Caught In The Web: Astyrian Conflict & Intrigue (IC/Closed)

by **Romberg** » Sat Dec 21, 2013 8:51 am

It was normally rather rare for the Kaiser to seek a private meeting with Graf Lenesov and Director Högel, since it would be posing to much of a security threat to the nation. And it would be even rarer that the three would be meeting again in less than two weeks. It was truly an extraordinary circumstance, catalysed in no small part by the rapidly worsening situation in Astyria proper. If that was not enough, this time, the unprecedented move was made to have the meeting in the (OOC: Secret) military bunker within the National Redoubt, the Reichtenberg highlands. These highlands, surrounded by mountains on all sides, were to serve as the military's last base should an invasion arise, and were hence some of the most fortified locations in the whole nation. The nation's main expeditionary force, the 10th Expeditionary Forces "the Legion", was stationed there too, and what this meant was that something serious was going on. If not, they would not have dreamed of having the meeting in the highlands. After all, there was much more comfort down in Holmgard or Königsberg, or even Sturmhåll for that matter. But Graf Lenesov had wanted to get to his men - the ones who may be deployed oversease, as fast as possible. And thus Reichtenberg it was. Arriving in separate armoured helicopters with the Kaiser bringing his Kaiser's Royal Guard and the other two protected by Bodyguards, plus Site Security around the compound, the meeting began.

Transcript of meeting:

(J: Kaiser Hans Jerkov II, L: Graf Johann Lenesov von Königsberg, H: Director of III, Frederick Högel)

J: I suppose that the both of you know what has happened down South.

H: Indeed. Ecosse's been invaded, the Plät's long ben overrun and there's a big mess going on down South.

J: That's right. So, gentlemen, what do you think about it?

H: Maybe it's time. Lenesov, how far's our power projection capabilities?

L: Enough for our nation. Remember our constitution. Going down South is out of the question, even though nations like Agrincourt may need it. We're too far away.

H: Don't we have allied bases?

J: We are not in any alliance per se as of yet. We observe the strict neutrality as dictated by our constitution.

L: And even if that's the case, it'd be too much of a hassle.

H: Alright, so the South's out. What about the North? Surely we can't see Ecosse just fall to those imperialists who call themselves Communist...

L: The constitution... (sighs)

H: Your Highness, do we have enough reason to justify assistance?

J: Well, I suppose we can. Ecosse's a major trade partner of us, and it's also a focus nation for many of our corporations. Plus, it's also home to a vibrant expatriate community.

H: Thank you. Then it may be alright. Lenesov, so is it possible?

L: We'll need a refuel over at the Arctic Islands, but thankfully we've expanded the military base there. It'd be fine, and it's only around 3000km to Ecosse from the Arctic Islands, just like from here to the islands. But is this enough?

H: We have intercepted their declaration of war.

(The Kaiser reads the declaration)

J: That's kind of unthinkable... Brothers against brothers. We as Nords cannot just stand here doing nothing... SERGEANT! Ask for a beer for each of us, please. This is hard to swallow.

L: So, we're going to help them?

J: Aye. Is the 10th ready?

L: Yes, your highness. And I'll go over the terrain to see how they can hold off this attack for now.

H: And by the way, it appears that other nations have already or are going to post responses to assistance. Among them, Neu Engollon, and GHawkins. And it appears that they've both sent us messages, your highness. The Engollonians asking for bases and coordination militarily, and GH asking for some kind of alliance.

J: Lenesov, is Eisengård ready?

L: That'd be the best way then. Open up the military base on the islands for them. It'd be close enough.

H: And us?

L: Hold our fire. We'll coordinate with Neu Engollon first. But I'll notify the 10th first to prepare them in case we have to be deployed.

J: Very well. So we'll open up the base to both of them and then join forces with Neu Engollon. Lenesov, I'm afraid you'll have to be back in service as our main liason. I'll get them to write it up and send to the Grand Council.

L: Yes, your highness. And the other thing - the alliance.

H: Is this a 'no' again? (somewhat in jest)

L: this time, we really need to ensure our neutrality. (stares back at Högel)

H: What about EATA?

L: No. They're too far for help. Besides, it'd be ironic for the Westernmost nation of Astyria to join the Eastern alliance. It's out of the question.

J: That makes sense. Alright. No alliance. We'll reject the offer from ATO then, although we'll still collaborate with them if we want. And so I assume the base would still be open to GH after what we've discussed?

L: That is correct.

H: Excellent. I'm glad that we've got this all settled, I'll get you updated on what my guys back at the III can find.

J: Alright, Högel. And Lenesov, get the IAFR ready. Also, next time, maybe schedule it somewhere else? Like Königsberg?

Classfied Document, the Imperial Realm of Romberg

Re: Cooperation
Encryption: Very High

Dear Marshal Jacques Fernand,

We at the Imperial Realm of Romberg are also very concerned with the recent happenings in Astyria proper. Unfortunately, we lack the power projection capabilities, and hence would not be able to be involved in the conflict in Agrincourt. However, and also taking into account the large volume of trade going on, we are determined to assist the government and people of Nouvel Ecosse in combating the invasion, and hence ensure the stability of the region. The Imperial Armed Forces have been notified of the decision, and the 10th Expeditionary Forces "The Legion" are being organized to send out a military task force in cooperation with your operation. In addition, we are proud to announce that the military base at Eisengård, the Rombergian Arctic Islands shall henceforth be open to your nation and any other allied and friendly nations looking to resupply on their way North to Nouvel Ecosse and combat the invaders. We shall also join your Joint Command structure, and assist in any way that we can.

I sincerely hope that the invaders would be beaten back to their own turf, where they belong, and that peace could be returned to Astyria as soon as possible.

Yours Sincerely,

Kaiser Hans Jerkov II

The Imperial Realm of Romberg

Classfied Document, the Imperial Realm of Romberg

Re: Invitation to Astyrian Treaty Organisation
Encryption: Very High

Dear President Galen Howard,

Like your nation, and undoubtably many others, we are also very concerned with the recent happenings in Astyria. Many years of peace have shattered into a web of lies, conflict and open hostility. In this time and age, it is indeed important for us to find as many allies as possible to maintain the integrity of the government and the nation. As such, we are interested and strongly applaud your initiative in setting up the Astyrian Treaty Organisation. However, and knowing that your organisation would include a military wing designed to protect the interests of its members, we are unable to join the organisation due to the policy of strict neutrality as dictated in the Constitution and pursued by the Imperial Realm of Romberg. As a result, we have no choice but to kindly decline your offer. On the other hand though, and taking into account of the situation, we believe that outside of full membership, there are still opportunities that the Imperial Realm of Romberg can collaborate with ATO on, and as such, even though we would not pursue membership, we are interested in cooperation in areas that the ATO has interests in should our nation also find common ground with the ATO. We hence hope to develop a healthy working relationship with ATO in the future.

And on account of this, with regards to the recent conflicts in Astyria, we are unfortunately unable to take action in the South, since their location exceeds our power projection capabilities. However, the Grand Council and the Kaiser has recently approved a move to prepare for a military deployment in Nouvel Ecosse by the 10th Expeditionary Forces "The Legion", with a task force being organized as this is being written. We hence would hope to cooperate with ATO members who are deploying military forces to Nouvel Ecosse to coordinate our actions, and work efficiently to liberate the nation from imperialist aggression. In addition, the military base at Eisengård, the Rombergian Arctic Islands are hereafter open to all ATO and allied nations for resupply should they require it in their journey towards Nouvel Ecosse. We shall hence contribute our part to ensure the stability and prosperity of the region for many years to come, and hope to work with you to fight back the invasion.

Yours Sincerely,

Kaiser Hans Jerkov II

The Imperial Realm of Romberg

Classfied Document, the Imperial Realm of Romberg

Re: Military Assistance
To: Government of Nouvel Ecosse
Encryption: Very High

Dear Minister Thomas Dietrich & General Stefan Trovoskiy,

We feel extremely sorry that in this time of day, the once-peaceful region of Astyria has to resort to war, and of your nation nonetheless. To this, and in expression of our desire for peace, the government of the Imperial Realm of Romberg hence strongly condemns this reckless act of imperialism by the Yellow Star Republic. The Kaiser hence sends his condolences. But such unwarranted action shall not go unnoticed. Your cry from help has been heard from all corners of the world. As fellow nordic-slavic brothers, we have an obligation to defend against challenges on our people, and the entire Rombergian population shall stand in solidarity with your nation.

We shall hence like to offer our hand in military assistance to your nation in combating the invader threat. It will mainly consist of veteran and experienced soldiers of the 10th Expeditionary Forces "The Legion", a group of well-armed and trained professionals who will serve their duties with utmost loyalty, both to the Kaiser and the nation of Romberg, as well as whoever they are currently fighting for - your government in this case. To add on to the good news, our soldiers are specially trained in mountain and arctic warfare, and are known to be one of the most efficient winter warfare specialists, hence are well-suited to your terrain. Should our offer be accepted, you will see units of the IAFR arrive in your nation to do all they can to assist in your war effort in repelling the invasion. We shall hence also cooperate with any friendly and allied units to further make the military operation an effective one.

Last but not least, as a former Field Marshal of the Imperial Armed Forces of Romberg, I have done a simple survey of your nation's geography, and have found it to be extremely favourable to your cause. At the current moment, I have the following strategy: You may have to consider abandoning the South, and even the capital city of Edinburgh. Perhaps it would be prime time to sent the government North to Hannibal temporarily. But your Keitel mountain range is a superior natural barrier capable of withstanding a direct mountain assault. I hence would advise you to begin a scorched earth retreat towards the mountains, where your units could hold out indefinitely and protect the North for friendly forces to arrive and intervene. Your elite units could then remain in the South to continue harassing the invaders and train the populace for self-defense and guerilla warfare. According to my experience, this course of action may be one that would be successful, and cause the most attrition to the enemy to own losses.

Either way, I sincerely wish you all the best in the war, and rest be assured that your friends in the far Northwest have heard you, and help is on the way.

Yours Sincerely,

Graf Johann Lenesov von Königsberg

Former Field Marshal of the Imperial Armed Forces of Romberg,

Senior Advisor to

Kaiser Hans Jerkov II

The Imperial Realm of Romberg

by **Kamalbia** » Mon Dec 23, 2013 6:12 am

Bafwangmbiri,
ALA stronghold,
Western-Kamalbia

The wind had been blowing for days now, covering the entire city with sand blown up from the desert that surrounded it on all sides. Though even with the sand blowing throughout, the people continued about their normal business, as far as this was possible.

Bafwangmbiri had been taken over in the early days of the ALA and they had a very strong presence there, even up to the point they openly patrolled the streets like the police. Technicals and gun trucks with ALA fighters on them was a common everyday sight in the streets. So were the executions of people who had openly defied the ALA rule, enforced by the the militia of warlord Abdel Bin-Addad. Abdel Bin-Addad was a fierce supporter of the ALA and even commanded an element of them. He was a hard line Muslim that enforced the law upon the population he controlled. Physical punishments were executed daily by his forces.

Under his command, the entire western desert region, whose population was already heavily impoverished, was made hell on Earth. There was little economic development and most of it coming from the large black market in central Bafwangmbiri, which sold death in the form of AKs, RPGs, grenades, bombs.

The ALA command centre wasn't far from the arms market. It was a steady source of income for the ALA and thus they regulated heavily who sold what weapons and ammo, heavily manipulating supply and demand. An organization bend on destroying capitalism, profiting from the very concept. They didn't care how, but as long as capitalism fell, they were more than willing to participate in it. The saying "Beware that, when fighting monsters, you yourself do not become a monster" heavily applies here.

The ALA command centre was more advanced than one would expect from such an organization. The benefits of their capitalist income. Several computers lined the walls of the underground tunnels, which were a maze of rooms. Living quarters, weapon stashes, storage, everything was included. They had constructed an entire underground city to accommodate some of their highest commanders and conceal their activity.

It was midday when a rather small, Kamalbian man exited the complex to the surface. The entrance had been concealed in the back of an hotel and was guarded by two ALA fighters. The man briefly spoke to them, apparently saying something funny because both guards laughed. The man left the hotel after that, turning into the street.

The man however seemed nervous as he walked down the streets, little more than dirt roads, through the pedestrian crowd. He didn't make eye contact with anyone, walking the ten kilometres from the centre to his small house, on the edge of the slums. It would have been a five kilometre walk. But he was looking over his shoulder the entire time, seeing if he was being followed. He tried to avoid all ALA patrols and occasionally turned into a street to avoid a stopped technical.

When he reached the edge of the neighbourhood, he sped up a bit, until finally breaking into a full run. He couldn't afford to lose time, not now. The information he had had to get out, now. He wasn't sure he wasn't being followed. But he had to take the chance. He had already lost too much time taking detours to avoid ALA fighters.

He reached his home and immediately entered. His wife was surprised.
"I thought you wouldn't be home until this evening" she said, but he motioned her to be quiet. Without saying a word, he entered the bedroom and shut the door on his wife. He reached for the small, decaying bedside table, pulling open the drawer and taking out the Makarov PM, quickly but quietly loading it. As soon as he did, he looked at the bedroom door, as if expecting someone to burst in. However, nothing.

Ten seconds after loading the Makarov, he reached under the bed, pulling out a rather large leather suitcase, also decaying heavily as the leather was damaged everywhere and peeling off at some places.

He reached for the handles and flicked them open, after putting in the correct rolling code. He sat on his knees next to the bed as he opened the lid.

The interior of the suitcase was nothing like the outside. The inside of the lid was cushioned with protective foam, the bottom was a large computer. As soon as the man opened it, a screen slid up from inside the device, a keyboard moving up from inside the suitcase as two slides moved to either side, allowing it upwards. It looked like something directly from a James Bond movie. But it was real.

The screen however remained dark. The man reached for the horn of the phone that was also inside the suitcase, connected to the computer, pressing the small button it revealed when he picked it up. The screen flickered once and the phone made a continuous beep as the man listened to it. The man raised his arm to look at his watch. Eight seconds. Nine seconds. Ten seconds.

The beep stopped and a low "click" sounded. Nothing more. The man counted down another five seconds. At the exact five seconds, he spoke.
"Requesting permission to send data" he spoke into the phone.
"Authenticate" a voice on the other side simply said, before another click was heard and the line went dead.

The man put the phone back onto the holder. He reached to the right of the keyboard, opening a small slide. Under it was a red coloured plate with a fingerprint icon on it. The man pressed his right thumb on the plate and picked up the phone again. The fingerprint scanner glowed as the man counted down the next five seconds. Immediately after that, the screen flashed to life, displaying a white screen with a simple screen on it, asking for a username and password.

The man quickly input his data and the screen flashed black again. He was still under the 15 second marker. He put the phone to his ear again and counted down the remaining seconds. Exactly 15 seconds after he put his thumb on the scanner, the beep disappeared again with another click. The voice returned.
"Send data", the voice said, before the phone was once again hung up.

The man reached for the USB stick he had taken with him from the ALA command centre. He quickly input it into the USB slot. The screen jumped to life once again as the man was now able to use it as a regular computer.

Five minutes later, the entire data package had been transmitted to the satellite in orbit. The man quickly terminated the connection and shut the entire suitcase down again. Only then he took a deep breath as he put it under his bed again. He did it. He made it.

Then, suddenly, there were loud knocks on the front door and his heart sank again. This would be it. He was done for. He reached for the Makarov, as the door was banged on again. He heard his wife move to the door.

The man took a deep breath. He had a choice now. Both would eventually result in death, almost certainly. He heard his wife open the door and shriek as loud footsteps sounded as several men entered the house. The man knew that the next door would be the bedroom door. He made a decision. He raised the Makarov to his temple until he felt the cold steel of the barrel against his skin. He heard the men were tearing up the place, searching. The footsteps reached the bedroom door.

The two ALA fighters heard the muffled shot, as they only then kicked in the door. They found the man slumped against the bed, in his hand still his Makarov pistol, smoke coming from the barrel as a small stream of blood flowed down his face, originating from his temple. He had given his own life, in his attempt to safe that of many more.

by **Dungeyland** » Mon Dec 23, 2013 8:28 am

The Dangish Empire's armed forces were making great progress through the barren landscape of Terra Azure, with little to no resistance. Led by Field Marshall Henry Starkey, the three divisions was due to meet the forces of the Blackhelm Confederacy near the Azuran capital, Port Blacksand. The operation, codenamed Bells, was going smoothly. The Royal Air Force was conducting reconnaissance and the intelligence situation was improving. The Empire had just one agent operating in Terra Azure, the other two being discovered. Luckily, this agent was right at the top of Terra Azure's government.

The Royal Navy was reportedly conducting a blockade of Terra Azure to great effect, aided by the Blackhelm Confederacy. The RAF had established a no-fly zone over Terra Azure. Ground troops were making great progress with little resistance. It seemed as if the war would be over quickly.

A Resolution of the Lords, the Commons and the Crown in Parliament assembled, for the establishment of a Union of States and Interests in Astyria, for the relief of the Dangish and Astyrian peoples.
Ellen I Regina

By the Authority of the Lords, the Commons and the Crown in Parliament assembled, it is requested in the name of Her Majesty for the unity of interests and the unity of states in Astyria. The wishes of the Crown are such that the nations of Astyria shall abandon their misgivings and unite. This Resolution humbly invites the sovereign states of Astyria, and the Peoples therein, to conduct the work required to fulfil the desires of the Astyrian people. A unanimous vote of the Commons, of the representatives of the half a billion peoples of the Dangish Empire, hath requested this of the nations of Astyria.

Her Majesty's Government, in accordance with the wishes of the Lords, the Commons and the Crown in Parliament assembled, shall undertake the measures it deems necessary to fulfil this resolution. The relevant Secretary of State, Mr. Osbourne, has published the guidelines Her Majesty's Government shall enforce and follow in accordance with the wishes of the Imperial Parliament. The Osbourne Doctrine states:

This region, threatened by discord from revolutionary elements, is of great importance to the Crown. Its economies, from the industrial hubs of the Dangish Empire to the exporting cities of ViZion, provides at least a third of global economic growth. The actions of the Yellow Star Republic, the Holy Republic of Terra Azure and of Andamonia are troubling and pose a grave threat to the free movement of Astyrian people and Astyrian wealth. The cessation of this free movement presents an even graver threat: the threat of the economic collapse of the Astyrian giants.

Her Majesty's Government does not wish to interfere where it cannot do good. This is a situation which demands a steady hand, careful thoughts and strong action. It is a situation that shall not be solved overnight. Indeed, all the wealth and all the grandeur of the Imperial Crown cannot meet this threat alone. This threat demands the participation of all those with an interest in the continued economic growth of Astyria and the world, and therefore all those with an interest in global peace and stability.

To meet this challenge will require the abandonment of long-held misgivings over other Astyrian states. International willpower, diplomatic wisdom and military force will be required. The best in all of us must be called to preserve the security of Astyria and to preserve the continued success of the Astyrian people.

In brief, the position of Her Majesty's Government is clear: Any attempt by an outside force to gain political, social or economic control of any state in Astyria, without the uncoerced agreement of said state's peoples, shall be regarded as an assault on the vital interests of the Dangish Empire. As such, an assault will be repelled by any means necessary, including military force.

by **Terra Azure** » Mon Dec 23, 2013 4:17 pm

ooc: thanks for letting me know about the invasion!

Dungeyland military convoy
As the coloumn of tanks moved swiftly across the Azuran desert in the pre-dawn twilight, all seemed to be going well, until that is the lead tank struck an anti tank mine. The mine, triggered by the weight of the tank exploded with enough force to bring the tank to a sudden, violent stop with half of the front glassis plate blown open along with the front 4 wheels on the left hand side of the hull completely obliterated.

Due to the fact that this particular tank was of modern design, the crew inside the turret of the tank were relatively okay, protected in part by the armoured bulkhead that surrounds the turrent, the driver however was in worse condition for his left arm was nowhere to be found, torn away by shrapnel blasted off on the inside of the tank.

Quite how many more mines were on the ground is unknown as Terra Azure is still a keen user of land mines, with over 3 million landmines alongside its land borders with Kambalia and Dungeyland, and the Dungeyland military convoy has just stuck the first one, around 50 kilometers inside Terra Azure. This location means that they could be laid without Dungeyland Military getting wind of what was being done, and it also keeps most Azurans away from the border, preventing them from attempting to leave, except by approved crossing areas.

Terra Azure coast
An observer aboard one of the Blackhelm Confederacy warships going about his duty of enforcing a military blockade, through the military issue binoculars caught glimpse of something that was certainly not within the realms of the Geneva convention and the World Assembly convention for human rights, 3 rows deep, large crosses set into the sand, about 100m back from the high tide line, nailed to each cross a person, the youngest possibly low to middle teens, the eldest somewhere in their 40s, some are dead, some seem at least to have their eyes open however being roped and nailed by their hands and feet means that they may not be doing much in the near time frame, nails through the hands tend to do that. at closer inspection they seem to be wearing very little, presumably to allow for maximum sun exposure to hasten the onset of sun stroke and ultimately...

...DEATH!.

by **Nu Sparta** » Mon Dec 23, 2013 8:13 pm

TOULOUX
TERRE DES GAULES
MIDNIGHT

A small cargo ship left the Gaulic port under the cover of darkness, only entering that very morning. It flew the flag of the Imperial Spartanian Empire, but used the authentication codes of an old ship registered to the Republic of Pangus. When questioned the captain noted that the Empire hadn't changed the codes of the old Pangegian ships they owned since the colonizing, and that the Touloux database had most likely simply yet to be updated. This was actually a truth. Let in under the guise of refueling the ship did obtain cargo, though it wasn't the usual commodities. This cargo was that of the human standing, refugees as they were designated by the Gualic peoples. Mostly Pangegian and Prudenesian these people boarded the cargo ship as crew, their next destination Trellin.

TROPHY PORTS
TRELLIN
AFTERNOON

The cargo ship flying Imperial colors docked in a one of the famous Trophy ports in the large nation of Trellin. Once again questioned about the codes, it was much easier to convince them here as the ship was actually listed and scheduled to pick up cargo. A large shipment of Trellin's most popular and famous export, bananas. Picking up the shipment the cargo ship quickly departed, it next destination far across the high seas of Astyria. The ship would travel around through the strait between Gaveria and Kelonna and traveling close along the southern tip of mainland. Eventually nearing Agrincourt in the east it would bypass the desert nation in favor of a much less controlled destination. Making a wide loop around the Gualic province the ship would find it's destination in sight.

RANDOM KAMALBIAN PORT
LATE AFTERNOON

There was no need for codes here. Nor flags for that matter as the Imperial flag was taken down as the ship made its way into the crumbling ports. Awaiting them was a group of men, all armed and under command of the local warlord no doubt; probable ALA. They were accompanied by crates of weapons and other special explosive presents. A few crewmen left the boat and meet the men on the docks. Few words were exchanged, instead money took the place of speech. The ordinance was taken on board and exchanged crates, replacing the bananas in their properly labeled crates. With everything in place the cargo ship made way to its final destination.

VER'LAT, PANGUS
IMPERIAL SPARTANIAN EMPIRE
SAMETIME AS THE AQUITAYNE FLEET'S PASSTHROUGH

With the Imperial flag once again flying high the ship full of its ill-gotten arms and vast crew members pulled into the Ver'lat port. The Heralds on board couldn't of been granted better fates for the scheming. With the Aquitayne fleet taking up the most attention at the moment along with most of the patrol troops gone from the city, instead stationed at defensive points, due to the high alert meant for the Blackhelm Confederacy they now had much less to worry about as they unpacked their weapons and bombs labeled as Trellin bananas. These crates quickly left the port heading out to varied locations around the colony.

Emergency Boardcast Report from Corvus est scriptor Sedes

"Just this afternoon Lord Ut'ley Pal'land has confirmed rumors that contact through both civilian and military means has been lost with the Orsetta Estate and that explosions have taken place at the Tet'liec National Airport. At the same time it still seems the perpetrators of these events are still unknown. While it is speculated to be a Confederacy invasion the idea has been denied by both the High General and his son, Hawk Yit'ley Pal'land. Units of the First Infantry Regiment have been put on high alert and its rumored that a curfew will be set before the end o--"

The announcers words are cut off by a loud bang and the camera falling over from a violent shaking. Pieces of the ceiling can been seen hitting the ground before static takes over quickly followed by a black screen. The sound of a war horn can be heard but a few minutes later which is then followed by a voice. "Let the ground quake at the horns of the Heralds!" Techno/Dubstep music takes over. This is the same on every Spartanian broadcasted channel. All flows of information from the Empire, be it cellular or Ethernet networks, radio or television waves, go dark. Quickly following this power grids go down and the lights of the Empire seen from space fade to black.

by **Blackhelm Confederacy** » Tue Dec 24, 2013 1:06 pm

Off the Coast of Port Blacksand
Terra Azure

The BCNS Grinder neared the coast of Terra Azure as a young sailor scanned the beach with his binoculars. Row after row of crosses greeted his gaze. A memorial perhaps, the young man thought as his vision swept over the beach. Suddenly, however, a movement caught his eye and pulled his watch back to one particular cross. Again he saw a bit of movement, and called over a nearby crewman to verify, who took the binoculars and went to look for himself. He grumbled a bit as he seized the binoculars, but that grumbling halted abruptly as he too set his sights on the movement and the color began to leave his face. Slowly, he lowered the binoculars from his face before turning to the other sailor. "Get the captain"

Word was quickly relayed to Captain Antonius Goldsmith of what had been seen on the coast. He did not hesitate a moment to organize his response, and immediately ordered all available medical personnel on board his destroyer to report to the deck and await further orders while he contacted the admiral i charge of the operation. He dialed through, and aboard his flagship Admiral Thatcher received the call.

"Admiral, this is Captain Goldsmith from the Grinder, it appears we have an issue on the coast" he began.

"Go on, captain" the admiral replied.

"Sir, it appears that people are.....well, sir people have been crucified along the shoreline. I am requesting permission to dispatch a medical team to render assistance to any survivors"

"Permission denied captain, we can not risk any additional personnel than we already are, and landing parties will be there soon"

"Sir, with all due respect, by the time those landing parties arrive, these people will likely be dead"

"I understand your problem captain, but we do not yet know the intentions of the Azurans towards us. I am not about to let you send up a helicopter only to have it shot down."

"But sir - "

"You will maintain your cruise and continue maintaining a watch for potential missile launches. You will not, I repeat, will NOT, deploy a team to shore. Is that clear captain"

"These people wi-"

"Is that CLEAR, Captain"

"Yes sir"

And with that, the admiral disconnected, leaving the men aboard the Grinder to merely watch with broken hearts as people suffered and died just out of reach.

Meanwhile, however, the eleven hundred men of the Confederate intervention were clamoring down ropes and into landing ships. Dozens of guns scanned the beach as satellite footage scanned the area and pinpointed and possible SAM or anti-shipping positions and relayed them to the fleet, which then punched their coordinates into their targeting computers. If there was any hostile movements from the shore, these positions would be hit immediately, both by artillery and missile fire.

While this was taking place, a pair of Um al Maradim class missile boats began to enter the estuary Port Blacksand sat on. The Azalea and Primrose entered the area next to each other, Azalea only slightly ahead of the Primrose as they began to play their message. "Citizens of Port Blacksand! The people of the Blackhelm Confederacy are with you!" would be repeated over and over as they moved up the estuary. Each ship cautiously had their guns trained on the coast, Azalea on one bank, Primrose on the other. These ships had a powerful assortment for such little boats, a 40mm main gun at the bow, a 20mm at the stern, and a pair of SS-77 machine guns, not to mention the missiles they packed. They were, however, under strict orders not to release their missiles under any circumstances while within the city.

And so it went, the navy scanned the coast as it sent its two vessels into the Azuran capital and men piled into their landing vessels. Admiral Thatcher, meanwhile, sat nervously in his bridge, ever anxious for a stray missile or some other catastrophe to erupt from the shoreline and wreak havoc amongst his men. Tensions were high throughout the fleet, as the men looked on at the cross strewn shore. Only time would tell, however, of the Azuran response, but all had hoped deep down that it would be a mild one.

by **Dungeyland** » Thu Dec 26, 2013 9:49 am

FOR NEU ENGOLLON
MOST SECRET

by **Blackhelm Confederacy** » Sat Dec 28, 2013 1:04 am

Near Platteisen Adler

As the Confederate air group began their turn to enter into Ecossian territory,the first stage of the attack against the Adlerites would begin. The Aquila overflight had provided them with a good idea of where some of the most significant concentrations of troops would be located, and these would be the targets of this first Confederate intervention. Their munitions, however, would not be your standard bullet or bomb. Instead, they would use simple radio frequencies to let the people on the ground know that they were in for trouble. Radio transmissions were now being broadcast into the occupied zone, meant to target and unprotected radios the Yellosians may have been listening to for entertainment, letting them all know that the area was now a Confederate administered no fly zone.

A bit later
Matveyez Barracks,
Nouvel Ecosse

The air group was now beginning to make landfall and unload as a few Sukhois remained in the sky, circling overhead to ensure that everything below went smoothly. The location of this new base was far enough away from the front that there shouldn't be any trouble, or any pesky refugees to crowd the living quarters, but not far enough to put their planes out of range. Tribunus Tarquinnius Silvershield, and his praefect, Praefectus Marius Blackbush, immediately set out organizing and meeting with the local Ecossian commanders. After initial formalities were gotten through, the next question: Where were the Engollians and the Gauls set to arrive? Once they had this information, they hopped the first helicopter to Haverville to meet the rival, yet still friendly, ATO forces.

Near Port Blacksand

A massive BOOM rocked the fleet as officers and sailors began rushing to the decks of their ships to inspect the damage and investigate the source of the sound. Admiral Thatcher lloked out and saw a destroyer, the BCNS Enthralling, beginning to list as reports began to pour into the bridge. Initial reports of a torpedo or missile attack were quickly brushed away as the admiral realized the fatal flaw he had made. In his haste to get his men to shore, he had neglected to adequately sweep the area for naval mines, and now men aboard the Enthralling we paying with their lives. Another vessel had quickly come up alongside the injured vessel to assist her, and it soon became quite clear that it was not a kill shot against the ship, but was certainly one that would need attention soon. Seven sailors had been killed in the attack, and several more were being transferred to a helicopter to be medevaced to the much more capable medical stations aboard the aircraft carrier.

And just like that, the landing had delayed. Men still stood in their transport ships, but it became clear that they would not be going anywhere any time soon as every ship in the fleet began tossing over Protector class USV's to begin mine clearing operations in the waters ahead of them. On top of this, a set of drones were launched from Thatcher's flagship to pass over the beach. There they would run a series of kilometer long mine clearing line charges in stripes along the beach to hopefully detonate whatever surprises the Azurans might have for them there. On top of these, another drone was sent up to fly over the area just beyond the beach to look for any potential threats lurking there. The admiral was not about to take another chance, and now decided to attempt to contact the Azuran government representatives in Port Blacksand directly, sending out an open radio call into the city demanding to know the situation and requesting that the Port Blacksand government present itself on shore to disarm.

And now, all they could do was wait here in these waters off the Azuran coast. Wait for the Azuran government to respond, wait for the mines to be cleared, and wait until they could finally do their job, all the while being forced to look on as hundred suffered ever so brutally on crosses just beyond their reach.

by **Aquitayne** » Sun Dec 29, 2013 12:22 pm

Off the coast of Cape Town
North Symphonian Sea
Carrier Group Luke

Sailors were standing proudly on the bow, stern, aft and starboard sides of the HMS Orion as it cut through the waves of the Cape Town Bay. It was the finale on a show of force to the Imperial Spartanian Empire, to undoubtedly let them know that Aquitayne, unequivocally, would not stand for any type of bullying nor threats made against His Majesty's people, commerce, or freedom of travel. It was even more important to do this to ensure the safety of citizens living abroad, as the Spartanian government had threatened to place all Aquitaynian nationals living in the country under the, 'Threat of Espionage'; undoubtedly which would lead to their detention.

The wind was calm and coming in from an easterly guide, blowing some sailor's handkerchiefs from their trousers. Many Cape Town nationals, newly Aquitaynian citizens, waved and cheered on the men and women of the flagship as they made their presence known to their fellow citizens. Fears in the colony had been growing over the past week or so, since Spartanian threats had been published. The Royal Office of Travel had issued a Travel Advisory to the Feri Insula as well as to merchant ships traveling the Mican Straight and throughout the Mare Ferum. While it was known in the inner naval circles that the Spartanians had almost no naval prowess to exert this demand, it was still taken seriously and actions were taken to ensure it could not be enforced to the full effect they desired.

Not even the crew of the HMS Orion knew about the close call that had occurred 45,000 feet above their heads in the skies of the Mican Straight, but it didn't matter; nor did it detract at all from the celebration that was taking place on shore. Balloons were being lifted into the sky as a F-29 Super Viper flew over the crowd at supersonic speeds, undoubtedly leaving more than a few babies crying. It was a celebratory occasion, as it seemed to Cape Town that security had arrived at long last - but their woes were far from over. No, in the Command and Control center aboard the aircraft carrier, floods of information were being pumped through its systems and personnel were scrambling to deal with it all. Captain Briggs was unnerved by the news that they were receiving, and to him and those still doing their jobs, the issues of the Feri Insula had not even begun.

It was about an hour later, after the aircraft carrier had finished its procession around Cape Town and returned to the North Symphonian Sea, that Captain Briggs was briefed on what the next phase of the tour of duty would entail. Sitting in the Command and Control center, he was patched through to Naval Command via video teleconference. Briggs began with opening pleasantries, "Good afternoon, Admiral."

"Let's just cut right to it, shall we, Captain?" Admiral Sartre looked grim and worn from whatever he was dealing with back in Telora, and obviously it wasn't anything good by the looks of the bags creeping in under his eyes.

"Of course, Sir. Please begin."

"Well, Captain, it seems that our show of force couldn't come at a better, or worse - depending on how you want to look at it - time. Satellite images have changed dramatically in the past 20 hours. Last night, during your encounter with Spartanian forces, nothing of note was awry in Pangus or the ISE in general. Now, not 18 hours later, the same satellite imagery of the same areas have been disheartening. There are reports of multiple bombings, mass shootings, and other heinous acts of terror. Another item of note, Captain, and probably the most important piece of information we have so far, is that all outgoing communications in every aspect have ceased from the ISE."

Captain Briggs shuffled in his seat. This wasn't good news nor was it the type of news that someone wanted to be hearing about from a higher echelon of command. He knew where this briefing was going, and he didn't like it. It put his men, women and equipment at risk but nevertheless he'd do it, if nothing else but to solve the great mystery. "Understood, Sir. My orders?"

"You are to reverse course back into the Mican Straight and scope out what exactly has occurred in the ISE. Call on Symphonian resources if you deem it necessary, but we want to keep this under wraps for as long as possible. It's not exactly every day that an entire nation simply disappears from the grid. Whoever, or whatever has happened, Captain, it is of the utmost importance."

"Understood, Sir. We'll see what's going on." The teleconference ended, and the screen went to black. Briggs stood from his seat and contemplated his options. The first step, of course, was to get a foothold on what exactly was going on even before the fleet arrived in a range for landing operations, which would most likely end up being somewhat of a Phase 2, depending on what the reconnaissance found. "Skipper, I want two Growlers in the air. I want them to sweep for any radio signals coming from the air defense network and if nothing comes up, they're going in for pictures."

"You got it, Cap."

Ten minutes later, both Growlers were airborne and on their way to ISE airspace.

* * *

"Captain, are we supposed to be going radio dark for this op?"

"Given the fact that it's Top Secret, I'm inclined to say yes."

"Rog."

After their launch off of the deck of the Orion, the two EA-18G Growlers, and their pilots - Captain Jason Albridge (flight lead), and Junior Lieutenant Nelson Barkley - sped towards the ISE air defense zone at around Mach 0.9. The whole way their sensors were scanning for enemy anti-air radar, but it picked up very little of anything. The Growlers had, over the last hour, cut the distance from the Orion to Pangus vastly, and were now about 100 kilometers away from what supposedly was their enemy's territory. Captain Albridge was nervous, however, knowing that something was wrong - there had been no ISE escorts coming to say hello.

Nevertheless, the aircraft pushed onward. It became clear to Albridge that the air defense network had been destroyed when they weren't getting any locking signals as they approached the coast. He could even see some smoke billows rising in the distance. Here, he broke radio silence and hailed the Orion. "Overlord, Overlord, this is Hawkeye, do you copy, over?"

"Hawkeye this is Overlord, send traffic."

"Overlord, we have breached enemy airspace with no sign of interference, how copy?"

"Overlord copies all. Proceed with the modelling."

"Roger Overlord, Hawkeye out." Albridge engaged the camera attached to the fuselage which was capable of taking high-definition pictures from 17,500 feet. Here, the party would split into two groups and take as many images as they possibly could before something went wrong. "Hawkeye 2-1, brake left heading zero-one-seven-four, engage model."

"Roger Hawkeye, brake left heading zero-one-seven-four, engage model."

Albridge saw Barkley brake and fall off of his left shoulder, and disappear into the low cloud coverage as he descended to take his photographs. Albridge did the same, aiming for airfields and metropolitan areas to get a glimpse of what was really going on. He couldn't see much, going over Mach 1, but he could tell by the glimpse of things that something had gone terribly, terribly wrong.

* * *

"Our reconnaissance mission was a success, but conditions on the island are far worse than we feared. The reconnaissance mission picked up some disturbing information. The first set of images show the burning of a suburban area, while in this photo, we see the sites of at least two mass graves. Following this information, we also found evidence of a fortified area, which undoubtedly means we're dealing with terrorists, or other militant groups. Likewise, we've also detected a lot of troop movements within the city itself, which is extremely alarming if we are to do something about this."

"Do what, exactly," Prime Minister Zaeir chimed in, "how can we do something about this if we have no idea what is going on?"

"We have an idea, Prime Minister. Other intelligence reports show that there was a large shipment which entered Spartanian ports just before the attacks took place. Their logs trace them back from Terre de Gaules, to Trellin," flipping over a page he found the next one, "Kamalbia, and then finally Ver'Lat, Pangus."

"Are we to infer these nations are accomplices to these atrocities?"

"That would be foolish, Mr.Zaeir. The ship's cargo logs has it delivering Trellinese bananas, which is undoubtedly wrong since Pangasians don't eat bananas on a scale for even one shipment of that size to be profitable. They used the bananas as a guise to get the weapons into the country."

"Who is, 'they'?"

"We believe 'they' are the terrorist and militant group the Heralds, which have been operating in the country for quite some time now."

"Where is the Orion positioned?"

"The Carrier Group will be in range to begin regular sorties to Pangus in about two hours."

"Let me consult the King, but you keep this under wraps you understand me? The last thing we need is the press getting a hold of this..."

by **Aurora Confederacy** » Sun Dec 29, 2013 6:18 pm

120,000ft above Terra Azure

By now it was light, the Manta, still loitering above its intended search area was going about its job of watching the unfolding crisis below, the flash of the mine exploding caught the eye of the RSO in the rear cockpit

"hey Nads, looks like somethings rumbling down there" says Peter, "looks like there's just been a warship hit, bring us around one eighty"

Nadine, gently fed a motion into the stick, "okay" she said as she eased the stick slightly back towards her, causing the control fins on the rear of the aircraft to deflect slightly, and slowly the large hypersonic aircraft began to turn, as it did so vapour streamed off the upper wing surfaces of the aircraft though this because the pilots had no windows what so ever, relying entirely on cameras and sensors to fly this bird could not see it, after a circle of around 180 miles across, yes to avoid a gut wrenching turn, Nadine had made a wide sweep, however the Manta was by now looking directly at the Blackhelm fleet, right in the MIDDLE of a Terra Azuran minefield.

"Jesus titty fucking, they've been lucky, very lucky eh Nad?, oh hey up whats this, Terra Azure has turned its radar on" says Pete as his sensor detects the radar sweep, just as a Blackhelm drone made its way across the sky some 100,000 feet below them.

"pete, send that data back to base, let them see the missile batteries and the radar installations" says Nadine, who was now flying the Manta in a figure of eight pattern.

Missile battery one, Terra Azure
The radar sensors had picked up the slow drone aircraft and brought the incoming violator to the attention of the Terra Azuran radar operator, he looked at his commanding officer, gestured to the screen and pointed. "Capitaine, une cible nous approche, il y a un drone sur notre radar" he said. The commander looked at the screen and smiled wryly "Abattez-le." he said. At that point the young officer pressed the fire button, releasing a surface to air missile.

The missile powered up and streaked off the launcher on a one way trip, striking the unmanned Blackhelm Confederacy drone half way down the fuselage, as it did so, the Drone erupted into a fireball, crashing to earth moments later, whoever was watching that drone suddenly had their screens go blank.

At about the same time, the Infra Red sensors also picked up a target with one serious altitude advantage and some distance off the Terra Azuran coast, The Commanding officer of the missile station nodded and a second SAM was loosed off the rail, however as this missile streaked skywards, it had one problem, the Manta was flying too high, too fast, instead the missile, rather than hit its intended target simply ran out of fuel and fell back earthwards, exploding on impact with the water. Nadine, seeing the missile begin its path, grabbed the thrust levers and shoved them fully forwards in a bit of a panic reaction knowing full well that with full power the Manta can safely accelerate away from the threat.

As Nadine shoved the throttles forwards, Cryogenic Methane fuel flowed from the tanks into the combustion chamber of the engines, where it instantly exploded as it met the heat from the fuel that was already in there and the in rushing air and this explosion had only one place to go, straight out the back!, this had the desirable effect of accellerating the Black Manta forwards at an ever increasing velocity, pinning Nadine and Peter into their seats as the plane raced off to Mach 5.8 to an area a little safer, 600 miles out to sea, where the Manta could get some fuel, well out of the way of Terra Azuran missiles.

by **Empire of Symphonia** » Sun Dec 29, 2013 8:47 pm

Relum Imperial Palace
Symphony, Metropolis of Symphony
Metropolitan Symphonia

It was late night in the holiday season, and the Imperial Capital was preparing for the coming New Years celebration. Although Symphony was home to fifty million people, the streets of downtown and the Hangeng district were mainly quiet by now. Few cars were travelling through, and there were almost no people in St. Irene's Square, save for the odd security officer patrolling the perimeter of the palace grounds. The sky was slightly overcast, but the moonlight shone through once in a while through the dark clouds. To the late night walker, the scene was of some serenity and peace.

It was amidst this backdrop that an interesting message reach the Symphonian government, once again stirring its upper levels into anxiety. A message from the Symphonian embassy in Telora had hinted of an unfolding crisis in Feri Insula, specifically the Imperial Spartanian Empire. UK officials in the Ministry of Information who were cooperating with the Aquitaynian military also had discreetly mentioned of an attack, though the size and scale were unknown. New stations were also complaining of the sudden loss of communications with the channels they covered from the ISE. The information was received with some skepticism by senior officials, until listening stations in northern Hienkoku also were reporting an unusual lack of signals from the general direction of the ISE. The information was then messaged to Prime Minister Adaminghir Singh, who called for a video conference to deal with the matter.

"So are you sure that this information is correct?" asked the Defense Minister," The AFN is not going to be traveling to some warzone to investigate some terrorist attack, and then get caught up in whatever goddamn war there is over there."

"Yes, I am quite sure that this is true," replied Singh," The Aquitaynians are confused just as much. And from the looks of it, there may be an expedition."

Empress Seondeok sighed as she rubbed the sleep out of her tired eyes. It was nearly one in the morning, and she was still tired from the Christmas celebration. The nobility certainly knew how to celebrate, that much was true.

"Mr. Singh," she mumbled out," Please inform the Aquitaynians about our inquiry and ask if there is a threat against either the Province of the Cape or the AFN itself. There is a war breaking out in Astryia and none of us want for this terrorist attack to be the opening shots to its expansion so close to our territories."

"Yes, Your Majesty," the Indian man replied with is bowed," Is there anything that we need to sure of?"

Members of the Symphonian cabinet looked around and shrugged their shoulders. No one really wanted for an emergency to break out during the holidays. It was bad for public relations, and the Congress and the Senate would be spewing fire.

"Well then," the prime minister mumbled as the video screens slowly died off," I will get it done then."

Seondeok nodded her head before flicking off her camera.

Before she slipped off into the sleep she so needed, the empress decided to take one more quick look at the situation. So far, the Aquitaynians were sending their merchants towards Symphonian, or more like Hienese, ports along the northern coastline and there was no doubt the Hienese were enjoying the new commerce. The situation in the Province of the Cape head stabilized in the wake of the unconfirmed collapse of the ISE, which only strengthened the idea that the entire nation had come under attack. In other regions, the war in Terra Azure was still raging, and it seemed like the Dangish were going to pull off a victory. No need to worry then.

And then all was black.

Private Message
Sender: The Asian Federation of Nations, Office of the Prime Minister Adaminghir Singh, On behalf of Her Imperial Majesty Empress Seondeok vi Kiramashi-Reich
Receiver: The Constitutional Monarchy of Aquitayne, Office of the Prime Minister James Zaeir
Topic: Spartanian Question
Encryption: High

Honorable Colleague,

The Asian Federation of Nations has received questionable evidence of an attack in the jurisdiction of the Imperial Spartanian Empire, in which satellite imagery and intelligence officials point to a total collapse of the Spartanian government. Considering the close proximity of this attack on the Province of the Cape and the Caelestis Insulae, upper echelons of the AFN government are concerned as to the strength of this supposed attack and any possible threats on either Aquitaynian, Symphonian, or even UK properties. The Symphonian Cabinet is concerned that this may be an attack to draw the United Kingdom into the greater wars in western and northern Astyria.

The empress is deeply concerned about the latter possibility and the Cabinet is heavily considering intervening in the issue. However, as Aquitayne has assets in the immediate area, I would wish to inquire about the situation from the perspective of Telora before I inform West Genevira and Symphony of any possible steps the AFN should take.

Sincerely,
Adaminghir Singh,
Prime Minister of the Asian Federation of Nations

by **Blackhelm Confederacy** » Tue Dec 31, 2013 1:54 pm

Port Blacksand

The moment the missile was launched towards the drone, the BCNS Grinder, on missile watch, reacted. She had been cruising this area for just this very purpose, her crews all waiting anxiously for the moment to prove themselves. That moment was here, and once the Azuran SAM left its launcher, the men aboard the Grinder tracked it to its position and fired a salvo from the four 130mm guns on her deck at the offender. This, it was hoped, should be enough to at least silence that battery. Admiral Thatcher watched as the firework display began, and could not help but break a smile smile of satisfaction after his drone had been destroyed in the air. This, he knew, would give him all the reason he needed to begin offensive operations and this was something that he could not wait to get started.

Meanwhile, a radio message was once more transmitted into Azuran territory, warning the men on shore to hold their fire, or else be destroyed. Any missile launched would immediately be handled in a matter similar to the closing of that SAM site, and the Confederates wanted to make sure that the Azurans knew that. As this happened, the other drones began running their kilometer long mine clearing lines along the beach, stretching them along the sand and then detonating them, hopefully eliminating whatever surprises were lying in wait for the men of the intervention group. Overhead, satellite sweeps were now scanning the shore for any further SAM sites or potential mustering points for the Azuran soldiers. The enemy would not be allowed the privilege of gathering in force, or of targeting another Confederate asset. At the first sign of a radar lock or gathering of enemy forces, the Confederate navy was now authorized to begin bombarding the coast.

The naval mine clearance, however, was a significantly longer process, but the Protector drones were doing their best to clear straight paths to the coast. If the enemy had any potential coastal artillery or anything of that nature, the Confederate troops would be getting funneled into an ideal killing field. To Thatcher's knowledge, however, this was not something that he needed to worry about. All that he was concerned about was getting his men to shore and capturing Port Blacksand as fast as possible.

by **Aurora Confederacy** » Tue Dec 31, 2013 4:25 pm

by **Agrincourt** » Thu Jan 02, 2014 3:46 am

Interprovincial Motorway XIV
Southwest of Beaumont, Agrincourt

Interprovincial Motorway 14 was a wide road, with six lanes of road; three on the left, and three on the right. It stretched from the city of Beaumont, the capital of The Royal Duchy of Beaumont, down to the border, where it split into smaller roads that led to multiple towns and villages. All along the way, it was surrounded by patches of sagebrush shrubs and bunchgrasses, which were surrounded by mountains of large stature. This part of Agrincourt, compared to the rest of it, was known for its hot, dry summers and cold winters; it reached up to forty five Celsius during the summer, whilst it could reach -30 Celsius during night-time. Today, it was just another hot and dry day.

This section of the motorway stretched for a few kilometres, and was built within a wide and shallow trench. As far as the eye could see, the motorway was packed with vehicles of all sorts; all of them on the left side of the road, and none on the right. An oddity; indeed, it was very unusual for three-lanes of roadway to be completely empty during the middle of the day. The vehicles were clearly in a hurry, yet they were unable to move for the line of traffic was simply too long. On each side of the road, there was an LAV III belonging to His Majesty's Armed Forces., along with multiple ARV107 Scimitars. The dismounted troops of the Royal Land Army, clad in desert camouflage battle dress, stood guard over the civilian traffic and urged them on. Up above, the main rotors of three armed Blackhawk helicopters cut through the air in a tight formation, following the motorway west-bound, where it led to Beaumont.

A sense of desperation could be felt within the civilians. They were mostly simple folk of the borders, accustomed to peaceful and stable life. Some were tourists, others were on holiday. Nevertheless, they were all forced to abandon what they were doing, and were directed to evacuate themselves from the border. The news of the Casegenian was a surprise; a shock. Not expected. Little preparations had been made, if any, since the Border War of 1970, when the Agrincourtians were once again taken by surprise. The King had been travelling in an aeroplane, when it was shot down by a Casegenian fighter jet which infiltrated through the border. It resulted in the death of the king, two of his sons, and the Queen, along with thirty other members of the nobility. This resulted in a three-year border war between the two countries, finally ending with a peace treaty. Since then, the Casegenians have been awfully silent; not a word was heard from them.

One of the ‘refugees’ was Lance Corporal William Jones, a reservist in the Engineer Regiment of the 12th Territorial Brigade. He was in his mid-twenties, and he had joined the Army Reserve five years prior. He sat behind the wheel of his Agrincourtian-manufactured black BMW, staring ahead at the traffic-filled road. His fingers gripped the surface of the steering wheel uneasily, and he let out a shaky sigh. He was at the border when he witnessed the Casegenian war machine advancing upon Beaumont. He had managed to sneak away, and only moments later, he received a mobilisation notice from the commander of his unit, Captain John Smith. He felt a sense of desperation creep upon him, as he realised that the Casegenian army was only a few kilometres

The distant rumbling ahead broke William out of his thoughts, and he raised his head, looking ahead. What he saw, didn’t surprise him one bit; the first fighting units of His Majesty’s Royal Armoured Corps. A column of multiple Challenger II MBTs was driving down the right lane of the six-lane highway, which was still empty save for the tanks. The column passed William’s car quickly, and two of the tanks broke away, standing guard on each side of the highway, where the line of traffic stopped. They weren’t far from William, a few metres at the most, as he was at the end of the line of traffic.

A low, distinct kind of howling came from the south – from the border. William knew this sound; he had heard it many times previously – mostly during large-scale exercises. He looked ahead, and saw a few of the civilians get out of their cars which were battered by Agrincourtian dust. He opened the door of his car, after pushing the handbrake down, and stepped out into the hot and dry air, turning behind. He looked up and saw something in the distance; a shimmering of some sort. He continued looking ahead until he realised that what he was looking at was a jet, and not a friendly one. It seemed to be a MiG, or a similar Russian-aircraft; this meant it had to be Casegenian. He turned back, and heard the panicking of the civilians; screaming, shouting, all in a manner of desperation. He couldn’t help but turn back, and continue staring, seeing more distant jets, all travelling in an attack formation. They had begun descending, and were reaching the traffic. The soldiers began to fire upon them with the main cannons of their Warrior IFVs, but it was ineffective.

They were about to swoop in for the kill, but they were gone suddenly; blocked from the view by a huge orange-red ball of fire. One-by-one they disappeared, consumed by this unstoppable fireball. The reason for this soon became apparent when a squadron of F-29 Vipers swooped in over the motorway. The civilians cheered, and William found himself joining in. He let out a sigh of relief, and shook his head in disbelief. Maybe there is somebody up above, he thought to himself, before chuckling at his unintended joke.

Agrincourtian Airspace
Near the Border

Three squadrons of F-29 'Super Vipers' and A-10 Thunderbolts dashed across the clear sky of the southern Agrincourt. They flew in a combat formation, with the two A-10 squadrons being escorted by the squadron of F-29s. The three squadrons belonged to the 6th Fighter Wing of the Royal Agrincourtian Air Force. A flight of EA-18G Growlers trailed behind, acting as the electronic warfare detachment for the small fighter task force. Their objective was to link up with the combined air task force of the Neu Engollons and Gauls, and destroy major heat sources on the border. They were to link up at the coast, and proceed north, before turning west. The Casegenians controlled an area of twenty kilometres by thirty within Agrincourt, and they were informed that this area had been deserted by the civilian populace, which gave them an advantage.

The two task forces linked up within an hour and proceeded to the border. They flew over the border, and unleashed a barrage of hellfire upon the major heat sources on the border, and awaited the battle damage assessment.

by **Casegene** » Thu Jan 02, 2014 8:38 am

SOUTHWEST AGRINCOURT

The Casegenian Army was taken by surprise when the ATO task force and the Royal Agirncourtian Air Force unleashed continous barrages of missiles upon their rear. They didn't expect such a quick response from the international community, and the success of their invasion was at a risk. They still controlled a thirty by twenty kilometre area, but the commander of the operation, Colonel William Andersen had doubts about their ability to keep this area. Of course, he remained silent - showing weakness to your own troops is not a good idea; it would only decrease morale.

The Colonel, who was sat in a large, open-spaced tent, let out an angry sigh and shook his head as he looked at the map of the nearby area. The tent was within an open forward operating base, that was set up a few hours ago. He would remain here for a while, as he had sent multiple armoured units ahead. He had also ordered a flight of MiGs to scout ahead and engage any targets within a fifty kilometre radius. Now, he was simply gazing at the map, and planning his next actions. He knew that Colonel Williams' Second Division was advancing on his left flank, and they were around ten kilometres away. His thoughts were disturbed by the thin adjutant who had just entered his tent.

"Sir," the young adjutant said.

"What is it?" The Colonel said, looking up to him.

"We have the casualty report from the rear, and a new set of orders," the adjutant said nervously.

"... Hand them to me, lieutenant." The Colonel said and the adjutant complied, walking over and handing him the collection of documents.

"You can leave." The Colonel said after grabbing the documents, and the adjutant complied. Andersen unfolded the documents, and stared at them. His face turned sour as he began reading them; 100 tanks/armoured vehicles destroyed, 125 artillery pieces destroyed, 200 transport vehicles... gone. And at last, 1,500 killed or wounded in action. The Colonel uttered a curse, and shook his head. The new orders were to hold the position and form a defensive position, until reinforcements arrived from the west. The colonel folded the documents once again, and shook his head, before heading out of the tent with a scowl on his face.

by **Aurora Confederacy** » Thu Jan 02, 2014 2:30 pm

800km off Terra Azure
120,000ft

With fuel now getting to the point where the aircraft had to leave the theatre and having possibly been rumbled as the Terra Azure military had loosed a SAM off at the jet, this SAM however failed to reach its target, however the rolls of film on board had to be taken back to headquaters, so Nadine looked at the compass and fed in a control imput, pressing the transmit button as she did so

"Reserve support alpha, Black Manta Zero four, in bound, ETA twenty five minutes, be at location" she said,

The reply came in "Manta, Reserve Support Alpha, recieved and understood" The reply was a little static laden but even so the Manta was now heading way out for international waters somewhere between Symphonia and Khayr Var, a journey that did not take too long given the speed of the aircraft, capable of covering over 6,000kms in a single hour, as Nadine piloted the aircraft to its rendezvous with the waiting KC10A Extender the aircraft was given a slight nose-down attitude in order to allow the thicker air at lower altitudes to help slow the aircraft.

Nose down and speed brakes cracked open, there was not much effect to start with though as the air thickenned around 60,000ft the large delta winged dart began to slow, past mach 4, then mach 3.5, at this point the engines shifted phase and the turbines began to spool up as the rear combustion system came to life, allowing gases to spin the turnine section rather ready for the next phase switch inside the engines which will take place once the aircraft is near sub sonic speed. The Manta continued to loose altitude, as it did so Nadine tweaked the speed brakes to help stabilise the decent as the needle notched off the speed, mach 2 came and went, then mach 1 a few minutes later, then as this happened the doors infront of the turbine face slowly opened and air began to rush through the compressor core. The Manta was now subsonic and the tanker was in sight, a few hundred feet infront and slightly above the Black manta.

Once the Manta was in position behind the tanker, a laser beam was fired at a panel , this laser beam carried a data signal as the laser landed on the panel, Nadine took her hands off the controls, and carefully the throttles, rudder and speed brakes twitched in a choreographed dance it seamed, and slowly the black jet moved across the sky, getting ever closer to the tanker. Once in the dedicated box, the tanker lowered its boom towards the waiting aircraft and once lowered the booms telescopic end probe slowly extended to the Black Manta's refuelling socket, here it locked in with a destinctive *clunk* after which the fuel began to flow.

As the Manta gained weight as it took on fuel sensors on the aircraft carefully adjusted the power settings and control surfaces to keep the aircraft on boom until the job of refuelling was complete, at which point the pressure of the boom was released allowing it to retract and fly back up against the fuselage, yet throughout this Nadine had her hands off the controls as the computers carried out the job of flying the aircraft.

In the far distance, Confederate Airlines, flight CA 1400, bound for Paradise City made its way across the sky yet below it was the rare sight of the RA91 Black Manta in broad daylight taking a drink somewhere over safe territory. The airliner had however been seen by escorting fighters who studied the aircraft carefully, however chose not to act as it, after all, was a civilian airliner and so posed no direct threat to the Black manta. With refuelling complete the Manta's speed brakes twitched again and so the aircraft fell behind the tanker, getting lower, once the data laser had turned off, Nadine took the controls and gently fed in power.

As she did so, the Manta's rear end boiled with a heat haze and slowly the aircraft pushed forwards, flying underneath the tanker which had begun a slow turnaway from the nearby airliner, executing a 90 degree turn to get clearance from the Black manta which once it was clear from the tanker was under the deft hands of Nadine was fed more power, and so began to accellerate up to a sedate altitude of 80,000ft where it could cruise safely home, the tanker also followed the Manta back to Khayr Var, though it would be a while before it gets to the airfield as it would be flying a great deal slower than the Black Manta...

The saga continues...

by **Platteisen Adler** » Fri Jan 03, 2014 8:38 am

"The Jailer and the Jailed"
CLAPTONICH, NEAR SCHROTBUCHSE
PLATTEISEN ADLER

The Claptonich branch of the Platteisen Adler Resistance met weekly in the cellar of an old tavern, "The Jailer and the Jailed", located on the High Street of Claptonich. Claptonich was just like many of the thousand small towns and villages dotted all over Platteisen Adler, life centering around farming and industry and the semi-busy main street where tradesman attempted to sell their wares. It was a small town which had largely avoided the Invasion from Nouvel Ecosse and the subsequent troubles, with the occasional patrol or convoy passing through but rarely any trouble. The Mayor had been arrested in 2006 for tax fraud, but that was about it. And since the Yellosians followed the Ecossians, the Mayor had been released, although he wasn't Mayor any more. He was Yellow Star Republic Support #1. And there was a growing band of merry and not so merry men growing around him, speaking of the benefits of the Yellosian "Leadership".

The Resistance on a whole was in chaos, split between those that wanted Platteisen Adler fully independent and those who wanted to be united with their Yellosian 'liberators'. There was even a minority voice now stating that rule under Nouvel Ecosse was far better, but they were quickly shot down or disappeared suddenly.

Because of its location in relation to that of the other cities of Platteisen Adler, Schrotbuchse had the second largest population of resistance members in the whole country, second only to the Capital IronFalcon. Claptonich, off of the dilapidated highway to IronFalcon, also had a fairly large population of members. There were around one hundred and thirty members of the whole population of three thousand, a reasonable number. Many of them owned firearms of some, sort mainly old war issued rifles and pistols from the sixties, but it was well-rumoured that Dougie the Butcher had a LMG tucked away some where, and many of the farmers from the surrounding country, mainly dominated by pine woodland and farmlands, owned shotguns. Oluf Gudjardson, leader of the Claptonich Branch, personally owned an RPG, although he kept this under wraps. He didn't want people to know he kept explosives in his bathroom cupboard next to the towels.

There was a difference, however, to the Claptonich branch of the Resistance, a difference unknown to anyone outside of the resistance branch apart from perhaps the Intelligence Chiefs in Nouvel Ecosse. The Claptonich branch was one of a few around the country designed to keep an eye on the resistance movement as a whole. Gudjardson himself was personally born in Tarantino in Nouvel Ecosse, although he had now lived in Claptonich for sixty years, having moved when he was three. Only a select few knew of his background, and had always had a soft spot for his birth country. When he was in his thirties, he had been coerced into joining the Resistance by his friends, and had since moved up and up the ladder to become the Leader.

Those friends had since moved away, and when he had secured leadership he had clandestinely contacted the Ecossians, driving out to meet a passing convoy under the cover of darkness in his battered pick-up truck. Telling them he could help them, they had trusted him, and he had since been introducing Undercover agents into the resistance, members of the infamous 4th Infantry who had secured the Invasion with the fall of IronFalcon. They were mainly sympathetic Adlerites who had been betrayed by their country or South-Eastern Ecossians who could pass with their accents. He had saw maybe forty or fifty pass through their ranks, before moving onto another branch, a fully integrated member. He could generally persuade the other members of the agent's background, never giving away their actual identity. As of current, there were maybe seven or eight new guys working their way up.

But they had begun to just vanish, right about the time the Yellosian patrols and random spotchecks had begun. The first had been Pierre, a young guy in his twenties from Chong-Hue moonlighting as a farm worker from Andreas. He had been there one day, gone the next. His neighbour told of how an army jeep pulled up in the night, and Pierre was taken away with a hood on his head. Then it had been Lothar, and Bastien, and then even some of the Adlerite members of the resistance were disappearing. Oluf had been forced into calling an emergency meeting, and only twenty or so had turned up, mainly because they were petrified of what had befallen some of their comrades. They were being labelled as "Sympathisers".

"What is this about, Oluf? You know I've got a business to be reunning, and that its bad for us all to be together at the moment?" asked Dougie, the butcher.
"Ye, spit it out Oluf, they are onto us." added Kurschtov, a farmer from out-of-town.
"Listen, gentlemen, there is nothing to be feared about. Just tell them you know nothing, because, to be perfectly honest, you don't. They are after me."
"What the hell are you talking about, Oluf? They aren't targeting Resistance members now, are they?" questioned a paranoid farmhand.
"No, not yet. But they are targeting others. And I'm afraid I'm part of those Others."
"But that doesn't make sense. You are branch chief. Why would you be in with those Ecossian lovers?" The Room erupted with questions, accusations, noise. It was really more of a cellar, so it tended to bounce off the walls in all directions.
"Comrades, I'm afraid I haven't entirely been honest about our operations here. But none of you were part of it. And those of you who were, those of you remaining, you have to get out now. Get out of the town."
"WHAT EXACTLY HAVE YOU GOTTEN US MIXED UP IN OLUF? SOME SORT OF PLOT?" Erupted the room once again, even more confused.

The door to the cellar suddenly bust open, and a fleet of large men in plainclothes entered. The table flipped as the Adlerites attempted to escape, knowing full well that those taken didn't reappear. But they were still confused. The Yellosians weren't cracking down on Resistance actions yet, were they.

"Its OK. I surrender." stated Oluf, as they bundled him into a waiting van. But the rest then followed him into the van. Why? Did they tink they were party to this scheme as well? They waited in silence, many of the Adlerites seemingly angry at Oluf. "I didn't think it would happen like this." he muttered under his breath, as the van veered towards Schrotbuschse.

PARLIAMENT SQUARE
IRONFALCON
PLATTEISEN ADLER

Yugioslav Kerchovic was on his way out. There was no way he could legitimately stay in the country, especially not now that the Yellosians had invaded. His campaign to become President of the small country had been largely funded by 'mysterious' benefactors, who were really the Nouvel Ecosse Government in an attempt to stabilise the country. He had just followed their advice, and when they had pulled out they had in essence abandoned him. But it was obvious who he was funded by, as his policies brought in had shown. It couldn't be long before the Yellosian army came for him.

A black sedan was awaiting him as he left the Parliament buildings, his usual chauffeur waiting to drive him to the North, where a small tugboat awaited to ferry him quickly over the Caledonian Sea. They were to act casual, a lot of his presidential staff also on similiar journeys, although it was unknown how many would make it to the final destination. Yugioslav wasn't sure if even he would make it.

by **Aurora Confederacy** » Fri Jan 03, 2014 3:26 pm

Khayr Var Airspace, daylight
A wind blew across the runway of the secluded airfield, yet in the distance a small dot was appearing in the sky, gradually getting larger the dot revealed itself to be the Auroran Black Manta, returning safely to its home port of operations after a successful operation over Terra Azure, sitting at the end of the runway was a Lamborghini Reventon, a strange car to have at a military base but it had an important job to do. Fitted to the wing of this piece of automotive exotica was a 60cm long UHF radio antenna, and to the roof of the sports car, an aerodynamic light bar with two stroboscopic lights pulsating in a 3-flash pattern, flashing 3 to the left, 3 to the right then both flashing 3 times.

The controller, a short guy with a shaved head, picked up his binoculars with one hand to gaze out of the window, then pressing the wire mic with his other hand spoke calmly and clearly "Manta Zero Four, Control, copy?"

" Manta Zero Four" came Nadine's reply

"Manta Zero Four maintain current heading you are zulu for runway two seven, repeat Zulu runway two seven at fourty kilometers" replied the controller, "Chase one, Manta zero four is inbouns zulu for two seven, confirm visual chase one"

Sat in the chase car, the driver looked down the runway then keyed his microphone "confirmed visual"

20 kilometers out, less than a few minutes to touch down as the Manta was still covering over 5 kilomters a minute, Nadine eased the throttles back to idle and deployed the speed brakes to reduce the speed, then as the runway came in sight, flicked the undercarriage button, then with a whirr and a clunk the tricycle undercarriage of the Black Manta lowered then locked
"control, Manta Zero Four, 3 green lights on undercarriage, in bound for runway two seven" said Nadine over the radio

Seeing the Manta's undercarriage come down, the chase car driver pulled to the start of the runway, stopping short of the threshold markings and began to rev the V12 engine as the Manta cruised in and overhead, some 40 meters above the runway, as it did so the driver floored the accellerator and began to chase.

"Manta Zero Four, twenty, ease her down" said the radio operator of the chase car whilst he was being driven down the runway at a speed that would probably result in more than just a speeding ticket if it were the highway, as the radio operator called out Nadine eased down the aircraft as instructed, "fifteen, ten, five...." called the chase driver, counting off the distance to the runway in meters, then came a screech as 8 tyres suddenly went from zero to the rolling speed of 200km/h in less than 12 meters, "Manta Zero Four, Main gear touch down" called the chase car radio operator

With the main gear down Nadine pushed the control stick forward, pushing the nose wheels down to the ground, these again erupted with a protest of smoke as they sped up to the rolling speed, "You''re down, welcome home Manta Zero Four, you're looking good here" called the radio operator

"Thanks" replied Nadine as she put the brakes on, and deployed the aerodynamic brakes, bringing the huge black jet to a stop on the long runway that is at North Point and with the Manta stationary, Nadine shut down the engines allowing the Manta to fall silent after a short whine from the turbines as they spooled down, inside the cockpit there was a hum from the electronics. Over from the command hangar came the service vehicles to retrive data from the Manta and to pull it into the hangar for the Manta's job is now complete, zero 4 will spend the next day or so inside a hangar being checked over by a series of technicians, Nadine and Pete, well they get to spend the next hour or two in a debrief and then an hour with the medical examiner before getting time to relax.

The 70mm film is another story, that gets sent to a lab in Haven, Khayr var where it is analysed by intelligence technicians after being developed. yes wet film is used in the Manta because of its image quality being superior to digital optics even in todays modern, high tech world the best method for photographic intelligence gathering still uses photographic film.

by **Kelonna** » Fri Jan 03, 2014 8:48 pm

The King was sitting in the bunker, several stories below the Royal Palace. Not because he was in danger, but because the war room had been built there, and here he could view everything he needed to see. He had been following the international theater closely, but did not want to directly intervene just yet. Only just had he finished the reply to Kelonna's ally, GHawkins, request to sign the charter for an alliance with several other countries, which would be called the ATO. He did not even need to consider it, because he knew that pretty much all things their allies suggested was good, and thus, Rickard immediately sent it.

Then, as he brought up the situation around Terre Azur up again, he had an idea. Terre Azur was about to be hit by two nations: Dungeyland and the Blackhelm Confederacy. Kelonna had been looking to expand her territory for a long time now, and Rickard knew that he could now do two things at the same time: Expand Kelonna, and prevent a war. He decided to do this by offering Terre Azur to become a protectorate of Kelonna. They'd be semi-independant, meaning that while they'd be allowed to govern themselves, but they'd be part of the Kingdom of Kelonna, and everything that came with that. However, he had also came into knowledge that their president was oblivious to the fact that he was about to have a war. So he made sure to send a message to the council.

by **Terra Azure** » Sun Jan 05, 2014 6:47 am

As the missive landed on the desk of the head of the Ecumenical council, the lead priest, just two men below the president and second only to the speaker of the house called an emergency debate, this did not please the president who seeing the military of the Blackhelm Confederacy amassing on his coast had to deal with something and a Diplomatic Missive was the last thing he had on his agenda!

When he was handed the missive by a member of the council, Rafael was enraged.
"That Kelonnan Diplomat, GET HIM!, Prefferably get RID of him, if you know what I mean, and then send out something to deal with those Blackhelm Bastards, they are cluttering the view of the coastline" he ordered one of the under secretaries.

Over in the desert, 2 fighter planes took off, these fighters were elderly Sukhoi SU24 fighter planes, each armed with two anti-ship missiles, their job was simple, sink one or two of the Blackhelm ships that were busy clearing a mine field and in 25 minutes they would be coming hot onto their target, flying just feet above the surface, so low you a man could reach up and touch the undersides of the ordanance.

Flying this low would mean that the Blackhelm Confederate Navy would have little warning of their arrival because of how radar has a shadow caused by the curvature of the earth, and this shadow at sea level, or for that matter a ships radar mast would mean that Blackhelm has less than seconds of warning as the radar horizon is 17 and a half kilometers away, next best thing to bugger all!

Further up the coast a Kilo II class diesel electric submarine slipped its moorings and began to make its way out to sea tasked with hunting down Blackhelm Confederate navy vessels, as soon as the water is deep enough, the submarine, TANV Benedict IV sets its course and slips below the waves, running initially on a schnorkel but as it closes in on the fleet from astern, it has orders to hunt and hopefully take a bite out of the Blackhelm navy fleet, the captain has a different idea.

Kelonna Diplomatic residence
A small 4x4 pulls up outside and 4 soldiers get out, two head to the gate and take cover, the second two move forwards to the front door, pistols drawn they beckon the first two to the door. These two soldiers run forwards, one carrying a door hammer, stopping at the door the soldier carrying the said implement takes 3 swings *BANG* *BANG* *kerunch!!!!!*.

With the sound of splintering wood the door flies off its hinges and the two soldiers with pistols, and the second soldier, holding a Soviet made Kalashnikov AK74 assault rifle begin to search the property for their suspect, though these guys do not have hand cuffs, they DO have fire power and they do not intending on leaving any witnesses. Consular staff, serving staff its all the same to the soldiers, they all recieve a burst of gunfire, those who don't go down straight away get a 9x17 bullet to finish the job.

Once they find the diplomat they open fire, no call for arrest, just a burst of AK74 to make the arrest from one of the soldiers finished the job. As the diplomat falls to the floor, the gunfire stops. *thud*, there now lies on the floor a diplomat, officially is noted as being killed by terrorist gangs, the military police being unable to get to the scene of the crime in time to prevent the sad demise, To hide evidence, one of the troops heads back to the 4x4, a small UAZ 469 jeep and collects a can of petrol, ideal for the job and so is liberally sprayed around the office and ground floor of the diplomatic residence, then after the troops walk out, a pyrotechnic grenade is hurled through the window.

Needless to say, with petrol liberally poured over things like carpets and furniture and now a pyrotechnic grenade hurled in, the result is pretty much a nicely set bonfire which soon has the timber structure well alight, Kelonna may never know what happenned to their diplomat.

by **Terra Azure** » Sun Jan 05, 2014 4:02 pm

Blacksand Bay
The two Su24 Fencer fighter bombers streaked out to sea from their land base, well away from the bay itself before turning on a new course, their target, Outer screen defence vessels of the Blackhelm Confederacy navy, the attack plan simple, in low, release and dash out before the Blackhelm Confederacy Navy has chance to realise what has just hit them and where it has come from. Blue one peeled to starboard followed by Blue 2, above them, detected by the radar warning system aboard the SU24 swept the radars of the fleet, yet this far out to sea, the two Russian fighters were in the earthshadow, Blue 1 pulled up, its pilot selected the Kh-31A anti-ship missile and squeezed the trigger.

Instantly the missile fell away from the aircraft, its rocket motor firing and it was off, streaking across the water feet above the waves, its payload 207lbs of high explosive, enough to do some serious damage to a warship, The pilot of Blue 1 pressed the trigger again, launching the second of its missiles, got to be sure and two missiles heading in will, hopefully give any CIWS a hard time

After firing, Blue 1 executed a 180 degree turn whilst Blue 2 took aim in its target, again 2 missiles were released and sent on their way before Blue 2 turned sharply to Port to follow Blue 1 back to a secure haven, flying as before fast and low across the water and later the desert, whilst inbound toward the Blackhelm Confederacy navy, 4 missiles streaked in at over 1,000mph

by **GHawkins** » Tue Jan 07, 2014 12:32 pm

GSA Headquarters,
Classified location.
Republic of GHawkins,
Morning

Alexander Harvey took a sip from his coffee as he spun around lazily in his swivel chair.
"You know James..." he said, staring at the ceiling while still going round and round.
"Tell me" the man next to him said uninterested, his facial features heavily deformed because he was leaning his head on his right hand, slumping slightly.
"Ever since I got employed here, we've had these phones.." Alexander continued, pointing towards the phones on the desks they were sitting at, connected to a small touch screen monitor each, "And not once in the three years I work here, has one of them rang while I was on shift."
"You're trying to say?" the other man asked, still not interested, as he slowly stirred his tea using one of those small, white plastic stirring sticks that only work properly when you've got an hour to spare to twist them around in your cup.
"Well.. what I am trying to say is.." Alexander started, before doing a dramatic slow turn and stop towards his colleague, "Why are we here?"

The GHawkins Security Agency had several "secret agents" stationed throughout different nations in Astyria, the eyes and ears and of the hidden machine behind the Republic. Normally, they'd report in via contacts and possibly the embassy in the said nation, though as always, contingency plans had been set up. Each agent had an EMP hardened suitcase with a computer inside of it, capable of producing a direct link to the phones and computers on the desks in front of the two GSA operatives. Only the agent knew the location he or she stashed the suitcase and the code to unlock it, let alone which finger used to unlock it and the subsequent passwords. It would provide a direct satellite uplink to the GSA's headquarters, allowing to transmit data at high speeds as the usage of this feature usually meant the agent was compromised, would be compromised or the data was of urgency as a matter of national security. In the unlikely event that whoever tried to access the computer managed to get through the authentication procedure, the build in, hidden camera snapped a high quality image of the person sitting at the suitcase. If the picture of the accessing person didn't match the details the GSA had in their database, or the operator had reason to believe that the agent was being forced to access the computer, the computer would destroy the data on its main drive to prevent capture and divert itself to a secondary drive, which contained false information. This to prevent that whoever captured the agent would prosecute him for the deletion of the drive.

However, it had been well over a year since the last call had been made to the GSA in that way, since the use of the computer was reserved for immediate dangers. The last time it had been used was when the GSA agent from the YSR called in to report activity near Bjelnorg, a quiet coastal town that had turned not-so-quiet in just a matter of days. The agent had transferred the data he had collected and escaped just moments before an RLO raid began on his safe house. The subsequent events resulted in GHawkins getting in a shooting war with the Yellow Star Republic.

"We're here just in case that phone ever rings Alex. Just see it as a break. You're earning money staring at a wall" the second operator said, still not having changed from his slumped position.
"Yeah, but you should know my attention span here by now. It might be the coffee... most likely" Alexander said, still going round and round, staring into his cup.
"Can we just stop talking about this?"
"Sure.."

For a moment, nothing but the ticking clock was heard, and some very low background whistle from the rest of the offices outside of their "cage", as the people who rotated every three hours called it.

"So.." Alexander started again, provoking a tired sigh from his co-worker, "When are you expecting the baby?"
This got him out of his slumped mood, as the man cocked an eyebrow and glanced towards Alexander.
"You did get your girl pregnant, right?" Alexander quickly asked. A smirk appeared on his friend's face.
"I did a lot more. I'm going to marry her."
"That's my man!" Alexander said, raising his hand to give his colleague a high five.

Just the moment before the hands connected, one of the phones started buzzing. Both men instantly stopped mid-air as they turned their heads towards the phone. Did they both imagine it?
"Bzzzzzzt" the phone went again.
"Oh shit" Alexander said, as the phone was his, "I think I jinxed it."
"Bzzzzzzzt" the phone again. Alexander reached for the horn, but didn't pick it up. The 4th time it rang would be when to pick it up.
"Bzzzzzzt"
Immediately, Alexander had the horn to his ear, remaining silent. There was someone on the side, Alexander could hear him breath. He was obviously half in a panic. Five seconds passed.
"Requesting permission to send data" the voice from the other side spoke.
"Authenticate" Alexander said, before placing the horn back onto the hook.

"Well. That was surprising. Call OPSUP will you?" Alexander said, as he turned on the screen adjacent to the phone.
"He's already on his way" his colleague said when he put the horn back on the internal phone, having called the Operations Supervisor down to the cage, as per protocol when a call like this came in.

Just as the Supervisor walked in, they had just received the proper authentications and password.
"Authentications match sir" Alexander said.
"I concur"
The supervisor simply nodded at Alexander, who immediately picked up the phone.

"Send data" he said, before placing the phone back onto the horn.
"Now we wait" he muttered.
On the screen in front of him, the data started to come in as it was being encrypted in the computer, transmitted to the satellite, to the receiver at the GSA headquarters and pulled through a decoder. The algorithms involved in the encoding and decoding was something only a handful of employees in the GHawkins Government knew about, let alone understood. Alexander shook away the thought, focusing on the incoming data. He saw, one by one, files appearing on the screen in a completely isolated drive. When possible, no chances were taken. The incoming data was stored separate from the main database to prevent any virus coming in and infecting the mainframe and possibly destroying all data. The drive was stored in a chamber next to the cage. If there was any indication of the drive being infected by a foreign virus and attempted to seek its way out, the drive would be incinerated immediately via an emergency command. Overkill? Perhaps. But a lost drive is preferable over thousands and thousands of files captured by an unknown enemy and used against the Republic.

"Datalink terminated sir." Alexander said as the connection between the computer and the drive was being shut down. Either file transfer had been completed, the agent had cancelled the transfer or the computer had been destroyed.
"Check for any unsecured files we pulled in" the Supervisor ordered, "I want those files cleaned out before we analyse them. If they turn out to be infected.."
He glanced at Alexander with a 'you know what to do' expression. Alexander rotated in his chair again towards the screen.
"Buuurn baby burn" he said, whistling the tune as he activated the security protocols as the Supervisor left.

Twenty minutes later, the agent's demise in Kamalbia to his own pistol unknown to them, the scan was completed. The files came back clean and were transferred to the analysts. Within thirty seconds of the completed transfer, the alarm was raised.

The files? Schematics to a high explosive device, bank transfers to unknown parties originating from known ALA accounts, pictures of (fake) passports and IDs, plans to infiltrate the airport at Marqueville. To add on that, the payment for tickets from a flight from Marqueville to Terre des Gauls. And from there on, tickets for a flight from Terre des Gauls right to GHawkins City International, on a GHawkins flight.

Five minutes later, the appropriate agencies had been notified within GHawkins and a communique was approved to Terre des Gauls, along with an offer to help prevent the attack. The flight from Marqueville had taken off only minutes before the data had been processed, which mean there was no turning back without running the risk of the terrorists blowing up the plane in mid-air. It had to be done on Gaul soil. They had the ball now.

Presidential Office,
Hill House, GHawkins City,
Republic of GHawkins,
Afternoon

President Howard put the paper back down on his desk, stretching in the chair, hands over his head. He had been awake for quite some time now, writing his speech for the press conference he had called for just.. He glanced at his watch, seeing it was just five minutes from starting. Time was running out for the final communique to come in.

He ran his hands through his hair, sighing as he glanced at his speech again. He knew it was finished but only missing one thing. He had left some space below one of the nation names, for one more nation, which would either be on time or not reply at all. He sighed, reaching for his damping coffee mug. It had a print on the side "The world's #1 President, the world's #1 Dad!". He smirked when he picked up the mug, as he always did when he saw it, before taking a big gulp.

Just then, there were two knocks on the door. He placed the cup back down.
"Come on in" he said at a loud tone, to make sure the person heard it from behind the door, all the way on the other side of the large office. The door opened a bit as a small woman appeared in the opening.
"Mister President, we have a reply" she said, before walking over to the President's desk when he waved her over.
"Let's see what we have here.. It better be good" Howard said, as he accepted the paper from her.

As he read the paper, a smirk appeared on his face.
"Good" he said, handing the paper back to the aide as he took a pen from the pen-stand on his desk. He clicked it out and reached for the speech on the desk, adding a name to where he had left the open spot. Complacent, he clicked the pen in again as he sat back.
"Good" he repeated again, as he got himself out of his very comfortable chair and walked out of the office.

On his way out, another aide was about to knock on his office door just the moment he pulled it open.
"Oh mister president! It's time" she said.
"Well let's roll then" Howard said, as the aide led the way to the press room where his familiar stand and all that was prepared for him.

He waited at the door to the side, as the speaker of the house took to the stand.
"Ladies and Gentlemen of the press. The President of the Republic of GHawkins, Galen Howard" the speaker spoke into the microphone, which resulted in applause from the assembly in the room. Howard's signal. He walked onto the stage, into the spotlights as a barrage of pictures was taken of him, the flashes nearly blinding him. He had gotten used to it now.

"Good afternoon everyone. Please be seated" he started. The clapping had stopped by now and people were taking their seats, except for the cameramen in the back who were aimed dead at his face.
"And good afternoon men and women of GHawkins. This afternoon, I stand before you with news that can change the region we live in considerably."
He held a brief pause.
"It is known to many of you that in recent weeks and months, there has been an increased amount of tension in our great Astyria. And in some cases, it has resulted in open conflict. Open conflict which killed or will result in the deaths of thousands and wounding many others. Displacing possibly many and many more. And should we sit idly, should we do nothing, this violence will continue the spread untamed. We can not and we should not, as one of the largest and most influential nations in our region, sit and watch as it unfolds."
He again stopped, looking around at his audience.
"One of my advisers described the situation developing in Astyria as simple, almost childish, but frighteningly accurate. We are seeing a decay in relations between neighbours. Nations which have sustained and at least tolerated each other for decades now raise to arms and fight each other. Agreements splinter, become nullified and many people suffer from it."
Again, he elected a strategic pause.
"We're falling into a free-for-all, where every nation, every government fights for their own interests, no longer thinking of the international community. No longer believing in keeping peace but electing to draw blood."
He again looked on in silence for a moment.
"I can not and I will not sit idly while this happens. I can not find it in my heart to see what we, all of us, build together. To see that what we built from the ground up, crashing down back onto all of us. But I hold no illusions, as should none of you all. Yes, we are a great nation that can survive the tides. Yes, we have a great military that can defend us. Yes, we have some of the best diplomats in the world, able to secure every deal. But we can't do this alone. And we should not."
He remained quiet a little longer now. He totally didn't look like he was searching for words, which he was not. He stood there, confident as always.
"To this end, my administration has worked hard to ensure that we can make a stand. And we succeeded. Ladies and Gentlemen, today I announce to you and the world, the Astyrian Treaty Organization. A mutual defence agreement and the first corner stone of what I am sure will be closer relations with all those who participate. Its goal is to ensure stability, prosperity, security and co-operation across Astyria. We have sought and found like-minded nations willing to help is in our quest to ensure the safety of our populations and the region."
Howard cleared his throat.
"The following nations have ratified the Astyrian Treaty Organization Charter;
The Republic of GHawkins,
The Grand Kingdom of Kelonna
The Walrus Loving Republic of Nouvel Ecosse
The Noble Kingdom of Agrincourt
The Republic of Terre des Gaules
The Republic of Woodstead

The following nations have pledged their support in limited form to the ATO, but are not member states;
The Mercantile Federal Republic of Aurora Confederacy
The Confederacy of Neu Engollon
The Imperial Realm of Romberg

The ATO Charter, which at this very moment is being published on the internet, since I am aware that many of our citizens are half asleep by now."
It provoked a bit of laughter from the room.

"I will proceed to quickly wrap it up, however I will not skip the last part of this announcement. As some of you have undoubtedly already realized, there are two nations I have mentioned to be ATO members that are currently in a state of war with their neighbours. We are obliged to help these nations with maintaining their sovereignty and prevent further loss of life. The State-General has convened this morning and there has been a decision made."
He again paused. He took a deep breath, for this was heavy on a politician's mind.
"Let this be fair warning to those aggressors. Return to your pre-war borders and declare a cease fire immediately. Or we will intervene to ensure that these conditions are met."
Howard didn't do as much as flinch when he said those words. He was a political heavy weight and he wouldn't bend for anyone. He knew he would be criticised for this. But at this moment, he didn't care. He had to put weight behind his words.
"That concludes what I wanted to inform you about. I will take some questions, before I have to get back to my duties" Howard said, concluding his message. He answered some questions by the press for the next ten minutes, before going back to running the country.

Almost concurrent with Howard's announcement, the ATO charter was published.

Tweede Atjehstraat 21,
GHawkins City Suburbs,
Republic of GHawkins,
Late evening

"You can't go!" The woman shouted, "Not now! Not like this!"
It was obvious the woman was in the final stages of pregnancy, her belly heavily outlined in her flower-patterned nightie. She was pacing up and down the room rapidly, tears flowing down her face freely. Even the dog, laying down in his basket realized that as the big shepherd looked at her with something of pity in his eyes.

Opposite the room, a tall man was standing in a military A class service uniform, a lieutenant bar displayed on his collar, his hat under his arm. First Lieutenant Anthony Wolf, commander of 2nd Platoon, A Company, 1st Battalion, of the 17th Armoured Infantry Brigade had that afternoon received orders to prepare for imminent deployment and was being called out to his garrison, just outside GHawkins City. Several units were being mobilized following President Howard's promise to intervene should the YSR and Casegene not withdraw to their pre-war borders. He had tried to get her calmed down, saying it was just a precaution, a show of strength.

His wife however, in her final month of pregnancy for their second child, had enjoyed an university education and knew exactly what was up.
"You know they won't give in!" she shot at him, still borderline hysterical now that her husband, the man of her life was about to leave and she knew, to be deployed. They had been high school sweethearts, Anthony asking her to marry him only a year after they had both graduated. She had said yes in a heartbeat. But to Anthony, he had always been married twice; To his wife, whom he loved without limits. And to the Army, to whom he had pledged his absolute loyalty.

"They will Charlotte. They will. It is just a show of force, we're going to scare them" Anthony said calmly.
"No they won't! You're going to be deployed!" she again shouted. Anthony motioned her to quiet down, not to wake little Jimmy up in his bed.
"No, you can't go! You can't go Anthony!"
"I have to. You know that" he calmly replied. He walked over to his wife, who slapped away his arms when he wanted to embrace her.
"No!" she said, her voice breaking.

Suddenly, the dog barked at something and the both of them looked at the open doorway to the stairs, where little Jimmy was standing in his pyjama's, hugging his stuffed German Shepherd tightly. He was only four years old, yet without a doubt you could see he looked like his father.
"Why are you screaming mommy?" Jimmy asked very quietly. This got Charlotte even more upset.
"Hey little man" Anthony said, as he walked over to Jimmy and lift him up.
"Daddy. Why is mommy crying?" Jimmy asked, still looking at his mother who had averted her eyes.
"Mommy is sad that daddy has to go out for his work." Anthony replied at a sweet tone.
"But..." Jimmy said, using his free hand to pull down his bottom lip a bit, "I don't want you to go either daddy... Why can't you stay?"

Ah hell, Anthony thought, a little longer and I'll burst like Charlotte.
"Well Jimmy," he said, as he put him down again and went on one knee, lowering himself to Jimmy's height, "You know what job daddy has, right?"
Jimmy nodded. Jimmy was too young to understand what his father actually did, so they had told him daddy fought bad guys, like some superhero. Jimmy still couldn't believe that his daddy was a superhero, saving the country from bad people who wanted to dominate the world. The reality was darker.
"Right. There are some very bad guys out there now and daddy has to go make sure that they will never harm you" Anthony continued, pressing his finger against Jimmy's little chest, to symbolize he was meaning him. In the background, Charlotte was still sobbing.
"But mommy doesn't want me to go because she is scared I might get hurt," Anthony continued.

Jimmy looked at his mother again, before looking back at his father.
"But daddy... I don't want you to go either.. what if you do get hurt?" he asked saddened.
"I won't get hurt. I'm going with Uncle Danny, he'll make sure nothing happens to me" Anthony said, pulling Jimmy a bit closer for a hug. "Uncle Danny" was Anthony's best friend, also a Lieutenant in the GHawkins Army, commanding 1st Platoon. They had been friends since before Anthony had met Charlotte. He had been Anthony's best man during their wedding and was considered an uncle for Jimmy, as the duo were like brothers to each other. Charlotte had often remarked that there must have been a mix up when the White Stork was bringing the babies, because they should have been born to the same mother.

Jimmy looked like he was thinking for a moment. Then, he spoke.
"Daddy. I am not letting you go!" he suddenly said, acting all stern like he had authority. It took Anthony by surprise.
"I am not letting you go get hurt. Here..." Jimmy said, suddenly offering his father the stuffed dog he had been holding the entire time.
"Hondje will protect you daddy! He is also a superhero!" Jimmy continued excited. Hondje was the Dutch diminutive for Dog. The stuffed animal had been given to Jimmy at birth and ever since they had been inseparable. Jimmy had rejected all other stuffed animals, electing to take Hondje everywhere.

"Jimmy..." Anthony mumbled, no longer able to keep the tears back. His son, his own flesh and blood, giving him his most valued possession was too much for the young lieutenant.
"Daddy... don't cry" Jimmy said, as he manipulated the paws of the stuffed animal to wipe his father's cheeks dry, "See. Hondje wants to help you."
"But, if I take it.. Then he won't be able to protect you" Anthony replied, having taken a deep breath.
"I don't need his protection daddy. Because I know you, Uncle Danny and Hondje will be out there, fighting all bad guys!" Jimmy said, making some slashing motions like he was fighting invisible enemies. Anthony took the stuffed dog, smiling at his son.

He raised his son up again and walked towards his wife, who had been sobbing in the corner. He put his remaining arm around her, pulling her against him. She didn't resist, instead pressing herself closely against him. Anthony could feel his expected daughter in his wife's belly.
"I'll come back. I promise" Anthony whispered into her ear, "I promise my sweetheart."

Five minutes later, Danny pulled up in his car. Anthony walked down the front porch towards the car, his bag in hand. He popped the trunk and threw it in, before shutting it. He saw Charlotte with Jimmy on her arm standing in the doorway, Jimmy waving at him. Anthony smiled, waving back, still holding his son's stuffed dog.

In the car were, besides Danny, two other Lieutenants, all from the 17th Armoured Infantry. Anthony stepped in and buckled up, sighing deeply.
"Lemme guess, Charlotte didn't let go?" Danny asked from behind the wheel, looking at Anthony in the rearview mirror. Anthony slow shook his head.
"Nope. She didn't" he said, sighing. Danny reached backwards, holding up his hand for a shake.
"She'll be alright, you know that" Danny said as Anthony shook his hand in friendship.
"It's not her who I worry about" Anthony said, as he looked back at his house. They were still in the doorway and he waved again.
"Well, let's go" he said.
"Alright duders, let's go!" Danny replied, as he put the car into gear and began rolling.

by **Aurora Confederacy** » Thu Jan 09, 2014 12:39 pm

The approaching party walking close to the boarder whos fence goes on for as far as the eye can see may not have triggered any sensors on the far side of the Auroran fence, for that is legally, under treaties and other legal issues not soverign territory of the Aurora Confederacy, however the party had however been detected by the best sensor system of all, the hearing of a security dog which in this case is Johan, a 5 year old Rottweiller, as such Johan barked loudly alerting his handler to the approaching party.

Raphael Hallerstrand, border guardsman picked up his binoculars and took a look, following the footsteps in the snow down to where the party is and counted them before taking a look at the face of one of them.
"Fuck me!, why I be dammed, look who we have here" he says.

His C.O, Leutennant looked at Sergeant Hallerstrand, "say what!" he said.

"Well Sir, If I am not mistaken, are they Glisandian Roya..No can't be!" says Hallerstrand, he then puts his binoculars on the table heads down the guard tower, sliding down the rails to the floor below, his feet landing in the winter snow with a crunch, "LEWIS, PRIVATE LEWIS, OPEN THAT FUCKING GATE YOU 'ORRIBLE LITTLE BASTARD!", he then picked up the leash to Johan and began to walk calmly over. One of Johan's duties as a border dog is that for sniffing out drugs, and the approaching party are about to get close to a rather wet nose of a rather large dog and probably a bit of dog slobber too!

The Private who opened the gate put his hands close to his rifle, which in 7.62 calibre and a wooden frame is ideal for the territory, they were on alert BUT this is after all a legitimate border crossing and so pointing guns at people who intend to enter the country is really not good protocol, in fact its probably the sort of thing Terra Azure would do, not so the Aurora Confederacy, which despite being a socialist state, is more like Western Socialism rather than a tin-pot dictatorship, its one where the president is respected by its people.

Sargeant Raphael Hallerstrand waves the party through and points to a hut, "If you can all go in there please whilst we carry out a search of your belongings and confirm your identities" please he says, in a manner far more polite than what he just hurled at the private manning the gate.

The hut, reminiscent of a portacabin, though clad in additional insulation and protected by sandbags is warm inside thanks to a 2-bar electric fire. Inside there are 6 tables and some chairs, a computer terminal and a TV, currently playing a TV program, Ice Pilots of all things. AT the far end of the room there is a second door way which leads away from the border area, further into the Aurora Confederacy and for them, a new life.

Glisandia, pick this up in the burg.

by **Blackhelm Confederacy** » Thu Jan 09, 2014 1:37 pm

Off the coast of Port Blacksand
Terra Azure

The Confederate fleet sat, tightly packed in formation to avoid running into any further mine fields off of the coast. At this point, they had still not received any word at all from the Azuran government, and as a result were not about to conduct full scale offensive, or even defensive, operation. That was all about to change in a matter of minutes. Radar operators throughout the fleet began tracking the incoming aircraft of the Azuran military. Immediately, interceptors were being scrambled but full on offensive operations against them were not about to commence as it was assumed this would be a mere show of force. Technically, the nation of Terra Azure was still allied to the Blackhelm Confederacy. Even beyond this, it was unfathomable to assume that the Azurans would be crazy enough to launch two aircraft out against an entire fleet for offensive missions, yet it was now obvious that the Azuran government was not one for rational thinking.

The Azuran Sukhois closed in just as the SuFb-8's began to turn towards a path to intercept when suddenly the radar men throughout the fleet became frantic. Shouts of "Missiles fired" began to fill each radar room as CIWS and rolling frame missile systems throughout the fleet snapped to life. Missiles and bullets began to fill the air, but with the short amount of time allowed the crews there was not much to be done. The Kh-31A could be fired from a range of 25 km, giving only seconds to the men on the ships to react. Two missiles slammed into the cruiser Alicorn on picket duty at the outside of the fleet, slashing major holes in her side and killing and wounding several on board, while the other missiles were handled by the combined CIWS strength of the fleet as they streaked in. This was the second ship to be knocked out of commission, and very quickly helicopters and smaller vessels began to converge upon the wounded ship to attempt to right her and remove the wounded.

In the skies, meanwhile, the pilots of the two aircraft that had been sent to guide the Sukois away now looked wide eyed when they saw the missiles loose themselves from the enemy planes. Reacting quickly, both pilots slammed on their burners to close the gap between themselves and the Azuran offenders. With vengeance on their mind, they both gained ground on the aircraft of the fanatical government before releasing their own missiles. A pair of R-Darter missiles were fired at each of the fleeing Sukhois as the Confederate planes continued their pursuit, moving to close the gap even further in case that first volley had somehow failed to find its mark.

Meanwhile, in the bridge of his flagship, Thatcher was secretly overjoyed at the events. Now he could finally be free to play his cards as he wanted. He was finally able to unleash the full might of his carrier group upon the enemy, and he would do so without restraint. As the drones continued their mine clearing operations, he gave the go ahead to prepare the men once more to make a landing and then ordered his Ticonderoga class vessels to prepare for action. Three cruisers, each of them carrying a full load of 122 cruise missiles aboard her now prepared for action as coordinates were relayed to each of them, detailing the positions of Azuran missile sites, air fields, SAM's, barracks, and anything else of military value. Once received, the cruisers crews all made their last minute checks before finally, the BCNS Extinguish exploded to life. A virtual stream of long ranged Cormorant missiles, all one hundred and twenty two missiles aboard the ship, began pouring forth from the hold, one after another as they made their way towards various positions all across the area. Her two sisters would remain silent, at least for now, waiting to see if any additional firepower was needed.

Matvayez Air Base
Nouvel Ecosse

Just as the Confederate carrier group off of Terra Azure was engaging the enemy and letting missiles fly, so too were the men in the north. The MiG pilots had only just landed and refueled before they were given the orders to begin their offensive and serve as the vanguards of the coming retribution against the Yellosians. Five MiG-27's and an escort of six MiG-29's now began rumbling down the runways of Matvayez, set for targets within Adler. The 29's were loaded out entirely for air to air combat, while the 27's packed a combination of munitions to give them some versatility. The targets of this first attack was to be any front line radar positions that were reported by the previous reconnaissance flight from the Or-1000's.

It would not be long before the strike group would begin to near their targets, focusing first at the area around the former Ecossian naval base. Loaded up with a pair of anti-radar Kh-27PS missiles, allowing them to keep out of range of most of the enemy surface to air missiles, the first strikes were about to be set to blind the Yellosians and let future strikes come in and catch the enemy with their pants down.

While this group prepared to take off, the rest of the men settled into their bunks to catch some much needed shut eye. They were not sure when they would be called upon to launch further missions against the enemy positions, and they all knew they would need to find sleep wherever they could. This was surely going to be a long few days for the boys up here, and each one of them knew it.

by **Nouvel Ecosse** » Thu Jan 09, 2014 2:45 pm

Desk of Atticus Moriarty
President of Nouvel Ecosse

To: Graf Johann Lenesov von Königsberg, Romberg
From: Atticus Moriarty, President of Nouvel Ecosse
Encryption Level: Very High

Dear Sir,

Firstly, let me introduce myself. Considering the assistance you offer my Minister of Foreign Affairs has forwarded on this letter and the subsequent duty to reply to myself. I am the elected President of the Nation of Nouvel Ecosse, and I must tell you, your offer of military assistance in our time of need is much appreciated, and an offer which we would hope to replicate in the future should the need ever arise, although lets hope that this never does happen. The way and style with which our Regional allies in Astyria, your nation in this considered, has replied to our calls for help has been extraordinary, and the people of Ecosse, especially those most affected in the South-East, will be forever grateful for your assistance. Bonds will be forged in this conflict that will, and I stress will, withstand the lengths of time.

The arrival of your 10th Expeditionary Forces is greatly anticipated, and we have decided to house them at Matveyez Barracks before we launch our reply to the Yellosians. They will be barracked alongside the 4th Infantry Urban Division, a unit much like the Legion which will be at the forefront of our operations in the future. Much like the Legion, the Urban Division is largely composed of veterans, many having fought in Platteisen Adler in the past, and with a knowledge of the local area the two Units together makes a knowledgeable combination.

Although your expertise and experience are well-known of and desired, I am afraid that the plan you have suggested to us would simply be unworkable. We are devoted to the people of the the South-East and of our Capital, and to abandon them in their time of need would be a betrayal of our principles as a nation. Although we are willing to sacrifice that area to the militaries of Astyria for use in housing troops, we simply could not abandon it to the merciless whim of the Yellosian aggressors.

We will of course inform you of any future developments in concern with your supplied troops. We will want to keep our Northernly neighbours informed and once again I would like to extend my gratitude, and the people's gratitude, to you, your people and your kind and gifting Kaiser.

Yours,

Atticus Moriarty
President
Nouvel Ecosse

General Stefan Trowoski NEC
Nouvel Ecosse Military

Thomas Dietrich
Minister of Foreign Affairs

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