - did they store nuclear warheads there?"

"Probably. I'd guess that's the likely cause"

"Well, that was to be the first target for our cruise missile attack. Thus, we can launch more missiles at our other targets. Now would be a good time to fire them, if you could do so"

One minute and twenty-seven seconds later

Captain Zhao removed the console command key from around his neck and inserted it into the console, turning it ninety degrees to the right along with that of the watch officer. Immediately, a light flashed at the top of the machine, with an audible warning that told the command and control room that MISSILES UNSAFED. It had taken under twenty seconds for target coordinates to be adjusted, bringing more missiles to bear on two targets; Arelfenn naval base, specifically its defences and air launch capability, and the Altressen plateau artillery base. Zhao entered the launch code which was carried in a safe, and then the watch officer armed and fired them. From the Ekraysian 9th and 1st fleets, both of which could fire the 2500km-range cruise missiles in their effective radius, at 16:51 local time, from the ships and subs of the seaborne examples of the Ekraysian and Gothic military prowess, sped a grand total of 550 cruise missiles, 225 to each target, at a speed of Mach 2.65. For every five, two were equipped with thermobaric warheads, one was equipped with a cluster munitions warhead, one contained a significantly smaller amount of high explosive because it contained a Cyanogen Chloride warhead, and one was equipped with an EMP warhead, which would go off just before its HE charge. Cyanogen Chloride had been chosen because it, firstly, could penetrate gas mask filters, and secondly because the only other chemical warhead carried by the fleet was VX. It was a weapon of mass destruction, and like nuclear weaponry, would be deployed en-masse only when the shit hit the fan.

Until then, however, a fiery rain of chemical, cluster, thermobaric - to set the close confines of the areas targeted on fire, and for the red glow - and electromagnetic-pulse-carrying hypersonic long-range cruise missiles were heading towards their targets. Another Gothic chess piece had entered the game.

by **Brewdomia** » Sun Apr 18, 2010 2:11 pm

6th Fleet.

Asset commander Shannon observed the reports fed to him by high command, hearing the great news of the neutralization of all three major military bases of Sharghotten. Sighing he pressed the com that connected him to the Grand Admiral. The screen first went blur into a static, but then formed into a picture of the Admiral who sat silently at his desk, with no traces of emotion. “Sir, we have made good progress, our forces are ready to begin amphibious landings.” The Grand Admiral twitched his head sideways and grunted “If so, Mr.Shannon, why haven’t they begun yet?” Shannon calmly replied “I was simply awaiting your orders sir. I find it best to be sure before starting an operation.” The Grand Admiral raised an eybrow “Sure of what?” “Sure that all procedures, checks, and all that stuff are in place, sir.” The Admiral sniffed around a bit giving the officers behind him some amusement “Well, yes, yes, that is good. I will sign the directive. He quickly terminated the connection, and went back to pacing mindlessly on the bridge.

As they finished the conversation, the massive air squadrons flying through the clouds began their assault. Several hundred long range AAM’s were fired toward the massive Sharghotten air group. Carrying thermo baric warheads, they were prepared to devour parts of the group like ravenous beasts. One by one, whining sounds could be heard from land, as they prepared for a destructive air battle…

Of course, there was more, courtesy of the Brewdomian sixth fleet. Tuning their AA cannons and heating up the VLS cells for another salvo, they fired again. The final AA missile salvo, carrying more thermo baric warheads clawed into the skies. Rocket fuel formed blooming hues of ash and pollution in beautiful designed patterns, a representation of the ongoing war with Sharghotten. AA flak begin rapidly firing at the Sharghotten air squadron, allowing no mercy. Moments for peace were not allowed as the deafening booms were heard all across.

As the battle raged thousands of feet above, amphibious landing vehicles began to enter landing stage. Large groups of Helo’s began their ascent into the sky and the push toward landing zones. Carrying several thousand soldiers in total, they prepared to fight to secure the remainder of Arelfnenn. The rotors chopped furiously into the wind, as the soldiers onboard observed the distant shore with no passion. Simply the goal was in mind. Before they made their landing into hell, fighters, drones and helicopter gunships closed in and threw their volley of AGM’s and gunfire toward ground defenses.

The drones that were fighting near Gebirgfestung were slowly picked off by enemy fighters, descending and crashing into the earth. Operators searched for solutions to handle the problem, and were able to find a consensus quickly . Remaining drones flew into the massive sulfur clouds that stood like a massive obelisk over Gebirgfestung. Inside the giant sulfur and ash clouds they released small electronic bombs that set of radiation spasms, hoping to catch the attention of the enemy radar and hoping the enemy fighters would crash and entangle themselves in the mess of the ash cloud.

The cruise missiles that were coming in, were subjected to massive poundings by electronic warfare, while the fleet hoped the remaining missiles would be taken care off by the Mian fleet that was close by. War was raging, but the Brewdomians had suffered minimal losses while the Sharghotten had lost a lot. Of course, in the course of war, much can change….

by **Groko** » Tue Apr 20, 2010 5:50 am

Group A,
300 Miles away from Sharfghotten

The UKG Vanquish sailed hurriedly towards its destination, the Sharf city of Hafenstadt. Because of the havoc reeked by the Gothic satellite attack a few moments earlier, the Grokoan Military network had suffered a major communications blackout. Although the communication satellites themselves were mostly ok, the Gothic attack had obliterated a few recon satellites, including the ones stationed above the Sharf coast. For the time being, the three mini-fleets were dependent on their own equipment to see the area around them. To make matters worse, the communications satellites were due to be offline for an hour or two as the repair systems began.

Admiral Nagal sat aboard the bridge of the supercarrier, gazing out through the forward window towards the Sharf homeland. Although land had yet to come into view, a distant shape had attracted his attention. He looked out now, trying to figure out the identity of the shape.

Look's somewhat like a plume... No, it kind of looks like a mushroom, he thought to himself, mushroom. Mushroom. Mushroom cloud.
Nah, it cannot be that. A mushroom cloud would mean a... Horrified, Nagal gasped.

"It's a nuclear explosion," he muttered under his breath.

But who launched the missile?

He snapped out of his daydream, realizing that the eyes of the crews were now on him.

"What are you staring at?" he snapped," We still have another three hundred miles to go! BACK TO WORK!!!"

Group B

The Fleet was silent, only the gentle hum of engines and roar of the waves as the twenty-four battle ready ships sailed over them. The entire Fleet was at General Quarters, and an alert squadron was sitting patiently on the deck of the carrier, waiting to be called into action. The Fleet's radar silently scanned the nearby area for threats, while the Fleet of sailors held their breath.

On the bridge of the Liekki, the carrier assigned to the group, Captain Sgasso stood on the bridge, scanning the far seas for any enemy ships. Although he knew full well that radar would detect the hostiles before his eyes could, it calmed his nerves in high risk situations like this.

He sighed slightly, then walked over to his chair. As he sat, the ship's Com rang.

He muttered a curse under his breath, damming whatever soul was preventing him from resting.

"Bridge, Captain speaking, "he said as he picked up the Com.

"Captain, this is the radar room. We have detected over six hundred inbound contacts. Small and fast, possible missiles."

"Put it up on the main screen, good work." Sgasso said as he hanged up the Com.

Despite his outwardly calm appearance, inside he was worried. He only two hours into the plan and something had already gone wrong. The "main screen" or a giant LCD screen that took up one side of the bridge, now showed the radar reading. The computer counted about six hundred and fifty missiles. ETA five minutes.

Sgasso cursed briefly, then his training took over.

"Launch every plane we have. Alert the Fleet to prepare for imminent missile strike, and find out where the hell they came from!!"

Five Minutes Later

As the missiles approached the Fleet, the alert squadron, composed of four F-35 fighters, flew up behind the missiles. With a series of air to air missiles and gun salvos, they attempted to destroy as many missiles as possible. Next, two Boeing EA-18G Growlers attempted to jam the missiles. Finally, the last line of defense let rip. All twenty-four fighting ships let loose with defensive CIWS and surface to air defensive missile fire. But try as they might, the Fleet was outnumbered. A total of sixty-four missiles made it through.

The missiles slammed into the Fleet, immediately claiming two Ticonderoga class Cruisers, three Arleigh Burke class Destroyers, and four De Zeven Provinciën class frigates. A few transports went down as well, killing thirty and leaving about a hundred surviving soldiers swimming for nearby ships. Eight missiles flew on, impacting the Hävitys Montana-Class Battleship and tearing a hole across the port side of the Liekki . The Hävitys defiantly managed to stay afloat, although two of her forward guns were reduced to scrap. The Liekki managed to stay float as well as damage control teams and systems sprang into action. However, the majestic carrier began to list to the port side, and fires below decks began to rage out of control.

Oddly enough, the offensive remains of Group B, about thirteen ships and subs, responded by each launching six anti-ship missiles of their own.

Unseen, a satellite hundreds of miles above watched helplessly, before its power source gave out and the satellite shut off forever.

Official Message

TO: All Nations Involved
FROM: The United Socialist States of Groko

The United Socialist States of Groko officially declares a state of hostilely between her and the Gothic nations. Our military has been mobilized and now stands at Defcon 1 our highest state of military readiness. We will not stand by and watch tyranny and injustice forced on innocents, nor ignore the unnesscary act of aggression against Groko and her allies.

Black Seeds Of Vengeance [The Great Crusade, Part 1]

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