|
Post by EmperorMyric on Mar 22, 2021 16:35:25 GMT
"A cry for help, a distant whisper A foreign nation calling our name Sent to hell, to reach for heaven To serve in dark, as light in the black"
- United Nations Peacekeepers
"She's the sweetest little rosebud, That Texas ever knew, Her eyes are bright as diamonds, They sparkle like the dew; You may talk about your Clementine, And sing of Rosalee, But the Yellow Rose of Texas, Is the only gal for me"
- The Yellow Rose of Texas
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Admiral Lead Searing swaggered through the hallway leading out of the United Fleets headquarters on Satembi as she was on the phone. She was speaking quickly like a violin as she made it out into the open skies and warmth of the world of Satembi
"Yeah? Uh huh. All right. When do I leave? Okay. What fleet? All right, that's the Hastayara Fleet, correct? All right, gotcha. Yeah, I'll be with General Cascade. Yes, I'll be fine. Yeah, fix me up for some coffee. Thanks, will be there at 0930."
Then she killed the conversation by closing her phone and placing it inside her right pocket of her trousers. She looked for the mess building and went in, attracting the attention of many sailors and soldiers who immediately rose from their tables or stopped walking around and saluted her. She saluted them back and just told them in a stern voice
"At ease, get back to it!" And they did. She went all her way towards the coffee machine that was reserved for officers and sharply tapped the shoulders of another officer who was making coffee for two. She told that one
"You Captain Hippolyta Erramun?"
The Captain, being a Syran with dim eyes and bright skin, nodded to her and said "Yes, Admiral." The coffee machine beeped, letting them know that the coffee has been served. The Captain reached out and took a cup, handing it to the Admiral "Here's your coffee, Sir." To which the Admiral gave her thanks before sipping some of it. Cringing, she reached for a cup of sugar and started to shovel some into her drink as the Captain explained
"The General wants to know if you've been briefed on what's going to happen with the Auraxii. It's all over the news here. On the other hand, I've been asked by the General to tell you that she'd like you to pick your own officers. And she means it. She's expecting this to be difficult for you so-"
"I understand. I'll talk to her about it when I got the time."
Both went silent understandingly as they drank their coffee in silence. Admiral Searing then checked her phone for the time. It was close to 0900. She sighed as she put down her close to empty cup on the counter and told the Captain "I'll see you at the docks."
|
|
|
Post by EmperorMyric on Mar 22, 2021 16:36:06 GMT
Light in the Black
The mighty ship of Admiral Searing, the Bitch Empress, named to insult imperial civilizations that exist in Ancerious, sailed quickly, leading around 40 ships carrying tens of thousands of men and many more tons of supplies, equipment and building materials for a base and outposts. Admiral Searing too brought her friend, General Cascade, an experienced general who fought with her against the rebels of Satembi and succeeded in securing new star systems for the unity and freedom of the United Worlds of Alondra, Veneshia and Satembi. Now that they were going as fast as they could using faster than light travel, their powerful engines and their even more powerful FTL drives pushing them along, the two officers were excited and afraid of what was to come next once they arrived in Auraxii space.
Long before they went on this journey, they were told to expect the Capitol, the Auraxii factions and many other nations, especially those who were not from the Avarian Frontier. It was madness but it was also an opportunity for the UWA United Fleets and the army to establish a base to keep an eye on the eastern parts of the galaxy and to secure the UWA from any possible build up of forces against its existence. Not only that, the UWA government was interested to see if they could do any good out there in Auraxii space, hoping to earn the affection of the people that needed their help. And finally, the officers were told that, at all costs, they should put the lives of civilians above their own. Although they cared for their men as much as they cared for themselves, they knew that any civilian they could get on their side was as precious as any of their own people back home.
And so they went, with the motto of the Bitch Empress displayed to all ships that sailed with it: Facing blood, facing pain; We are sent into battle to aid strangers in need. The words of a mighty song written long ago, a matter of reflection and of dread. What if they could not do as their government asked? What if their government lied to them about their objectives? What if they could not come back? Every soldier, every sailor, thought about home and then they took to thinking about what they were to do out there.
Each one, faithful to the vows they took long ago as cadets or as privates, devoted to the ideals of their nation or dedicated to their families, neighbors and friends, all placed themselves in the mercy of their commanders. And those commanders in turn relied on Searing and Cascade.
Cascade and Searing were opposites. Searing was casual, often wearing a regular sailors uniform and then wearing a captains jacket instead of an admirals coat. Cascade was formal, donning her best clothes so long as it did not stop her from fighting well. Searing chose to lead from her CIC, not putting herself before the very enemy while Cascade dared to risk her life, having massive contempt for personal safety. Often, Searing was worried about Cascade during the Satembi Rebellions because Cascade would always jump into the back of a tank or into the space that the soldiers sat in upon the trucks or armored personnel carriers that drove into battle.
Yet, despite their differences, the two commanding officers of this operation were extremely close. Both were neighbors, both grew up together in the same school, the same workshops and the same academies. Their families too were bound to each other by the virtue of the marriages of their sisters and brothers. Other reasons for their tight relationship was the encouragement of the military itself for officers in high command to dare to forge relationships that can, against all odds, save the world of the Alondrans, Veneshians and Satembians.
It helped too that they were supported by Vice President Jalaja, who was their boss during the time that they worked in workshops for university students.
Right now though, Searing was worried. For days, she constantly and closely monitored the very statuses of each of her ships, often speaking to her captains and their crews about their wellbeing. She too was worried about the classes of ships that they were bringing in. Were they going to go against nations more advanced than they were? Were they going to be attacked at first sight? Will she lose more men than she could bear to speak about to their families? Searing tore herself as she sat alone in her room. Unable to bear this, she stood up, dusted her jacket, put it on and went out, walking to the command and control center of the Bitch Empress.
There, she found her buddy, General Cascade. Cascade didn't seem worried about what was to come. Perhaps, Searing thought, her friend was going over the same thoughts she had in her silent mind, her hands firm in their grip of the cup of slowly cooling coffee. Searing sat by her and both of them nodded to each other until Cascade broke the silence
"You're thinking I'm worried as much as you are about what is going to happen after we get out of FTL."
Searing just nodded and stared at the busy sailors and their officers as they conducted their day to day tasks in the CIC. She softly said "I have reason to. This is a really big operation. I don't expect this to be too easy for us. Neither do I expect this to be overwhelming. But what if it is? What if we are unable to perform as well as we did against the rebels?"
Cascade put her cup down on a table close to them. She smiled and turned to her friend, placing a warm hand on the naval officers shoulder, speaking "Leave it to your subordinates. You must worry instead about getting us back home. As long as you do well, as long as you don't worry so much, even for an admiral, all is well. And trust me, I will keep your sailors safe. We won't let any enemy soldier or naval infantryman come into the hulls of your ships. And never shall we allow your ships to be overrun should they land upon the surface of the worlds that we must explore."
It helped her out a lot and in turn, Searing assured her army counterpart "Then if this is what you dare, then allow me to promise my support as you strike the enemy with your men, your armor and your superior tactical mind." She smiled naughtily "That and you owe me 500 aledocians on that last game of strip poker."
Cascade blushed and elbowed Searing, unable to stop her from laughing as she reached for Cascades cup of coffee and sipped some of it, with her permission of course. It was a custom between the two for them to share what they eat and what they drink. Searing commented "Too much sugar. You don't usually do that to your coffee, do you?"
Cascade nodded and explained "No, I don't. But like you, I may not be worried but I am terribly afraid. Even for one experienced as much as me or you, I do not think we are too qualified for this. Like you said, this is a massive operation detailing several divisions of my own, I actually tried to borrow one of General Styrodos units and I didn't because she just told me that I'll be fine. She told me though that I can request for some of hers once I am sure that I need reinforcements." She chuckled nervously, inching closer to her naval counterpart to whisper "Here's hoping that neither of us die because shit goes too wrong for us to react well."
Searing nodded and to comfort her, she offered her arm. Cascade gladly let her wrap it around and they stayed together for the morning until they were called to meet with their officers.
For now, let us focus on Searing, as she was the officer in charge of everything here. For now, she went ahead to meet her most trusted and powerful subordinates. Captains Zerrahas Sea, Martyr Seeroovaal, Freedman Gunzert, Istacari Zeneze and Captain Gonnadi Zippo and Searings aide, Adler Silvergraft, were gathered around the conference table close to the CIC. There, Searing sat down with them and said
"All right, what's the situation for today?"
Zerrahas spoke first "All ships and crews and officers accounted for. We're almost going to exit FTL and it seems that morale is still good. So far, we have no problems with fuel, food, water and other needs. We have stable connections and no attempts at interdiction against us yet. However..." She stopped and allowed Martyr to take the floor
"We have been receiving hails from various systems from Auraxii space. Indications detail that these are civilian transmissions. We believe they are distress type as they have not been ceasing at all and we started to receive them as we reached the last day of our journey using FTL. We also suspect that the systems that we are approaching, the Abester and the Gorpolis systems, are different."
"Detail the two systems to me please." Said Searing. Martyr noted "Sir. Gorpolis is a heavily populated system composed of three heavily developed and populated worlds orbiting closely around a sun. We are estimating that there are 14 billion souls in total. We have seem to locked on the transmissions coming from the world of Talnerian. We think there could be....4-6 billion people out there." She then nodded to Freedman who said
"While we are confident that we could, with the army units we have on board and our own naval infantry units, we could hold on to Talnerian well and ensure peace and security for as long as we have to, we fear that we cannot feed all the people at once and even furthermore, we may not be able to provide for the other worlds close by. We believe that the solution is to focus on one world at a time. The better solution would also be to move a number of these people offworld and back home to relieve the pressure that will soon be upon us should this operation continue."
Then Martyr continued "This will become a greater issue for us if we will have to worry about threats from the Capitol and from other possibly hostile nations such as the nations of the APP or the nations that we do not know about. There are more issues if you wish to know but so far, our odds, should we be call for support from home and they provide it to us and to the people we believe that we must care for, would increase and therefore result in a favorable outcome for us all."
The officers then fell into silence, awaiting the words of their Admiral. Each one, composed of humans, hybrids, Alonsenai and Syrans, all looked to their Admiral like children would to their mother. For she was indeed their mother in their togetherness as officers and as naval men and women united for the common goal of seeing to the fulfillment of their objectives out here in Auraxii. Searing thought it over long and hard until she spoke to them
"Before we depart from FTl, I want our fleet to contact home and tell them about what we may face out here. Inform them that we will need at least 250 civilian freighters fully loaded with supplies, mostly food and water, ready to go at a moments notice towards our future location should we choose to land on the surface of Telnarian. Inform them also that we will need more manpower out here, at least 500,000 to 1 million more in order to increase our capability to handle the various and numerous issues and conflicts that we have to face. Request assistance also from General Styrodo and other army officers as well as request permission from the government for us to establish a permanent, if not semi-permanent, base of operations and relief and aid on Telnarian and that if with their permission, we may be granted the allowance to establish a better presence in Auraxii space until such time that this unrest is over."
"Anything else, Sir?" Questioned Adler. Only Searing said "Simply wait for more orders. Meanwhile, I want to know if the General and her men are going to be ready for a hot area of operation in both space and planetary space. Send a man out there."
—————————————————————————————————
Back home, at the closest outpost established several hundreds of thousands of kilometers outside of the UWA territories, a Syran captain pushed her body from one part of the station towards the other, making her way towards an open door and then getting through it before artificial gravity returned, causing her to drop gently on the floor. She got up and hurriedly walked over into a small communications office where a lieutenant was listening to the messages sent by the UWA fleet headed to Auraxii space a few dozen minutes ago. The captain listened in as well and after just a few moments, she gave the order
"All right, forward these messages to United Fleets. Send a copy as well to the President and to the High Command of the army. After that, keep a copy of their messages here and inform the Admirals and Generals stationed at Satembi about it too.
---------------------------------
One by one, ships of Admiral Searing made it out of FTL, each ship cooling their drives down as they started to get a feel of what was really out there. The soldiers from the divisions selected by the General: Pamplona, 1918, Corazon, United Souls and the most treasured division of the General, Division la Reyna. The Division of the Queen. For after all, the General was not a human. She was one of the Alonsenai and they still had some living nobles. Among those who still lived was their Queen.
But even as they were treasured and to be used well, both the soldiers and the sailors could not tear their eyes away from what they were witnessing. As even their sensors and cameras zoomed or locked on several targets, it was all one great nightmare. Truly, an empire falling apart. For look! The worlds that they saw were in turmoil and in the other system, which was dedicated to just ships and a small barren planet, a great battle was taking place between the Capitol and the Auraxii.
This time, Admiral Searing, as it was all in space just now, took care of things. She gave her orders and her men all obeyed
“All hands, man battle stations! Get the fleet out of range of the Capitol and the Auraxii in the shipyard system. Get us into the population centers and make it quick! Wait for your drives to cool down. Once they are OK, get to it!” She then issued instructions for her naval infantry “All naval infantry, get to your positions and prepare for possible boarding. Any one else, get to your stations and don’t do anything stupid. This is not a drill anymore!”
She then abandoned her CIC and let her XO take over as she took out her fleet communicator, which looked like a flappable smart phone, and spoke “This is Admiral Searing, I am giving my order for all ships to avoid engaging the Capitol or the Auraxii. I repeat, do not engage any belligerents and do not attempt to get close to them. However, I am instructing any available ships to keep a watch on the hostile forces. Please respond.”
She gave them two minutes. The reply came
“This is Captain María Fernanda. I can take my frigate out there and establish surveillance on the enemy.”
“Very well, Captain. You may proceed once your FTL drives are all right. Everyone else, do as I said before. This is the Admiral. Out.”
|
|
|
Post by EmperorMyric on Mar 22, 2021 16:37:16 GMT
"Serenos y alegres, valientes y osados, Cantemos, soldados, el himno a la lid. De nuestros acentos el orbe se admire Y en nosotros mire los hijos del Cid."
Himno de Riego
-------------------------------
On the face of Alondra, the great highways were filled with marching troops, not to victory or from defeat but for the greater humanitarian reason of giving security to the Auraxii and the fleet and army of the UWA already present in one of their systems. It is on this day, after the President gave his total approval of the requests given by the Admiral, that six divisions would be sent as well as 44 more ships to reinforce the fleet and 223 ships hired by the government to transport food, water, tools, clothes and other supplies that the UWA would need to get the Auraxii back on their feet and to protect their men out there.
The soldiers, all of them, chanted as they marched
"El mundo vio nunca, más noble osadía, Ni vio nunca un día más grande el valor, Que aquel, inflamados, nos vimos del fuego, Excitar a Riego de Patria el amor."
To which the crowds would answer the soldiers when they became quiet
"Soldados, la patria nos llama a la lid. Juremos por ella vencer o morir!"
For this was the national song, the cry of the United Worlds. The Hymn of Riego, an ancient selection of verses set to instruments played wonderfully by a large band, the Royal Band of the United Worlds of Alondra.
Each unit was unique but all were dedicated to the cause of the United Worlds. Spears carried long bayonets, the First Regiment carried banners of purple, gold and red, the Knights wore medallions of a white crescent moon upon a blue field. The United 93 wore the hats of aviators, Blue Jeans wore blue trousers and the Brown Stallions rode on their horses or on their tanks, riding instead of marching.
But in the end, these units would board great tranport ships that would take them far from home and into the worlds of Gorpolis, most especially Telnarian.
---------------------------------------
Ship after ship landed on the surface of Telnarian while others remained in orbit around the most inhabited world of Gorpolis, keeping eyes out for threats beyond, especially the Capitol ships that continued to cannibalize and take apart the shipyard in Abester. Meanwhile, the greater concern was with what the army of General Cascade started to face on the surface of Telnarian.
They made sure to land several hundred kilometers from the largest city they could find. Once they did, the troops did their first task of the day: Secure the landing zone. Each of the troops separated and gathered according to their respective squads. Then they gathered into their companies. Each company then, according to the maps in their hands or on the screens of their PDAs or arm computers, hurried to their assigned sectors, securing the zone being used by the ships to land. Then as ship after ship came to drop troops, vehicles, equipment and other supplies and materiel off, the zone expanded as the companies kept marching outward, like a growing circle of men.
But after all that, once the landing zone was being transformed into a forward base of operations, the General wanted to proceed to the next part of her plan. Thorough reconnaissance through fire and through observation. She, with the Admirals help, sent out her men on IFVs and other fast moving LAVs to scout out other roads and possible rail connections as well as other transportation lanes on the ground while in the air, the Admiral took care of sending out endo-atmospheric gunships as well as air superiority fighters to keep the air secure as ships landed and took off from their LZ on Telnarian. Other missions were given to other units, the objectives of the United Worlds being to look for and secure any basic physical and organizational structures and facilities that still stood. They also included finding any high ground so that they could set up outposts there and keep their flanks and rear safe. The rest did what they can to establish the FOB.
But sooner or later though, General Cascade herself made it on the surface of the planet with the Admiral. The shuttle that took them to the ground quickly took off as the two commanding officers of the operations taking place on the planet made their way quickly towards a modular structure of reinforced steel, with plates of armor. Men and women as well as robots were working on the structure rapidly, like it could remind anyone of a video game that made you build your own base. It was still under construction but the central part of it and its main entrance was good enough for them to enter and then meet each other formally.
Admiral Searing asked "All right. General, how soon can we move our forces outward from our positions here once we receive the recce reports?" The General nodded to that question answered "It will take us 20 to 40 minutes for all of our units to send us exhaustive reports of what they'd confirmed and spotted. While your ships would have sufficient information for us to act upon, it will depend on you whether or not we should spread immediately or later within the span of half an hour."
The Admiral gave it a deep thought, forcing herself to sit down and put her right hand over her hair and her left hand supporting her chin. The General continued to feed her friend with more "We also got a reply from our home planets. They'll send us help. All they can give for now. And on the other hand, there is the issue about the people we are trying to help. They are cannibals, militaristic, traditional and above all other things, it basically screams at us that these people are going to be difficult to assist or to fight against should we have to. Yet, however, there is the opportunity for us to make the best of the situation, accomplish our objectives one way or the other and ensure that our troops will not lose so much. We just have to see if we can get a significant number of Auraxii on our side. We must see that through."
The General then stopped there, looked at the time on her computer and waited. It took five minutes for the Admiral to make a decision "Can I ask you to send one of your divisions into the nearest settlements?" She then stood up, activated her computer on her arm and then pressed on the screen to allow the computer to throw up a holographic representation of the map that she wanted to show. She then used her hands to make gestures that transformed the map of the planet into the map of the area they were on and the surrounding environment of it as well as the locations of the nearest settlements as confirmed by her ships with more locations being added by fast moving reconnaissance aircraft. Searing let her hands force the screen to zoom in on a large city close to their FOB and then pointed at it before telling her friend "How about this one first?"
The General stood up and looked at it closely. She gave it a few nods and then pointed at it, stating "This will do. We can have access to other cities from there and also establish a more permanent post there, using whatever is left of the buildings out there. I'll send my Division la Reyna there. Am I allowed to use Corazon to cover their flanks and support them, though?" The Admiral gave her approval by nodding. The General then said "All right. Give me a second."
In quick time, she pressed a few things on her own computer and in the end, a short gentle beep was heard and then the General told the Admiral "I'll see you later. I'll have to get on board a gunship and observe what will happen out there." And Admiral Searing, as her friend turned around and left the building, said "Take care. Don't die."
---------------------------- ORBAT: Division of the Queen 1. Isabella Infantry 2. Isabella II Armor 3. Letizia Armor
Searing Naval Infantry Corps 1. Phoenix Company Infantry 2. Skye Company Infantry 3. Skylar Company Infantry
The first elements of the Division of the Queen left after one hour and a half of receiving the orders of their General. During that time, they made their own preparations, secured their line of supply and obtained their own air support and reserve units. The Division of the Queen had sent out scouts on fast moving motor bikes as well as some recce drones during this time. Some came back while others simply transferred their data using wireless connections aided by orbiting ships. The way was clear. Acting on this, the Division of the Queen sent out a company of infantry and two companies of tanks, the Isabella and the two, the Isabella II and the Letizia. Additionally, this time on the order of the Admiral, she too sent out a company of naval infantry called the Phoenix Company. In reserve were Skye and Skylar Companies. They were currently securing positions at the borders of the United World FOB.
Leading the United World units to either battle or silent reconnaissance was Commander Hanarete, one of the only humans that had longer and wider but pale faces as well as small eyes. She also spoke with an oriental accent. Yet, this orange haired, great coat wearing and cob pipe smoking woman had the trust of her men and her superior officers thanks to her capacity for independence.
It would be up to her to inspect and then take over the city designated by the UWA as Bzura.
|
|