The Coming Storm (IC/ATTN AFAASA/INVITE ONLY)

[Aursi]

Statement From President

Aursi has left the corrupt organization called AFAAS. Aursi declared war on Ukraine just because of AFAAS, but AFAAS doesn't exist in Aursi. Thats why, All Aursian Forces are called returned. Aursi shall participate in peace conference, but will not fight anymore.

[Mitheldalond]

Théodwyn Strike Group.
Ionian Sea, 150nmi South of Otranto:

“We’ve already sent the request to the Turkish government,” said Admiral Arendil, Commander-in-Chief of the Mitheldalondian Navy. “So you should be able to take your task force through the Straits in about a week, but depending on how the situation develops, those orders may change.”

“Understood, Admiral,” said Commodore Erik Hamason, nodding in acknowledgement. “Incidentally, what kind of ship is Théodwyn supposed to be for the passage?”

“A vertical replenishment oiler,” Arendil replied. The quality of the video call made it difficult to tell, but Hamason could have sworn the admiral was trying not to grin. “You’ll be using that classification for the transit through the Straits, and as much as possible while in the Black Sea.”

“I see,” Hamason said, sounding thoroughly unconvinced. “And we think the Turks will buy that?”

Arendil shrugged. “Why not? You do perform both of those missions on a regular basis after all,” he pointed out. “Théodwyn was designed with extra capacity to refuel your escorts, and your helicopters deliver mail and other supplies to those escorts all the time. It’s technically a completely accurate description of her capabilities. Well, some of them anyway,” he added. “And classifying her as an auxiliary means she won’t count against the tonnage limits for foreign ships in the Black Sea.”

Hamason nodded, conceding the point. “Very well, Admiral,” he said, moving onto his next question. “And am I correct in understanding that I am to send the Lothíriel through the Straits ahead of time? Can we even do that?”

“Technically, no. Probably not,” Arendil admitted. “The Montreaux Convention has no provision for allowing foreign submarines into the Black Sea, but it also doesn’t explicitly prohibit it either. It would probably upset the Turks if they found out we snuck a submerged submarine through the Straits, but there’s no reason they should find out; they’re certainly not going to detect an Uinen-class boat, especially not with so much civilian traffic in such a congested area.” He leaned forward slightly, resting his arms on his desk. “Besides, the safety of your task group is more important. For all we know, the entire Ukrainian submarine fleet could be parked right outside the Bosphorus, just waiting to torpedo the first warship that comes through. Or they could have a minefield set up. We need the Lothíriel in there ahead of your fleet to scout out the area and provide forward security. Plus, it wouldn’t hurt to get a head start on clearing out the minefields the Ukrainians have set up around their coast.”

“Understood, sir,” replied Commodore Hamason. “And as to these special rules of engagement, we are ‘to avoid Ukrainian deaths and the destruction of equipment and facilities vital to their national defense as much as possible, and to exhaust all peaceable means to resolve any confrontation with Ukrainian forces,’” he continued, reading from his orders.

“Correct,” Arendil confirmed. “The view of our government is that the slavery policies enacted by Yagerenko are not widely supported by the Ukrainian people, or even most of their government. While we don’t believe that there’s anything to be gained by negotiating with Yagerenko himself, our government believes that with enough pressure, the Ukrainian parliament can be convinced to remove him from power. There are also concerns that weakening their military too much could leave Ukraine vulnerable to another Russian invasion. Remember Commodore, your primary mission in the Black Sea is to interdict slave ships and combat other slaver activities in the area, not to fight the Ukrainian military.”

Hamason snorted quietly. “Respectfully Admiral,” he began. “That isn’t the kind of mission that requires an entire carrier group, unless you’re expecting some pretty substantial resistance.” Arendil nodded in agreement, and Hamason continued. “Normally, I’d be confident in Strike Group 7’s ability to deal with any Ukrainian aggression, but if we can’t takeout their strike assets and bases, or prevent them from keeping us under constant surveillance, then I’m not so sure. How do these rules of engagement apply to Ukrainian airbases and AWACS? Our intelligence indicates there’s quite a few of them flying around out there.”

“You’re allowed to hit their airbases,” the Admiral replied. “But limit your attacks to taking out their runways; don’t go targeting their aircraft on the ground. Runways are easy enough to replace, if time-consuming, but aircraft are a bit more difficult.”

“What if they park their aircraft on the runways to stop us from bombing them?” Hamason asked.

“Acceptable collateral damage,” Arendil said with a shrug. “As for their AWACS… Well, there’s some disagreement about that,” he admitted. “But for now, our stance is that the Ukrainians don’t need AWACS to defend themselves from the Russians. You can take them out if they become a problem, but try not to get too carried away with it.”

“Yes sir,” replied Hamason. “And are these rules of engagement to be extended to their allies, Langenia and the Germans, as well?”

“No,” the admiral stated firmly. “The Ukrainians as a whole may not want slavery, but the nations supporting them are knowingly and deliberately backing a slaver regime, and are to be regarded in accordance with the Amistad Declaration as ratified by the Congress of Mitheldalond. You are free to engage their forces at will, per standard rules of engagement,” he finished. “Any further questions, Commodore?”

“No, sir, I think that about covers it,” Commodore Hamason responded.

“Good,” Arendil replied, satisfied. “Now, you’re aware that an Air Force detachment has been deployed to bases in Israel and Bulgaria, and has already started operations in the Black Sea?” he asked.

Hamason nodded. “Yes sir,” he confirmed. “We’ve already sent one of our helicopters to Bezmer, to support any search and rescue efforts if needed.”

“Excellent,” said the admiral. “Now then, let’s talk about the German airbase in Romania.”

---

Some time later.
Bezmer Airbase, Bulgaria:

“Scramble! Scramble! Scramble!” the base’s scramble alert sounded, shattering the quiet apprehension that had until now been the predominant atmosphere. Ground crew swarmed around the six F-15M Eagles lined up near the runway as the pilots burst from their ready room, running for their planes. Intelligence had reported the Germans were scrambling fighters from their base at Mihail Kogălniceanu Airport, and Théodwyn's Hawkeye had quickly confirmed that over 70 aircraft from the base were moving off to intercept the Aursians. The departure of so many aircraft would leave the base virtually undefended; it was time for the Mitheldalondians to make their move.

Ten minutes later, the six F-15s were roaring down the runway and into the air. Two of the aircraft formed the strike package, each armed with a pair of AGM-130Bs, 4 AGM-154A JSOWs, an ADM-160C MALD-J decoy, and 4 AIM-120 AMRAAMs. The other four aircraft were flying escort with 6 AMRAAMs, a pair of AIM-9 Sidewinders, and a MALD-J each. Six minutes after takeoff, screaming along at treetop level at Mach 1.2, each of the six aircraft fired its MALD toward Mihail Kogălniceanu Airport. The MALD-J incorporated a radar jammer that would suppress any air defenses at the base, and prevent them from shooting down the missiles that were to follow. Two of the escorts then rocketed upwards toward the German AEW plane flying near the base. The lead fighter locked the large aircraft up with his radar and fired an AMRAAM. The two pressed on, looking to ensure the kill on the AWACS, and to distract any defenses from the strike package below.

Eight minutes after takeoff, the strike aircraft were in range. They put themselves into a shallow climb and fired their AGM-130s. Each missile was loaded with 24 BLU-106 runway-cratering submunitions, which would render the base’s single runway completely unusable for the immediate future. Mihail Kogălniceanu served as a civilian airport in addition to a military airbase, and civilian casualties would normally have been a concern with this type of strike, but it was obvious that the Germans had taken over the airport entirely. With over 72 planes crammed into the base, there would be no room left for civilian aircraft.

The strike fighters also fired eight AGM-154A JSOWs at the aircraft parking areas in the military portion of the base – there was little chance of any civilian aircraft being present, but bombing the civilian portions of the airport was considered an unnecessary risk. The JSOWs would spread 1160 combined shaped charge, fragmentation, and incendiary bomblets over the entire area, destroying any aircraft parked there. With their mission accomplished, the six Mitheldalondian fighters would turn back towards their own base as quickly as possible.

Meanwhile, another 8 F-15s, flying out of Hatzor Airbase in Israel, were soaring over the Mediterranean on their way to defend Bezmer from any retaliation. And in the Ionian Sea, the carrier Théodwyn was launching her own fighters toward Campia Turzii Airbase in Romania. With their runway destroyed, the German fighters would be forced to land elsewhere, and Campia Turzii was their most likely destination. Returning from their fight against the Aursians, the Germans would be low on both fuel and weapons, and in no condition to take on a group of fresh, fully loaded Mitheldalondian fighters.

[Yagerist Ukraine]

The council of war has once again assembled in the situation room below the Marinskyy Palace. The mood was tense. Even if Ukraine managed to score a historic victory by wrecking several enemy ships and loosing nothing, concern still painted itself on the faces of the assembled. After all, the enemy had much more than one carrier group to throw around.

"So, it appears that we have hit the hornet's nest. Lakans are coming back for venegance in no time." spoke General Soroka "Four hours ago, our cyberintelligence had intercepted a network of documents coming the Lakan General Staff. They are planning to hit our power grid in order to destabilise our nation."

Soroka did not even flinch as he delivered the news. In his calm professional mind, talking about death was like talking about everyday occurrence.

"I have already called in the Germans and Langenians" Armin Vasyluk responded "We have, as you asked Ataman, requested another one hundred aircraft and several more coastal defense batteries to be deployed to the Southern military region."

"I have already given alert to air defense commands, specifing the priority targets" Soroka continued "The nuclear power plants are to be protected at any cost, as well as thermal plants at Zaporizka, Krivy Rih, Burshtin and Vuhlehirska. If we loose the rest, those facilities should be enough to keep the country running."

"And what about the Black Sea?" asked Ataman.

"We have set a patrol of two Grisha-class corvettes to seal off the Sea of Azov to enemy infiltrators." Soroka spoke calmly revealing his plans "Two Krivak class frigates will patrol the area between Odessa and crimea. Due to danger, our surface fleet will remain at port as of now, except for two Tarantuls on patrols; however three kilos will be deployed near Istambul to attack whatever enemy forces will be present. Remaining three Kilos will be on standby. We are also setting up regular ASW patrols in the Black Sea to prevent any... surprises. Should any enemy make attempts to fly in there, we are ready to make an attempt at air supremacy in the entire black sea. Our Air Fleet is enough to rival combined power of several carrier groups. "

"That does not negate the power of long range weapons. If they launch IRBMs or long range cruise missiles, we may be unable to retaliate." asked concerned Vasyluk.

And then Yagerenko suddenly burst into laughter. A cold, maniacal laughter that chilled those assembled to their bones.

"Perhaps... but I have a perfect idea of how to stop them." Yagerenko laughed "We will use their own bleeding hearts against them!"

"What?" asked Soroka.

"Each major military facility and major infrastructure areas will receive slaves nailed to it!" the Ataman continued "Haven't you read the works of Colonel John Boyd? There are three levels of war; moral, mental and physical. If every time they damage us they kill a slave, they may draw our blood, but every time they do the world will see them as what they are; hypocrites that care nothing for their trash people, but rather for power. They are not here to save the trash, they are here to conquer us - and every one will see it true!"

"Wait, Yevehen. I get that Moskals deserve to pay but.." Vasylyuk wanted to protest, but one cold, malice filled glare from Yagerenko silenced him. "As you wish my Ataman."

"I take that the information warfare units are ready?" the Ataman turned to the Cheif of General Staff.

"As always, my Ataman!" came a firm response.

"Make sure the world knows."

***

---

And so the orders were executed. Hour after hour, new buses filled with Russian slaves arrived at various critical facilities. The slaves were then chained to the walls, often with little protection or regard for their own safety. It was, de facto, a death sentence but no one cared. After atrocities Russians committed, mosst Ukrainians wanted only revenge and were perfectly fine with their oppressors suffering.

Ukrainian air defenses operated on strict emission control, and changed their positions every couple hours. Same happened with the coastal defence missiles. Fake positions were set up using decoys and emitters, with INFOWAR units doing everything to imitate the behaviour of real units.

Combat air patrols would be flying over Black Sea, using AWACS and ESM for constant coverage. Due to small size of black sea, there was nowhere to hide for enemy surface action groups.

Ukrainian ships left the ports as ordered. The tarantuls would "hug" larger fishing vessels, swimming in their radar shadow. Three kilos, prowling like underwater big cats, journeyed towards the western portion of Black Sea, aiming to provide an interception to any enemy ships coming from the Bosphorus. Once in their designated AO, they will hide under the thermocline and speed to 3 knots, awaiting their targets. Ship patrols were set up closer to Ukrainian coast, meanwhile naval aviation brigades received orders to patrol further in sea. And this is where the situation escalated.

At one moment, Ukrainian AWACS picked up enemy surface contacts, identified as belonging to a Ballistic Missile Submarine. Shortly afterwards, the contacts were lost. The AWACS alerted the HQ of western Fleet, which allerted the Naval Aviation Brigade, which responded by sending four Beriev A-40M Albatros ASW planes into the AO.

The patrol modes were quickly set up. Sonobuoys were dropped, and instantly the channels went hot. Large, noisy SSBNs were easy prey, not being designed to quietly infiltrate enemy contested spaces. Once sub's position would be confirmed, three torpedoes would be fired at it, and a new plane would be called out on rotation, sending new Lakan submarines to their graves.

And then, the attack hit.

Having bought into the enemy Maskirovka, Ukrainian Air Defense did not prioritise defense of the railways. As the result, only S-400 could respond, shooting down 18 out of 46 missiles. Only three bridges and port in Odessa were saved. Remaining facilities received heavy damage to outright destruction. The sirens of rescue services blazed loudly as they arrived at the scene, firefighters rushing to extinguish fires and rescue trapped people. Because no one had any idea of the coming attack, hundreds of people were present at the railways before the missiles hit. Their charred bodies now rested under tons of rubble, until they will be finally digged out.

***

---

Shortly after that, the cheif of general staff was summoned to talk to the Ataman in person. He entered the Ataman's office, to see Yagerenko sipping water in front of an antique, baroque desk. Portraits of Bandera and Khmielnitsky hung to his sides, and Ukrainian flag waved behind as Soroka entered.

"They played us like a fiddle!" Soroka shouted, angry and ashamed of the losses "I apologize my Ataman! If I had read through that dece..."

"There is no need, Soroka." the Ataman responded calmly "While losses to our capability to transport our troops are regrettable, we still have a number of troops which can self - deploy using wheeled vehicles. What is SITREP on the information front?"

"Ten information warfare groups have been activated and are spreading the message on the internet, my Ataman. We made it a priority one to get the images of killed civilians to enemy personnel. Additionally, the attack resulted in a major growth of support for our cause at home. Major demonstrations in your favour are now happening in Kiev, Kharkiv, Odessa and Lviv."

"How can we retaliate?" the Ataman narrowed his eyes.

"I have recently talked with Germans and Lagenians. They asked that the retaliation be turned to them and requested us to counterstrike the Mithealondian air base in Bulgaria. A plane of this nation is now flying near our airspace, broadcasting a treasonous message." responded the Cheif of General Staff.

"It is enough to hit them, I suppose..." sighed Yevhen, but then cheered up "I can't believe it! It is perfect!"

"What is perfect, my Ataman?"

Now Yevehen stood up, massive grin painting itself on his face.

"They will keep killing civilians, and in turn my support will rise!" he exclaimed "Millions will grab arms for me and Ukraine, and out of corpses of our enemies a new Ukraine will be born! An Ukrainian Empire will rise from the ashes, and conquer Russia, ushering a new order in Europe!"

"But sir, they were..." Soroka interjected, but was cut:

"Necessary causalities, Soroka." spoke joyfully Yagerenko "Far more innocents will have to die for the cause, but rest assured. The vision of a new Kievian Rus can not be built without that sacrifice."

He left the room with downed mood. Just what happened to the man who once spoke of a noble fight against Russian aggressor? As he left, he could only hear the grim voice of the Ataman saying:

"Order the strike."

***

---

The Mithealondian planes would continue flying and broadcasting, until lights lit up in their cabins, informing them of a radar lock. Shortly afterwards, three 9M96E2 missiles would head for each plane, with intent of shooting it down.

Some time later, 1st Missile Brigade received orders to deploy to firing posts near the city of Belogorod in southern Ukraine. Upon their deployment, 20 Iskander missiles would be fired at Bezmer Airbase in Bulgaria: targetting the hangars, each tipped with a thermometric warhead perfect for dealing with enemy bunkers. The rest of the strike, aiming to knock down the runways, would be left for the Germans to complete.

German planes would be redirected to land in Southern Ukraine, in the Odessa airport.

At the same time, Ukrainian AF would send it's planes to search and rescue for Arusian pilots. Once found, said pilots would be seized, then tortured for information regarding the AFASSA activities and Arusian Air Force.

All across Ukraine, the air force would receive an order to begin an ASAT campaign. Su-27 would climb at their maximum altitudes and fire at Lakan, Mithealondian and AFAASA satellites passing overhead.

Under national mobilisation law, the private citizens were obliged to turn over processing power of their devices to the state whenever it asked for it. Using that law, the state created three new botnets, each about 800 000 devices, and used them to launch attacks at major internet providers in Mithelaond hoping to cause large scale internet disruptions at least for a day.

With that, the regime hoped that damage done to the enemy would be sufficient to make him relent.

[Yagerist Ukraine]

from Setsuzoku Social Network:

Yevhenii Yagerenko (@TheRealAtaman)
Just now from Kiev

To all bleeding heart liberals attacking Ukraine now:

You claim that you attack us to free the salves; but you lie. You care nothing for slaves. You care about power and colonies. You carve the oil and gas we have, and our natural resources. You are exactly like the Moskal trash that oppressed us, and as such, I will expose your lies for the whole world to see.

Every HVT in Ukraine will from now on have slaves nailed to it. Let it be known that every time your pilots will drop a bomb, every time they launch a missile, they will kill a slave.

If what I am saying is not true, and you really care, you will abstain from bombing our infrastructure. If not then the world will trully see your face. But I wonder what you will tell to the families of slaves who died due to your own bombs.

SLAVA UKRAINII- GIERYOM SLAVA!

---

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[Laka Strolistandiler]

from Setsuzoku Social Network:

Lord Mallor (@dukeofdanbury)
Just now from Malta

As the officer in charge of all Imperial military, civilian and other forces participating in the current military conflict against Ukraine, I view it as my duty to clarify, that the common people of Ukraine are, under no circumstances, our targets. They are but a victims of their regime, however it should be noted that we will not stop at anything to achieve our current objectives. Using a slave as meat shields shall not work on us- for unlike some other members of the coalition, we are aiming not to liberate the slaves but rather to destroy the whole system of slavery. Collateral damage may be a subsidiary result of this.

---

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[Laka Strolistandiler]

…A few hours earlier

Hundreds of meters away from the surface, dug deep into the limestone rock of Comino, in a cavern of concrete and steel was located a rather modestly decorated Central Command Post, looking as if it was a supervillian’s lair from 1980’s TV productions. The room was filled with men, women and nonbinaries dressed in all types of uniforms- everyone was present here, the Red Dress-wearing Royal Army, Royal Flying Corps, proudly wearing their dark blue suits, Navy in their white, spotless uniforms, if you would’ve look closely you would’ve noticed a few other uniforms- Space Corps, Marines, VDV, hell, even the IRS, wearing their fear-striking black trench coats- everyone was here! Atop them all stood someone who you’d never even think of to be put in charge of this, essentially, war- a rather old-looking lord in his late 50’s, wearing the Army’s field service uniform and epaulettes indicating her rank as a major general. For a westerner, his face would look like a face of an old teacher, but this was most certainly not the case in here…

…Ladies, men and whoever else is under my command!- he spoke up in a gentle, yet commanding tone, immediately gaining the attention of everyone in the room,- I believe that you’ve all been informed that due to his blabbering incompetence, your previous commander has been ordered to commit a honorable death. Gentlemen (in Laka this word applies to all people of good behavior regardless of gender), as you all know, we tolerate none of these things in war. We’ve encountered an actual enemy here- an enemy unlike those incompetent sub-human slavers we’ve fought against so easily- and our victory here is going to be pricey- both in terms of manpower and material matters. Neither the less, all of you are aware of the immense rises held in the Donbass Region. Moreover than that, all of you are aware that we are fighting not to liberate the slaves but rather to destroy and shatter the mere system of slavery- even if it means killing quite a lot of slaves in the process. They are but hostages in the hands of their captors- and if the easiest way for us to earn them freedom is through death than death it shall be!

---

Understanding that they have essentially poked a hornet’s nest, Lakans would take as many measures as possible to minimize potential damage from a hostile strike. Ships would be spending as much time as possible in shallow waters near the island and away from the base- that way they would be still covered by base’s air defenses and contribute to it themselves, all while being more or less shielded against submarine attacks (there are plenty of sonar buoys there and next to no thermal layer). Whatever ships were staying at dry docks at the moment of the repairs should be already seaworthy at worst, and with this done, dry docks should be left unoccupied unless by civilian or axillary ships (unless something dangerous happens). Voronezh early warning radar will resume operations, with everything possible being done to minimize interference with other electronics equipment. Preparations for functioning of many facilities after the attack will be done, and contingency plans will be reviewed and re-evaluated. Two nuclear reactors that power both bases shall remain operating, however many security checks will be carried out on them. Internal Security Department will also intensify their operations, as will Abwehr and other counter-intelligence services.

Upon being rejected to move into the Black Sea, Lakan SSBN’s are ordered into the several deep areas around the eastern part of the Mediterranean- near the Calypso Deep (if Greece disagrees to this than not there don’t want to violate their maritime border), Central Deep, etc,- it is expected that they will be able to remain there, below the thermal layer until the time for them to be used will arrive. Sitting at low noise mode, they should be able to be safe even in case of them encountering hostile ASW units. Because of that, their escorts are ordered into a different “hunting position”- being reorganized into multiple 2-ship hunting groups, each of them is granted a patrol grid around or near the Africa-Sardinia-Corcisa defensive line. It would be reasonable to believe that the Langenians would attempt to attack their fleet- and anyways would be a better use for the submarines other than sitting somewhere and “collecting dust”.

With the Langenians and the Germans declaring their support for the Ukrainian cause as well as actively engaging with their allies, Lakans have essentially considered the war to be in process of transitioning from a local one to a more or less “Global Local Civil War”, one of which Lakans have fought previously many times…

Mass mobilizations are not a new or unusual things in Laka- these economy-wrecking events almost always accompany rise in international tensions, and this time would not be any different. Some believe that the mere reason for Laka surviving into the modern days is their ability to quickly militarize their entire society to the war effort- and this was just what they were planning to do today.

In all large cities of the Metropoly, as well as in cities (and agglomerations), especially large ones, as well as those that were, for other reasons, deemed especially important for the defense capability of the state, it will be necessary to take a number of measures aimed at minimization of damage from a possible attack by conventional or nuclear munitions. So, on the basis of large enterprises, hospitals, educational institutions, population received additional training for civil defense according to the scenario of a, emergency survival kits were distributed, as well as many civilians being conscripted into “axillary” medical and firefighting services. Miliz have recruited quite some men for their axillary Ed as well. Measures were taken to prepare for the rapid evacuation of both the population and production/other materiel, and measures will be taken to prepare law enforcement agencies for restoring / maintaining law and order in the above scenario.

Colonies were mostly left to their own business, with some colonies taking similar security measures and others- primarily those in Africa, used as a resource source, limiting defenses to protecting the flow of the goods to the metropoly and back. After all, they were very unlikely to go under attack, and even if they would- casualties amongst the locals were something many governors were ready to deal with.

But there was one client state- not even a colony, who opposed the mobilization. The freedom-loving, always-disagreeing Boer colony of Goudkustaat. Ever since they were used as a basis for the “liberation” of Galapagos, Boers were “not big fans” of fighting their Metropoly’s wars- and given their rather relaxed attitude towards slavery, they were pretty much uninterested in the Ukrainian conflict. Sure- the tyrannical government of the Yagerists must be brought down and sure- some of the locals would be eager to get themselves some Ukrainian farm machinery at reduced price, however to them the game was simply not worth the candle.

Meanwhile, Lakans are doing everything they can to persuade Turkey to at very least allow their aviation through. Understanding that given their imperialist and colonial nature, it is nearly impossible for them to win over the public trust, they begin working discreetly- sending envelopes with cash here and there, proposing the Turkish government some very favorable arms reduction treaties (they even say that the nuclear weapons located on Malta may be removed). Moreover than that, they state that their invasion, if successful, is likely to result in Turkey gaining “special” access to Crimea- and who knows, perhaps they will be even ceded the peninsula as a client state…

Lakans begin planning their next assault- which will be directed at destroying their coastal defenses as well as their AD/AA around and in the general vicinity of the Black Sea coast. For now, the strike is in preparatory stage.

Many pilots from the Royal Flying Corps and the Royal Navy’s Air Service will arrive to Greater State of Rhodesia-Zimbabwe, whose armed forces will deploy their S-400’s and use them in mock engagements with allied airplanes, with the primary task being deducing the effectiveness of certain attack patterns and weapons against S-400. Many different approaches are considered, ranging from something as simple as a hypersonic missile attack at launch sites all the way to SSBN strikes. Lakans and Rhodesians, who are their most loyal and trustful allies work together to simulate every part of the equation, including Ukrainian ASW aviation.

That being said, they still needed a way to pinpoint a direct location of the Ukrainian launchers- and there was no better way to do it other than to give them something to fire at! Lakan aircraft engineering firms are no strangers to converting old, outdated planes into both flying targets and drones, and this is precisely what will be done this time. Nearly three dozens of old Fokker D.XXVII (Su-27’s), Pfalz E.XXXIV’s (Su-24’s of earliest modifications) and some other 4-th gen planes, retired will be slowly transformed into flying decoys, able to fully imitate an actual plane. To cover this up, several colonial squadrons using these planes will be transferred to Malta (some time in the future), with the crew members receiving orders to train and prepare for the attack on the S-400’s. Moreover than that, more data regarding supposedly planned second attack via cruise missiles and IRBM’s, this time on Ukrainian nuclear power plants will be “planned” and leaked.

The big “mind game” here is that given their recent failure at deduction, Ukrainian intelligence will surely look through whatever data Lakans leak to them, and will rely on more complex intelligence data gathering methodsl which would then play right at the Lakan hand.

Ukrainian attack on their orbital assets was something Lakans have long anticipated yet, comically enough, we’re not well prepared for. It took them several hours to figure out what precisely was happening, and when they did finally deduce that their enemy was using some type of anti-satellite air-launched missile, up to 7 reconnaissance satellites were lost. Further materiel losses came in when one of the several manned reconnaissance stations- Balthasar-IVB was accidentally deorbited when changing orbits. The reasoning? A swift investigation determined a mechanical malfunction in the control systems of an old station, which spent half a year floating unattended in the space. Luckily for the crew, the station had a rescue vehicle, which transported it’s crew safely down to the ground. After landing somewhere in the Pacific Ocean, they were picked up by a Chinese fishing ship, and later transferred to Royal Hong Kong Axillary Fleet’s fast attack craft. Neither the less, Lakans will continue sending in unmanned satellites from time to time- simply because given their space program’s size and relatively common usage of reusable rockets, even the most drastic losses would be considered sustainable.

[New Antarcticania]

ADF Baikal
0900 hours
Pilot's briefing room, Gallery deck aft.

'FLIGHT OFFICER ON DECK, AT ATTENTION!" a lieutenant Shouts. Everyone snaps their attention towards the door, with every part of their body freezing up near-instantaneously into a statue-like posture.

Even if one was in the other corner of the room, he could still hear the tapping of the Flight officer's boots on the room's steel floor. which was (Thanks to a troublemaking seaman) so clean that one could most likely eat off of it without attaining some illness that would put him out of duty for the quarter. Yet still, none dared to make an comment, or even squirt out the quietest of whispers, as the Flight officer takes to the stands, then which he finally says....
"Be seated"
the entire room, instinctively, sat back down.
"Alright, ladies and gentlemen. If you were either high, drunk, or just too plain stupid to notice. We have entered the Black sea several hours ago. And, with this change in location, command has issued new orders"
The flight officer takes a moment of awkward silence to shuffles the set of papers he has set on the podium up front.
"As you may have heard over the past few days: the events regarding the AFAASA situation has escalated dramatically. Chiefly amongst those escalators is the Queensdom (Yes, you heard that right, Queensdom) of Laka Strolistandiler. Who have -- in supposed retribution of some of the more Drastic measures the Ukrainians have implemented -- Declared total war on the Ukrainian populace. Though it is unconfirmed at the moment, the Lakan government seems to have been shifting into the policy of Killing every slave they see, rather than say, liberating them. To support this effort, Mass mobilization has been introduced to the Lakan populace, as well as what CENTOPCOMM suspects what will be the mass movement of the Lakan fleet, including submarines."

"If you're wondering why this battlegroup's 'lights' have been deployed in forward screening operations for the past weeks, and why our ASW squadrons have been developing black rings around their eyes lately. Congratulations, now you know why."

"Now: for the new orders. In response to this dramatic declaration that gives every Lakan bomber the leeway to toss Two-fifty-pounders all over Odessa's city square, CENTOPCOMM have decided that enough is enough. Effective 1200 hours today. Any AFAASA ship or aircraft within standoff weapons range of any Ukrainian asset will be interdicted and destroyed with extreme prejudice."
The flight officer pauses for just a moment to let that sink in.
"Now, I know that this will be a lot of work for just one carrier battlegroup. But the fine men and women at CENTOPCOMM are considerate, so they are in the process of requesting more forces to deploy into the Ukrainian theatre. And yes -- if you have heard the rumors, it's true. Thanks to ol' Yeltsin (God bless his Vodka-stained Soul), KILO-M class subs may be on the menu if Command doesn't fuck it up."

"Operational Briefings will be held in one hour. Lunch today will be Salmon nuggets, Cazuela, and Soft drinks."
"Dismissed."

[New Antarcticania]

BRAVKA 12
Ka-27M
Somewhere in the eastern Mediterranean
10 miles east of the fleet

One of the key attributes of anti-submarine warfare is being aggressive at all times.
And the helixes of the fleet are no exception to that rule.
...
"Alright, lower the sensor"
"Affirmative."
With a push of a button, the Sonar operator lowers the Ka-27's sonabouy into the cold waters of the Mediterranean. For the longest minute in the world, he waits, and waits, and waits. Until he hears a BEEP from his terminal, indicating that the ACTIVE Sonabouy has reached max depth. He squints at the orange-tinted screen of said terminal, nothing.
the helicopter hovers just a bit above 20 feet, it's exteriors painted in the standard Antarctican naval aviation liver -- a mix of Deep blue and streaks of cloud white.
The voice of the operator croaks through the pilot's headset.
"We're clear, move on."
He lifts and stows the sensor.

For the past few days, the Helixes of the fleet have been flying around the clock in an never-ending sweep of the Fleet's surroundings.
from one potential gap in the fleet's perimeter to another. With whatever Helixes the fleet could spare being sent out in deep sea areas near the fleet. The average daily sortie time of the typical Ka-27M crew has been effectively doubled.

The 'Lights' of the fleet --Frigates and Destroyers-- doesn't have it better, either. Ever since the fleet's arrival into the Mediterranean proper, they have been adopting a forward screening motion in a attempt to "filter out" any unidentified sub, and then prosecute them with extreme prejudice.

The rules of engagement are simple.
"If you find them, shout at them"
"if they don't respond, destroy them."

---

Meanwhile...
"LAKACAP"
YHEVGEN 21
MiG-29K
Somewhere over the Eastern Atlantic
9 Miles Due East from the fleet.

Bathing in the warm sunlight of the Mediterranean is a pair of MiG-29Ks, screaming over the Blue skies and scattered clouds above the ocean. Both MiGs are armed with RVV-AEs and R-27AEs. Both planes are painted using the Antarctican Navy's standard Dark blue livery, Bearing minimal Squadron or personal Markings. Only dull, Grey Numbers and letters remain present.
A call through the radio, from an nearby Yak-44.
"YHEVGEN 21-by-22, Bandits, Fast movers. BRA 83 degrees,40 miles and closing, angles 12....
commit, over."
The words from the AWACS nearly force The flight lead back into his seat, closing his eyes. He contemplates for a moment about the prospect of firing the first shots in a potentially region-wide conflict.
One that will bring more carnage to the world.
"Oh, for....' He turns to his wingman.
"You heard that, buddy?"
"Yeeeep." a voice that could be no older than 23 seeps through the flight lead's headset.
"Right, let's go get 'em"
"Affirm, with you."
The flight of two turns to engage what they soon will discover, to be a flight of Lakan patrol craft.
In but thirty minutes or less, the war will no longer to contained to the black sea.

[Laka Strolistandiler]

What the two MiG-29’s would stumble upon was a rather old Advanced Shackleton of the RRAF (Royal Rhodesian Air Force)- a direct result of Rhodesians using a very, VERY old airframe far beyond it’s intended lifespan, essentially turning what used to be a Lancaster more than seventy years ago into an Il-18 wannabe. Customary of the Rhodesians, the plane was beautifully decorated with many “kill marks” (during it)s lifetime this airframe has sunk a lot of tonnage during excercises and near the nose of the plane was a very beautiful drawing of a Rhodesian Ridgeback- in it’s very furry-ish pin-up-ish form. Said Shackleton has spent the last an hour and a half harassing in the general vicinity of the supposed location of hostile fleet, trying to earn themselves a recognition. The Shackleton was closely followed by a refueling drone, from which it has soon finished receiving some of it’s “engine juice” As soon as they have detected passive pings directed towards them, firstly from the fleet and then from the fighters, the rhodesians knew that their mere fate was at stake. Using their SATCOM, they’d notify the Maltese Air Command, which would immediately direct several fighter aircraft who were probably busy commencing CAP, awaiting the arrival of the Ukrainian Tu-22’s, as well as order general readiness for the all allied air assets present on Malta. In total, all of the fighter assets currently available to the “Red Crown” were two flights of improved Su-57’s, each carrying 4 AIM-260 JATM as well as 2 AIM-9X’s- although having a horrific rear-aspect RCS, it was expected of them to at very least be able to get within JATM’s effective range against maneuvering targets of ~160 kilometers without being detected by the fleet or the MiG’s. Both Su-57’s belonged to the 41st “Maltese” squadron- and although due to the limits on aircraft coloring due to low observability efforts they were pitch-black, the pilots were able to “smuggle in” some personalization into the cockpits- each one had a picture of their loved one duct-taped to the panel. Meanwhile, the Shackleton would attempt to communicate with the MiG-29’s, “requesting” (them rhodesians are very polite people) for them to turn away and cease all offensive actions, or face the consequences… As if to signify it’s “dominance”, the Shackleton would demonstratively fire off a few warning shots from it’s 20-mm turret (even though the MiG’s won’t even be able to see it because they’ll probably be like 90 kilometers away), and generally do it’s best to maintain communications with the Antarcticans, hoping to get but a few messages away from them or, who knows, even start a chat, discussing the conditions under which the Shackleton would turn away.
Of course, there was a catch to it. Outside of the MiG-29K’s target acquisition range was flying the Zeppelin R.MVI (Nimrod mated with RC-135) ELINT aircraft, which was previously tracking the fleet and doing passive reconnaissance on it and it’s planes, it would attempt to pinpoint the general location of the two Antarctican fighters using their open comms with Shackleton and then feed this information to an E-2D Advanced Hawkeye, which in turn is using it’s extensive radar array’s range to locate the planes, using ELINT’s (improved Su-57’s too can gather and send ELINT data albeit in a far more limited amount and quality) and Shackleton’s data to further pinpoint the location of the target. What would happen next entirely depends on wether or not the Antarcticans would turn away from their course towards the Shackleton.

If they would than the AWACS would continue tracking their general location, however no further offensive actions will be made- there is no need to provoke them any further. Su-57 would escort the Shackleton back to it’s base and the issue will be considered to be a resolved one…

However if they would not then it would be a foul play for the poor Shackleton. Lakans were adamant on their willingness to not be ones who have fired the first shots in this confrontation- and if sacrificing a nearly derelict Rhodesian plane was the price they were more than willing to pay it. As soon as Shackleton’s advanced sensors would pick up anything indicating that it has been fired upon- an incoming rocket’s thermal signature, MiG-29K’s radar going into track mode, or anything else, each of the Su-57’s would launch 2 their AIM-260’s (two per target), yet there would be next to no indication of that to the Antarcticans. AIM-260 possesses it’s own SATCOM (I believe) and will be guided towards the target by the AWACS, in the track-while-scan mode, turning on it’s active radar when it will be extremely close to the target, giving MiG-29’s extremely few time to react. The Yak-44 remained an issue which would be addressed the same way- with 2 AIM-260’s- E-2D is able to track several targets at once, after all. Su-57’s would then engage full afterburner and run like hell from the Antarctican fleet, expecting their escorts to light up the sky with radars and SAM’s, eager to avenge for their comrades. They remember, what happened to the Aursi pilots and the last thing the two Lakans want is the same darn thing happening to them… Network centric warfare at it’s finest!
Also if the situation escalates all aerial assets at Malta will be scrambled I will detail what said assets are a bit later if it will escalate
[hr][/hr]
Meanwhile, deep under the sea, the Lakan submarines were playing a very dangerous game of their own- essentially poking the hornet’s nest of the fleet with a very, very long stick… Given them being in possession of a single radar picket submarine, they would have had an early warning of the hostile fleet’s helicopters taking off- and it would be sure of the picket sub to turn off it’s array and leave it’s previous disposition as soon as possible- last thing it’s captain wanted was a confrontation with the choppers. Essentially the fleet would organize itself as several independently-acting groups, coordinating their efforts through the satellite. They knew of the impending aerial fight and knew that if hell was to break loose they were in for a fight for their lives. If they were to survive they would have had to create a diversion- and boy did they have had the right tool for the right job…

Most submarines in the fleet had the MOSS passive decoys loaded into their torpedo tubes (I know that IRL MOSS uses a separate launching tube but this deriviative uses the torpedo tube), and several carried a monstrous apparition called “Advanced Submarine Surrogate”- a large unmanned underwater vehicle, able to completely imitate a sub of any type- including passive and active sonar signatures, engine noises- hell, it was even able to “launch” torpedoes (of course the said torpedoes are mere noisemakers)- and this peculiar device would now see use for the first time!

Upon detaching itself from the submarines, the device would then dive below thermal layer (if there was any) and attempt to get through the ASW coverage as if a submarine would be trying to get into the fleet’s baffles and remain undetected for some time. Of course it would be detected and of course it would not collaborate with Ka-27’s orders, attempting to “outrun” or avoid it. It is expected that eventually they will fire upon it, following which the “Surrogate” will begin defensive maneuvering as well as “fire the torpedoes”. It will most likely fall prey either to the ASW helicopters or to the fleet’s defenses, however it’s lifetime will be attempted to be prolonged by the submarines MOSS’es which would essentially do the same thing (imitate a sub trying to get to the fleet), which should keep most of the hostile ASW assets occupied for enough time for most of the allied subs to safely run away from the area, going as fast as they can without cavitating.

[New Antarcticania]

What the two MiG-29’s would stumble upon was a rather old Advanced Shackleton of the RRAF (Royal Rhodesian Air Force)- a direct result of Rhodesians using a very, VERY old airframe far beyond it’s intended lifespan, essentially turning what used to be a Lancaster more than seventy years ago into an Il-18 wannabe. Customary of the Rhodesians, the plane was beautifully decorated with many “kill marks” (during it)s lifetime this airframe has sunk a lot of tonnage during excercises and near the nose of the plane was a very beautiful drawing of a Rhodesian Ridgeback- in it’s very furry-ish pin-up-ish form. Said Shackleton has spent the last an hour and a half harassing in the general vicinity of the supposed location of hostile fleet, trying to earn themselves a recognition. The Shackleton was closely followed by a refueling drone, from which it has soon finished receiving some of it’s “engine juice” As soon as they have detected passive pings directed towards them, firstly from the fleet and then from the fighters, the rhodesians knew that their mere fate was at stake. Using their SATCOM, they’d notify the Maltese Air Command, which would immediately direct several fighter aircraft who were probably busy commencing CAP, awaiting the arrival of the Ukrainian Tu-22’s, as well as order general readiness for the all allied air assets present on Malta. In total, all of the fighter assets currently available to the “Red Crown” were two flights of improved Su-57’s, each carrying 4 AIM-260 JATM as well as 2 AIM-9X’s- although having a horrific rear-aspect RCS, it was expected of them to at very least be able to get within JATM’s effective range against maneuvering targets of ~160 kilometers without being detected by the fleet or the MiG’s. Both Su-57’s belonged to the 41st “Maltese” squadron- and although due to the limits on aircraft coloring due to low observability efforts they were pitch-black, the pilots were able to “smuggle in” some personalization into the cockpits- each one had a picture of their loved one duct-taped to the panel. Meanwhile, the Shackleton would attempt to communicate with the MiG-29’s, “requesting” (them rhodesians are very polite people) for them to turn away and cease all offensive actions, or face the consequences… As if to signify it’s “dominance”, the Shackleton would demonstratively fire off a few warning shots from it’s 20-mm turret (even though the MiG’s won’t even be able to see it because they’ll probably be like 90 kilometers away), and generally do it’s best to maintain communications with the Antarcticans, hoping to get but a few messages away from them or, who knows, even start a chat, discussing the conditions under which the Shackleton would turn away.
Of course, there was a catch to it. Outside of the MiG-29K’s target acquisition range was flying the Zeppelin R.MVI (Nimrod mated with RC-135) ELINT aircraft, which was previously tracking the fleet and doing passive reconnaissance on it and it’s planes, it would attempt to pinpoint the general location of the two Antarctican fighters using their open comms with Shackleton and then feed this information to an E-2D Advanced Hawkeye, which in turn is using it’s extensive radar array’s range to locate the planes, using ELINT’s (improved Su-57’s too can gather and send ELINT data albeit in a far more limited amount and quality) and Shackleton’s data to further pinpoint the location of the target. What would happen next entirely depends on wether or not the Antarcticans would turn away from their course towards the Shackleton.

If they would than the AWACS would continue tracking their general location, however no further offensive actions will be made- there is no need to provoke them any further. Su-57 would escort the Shackleton back to it’s base and the issue will be considered to be a resolved one…

However if they would not then it would be a foul play for the poor Shackleton. Lakans were adamant on their willingness to not be ones who have fired the first shots in this confrontation- and if sacrificing a nearly derelict Rhodesian plane was the price they were more than willing to pay it. As soon as Shackleton’s advanced sensors would pick up anything indicating that it has been fired upon- an incoming rocket’s thermal signature, MiG-29K’s radar going into track mode, or anything else, each of the Su-57’s would launch 2 their AIM-260’s (two per target), yet there would be next to no indication of that to the Antarcticans. AIM-260 possesses it’s own SATCOM (I believe) and will be guided towards the target by the AWACS, in the track-while-scan mode, turning on it’s active radar when it will be extremely close to the target, giving MiG-29’s extremely few time to react. The Yak-44 remained an issue which would be addressed the same way- with 2 AIM-260’s- E-2D is able to track several targets at once, after all. Su-57’s would then engage full afterburner and run like hell from the Antarctican fleet, expecting their escorts to light up the sky with radars and SAM’s, eager to avenge for their comrades. They remember, what happened to the Aursi pilots and the last thing the two Lakans want is the same darn thing happening to them… Network centric warfare at it’s finest!
Also if the situation escalates all aerial assets at Malta will be scrambled I will detail what said assets are a bit later if it will escalate

---

Meanwhile, deep under the sea, the Lakan submarines were playing a very dangerous game of their own- essentially poking the hornet’s nest of the fleet with a very, very long stick… Given them being in possession of a single radar picket submarine, they would have had an early warning of the hostile fleet’s helicopters taking off- and it would be sure of the picket sub to turn off it’s array and leave it’s previous disposition as soon as possible- last thing it’s captain wanted was a confrontation with the choppers. Essentially the fleet would organize itself as several independently-acting groups, coordinating their efforts through the satellite. They knew of the impending aerial fight and knew that if hell was to break loose they were in for a fight for their lives. If they were to survive they would have had to create a diversion- and boy did they have had the right tool for the right job…

Most submarines in the fleet had the MOSS passive decoys loaded into their torpedo tubes (I know that IRL MOSS uses a separate launching tube but this deriviative uses the torpedo tube), and several carried a monstrous apparition called “Advanced Submarine Surrogate”- a large unmanned underwater vehicle, able to completely imitate a sub of any type- including passive and active sonar signatures, engine noises- hell, it was even able to “launch” torpedoes (of course the said torpedoes are mere noisemakers)- and this peculiar device would now see use for the first time!

Upon detaching itself from the submarines, the device would then dive below thermal layer (if there was any) and attempt to get through the ASW coverage as if a submarine would be trying to get into the fleet’s baffles and remain undetected for some time. Of course it would be detected and of course it would not collaborate with Ka-27’s orders, attempting to “outrun” or avoid it. It is expected that eventually they will fire upon it, following which the “Surrogate” will begin defensive maneuvering as well as “fire the torpedoes”. It will most likely fall prey either to the ASW helicopters or to the fleet’s defenses, however it’s lifetime will be attempted to be prolonged by the submarines MOSS’es which would essentially do the same thing (imitate a sub trying to get to the fleet), which should keep most of the hostile ASW assets occupied for enough time for most of the allied subs to safely run away from the area, going as fast as they can without cavitating.

AWACS "Payat"
YAK-44(NA)
Somewhere over the Mediterranean
4 miles due south of the fleet

In a world where stealth aircraft was all the more prevalent, more and more people thought that they were, indeed, invulnerable. On the contrary, for the Implementations that stealth aircraft took upon can only protect them so much.
After all, The Felon was a Forward-aspect heavy aircraft, and with the Flight of MiGs being twenty-or-so miles due east of the fleet. The AWACS should be able to exploit the aircraft's Detectability on the sides of the Felons.
The picture is faint, but it's still and picture
"God damnit, it's a stealth!" a radar operator shouts
"Where the hell did the Lakans get that?" another operator.
"God knows where, Vector some BARCAP flights. tell them to flank those sons of bitches. Approach from multiple aspects, and their AESAs should be able to handle it."
"Got it, lets get those bastards."

---

Now playing obligatory soundtrack
[box]YHEVGEN 11-14
MORDHAU 11-14
STARHAMMER 11-13
MiG-29Ks
Varying positions and distances relative to the fleet

"Yhevgen flight, New picture; Bandits, BRA vector 347. 40 miles from target, angles 15. commit and engage. Remarks: aircraft is stealth, you are vectored to approach from multiple aspects, over."
"Yhevgen lead affirms." The flight lead turns to his left, towards his wingmen
"You hear that, people? We're going to kill some Stealths today!"
"affirmative, sir!" His second in command booms through his radio.
"On me, let's get 'em!" a different flight, same orders
"Orders Received, Let's down 'em all!" yet ANOTHER flight of MiGs, turning from a another angle to engage the Felons.

---

And now, back to the other YHEVGEN flight......

"That bastard's been harassing the fleet for... what? the last hour and a half now?"
"Yeah, and he's been real chatty, too."
"Fuck this, lets get real close to him, full throttle and intercept course."
"Affirmative."
The pilots of the two MiGs push their throttles up, setting an intercept course for the Shackleton. Ignoring the Rhodesian's attempt to communicate.

---

All the Anti-sub effort of the fleet needed was that signature. A single contact, even if it was an decoy. Meant that some sub was out to get them. Sure, that's one torpedo wasted to destroy nothing less than a underwater drone. But, one has to start somewhere.
The fleet's ASW squadron begins to shift tactics. refitting PASSIVE sensors onto their Helixes in replacement of the active ones. The Admiral has also granted the ASW effort ECM and radar jammer support. scheduling future Helix sorties and patrols to be complemented by MiG-29Ks fitted with ECM or jammer pods, fixed on the centerline of and Hardpoints of the MiGs, whose pilots probably picked the short straw that day.
This would, Undoubtedly, make the Helixes harder to detect.

[Arpasia]

Several Military commanders from the three major branches of the Arpasian Armed Forces were tuning into radios, anxiously waiting for the upcoming codeword that would signal the beginning of Operation Red Dnieper, which is expected to be announced in a few minutes, and while the military transport vehicles are being prepared, the situation at the Presidential Palace is hectic as well, despite the palace being almost empty as the president is waiting for the exact time to give the green light to the general of the armed forces to make his announcement. At exactly 01:00 PM, the president finally calls the general, giving him permission to relay the codeword, after the short, yet tense phone call, the general finally relays the codeword.

"We leave for Kiev tonight."

Shortly after, personnel stationed in several military bases along Arpasia's eastern seaboard quickly get to work, with military rations both for allied soldiers and liberated Moskal slaves, being loaded en masse into large cargo aircraft, other than rations, ground-based vehicles and artillery pieces were also being loaded in, while several turboprop aircraft were being loaded with paratroopers. In Pontchartrain Harbor, the fleet begins mobilizing to Ukrainian shores, carrying helicopters, fighter aircraft as well as landing craft in their cargo bay, three hours later, the first of cargo jets take off, causing civilian airlines to halt operations temporarily. By first light, at least half of all military transport aircraft have lifted off, with refueling aircraft following them suit, and the invasion fleet completing 8% of their trip to European shores, though the strait of Gibraltar are heavily defended by Langenian naval units, the fleet is ordered to dock up north, in the Baltic Sea, while the aerial fleet were ordered to send their payload of men to several targets located within the Ukrainian countryside. At 5:55 AM, the last of the cargo aircraft have left their respective airfields, Phase 1 of Operation Red Dnieper is now complete.

[Reorganisieren Reichregierung]

Mihail Kogălniceanu
Romania

---

The AWACS supporting the interception mission was able to detect the inbound bandits leaving the Bezmer Air Base in Bulgaria, which was known to be currently hosting Mitheldalonian forces. They were flying low in an attempt to evade detection by SAMs, which put them below the radar horizon of the engagement radars used by German air defense batteries. As such, the AWACS promptly made a beeline for the 95th Air Base adjacent to the George Enescu IAP to the north, briefly relaying this information to ground control at Mihail Kogălniceanu IAP as it departed.

As if their job was not already hard enough already, the Mitheldalondians fired a decoy at German air defenses. The earlier warning from Mihail Kogălniceanu that there were only 8 or so bandits inbound may have helped the Flaktruppen if it were not for the fact that their radars were being jammed. As a result, the batteries of the 202nd Anti-Aircraft Missile Regiment around Ovidiu decided to pack up and relocate. They did not want to stick around for a SEAD strike.

As such, the fate of the airbase was sealed. The sheltering ground personnel could only stand by helplessly as the enemy aircraft unloaded ordnance not only on the runway, but on the utility helicopters used to shuttle personnel and supplies between bases. The 6 helicopters known to be currently at the base were destroyed by the rain of submunitions directed at them. In addition, the runway was obviously cratered to hell and back. However, the Mitheldalondians did not conduct strikes on base support facilities and living quarters. This was a silver lining, even if a thin one.

German base maintenance, engineering and EOD personnel began putting out the flaming wrecks, clearing the rubble, and sweeping the base for UXO. The Germans were soon joined by firefighters 1called onto the scene by the Romanian civil airport authorities. Overall casualties were unknown as of the moment, but probably few, if any. The several minutes of warning, as well as the Mitheldalonian target choices, helped minimize casualties. Regardless, it was obvious Mihail Kogălniceanu IAP would be out of action for the entire campaign.

Craiova
Romania

---

The Mitheldalondians attempted to capitalize on their initial success, this time with what appears to be a carrier-launched strike. The strike appeared to be headed towards the 71st Air Base in Campia Turzii, located deep within Romania to the north. This time, the Germans were prepared. The Mitheldalondians would see no sign of German fighter opposition. Instead, they would meet the 49th Anti-Aircraft Missile Regiment. Operating around the Craiova radar station, they were to show these unwanted guests to the door. Each IRIS-T SLX fire unit would fire 3 missiles per hostile as soon as they entered engagement range.

Bucharest
Romania

---

While all this was happening, the squadrons involved in the recent sortie were redirected by the Ukrainians to land in Odessa. The German high command in Berlin was in the loop as well, being engaged in talks with the Ukrainians. Pertinent to the situation on the ground was the request for a Ukrainian counter-strike against Bezmer Air Base. However, the Germans were not exactly twiddling their thumbs. As soon as news reached the German command that Mihail Kogălniceanu was taken out, the 5th Missile Brigade in Bucharest was readied for a retaliatory strike.

Specifically, their TELs were to be loaded with missiles with special tandem-charge warheads. Unlike the usual tandem charge warhead, which featured a small initial charge followed by the main warhead, these warheads featured a powerful initial charge followed by a smaller secondary charge. The latter was intended to displace concrete slabs created by the initial blast. The Germans intended to pay the Mitheldalondians in kind.

While the missiles were being prepared for launch, the Ukrainians acted as promised. A prompt report came in from Berlin, saying that the Ukrainians informed them of their strike against Bezmer and the rest was up to them. The Germans then promptly dealt the coup de grâce. 32 V16 Fafnir tactical ballistic missiles, now fitted with the "special warhead", were then fired against the runway of Bezmer Air Base.

After all was said and done, General der Flieger Otto Uzelac, the chief of the Luftwaffe forces in Romania and overall commander of the German presence in the country, was to report on the recent events.

---

"Herr Generalfeldmarschall, our forces have won a great victory in the air. Up to 200 enemy aircraft were destroyed with no losses on our side." said General Uzelac. "However, as you know, an enemy strike devastated our only airbase, until now at least, overlooking the Black Sea. The second Mitheldalonian strike was blunted, preventing the loss of a second airbase. Our efforts, combined with that of Ukrainians, gave Mitheldalond a taste of their own medicine. Nevertheless, we were dealt a heavy blow."

"I am aware. Congratulations are in order." came the voice of Generalfeldmarschall Konrad Alexander Fürst zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn, chief of the Oberkommando der Luftwaffe, from behind the screen. "Prepare any enemy pilots you have taken prisoner for transport in a few days. Anyways, we have received a Ukrainian request for a more extensive deployment. Naturally, we will oblige. To that end, JG 77 and ZG 2 will remain in Odessa. They will be attached to VIII. Fliegerkorps, which in turn will be attached to Luftflotte 2, which will now cover all our operations in Ukraine proper. JG 1 and JG 3 will be attached to V. Fliegerkorps from now on as replacements."

"Jawohl, Herr Generalfeldmarschall" came the reply. "However, I frankly do not think flight operations in Romania are viablez at least witj the current force posture. Until very recently, our forces were expecting strategic bombers from Malta and carrier aircraft over the Black Sea. We did not expect low-flying strike aircraft from Bulgaria or the Ionian Sea. Hence we need short-ranged systems to enable further operations." General Uzelac was not done raising his concerns. "Also, with all due respect, I don't think my command having to receive news of Ukrainian actions from Berlin is wise. I would appreciate it very much if an exchange of liaisons with the Ukrainians can be arranged. That way, we can coordinate our moves on the ground."

"Consider your requests granted. Also, prepare your bases to receive bombers. Your new objective will be to suppress the Mitheldalondian forces in the Balkans and the Mediterranean. To that end, KG 77 will be placed under your command, as well as at least another army ballistic missile brigade." was the response of the higher-ranking general. "Furthermore, your command will be reorganized as the German Military Mission in Romania (Deutsche Militärmission in Rumänien). To that end, your command will be merged with its army counterpart."

"Jawohl, Herr Generalfeldmarschall." Both generals momentarily exchanged salutes before ending the video call.

Gurktal Alps
German Reich

---

Unknown to General Uzelac at the moment, his superior had a way to avenge both him and the Ukrainians. Serving as a complement to traditional ICBM silos was a network of "underground missile bases". This was essentially a vast tunnel network with camouflaged exits intended for TEL-borne missiles, as well as underground launch pads with camouflaged apertures. They were intended to support road-mobile ICBMs in the event of a nuclear exchange taking out the more obvious silo launch facilities. This lent them well to what the OKL had in mind.

A45 Enzian IRBMs fitted with conventional warheads were to be fired against Lakan facilities in Malta. While their range was excessive under normal circumstances, this was perfect as it allowed for depressed launch. This allowed them to better evade Lakan anti-ballistic missile defenses by reducing flight time. 5 missiles each were fired at the 4 runways, each Aegis Ashore radar installation, the Voronezh and Rezonans-N radar installations, and the port support facilities.

[Laka Strolistandiler]

JUMPER 1-2, 2 Su-57’s

The moment the rest of the MiG-29K’s turned towards the Sukhoi’s, the Red Crown knew that their fate was essentially sealed. From now on, the question of wether or not the engagement will “go hot” has turned into “how will it go hot”, and from now on their priority, instead of avoiding confrontation, became standard “make the hostile loose more than us”. Su-57’s thus became yet another element of the equation, and their role was as grim as it could possibly be…

The three airbases at Malta, all equipped and built to allow for them to scramble as many planes as possible in the short period of time switch alive with an order from the central command post, with many planes immediately beginning to taxi into the airstrips and accelerate into the sky and many more being readied for takeoff by their crews. Gigantic hydraulic elevators circle up and down, bringing several planes at a time to the ground level from their underground shelters, and the radio waves are filled with the voices of the pilots and other crew members, ATC’s, RIO’s and land-based radar installations’ operators, all of whom are busy directing the planes to their designated areas, where they shall await further orders. Because of the base’s importance to Lakan power projection into the Mediterranean, this is not the first time an “Alpha Strike” has been called on the base- and thus everyone knew what they were doing and were doing it just like they did during the excercises- and barring a few “traffic jams”, resulting from pilots unfamiliar with the procedure doing some rather idiotic mistakes, everything went rather smoothly- and in half an hour or so, most of the planes based at Malta would be airborne yet again- airborne and ready to do their duty…

Code: Select all

Allied Air power currently located (and taking off) in Malta:

Surviving elements from HMS Explorer‘s air wing (Royal Navy Air Service):
Airborne:
3 E-2D carrier-borne AWACS’es
34 Hopbeck Fairheart F.7 fighters (Su-33-meets-F-15D)
12 Hopbeck Braveheart F.G.3 strike fighters (Su-33-F-15E hybrid)
10 Persival Rogue F.G.R.4 5th generation fighters (Su-57’s with more internal weapon bays, Izdeliye 30 engines and shipborne capability)
2 Grannet AS.31 ASW ship-based choppers (Ka-27PL’s with better avionics)
2 Ka-27PS SEAR choppers
Land-based Maltese Order Air Brotherhood aviation:
20 Su-27SM3’s
2 Su-57’s (base version with Al-41 engines and basic Russian avionics)
2 Sainthood AS.30 ASW helicopters (Mi-17-Ka-27PL hybrid)
2 Sainthood HAR.30 (Ka-27 with lower RCS, SEAR.
2 Halgard B/R. 51 (T-4MS with modern avionics and M-3.5 capable at altitude)
Royal Flying Corps:
20 Mellors-Dacosta FGA/R.40 (F-15EX-ish heavy fighter).
3 T-4MS with modern avionics
1 T-4MSJ ECM plane (like Tu-160PP)

Other SEAR and rescue planes, Royal Navy is basically the same as others other than that they put an additional AEW and SIGINT plane into the air. Note that only around a half of all planes outlined here have actually took off because of events listed below…

It was already a stressful day for the usually leveled Grand Brother Larkin- the usually calm and orderly nature of the islands was disturbed by the sudden sounds of dozens upon dozens of aircraft taking off and circling, ascending to the higher altitude as if waiting for their foe to appear. Even worse was the fact that the command believed a hostile counter strike to be imminent, and thus ordered an immediate evacuation of all assets as well as the highest readiness level possible. Everyone was running around, transferring things from here to there, radio waves were filled with different men and units talking to each other and requesting additional supplies, new orders or simpl6 directions, and, worst of all, Larkin was seating right in the middle of all of this organized chaos- in the control room located near the bases’ search radar- a gigantic construction of steel and electronics, which was ruining cellular service for everyone on the base ever since this darn war started.

Despite all of this, Larkin was still rather calm. First of all, he was a an officer, a gentleman and a nobleman- a Maltese one,- he had to maintain his look and keep a stiff upper lip so that the men under his command would not falter when their duty shall call- and he was always eager to prove the “visiting” side that the Maltese are in no way inferior to them. A rather old officer, he was of an “old breed”, believing that officers should be an example to their own men in everything- from behavior to fashion sense, and those unfortunate enough to serve under his command knew that it is better to obey him rather than to “go your own way” and face the harsh, harsh consequences…

Having his usual facial expression of “all of you are idiots but I have to command you”, he was browsing through C3I documents regarding Maltese installations, when an Ensign sitting somewhere below suddenly cried out: DETECTING MULTIPLE LAUNCHES, ALPES! Immediately the enlisted pressed on the red alarm button, located just right of his computer. Immediately, Larkin pushed in his own button- and at that very moment the sound of a standard Naval alarm rocket throughout the base. It took Larkin a moment’s notice to look at the gigantic screen located near the ceiling of the room to understand that the Ensign was indeed correct. Immediately, phones on his table swung to life- pressing buttons on all of them he, the head of the air defense Army-Navy-Flying Corps joint task force at Malta, was communicating with all of the “masterminds” behind the operation. Everyone knew what was at stakes- and acted accordingly, forgetting all rules and regulations and allowing effectiveness to rule over everything… The next five minutes could either end the campaign entirely, drowning it in Lakan blood or be but a minor setback at their road to the liberation of the Donbass people… The next fire minutes…

Aboard the HMS Redeemer, AEGIS cruiser in the Tyrrhenian Sea…

Redeemer’s, being survivors of the “Black Sea Slaughter”, already called one of the worst Lakan naval defeats ever since the Second Battle of Jutland back in 1918, knew the stakes and knew them well. It was their superior gunnery and marksmanship with the interceptors which saved the Exploder from several DF-21 hits and allowed her to safely return to Malta, and it was now up to them to do this once again- yet this time at stakes was much, much more…


“If these missiles are conventional, I’d say that we’re protecting… around 10 thousand lives today, considering all possible outcomes. If they are nuclear… God knows how many will die if we will fail at duty…- her captain spoke, standing at the shipc’s CIC, awaiting nervously for the missiles to enter the interception window. They have already registered first- and second-stages of the missiles detaching and burning up in the atmosphere- however these were the least of their concerns- for, according to CIC data, their interception window was not small but minuscule, allowing them to launch only as many missiles as their radars could guide in. Around 30 seconds later they fear a great relief- for they were not the only thing that the Navy had in the region- an AEGIS frigate, the HMAS Admiral de Ville was also joining them- and just like them awaiting to launch interceptors. Staring at the (relatively) low-resolution screen, he frantically looked over the numbers, anxiously awaiting for the green numbers to turn red and for the interceptors to be automatically launched. Seconds stretched like days, weeks, years- everyone knew what was at stakes and thus anxiously awaited the launch signal…

SM-3’s ran towards their targets one by one, ascending into the blue sky while leaving a thick track of white smoke behind them. The VLS’s of the ships were “working their magic”, as were the radars and their operators. Functioning at the edge of their technical limitations, the radar operators maximized the potentials of their machines, optimizing everything and cutting corners wherever it was possible- all to maximize the amount of missiles launched…

Meanwhile at Malta, the airfields became yet another example of “organized chaos”- all planes sitting at runway and awaiting takeoff became split in two groups- ones located further away from the lifts and the blast doors were taking off in rapid succession, sometimes in groups of up to 4- although this was a brutal violation of safety protocols, given the urgency of the situation the risk was justified. The second group were moved down or away from the runways- sometimes they were towed there, sometimes taxiing there on their own- soon enough collisions started to occur here and there, yet due to the relatively low speed of the aircraft, the damage was not too bad. Everywhere around the base, barring air defense installations, people could be seen running in a surprisingly organized manner towards the shelters, whose gigantic hydraulic doors were soon to close, very, very slowly. Larkin, meanwhile, was actively directing all remaining air defense assets, commanding the defense of the base. Before the HQ was evacuated, he was able to receive one last transmission from Lord Mallor- the man in charge of the whole war- on the effectiveness of the interception lies not only the success of the operation but also Larkin’s life- failure would not be tolerated.

Meanwhile, up in the space, the first interceptions began to occur. Maneuvering kill vehicles, relying in their infrared terminal guidance systems have began to slam into the missiles, shattering them into thousands of parts. Some of the kill vehicles failed to track and hit the target due to dozens upon dozens of different reasons coming together- system failures, programming errors or even incorrectly entered target parameters- the system was certainly not designed to intercept 90 targets at once, at it was showing. Neither the less, the vessels performed well above what was expected of them- and the Captain of the Redeemer noted this to his men, stating “We’ve done what we could, lads- now it’s up to our comrades ashore to do their job…”

He was, of course, referring to the land-based missile defense systems at Malta. Being a sole element of the power projection into the Mediterranean, Malta was stacked to the brim with different missile defense systems, with some western magazines even naming the island “the best defended place in the world”. Well, now this testament was to be debated…

The first ones to engage the surviving warheads and decoys was the S-500SM2. A heavily modified version of the Russian missile defense system, it was a pride of the Maltese Brotherhood- as were it’s 77P6 interceptors- and these interceptors were most certainly no joking matter. Receiving datalink from the vessels, they were launched mere several seconds after the first SM-3’s began hitting their targets- and unlike SPY-1, it’s engagement radars were able to direct all launched misssiles toward the targets at once. A few seconds after the S-500, the Navy got back into the fight with their two AEGIS Ashore installations lobbing SM-3 after SM-3. Neither the less, heavy jamming played it’s role- some interceptions were deemed a failure, however the majority of the kill vehicles found their targets- and exploded them in a fiery spectacle. Down below, some Italians anxiously watched the space battle unfold over their country, praying to God that no missiles were nuclear- for if they were the sheer amount of pollution would be horrifying…

The last of the warheads have now began their re-entry, and unlike S-500’s, who have expended their supply of missiles and have now began packing up and changing their current position, AEGIS Ashores held their ground- Mk.41 VLS systems resembled volcano erupting with great balls of fire, so was the sheer amount of interceptors launched by them. Soon enough, the last line of Maltese defenses against a missile attack joined the fight- the S-400 anti-aircraft battery was loaded with the 77N6’s. Being specifically designed to counter warheads during their terminal descent, S-400 was able to engage targets during all parts of their descend trajectory- which was exactly what it was doing,

-Sir…?- an Ensign looked at Larkin with a look of fear on his face,- we’ve analyzed their trajectories and we believe that we have a list of targets… Sir, we are on this list. Should I order evacuations procedures?
-Evacuate in our moment of triumph?- Larkin gave the young man a look of disgust and disdain,- I think you overestimate their chances. Failure is not an option, Ensign. Never…

Slower and slower, lower and lower the warheads flew, surrounded by white-hot plasma, as from the ground below missile after missile screeched towards them. Colliding with their targets, sometimes the warheads detonated, disintegrating in gigantic orange spheres, with the smoking dibree falling below. At this point, around 95% of all targets have been destroyed- however no one knew for sure how many of the remaining ones were actual warheads and how many-decoys. Hell, they didn’t even knew if these were decoys at all, of if they have been targeted with a MIRV’ed MRBM- at this point all they could do was hope and pray… Hope and pray…

The last interception was, absurdly enough, done by a 2S6 SPAA, a system designed to intercept low flying planes but not re-entry vehicles. A platoon of them, stationed at the port began “random firing” their 23-mm guns into the sky- and by a sheer coincidence were able to score a hit on the warhead at the last second, detonating it mere several hundreds of meters from the ground! Neither the less, others “last ditch defenses” were certainly not as lucky…

As the personnel remaining above ground watched what looked like a group of meteors descending from the sk6 above them they could only pray for the missiles to be decoys… Soon enough, the first of the 5 explosions rocked the islands, sending shockwaves flying for several kilometers. In total, 5 warheads have gotten through and have hit their designated targets…

The first two targets were two airfields- a Flying Corps and a navy one located on Gozo and Malta respectively. Leaving large craters, they have neither the less did not destroy a substantial amount of equipment- and mere few minutes later the Rapid Runway Repair teams have moved in and began the long and exhausting process of applying a repair kit to the runway. Volunteering a lot of people from the ground crew, they have reported an ETA of around 5-6 hours to get runway back into operation- however this would hardly hamper severely Lakan aerial operations- most of the planes have been transferred to the secondary runway at base or have moved out to the roadways, from which they would later on operate.

Aegis Ashore would not go out this cheap. The first installation- a radar deckhouse was hit right in the middle of the building, immediately collapsing and crushing or burying most of the personnel. Only a handful will be saved by the rescue workers, and those poor souls will spend at best the next few months in the hospital’s ICU unit… The second one “got easy”- a support deckhouse was hit and although re-activating the radar will be a job for at least a month or two, neither the less almost all crew of the installation survive with minor injuries.

The fifth and final target is the Voronezh radar- an installation near which Larkin was anxiously awaiting the results of his interception attempt. When he felt a sudden thump, followed by a distant sound of explosion he prayed to Lord that no more should follow… And won! Although the radar dish has collapsed, the site suffered no casualties- and theoretically, once new radar dish will be delivered, the radar sire could be reactivated!

To prevent further attacks from occurring, all ships will move into positions where they will have far larger interception windows against warheads launched from known hostile launch sites, or from places from where road-mobile vehicles can launch these warheads.

Submarines, now successfully created a distraction for hostile ASW assets will continue moving closer to the flotilla, hoping to divert most of the attention of the ASW towards decoys. Given that their planes now employ active jamming, the AWACS should have no issue tracking their general location (they can generally say where a jammer is but cannot pinpoint it with good accuracy)- using this information they will attempt to guide the submarines around the groups as well as guide decoys towards them. Considering the fact that submarines are going to operate as deep as it is possible within the region, it is likely that some of them are not going to receive this information- some of the submarines are equipped with radio buoys, which they will attempt to use to get data. These buoys have a very back track record of snapping wires when the submarine is deploying them while moving, so it will be required for them to bring it to a stop before deploying it. For now, they are tasked with maneuvering into the optimal range of the warheads and awaiting orders to engage. Preferably they should be behind the ships, so that interference from the propellers will hamper the effectiveness of active and passive sonar search, of course keeping the distance so no cosplaying “Red October” here.

The Su-57’s will launch all of their AIM-120’s at targets and then immediately begin to tuck their tails and run. AIM-120’s will be guided in through datalink by both AWACS and Su-57’s rear-view radar which should allow it to function normally in TWS mode. AWACS is going to focus it’s efforts at detecting Russian missile launch (they are expecting them to TWS too)- the moment this happens both Su-57’s will begin cranking to lower the missile’s remaining energy and then, at the last seconds before the impact dive, while turning towards the direction from which the missile will be coming to reduce the RCS and increase their probability of successful evasion. Moreover than that, each of them carries a MALD air-launched decoy, which they are going to program to imitate cranking, hoping that this will attract the missiles away from the jets. Given Su-57’s excellent thrust-to-weight ration as well as great maneuverability, they should see some success.

[Mitheldalond]

It had been a few days since the strike on the German airbase in Romania, and repairs to the runway at Bezmer were progressing steadily. Bezmer had been hit hard by the combined Ukrainian-German counterattack. Air defenses at the base had been limited at the time - only a half-battery of Skyceptor anti-ballistic missiles had been deployed, with about 32 missiles ready to fire, and the base's only defense against enemy aircraft had been the fighters stationed there. In spite of their best efforts, the meager defenses had simply been overwhelmed by the scale of the attack.

They had handled the Ukrainian Iskanders fairly well, downing all but three of them, though at the expenditure of most of their available interceptors. Most of the Mitheldalondian aircraft were parked outside, as the Bulgarians were using the hangars for their own squadrons, but a couple of hangars had been secured to house the Mitheldalondian RQ-170s. Murphy's Laws virtually guaranteed that the Iskanders would find those hangars, and indeed one of them did, punching easily through the roof and annihilating the two RQ-170s inside in a massive explosion that blasted a column of fire out either end of the domed structure. The second Iskander landed about a dozen meters in front of its intended hangar, the blast wave carrying a hailstorm of debris through the open hangar door, wrecking the Bulgarian Su-25 inside. The final Iskander had dealt the heaviest blow. It had slammed into the bunker containing virtually all of the Mitheldalondian air-to-ground ordnance stored at the base. The entire structure had vanished with an earth-shaking explosion that left fires burning and a smokey mushroom cloud floating in the air. The loss of their munitions had been a crippling blow to the Mitheldalondian squadron at Bezmer, albeit a temporary one. The F-15s at Bezmer would have been the only Mitheldalondian assets close enough retaliate against the Ukrainian and German missile batteries - or to strike at the launch sites of the German IRBMs soon to be fired at Malta - before the launchers could relocate. The Navy fighters from Théodwyn had been in the area, but they had only been armed with air-to-air weapons to deal with the German fighters from Mihail Kogalniceanu, and had been ordered back to the ship when it became apparent the Germans would not be landing at Campia Turzii. As it was, the enemy launchers had escaped unscathed.

There was no time for the Skyceptor battery to reload before the German V16 Fafnirs arrived, and with only a small handful of their Stunner interceptors left, there was no hope of saving the runway. Twenty-eight ballistic missiles had slammed into the runway, blasting large craters and heaving entire slabs of concrete out of position. The Bulgarians had not been pleased at the loss of their airbase, but Mitheldalond had been able to placate them by assuming the costs of repairing the base and agreeing to bolster Bulgaria's air defenses for the duration of the conflict, to prevent similar attacks in the future.

To that end, multiple flights of C-17s and C-5 Galaxies had spent the last couple days flying surface-to-air batteries to multiple bases in eastern Bulgaria. Bezmer now housed a battery of THAAD ABMs, an ALRADS heavy SAM battery, and a full Skyceptor battery, which had driven there after being landed at a different airport. Even though the runway had been destroyed, Bezmer still housed a number of Mitheldalondian aircraft: the one remaining EC-37C (the other one had been shot down near Snake Island), two RC-76Vs, and the surviving two RQ-170s weren't able to take off from the taxiway as the F-15s and HC-130s had, and were effectively trapped at the airbase until the runway was repaired. More importantly however, Bezmer was a good centralized location from which the long-range SAM batteries could cover most of eastern Bulgaria. For now, those batteries would have to rely heavily on the two E-550 Lookout AEW planes based out of Israel, as well as Théodwyn's carrier-based E-66 Hawkeye IIs, to provide early warning detection of enemy missiles and aircraft; the mountains running through the middle of Bulgaria would limit the detection range of the SAMs' own radar.

Further missile batteries had been installed at other bases: Graf Ignatievo had received a Skyceptor ABM battery and an AMRADS medium-range SAM battery. The disused airbase at Ravnets, which Mitheldalond had reactivated, received the same. More batteries were planned to cover the western side of the country, but with the enhanced defenses in place, Mitheldalond had begun flying in additional air units. First to arrive had been the 60 F-27 Vixens of the 86th Fighter Wing; its 6th and 103d Fighter Squadrons with their 40 aircraft had been stationed at Ravnets Airbase, where they were soon joined by 10 Wild Weasel Vixens of the 493d SEAD Squadron. The runways at Ravnets had lain disused for several years and were in need of some restoration, but the small, rugged Vixen was well-suited to operations from such rougher airfields. The remaining 20 Vixens, belonging to the 288th Fighter Squadron, had been stationed on Crete at the US/NATO naval base at Souda Bay. From there, they would be able to exert control over access to the Black Sea.

Meanwhile, the F-15s of the 254th Fighter Squadron - already in theater - had been relocated from Bezmer and Israel to the NATO air base at Kuçovë, Albania, where they could act as flank security for the other Mitheldalondian forces against air attacks from Germany, while still having the range to operate over the Black Sea and Romania. A THAAD battery had also been deployed to the base, as a hedge against further ballistic missile launches from Austria. The HC-130 search-and-rescue aircraft that had escaped from Bezmer had been joined by a quartet of EF-16 electronic attack aircraft at Graf Ignatievo Airbase in Bulgaria. In Israel, 12 F-25 Ghost stealth fighters from the 10th Fighter Squadron had been quietly moved into the area, accompanied by a handful of reconnaissance and surveillance aircraft, including four RQ-180 stealth UAVs.

Further north, in Poland, small groups of Mitheldalondian aircraft had been slowly filtering into the country in preparation for the planned upcoming Operation Mongoose, the details of which were highly classified.

---

Eastern Black Sea, near the Russia-Georgia border,
Altitude: 80,000 ft

An SR-71 Blackbird streaked through the stratosphere towards the Crimean Peninsula, another in a series of several flights conducted over the last few days at several areas around Ukraine and Romania. Ever since the Ukrainians had shot down one of their radar satellites, Mitheldalond had been rerouting the rest of their reconnaissance satellites to avoid Ukrainian airspace, leaving the task of aerial surveillance to recon aircraft like the SR-71. Despite its age, the SR-71 was still the fastest aircraft in the sky, and the Mitheldalondian models had received substantial upgrades and rebuilds over the years, largely focused on reducing operating costs. Several engine upgrades had dramatically improved their fuel efficiency and service life and were widely believed to have increased the plane’s top speed - though the Air Force declined to comment on the latter, and improvements to the airframe, cockpit, flight controls, and avionics had contributed to a reduced accident rate and lower training costs. Even with the upgrades however, the Blackbird still couldn’t fly fast enough or high enough to penetrate a modern long-range SAM network. It was still fast enough to outrun or outrange any SAMs or fighters that tried to intercept it by simply turning around and flying away when engaged, but long gone were the days when the Blackbird could just fly past them with impunity to surveil targets further inland. Their modernized electronics and electronic countermeasure systems were expected to give Mitheldalondian Blackbirds a reasonable level of survivability for such missions, but Air Force commanders had thus far opted not to test that theory against the Ukrainian air defenses. Deeper reconnaissance was left to the quartet of stealthy RQ-180 drones flying out of Israel, though even these had yet to risk venturing too far past the border.

Thus, the SR-71 flights to date had been limited to border and coastal areas, with the majority being conducted along the Bulgarian-Romanian border. Nevertheless, the Blackbirds had still been able to gather some useful intelligence on a few German positions south of Bucharest and on costal defenses in southern Ukraine, as well as providing plenty of signals and electronic intelligence from much closer to the borders than other SIGINT and ELINT aircraft could safely operate. They also served as a useful distraction; with such an obvious reconnaissance effort going on, the Ukrainians and Germans would hopefully be less likely to look for the subtler assets like the RQ-180s. The Blackbirds had also been used once or twice to draw the attention of enemy air patrols and SAMs away from other things, without much danger to themselves.

It was in the latter capacity that the SR-71 was currently operating. Its radar warning receiver had been periodically beeping in the cockpit for several minutes now, alerting the pilots every time the Ukrainian AWACS’s radar spun around to scan them. Hopefully, the Ukrainian fighter patrols over the Black Sea would already be rushing north and east to intercept the Blackbird, or to attempt to cut off its escape, leaving the southwest relatively empty.

Trailing in the Blackbird’s wake, a pair of F-25 Ghost stealth fighters broke off toward the Ukrainian AWACS, intent on adding to the distraction by shooting it down. If necessary, they would then return to clear any enemy fighters out of the SR-71’s escape vector.

---

Balkan Mountains, Bulgaria:

Four F/A-19 Thunderhawks from the carrier Théodwyn soared over the countryside at low altitude, hugging the southern edge of the mountains to keep them hidden from the Ukrainian AWACS watching the skies over the southwestern Black Sea. The Ukrainian air patrols had been hindering Mitheldalondian air operations for long enough, and with the ships of the Navy’s specially-formed Black Sea Task Force soon to arrive at the Turkish Straits, it was time to put an end to Ukraine’s air dominance. The Task Force, consisting of a hospital ship, a medical aid ship, and three small special operations and fire support ships, was only escorted by a destroyer and two frigates due to the restrictions of the Montreaux Convention. Intended mainly to interdict slave ships, rescue slaves, and render humanitarian aid and relief, the small task force wouldn’t survive long with their movements constantly being tracked by Ukrainian AWACS and maritime patrol aircraft. And so it was time to blind the Ukrainians.

The Thunderhawks were there to shoot down the AWACS. The lead pair of fighters each carried a pair of long-range Phoenix II missiles and other air-to-air ordnance. With a range of 200nmi and a top speed of Mach 5, the Phoenix II was designed to shoot down AWACS and large bomber aircraft, though it was still effective against enemy fighters. Nearing the end of the mountains ten minutes after the SR-71 had first been spotted to the east, the four fighters kicked in their afterburners and nosed up sharply, climbing to 30,000 feet and accelerating to Mach 2. As they passed over the coastline, 150nmi from the AWACS, the lead fighter fired its Phoenix IIs at the Ukrainian plane. His wingman held his missiles in reserve in case the first two somehow failed to hit, while the second pair of fighters hung back to cover the lead pair and provide security for the second phase of the operation.

The second phase consisted of an HC-130J Combat King II search-and-rescue aircraft and an MH-60S helicopter assigned to rescue the crew of the downed Ukrainian plane. Mitheldalond was hoping to exchange the Ukrainian crew for the crew of the Mitheldalondian EC-37 that had been shot down near Snake Island a few days earlier. The Mitheldalondians had obviously attempted to rescue their downed compatriots themselves, but the rescuers had been chased off by Ukrainian air defenses, and intelligence reported the crew had been picked up by the Ukrainians.

Eight F-15s had been launched from Albania to provide fighter cover, and F-27s stood ready at Ravnets Airbase if additional support was required.

At the same time, several flights of F-27 Vixens took off from Ravnets. Three pairs of Wild Weasels spread out along the Balkans, armed with AGM-88E AARGMs and SPEAR 3 air-to-ground missiles. The SEAD aircraft would pop up over the mountains and engage any German surface-to-air radar that targeted them with AARGMs, before ducking back behind the mountains to break the lock. Once the German radars had been knocked out, the Vixens would close and scatter SPEAR 3s toward the SAM site to take out the launchers and other vehicles. Each pair of SEAD planes was escorted by four more F-27s, two of which carried a mix of air-to-air missiles and SPEAR 3s, while the other two carried only air-to-air missiles. Hopefully, the SEAD operation would keep the Germans too busy to interfere with the anti-AWACS operations going on concurrently.

(ORBAT)

[OOC: Part 1 of 2]