MindWalker Civil-War (MT, IC, Signup)

[The 4th August Regime of Greece]

Upon receiving the letter from the Black Hand, Harlamabos Tsoukoglou had finally received news that the Meek Inheritors were now on the side of Luc's republic and the Meek province of Vixen. He wrote to the Meek Inheritors for an Armistice which states that the 4th August Regime of Greece and the Meek Inheritors will engage in a period of friendship and that war between them will cease.

He also dispatched orders to move his forces from the South to be reunited with the rest of the force in the North to protect the Black Hand base and fight off the Han. By the time they got their the supplies had been dropped off to the battleground. Now the army had incendiary launchers which they would use against the tank divisions the Han possessed. The Field Marshal, Manolis Bouzikos rushed to meet the leader of the Black Hand forces in order to inquire their plan of attack. He would hand him the current status of his men and the equipment they had. He would also instruct the Katsuyah Missile Launchers to be at the ready to fire at all times. He ordered the bombing aircraft and fighter jets that had yet to attack to take flight and barrage the Han with cluster and napalm strikes. It was now approximately 1 day before the reinforcements would arrive. The struggle against the Han has begun.

The Minister of Propaganda had a field day. He organised synchronised propaganda raids to be conducted in the two provinces Boris had under his power. The propaganda leaflets had phrases such as: "You would abandon your faith for oppression" and "The Kafka fight for freedom, The Kaiser does not". Others stated things such as " Fight for your faith. Not for your oppression" and "Boris spits on God's face, Are you going to do the same?". The Minister of Propaganda was hoping for a spark of revolution to occur in the two provinces. He hoped that the predominately Slavic Orthodox peoples would remember their faith and fight for the Kafka cause. He could only wait for the reaction of the people.

The assassins thanked the Black Hand agents for travelling them safely into Boris's territory. One of the assassins have them 15 Azure Drachmas as a sign of thanks before departing into the darkness. The two assassin's had a plan which was relatively simple but would change the two provinces. One of them had the appropriate ID to organise a meeting with Boris Kafka in the administrative building he was residing in. He would be known as Franklin Khruschev who was one of Boris's political allies. The real Franklin Khruschev was killed in another assassination by the 4th August Mist weeks ago but the news never was released as they sparked the idea that he was still living. The assassin posing as Khruschev would enter Boris's office and talk to him about a possible purge of some other members of the Kafka. The meeting would continue until the assassin would stroke his temples which would be a signal. The other assassin would be rooftops away carrying an AWP sniper rifle ready to pull the trigger at all times. When he was shown the signal he would shoot and kill Boris. If the assassin somehow missed or the shot was not fatal the other assassin either inspect the body and finish him off with a pen gun or block Boris's escape until the other assassin can take another shot at him. However they were planning for the first assassin to make a clean kill and for it to be quick. The assassin who would wield the AWP sniper was forced to practice for 8 hours a day in order to make sure that he could shoot to kill with one shot.

The "Khruschev" assassin entered the administrative building. He walked up to the registration counter and showed the woman the appointment documents necessary to have a meeting with Boris. The other assassin was readying his sniper rifle. Attacking the scope and tripod to assist him in his deed. He readied his sniper rifle towards the window of Boris's office. After the documents were checked he was escorted to Boris's office. After the doors shut he started by saying "Hello my good friend".

[Rhodokan Republic]

28th "Shieldwall" Battalion (Airborne), Sheildwall 19 Alpha , Lt. Marc Vinther.
Rhodok Landing zone, Kaiser territory, Mindwalker.

Sitting in the crew compartment with his driver and gunner he waited for the green light. In the compartment was the almost rectangular space where the vehicle was operated. From Marc's position directly in front of him were the two seats for the driver and gunner sat. Lance Corporal Jackson Pagun and Corporal Evan Rudkov sat doing final checks on their stations. To his immediate right was the engine enclosed in a extra layer of hardened alloy. to his left an extra station for the infantry commander, the chair could swivel around into the troop compartment behind them during dismounting or the officer could command his troop and the APC from that position. it was currently shut down.

The Lieutenant would be in command on the ground until the rest of Shieldwall would arrive on the ground.

"Shieldwall 19 Alpha, this is Shieldwall 29 Actual, Radio check over" the radio for the vehicles net crackled.

"Sheildwall Too-Niner Actual, This is Sheildwall 19 Alpha, Reading you 5 by 5, We are coming into the Landing zone Now. Were calling it LZ Jelkala, Will be on the ground in a few, Over." Lt. Vinther replied quickly.

"Confimed 19 Alpha, The next wave is taking off now, stay safe out there, I will be on the ground in roughly 45 minutes if were lucky, Dig in and await further tasking, Over and out." That was the Battalions Commander, he would be the second flight in so Marc had to work over time to make sure the LZ was secured. With the limited troops he would have to make do.

"Sir we got the red light and the ramp is opening sir." The driver LCPL. Pagun called out.

"Engine start, Lance Corporal" Marc called out. "we might get ambushed on the LZ so get ready for combat!"

"Yes sir" Both crew men called out. "Weapons systems and countermeasures coming on line sir, Slaving countermeasures to your 3 console sir!" CPL Rudkov spoke calmly as Marc's 3 screen out of the 4 lit up. It showed the smoke canisters and Laser Countermeasure's system had activated, He notice that more than half the options available to him were greyed out. He sighed he had to leave most of the upgrades for the AMV-9 on the carrier as it was too heavy. It was either more ammo and less equipment or more equipment and more ammo. Marc decided to go with the latter he was partly regretting it now.

A sudden jolt of the HL-257's landing gear landing on the grassy knoll that was their LZ alerted the APC Crew. A thumbs up in the command cameras view on top of the 32mm turret let Marc know that the IFV was no longer connected to the HL-257, and the driver was free to drive forward. Marc waited for the HL-257 Cargomaster to get off the IFV before commanding his crew.

"Diver, Forward!", Marc called over the crew radio, " Punch out and turn left. Point us East."

"Understood sir!" LCPL Pagun replied gunning the throttle and rolling the IFV out of the belly of the HL-257.

---

***Unit Deployments***

---

- Sheildwall 1 Alpha: Infantry Platoon's 1st Section
- Sheildwall 1 Bravo: Infantry Platoon's 2nd Section
^ Troops aboard have standard Airborne equipment, Light Infantry, Carrying disposable AT lanchers, Marksmen rifles, Standard Infantry Rifles and LMG's, Grenades and enough rations for 5 days enough ammo to last them 2 day's of light combat.

Deployed both Alpha and Bravo and are en-route back to fleet
|- Sheildwall 1 Alpha/Bravo regrouping on Sheildwall 19 Alpha

^ Armed with ADATS style Laser/GPS guided munitions
^ Loaded with 2x LRM20's and 4x SRM4's and a standard Optical sight with multiple viewing modes, Uses a Cronus R-890 Radar jammer and flares to avoid incoming missiles, Heat guided and Radar guided munitions suffer from these defences and are less likely to connect.
*LRM20's have a max distance of 2 kilometers or (2000 meters) (80 mm)
*SRM4's have a max distance of 500 meters, (38mm)

Orbiting over LZ, Scanning for incoming targets.

- Sheildwall 19 Alpha: APC Platoon's first vehicle
- Sheildwall 19 Bravo: APC Platoon's second vehicle
^ AMV-9 "Sleipnir" Light Wheeled Personnel Carriers (LWPC) armed with a 32mm dual-feed chain gun with a firing rate of 700 rounds per minute, 9.3mm LMG in coaxial, Light 8x8 modular design Fossil fuel and electric hybrid engine, Gun Stabilizer (firing on the move), and 4th Gen Targeting Computer.
***Alpha unit is also equipped with Laser Countermeasures which will help it and other units in its immediate location protect them from accurate laser targeting.

Dropped off both IFV's Sheildwall 19 Bravo is linking up with 19 Alpha.

3rd Fleet Activities (200 km's from Mindwalker)
Launching...
2x ML-90 Medium Lift Utility VTOL, Twin prop Helicopter
- Sheildwall 1 Charlie/Delta, En-route to LZ: Jelkala
1x HL-257 & ML-90 pair
HL-257 Carrying CV-32 "Kastor" 8x8 Command and Control Vehicle,
ML-90 Carrying 4 UGV-2 "Crossbowmen" unmanned ground vehicles

[The Black Hand of Nod]

-Mindwalker Barn-
-Black Hand Capture Mission-
"So just a fact finding mission, I see, well that changes things..." The interrogator frowned a little and turned to the radio officer. "Call it in, we're bringing the prisoner in, tell them to dispatch a capture team for the other group, try to take them alive if possible."
He turned to face the operative and smiled a little, "You wanted facts you'll get facts on the base, you picked a hell of a time to do this though, we have several divisions of Han moving in from the north with the goal of raping and murdering everyone they get their hands on... in fact we should get out of here just on the off chance they win and this position gets overrun." That said the agent soon had their face covered as the group packed up and quickly reboarded the APC for a trip to the nod base itself, clearly for now they had more important things to worry about, however it was clear that Hayes trouble was just beginning.


-Secluded Farm-
-Nyevzkyan capture mission-
The driver and passenger had been ordered to keep quiet if captured and quiet they remained, it was clear though that they had merely been hired because they knew the area and not because of any sort of warrior spirit, the driver fidgeted and the passenger looked quite obviously nervous, the third remained his hardened stance though, even in the face of threats. Fortunately he ad been given permission to speak if this sort of situation had happened and he intended to use it to the best of his ability.
"So you're out for information like that?" said the man with a sneer, "Well then you're better off asking the local warlord that one, not like you'll get the chance too." He said with some amusement, "You really think you won't be found after pulling what you just did?" The attempted questioning of the other two got a similar response. "You want to know why they're working for us, let me put it simply, if all you're life your entire purpose is to either farm or make drugs for hardly any money and then someone comes along offering to pay you double and even feed you to continue doing the same thing, who wouldn't take the option... plus a chance to train and eventually leave this godforsaken place?" He rolled his eyes. "First worlders..." he muttered before going silent.

-Northern Mindwalker-
-Nod Base-
The arrival of Field Marshal Manolis Bouzikos had proved to arrive right at the same time the letter from Vixen arrived leaving the base commander, General Tosan "Venom" Velibor to deal with though the former was a much easier task. The Han reserves were a threat to be sure but the inferior quality compared to the front line Nod units opposing them, Venom's strategy was to keep the enemy unable to paint a clear target in the first place until his own men were in position, he quickly set out his plan with the Field Marshal, a opening barrage of smoke to leave the Han literally shooting at ghosts while they advanced into counter battery range... with the entire front line shrouded even the laser rangefinders of the type 89s would find nothing to target, where as Nod had air control and UAV support that could promise that their own troops could see them clear as day. As for Vixen, with the commands made the Commander quickly prepared his own letter, he wasn't going to keep a possible ally waiting too long.

To: The Palace of the beautiful, Saint Mistress Vixen, Count of Meek
From: Nod Base Jacob, Nod Base Commander Tosan "Venom" Velibor
Yes I have received word from the High Commander himself that if you had requested a meeting with one of us that we'd accept, currently our forces are engaged with aiding you in removing the Han threat to the north but once the attack has begun I should be free enough tomorrow to attend this meeting personally along with my bodyguards... one can never be to careful after all. The future of the MPoV is important to the future of all of us in Mindwalker and I can assure you Nod has great interest in developing a working relationship with MPoV, but more on this can be discussed in our meeting. May his words guide you.

-Han Counteroffensive-
The Nod artillery barrage was designed to soften up the position and keep the 2nd line unit from being able to organize in any fashion to threaten up, several more rocket strikes were delivered in scattered bursts at any obvious troop concentration, the true test came when it was time for the attack to actually begin, as lightly armored as the majority of the nod units were they could dish out the attacks but they won't be able to take it, so as the Gvozdika switched over to smoke rounds the Scorpions and BMDs advanced. The follow up barrages of further missile and artillery strikes would soon leave the various Hans forces firing blindly.

The real threat to the Han however was to come from the air, using the Greek's fly over and bombing strikes to alert them to where the Han had concentrated air defenses, the Nod forces mobilized their full air fleet of MI-35 Helicopters and using the artillery fire and smoke as cover, dispatched the armed and armored helicopters to engage and wipe out the lightly armored Tank Destroyers in locations they were sure that air defenses were light, Rockets, missiles, cannon fire, and as the Nod force advanced, Mortars, soon started hitting the Han positions with the infantry and light forces of the Nod main body to the rear, the goal was to cripple their offensive capability and with luck even advance into Han territory and hit their supply lines.

-Open ocean-
Contrary to most expections the Black Hand did have a surface fleet, though for the 5th army who often were known within Nod as the least funded group did hold one advantage in their cover job as ship scrappers in that it was fairly easy for them to get ahold of older naval ships long past their prime, the fleet that was being gathered would have been a formidable one... in the 70s, but in the modern era such a fleet could prove to provide little more than a minor threat unless supported greatly by unconventional forces. Thankfully for them and for the Reich they wouldn't have to waste their ammo against such a fleet.... yet at least, the more important threat was the Victor class that had begun shadowing the Reich fleet, with it's messages relayed between the array of covert intel ships and the greater nod sub fleet in itself, which was beginning to trail them for some distance, hoping to lure some of the anti-sub craft away into an ambush of their own.

[Vadia]

Han Peoples Liberation Army
June 15th, 2016
8:30PM

In Vixen territory, another ten percent was lost to being wounded or being killed. The bombers targeting them were vulnerable and still somewhat possible to shoot down, even with limited AA capabilities, but their bomb strikes were deadly. The potato crops and sparse amounts of trees became but tinder to the scorching flames, launching a tragic wildfire that burned over a large area, threatening to go out of control. The empty hamlets, the farmers having fled the invading forces, were one by one on fire, fragmentation rounds and bombs put holes in men and lightly-skinned machines. This large fire was so big, that it threatened to slowly consume both armies, and it threw up enough smoke to make it hard for both sides to fight each other. Scattered bands of ruined men escaped the flame, but some didn't make it, and many things were lost in the chaos. The dry summer was not the best place to start a grand fire, with fireproof materials.

Another 10% of the three divisions, was lost to surrendering, being wounded, being killed, or being lost. The fire was miles wide and was now almost hot enough to melt tires, with a smaller area in the center where the fire had already burned out. This wouldn't be good for the impoverished area, nor for the people already only able to grow 70% of the food they needed. The whole region was having shortages.

The forces on the other side of the mountain were in a position where they had stronger forces pushing into them and among them, lost in the dark and with some of their units unable to fight. They were forced to fall back or surrender, despite having the firepower to stop the invading forces, the guns to reach out and touch them.

---

Luc'' Territory
June 15th, 2016
8:30PM

The three divisions were facing two divisions that could see in the darkness. Not only that, but those two divisions were armor, which had range and many guns, and explosive power. Even the IFVs could see in the dark and chew up the infantry with their many weapons. The "Jumbo" Division was smart and fell back, retaining 80% of it's strength in all. The other two divisions lost everything, falling into pieces via death, surrender, rout, or even just getting lost in the darkness. Only what was left of the Jumbo division, and the War-Lords own personal guard, was left to defend the capital city of the province. Sometime in the morning, when anyone could see and the Han's were rested, it was believed tht many would die, or soon enough the city would call and with it the whole province.

---

MindWalker
Kaiser Territory
June 15th, 2016
10PM

The people couldn't read the leaflets. It was dark after all, most of the land was farmland, and the leaflets landed among the crops and were hidden in the darkness. Oh and um... The people couldn't read the language that the leaflets were written in. In fact, most of the population couldn't really read at all. The people who could read the leaflets were the...ruling class, which in these areas was German, because before the civil-war Borris was half-Polish and had taken a German wife. The middle class, who perhaps could read whatever language these leaflets were in, despite speaking mostly German and a bit of Russian? The middle class was small, and most of it had converted to Catholicism to gain status and not simply be made peasants all over again. Freedom? What was freedom? They were Slavs, Slavs didn't even know what freedom was. No one told these "Freemen" that for most of the region, religion was practiced as well as it was everywhere else people were Catholic or Orthodox. People were quick to shun the "gays" or "the mixing of genders", but other then that, they knew very little. Even in the West, understand the commandments wasn't something most worshippers could do, and even those people barely went to church at all.

It didn't help that Jesus had a troubling message, one that was popular with slaves a thousand years ago, and was even more popular with slaves now. This was why people couldn't read. If they could read, then they would know what Jesus said, they would know the ten commandments, and they would know the laws. The laws were whatever the local officials said they were, the bible said whatever the officials said it did. What the people knew, was the bible said three things, "Obey your Masters and Parents", "True Russians/Germans were God's chosen people", and "Inferior Slavs/Germans were descendants of Cain and minions of Satan, this is why they invented Communism".

Naturally, while all the energy was with Borris, the southern coastline fell to the Rhodokan Republic. No one could see in the dark, the area was remote and next to the loud crashing ocean, and the land around it was fertile but still fairly spread out. The major urban areas and docks were hours by road away, and the guards there were few, not even awake. In the morning perhaps a division would be there to guard the capitol, with another half division in place, but it would take weeks for anything to be ready to resist a Rhodokan division.

Franklin Khruschev, would quickly learn something very interesting about Borris before the sniper could take a shot. One, that Borris was a rat who was eager to kill Franklin for "plotting with Satan to seduce his wife and breed all of the inferior Slavic women", which was accompanied by being held at gunpoint, a flashy Italian police Beretta 92S. The second thing he would learn, was that everyone knew he was a rat, which was why he started coughing uncontrollably and then would fall onto the ground, having a seizure. Someone had literally mixed rat poison into his food, or something chemically like it. Right after that happened, six men of the guard stormed the room and proceeded to shoot anyone in it, to eliminate witnesses. Carrying G-41 copies, a local copy of the "Ranger Body Armor", and wearing a desert take on German flecktarn camo.

In just a few minutes they would "Find the speech he had written, before Franklin Khruschev had poisoned him. Detailing how he wished for the local Slavic orphanages to be burned to the ground, and was planning to sell the little boys and girls into sex slavery in the West, for a few thousand Universal Dollars each." There was even proof that Borris knew something was wrong, which is why he had a gun and been pointing it at the very man who "poisoned him". It didn't help that the very man he had pointed his pistol at, had indeed intended to kill him.

[The 4th August Regime of Greece]

After seeing his assailant held up in gun point the assassin responded with 2 shots from his AWP Sniper Rifle. The "Khruschev" assassin attempted to pull out his pen gun but was shot in the arm when he tried to move. However the shots became lethal as they entered Boris's back and neck. The Khruschev assassin shot him again in the head just to be safe. However police had already stormed through the room with pistols all pointing at the Khruschev assassin. Seeing that he was surrounded the Khruschev assassin shot himself in the temple with his pen gun. The assassin wielding the rifle made his way off the rooftop and into the streets. Blending in with the crowd. He then called a member of the Black Hand stating: "Boris is dead. Requesting access out of this region". He would continue to evade the police until the Black Hand arrived.

Ioannis Metaxas was horrified to learn that the German were readying battleships in the waters of MindWalker. Now that the reinforcements were to arrive in MindWalker he understood where the troops needed to be stationed. He would send 5 Hydra Class Frigates (865 men) and 5 Type 214 Submarines (135 men). He would then send another 45 bombers (135 men) to aid in Kafka Airspace. The rest of the troops (4000 men) to Kafka land as they were destined to be at the posts of MindWalker against the Kaiser. Ioannis Metaxas would talk to the international community saying that this is all necessary for the defence of the Kafka peoples and that the ships were necessary to counter against the Großdeutsches Reich in the event of a coastal invasion or barrage against the Kafka peoples. He stated " Our ships will not engage in conflict against the fleet of the Großdeutsches Reich unless they are fired upon or if they are provoking acts of unjustified aggression against forces or civilians of the Kafka". The ships would be stationed North East of MindWalker in Kafka controlled waters. The 45 Bombers would be placed on stand by with the rest of the active air force including now 31 bombers and 9 fighter jets (the rest had been destroyed during the Han conflict). The rest of the troops (now numbering to around 7005) are safe in Kafka territory waiting for further orders.

[Reorganisieren Reichregierung]

Open Ocean

---

"Mein Herr, the last patrol, has spotted an enemy submarine tailing us. Victor-class, judging by the signature."
"It must be the Black Hand - they could have bought a fleet of them for "scrapping", or have them in a puppet state's army. A criminal organization large enough to take over a country must have done so by now. Or the Greeks - they could have bought them from somewhere, either as combat vessels or scrap. Could be some pirate as well, but no pirate would be bold or foolish enough to pick a fight with us. Either way, send this message to all squadron commanders."
"Jawohl, Mein Herr!"

With that, the staff officers of Großadmiral Heinrich von Holtzendorff, fleet commander, back to their stations, to carry out the orders they have been given.

After orders were sent out and were received and processed by the recipients, the plan was put into motion. From the friendly submarines shadowing the fleet, to the anti-submarine patrols, all ships were put on alert and combat stations were manned, and more valuable ships moved farther away from the point of contact. Patrols continued, with the patrols tracking the rather noisy (compared to modern ones) sub and it's distinct signature via whatever sensor they have, be it the dipping sonar of their helicopters or their own towed arrays, with data being sent back via datalink to their ships, to the squadron commanders, and finally to the Großadmiral. It was decided to prepare to engage, but not to engage just yet, and especially not to pursue.

Aside from ship patrols, it was decided that carrier-borne aircraft would conduct patrols over the general vicinity of a contact, with ASW aircraft loitering for some time, while EW aircraft would try to jam the data links of any submarine probably in that area.

Kaiser Territory
MindWalker

---

Despite the airlift having just started, many commanders who have just arrived felt that what has arrived is "insufficient", with whining voices left and right calling for the prioritization of something or the other, be it tanks, small-arms ammunition, aircraft munitions, ground equipment for aircraft, and so on and so forth.

The reason for all the complaints was the news of a landing to the south. Kaiser forces have began rushing troops to nearby cities, but a two front war was not exactly a desirable outcome, so it was many demanded to strike while the iron was hot. Some advocated for the formation of a Kampfgruppen to go south, others for a strike package to pound the LZ 24/7. The theater commander of ground forces, Generalfeldmarschall Reinhard von Woyrsch, shot down all suggestions of sending a ground force at the moment, since whatever units have arrived were forming up and awaiting the rest of their men and equipment. An strike package could be formed on paper, but some ground crews and munitions have yet to arrive. Hence, the reason for all the complaints about logistics. It was decided to ask the OKL for more transport aircraft to be allocated to the airlift, and to try and begin preparations for air operations against the LZ, as preparations for air operations are more complete.

[Nyevzky]

---

- Hávorusk, Nyevzky -

---

Bernard Schneider was already back in Nyevzky, so he had to inform the President about the outcome of the meeting with the Minister of The 4th August Regime of Greece, he informed the president about the Minister's position on The Black Hand.

"I think the best option available is to limit ourselves to contributing economically to the Kaiser Territories. The sectors of the Kafka family have a giant terrorist ally, in addition to two other nations that provide military support."
At that time, he came up with an economic plan; Nyevzky would invest an estimated 350,000,000 Zkyes to the MindWalker industrial economy, which would obviously include the purchase of companies, the arrival of new machinery and various Nyevzky products. An economic network between MindWalker and nyevzky will also be established, which will imply a 4% reduction in tariffs of exports. (Initially)

But of course it would not be free, Nyevzky would demand that, in exchange for providing economic aid on this scale, current and future prisoners of war would belong to Nyevzky, for obvious reasons, this demand could be negotiated and changed, but the president decided that it would be a good requirement, since the prisoners could be taken to Nyevzky and put to work in freedom. In turn, the president did not consider this a "gift of money", since investments in MindWalker would pay off and Nyevzky would win almost as much as MindWalker.

A letter has been sent to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of MindWalker, with a diversified and massive economic proposal.

Sent by: The Federation of Nyevzky.
To: The Kaiser of MindWalker.

Best regards, Kaiser.

This communication is sent to you due to an economic proposal, Nyevzky believes in peace and prioritizes human lives, and therefore declares himself against the terrorist group of the Black Hand of Nod, in this way, we believe that our help can have better results if we provide greater economic support. We wish to establish a reduction of export tariffs between MindWalker and Nyevzky of at least 4%, An initial investment of 350,000,000 Zkyes to your industry, in addition to providing extra financial help to companies that go through bad periods.

Our only requirement is the transfer of Prisoners of War to the Baltic territories. But if you do not want to comply with this requirement, that can be negotiable.

We wait your answer.

Attentively.
President of the Federation, Agustina Axu Nidrapov.

Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bernard Schneider.

Minister of Economy, Vektor Jacob Erarre.

---

- GSO Agents -

---

The Agents continued to be refugees in the house, Ekaterina Sabeliko was in charge of taking care of the men of the Black Hand. Usually she starts conversations with them, and she was very interested in the cold man, to the point where she practically ignored the other two men.

"I think you do not understand why you are here, you are a criminal, a terrorist, you support a business that is prohibited by the laws of MindWalker and your organization has participated in several massacres before, this town does not need you to finance their illegal businesses, you need your people have food, decent work and health."
She did not laugh or show any mockery on her face, she did not want to be disrespectful.
"They will not leave here until we have the information we want, and it would be better if you hurry, my patience is ending"

[The Black Hand of Nod]

-Hans positions-
The Rocket barrages and gunfire had worked like expected, and the addition of the attack helicopters further worked to minimize whatever armor nod would have to deal with in their advance, they used the darkness and the smoke and chaos brought on by the retreat to try and further remove the ability for the Han to reorganize a proper counter attack, the Hinds performing hit and run attacks as they continued to attempt to pick off the Han Armor strength one after another... if they could drive them beyond the mountains then that'd be for the best, for now though Nod was just happy to keep them running, as for any prisoners, troops were quickly landed in areas that had been proven to be abandoned by the enemy with the orders to round up any stragglers who seemed unwilling to fight, the more Han they could capture now, the less chance they would have to fight them later.

-Black Hand Airbase Jacob-
-POW\Refugee area-
The light of the Han offensive meant that the Black Hand knew that eventually they'd end up running across prisoners or refugees that'd require housing due to homelessness or to simply get them out of the way of the fighting, for this Nod had made do to expand the base to include 3 more barracks and a fenced in area, two for refugees of either sex, and one for prisoners of war, sadly for them the only prisoner they had of notice was Hayes so for now the Nyevzky agent was pretty much given his choice of beds with a promise that once they bagged the rest of his crew they'll make sure to give them an area to keep them away from the Han.

-Command Center-
Venom's meeting had gone poorly to say the least, instead of Vixen they had gotten the Benefactors, and while they might have been important once, the very situation mean that power wise they were weak and as far as Venom was concerned,weren't going to be a factor for future operations, still their presence was a problem, for now all he could hope was that Vixen understood that Nod's motives was to try to keep the rebel coalition intact for now, especially with the Han to the north and the Kaiser's reinforcements to the south. Speaking of, the Nod advance had fortunately worked, unfortunately the Greek and the Inheritor front was now on fire... literally. People would need to be moved, firebreaks will need constructing, and once again refugees will have been made... he quickly ordered several transport choppers in the air to get people out of the fire lines while the combat dozers that weren't being used to improve the base were to be dispatched to make firebreaks. As for the Nyevzky agents who captured their three, he dispatched a Hinds with thermal vision to bring them in, figuring rightfully that it's doubtful that they'd have AA weaponry in their location and thermals would let them know if a barn or house had too many people inside.

As for the the Han offensive to the west Nod clearly had their work cut out for them, with most of their air support routing the Han to the north he was limited on what he could send... He had no choice but to send one of the motorized divisions west to try and anchor the defense, sure with mostly BOVs they had little in the way of heavy armor but if they could set up an ambush, perhaps they had a chance.... they're going to need some real air support if the Reich was to arrive, and so an order for more reinforcements were sent in as well.

-GSO Capture Mission-
It was clear the Nod agent was amused at the growing frustration that their holier than thou imprisoners had gotten them and he was sure to reinforce it. "Yes illegal to the Kaiser who's very rule they're refusing to follow..." he repeated, "And I don't think you're realizing something, they were doing this before we were here and if we packed up and left tomorrow they'd continue doing it... don't hate the players hate the game, as the saying goes, as for massacres, I'm afraid that might have been one of our knock offs or rejects, the last Massacre we took part in was a mercy killing with the permission of the local government to spread a dangerous infection... and I don't think you get it... you were caught the moment you acted... in fact."
They heard the buzzing of helis passing over... "That might be our ride." Of course it could be their ride or it could be an evacuation chopper... no one would know unless they looked outside.

-Open Ocean-
The idea that Nod ran scrapping operations was never proven so even at their best the Reich couldn't be sure it was nod, it could have been the Greeks, it could have been someone else, it could have simply been another power curious about their fleet, or even someone up to no good using the Reich's fleet to ironically protect them from other threats, either way it had maintained it's same course and presence almost like it was ignoring them. Eventually though it did turn away right around the time they started entering a high traffic shipping lane, the various merchant ships that took the route likely in impromptu loose convoys since the NS oceans are risky places filled with pirates, raiders, and batshit crazy rich people with submarines... The timing though was suspicious as hell, and if anything it's direction was taking the sub directly in the direction of one of those 4 ship convoys... aggressively.

-Black Hand Command-
The news of the assassination of Borris had been expected, but more importantly he was still waiting for the results of the other assassination attempt, and finally after some time he was given an update. "Let's see here... what." He looked at the report blinked twice and without a word picked up his phone. "Give me the full briefing on assassination 5210M, what I got doesn't do it justice."

[Vadia]

Han Peoples Liberation Army
June 16th, 2016
6:00AM

Nod has utterly defeated the enemy and conquered a province over the mountain range border. Right away it was made very clear that on the other side of the mountain range was a series of rural villages that styled them as "Shan United Revolutionary Army". They were well organized and positioned carefully, with scattered villages, with traveling merchants moving around between the various remote areas. The Hans had been oblivious of the local "Nation" in their midst, including something like 15,000 soldiers of different ages, ranging from 10 to 40. Armed mostly with Type-56s and Chinese "CQ" copies of the AR-15, they also had a good supply of trucks. On the highest hill of one of the villages, was a semi-urban area with a heavily walled and moated area, where the local "King" was. The people in the area seemed to be doing quite well, and appeared quite optimistic, with a solid supply of food, drink, and dyed clothing of local manufacture.

Having been given instructions for when the attack was planned for the remaining Han forces in the region, they had 15 hours to rest and to move through two more provinces, to get into position.

---

Luc' Territory
June 16th, 2016
8:30AM

The capital city of the province was forced to stare down the limited bombardment of the two Han armor divisions. Thousands of people surrendered and were moved by armed guard through the opening in the mountain range, mostly women. It was reported that Yeren forces would be moved in to attack from this angle at night, along with the "Meek Inheritor" division attacking from the flank. Hundreds of peasants had already lost their lives, thousands were wounded, and thousands more were captured. Hundreds of militia members were also captured as well, adding to the losses and damage.

---

Unknown Territory
June 16th, 2016
12AM

Just out of reach of any of the MindWalker, Yeren, or Luc' aligned powers; a large base hummed with life, finishing the process of unloading half a division. Time would come to make use of it, time would come.

---

Luc' Territory
June 16th, 2016
4PM

Luc' had so far taken millions and millions of loans, investing in fertilizer, pesticides, raw materials, and building materials. Land was being setup to build factories for: textiles, processing pistachio nuts, farming trees, refining metals and ores, processing rare earth elements, and even making basic electronic components. Hundreds of companies, both small and big were setting up more offices and locations in the local area, which offered the possibility to expand the under 30 billion GDP to a strong 40 billion GDP in the next few years. The billions would take their time to be approved and moved in, but the money would keep flowing in, as cheap land and labor made it a solid place to setup shop. Yeren was a cheap and large booming nation, with over a billion people, while Luc' was a smaller, more impoverished nation. After the shattering of the Peoples Republic of Han, the money started to pour into Yeren and MindWalker. Now, the money was pouring even more, as people were in a rush to get involved before someone else made the billions.

They were eager to accept Nyevzky money with both hands, but they would insist that instead prisoners of war be turned over to either Yeren or MPoV. Strangers couldn't just "buy" the prisioners off of them.

---

Kaiser Territory
June 16th, 2016
6PM

It would take days for them to retaliate in any way upon the invaders on the beach. They were more concerned with boxing them in and securing the other ports in the area. Something close to three whole divisions, one of them armor and two "professional motor", were moved into position around the capital of the province under threat. The messages of their "Reich Brethern" were well received and would be echoed in their own speeches. The speech written by Borris was used as proof that "The Slavs don't care about their own people, and are eager to sell them into sex slavery". After that speech was given, over a thousand gospodins in the two provinces were rounded up and placed in a prison camp. The peasants of the area were "Put to work rebuilding their squalor and filth".

The Kaiser economy was very much feudal in nature, with exceptions for national conscription, and the heavy use of State Capitolism. 99% of property and living organisms were owned by the nobility, with the Kaiser owning the extended family, who owned the nobles, who owned that 99%. Just 1% of the nation was "Freemen". The new Kaiser, and the nobles wouldn't sell off any of their wealth or property. They would refuse to take any "Dirty Imperialist money" and they would refuse to "Hand over the rapists and traitors".

---

Many questions remained for all factions present. What would happen to the three areas where opium flourished? Would the "golden triangle", no longer be so? Would Yaba replace Opium as the drug currency of the underworld? Would the economy of MindWalker improve? Would the remains of the Kafka family go "legit"? Would Kaiser win? Would "The Conglomerate" come back to the region? What about the other mysterious players? Unspoken? The Benefactors? Drug Elimination Alliance?

Only so much was clear.

[Reorganisieren Reichregierung]

Open Ocean

---

The mysterious interloper started turning away in a high traffic sea zone. Despite this, the fleet was still on alert, but some of the excessive measures, such as carrier aircraft patrols, were stopped. At this point, whatever the interloper did, even if it was a Nod sub, as many suspected, or that of some pirate or foreign nation, did not concern the Reich anymore. Of course, if it came back, that's another question.

Now that the immediate threat was gone, it was time for after-action reports, analyses and other fun things, and word was sent home through encrypted channels that the threat was over for now.

---

Kaiser Territory
Mindwalker

---

A modicum of calm returned to headquarters, as more aggressive or panicked officers calmed down. They raised an essential point - logistical preparations had to be hastened. To that end, the Luftwaffe granted the request of the theater commanders and released additional aircraft, and logistics staff have doubled their efforts.

So far, forward operational bases and airstrips has been set up to supplement the airports, and the selection of sites for expansion and conversion into permanent bases has begun. The fleet hasn't arrived yet but is due to arrive, and preparations for it's arrival are being made. Air defense sites have been constructed, and some already have all their occupants and attendant equipment.

---

The Homefront

---

The Reich Ministry of Propaganda and Public Enlightened was delighted to hear that their words were well received. As a result, more fiery propaganda, with powerful denunciations of Kafka and his supporters, Vixen, the Inheritors, "Pan-Slavism", and a criminal cabal known as the Black Hand, whose "criminal hands was all over Kafka", praises of German victories over "Slavdom" and prophesies of victory over "criminality" and "Pan-Slavism". Channels through which Germans communicated internationally were set aflame with war fervor, ever since the Kaiser gave his speech, and troops were sent to MindWalker.

The Wehrmacht decided to begin sending better equipment, in the hopes that it would tip the balance decisively towards the "Kaiser". And so, equipment was pulled from the strategic reserves, and generals begin reading the catalogues of arms manufacturers foreign and domestic, while intelligence officials and others who dealt with less savory elements began preparing a shopping list of black market wares.

---

[The Black Hand of Nod]

-Han Territory-
The routing of the Han troops in the north had been a good turn of events for Nod, but the news of the Alec forces being forced under siege dampened their spirits greatly. The "Shan United Revolutionary Army" had been a surprise as well but Nod made it clear that they had no intention of starting anything with them and if confronted merely asked for guides to get through the area with miminal interruption and interference... after all there was another battle to get to and the faster they could move their forces the better.

-Nod Airbase Jacob-
The order was made to send in several squadron of aircraft along with another division of units, with the arrival of more powers Nod needed more leverage than ever, thankfully elements of the 4th and 3rd armies had been willing to provide aid and even financial offers from the 1st weren't rejected.. All in all this looked to be a major Nod operation, as the world was soon to find out.


-Open Ocean-
-Q ship 'fleet'-
The mistake was assuming that the sea lanes brought safety, for though the sub moved away and seemed to leave the four ship civilian convoy to saftey, the three Container ships and the single super tanker were in fact the true interlopers all along, the sub had merely been designed to keep the Reich fleet distracted from the true threat facing them, the very sea lanes itself, for Nod did indeed have various "Q-ships" of their own, and as the Reich was about to find out, one class of Q-ship was the ships Nod dubbed "Arsenal Tankers". The only warning they'd get of something being wrong would be an obvious military grade radar going active on one of the cargo ships and a small explosion erupting out of the top of the tanker... followed by a massive grout of flame as the ship fired a of barrage of Naval Strike Missiles, one after another, towards the Reich fleet at relative "Point blank" range, the missiles given orders to go after all military ship targets within range. All in all by the time the Reich could realize what was happening they were likely facing down a threat of around 120 anti-ship missiles from within medium range. The two 'cargo' ships also made ready as well, as they readied their own stock of missiles for firing, while the final ship quickly began transmitting all data on the Reich fleet to general command.

-Nod Sub Fleet-
The Nod sub fleet was in the area yes, but as the data burst came through they quickly began making their move to get into firing position while the Q-ships made their sacrifice play. For they knew that the 4 men of those cargo vessels were already dead even as they transmitted everything they could send.

-Black Hand Command-
The papers had been delivered and Slavik could barely believe the story his assassins told him, a successful target neutralized by an unknown yet bold third party. It seems that his men had been effective enough as it was, the target's convoy had been successfully hit and sniped, and apparently his men had been taking their sweet time trying to take out any threats when a third party arrived with what was likely an armored SUV packing a... he read it again, a minigun similar to what Nod sometimes equipped on their desert vehicles, who proceeded to puree the already crippled convoy and the surviving body guards. This was followed by a masked man going after the target personally and successfully neutralizing the target after a minor shoot out that left one of his team dead. This man then decapitated the target, examined the bodies, and then after being overcome with emotion, proceeded to destroy the entire convoy's Yaba supply with surgical precision and use of explosives. "I don't know if I should have the guy hunted down for destroying all that Yaba, or have him hunted down to give him a medal for giving the traitor the treatment he deserved." Slavik commented to himself as he finished the report, all in all Nod was able to get photographic evidence that the traitor was dead and were able to honestly claim a hand in taking him out, Mission accomplished, abet not in the way as expected... as this war seemed to be though, things were always turning out very unexpected.

"Speaking of... so we got another pay off and another trade... well we better hold up our end of the deal then... mobilization orders approved... we'll move to general war footing from this point onwards, all armies will comply."

[The Evan Empire]

Evan Empire Capitol Building, Imperial Council room:

Emperor Evan found himself once again seated around his 12 Department Leaders in the week’s 3rd scheduled Imperial Council meeting. As Department Leader Blunt speaking for Empire Intelligence reported the happenings over the past few days to the Council something caught the emperor's eye: “... Also within the region we’ve observed that the civil war within MindWalker has continued to escalate, with the Kaiser and his allies attempting to regain lost lands from the foreign influenced factions within. Our department believes that if these factions are to be successful the power vacuum may give way to nations with negative intentions for the Evan Empire, although fortunately reports suggest some of their main sources of income such as narcotics are beginning to dwindle...” Blunt explained.

Emperor Evan then stood up: “Excuse the interruption, you say that the factions opposed to the Kaiser export narcotics?”. Blunt replied swiftly: “Indeed sir, in the beginning of the conflict it comprised their main source of income.”. Emperor Evan though for a moment and turned to the Department of Economic Management: “Is our Evco Incorporated and private industry exports of narcotics well established in the region?”. Department Leader Romney responded: “Indeed sir, in fact MindWalker appears to be a major supplier in the region in competition with our own exports.”.

Emperor Evan responded swiftly: “I see, then I see a solution here. As we know having Mindwalker slowly carved into regions for foreign powers is a security threat for the Evan Empire. Although intervention is not usually our nation’s doctrine it is however our doctrine to defend the sovereignty of our allies in the NatCoDE and I say that those same values can extend to our desires for sovereignty in nations abroad. Now in addition to this the Evan Empire has nothing to lose in this endeavour as it has the potential to further our Evco Inc’s control in the region as well as help our private sector economy while undermining our adversary’s in the conflict. Therefore I propose that this Council resolve to send forces in the region to assist the Kaiser and invite the Kaiser to join the NatCoDE. Department of Empire Military Forces I also want our forces to destroy sources of our enemy’s narcotics production but keep this mission classified. I propose that this Imperial Council cast a vote to send military forces to MidWalker in order to assist the Kaiser in their conflict. All in favor say Aye.”.

The Council voted 9 in favor of the action. “Very well, that’s 9 votes in favor of the action along with 3 votes from the Emperor, we have reached a majority of at or over ½. Plans to notify the Imperial Senate of this will be underway immediately. Department of Empire Military Forces James Bednar see to it that our nation has a military presence in the region soon. Department Leader Blunt once again my apologies for the interruption, please continue with your report.”.

After the Imperial Council meeting Emperor Evan spoke with Department Leader Bednar regarding options before sending communication to the leadership of the Kaiser Territories:

Official message of the Evan Empire:

---

To: Kaiser Nardo
From: Emperor Evan Barrineau of the Evan Empire

---

Greetings great leader, it has come to my attention that multiple factions are engaged in conflict intended to overcome your territory and destroy your very government and even yourself. I have seen that they have already killed your previous leadership and will continue to press their attack to the benefit of their foreign agendas. I am currently deploying a local Naval Group into the region off of your nation’s coast consisting of a carrier sporting 30 of our Evan Interceptor aircraft along with supporting vessels and more forces will be deployed to the region in time. I request the usage of your airspace in order for these units to strike targets on your battlefronts and also extend an invitation for your nation to join the NatCoDE mutual defense and economic pact in order for our nations to promote further communication and defense. Attached is the NatCoDE charter that nations within the alliance adhere to for your own inquiry. I wish you the best of luck in your struggles and hope to hear from your leadership soon.

Yours in good faith,
Emperor Evan Barrineau

National Coalition of Defense and Economy Charter

Onboard the Evan Empire Aircraft Carrier Defender Patrolling Open Ocean in the MindWalker Region:

Major General Eckard of Naval Group 19 stood watching the flight deck activity below him from the bridge of the Carrier Defender when the vessel’s commanding Minor General joined him: “Sir we’ve just received long range LO-BEAM communication from the Naval Forces Supreme General within Command HQ. The Evan Empire has committed to the MindWalker conflict supporting the Kaiser and Command wants us to deploy 90 miles off the coast of MindWalker with the possibility of more forces arriving in time.”. General Eckard responded resolutely: “Very well, increase our carrier patrol size to 2 Flight Groups and proceed to travel at full capacity to the coast of MindWalker, I will convey these orders to the rest of the Naval Group.”. In short time Eckard contacted the vessels within the fleet and the Naval Group began their journey to the coast of MindWalker in formation.

Complete unit specifications here:Military Units





Each Evan Empire Naval Group contains 1 Carrier, 2 Missile Cruisers, 2 Support Ships, and 1 Submarine.





Carriers carry 30 Evan Interceptors while support ships carry and deploy various vehicles such as “Hummingbird” light helicopters, “Dragonslayer” tanks, “Foundation” IFV’s, and inflatable watercraft for infantry personnel.



Evan Empire ground forces personnel and the Compact Bullpup Carbine (CBC). Each Vessel contains 3 Units of 12 naval infantry personnel.

[The 4th August Regime of Greece]

Ioannis Metaxas began to see the winds of the Kaiser strengthening. He ordered for the Admiral of the Theocratic 4th August Navy, Stavros Miholao Nikitas to "show the world 4th August power!". It was code. The ships stationed "safely" in the ports of the Kafka shores was a lulling tactic for the international community. In reality two of the submarines had already ventured to a minor Kaiser port. Why? For to very important reasons. One was to show the forces of the Kaiser and allies of the Kaiser that the 4th August Regime of Greece had a powerful navy and to not underestimate the power of the Theocratic 4th August Navy. Another point was that this port was situated between Boris territory and Kaiser mainland territory. If they could destroy some of the ships this could lower the chances of coastal attacks against the Kafka and even serve as a good advantage against the Kaiser if the Kafka forces ever wanted to retake Boris's land. If they could destroy the majority of the ships of the port and even structures in the port itself then they can be the dominant sea faring force in the area.

While the Admiral was preparing his orders the Prime Minister, Ioannis Metaxas readied a letter to the Großdeutsches Reich stating the following:

To: Kaiser Wilhelm von Hohenzollern of the Großdeutsches Reich
From: Prime Minister and Minister of Defence, Ioannis Metaxas of the 4th August Regime of Greece

"The meeting with Nyevsky has been completed. The 4th August Regime of Greece is ready to negotiate with the Großdeutsches Reich. I, myself will be hosting the meeting in the 4th August capital, Thessaloniki. I expect negotiations to be fruitful and necessary to prevent further conflict and genocide between the two belligerents. The meetings topics will be that of the attitude of the Kafka Family and the Kaiser, Peace and movement in the waters of MindWalker. Hopefully we can come to an agreement in some of these aspects."

After sending the letter to the Großdeutsches Reich, Ioannis Metaxas was hopeful for the outcome of the war to be in the Kafka favour. He hoped that the Kafka could at least be recognised as an autonomous republic and to be recognised as a rightful ethnic and religious group in Mindwalker by the Kaiser. At most he hoped for a full conquest of MindWalker with the Kafka on top or an independent Kafka state. In any event he would not abandon the Kafka. He would support them with both his military and diplomatic power. "The Orthodox faith" he said "Will rise".

The Admiral of the Theocratic 4th August Navy, Stavros Miholao Nikitas was on the telephone with the commander of the operation. The commander stated "There are approximately 2 Frigates, 2 Destroyers and 5 submarines stationed in the port". The Admiral replied " Primarily target the Destroyers and Magazine Stores. The rest are bonuses". The Commander requested permission to fire the submarines torpedoes. The permission was granted. The Submarines fired their torpedoes at the 2 destroyers which resulted in one sinking due to the torpedo hitting it's magazine and the other one being critically damaged. The Submarines would fire 6 more torpedoes each before retreating back to their base. By the end of this "Coastal raid" the 2 destroyers had sunk, 3 magazine outposts had been destroyed, 2 frigate had sunk, 1 submarine was critically injured and 4 submarines were sunk. One submarine had missed his shots and accidentally destroyed a warf and a floating buoy. The two submarines then turned their attention to the port control tower. They synchronised their shots and launched a harpoon missile each at the tower. The tower crumbled. Seeing as they had only 1 harpoon missile and 1 torpedo left the Submarines retreated back into the depths and were heading back to their ports of origin. Their mission was a success.

Seeing this as a great opportunity to show off, the Theocratic 4th August Frigates still in port launched blue and white flares into the sky. The colours of the 4th August Regime of Greece's flag were now across the air and sea. The Rear Admiral, Nikolaos Stefanopoulos who was inspecting the ships that day cried out on a loudspeaker stating "The sea of Orthodoxy remains protected". This was the Theocratic 4th August Navy's motto which in turn caused a roar among the sailors listening to the Rear Admiral. The Submarines were re stockpiled and were stood down. The port was secure as radar detection and anti submarine mines were added to increase security. The Navy was firm.

[Vadia]

Shan
June 16th, 2016
12:00PM

There was a two lane road out of the area, which then moved into the next province which had a four-lane paved road, likely built years ago by the Han. It had to be repaired in a number of places, but it was still there, it was still a road more or less. One might as well be driving over open ground with all of the holes in it, but it was a road. The people didn't pay the visitor's much mind, just as the visitors didn't pay them much mind. With this, the Nod forces were almost in position for tonight's attack, with some space in the event the Han forces turned around. Should things go wrong, they were somewhat close to MPoV territory, and they had multiple routes of escape. The land seemed very damaged, most of it barely able to be used for growing food, with the many buildings from the era of Han, in a state of ruin. There was a number of areas that were clearly looted, fired upon, and/or left empty.

The earlier Han forces were equipped with Type-56s, and thus they had limited reach and limited firing capacity. The ammo was fairly heavy, and the magazines of milled steel didn't help at all. The Han forces couldn't be using a heavier magazine, even heavier than the stamped AKM magazine that was sometimes used as a hammer or weapon. Granted, they typically moved in armored vehicles, and thus likely had more magazines in the vehicle. Getting those magazines out of the vehicle, while they were being fired upon, was tricky, but possible.

These were said to be PLA Ground Forces, however. This meant more accurate fire, more fire, and longer ranged fire; from the 5.8×42mm round. From the sides or back, a good sniper rifle or GPMG could ruin the earlier APCs, but these were IFVs they would face, much better protected they were.

Then again; who sent these divisions? Where did they come from? Where did they get their fuel and ammo?

---

Luc' Territory
June 16th, 2016
1:00PM

The city now had another few thousand wounded, killed, or captured. It wasn't clear where those who were taken, exactly went. While the city certainly had a lot more people to use, the land in the area was a different story. With 20,000 of the enemy spread over such an area and able to move 20 MPH in even rough terrain, the unharvested potatoe, carrot, and wheat fields were destroyed, set alight, or eaten. A few hundred hamlets were destroyed, whether do to the fighting, enemy forces using them for target practice, or general destruction of friendly resources. At least 10 percent of the region was in a state of serious ruin, enough that it almost might as well be written off for the rest of the year. This wouldn't bode well for a region in a state of what was drought; and now was famine.

---

MPoV
June 16th, 2016
2PM

Looking over at the lands that were now removed of Han presence, lands she knew of well and traded with, she made her decision. Vixen then gave a short speech about how the territory north was unclaimed, and that because she knows herself to be good of heart and able to rule, she will claim it for her own. She wishes not to disturb the lives of the citizens living within her realm, her Shan allies, but wished to provide them the safety and security the comes with being a citizen of MPoV and Luk'. When asked to comment further by a reporter, she stated. "I'm a capable leader, these people were left out in the open by not having an official faction, and so I am taking them in to provide that."

She moved in 4,000 of her "Jumbo" mercenaries and covered the various paths into the area. Over the course of the hours her forces moved in, the flag of the Shan People was raised, with the flag of Luc' and MPoV just below it, respectfully. Her officials, decided that the area had already paid it's dues and tithes, at least for the rest of this year. It was with this that Luc' had it's borders at least technically expanded, and felt the economic and political strength that came with it. These new areas would now be better equipped, and would serve as a good advance warning and buffer from further "Han aggression".

---

Kaiser Territory
June 16th, 2016
3PM

While the new Kaiser had been supplied with a good expanded supply of weapons and gear, enough that in a few weeks he would have a series of professonal divisions, better than even his current conscripted ones. Earlier, his brother had taken pride in how their forces had flak jackets and steel helmets, while the enemy graveled under, at best, a laminated cloth helmet with a plastic coating. The enemy had firefighter helmets, baseball helmets, and various other helmets made of soft metals or hard plastics. They even blundered into buying up MAK-47s, which then had their sights break off, their rivets slowly come loose, and their furniture snap in two like "Balsa wood". His men had black AKMSes, with folding stocks and the ability to accept Soviet scopes, not to mention much more availability of tanks and APCs.

As the war dragged on and he found himself raising up a large conscript army, which then was put back to rest during the planting and harvesting periods, he found himself forced to make the same laminated cloth helmets. He found himself leaning on stamped SMGs, the KP/44 and improved versions of the STEN.

He was dead now, and his brother found a nation that was doing better then the previous section of the civil-war, with many allies and ample resources. AK-74s, RPK-74s, AKS-74Us, PKMs, MG-3s, newer steel helmets, better webbing, eye-protection. His new forces, looked like a lot better than his old ones, when you compared the two.

Despite this, it would be days before he could get together an armor division, and two infantry ones, to push the enemy off the beach.

[Nyevzky]

---

- GSO Operation -

---

the Nyevzkyan agents had noticed the presence of the helicopter, the one in charge of ensuring the perimeter had detected it minutes ago, but could not open fire and give away its position. Ekaterina looked at the man, restraining herself from hitting him, not letting them see that she was frustrated and angry. Footsteps, footsteps and forts were heard, suddenly Mark Pseto quickly and desperately entered the farm, went to the man who had spoken earlier and gave him a strong blow to the jaw.

Ekaterina Sokolova: Wait, no!

Mark Pseto: It would be better if you pray that the helicopter is not from Nod.

Mark drew a Yaryguin pistol and pointed that man in the jaw. He signaled to Ekaterina not to interfere, if it was not for Ekaterina, the group of agents would have already beaten him and tortured the three men, Ekaterina went to a mountain of straw that was inside the barn, from there she took out an Mp5k. With the gun in hand, she lean her back against the door of the barn and point the gun, leaning stealthily to be hidden and have vision from the outside.
three other Nyevzkyan agents were in their positions, hidden and camouflaged, watching the helicopter approaching. She would not hesitate to open fire if it was Nod's men, no agent would doubt it.

Mark Pseto: If one of my agents suffers a wound, I will blow your head.

Mark squeezed the trigger slightly, but without firing the gun. Right now, the man from Nod who was being intimidated by Mark felt fear, since Mark was not a man of doubts and was not as benevolent as Ekaterina. The agents were waiting at the precise moment to shoot or, arrest the helicopter crew.

[The Black Hand of Nod]

-Shan Territory-
The Nod Division made good time partly due to the air resupply of Nod aircraft, this territory was clearly ravaged and too ruined to support many but the Black Hand didn't have time to do any sightseeing anyway, for their tanks and vehicles the road may have been rough, but it was a road, there were even enough flat parts for them to fly in replacement parts and extra ammo and supplies, Nod already planning on setting up an observation base somewhere along the road in order to ward off future Han invasions and to give them a nice safe location to resupply and possibly fallback to if the war in Mindwalker went south and they were forced to evacuate Jacob. The fact that they were to be facing hardened forces possibly with heavier firepower and better equipped troops was worrisome, thankfully Nod was bringing a little firepower of their own, while Nod was hesitant about operating fixed wing aircraft openly within Mindwalker territory as long as the Han had possible air defenses to the North, Nod had limited their attacks to using Helicopter assets with transport planes making quick drop and runs when they could. For this though, Nod felt secure enough to risk bringing in some heavy air support, a Nod AC-130 being set to deploy itself along the outermost edge of the attack to provide support against troop concentrations that Nod's own forces couldn't hand, plus having another eye in the sky would be good for communications, though Nod knew there was a risk if the Han forces had any surface to air assets in their unit.

All in all eventually and with much effort, the Nod forces would get into place at the alotted hour, the extra 'gift' from Yeren serving to help keep the troops alert for the fated hour. They may not be the hammer, but if need be they'll be the Anvil for the Han to fall upon.

-Nyevzky capture op-
The Nod soldier knew they were panicking on the inside and part of that filled him with a bit of sadistic glee... the impact of the wound barely fazing him as the Helicopter came to a stop outside the house, thankfully it appeared to be a simple transport helicopter... though the number of guards manning it made it clear trying to capture it was impossible... it seemed they had lucked out and it was actually one of the Evacuation choppers having stopped upon spotting their truck. The wounded man may have felt fear but he also knew the agents were just as afraid... he had to talk fast to safe his, and perhaps even their own lives, because he knew if they fired the Nod soldiers outside would turn the barn into a charnel house before they'd even set foot inside. "I could bluff them you know..." he said softly, "Tell me what you see out there and I'll give you your options..."

[Nyevzky]

---

GSO conflict

---

Mark, the leader of the group observed Ekaterina, she was signaling with her hands, a rescue helicopter had landed that was escorted by soldiers from Nod, now, the situation was difficult; they could not shoot if this helicopter was a rescue, but they could not do anything if there were soldiers of Nod in the crew. The guard of the group of agents, was still in the grasslands, obsevo as the helicopter came down several men in black clothes and weapons, walking with firm steps. He had to make a quick decision, some soldiers had gone to investigate the Barn, they were at the main door that was open.

If he fired, there could be casualties on both sides and also put Nyevzky in serious trouble, but it was also the safest way to "save his life", If his mission was to kill the soldiers, it would have been an easy mission, because they were exposed and had not noticed his presence. However, he decided to take a less violent decision, do nothing and wait for his companions.

the other three agents were hiding behind the house that was located next to the barn, they ran with the luck that the soldiers were interested first in the barn.
two of the three agents who were behind the house, poked their eyes to identify some soldiers, stealthily headed towards the back of the barn. Then, the remaining agent stayed in the house, he was very nervous of the situation, he should not take any decision by his will, except if it is extremely necessary.

Meanwhile, it seems that the future of the mission and the integrity of the group was in the hands of Ekaterina. Mark spoke to him in sign language, "If you have to shoot, just do it", then he turned his gaze to Nod's captured soldier and said softly and close to his ear "If you scream or ask for help, we will kill them all", then he looked at Ekaterina again, Mark nodded to her as a sign that Ekaterina will do what he had to do.

Hundreds of ideas, possibilities, decisions and consequences passed through Ekaterina's mind in fractions of seconds, She could feel the footsteps of Nod's soldiers up close, she was being tortured by the idea of being captured and the idea of having to kill a Nod soldier, Mark could not move from his place, it would make too much noise and that would draw attention. Then, Ekaterina opted for the only viable option, shoot. She will not kill the soldiers, but at least she would try to leave them on the ground with shots in the leg, Mark would do the same as Ekaterina, so he was preparing. Then, the solution had been found, if the soldiers of Nod entered the Barn and discovered the Nyevzkyan Agents, they would open "non-lethal" fire against them. There is also the possibility of kidnapping the soldiers of Nod who had arrived from the helicopter, even though this was very difficult since they did not know the total amount of soldiers that existed.

Ekaterina knew that there would be fire, in 95% of the cases, the soldiers of Nod would return the shots, but Ekaterina would suffer the consequences, She would receive most of the shots or die, because he was not in good coverage against shooting, unlike Mark who was better covered, but she was willing to sacrifice herself even if this meant saving her comrades, if it were to open fire.

Hayes was still under the control of Nod's soldiers ...

[The Black Hand of Nod]

-Nyevzky operation-
It seemed that they had lucked out this time, while this was a rescue helicopter, it wasn't to rescue the Nod soldiers, no this was a Helicopter on it's way back from a rescue of people who had been located in the path of the out of control wild fire and the Nod soldiers had been ordered to merely visit the farm to alert the people who lived there that they may need to evacuate if the fire spread to their area... this meant that on the plus side the guards weren't aware of the threat, on the downside they had civilians aboard the helicopter and any attempt to capture them could lead to civlians in the crossfire, or the Black Hand helicopter crew using them as hostages. Either way the barn group luckily stopped once they realized the house had people and they'd attempt to talk to the disguised agents, the men looking wary because while they weren't too on edge, the news of the truck attack had gotten around, they suspected there were spies somewhere in the area, but at this time it wasn't their job to deal with it.

The Nod prisoner made no sound, while he was slightly afraid he was also pretty confident in his people, he knew that one way or another, if he died here, his killers wouldn't be leaving this country in anything but a body bag... the recruited locals were nervous as hell, but at this point the fact that their prisoner takers seemed just as nervous seemed to relax them as it humanized the Nyevzky agents.

-Nod POW camp-
Hayes was lucky enough to be the first and thus in the POW corner of the refugee camp he pretty much had the place all to himself, they threw him in a crude but acceptable barracks and said he could be expecting more questioning once they finish dealing with the latest Han incursion, he also was soon to learn that his status as being the only prisoner wasn't going to last long, for Nod was already trying to round up any Han soldiers who surrendered and was quickly transporting them to the camp as well, hope Hayes knows some Chinese.

[Nyevzky]

---

-Barn-

---

Ekaterina heard the footsteps move away, Mark Pseto observed her and spoke in sign language "Do not go out", Ekaterina observed him and disobeyed him, she had the possibility of ambushing the soldiers who were entering the house, however, she thought there were three agents in the house and that worried her, that thought forced her to make a bad decision and disobey her leader, the two agents who were behind the barn, entered the barn from the back only to meet the soldiers of Nod kidnapped and Mark. Meanwhile, the agent who was in the house was very nervous, he knew that there were soldiers from Nod could identify him and that compromised the other agents.

Mark felt his heart beat rapidly, this was because Ekaterina was leaving the barn with weapons in hand, Ekaterina had not realized that behind the helicopter was another soldier from Nod, a soldier who was already pointing at him, Ekaterina managed to ambush Nod's soldiers, but she did not shoot them, she shouted "Drop your weapons, you will be arrested", when the Nyevzkyan soldiers heard the voice of Ekaterina, they prepared their weapons, vveryone would have gone to help her, but for Mark to tell Barn Agents not to move from their places.

However, the agent who was in the house decides to leave his hiding place and face the soldiers of Nod, even though this agent was badly positioned and was at a disadvantage if the soldiers of Nod decided to shoot, the agent who was hiding in the grasslands was shocked when he observed how the soldier of Nod who was watching the helicopter shot Ekaterina. The agent heard the cries of pain from his comrade and watched as he writhed on the floor, the bullet had hit his back but he had not killed her instantly, the agents who were inside the barn decided to leave by the back part, without being detected, they went slowly towards the house.

Ekaterina had not died but was not well at all, GSO had an agent injured in the middle of a possible combat. The agent who was in the grasslands left his shock to concentrate on the soldier of Nod who was near the helicopter, even though he had shot ekaterina, the agent was not sure to open fuego against the soldier of Nod.

[The Black Hand of Nod]

-Nyevzky Operation-
-Nod Evacuation Chopper-
The Nod soldiers had not been there for the men, they hadn't been there even expecting a fight, but when she shouted the order they responded accordingly.
"Like hell WA scum!!!"
The soldier had opened fired instinctively, partly out of shock but partly out of insult at the demand, the soldier only seeming to recognize what had happened after it was done.
"Shit, SHIT, who the hell was that, CONTACTS, WE HAVE CONTACTS!"
The man said the sound of his gun quickly alerting the pilot that something was wrong, what's worse the scream coming from inside the chopper showed that there were more than nod agents aboard and now they were terrified as well.

Seeing the situation was going south fast the Helicopter pilot quickly got on the radio and contacted command while rapidly trying to wave the Nod soldiers near the house to fall back, which they did, but not before laying down some suppressing fire in the direction of the first shot.
"This is Red Halo 5 we have hostiles at coordinate C24... repeat hostile contacts at C24... unknown number, unknown weaponry."
The response was near instant.
"Red Halo 5 this is Wolfpack 3 will be over your area in 30 seconds, order all teams to fall back to the Chopper, we're designated the House as a free range target."
The Nyevzky agents heard the second helicopter before they saw it, the heavily armed chopper passing over the field as it began circling around the area, a spotlight shining down at the building.
"Be advised, thermals detect on target in the field keep your distance."
The Nod squad turned in one blow two firing in the direction of the concealed field agent as the helicopter circled over head, a flare deploying over the center of the cleared area between the houses.

"ATTENTION, PUT DOWN YOUR WEAPONS AND STEP OUT OF THE BUILDING OR YOU WILL BE FIRED UPON, I REPEAT STAND DOWN AND EXIT THE BUILDINGS OR YOU WILL BE FIRED UPON!"

-Barn-
Inside the Barn the sole Nod agent simply slumped his head forwards and then looked at Mark before sighing in resignation as he watched step out, the agent wincing as he heard the burst of gunfire.
"If we live through this, you really need to do something about that insubordination..." As the outside turned to chaos the two Nod rookies just seemed to panic more while the Agent seemed to sigh. "Here's hoping they don't just lob a rocket through the window."
He muttered as the demand to surrender came out.

-Nod Base Jacob-
In the aftermath of the attacks more reinforcements were flown in, this time a mix of more supplies and even a handful of fixed wing aircraft, with the news of possible air attacks by the Reich fleet, or the EE, they realized they needed better defenses and weapons.

[Reorganisieren Reichregierung]

Open Ocean

"Schieße!"
"Gottverdamt!"
"Gott in Himmel!"

First, the RWRs went off, showing they have detected a naval radar. Before a preemptive attack on the source of the radar could be launched, a tanker unleashed a wave of missiles upon the fleet. Every ship that could unleashed a volley of CIWS fire (both missile and gun), interceptor missiles, chaff and decoys at the missiles, while jammers activated, while as an act of vengeance, several P-800s were fired at the tanker.

Just after the engagement began, a destroyer captain, taken by surprise, fired missiles at the other 3 ships with the tanker. Saying that they were probably "merchant cruisers" as well, he gave the order to fire, even when some said they might be civilian vessels, and he may face vilification, and be court martialed for any trouble the Reich gets if they were civilian vessels. The captain called them cowards and cursed at them, then sent a message to Großadmiral von Holtzendorff, saying that whatever would happen due to his decision would be his responsibility. Some other captains followed his lead and soon, several missiles began streaking towards the "merchant cruisers". Only time would tell whether this was justified or not.

Even before the smoke cleared, von Holtzendorff ordered the carrier air groups to get in the air and take out any "merchant cruisers", with the help of RWRs and ELINT aircraft, and search for the submarine that had bugged them for the last few days. It had broke contact in the area, and was more likely than not associated with the converted tanker that has just fired on them.

---

---

From His Majesty's Desk

---

Im Auftrag auf Seine Kaiserliche und Königliche Majestät, Der Großdeustches Kaiser

---

TO: Prime Minister and Minister of Defence, Ioannis Metaxas of the 4th August Regime of Greece

---

I accept your invitation and I will send my Reich Foreign Minister Hans-Rudolf von Krosigk to Thessaloniki to discuss this issue. I hope that these negotiations would be fruitful and we might come to an understanding regarding at least some matters.

---

Wilhelm III von Hohenzollern
Seine Majestät, Der Großdeutsches Kaiser und König von Preußen
Führer des Großdeutsches Reich

[The Black Hand of Nod]

-Open Ocean-
Despite appearances the "Merchant Cruisers" weren't defenseless either, their own decoys and jammers going active as the tanker continue to unload it's barrage of missiles at the hostile fleet, including it's own 'defensive' missiles firing off towards the incoming Anti-ship missiles aiming towards the other cargo vessels and it's own, supersonic or not, between the several dozen standard missiles and defensive aids 2 of the Merchant Cruisers were able to fire off their own spread of missiles, in their case, Exocets concealed in cargo containers, the good dozen firing off in the direction of the attacking destroyers... all except for the third ship which sadly was just a normal merchant ship that had no clue what was going on before it was promptly hit and crippled from the barrage of missile fire... of the Tanker itself, facing death and certain destruction, it continued to let off salvo after salvo, a full blown Alpha strike on the enemy fleet leaving the Reich Navy to face around 340 missiles of various types, even a few dozen Standard missiles firing off towards any aircraft in the air, all in all it was very clear the Reich Navy wasn't going to get out of this untouched, still despite this all the Reich had the volume of more ships to Nod, and eventually one of the missiles would break through Nod's own anti-missile fire, one of the merchant ships and the Tanker itself taking a hard hit, the container ship quickly being crippled while only the tanker's armor held it together...

[Reorganisieren Reichregierung]

Open Ocean

---

Apparently, judging a book by it's cover was a bad idea, as the merchant cruisers unleashed a volley of missiles upon the fleet. A swarm of interceptor missiles rose to meet them, while P-800 and Kalibr missiles, together with other kinds of missiles, fell upon the enemy fleet like hail. Adding to the interceptor swarm was a field of flak formed by CIWS and main gun fire, while chaff and decoys filled the sky. Jammers and other electronic countermeasures went off like crazy, breaking the locks of enemy missiles. Several submarines decided to fire torpedoes at the enemy ships.

More surprisingly, the merchant cruisers had concealed air defenses, which launched missiles towards aircraft, which promptly let loose flares and decoys. These aircraft then proceeded to fire anti-shipping missiles at the offending vessels. Heavy smoke from the location of the enemy fleet was spotted.

---

[The 4th August Regime of Greece]

After receiving the letter from the Großdeutsches Reich, Ioannis Metaxas prepared himself and the Parliament for the meeting. He sent a chauffeur to the airport the Großdeutsches Reich's Minister of Foreign Affairs would arrive at. The chauffeur would then transport the Minister to Parliament where the meeting would take place. The chauffeur is now currently waiting outside the airport, ready to transport the minister.

In the meantime, there were orders from the Supreme Commander of the Theocratic 4th August Army, Haralambos Tsoukoglou at hand. He had instructed 5,000 of his troops to aid the Black Hand in their conquests against the Han. With these fresh troops he would be carrying 10 000 crates of ammunition, thousands of guns ranging from Dragunov Sniper Rifles to MG 42 Machine Guns. They would also take 50 Katsuyah Missile Launchers and 130 000 Missiles to the battle as well for further support. However the Field Marshall on the ground remained with the rest of the troops in Kafka territory and instructed a Petty Officer by the name of Moustiakos (Moustache) to lead the charge against the Han. Moustiakos wasted no time as he instructed troops to unite with Black Hand troops. He instructed hour long Katsuyah Barrages against the enemy to lower their moral and weaken their grip on the land they occupied. Those who attempted to charge against their lines were mowed down by MG 34's and MG 42's. Sniper fire was also common if the Han troops dared to peak their head. If they did they were met with bullets from either a Dragunov or a Sako TRG. The Black Hand had got their reinforcements and the two belligerents were ready for an offensive. The Han's time was up!

The Navy also had orders to carry out. 3 Hydra Class frigates were instructed to cause a distraction on the Kaiser's coasts. A big one. They were instructed to launch a barrage of RIM-162 EESM's, Harpoon Missiles and Mark 46 Torpedoes at any military naval vessel, port or watch tower they could find. Their first priority was safety as they did not want to lose any of their ships, well at least not in a diversion. They would travel the coastlines of 2229 and the north half of 2230. This would secure their position in island and make it impossible for the Kaiser to attack the Kafka island. It would also serve as a temporary diversion and make for a very convincing facade for what the 4th August Regime's real goals were. The blitzkrieg on water was something to behold. It was a mixture of smoke, fire and oil. The ships would continue their objective until they were out of explosives. They attempted to continue with their guns but it did not offer the same amount of damage as the missiles did. After launching a couple of torpedoes at a lone destroyer, the ships departed back to their Kafka island ports. It seemed the seas were their's for the taking.

The 4th August Regime readied the men for take off into MindWalker. The reinforcements would arrive in two days time. Their would be more ships, more planes and more troops on the ground of MindWalker. The Kafka would be recognised. Whether it be in military success or diplomatic compromise. Orthodoxy would prevail in MindWalker.

[Vadia]

MPoV
June 16th, 2016
6:00PM

Empty land, pushing back Han forces, it was the same process as before. "Saint Mistress" Vixen, Countess of "Meek", gave another speech on this further expansion of her territorial hold. Promises were made to the Shan and depowered Gospodins, carving up something less than 6% of the new land to their ownership. This was enough to get both groups to chip in around half a division of light military forces and secure the area over the process of several hours.

The justification for this specific land consisted of "containment of Han and the reduction of their territory and resources, as is natural for a nation winning against an aggressor, and interested in reducing their future military threat." Other reasons that were listed and explained consisted of: "Cutting the invading forces in two, with their supply lines separate from some of their forces"; and "providing security at a reasonable taxation expense, with future plans of industrialization, trade, training of local forces." At the same time, she was quick to suggest that "This future system of lenient confederation and minor power sacrifice will pay off in the short and long term, The State of Luk' is great and the people within our borders will be the fuel to make a new age where we can search for true development and safety within Klazia, starting within our own borders."

The forces in the area got bogged down, taking popshots all along the north. Vixen and her team of commandos landed in the area and traded fire with the enemy, before doing a fighting retreat to get some wounded out. It is believed that in the morning, the enemy HQ will be spotted and bombarded to dust.

---

Battle of The Four Nations
June 16th, 2016
10:00PM

The northern rear of the two Han armor divisions wasn't prepared for an attack from that angle. They were only minorly prepared for an attack from the east flank or a curved southwestern attack. Yeren provided solid T-90S "Bhishma" and T-72 "Ajeya", within two highly experianced armor divisions of their army. "Meek" provided :icontevo77777:
MI Titan 7M2Vs, within their solidly trained and led armor division, which was up to a solid second world standard as well. Outnumbered, the Han weren't much able to fight, even with their technology and training, or experiance. Those they faced could match them in night-vision, and when it came to tanks and armor, they were outmatched. You can only go so far with tanks that can't hurt your enemy's tanks. The addition of August forces towards the end of the battle made things even more in the favor against Han, traveling three provinces quickly was hard, but they had done it.

All three attacking angles had minimal losses and inflicted around 5% dead, 25% wounded or disabled, and the rest surrendering. Now the discussion as to what to do next had to start. What would be done with the POWs? Who would get the gear that was still in reasonable condition or at least repairable?

Moustiakos was now in a position where his men simply had to rest, and they could then turn around to start taking the fight to the Han, up in the north.

---

Luc'
June 17th, 2016
12PM

At midnight a lucrative offer was made to the various backers and allies of the new Luc' regime. Since the power shift, the trade, political, and military relationship with Yeren was much better. The past month or so saw a solid increase in income, military victories against the Drug Elimination Alliance, Kaiser, and especially the Han. Despite this, the territory that was the most northwest was in bad condition. The land that was held by Boris was also very badly damaged. Now the capital provinces were in horrible disrepair and would be in even worse condition after the fighting to take them back. That would make six provinces that had to be heavily repaired over this year and it would take time to do the repairs needed. Crop harvests appeared to be higher than last year, but a lot of food was still lost in the fighting and banditry. Some food still had to be imported, enough that it was a considerable expense. Ammunition supplies constantly had to be refilled and were emptied, and it was only this November when the next "Fighting Season" would kick into high gear.

For their assistance, Nod would be able to help pick from a number of canidates, for who would lead over the two capital provinces. The new leadership wanted to be someplace more central and secure, harder to get to by invasion. This also put it closer to all possible trade lanes, as it wasn't possible to trade with Kaiser. The children, siblings, and staff of various lost warlords and mistresses were being selected. Only two would rule over the recaptured lands.

The traitor who handed over the land to Kaiser was now dead, and should the land be retaken, a similar offer was made to the "Fourth August Regime of Greece". They would help pick from the candidates, over who would rule over these lands, when they were retaken.