Reclamation(Closed;attn: P+S, TNF, Northern Solaria, Latnya)

[The Steel Fraternity]

OOC: The internet connection where I'm at now is kind of wonky; I can't make really long posts, so this will be broken up into a few posts.
IC:
The view from the Apex Room was truly amazing. Reserved for meetings of the Fraternity's Elder Council, the room was, as its name suggested, situated at the very top of the Fraternity's pyramidal headquarters. All four walls were made of ballistic glass, supported by naked metal girders, polished to a high shine.

From its vantage point fifteen hundred feet in the air, a person standing in the Apex room could look out over all of Iron Bay, from the gleaming steel and glass of the Fraternity Enclave, to the towering, soot-stained factories of the Industrial Sector.

None of the four men in the room paid the view any mind. The three Elders of the Steel Fraternity (Brother-Militant Thomas Voerman, Brother-Scholastic Zachary Lee, and Brother-Scientific Howard Barnes) and the President of New Detroit, Brother-Scholar Carson all had much more on their minds.

Voerman, pacing back and forth in front of the north wall while the other three sat around the plain wooden table in the center of the room, checked his watch for the umpteenth time. “Where is he?”

“Calm down,” said Lee dismissively, glancing up from his dataslate (ooc: iPad, essentially). “He's got to come all the way up through bunkers and the building to get here from his lab. He'll be here any second.”

“Hm. And what's he doing in his lab all the time, anyway? We've got an Empire to run. We can't do that with the emperor locked in his basement with a chemistry kit.”

Lee put down his dataslate and opened his mouth to say something just as the elevator doors on the south side of the room opened, and Brother-Polymath Johnathan Keyes, Emperor of Skorzenia, strode heavily into the room. Seventy-seven years old and looking even older, he nonetheless stood over seven feet tall, encased as he was in a more primitive version of the Steel Paladins' power armor, designed to support a life-support suite to keep him alive despite disastrous heart disease.

“Sorry for the wait, gentlemen,” he said distractedly. “I was in the middle of something... delicate.” He swept to the head of the conference table and sat quickly. That particular chair had been specially reinforced to hold his power-armored form, but still creaked under the weight. “What is the matter before us?”

Voerman, moving to the table and taking a seat himself, shared a worried glance with Barnes. “Brother Keyes, as our reports to you have indicated--”

“I have no time for your long-winded reports, Brother Voerman,” said Keyes, impatently. “I need only the relevant data. Now, as I understand, we're here about the situation in 'Power and Stability,' correct?”

“Yes,” said Barnes, speaking for the first time. “Negotiations have stalled again--”

[The Steel Fraternity]

(Cont'd)

“Stalled, Hell!” interrupted Lee. “Those Commie bastards won't send our men home outside of body bags, and we won't see those Valkyries again until they're bombing us with them.”

“Negotiations have stalled,” repeated Barnes, glaring at Lee. “Due in no small part, I suspect, to the fact that the head of our Diplomatic Corp is a pompous jackass who couldn't negotiate for water from a drowning man!”

“Now, listen to me you little--”

“Zack,” said Keyes sharply. “Calm down. Barnes, give me the situation, civilly, not your opinion about Brother Lee's skills as a diplomat.”

Barnes scowled, but continued. “P and S won't give up our men or our planes, is essentially what it boils down to. They might've sent back Captain Yossarian and his squad right after they pulled them out of Lusitaniagrad, if they hadn't been accused of betraying us and intentionally sabotaging the war by a Skorzenian diplomat who shall remain unnamed. The planes, though, I think they were after from the beginning.”

“It doesn't matter what they might have done,” said Keyes. “What matters is that they have taken our citizens and brothers prisoner, and flouted our attempts at a peaceful solution. We cannot let them get away with that. We will get those men and those planes back, now. P and S have had their chance at a peaceful end to this. Now we will use force.”

“With respect, Brother Keyes,” said Barnes. “I don't think we can really afford this war. P and S has the military strength to make this costly, maybe even un-winnable, for us, and if Rustonia gets involved...”

[The Steel Fraternity]

(Cont'd)

“Nonsense,” said Lee. “Rustonia's thousands of miles from P and S; even if they want to intervene --which I doubt-- it will take them time to deploy. We'll have the war won by then.”

“No, we won't,” said Voerman. “The Leviathan and Minnow are already waiting just outside P and S waters, yes. And they've both got their escorts; six destroyers and four subs a piece. But we can't win a war against P and S with them alone.

“Right now, we have ships, cruise missiles, planes, and a thousand Paladins already deployed and within striking distance. But in order to force all of P and S into submission, which is what we're going to have to do, we need to deploy the Army in force. Infantry, armor, the works. We'll also need to deploy the rest of the Paladins.”

“Ridiculous!” said Lee. “Do you mean to tell me that a thousand Paladins aren't enough to topple a single Commie government? Besides, we only need to get the men back and take the Valkyries away from them. In a pinch, we could even just destroy the planes they've captured.”

“You know damn well,” said Voerman. “That we have no idea where in P and S the pilots and planes are being kept. Hell, they might have scattered them across the country. We'll have to get the whole nation in a strangle hold before we can force them to cough our boys back up. And no, we can't do that with just a thousand Paladins, or even all the Paladins. They're hell on wheels when it comes to wrecking shit, but they can't hold territory by themselves. There're too few of them to really secure any large area, and their maximum deployment time is too short; you can't keep a man buttoned up in one of those suits for more than forty-eight hours at a stretch, and once they're outside their armor, they can't even lift most of their weapons.”

Voerman turned to Keyes. “Brother Keyes, we might be able to win this war, but probably not. Even if we can mount a successful invasion of P and S, we'll be wide open to Rustonian retaliation. If we win, it will be at a steep cost. We have to give diplomacy another shot.”

“No,” said Keyes, firmly. “They've spat in our face; we can't just walk away from that. We've already prepared the Army and the rest of the Paladins for deployment, correct?”

Voerman was forced to nod. As the tension between Skorzenia and P and S had increased, they'd begun passive preparations for war. The Army had been massing over a million troops at Fort Mariposa, just outside Iron Bay, along with heavy armor support and the Steel Paladins. Two hundred and fifty Behemoth tanks had already been dismantled and loaded onto heavy freighters in the Bay.

[The Steel Fraternity]

(concluded)
“Good,” continued Keyes. “We should be able to establish a firm beachhead with the ships and Paladins already deployed; after that it will be only a matter of days before the main invasion force arrives, and Brother Lee assures me that we will have international support for this effort.”

Eyebrows all around the table shot up while Lee smiled smugly. “Who?” asked Voerman.

“Surprisingly,” said Lee. “Nations with only minimal relations with us. Vandermire, Northern Solaria, and Latnya have all evinced willingness to support a war against Power and Stability.”

“'Minimal relations'?” asked Voerman. “As in, nations whose relations with us are handled by your subordinates rather than by you yourself?”

Lee reddened. “Perhaps.”

Voerman sighed, bowing to the inevitable. Thanks to the efforts of Lee's much more competant subordinates with third parties, and Lee's spectacular bungling of diplomacy with Power and Stability, there was no way Voerman could now talk the Emperor out of a war.

“All right,” said Voerman. “We've already drawn up plans as a contingency. We can launch a surprise attack on Novus and Ordo immediately. Provided we open with a heavy cruise missile salvo followed by Valkyrie runs and Paladin deployment, we expect to be able to capture both cities within hours of crossing into P and S territorial waters. Then it will just be a matter of waiting for reinforcement from Vandermire, Solaria, and Latnya while our main invasion force deploys.

“However, by the time our main forces arrive, the Rustonians will be probably already have their own deployed. After that, things will get bloody.”

“The blood of patriots is the blood of nations,” said Keyes, standing. The meeting was at an end. “Besides, most of the casualties will be Proles, and they don't matter. Send your orders, Brother Voerman. Brother Lee, make the necessary communiques with our allies and put their military commands in contact with Brother Voerman.”

The Emperor turned to leave. “I have a war to declare.”

OOC: Just to be clear, I'm not pre-emptively calling the result of the initial assault; I'm just relaying the Fraternity's expectations.

[Latnya]

The Empress hurried to the war room with the remaining generals and military leaders, the rest were in the war with Acadia and this seemed like a large enough situation to warrant her as High Captain of the Armed forces , she broke into a run as she raced down the golden and silver palace halls dodging servants and high class people before finally coming to a large door others only knew as the war room.


"Hello gentlemen, please excuse my rudeness now tell me about this situation with P&S." the obviously out of breath empress said as she toke her seat on the round table with in the dimly lit room, there was a screen at the end of the room the only light source and after finally siting one man, General Romulus Snr began "Welcome Majesty, Let me get right to the point, P&S has humiliated the Steel Fraternity to say the least and now there launching a response against them, we have been contacted to fight with them along with our allies Vandermire and Solaria" the aging war hero said with a old yet commanding voice. After much thought and useless unimportant briefings and chatter the empress had the last word "We Will Help our allies against P&S and we Will win this, no more discussion is needed your the generals you make the plans and you fight, the only thing i will do in this war is lead the Royal Guard like i was trained too, now if you excuse me gentlemen i shall be going to my later appointments." and in utter shock,awe and respect the men in the room did exactly that and prepared to contact there allies they would be fighting as well.

(OOC: is this good?)

[The Steel Fraternity]

OOC: I'm certainly not going to fire the ignore cannon on it. Your prose could use a little polish, but that's just a presentation issue, and so can everyone's.

[Power and Stability]

Office of War Intelligence, Department of Defense Compound, Ordo, The People's Union of Power and Stability

---

A few Military Commanders were asked to have a meeting with the head of the Council of the Union, Benjamin Rousseau, regarding some new breakthroughs in the engineering of captured Valkyrie fighters. Staff working in the Office of War Intelligence were asked to leave, for security and privacy reasons. Two OIW agents were placed right outside the meeting room, dressed in their standard tailored suits and Vabiana shades.

Benjamin Rousseau quickly glanced at the two agents, and hurriedly entered the room. He had been delayed in the chaotic mess that is the Ordo, with traffic jams being considered a part of everyday life in the capital. Nevertheless, the military commanders would not be so kind so as to ignore this, and Rousseau wished the meeting had been scheduled later in the day.

“Hello gentlemen. Please excuse my lateness, “he said, obviously out of breath from the brisk jog he had taken to get here. Benjamin took a seat on the end of the table closest to the door, the only remaining seat.

“No time for that, Rousseau. Our engineers have made recent developments in our understanding of the Valkyrie fighters we ‘captured’ from The Steel Fraternity,” said Miguel Tellez, head of the Office of War Intelligence, with a hint of annoyance in his tone of voice.

“What kind of ‘developments’ are you referring to”

“We managed to construct our own prototype,” this time spoke Bernard Lamonde, General of the Air Fleet, the highest ranking officer in the Postan Department of Aerial Warfare. “Of course, it still has the ridiculous short range of the original, and it’s also as expensive, but it still retains the best qualities of the ones we captured. They’re faster than most of our planes, and are armed to the bone.”

“Very well, is there anything we can do about the undesirable traits?”

“We don’t know. It could be days, weeks, or years before we can do anything. There’s still much we don’t know about these planes,” said Lamonde once again.” In our quest to discover the secrets these fighter jets hold, we’ve wrecked quite a few of them. We’ve also lost a few lives, but we now know enough that the pilots can come out alive after their flight.”

“There’s also something else we wish to talk with you about.” General of the Armies, John Amaro, said as he pressed a button on a small control. Instantly, a screen lowered, and projector emerged from the wall directly behind Rousseau. The screen showed aerial photos of two ships.

“These are photos taken from one of our surveillance planes, just outside of Postan territorial waters. We suspect they are ships from The Steel Fraternity’s Imperial Navy, here to retake their planes and pilots, although we cannot be sure. No matter what the reason for their presence is, their close proximity with Ordo has caused concern. We are regularly monitoring their movements, for security reason.”

“Well, you are the military men. What do you propose we do?”

“For the time being, nothing,” said Amaro. “We’ll continue to monitor them daily, while simultaneously transporting troops closer to the capital, for national security reasons of course.”

Rousseau stood up, and turned to leave. “Very well, gentlemen, I think this meeting is adjourned.”
With that, he stood up and exited the meeting chamber.

[Northern Solaria]

« OoC: Sorry for being late to the party, bros. »

The Imperial Gardens were built to be a place for peace and relaxation. The infamous hedge maze would abruptly end, revealing various large open expanses complete with fountains and lawns and small, shaded tables. Of course, finding a specific clearing was near impossible without knowing all of the hidden markers left by the gardeners. One of the smaller clearings was notable because it was there that the High Council of Solarian Defense met whenever faced with military issues; although no one outside of the High Council and the palace staff knew that to be true.

The clearing itself was quite unspectacular. It consisted of a large grassy meadow bordered by tall hedges and divided by a small stone pathway. On one side of the pathway was a large, deep pond frequented by ducks, on the other was a large, archaic oak tree. Under the old oak tree was a reasonably sized, wooden, circular table covered by a rich blue cloth. The slight breeze ruffling the grass, the puffy clouds above, and the occasional patrolling zeppelin made the scene the epitome of summer as it had been on the Solarian peninsula for centuries.

Five well dressed men, and one well dressed woman, sat around the table under the oak tree. They were, respectively, the supreme commanders of the Royal Air Force, Solarian Army, and the Imperial Navy, the High Valkyrie, the recently promoted High Admiral of the budding Celestial Navy, and the enigmatic King of Northern Solaria, who went by the name of Luke when not engaged in official business. Together, they were the entire military high command of Northern Solaria, and assassinating them in one swift strike would put the country into anarchy and chaos. And yet they all sat under the reasonably large oak tree, sipping white wine and enjoying their seafood, without an ounce of doubt as to who would kill them.

The hedge mazes were, after all, infamously confusing and had a habit of being moved around by mechanical means when foreigners entered the garden. The various security checkpoints and the constant watch by elite Valkyries also helped to give peace of mind to the High Council. Not that they really cared that much, as they all expected to die horribly during the next revolution.

The High Valkyrie placed his chopsticks on his plate delicately, and wiped the remnants of the deep brown soy sauce off of his mouth with his personal, embroidered napkin. He took a small sip of his wine and looked expectantly around the table. As everyone else was eating, he started off the conversations.

"So what is it, exactly, that you called us here for, your highness?"

The King, who was chewing his ahi at the time of the question, also took a sip of the wine and cleared his throat.

"Well, I have been informed by some aides that a nation known as the "Steel Fraternity" has applied for military support from us. They are invading the communist nation of "Power and Stability" on the grounds that some pilots and advanced fighters were captured by Power and Stability, and the Fraternity wants them back. Interestingly enough, they seem to have their own Valkyrie and Paladin units, although with different roles. Anywho, we are to assist in the naval invasion of Power and Stability, along with our ally Latnya and some other countries I've never heard of. I feel that this would be a reasonably good time to test out some of our new technology, being that we outnumber our opponent and therefore have less chance of a catastrophic loss that results in a poorly proportioned ratio of men killed to technology achievements tested."

At the mention of communism the majority of the commanders grimaced, as if their food had suddenly become sour. There was a momentary pause as most at the table reached for their wine. The head of the Imperial navy eventually sighed, dabbing with his napkin at the corner of his mouth, began to speak.

"To be quite honest, I'm all for it. We haven't been involved in any military events since our re-emergence from isolation, and the odds are stacked in our favor. I'm worried that the newer troops, who haven't seen any combat at all, will be entirely unprepared in case of an invasion. This way we can face minimal losses, while boosting the skill level of our troops."

He nodded to himself before picking up his chopsticks and popping a smaller sushi roll into his mouth. The other commanders seemed to be in general agreement, and so the High Council of Solarian Defense resumed their noontime seafood meal.


And with that, Northern Solaria went to war.

« OoC: tl;dr version: "Let's go to war, chaps!" »

[The Nuclear Fist]

Ministry of Defense; Command Centre, Revolution Square, Socialist People's Republic of the Nuclear Fist

Jerusalem. A city of blistering heat. A city of sandstorms. A city in which God himself seems to want to wipe off the map. It was once the capital of the Zionist Empire of Rustonia, the world's most powerful Jewish empire. Founded in the year 3,000 BC, it was one of the oldest in the world. It had been rebuilt time and time again, repairing it and making a stronger. Now? If there was ever a city built to survive a war. This was it.

Across the city, one would be hard pressed to find a building above four stories. It was against the law to do so. Although it was far from being extravigant, it was easily defendable. Buildings were made of reinforced enriched concrete. Nearly half a mile under the city, was a series of reinforced bunkers and interconnecting tunnels. Used in case of invasion. Being so close to the Sea of Corpses, it was possible. Although improbable. Of any area in the Global Communist Bloc, it was the most heavily defended. Across the city, were thousands of hidden anti-aircraft batteries. SAMs, various mobile missile platforms, and even hidden missile silos.

But what made it truely remarkable, were the ancient walls the blocked off Jerusalem from the outside world. Built nearly a thousand years ago to keep out invaders. Now, the walls were reinforced with ten feet of nano-steel carbonite, a foot of depleted uranium, encased in steel. Along the walls; a series of massive siege cannons, anti-aircraft guns, and SAMs. Military bases dotted the area around the city, giving it a full circle of defense.

_______________________________________________________________________________________

"Where is he?" Asked the Chairman of Security, Uzi Azaria.

"Hold your tongue. He will be here." Dragos cel Rau, the Chairman of Defense.

The room, unlike the city outside, was a pleasant fifty-five degrees. Kept cool by a central air system.

Suddenly, the door opened. Supreme Chairman Borislav Petrovic. A short, paunchy man of fifty-five - Borislav seemed anything but the man he truly was. He took a seat at the head of the long, oakwood table. Clearly ready to discuss buisness. And knowing he could have any of them killed in an instant, they were all too happy to oblige.

"Mr. Petrovic, there is strange news you must hear of." Dragos said, sliding a thin manilla folder in front of Borislav. On it, marked in red lettering, were the words סוד מדינה. קריאה בלתי מורשים של המסמכים הבאים נושאת עונש לכל החיים Smirking, Borislav opened the file.

It was mostly jargon. Information and pictures gathered from a monage of sources. But it seemed to strike Borislav in a curious manour. He adjusted his glasses, and looked long and hard at Uzi, an intensely serious look on his face. He set the file down, and cleared his throat. Clearly ready to speak.

"Is this right?" He asked, his voice deep and rough, like a dog's growl.

"I am positive sir. This is most certainly correct." Uzi said, nodding.

"Then we have no choice. Raise the Alert Level to Level Three, and mobilise the forces. If our comrades in Power and Stability are attacked by these fascist pigs, I want a full legion of Rustonian soldiers marching through the burning wreckage of Iron Bay by the week's end." He ordered, smacking the table with his fist for emphasis.

"That is preposterous. We have no solid proof that the Skorzenians will attack!" Said Mustafa Al-Shareif, the Chairman of Foreign Relations.

"If we act on what litte of information this is, we could be facing diplomatic disaster!" He said, his voice filled with worry. Out of all of the Chairman, Mustafa often seemed to be the most calculating. Always thinking of ways something could go wrong. He had nearly been fired during the invasion of the Fascist Union State, in which he vulgarly opposed. Claiming that going to war over ideology made the Nuclear Fist the monster it fights.

"Silence! I am the goddamn Chairman for a reason!" Shouted Borislav. His voice shook with rage, but quickly he simmered down.

"We must handle this situation delicately. We will raise the third and fourth naval armadas. Keep them on high alert. If our comrades in Power and Stability detect trouble, I doubt highly they'll fail to contact us. We are but 1,500 kilometres away. It is not a far distance for us. And if the goddamn Skorzenians make for war, we will stamp them into nonexistance before they become little more than a shitstain on the map." Borislav said, his voice firm. He stood up, and nodded as the Chairmen saluted him.

"Dismissed gentlemen. As it is a Sunday, I will be in Temple if you need me."

And at that, Borislav removed his Marshal's cap, replacing it with a Yarmulke. Unlike his predecessor, Borislav was a deeply religious Jew. And only during matters of extreme importance would he miss even a second of his time in Temple. As he walked out, the various Chairmen present were given the signal to leave. They did so immediately, not wanting to hold up the armed guards that always accompanied Borislav.


OOC: I hope this wasn't too bad. I just wanted to type something up to get me involved.

[The Steel Fraternity]

Rear-Admiral Morris appeared calm as can be, standing on the bridge of the Poseidon-class battle carrier Minnow, coffee cup in hand, looking contemplatively out over the turrets on the ship's main deck.

Behind him, Captain Hardwick straightened up from where he'd been leaning down next to a communications officer, then walked briskly over to where the Commodore stood.

"Sir," said Hardwick. "We've just received the word to prep for Victor Victor. We have two hours until the Brother-Polymath declares war." Victor Victor was the planned first strike against Power and Stability, up the Vita River Valley.

There was silence for a moment as Morris took a slow sip from his mug before turning to Hardwick. "Do they want hit-and-run, or are we supposed to secure the area?"

"We're to secure the area, sir," said Hardwick. "The orders came straight from the Brother-Militant. After immediate resistance has been eliminated, the Paladins are to secure and hold Novus, Ordo, and the any intact major air strips in the area. Then, the first waves of infantry and light armor will be airlifted in while the main invading force is transferred by ship."

"That's nice," replied the Admiral. "But I'm more interested in what naval support we'll be getting."

"Uh, yes, sir," said Hardwick. "The Deus Ex Bellum and its battle group will be escorting the main transport fleet, and will join us once they arrive. The Poseidon and its battle group will remain near Iron Bay."

The Admiral nodded. "Very well. Begin prepping the Valkyries for takeoff and have Centurion Alverada get his Paladins ready to deploy. I'll send orders to the Leviathan to begin their preparations. Ready the cruise missiles and get us broadside to the shore; we'll launch our salvo as soon as war's declared." The Admiral paused for a moment more. "Oh, and have a comm tech monitor that. We'll put the Brother-Polymath's address out over the fleet's intercoms when he declares war. Get to it."

"Yes, sir."

--

Precisely two hours later, the long banks of cruise-missile batteries along the sides of the battle carriers erupted in smoke and flame, launching four-hundred missiles in a single salvo, all targeted at the major military bases at the headwaters of the Vita River. Simultaneously, each carrier launched its full capacity of Valkyrie fighter-bombers and Thunderbird tiltrotor transports.

The brunt of the assault would be directed against the military bases, with the goal of crippling as much of the Postanian military as possible in the initial strike. To that end, 96 of the 140 jets immediately set off to begin bombing the military installations. The remaining 44 were split into three groups of twelve, twelve, and twenty, escorting Thunderbirds laden with Paladins.

The main force of Paladins would, once again, be focused on the military bases. All five hundred paladins of the 3rd Cohort, based off the Minnow and led by Centurion Alverada. Meanwhile, 4th Cohort, off the Leviathan, would be split into two groups. Two hundred Paladins under Centurion Walker would be tasked with destroying any Postanian military presence around Novus and securing the city as well as they could. The other three hundred, under Centurion Green, were tasked with taking Ordo and capturing Rousseau and his top officials.

If everything went according to plan, they'd have secured a solid foothold in Postan, the top levels of the Power and Stability government captured or dead, and the Postanian military crippled, leaving the whole nation open to the main invading force.

If everything went to plan.

OOC: Many apologies for the lateness of the post.

[Power and Stability]

Benjamin Rosseau, the Union President, had been enjoying his meal until two Office of War Intelligence agents came rushing through the door of the restaurant, M9 pistols in hand, and grabbed him by the arm.

"What's going on gentlemen!" said Rosseau as he regained his balance.

"No time, sir. We've been attacked," said one of the agents as he closed the door of the speeding, black car.

As he uttered those words, Rosseau's face went pale. The person sitting in the passenger seat turned around. It was John Amaro, the General of the Postan Armies. He seemed to have noticed the worried look on the President's face.

"It's alright, Benjamin. There's a plane ready for you at the Vinco Military Base. It's gonna take you out of the country, along with the rest of the members of the Union Council.It's not safe here."

"But I can't go,"argued Rosseau, "I can't leave, especially now."

"With all due respect, I'm the military leader. It is now up to me, and the Generals of the Air and Naval Fleets to defend us from The Steel Fraternity."

"Have they landed already?" asked the President.

"No, they've ony started to launch missiles. So far, they've only fired at military bases, but there's no telling what they'll do ne-"

Amaro was cut short by the sharp turn the agent driving the car performed.

"What are you doing?!" exclaimed John, obviously angry.

"I was just informed that Vinco Military Base was hit by one of the cruise-missiles."

"Shit, what about Vita?" said the General.

'Vita has managed to survive the salvo of missiles.

"Head there then. Step on it!"

---

Eight of the fifteen military bases around the Vita River Valley had been destroyed. Hangars, a fighters, and military equipment had been burned to rubble. There was nothing left to salvage, it had all been destroyed or damaged beyond repair.

The remaining seven were being prepared for war. HUV 24, 28, and 26, the main logistical workhorses of the Postan Military Forces, could be seen driving in out of the military bases, carrying all sorts of military equipment. AR-21 and Wolfhound MBT were being checked and loaded with everything it will need in a battle situation.

Atlatl-C Air Defence System were being transported on board cargo trucks toward the beaches of Novus. Chimera ATF and HAD S8 LRADO bombers were being prepared for flight. Soon enough, they would be flying sorties over The Steel Fraternity's ships.

Along with hauling tanks and artillery, the HUV Tactical Transpost Trucks were transporting troops towards the Postan coasts. There, they would prepare their defenses, setting up the Atlatl-C's to protect against enemy aircraft

Soon enough, the war will commence. They had no time to lose.

---

Declaration of War and Military Action
against the Holy Empire of The Steel Fraternity

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Within the course of a few days, it has become apparent that the sovereign nation of The Steel Fraternity has expressed military aggression towards The People's Union of Power and Stability. From the courtesy of the noble service of the Office of War Intelligence, we have learned of your naval prescence near our territorial waters, and the launching of a slavo of cruise misiles targeted towards several Postan Military Bases.

In response to recent action taked by The Steel Fraternity's government, which ultimately led to the deaths of several military personnel, The People's Union of Power and Stability,it's government and it's people, hereby grants the Postan Military Forces full freedom to combat the Fraternial prescence and threat in Postan territorial waters.The pretexts for war are as follows:

Pre-Text of the Declaration of War and Military Action against The Holy Empire of The Steel Fraternity

a. The presence of the navy of The Steel Fraternity within the shores of Power and Stability.
b. The launching of cruise-missiles which led to the death of several Postan citizens.

The Postan Military Forces and its military branches are approved of waging military action against the military of The Hoy Empire of The Steel Fraternity.

Let it be known that as of the nine-teenth day of December, of the year of 2010, a state of war exists between The People's Union of Power and Stability and The Holy Empire of The Steel Fraternity, under the authentication, enacting, and enforcement of The People's Congress, until this declaration has been deemed null and void under the resolute approval of The People's Congress and The President of the Union.


OoC: You don't have to do a Declaration of War, I just felt like doing one

---

Seal of Authenticity from The People's Congress

[The Steel Fraternity]

Seven minutes after the attack was launched, the cruise missiles reached their targets, and the results were transmitted back to the Minnow via real-time satellite feed.

"Targets two through five, seven, nine, ten, and fourteen are gone, sir," reported the Lieutenant Commander in command of the Tactical Intelligence station on the Minnow's bridge. "The rest of the Valley bases received only negligible damage."

"Hm. Better missile defenses than we expected," observed Captain Hardwick. "Advise the fighters and Paladins to be ready for more intense AA fire than anticipated."

The Commander nodded to an Ensign to relay the information.

"Have the Valkyries made contact yet?" asked Admiral Morris.

"No sir," replied the commander. "The main bombing wing is halfway to the Valley bases now. They have encountered no AA fire or enemy fighters. We caught them unprepared."

"I expect you've already sent them updated targeting orders to hit the intact bases?"

"Of course, sir. We've also informed Centurion Alverada of the results of the barrage. Their ETA to their drop zones is fifty-three minutes."

"What about the assault on Novus?" asked Norris.

"Centurion Walker's force has already deployed and is securing the city. They report no enemy contact, sir."

"Has there been any response at all?"

"The remaining Valley bases are sending out mechanized anti-aircraft weapons and tanks. They appear to be mostly bound for the coast. They've also launched bombers, apparently targetted at us."

"Advise Centurion Walker about their activity, and also to dedicate a Centurio or two to intercept the enemy mechanized force," said Norris. In theory, Paladins were fully independent and were not subordinate to any other officers. In practice, the "advice" of any regular military officer of a higher rank than the commanding Paladin was taken as an order. "Has there been any infantry response?"

"None visible by satellite, sir."

"Good," said Morris. He turned to Captain Hardwick. "Make ready to bring us in to the bay by Novus. Once we're there we'll be in place to shell any approaching vehicles that get past the Paladins, and prepare our anti aircraft defenses for any bombers that might get past the Valkyries." To the Lieutenant Commander: "Give the same orders to the rest of the fleet."