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The squad was just like any other Bazalonian squad in The Lowland Clans battling it out.
"Lads, we've got intel that we've got a Starblaydi nest ahead... our job is to clear it. They may or may not be expecting us and we've got to be ready for traps. Here's the plan he need to draw them out... If we can get them to scatter then we should have it. We all know the plan, right, let's go."
A few minutes later through binoculars they could barely see the Starblaydi tent, the camoflauge was good but there was just enough for the human eye to detect difference.
"The distance is 335 meters... 182 degrees 10 minutes... Launch when ready."
The mortar was set and fired, it whistled through the air and was heading directly for the Starblaydi nest.
As soon as the Mortar was fired, the squad leader ordered a re-location where they would focus of fired weapons. |
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The Starblaydi Army was stretched. There was no other word for it, they were having to control all of what had been Legalese and fully one-third of the Allied States of the Lowland clans. Winter had turned to spring through summer, and the Starblaydi advance had smashed through everything in their path. Though the front line units had four States' capital cities practically surrounded, there was no going forward. Worse still, the initiative was swinging to the other side.
In the streets and between the buildings of Graham City, London, Athens and Glasgow, an international League of troops were ready and waiting to fight off the Starblaydi advance. Though they hadn't been able to ship over their heaviest armour and artillery in the numbers they'd hoped, the crowded streets of Graham City in particular were no place for hulking, lumbering, armoured beasts of war. Lord-General Othello Munez was forced to park up his tanks in vulnerable lagers, whole squadrons of Gilgamesh tanks seemingly just waiting for a well-aimed artillery shell or aerial bomb.
So stretched, not only along the front line but behind it too, were Starblaydia that even the least elite of the League's squads could penetrate them. What seemed like a dozen times a day, squads, convoys, patrols and command posts reported contact with Alliance, Lamonian or Bazalonian troops, often worryingly deep inside supposedly Starblaydi-controlled territory.
Up in the skies, however, a greater threat was looming as the Falcanian air force floated effortlessly towards the cities that Starblaydia surrounded. The threat, however, was not from their massive aircraft carriers, or the sub-carriers that held the Falcanian planes themselves. The threat was against them, and was even higher up than their ships. The threat was from the Damocles orbital artillery station, and Viannor was resorting to her greatest weapon. The bird-freaks wouldn't know what hit them, and even as the largest Starblaydi air armada ever assembled formed groups and headed for the Falcanian's location, Damocles was being warmed up. |
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The Lamonian troops were still making use of hit and run raids against the Starblaydis with the forces that weren't helping to defend Graham City. Supply convoys, ammo dumps, command posts, and even the occasional tank Laager or two were attacked, with mixed results.
The troops were going so deep into Starblaydi occupied territory that it seemed much too easy. No one could deny that the Starblaydi forces were horribly stretched; something that must be giving Viannor indigestion, the troops all joked.
Until and unless the economy improved, standard Lamonian battle tactics depended upon hit and run raids by light units until the heavier Lamonian units effectively "mopped up" any remaining resistance. |
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"Radar stations reporting in, my Lady." The Air Force Marshall commanding the Damocles ground-control station was unused to having the sole ruler of his nation breathing down his neck. Night had just fallen across the continent of Calania, but he was about to give the command to light it up again.
"Is the plan set, Marshall?" Viannor didn't even look at him.
"Affirmative, my Lady. The carrier has disgorged its fighters onto the sub-carriers, and they are launching their F4s as we speak. Our Nightwings are on their way. Carrier is over the city of Glasgow, Damocles in position."
Large-scale air operations at night, combined with a weapon of mass-destruction used over a city: had it really got this desperate?
"Targeted?"
"Affirmative. The carrier steady is on a predictable vector."
"Fire."
There was no dramatic pause. No future-legendary speech or statement, no witty or damning comment, just the simple irrevocable command. Fire.
*****
From the ground, seen out of the windows of the Allied States' City of Glasgow, it was a fairly remarkable sight: a thousand fireflies buzzing around each other, streaks of light and flashing in between them, bright spots of orange flame spurting across the sky. A battle backed by stars in the cloudless sky.
Starblaydia and Falcania were locked in air-to-air combat high, high above the cit of Glasgow. Flaming wrecks, metal coffins travelling at five-hundred miles an hour, plummeted to the ground or simply disintegrated in mid-air. But that was not the Tragedy of Glasgow. That threat came from further above, among the stars themselves.
"Non est ad astra mollis e terris via", they say, 'there is no easy way from the earth to the stars'. The return journey, however, is far easier and quicker.
*****
"Rod released, vectoring in on target."
"Good." Viannor's eyes were like stone. "Get the video feed up."
*****
It began as a dot. A bright dot of light in the inky black sky. Even looking for it, you would have struggled to notice it, lost amongst all the usual stars, distracted from its presence by the explosions, death and carnage across the sky. The dot, however, became brighter and larger, a glowing white-hot pinprick that was heading straight for you.
Even the Starblaydi super-slow motion camera's struggled to capture it effectively. A thousand frames a second was just enough to capture the ferocious glory of what was colloquially known as a 'rod from God'. It was anything but, the thing that had sent this deadly evil.
The primary target was the Falcanian carrier vessel, hovering gently above Glasgow's skyline. Less than a second before any observer realised what was headed for it, the carrier was obliterated, not even a speed-bump on the road to its secondary target: Glasgow itself.
As bright as the bustling city had ever been at night was nothing in comparison to this. Every pair of eyes was momentarily blinded by the incandescent orb that a good quarter of the city had become. The ground shook, a noise louder than any thunder ever heard in Atlantian Oceania before, and the citizens of Glasgow died in their thousands without ever even being aware of it. No nation had contemplated this action before, but Viannor had seen it through to its conclusion. The deadly, vicious aerial battle was merely a diversion for this atrocity, committed in the name of removing a strategic Falcanian air assault vehicle, but the result of it was the death of thousands of innocent people in the Allied States.
Starblaydi jets hit their afterburners and retreated at full speed away from the combat area, and the Falcanian planes - victorious in the air - had only their sub-carriers to return to. Their aerial command post for this sector had been vaporised and Starblaydia had played their trump card, orbital weaponry.
*****
"That is seven rods left, yes?"
"Affirmative my Lady."
"And how many more of them do they have?"
"Around thirty main carriers, my Lady, are in the Falcanian fleet."
"I wasn't talking about the carriers, Marshall," Viannor broke into a smile, wicked and sharp like a knife, "I meant cities." |
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If Viannor had hoped that her use of Damocles would shock and stun the Allied States and their allies into surrender, or if her strike on the Falcanian carrier would dishearten the bird-like people of King Falcon, then she was utterly wrong.
For the Falcanians, they had still won a tactical victory in the air: Starblaydia's much-vaunted air armada was comprehensively struck down by the diversionary battle over Glasgow. The Air Marshals had not thought it a wise move at the time, and now the Starblaydi Air Force had been hit hard, all to prove that Viannor had the cojones - or was it huevos? - to use her ultimate weapon.
Allied States' citizens knew they had no time to mourn the dead, and would have to do so after the war had ended. Now was their time to avenge the 'Tragedy of Glasgow', as it was being called. The Clansmen had a reputation for calm, considered actions, but this time was different. Vengeance demanded otherwise and so, without pause or question, the Allied States went on the offensive.
Eagerly supported by Lamonian, Bazalonian, Falcanian and Khazaronian forces, the Strategic Defense League belied their name and simply charged. In a hundred places at once the Starblaydi line, with its commanders supposedly - they were being watched over by KERES officers, after all - enjoying their moment of destruction and victory, was breached by troops, tanks, armoured personnel carriers and all manner of hell was unleashed on the Starblaydi front line.
There was no way this sort of spontaneous front-wide attack could have conducted normally, there was no communications traffic to intercept, no build-up of troops and supply lines to detect. It was simple rage, unbridled and unfettered, and Starblaydia was overwhelmed by it. In a single night the front lines moved anywhere from one to ten miles as SDL forces advanced, regrouped and advanced again. Momentum was built upon and built upon, and a Starblaydi retreat soon became a rout, with thousands of troops caught completely unprepared and easily captured. The tide had turned. |
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"They're reteating..."
"It's more than a retreat, it's a rout. Press the advantage as much as you can, dis-arm any surrendering Starblaydi forces, a second wave will take them prisoner."
"yes, sir."
The message was radioed throughout Bazalonian divisions, of infantry as mobile artilary, light tanks, almost a million infantry in total, well probably more like 800,000 remained.
As the message was sent it was sent un-encrypted... no point in encrypting this message, it wasn't like KERES wouldn't know, The detail of the opperation was then worked out by the Field Commanders which did encypt their messages.
The Bazalonians pushed forward making sure to align their attacks with their allies in the SDL, the Lamonian, Falcanian and Khazaronian forces. |
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The Lamonian forces were doing everything they could to keep the Starblaydi forces running.
Decoys were tried, but they couldn't move fast enough for this kind of rout. They could, however; give the impression of more forces than were really there.
The Lamonian troops made themselves look fiercer than ever as they kept throwing themselves at the Starblaydi forces; jumping on Gilgamesh tanks, and sticking grenades down their gun tubes like tenaciously effective fleas. Starblaydi infantry were cut down by accurate bursts of rounds from the weapons of dead Starblaydi troops.
On either side of the Lamonian troops, allied forces were advancing at at least the same clip, armor was going even faster. |
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Michael Hack watched with a blank expression as the fuel tanks of the FNS Phoenix detonated. The normal hustle of the bridge was silenced as the crew of the FNS Feather watched their comrades on the opposite deck, barely larger than pinpricks, lit on fire, and each could hear the screams in their minds. Fire and feathers were not friends, the maxim every Falcanian was taught as a toddler. And now they could see why.
Hack's voice cut across the mourning. "Fleetwide orders. Dive to eleven kilometres." One unlucky ensign failed to suppress a gasp. The carriers were meant to stay much higher, out of range of SAMs and above the ceiling of enemy aircraft. Hack was ordering them to an altitude lower than that of even a Bird of Prey.
The first officer pulled Hack aside. "Sir," he muttered, "This is suicide, we'll get blown to pieces at that altitude."
Hack frowned. "The Phoenix didn't do too well at this altitude. We've got them running. We need the jet stream if we're going to chase them convincingly. So dive to eleven before I have you executed. Send out scouting patrols of Birds of Prey backed up with Kites full of soldiers." |
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Winging It Since 2004 |
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"You will hold them here," Colonel Iago Forlan sternly commanded his men, he hadn't had much sleep in the previous two nights, "they think they're chasing us all the way to Jhanna in one go, and I will not allow that to happen. We will defend this group we have taken, this Alliance of Nine States that is under our control. Tankers, to your positions!"
The tank commanders and group leaders assembled underneath the camouflaged tent stood and saluted their Commander. Some cheered, or made the guttural grunting sound that soldiers love to psyche themselves up with. Forlan knew this would be the first of Starblaydia's defensive battles in this war, but Starblaydia's attacking threat was still their greatest asset. The outskirts of Graham City had been theirs until that foolhardy use of the godrods.
Bloody woman, Forlan thought, that was the last thing we needed.
"Colonel Forlan," The female voice behind him startled him somewhat.
"Yes?" He turned to face the voice and her companion. A KERES officer and some male lackey by her side. He wondered for a moment if she'd heard his thoughts. Fool.
"How are the defensive preparations?" That was the thing with the KERES, short and to the point. This woman, wispy blonde locks sticking out from underneath her beret, was nothing different. The tall, lean and tanned man beside her could only be some sort of subordinate.
"As well as can be expected, Officer," Forlan replied, playing this woman at her own secretive game. The KERES never revealed more information than needed, and he was sure he wouldn't get his woman's name, nor the function of the man beside her.
"How do you think your request for more troops will affect the situation in Starblaydia?" Her sunglasses hid her eyes, always giving them the edge in a conversation. "Our Lady must be adequately protected."
"There is no point, Officer," Forland tried to control his temper, but failed, "in having a ring around our Lady-Protector if our enemies have hundreds of miles in which to advance. This series of battles will decide the outcome of this war, and I'm sure Lady Viannor can do without an entire infantry division to protect her for the duration. You KERES and the police should be able to handle the total absence of threat that is over her at the moment."
"Good day, Colonel." The woman swifly about-faced and strode out of the room, with the silent man traveling along in her wake like a poodle.
"Bloody women," Forlan said when she had gone, "I've got a war to fight." |
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"We make our stand here," yelled their bearded Captain, "Manchester is where they will be stopped!"
The light rain came down in a continuous, waterfall-like barrage. Nothing compared to the barrage they would soon face from the onrushing forces of the Strategic Defense League. Here, in the geographic centre of Kingdom of England, Starblaydia would begin to defend. They'd fled, unprepared, out of the Mediterranean Coalition and generally held their lines in the Scottish Republic, but in the Kingdom of England they would hit back and regain the ground they had lost.
But first, they had to hold.
The T7 Gilgamesh tanks were ready, the artillery, air support and, crucially, the infantry of Captain Cravex was ready. He knew that in every war, no matter the technology, it was the ordinary men - and occasionally women - on the ground, the foot sloggers who mattered.
Then it came, the rumble of artillery far behind his own position. They would immediately be shifting their positions to avoid counter-battery fire. He could hear the rumble of engines behind him. Ahead of him, the dust kicked up by an advancing army was clearly visible.
"Stand fast, and die like Guardsmen!" |
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In a delightful bout of pathetic fallacy, the clouds parted over Manchester, revealing the fleet. No hiding above the clouds anymore. Fair fighting. By their own admission, the Falcanians never fight a battle unless they're sure it'll come out in their favour. By which we can gather that either they're very, very confident; or very, very angry. Judging by the treatment of the FNS Phoenix, probably the latter.
In droves the flights of planes soared off, five by five by five, screaming towards the bristling, fortified city. Starblaydi air defence flushed up, missiles like numerous deadly fireworks flying towards the oncoming planes. Amazingly, though, the planes kept coming, and as each plane burst into flame, a Falcanian would eject, more often than not, and fly down to join the swarm of soldiers running and flying towards the city. Machine gun fire burst out, but still, for every Falcanian that fell another flew over his body. Finally they reached the city walls, thinned in number but ferocious for their fallen brothers.
Scaling the city walls on their wings, the horde engaged in a furious battle with the wall defenders, bullets and shotgun pellets slamming into Starblaydian defenders. It was a meat grinder, and Falcanians with shattered wings were falling backwards but somehow, fueled by pure hatred, the Falcanians pushed their line forwards. When both a soldier's magazines ran out, they unsheathed their claws and charged. |
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Region-wide message to all nations, peoples and powers in Atlantian Oceania
"I am Tiberius Starblayde, the Lord-Protector of Starblaydia.
"I have re-taken power from the evil hands of Viannor and, though she remains at large, has been removed from all power in Starblaydia. The war she took our great nations down was wholly wrong and I am speaking to you all - everyone in AO - now, to say two things of great importance.
"Firstly, Starblaydia will initiate a full cease-fire beginning immediately. All military assets will be withdrawn from occupied territories at once, with no further offensive operations being carried out. Our armies, illegally occupying Legalese, the Legal Republic and parts of the Kingdom of England and Scottish Republic with will be completely withdrawn within Starblaydia's borders. We shall not fight any more, no victory can be won in this regional war. It is a year and a day since Viannor ordered this nation's armies into battle, and so I now order them home. I would have this war over, and peace to begin again, and I call on all nations to make this so.
"Secondly: during my enforced absence I have come to realise what Starblaydia is lacking: free will. This nation has been trained to follow every order of the Lord-Protector, without question, and this must change. No longer can autocracy reign in Starblaydia, a democracy must be put in it's place. To this end I will initiate immediate full and free elections across Starblaydia to elect a new Sjarondai, a new parliament for Starblaydia's new age of peace. Until elections can be held I will put in place a new cabinet, one that will see Starblaydia through this transitional period.
"Atlantian Oceania will be at peace, and the Starblaydi people will be free; the last of the great dictatorships in AO will convert to democracy, to make its own way in the world.
"I am only sorry in that I could not prevent the pain and suffering that has been caused across so many nations, not least my own. Now I can put right what has been done - I cannot undo the past, I know - but I can make things better.
"There is no easy way from the earth to the stars, but Starblaydia will change, and the world will be set right, and I will not rest until it has been done. Thankyou, Atlantian Oceania, and goodnight." |
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President Stinson and the Lamonian cabinet were still staring at the television in shock after the Starblaydi announcement ended.
"I thought that he'd... he'd... died," stammered the Interior Minister.
The NIA Director confirmed, saying, "All our intelligence points to Tiberius Starblayde as having been shot and killed on the Starblaydi diplomatic party ship Orca. The fact that there was no body recovered could mean two things. Either they simply dumped his corpse off of the ship, or... and there is a very slim chance of this... or that this is disinformation intended to cover up what really happened that night. With the extremely tight security that the Blaydi's maintain, it's hard to know what to believe."
After more argument on the subject, it was decided to order Lamonian units in TLC to give the Blaydi's a ten mile separation, and not to fire unless fired upon. The Lamonian cabinet couldn't agree on sending a diplomat to an 'enemy' nation, so a diplomatic message would be sent instead. No one in their right (paranoid) mind would accept a reply to the message as entirely genuine, but politics were a Byzantine process. Time alone would be the true indicator of Starblaydi intentions.
| CODE | To: Lord Protector Tiberius Starblayde, Starblaydia
From: President Stinson, Lamoni
Greetings, Lord Protector.
While the Free Republic has always had warmer feelings for Lord Protector Starblayde than it has for War Criminal Viannor, we feel that you would understand our skepticism over a dead man not only returning back to life, but regaining control of a government as repressive as Starblaydia's.
Would you care to explain the circumstances as they relate to the night on the Orca when all known accounts end with your death by gunshot? Also, we have an understandably great interest in knowing what has happened surrounding your takeover of the Starblaydi government; as well as the disposition of the war criminal Viannor.
As a good faith gesture on the part of the Free Republic, I have ordered Lamonian units in TLC territory to fall ten miles back from contact with Starblaydi forces, and not to fire upon Starblaydi forces unless fired upon themselves.
We would also like to request that you appear in a nation that is neutral in the SAAS-SDL war; for a private meeting with myself, and any other SDL leaders that wish to attend, or send a representative at some point in the next month. You can understand that we cannot be certain that your announcement is not some form of propaganda ploy.
-Message Ends- |
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... and as the Falcanians scaled the wall, they were greeted by the surprising sight of running men. Loudspeakers were blaring the broadcast, and it was utter confusion for men used to the fray. Quick thinking lieutenants and pilot officers squawked orders and the Falcanians set up defensive formations and awaited orders literally from above. Within half an hour, rotors clapped as the AH5 gunships set a defensive position for the withdrawal.
---
Falcon and Hack had been consulting the war council, the High Squadron Commanders of all the major carriers in the fleet, when the broadcast came out. The hubbub of the general discussion shattered into silence. As the broadcast ceased, the quiet ignited into a small riot. After HSC Pottiz was treated for minor incision wounds and HSC Durnel was reprimanded by Hack, Falcon held the table. "Gentlemen, retrieve our men, gather the fallen, and set a course for Jhanna."
Pottiz cried out, holding a bandage to his forehead. "Sire, that'd be suicide! We don't know if it's a trick yet."
"If they open fire on us, then they will die," Falcon said simply. "I want to meet Starblayde and shake him by the hand. Then maybe he can explain what's going on."
And so the army packed up and flew north. |
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Winging It Since 2004 |
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| QUOTE | To: President Stinson
From: Tiberius Starblayde
Mister President,
The rumours of my death were greatly exaggerated. On the Orca, celebrating Starblaydia's establishment as a Protectorate on April 6th, Viannor seized power, turning my own security forces against me with a well-planned coup. I was indeed shot, by one of my own protection team, and fell overboard only to be rescued by brave Starblaydi citzens from the shores of our Hecia province. It appears that the 'Break the Chain' movement, blamed for my 'murder', were purely fictional, a creation of Viannor. She waged an entirely fictitious war against this group while head of the Starblaydi Inquisition, using it to further her desires for power.
As for my restoration to leadership, I and the very same group of brave citizens who rescued me broke into a meeting of Viannor and her, formerly my, Inner Council. Viannor was injured and fled, and the Inner Council restored me to my rightful place. I made Starblaydia a great power in Atlantian Oceania, but never wanted to take us to war. Viannor used her attempted assassination - something which I promise to investigtate - as a cassus belli. I have attempted to reverse this, and am pleased to see both Lamonian and Falcanian forces reacting positively.
Free democratic elections will soon be held in Starblaydia, and the government formed by those elections will take our nation forward. I would request that this be allowed to happen before any international meetings are held, so as not to overshadow the future democratic government's actions.
Tiberius Starblayde |
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