Mara Lithaen
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Posts posted by Mara Lithaen
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To: Plains Federation Department of Foreign Affairs
From: Office of the Empress, East Asiam Imperium
To Whom it may concern,
It has been many years since we last spoke formally. I understand that you are currently locked into a civil war or rebellion of some fashion. I wish to discuss this and other security matters with your government to ensure that we may come to peaceful and rapid resolution. I realize that with an active conflict travel is a security risk, so a teleconference would be ideal.
-Her Imperial Majesty, Empress Hoshiko, Sovereign of Japan, Joseon, and Aisu-shō, Daughter of Amaterasu, Prophet of Takamagahara, Guardian of East Asia, Protector of the Pacific, Grand Cordon of the Supreme Order of the Chrysanthemum, Grand Cordon of the Order of the Paulownia Flowers, Grand Cordon of the Order of the Precious Crown, Grand Cordon of the Order of the Sacred TreasureThe message was received immediately, though it took a moment to process through the President's battalion of forest fires he had to put out with a garden hose. When it did though, he responded immediately.
To: Office of the Empress, East Asian Imperium
From: Plains Federation
Empress,This is President Reece. I would enjoy a chat with you on the matter of security as soon as you find yourself able to have it.
President John Reece,
Plains Federation -
Anthony, The Joint Chiefs of Staff, Anthony's Chief of Staff, and the general on a secure video conference all sat quietly in the Situation Room. No one moved, no one said a word - the only thing that could be heard was their light breathing while they waited. "Sir, we can confirm the Tomahawks hit their targets. Intelligence shows scorched Earth where the impacts occurred and our GPS data confirms they weren't prematurely destroyed. Among the targets were military leadership, troop transports, and heavy armor. All three groups are a confirmed hit. Casualties aren't massive, but we were expecting that. The idea is to break up their organization and fracture their command structure. Estimates for those killed for each of the three groups are between 1,000-1,500 soldiers each. Our strike was a success." A few of the Chiefs patted the Air Guard Chief on the back while Dave and Anthony sat back in their chairs. "So you're telling me the Plains Federation wasn't able to shoot them down General? Did they even try?" The Chief of Texas Air National Guard regained his composure and handed the Governor a few documents marked UNCONFIRMED. "Well sir, on the surface it looks like they didn't try to stop the missiles but intelligence is speculating that they were using a CIWS system." Anthony raised his eyebrows, "They had land-mounted CIWS? The CIWS means 'Close-in Weapons System', I remember seeing a lot of them when I was stationed at Pearl Harbor on the Navy ships. How are they using that on land, I thought it was just for short-range anti-ship missiles?"
The Chief of The Army National Guard swiped through a few images on his iPad and put them on a bigger screen for the rest of the room to see. "This isn't what they were using sir, because they specified they were using the CIWS, but this is about as close as you can get since they said it was land-mounted and mobile. As I'm sure you know, this thing weighs about 13,700 pounds on a navy vessel, so it has to be weakened and dumed down a bit to be on land. This mobile land unit was designed and built to take out mortar fire, so it isn't a missile system. It's basically an overly sophisticated gatling gun. This is where it gets interesting, the CIWS system on naval ships is not the primary defense against cruise missiles. There are electronic countermeasures, missile-defense systems on board, and not to mention jets in the case of aircraft carriers. The CIWS is the last line of defense. You are just slugging bullets at a missile, not very high tech."
"I understand what you're trying to say general, but I still don't understand how they couldn't even shoot one of our missiles down. I mean, we shot several hundred at them." The general took a sip of his water and sat back in his chair, "Well sir, if you want to get into the specifics I'll tell you. Its effective, flat-trajectory range is 11,800 feet on a navy ship. If it's a mobile unit and the vehicle it was on was traveling at the same time, it would most likely be even less. Also, our Tomahawks were traveling at 550 miles per hour and we had given no indication that they were coming. Our missiles were literally travelling at 806 feet and eight inches per second. So, if we fire a cruise missile at the enemy and they are using this CIWS system as their defense against our cruise missiles, then their weapons will have a maximum of 14.6 seconds to intercept our missiles and destroy them - and I mind you that is the best case conditions, that the vehicle the CIWS was on wasn't moving, that the skies were clear, that the unit could even engage at 11,800 feet since it wasn't a ship mounted unit, and that the CIWS system was even activated.
A plus that this system has is that it can shoot 4,500 round per minute, but the downside is that its ammunition storage is only 1,550 rounds. Also sir, this system is designed with the mindset that it is defending itself. The projectile, be it mortar shell or anti-ship missile, is coming at it's general vicinity, trying to hit a missile that is striking a target 3,000 feet away with this system is futile. Also there have been numerous occasions where a missile was successfully hit by this system, but the missile still hit its target and did significant damage. I know you are a rifleman sir, so I can put it into those terms. It would be like trying to shoot a truck one mile away while it's going 100 miles an hour; except in reality the thing is over two miles away, it's traveling five and a half times faster than the truck, you didn't know it was coming, and it's in the sky."
---
Major James Dahmer watched the Navy techs reloading the CIWS that had just saved his command truck - for the third time. Pieces of Tomahawks littered the ground around for two miles plus out in front of his unit. A petty officer in tricolor camouflage and a helmet jogged up to him, the perched eagle spraypainted onto his helmet serving as identification. "Another minute and we'll be back up and ready, Sir."
The Major grinned back at the enlisted man, extending his hand to shake. "That's some fine work you sailor boys are doin'. You sure you don't belong in the Army?"
The FC2 chuckled, shaking his own head even as he took the Major's hand, pumping it twice. "I'm good where I am sir. I have to say, those Texan $%&@ers -" he said the word, pausing to spit, "sure as hell seem to be trying to gut our leadership. They're not having a hell of a lot of luck, based on the chatter I'm receiving. We crossed into hostile territory with the search radar active - and, I gotta say, if they were trying to fly nape of the earth with these birds, they were off by a few hundred feet, and they ain't exactly what you might call stealthy." the Navy man said with a guffaw. "Good ol' Connie here -" he said, patting the side of the trailer which held the mount, "picked them up immediately and started spamming the RECOMMEND FIRE indicator. All we had to do was stop, switch it to AAW AUTO and let it rip. The CIWS platform this is based on is designed to take down Mach 4 targets - subsonics don't really give her much of a workout. They may call it a Counter-Rocket Artillery Mortar platform, and she's had some hardware/software tweaks to make her think she's bigger than she is so she'll shoot at things coming down further away, but she's a CIWS at heart - and what is a missile but a guided rocket?"
The Major nodded, lopsided grin still on his face. "Keep up the good work, FC2. I don't want to eat a Tomahawk." he said.
"Me either, sir."
The Major ducked away, hopping back into his command vehicle, where radio chatter greeted him as soon as he opened the armored door.
"We've got two mission-killed Abrams and a couple of Strykers here, but the bridging unit is still intact. ETA two hours on Abrams repairs. Four C-RAM units in effective operation - two more on reload right now. Can confirm passage of two-one-zero friendly vehicles including armor and AA. Engineers and SAM battalion report they've got the S-300s up and running and- wait - two S-400ss launched from Altus AFB at inbound hostiles. Two hits, no confirmed kills as of yet..."
GULF OF MEXICO
150 MILES OFF THE TEXAS COAST
0855 Hours
Buzz kept his flight pattern with two wingmen at his side. They had been patrolling the seas off and on with other shifts but so far, no action. Clear skies, calm waters, and the occasional dolphin were all the pilots had to look forward to. "Ellington to Burner-22?" Crisp thickets of sunlight jumped through the sea as the jet cut through the air. "Roger Ellington this is Burner-22. Go ahead." Buzz could hear the flipping of papers and a light commotion on the other side, "Burner-22 be advised that the Plains Federation has just launched a massive air campaign against the Republic. Their launch points are from carriers between the Yucatan and Cuba. Command believes they're coming to Galveston and Houston. We want you to fall back to the mainland. If Coastal Defense doesn't wipe them out then you and the rest of the Third Wing that is in the area will intercept them and take them out. Over and out."
The enemy F-18Es would interestingly find themselves not under attack during their journey through the Gulf of Mexico. But once the aircraft were about 40 miles from Galveston island the hunters would become the intended prey. Sparely across the empty beaches and more in the city itself were MIM-104B (PAC-1) Patriot launchers. The F-18Es were the target of hundreds of patriot missiles as they launched from the beaches, from within the city in Galveston island, and as the aircraft came closer they would also find additional anti-aircraft weaponry opening fire from place like Ellington Field, the Port of Houston, and areas surrounding Texas City. Mobile units were still being deployed and set up around the metropolitan area, but the important strategic areas had of course already been under protection. The F-22s would stay at a safe distance, considering that they could detect the F-18Es up to 250 miles away with their RWR system. If the strong Coastal Defenses didn't do the job of taking out the oddly large number of aircraft, they would feel the wrath of the Third Wing of the Texas Air National Guard.
Meanwhile in Corpus Christi, the Maritime National Guard brought out its premier weapon. From what Intelligence understood, the aircraft carriers coming from the Caribbean into the Gulf of Mexico were defenseless. They had no air support since a massive attack had been launched on the Texas mainland. Before the fighting commenced at Galveston, mobile launchers armed with the DF-21D ASM corrected their positions and took aim towards the Plains Federation fleet. This long-range (900 miles), hyper-sonic anti-ship missile was capable of traveling at mach 10 which translates to a speed of 2.11 miles per second. In order to make sure the missile would find it's target, four were targeted at both of the aircraft carriers. The Second Plains Federation Fleet "steaming out of New Orleans" would find a similar attack originating from Freeport.
(OOC: Kinda like this but none of the mach 10 missiles are shot :v https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rY7v21Zy1yE )
---
One problem with launching anti-ship missiles at that sort of a range is that you have to know where the enemy is coming from to even take the rudimentary measure of backtracking their course - which is defeatable by simple doglegs in between source and endpoint. The Texans had neither that luxury nor the luxury of spysats to try to find something as relatively small as an aircraft carrier in the vast expanse of the ocean - so those DF-21s, for all their sophistication and unproven capability (because, after all, the Chinese had never reported testing the weapons on anything other than a stationary target in the Gobi desert), were utterly useless in the face of having no information upon which they could track their targets. So flying away they went, to a point some 800 miles from their launchers... when the fleet that was harassing the Texan coast was only 400 nautical miles away. Every launched DF-21... missed.
The MIM-104Bs, on the other hand...
"Black Knights, this is Black Knight actual. I'm getting tracking radar hits out the wazoo - looks like the locals are on to us. Charlie Flight, Delta Flight, drop to the deck and take out those SAMs. Everyone, light up your ECM rigs - jam hell out of them. Everyone who isn't Charlie or Delta Flight, give them air cover. Hostiles inbound from zero-six-zero relative - consider yourselves to be weapons free. There's two hundred of us and God knows how many Huns. Good luck and good hunting."
"Hooyah!"
The Black Knights - the combined air groups of the two carriers - roared in, two flights detaching to go hunting for anti-air, the rest tearing ass past on an intercept course for the enemy air fleet- just as just short of two hundred S-400s launched from Lake Charles NAS in Louisiana, the stealth-hunting SAMs with more than 400km range hurtling in at high Mach. They would reach the enemy air fleet less than twenty seconds before the F-18Es would. Losses were expected.
They were deemed acceptable. As soon as the F-18Es sensitive radar equipment, with assistance from ground-based AESA, could track a target, that target received a pair of AMRAAMs. No Federal aircraft would go home with missiles on its wings.
Meanwhile back at the fleet, the former Kirov-class battlecruiser PFS Wrath launched an octet of seaskimming P-700 Granit cruise missiles at the fuel reserves and refineries in Galveston. The missiles were, perhaps, meant for anti-ship duty - but they had the range and the speed and the payload that the Federal fleet needed to accomplish that particular mission.
The Second fleet, far out of range of Texan radar and never having been acquired by Texan satellites due to being a relatively small target in a lot of Gulf, received a similar fate for the missiles tasked to them by the Texans - that is, the complete missing of their fleet elements.
Texas servicemen and women couldn't contain themselves from laughing as they either observed in person, from the skies, or from satellite as the Plains Federation heavy armor attempted using wooden bridges that were over one-hundred years old, small metal bridges made for pedestrians, and other "unnecessary" and "non-vital" "small structures" that they tried to use. The multi-million dollar pieces of equipment just clunking into the Red River and Sabine River. It was like a really expensive scene out of the movie Saw. However once the Plains Federation military learned that such structures were left alone for a reason, Texas forces would take note that the Plains Federation were then trying to use AVLBs (those are that really cool bridge thing you see used in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare in the opening mission where you're in the Middle East and you have to cross some bridge. This AVLB comes up and lowers itself and you can cross. It was pretty cool!) The problem for the Plains Federation was that the Red River had the second largest river basin in the southern Great Plains and had an outflow of 57,000 cubic feet of water per second. The conventional AVLB would have certainly have trouble crossing the rivers in most locations because of its width. When the Federation would attempt to put these bridges up in places where the rivers weren't so wide, they'd find themselves under fire by the tomahwaks or short-range cruise missiles. They would also be the prey of the Texas Air National Guard.
---
"Sure is nice that they're not shooting at us!" shouted a dreadfully perky Corporal. She and the rest of her battalion were taking their turns running over a footbridge while the bridging unit laid itself out so that the heavy equipment could cross at this low point. Similar scenes played out at many different foot bridges across the border, as infantry, completely unopposed, crossed the aging structures, careful to adhere to personnel limits set by on-site combat engineers so they wouldn't break some of them. Of course, in some cases, older is better, and the craftsmanship of the bridges showed as endless streams of Federal troops advanced under the watchful eyes of C-RAM mounts and Pantsirs, along with S-300V4 mobile units set up as fast as they could be by the SAM battalions. There was no location on the Oklahoman border with Texas that wasn't in range of at least one S-400 installation, and more often anything flying above would be in range of not one but several at once, all driven by multiple AESA arrays.
"At least the tankers aren't having to deal with this !@#$. They're all just patiently waiting for the Wolverines to lower their bridges, sitting around with their thumbs up their asses."
"Some of them are dumb enough to drive right into the water. Thank god there's more than one of them in the tank so they should all have the braincells to not do that..."
"Key word: Should."
Behind them, a Pantsir opened up with cannon and missile - and a streak of flaming, screaming steel plummeted from the sky, an Air National Guardsman who had flown too close to the sun and gotten burned.
The Corporal shivered. "Jesus," she said, crossing herself. "Hell of a way to go." she continued, crossing herself awkwardly with her rifle in her hands, as a heavy-lift helo chanced the cover afforded to them by the might of the Federal Air Force and the Army's AA emplacements to start hooking up and hauling Strykers and IFVs over the river to meet up with the troops who were already across. Beside her, a Specialist nervously hefted his Stinger-F, on the alert for any enemy aircraft - fixed wing or rotating - that might try to come ruin his day. There were dozens, hundreds, thousands just like him strewn across the borders, some armed with Igla-S and some with Stinger-F, on the alert for trouble - and often finding it. Often, killing it. After all, the TANG had put more than enough nasty hostiles in the sky for them to shoot at. Between them, Starstreak-armed Avenger systems, Pantsirs, and the S-300V4/400 missiles... life was very, very bad in the skies above the Oklahoma-Texan border for anyone flying the Texan flag.
The enemy aircraft swarming into Texas would find themselves falling to a similar fate as their brothers attacking the Texas Coast. Patriot missiles constantly screamed into the sky to specifically hit strategic bombers and the other invading aircraft. Once the aircraft crossed into the Texas border, and this is after very heavy fire from the surface-to-air missiles defending the skies, they would come under attack by the First tactical Wing, all of which were tactical, of the Texas Air National Guard in the north. The Wing was separated into their squads and were not flying in tight groups in order to avoid radar detection. They would engage the enemy aircraft dozens of miles away with their AMRAAMs. The second Wing would do the same from the panhandle border with Oklahoma and the fourth Wing would be doing the same around Orange and the border there. The fifth Wing would launch a short offensive from Wichita Falls and Paris (having been split in half) and would strike any enemies at the border. They both were escorting a B-2 bomber who were armed with fifty 500 pound Mark 82 bombs. They would go up I-35 and begin striking the numerous targets on I-35, disrupting supply lines and stopping the flow of units, and the B-2s of course would carpet bomb the interstate as troops advanced forward (OOC: Don't say you are not using I-35 to move troops just to avoid this attack. I have satellites so I should know where a few hundred-thousand troops are going) The roads would be heavily damaged, they the smoking vehicles were more of a problem. Half of the sixth Wing would fly from Beaumont, to the beach, and then up the Sabine River and fire upon advancing enemy units while the other wing fought air to air.
(OOC: This next bit is where you said "Nowhere in my posts did I say they were flying as a mass. I did, however, say they were almost at the border before you even had anything in the air." That's great except like I said before I've been at DEFCON 3 for a long time, however the Air Guard was at DEFCON 2. Once you called the Governor, we were brought down to DEFCON 1. Rest assured, those big hunks of metal were getting in the air once the military noticed you were massing hundreds of thousands of troops and putting hundreds of aircraft in the air :V)
The non-stealth B-1s would come under fire from the same Patriot missiles that were dropping the F-18Es on the Gulf coast. From forty miles away the bombers would already be under fire after they came from the fallen mountains. The Air Guard would quickly take note of their presence and would intercept them once they showed no signs of turning around and were within ten miles of the border.
---
The B-1B Lancers had hit their targets, flying below the Patriots' engagement horizon - usually killing the Patriots themselves, that being their intended targets - turned around, and gone home long since, flying at nearly Mach 2 as they were, barely slowing down to subsonic in time to engage their targets before dropping their payloads, by the time the First Tactical Wing arrived. Forty miles, when one's target is going two miles a second, and at just above treetop level at that, is not a hell of a lot of engagement time. Two or three bombers were lost, though the third one wasn't clear as to whether it was enemy action or a freak mechanical malfunction that caused it to plow into its secondary target, exploding on impact.
Dozens of tactical aircraft - all of which were indeed and certifiably tactical, as witnessed by an infantryman who reported, "I swear to God, Captain! The goddamn thing was painted black and it had Picatinny rails all over it!" - began to engage the F-15Es striking from Oklahoma. Backed up by S-300V4/400 rockets, the swift fighters returned the favor with gusto, AWACS letting them backtrace the missile launches and fire their AIM-120Ds - and then bail. The AIM-120 AMRAAM's biggest drawback is that its seeker head is of necessarily limited size and power. To maintain a lock, one must continue to fly at the enemy... unless, of course, one could use another aircraft with significantly better tracking ability to do the pre-terminal guidance for you. The F-15Es also carried jammer pods; should they be required to keep their own lock, they did, and held it as long as they could while blasting jamming at the enemy.
Meanwhile, the surviving Patriots, having lit up their locations by firing, would find themselves set upon by tree-skimming F-15Es in SEAD mode, streaking in just under the speed of sound to drop JDAMs on the launchers and/or fire HARM missiles at the radars that drove the missile units.
Once the B-2 bomber appeared on the horizon - in the middle of the day, in full blown view of everyone and their dog - the giant, distinctive, batwinged black aircraft was promptly destroyed by no less than two dozen Stingers, Iglas and Starstreak missiles, while Pantsir fire chewed on the remains with 30mm cannon. The escorting units then received the full brunt of the defensive anti-aircraft fire which spiderwebbed the sky in a morass of sizzling tracers, shrieking missiles, and hunting radar.
(OOC: Nice try but your 120,000 soldiers are heading to Amarillo. And even if the 120,000 were split up into two groups, 60,000 wouldn't be in Las Cruces heading towards Amarillo "Within two hours"... So I'm just going to disregard that. I'm sure you have defenses, but I'd be highly skeptical of 60,000 soldier defenses when they should be two hours marching distance from Amarillo. Plus for some reason you abandoned the two bases that you could have used to defend this city, so again I'd be skeptical of it having any defense.
16:47 Alessariel the 120 from OK are going to be inside of Dallas in about two hours
16:47 Alessariel and the 120 from NM are going to be in Amarillo/Lubbock in roughly the same timeframe. IC:)
The 39,000 soldiers would move into Las Cruces after the Air Guard mad its passes to clear the area of AA and local defenses. Any combatants within the city would be quickly overwhelmed as thousands of troops poured into the city. Government buildings were quickly taken over while AA and AMs were set up around the city. These 39,000 troops were part of the 1st Division and Second Division of the Texas Army National Guard. The rest of the 2nd Division, 21,000 troops along with armor, would make their way to Las Cruces. From that point, the troops in Las Cruces would begin advancing to Albuquerque. The 10th Wing, which was not flying in formation but split into its squads and smaller units in order to avoid radar detection, would provide air support from a distance. Mobile AA units and Patriot defense systems were brought along as the troops made their way forward to New Mexico's capitol. Three squads in the 11th Wing would sweep around the far outskirts of Albuquerque and take out any visible defenses or any defenses given to them by satellite. They would switch to infrared in the event that there were hidden defenses.
---
OOC: Yeah, don't roleplay my guys.
The VIIth Corps, having been held up at the last minute, finally set off for Lubbock, while the VIIIth charged on to Amarillo.
The Vth Corps, having been stationed in the city of Las Cruces, dug in, outnumbering their attackers, and swung back with everything they had - which was a considerable, and huge amount of firepower. The Air Guard found itself torn to shreds, having obviously not been expecting to meet the kind of resistance six divisions of troops, armor, and vehicles could throw their way. The Texans, bogged down as they were in Las Cruces, never got the chance to move on Albuquerque. With the full might of a Corps in front of them, a Wing of Federal fighters above them, and drones harrying their flanks and supply lines, the Texans would find that it would be more than they could handle just to not be driven from the city's periphery in a total route. AESA from mobile emplacements could, would, and did detect the aircraft comprising the 10th and 11th wing squads, and they would be dealt with by pouncing F-15Es and S-300V4/400 emplacements, not necessarily in that order.
PresidentDavid, on 28 Jan 2015 - 10:51 PM, said:
DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY OF THE REPUBLIC OF TEXAS
OPERATION HOMETOWN
CLASSIFIED MATERIALS
The troops heading towards Amarillo (OOC: I am going to RP it as 120,000 because you clearly said they were two hours from Amarillo. If you are going to make a mess about this then talk to me about it on IRC or wherever. IC:) would make it to the settlement of Adrian before they met heavy resistance. The half of the 12th Wing would launch an offensive on the ground troops. Enemy aircraft would of course be the first target of the Wing but Patriot defenses in Amarillo would begin lobbing dozens of their missiles at the enemy who were crossing into the Texas panhandle from New Mexico. From Vega, 30 M777 howitzer artillery units were being used to bomb the enemy outside of Adrian and as they continued to move forward. The Air Guard would provide cover while the enemy moved forward.
---
Finding the enemy, the 31st Wing would engage the 12th, being entirely outfitted for anti-air duty, and the troops themselves returned fire; Pantsirs, Avengers and plain old MANPADs wreaked their toll upon the presumptuous enemy, while the infantry, backed up by IFVs and tanks, moved on Adrian en-masse, the M777s falling victim of counterbattery fire courtesy of M109 Paladin units and drone strikes. The full might of one-hundred-twenty-thousand troops, tanks, and materiel fell on the settlement, and crushed it utterly.
DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY OF THE REPUBLIC OF TEXAS
OPERATION SAN JACINTO
CLASSIFIED MATERIALS
From Sheppard Air Force base, 10 Divisions of the Texas Army National Guard would push forward into Oklahoma. The 13th Air Wing would provide defense when necessary, but because there was already such a strong air presence in the area they would remain on standby and be used as reinforcements. The mission of the advancement was to take Lawton. Calculated air strikes would be taken on defenses as the troops moved forward with heavy armor, patriot defense, and artillery. Another push forward of another 50,000 soldiers would take place with the goal of taking McAlester, Oklahoma. One-thousand five-hundred M1-Abrams tanks would company them. The 13th Wing of the Air Guard would also protect these five Divisions pushing forward and would make airstrikes where necessary on local defenses, however the sparsely populated areas weren't expected to be heavily fortified unless satellite imagery proved otherwise. The soldiers would move forward with the aforementioned AA and artillery.
---
The 10 Divisions of the TANG smacked right into the II Corps, 60,000 men strong and directly in their path towards Lawton. Eight hundred M1A2s exchanged fire with their more numerous counterparts, backed up by AH-64s, M-777s, M-109 Paladins, M270s and HIMARS units as they were available, while a wing of Federal fighters clashed with the 13th wing. Once they got in range, the infantry joined in the tank brawl from the best cover they could find, using Javelin anti-tank missiles to engage the enemy's M1s. All this happened under the umbrella of both fighters and the typical heavy local AA and S-300V4/400 coverage.
Meanwhile...
"They blew up all the bridges, right?"
"Yeah. What about it?"
"Those $%&@ers are trying to swim the Red now. There's an Abrams drowning trying to cross."
"Oh Lord. Billy-Jean, sweetheart, grab Pappy's Remington outta the closet would ya?"
"Yes Pap."
"Play til a hundred then bug the $%&@ out?"
"Deal. Thanks, Billy. Get your brothers and sisters together and take 'em towards Aunt Sam up in McAllister. Give the sheriff a call and let him know the damn Texans are trying to force a crossing here and they forgot they blew the bridges.
"Yes Pap."
"Hold on Jim, lemme get my Red Man outta my truck and the M40 outta the rack."
"Yeap."
...
"Got it."
"Good, let's go hunting."
...
"Plinked that one's helmet."
"I got this !@#$%^& in the balls."
"Twenty three."
"Twenty seven."
"How the hell-?"
"The one who fell over squeezing the trigger and offed four of his buddies when I shot him."
"That doesn't count!"
--- Dillon ---
Dillon said:
Operation Mile High
With Texas now official requesting assistance from the Cascadian Empire it would be time for them to act. 48,000 troops from first army would be sent from Wyoming in to Colorado with the main objective to capture Denver, which was less than 100 miles from the border. These troops would be fast moving as they would need to punch down the state, to help with this they would split into their Battalions and use CTVs and LAV-25s to move quickly. Troops would very regularly send out smaller UAVs to search out enemy tanks and artillery that would then be engaged by Cascadian Marksman Artillery Systems or Leopard 2A7s. Battalions were ordered to not travel close together to help strain any enemy artillery that was not engaged in time. Another 2,000 troops would be airdropped south of Denver, LAV-25s and B1 Centuaro Tank Destroyers. These troops would quickly push forward into southern Denver.
--- /Dillon ---
The border post started picking up something strange, and the bored Specialist manning the UAV console jerked in alarm, seeing a massive dust cloud on his TV screen which materialized into a massive armored column barreling towards the Cascadia-Plains Federation border in Colorado.
"Oh for Christ's sakes!" the man yowled, hammering a large red button placed next to his console, clicking over to the outpost's command frequency on his radio. "Someone let High Command know we've got a whole bunch of jerkasses pointed straight at us coming out of Wyoming. Seeing a whole bunch of armor but not a trace of air." the man said, and listened to the response. "Yes Sarge. We're packing up now. Be outta here in five minute tops - the drone picked 'em up about thirty miles away so we've got a mite of time."
With that, the border post piled into the armored Humvees that composed their vehicle pool and fast tracked it the hell out of Dodge.
Meanwhile, that Sergeant, working from a satphone in the back of one of said Humvees, informed the Air Force in Buckley AFB in Denver and Schriever in CO Springs. Buckley and Schriever put squadrons in the air almost immediately... two squadrons of F-15s covering a squadron of A-10s. Each.
The tankbusters roared forward, the ones from Denver reaching the enemy first, the F-15s going in and busting up the AH64s (because the enemy had not put up air support) and any local AA they might have had (the outpost indicated there were only normal LAV-25s, not the reasonably deadly LAV-AD version. The A-10s swooped in, their wings loaded for bear with CBU-105 cluster munitions and Maverick missile. The cluster bombs were dropped on troops and troop-carrying vehicles to lethal effect. The A-10Cs' massive 30mm guns lit up the artillery and tanks, turning the once-proud warmachines into blazing carcasses.
Meanwhile, the attempted airdrop was intercepted by not only radar-driven SAMs but F-15Es from, again, Buckley, which were launching to support the A-10s, and the unescorted transports were chewed to pieces before they could even disgorge their payload; It was a total slaughter.
Warren AFB in Wyoming would also find itself under attack, as 30 Tomahawks armed with cluster munitions, thermobarics and conventional warheads came in, destroying everything they could in the old Strategic Missile base.
--- Dillon ---
Operation Wicked
The bulk of Cascadian Forces that would be engaging The Plains Federation would be entering Kansas from Nebraska. 100,000 troops would push down from the border. Largely carrying out the same attack that was being played out in Colorado, troops would move in smaller units, usually battalions, equipped with CTVs and LAV-25s. They would be escorted by Leopard 2A7s and B1 Centauros that would engage enemy tanks. UAVs would constantly be conducting patrols seeking out SAMs, Artillery, and tanks, that would later be engaged by Cascadian Armour. They would keep pushing into the state until they reached Wichita.
--- /Dillon ---
The UAVs that crossed first into Kansas, barreling towards Wichita, were first picked up by the AESA radar attached to the SAM battalion at Fort Riley. The targets were localized, even as the warning klaxon shook the six divisions of the IX Corps into life, mustering them in their defensive posts outside of Salina; they dug in outside the junction town, throwing up artillery and SAM positions almost immediately, putting up mobile AESA installations, knowing that any armed force that hoped to make any sort of time would have to come through the area if they hoped to hit Wichita, which was, really, the only target of importance in the state. UAVs swept out from McConnell AFB south of Wichita, and four squadrons of F-15Es and four A-10 squadrons along with them. When the enemy was found, they would engage them with their guns and missiles and cluster bombs... without any air support, the situation looked grim for the forces of Cascadia, who would lay their bones down in a land far from home due to bad planning on their leaders parts.
--- Dillon ---
Operation Lincoln
This attack would probably be the quickest out of the three. 50,000 Cascadian men would move through Wisconsin and attack Illinois with the intention of capturing Chicago. This attack would be almost identical in terms of the beginning invasion fast moving infantry would push through the first few towns until they were 24 miles outside of Chicago, there M777 howitzers would take station and begin firing at military targets discovered by UAVs. The troops advance would be covered by Apache Attack Helicopters, which would destroy enemy tanks. The CNS Eva would make her way into Lake Michigan alongside her escorts of three destroyers, seven frigates, and fifteen corvettes. The Eva would launch her Marine Assault Force at Chicago and would begin to siege the city from the coast.
--- /Dillon ---
The second the Cascadians crossed the border, busting through border posts, alarm klaxons wailed all over the state. Even before the troops inside the state could muster, the civilians of the long-held Federal state were fighting the invaders, taking potshots from roofs with rifles, throwing molotovs into engine decks and Humvee turrets, generally making life absolute hell for the invaders. Then, the real troops were ready. F-18s from the MCAS in North Chicago tore into the AH-64s, assisting the five divisions of National Guardsmen who were there to protect their homes, armed with Stinger-Bs and Iglas, not to mention Avenger anti-air and Pantsir units, all ready and tearing to burn the invaders out of the sky even as A-10s from Scott AFB in St. Clair tore into the enemy armor from the sides and rear, their cluster munitions, Maverick missiles and 30mm main guns harassing and destroying the enemy infantry and armored units while the M1A2s of the National Guard and the Guardsmen's Javelins wreaked their own toll upon the enemy. AH-64s joined in on the fun, pounding enemy artillery positions with impunity, their chainguns tearing into light armor and APCs.
Once that was completed, the A-10s and F-15Es would return, reload, and go out again, though this time the F-15Es would load up BrahMos anti-ship missiles and go attack the naval force which had mysteriously appeared in the Great Lakes near Chicago. There were twenty-four aircraft, carrying two missiles apiece. Forty-eight missiles streaked out towards the target painted by the radars of dozens of different commercial vessels and harbor patrol craft, and twenty-five of them were targeted on the Eva. The other twenty-four missiles were aimed as follows: three to each destroyer, two to each frigate. The A-10s, once they were reloaded, would go back out to support the National Guard fighting off the large fighting force barreling towards Chicago. The F-15Es would reload with Harpoons, and go hunt down the corvettes that remained in the area.
Classified:
Daniel Marxon would then appoint his best soldier, James McCarthy, as Commander-in-chief of all forces. At age 17, McCarthy is also the ad-interim Vice President of California. McCarthy would quickly march 45,000 soldiers and 1,500 M1A2 Tanks on there way towards the border, however would halt once almost in range. McCarthy would grab a slip of paper and scribble a note to the Plains Federation:
Dear Plains Federation,
I don't know where you got all the military capabilities while not even a recognized nation, much less why you think you have authority of Texas, but I do have something to tell you: You can't be King if there is nobody to rule over. Attacking the people and killing them will make your occupation worthless. Face the facts that Texans will never surrender. They are stubborn and want their way; Possibly this is a weakness of theirs, or possibly it is another strength.
Oh, why so rude! I clearly forgot to introduce myself. I am James McCarthy, the man who is going to be kicking your backside all of the way to Saint Petersburg. Nice to finally come in contact,
James McCarthy
Commander of the Californian Forces
A Cailfornian riding a horse would ride over to the Plains side to deliver the note. The horse was a tip to the old way William Travis would deliver messages out of the Alamo. Only this time, the end may go differently. McCarthy and his troops would then prepare.
General James MacArthur looked at the man who'd, absurdity on top of absurdity, ridden a horse all the way across the border to deliver a message of war from the Californians. "Well..." the General drawled, an Arkansas drawl thick as molasses. "I'd shoot you if you were armed, but no. That'd be un-gentlemanly of me." the general said, and the man seemed to relax. "Strip him down to his skivvies and tie him to the horse." the General ordered, and the protesting man was forced back onto his horse, now sans everything but his boxers, and the General taped a reply to his back with duct tape.
To the ass whom it may concern,
Fancy words are the province of victors; you haven't proven your worth yet.
General James MacArthur, X Corps
With a slap on the horse's buttock, he send the man back over the border. Turning to his adjutant, he asked. "Are we ready, Oliver?"
The colonel nodded back to him. "All positions are reporting one hundred percent readiness."
"Good. We might not be fighting Texans today, but some Californians are sure going to regret their interference."
Thus it was that the 60,000 men of the X Corps dug in, radar strobing, SAMs ready, UAVs in the air, artillery sighted in and well hidden, helicopters waiting, tanks snorting behind well-hidden sandberms, fighters on the horn... and waited. The UAVs MacArthur had dispatched had given him information, leading him to believe he would attack Santa Fe. Thus X Corps was deployed outside of Gallup, which was the quickest route the enemy could take in that direction. However, in the event they tried the northern route, MacArthur's XI corps was also deployed near Shiprock, another 60,000 strong force in equal disposition. UAVs swept the areas in between them, looking for any sign that the enemy decided to take the most direct - yet slowest- route by going overland.
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snip crocks upon crocks of !@#$%^&*OOC: Understand, PD, that I am a CIWS operator. The Centurion, or C-RAM, weapons system is a thing. Understand, again, that I am 110% more likely to know EXACTLY how this operates than you are. Your "strikes" were ineffective. I RP'd losses; you do not get to tell me how many I took or what they were. The C-RAM is in effect a Block 1A CIWS with almost every package needed to make it into a 1B Baseline 2. The only fucking difference is that it doesn't have a PTI attached, so it's not meant to engage surface targets. In every other fucking way, it is the same goddamn CIWS I work on, which, and I assure you, is more than capable of blowing the everloving fuck out of a slow-assed cruise missile like the Tomahawk.
You have angered me. You did not ask me in IRC today when you had the chance. You said nothing, you mentioned nothing.
As of now, I go from a war of conquest to one of scorched earth. Expect a response reflecting that tomorrow when I have the spare neurons to devote to you.
Also, at Triyun, since I know you are helping him - let him fight his own !@#$@#$ war.
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DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY OF THE REPUBLIC OF TEXAS
OPERATION FULL SCALE
CLASSIFIED MATERIALSOut of the entire Federation attack on Texas, the movements made by their Navy out of Louisiana were among the most obvious. The first, second, third, and fourth fleets of the Texas Maritime National Guard were deployed in the Gulf of Mexico while the fifth fleet stayed further west towards Brownsville. All four of the fleets made a total of one-hundred Gotland-class diesel submarines. They were given the last known location of the Federation naval vessels and their estimated destinations. After that last transmission, the submarines would go deep and maintain radio silence. The submarines would surround the foreign fleet from a far distance and stealthily move in closer to get within range of the Federation ships.
The submarines avoided clumping themselves together and purposely came at the Federation navy at different depths and differences so that they wouldn't be as easy to notice. Other submarines and the aircraft carriers would be the first intended targets of the submarines. The submarines would engage the Federation fleet in the Gulf of Mexico before they could be in striking range of Houston.
After the submarine attack began the Texas Maritime Guard and Texas Air Guard would maintain their air assets off the coast of Texas. The Hornets launched from the Federation air craft carriers would be intercept by the primary fighting aircraft of the Texas armed forces and varying altitudes, hopefully before they would launch and missiles at Houston or Galveston, though if the Hornets would continue flying towards Galveston and Houston they would be met by the Texas air forces around 75-100 miles off the Texas coast line.
The Texan fleet would find it nigh-impossible to "surround" the First and Second fleets, being that they lay most of four hundred nautical miles away from Texas's shoreline, and not close enough to be reached in any time less than a day's travel. The Federal aircraft were on orders specifically not to return to their motherships; instead, after making their strike, they would land in Louisiana while another strike group from a shore installation took its place on the carrier. In this way, the carriers acted as shuttles, merely floating staging grounds for Naval Super Hornets using drop tanks to get to their targets. The first strike group was pure shock and awe - not at all armed to attack ground targets, but rather armed to destroy enemy air support. The F-18Es would have a field day with anything less than an F-22, and even then the odds were even between the craft.
Meanwhile on the Texas and Louisiana borders, the order had been given by the Direct of Public Safety to take out the bridges crossing over the Sabine and Red rivers. Air assets were already on the border in many places and so didn't have the problem of taking out the big seven interstate and highway bridges but the smaller, State highway bridges would come prey to BGM-109 block two cruise missiles launched from mobile troops who were either heading to the borders or taking defensive positions. Literally within thirty minutes or less the cruise missiles were striking their targets with incredible accuracy. For the first time since the Spanish ruled over Texas lands, there were virtually no major bridges linking Texas to Oklahoma or Louisiana. There would of course the occasional exception for small structures that weren't seen as vital or necessary, but all major roads and State highways would quickly see them lose their link to either Louisiana or Oklahoma.
With the Air Force having been at DEFCON one for a few days and being at DEFCON 2 for weeks, the Texas Air National Guard was capable of getting its entire fighting force into air within fifteen minutes. The Texas fighters were given orders not to go far into enemy air space and to try to stay within the Texas border unless circumstances in a dogfight made it necessary. While the Plains Federation had no major border assets on the Texas border, if they did the Air Guard would have gone on the offensive to neutralize them. The Air Guard would make defensive flight patterns already having the knowledge that the Plains Federation was sending everything they had at them. They knew that their job, at least for the beginning of this fight, would be to focus on the sky.
Those "unnecessary" and "non-vital" bridges would become the backbone of the now-spread Federal assault. Bradleys and Strikers blazed over the bridges ahead of Abrams and Pantsirs, none of the tracked vehicles giving a singular solitary damn for the carnage they were wreaking on the roadway. When the surfaces started to wear out, they would be supplemented by bridging equipment if necessary and if not ignored until it was. The Federation would bring its anti-air assets along just behind the first wave of its assault, extending battlefield anti-air as far as they could. They didn't need to worry about ever having too few anti-air units in place, for the saying had been in place since the Second World War: "He who controls the skies controls the battlefield." And the Federation aimed to control the skies, so it brought along plentiful amounts of SAM-armed vehicles and the radar directors to make them hit.
Holloman Air Force Base would be the first targets of many for the Air Guard in the area. The twenty-four hangers at the base would be the target of over two dozen BGM-109 missiles. Having been sent before any air assets, even stealth ones, or troops, the missiles would be flying at sub-sonic speeds and flying close to the ground. This first strike would happen less than fifteen minutes. Area 51, while smaller than Holloman and less of a threat, would also receive several BGM-109 missiles at its hangers and its barracks. Then, the following would quickly move into action.
Neither of these targets were active military bases, and thus the $500,000 dollar Tomahawks were wasted on paper tigers.
The 39,000 troops coming from Mexico would quickly be redirected from El Paso up north into New Mexico. The major Air Guard installation there would assist in pushing forward into New Mexico as quickly as possible. Most of the soldiers returning home were coming by air and thus could quickly turn in route to New Mexico. The Air Guard would escort and provide protection for the the transporting troops heading into enemy territory. Because the Federation forces were not focusing on West Texas or sending major assets into the area, it was seen as a perfect time to strike. If there were any military assets in the area, Air Guard would take them on with a combination of long-range air strikes and short to medium range cruise missile launches. The short twenty miles from El Paso to Las Cruces would make it an easy target to take. Long-range air strikes would be taken when necessary on military targets around the city while soldiers moved in. About two-thousand paratroopers would be dropped over the city with the mission of taking out enemy defenses after the Air Guard crippled many of their defensive capabilities. Artillery and the rest of the army would continue to push forward either by ground or paratrooped from a safer distance. The Air Guard would be sure to maintain air superiority and would maintain unusual flight patterns to confuse the enemy. If any of the Federation's aircraft were diverted from the mass heading into the major cities of Texas, the Air Guard would respond appropriately in the area. Mobile radar arrays were being deployed and set up as quickly as possible as troops would move into the city.
The 60,000 strong contingent of the VII Corps continued its press towards Amarillo seemingly un-opposed, taking the city within an hour from its launching point in Eastern New Mexico; meanwhile, the secondary attack force in Southern New Mexico came under attack. The V Corps there under the command of General Marshall would dig in hard, M777s and M109s responding to the enemy artillery with fury and flame. The infantry would dig in in Las Cruces with the rest of their forces, Abrams trading fire with enemy armored vehicles while Javelin-toting infantry backed them up with top-attack munitions. F-15Es moved from an airbase further north, rushing to close to grips with the enemy air superiority fighters and annihilate them, while Pantsirs and S-300s guided by the V Corps mobile array supported them from below. Counterbattery radar would let the Federal artillery positions slam their Texan counterparts as soon as they began to speak.
Meanwhile, the 12 squadrons of Federation aircraft would quickly find out that flying in large numbers, together, was an awful idea even with the most sophisticated aircraft. By the time they were approaching the horizon from the Texas border, about fourteen miles away give or take depending on elevation, some air units would be aware of their position because of them flying in such large numbers together with bombers and other aircraft. Every precaution from the Patriot MDS all the way down to javelin SMRs were being utilized by the massive force coming in all at once. Before they had even crossed the border, miles in advance, the aircraft would be the targets of a barrage of anti-aircraft weaponry. Bombers and other large air craft would of course be the easiest targets to take down but even down to fast moving and stealth air craft would also be at a higher risk than usual because they were flying in such large numbers together. The occasional story in the news of an advanced aircraft being shot down by conventional technology would suddenly become a normal happenstance because of the large amount of anti-aircraft weaponry focused on the incoming aircraft. The Air Guard would maintain a distance just outside of range of their own weapons, but once credible information was given for incoming fleets of aircraft they would move in at a high altitude to strike either fleets of bombers or the enemy fighters.
(Note: Nowhere in my posts did I say they were flying as a mass. I did, however, say they were almost at the border before you even had anything in the air.)
Bomber is a relative word. Generally, when one says "bomber", you think of a lumbering, ungainly craft capable of delivering massive loads of bombs once it gets where it's going - and, as a general rule, you'd be right. However, the B-1B Lancer was anything but ungainly. Two squadrons of the supersonic aircraft streaked into enemy airspace just above treetop level, coming over the Arbuckles and using the fallen mountains as radar-scatter cover, a roller-coaster ride for the pilots for sure. Their sensors were up and listening, and they found enemy anti-air installations relatively quickly near the border. Boosting into their full speed, the bombers swept their wings back and roared in for the kill, slowing down to subsonic just long enough to drop a rain of cluster munitions on the installations they found, ensuring total and complete destruction wherever they hit.
The fighters in the first attack wave were armed with a mix of SEAD and air-to-air equipment; the F-15Es were the most accomplished aerial killers of the modern era, and their pilots flew them knowing this full well. The SEAD armed fighters dropped to ground level, shielded by their more numerous and lethal air-to-air armed counterparts, and began to do the same job that the bombers had started, clearing out enemy anti-air positions with AGM-88 HARM missiles and home-on-jam missiles. They would exact a harrowing toll on any target they found.
Out of the entire Federation military forces moving into Texas, however, the ground troops would suffer the worst fate. Like the Federation Air Force, the Federation's ground forces biggest disadvantage at that moment was that they were moving in such a large mass. Hellfire would rain down upon them from far off mobile launchers and a few strategic aircraft who were far off from the fighting but would readily launch the smart AGM-86 and the AGM-158B would target the tight points of the forces heading to the Texas border and specifically heavy armor and troop transport vehicles. The BGM-109 submunitions would see see its greatest use yet on all three fronts as the other missiles. Except their targets weren't just specifically vehicles or tanks, they would even be used to make contact with large numbers of ground troops trying to make it on foot. Troop transporting vehicles would be the easiest to hit, though. This was all happening before the Federation troops were even able to cross the border into Texas. More specifically, it would be happening once the Governor and the Federation President had hung up with each other by orders of the DoPS. The thousands of Federation soldiers would see slaughter coming among their ranks as they began their several hour long journies from Louisiana, Oklahoma, and New Mexico into the Texas mainland. This first wave would have indefinitely come as a surprise to them because of the spacitiy and quick speed of the missiles. Though the second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, and possibly even seventh waves may have been more expected, the troops would have to choose between the futile task of stopping their massive convoys and shooting down a few missiles out of dozens or moving on and each individual soldier hoping their vehicle wasn't destroyed.
The Texan forces, it seems, did not assume competence among their adversaries. That was their first mistake. Their second mistake was trying to launch strategic aircraft while tactical air superiority aircraft were still capable of dropping out of the sky and ruining their days - which did happen. Repeatedly. Followed by Federal Tomahawk launches, aimed at destroying every Air Guard runway within three hundred miles of the front. Mobile CIWS platforms, known as Centurions, were fully capable of firing on the move - and did. The 20mm radar-guided guns, selfish machines that they were, perked up when they began to see the signatures of enemy missiles on their horizons. If the weapons had faces, they would have grinned.They slewed and elevated, tracking, tracking, tracking, speaking among themselves over the ADA battlenet, their multiple-weapons-coordination components talking to each other, marking their respective territories as clearly as a pride of lions. They claimed their targets - then, at their maximum engagement range (which varied, depending on the Naval Fire Controlman assigned to the platform, but generally all at about two miles) they began to speak the language of fire.
Tongues of flame spouted from their muzzles, sending white-hot streams of tungsten penetrators out to stab the slow-moving 'Hawks from the sky. Against such relatively slow targets, the automated guns could kill as many as ten missiles apiece before needing to be reloaded by the team attached to each mobile unit. Dozens of guns silenced incoming cruise missiles, preventing them from reaching their targets. Some would be missed; nearly a thousand Federal troops would die over the course of the next few hours due to either misses or empty guns unable to protect them. However, their greatest defense was simply to keep moving: in the jamming-heavy environment established by EW planes, the cruise missiles could not receive the live course corrections needed to deal with the rapidly dispersing Federal assault contingent.
The contingent, despite its losses, kept pressing forward, aiming to take the northern Texan cities and their military installations as quickly as possible. The mechanized/armored combined offensive had air support in the form of F-15Es, AH-64s and AH-1Zs, all descending on any target that could be found to cut it to ribbons. The artillery would perform a similar role, slamming their counterparts down and then taking out targets called by the advancing troops, never staying in one position for more than a couple of shots.
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Dear President Reese,
The California Republic, when choosing a side in a war, keeps in mind two things: What the people want, and what I want. Personally, what I want is to side with Texas as it is obviously the mist beneficial choice, however I will choose what I feel is the best choice following your arrival and a meeting in Los Angeles. You will be required to land in Oakland due to damage in our airport here, and will drive down the coast. Take in the sights, Mr. Reese, as this may be your last look at California, or your first.
Sincerely,
President David Marxon
President Marxon,
I regret to inform you that, as there is a war on, I feel that despite your current neutrality in the conflict, it would be much safer were I not to leave the Plains Federation. I'm willing to join you on a secure video call, but any physical visit will have to wait until after the dust has settled.
As a note, anyone who sides with the losing party is ill-advised. You may want to consult your generals on this.
Regards,
President John Reese -
I Piddy the fool who doesn't vote for President David.
-
President Reece was eminently tired of the lies already from this man he'd known for years at this point. "Governor Sparks, I don't know where you're getting "a month" since the United States fell. It's been more than a decade. For the last six years you were a member state of the Plains Federation. Now maybe this is a case of mass amnesia on your part, in which case admitting to it is your best option, otherwise I'll be forced to assume you're intentionally lying to me. Lying to me is a bad, bad idea." Air Marshal Weatherby tapped him on the shoulder. "One moment, Governor." he said, and covered up the phone's mouthpiece, looking at the head of the Air Force. "Yes?" he asked, quirking an eyebrow.
"Mister President, the lead elements of our strike are about to fly over the Red River. They're reporting that the bridges have been closed across the River; our AWACS are standing by to begin jamming, and I've got fighter pilots ready to blow the border stations to hell and gone, Sir. Just give the word." the elderly Air Marshal told him.
General di Santos was at his side. "And in the event that they blow the bridges, I've got bridging units ready to make crossings for us. The river is low this year; we won't have to go very far out of our way to get across even if they knock out the big bridges." he said, and Admiral Wright cleared her throat.
"My boys and girls are already slinging Hornets off the decks of the Federation and Defiance. They'll be in Galveston and Houston within the hour."
"Thank you, lady, gentlemen. Give me a moment." the President declared, before taking his hand off the mouthpiece. "So, Governor, you've got two choices; come clean and either A. admit to mass amnesia on the part of the population of Texas - which is absurd, by the way - or B. Admit that you're lying, stand down your forces and wait for my troops to secure the state. Or, you can persist in your lies and I crack your state open like a pecan under a train wheel. Which'll it be?"
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Vice President Anna Kennedy stalked into the President's office without much in the way of preamble, warning or invitation. His secretary trailed her by a footstep, trying to get her attention, but Anna simply ignored the woman. Pushing the door open to the President's office, she saw that he was talking to a few businessmen and women representing some industrial group or another. They were beneath her notice, however, and she slapped a newspaper down onto the President's desk.
Texas Secedes!
The headline declared. The text was facing President Reece, and he caught it at a glance. "Excuse me, gentlefolk, but it seems something's upset the Texans." he said, and read, unfolding to the story continuation. When he finished, he looked up at Anna, and raised an eyebrow. "Why didn't we see this coming sooner than this?"
Anna shook her head. "I don't know, Mr. President. This came out of the blue, but all my sources confirmed it before I got to your office - and I'm surprised you didn't know before I did. John, " she said, using his first name, a fairly rare occurrence for her. " what are we going to do?" she asked.
The President looked down at the headline, and back through the story. "Well, with this level of treason, there's only one thing to be done, I suppose. Call General di Santos, Admiral Wright and Sky Marshal Weatherby in; we've planning to do." he said, and looked at his former guests."I apologize, ladies and gentlemen, but it seems all our lives just got a whole lot more interesting.
---
Federation Declares War!
---
Four hundred thousand troops surged towards the Texan border from New Mexico, Louisiana and Oklahoma. In Louisiana, First Fleet steamed out of port, with Second steaming towards the Texan shoreline from the Caribbean. Every squadron of fighters and bombers in the country made their way south, with twelve squadrons of fighters almost over the border into Texas on strike missions before the National Guard even woke up to the new war.
The fighters and bombers were targeted at Texas's anti air installations and airbases, seeking to gain immediate aerial superiority. The Declaration of War would be sent - to an undersecretary of an undersecretary of State in the Texan government, of course - at a time perfectly coinciding with those aircraft passing over the Texan border.
The ground troops, of course, would make their best speeds to Lubbock, Amarillo, Dallas, Austin and Houston, while the naval assets would seek to pound the Houston Harbor with Tomahawks and strikes from carrier-based fighters.
---
30 minutes prior to the strike commencing...
President Reece called Governor Sparks in Texas. When he finally got through to the man, he began without preamble. "This is President Reece. It wasn't a wise decision for you to leave the Federation. It goes rather violently against the Constitution, Governor, and you'll find that I react rather... badly... to people breaking the law of the land. So here's how this is going to go: Either you renounce your secession and come back into the Federal fold, or the declaration of war I just signed, hot from Congress, goes into full effect. It's your choice. I'm waiting."
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Dispatch TO the so-called Empire:
This province was never yours. Now piss off.
(OOC: The proof's in my News Thread and the acquisition's noted in the World Map thread. Now fuck off, Triyun.)
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CNRP-A:
The Plains Federation's military begins to mobilize following disturbing reports of an invasion of North America from the island nation of the Imperium of Japan. Stockpiles of weapons are dusted off, and alert orders are issued to all Federal Army, Navy and Air Force commands.
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A response was made from the Defiance and her battlegroup. "You're violating Federal protectorate waters, is what's happening. Please state your business or depart immediately."
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"Oh? And what would you have in mind?"
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Wisconsin now a State!
Following the ratification of the Referendum to Incorporate Wisconsin by both the Senate and the House of Representatives, the Plains Federation happily welcomes its 10th state, and all the citizens thereof as citizens of the Federation. Elections of public officials are expected to occur in the next few weeks.
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"And on the behalf of the Federation, I would like to thank you for your most generous gift." Admiral Dorner replied, his normal, stoic self. "I can assure you, it will be most appreciated."
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"What's this?" Admiral Dorner said, perusing the reports of a Polynesian diplomatic envoy approaching the Hawaiian protectorate. "Hail him and see what business he has with the Plains Federation; invite him for dinner aboard the Defiance." he said, referring to the supercarrier flagship of 3rd Fleet, aboard which he was located in Pearl Harbor.
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Wisconsin Senate Approves Referendum; Plains Federation Congress begins to vote
Plains Federation - After the approval of the referendum to join the Federation by the Wisconsinite Senate, Senator Clinton of Louisiana put forward the motion in the Federal Senate to approve Wisconsin's request to join the Federation. Results are expected to be seen from the vote sometime in coming week.
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Federal Navy commissions new fleet; Pearl Harbor Naval Base rebuilt
Oklahoma City, OK - The Plains Federation Navy received its second wave of new ships to date, with dozens of ships performing their christening and launching ceremonies in the shipyards in Texas and Louisiana. The event nearly coincided with the collapse of Tikal, and the acquisition of Hawaii as a protectorate by the Federation. The Pearl Harbor Naval Base is being rebuilt to Federal standards and requirements, and is expected to be operational in the next year and a half.
Wisconsin House of Representatives Approves Join Referendum; Vote moves to Senate
Madison, WI - Today, Wisconsinite lawmakers began to make the move towards joining the Federation, passing the referendum to join by a total of 64/25/10, being presented in Yea/Nay/Abstain format. The referendum will now move to the Wisconsin Senate for approval, and proponents of the referendum have heralded the event as "a major victory, and cause for celebration".
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Shouldn't have attacked your betters brosef
Don't flatter yourself.
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That only applies when you can't agree on a legit dispute, not when one side God modes the. Gets
Caught in it, also only two navies have rped
action, smaller then me combined true story.Hah, I godmoded.
Well, only following after your ever-so-delightful self.
Again, formally requesting a 50/50 GM roll. My legit dispute is that I'm sick of this war already, and want to leave it to the Dice Gods as to what happens in the sea.
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Well then.
GM, formally requesting a 50/50 roll for the Battle of the Atlantic.
Under 50, Triyun hits my ships and yadda yadda boom. Over 50, his fleet dies in its entirely like it should when faced against 4 fleets.
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When CNRP2 began, it was created as a haven for those players with less massive NS and tech numbers. For a time, nations over 50k NS could not join whatsoever. Then, we transitioned to optional recognition, which was still a pretty good way of going about things. Then, recognition of 50k+ NS players became mandatory, though their stats were a bit limited.This, above all else, is what is effectively causing CNRP2 to simply be CNRP with a new skin. The 50k NS rule was created to lock out high-powered players to make room for "smaller nations and bigger stories".
Look where we are now.
What I propose is this: Reinstitute either a. banning 50k+ NS players from CNRP2, or, b. optional recognition of 50k+ NS players. A possible third option would be to introduce preplanned wars, such that if a player over 50k NS requests a war with a sub-50k NS player and the sub-50k says "I don't want to go to war", then no war can happen.
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Inactivity hits after 3 weeks, or 21 days. 4 weeks is the time you get ontop, if you extent it by locking your nation, which did not occur. So, no, the Great Lakes Republic is no more.
She actually did extend it. Rudy knew beforehand, and thus Voodoo must have as well.
You're biased, and I'm biased against you, thus neither of our opinions have any weight to them.
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Yerushalayim is not inactive. Her last IC post was the 2nd October, prior to Triyun's RL-enforced delay. Inactivity begins at 4 weeks, or 28 days. She still has time. She'll be back Monday. She already notified the GMs of being on vacation, and as such is under lock.
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1. I never actually RP'd my strike getting into range of your aircraft or even leaving my own AD bubble, only the launch. You RPd my craft like I had. Don't do that. If it's not explicitly stated, it didn't happen. You RP your units closing with and attacking my aircraft, while they're still inside their own home turf, expect to pay the consequences.
2. You forget that half of my strike was armed for anti-air operations. That's two hundred aircraft just as capable as anything you field, ready to rip your anti-shipping strike to pieces. Seeing as they hadn't even left my AD bubble yet, we then have 200+64=264 aircraft to take out your anti-shipping strike.
3. On the subject of the ASMs, my brain read the Hornet's payload weight as 18000kg, rather than roughly 18000 pounds. I'll go slice the Oniks missile launch from the planes in half. My bad, no biggie.
4. As to the ASBMs, all I will say is 99.88% success rate. I'll go let let a bomblet hit a frigate.
Add'ly, until the Battle of Britain is over, Lynneth's ships are still there, attacking you. That's the last thing I heard out of a GM's mouth, anyway.
As a note, I may not respond to anything for a bit, I've got stuff to do before my move to Naval Base 32nd Street, San Diego.
Plains Federation News Service (CBS Channel 9)
in Fantasy RP (IC)
Posted
The War Continues
After beating back an unexpected sneak attack from Cascadia with massive enemy losses, the Federal Army continues its assault into Texan territory. General di Santos praised the enemy forces, saying, "We're fighting for every inch of soil we're taking from them - but, by God, we are taking it." Losses on both sides continue to mount as each struggle for dominance without quite being able to achieve it for very long in any one place.