DeSchaine

I didnt see anything in your post about them, so I dont think that matters at this point. And I certainly wouldnt presume to know whats in their minds, as opposed to your people, who are as transparent as a sheet of wet rice paper and about as strong.

[quote name='nippy' timestamp='1297756622' post='2634282'] Oh yes....everyone's fearing the great TPF war machine. Their wars were declared in response to our call for help. GOONS is doomed and people are crying over their loss of infrastructure. I'm hoping at some point while reading this post that you're able to recognize sarcasm. [/quote] Someone must be fearing us if people keep sucking in their allies.

Kelpie pulled off his tie, tossing it to the girl. "We still have a few minutes till we land. Once we're on the ground, you will be transferred to a better equiped facility." Right on cue, the noise from the engines changed pitch, and the aircraft began to descend. It thumped down softly, and the ramp lowered, revealing a predawn sky. The armored soldiers that had traveled with her stood up and grabbed her, carrying her off the aircraft and to a waiting Puma transport. Kelpie climbed in as well. "Enjoy the fresh air while you can, it may be the last you ever breathe."

"They call me Kelpie. Not the most flattering, but it's an apt description. Now..." he opened a medical hard case on the only table in the room. He pulled an odd looking gun and a clip out of it and slammed the clip home. "...we're going to get some straight answers out of you." He worked the action and leveled the handgun at her. "Dont worry, this will only hurt for a second." he smiled and pulled the trigger, a little pfft noise coming from the gun. Out sped a moderate sized hypodermic dart, lodging in her upper arm. Within seconds, the drug cocktail of mild sedative, slight hallucinogenic entered her system. "Now we wait while that starts to work, and then your mind will be as open as a DVD."

Caitlin stood, shaking and biting the insides of her cheeks. Finally it became too much and she burst out laughing. "I must say, I'm inclined to agree that you don't know anything. If you did, and it was harmless, you'd not hesitate to tell me and so earn your way out of here. Or, if you knew something harmfull, you'd lie to make me think you were harmless and earn your way out of here." She walked behind the girl and thumped her in the back of the head. "But you can't even do that. Oh, and for the record, I'm not an interrogator. I'm a special forces commander. Normally in situations like this..." she leaned close and whispered. "...I'd have slit your throat by now because you're obviously useless." She stood up and laughed again. The door slid open and four armored troopers walked in, snapping to attention. O'Malley smiled as they came in and looked at the girls face, watching her reaction. "Truss her up and get her ready for a trip to meet the professionals in Dublin. Who knows, maybe once they're done with her, she can BE a professional." The last statement got a laugh from the soldiers. They moved toward the girl, two around each end of the table. O'Malley walked out with her clipboard, a wicked laugh of her own echoing through the hall. Once around the corner, she stopped and smiled. Psychological prep was so much fun. She walked into the observation room and watched as Juliet was restrained. The troopers snapped her into cuffs and a harness like something out of a Gor novel. Blindfolding her, they picked her up and carried her out. After leaving the building, they strapped her into a seat on a C-24 Dragonfly. As soon as she was set, the aircraft lifted off and headed south east.

In a news conferance today, President DeSchaine announced the early completion of TOS Tir na nOg. The station construction crews will be taking some well deserved time off before starting construction of the second TOS. It was also announced that contracts are now being offered to institutions wishing to conduct experiments in space. The initial number of modules is twenty, with nineteen more being offered after thirty days. All applications are subject to review by the TASA for acceptance or denial. Plans for a lunar colony are progressing, with the first four component blocks of the interplanetary transport being delivered to the station. In two weeks time, a specially trained crew will be sent to begin assembly in orbit. In order to facilitate the number of launches that may be required, a new launch facility is being planned near Cardiff. This will a public facility, offering tourist packages composed of four nights aboard the station. *Classified* Arbiter Network defense sites have been planned are are beginning construction all along the coasts of the Welsh and Scottish regions. Additional engineer units are being alotted to the tasks, speeding construction considerably. 8th through 11th divisions are being kept on the books as active divisions in the new regions. The future of the English region is still undecided after local elections there failed to constitute a full government. Taeunas peacekeepers will remain untill either the region votes to join Taeunas or can elect a independant government.

Caitlin crossed her arms and stood, silently staring down at the girl after the threat. After a few minutes she spoke again. "A lone survivor of a plane crash. Armed. Violent. All of this in an area that has been the location of a terror group that has used biological weapons on civilian targets." She narrowed her eyes then slammed both hands down on the table top as hard as she could, shaking the table with a loud smack. "Are you one of them? Do I need to resort to more drastic means to extract answers from you?" She walked behind the girl and stopped, staring down at the back of her head. She was fully prepared to go as far as needed to bring the truth to the surface. ----- In Portugal, collection of all the parts and pieces had begun. Several hours into the recovery, the flight data recorders were found. These were carried to Taeunas by a Tyre fighter running at supercruise nearly the whole way. Once on the ground, the recorders were rushed to be opened and the information checked for a possible cause of the crash.

France continues to have the support of Taeunas in peacekeeping matters. We applaud this move.

A smirk spread across the redheads face as she saw the look of abject fear on the girl. "They won't, I assure you. Unless you missbehave in some way or try to run." She stood up with a predatory smile and took the cuffs off, not worrying about anything the girl might try. She'd been carefully searched by the medical team when they assessed the injuries. "You may call me Commander O'Malley. Now, who are you?" She folded a page over on the clipboard as she sat back down, waiting for the girl to answer. ----- By this time, the news report of the crash had hit the media world wide, several pictures of the site shown, even some video of Taeunas investigators and soldiers working at the site. Many of the reports made mention of a single survivor, but that was it. No other details were given out.

In a room not too far away, watching the mouthy young girl via a closed circut tv system, a woman laughed. "Cowards eh? That's a nice thing to say about her saviors." she said to no one in particular. She rose from her seat and adjusted her black and gray uniform slightly, the Taeunas battle flag with a red branch crossing the white areas prominantly displayed on the right shoulder. She picked up a clipboard and walked into the room, armored boots ringing loud against the tile floor. The door shut silently behind her. She stood silent for a minute, looking down at the girl before she pulled out the other chair and sat in it. "I'll start with the good news." she said. "No major injuries. No infections. No diseases. You're insufferably healthly for having been in a plane crash. Just a few minor cuts and abrasions. Light sprains. Nothing more." She let the clipboard drop to the table. "Feel like telling me your name, where you're from, anything like that?" ----- In Dublin, intel services were sending out inquires with attatched pics of the girl to police and foreign diplomats. President DeSchaine was having lunch with his cabinet. "Ok, so where are we on the girl we found in Portugal?" said the president around bites of his pulled beef sandwich. Gerry Adams wiped some of the Guinness based sauce from his goatee and coughed lightly. "Not really anywhere, sir. She's not in any of our databases, nor the ones we have access to now that we control Scotland." Defense minister Mulcahy spoke up. "Seems to be a diplomatic plane though. Top of the line, a national seal of some sort. Our people are still looking into what brought it down." "It wasn't our people?" "No sir. We had radar contact untill it crashed and heard the mayday calls. That's it." Christos nodded slowly. "Well, if O'Malley can't get anything from her by tonight, then tomorrow we bring her here to Dublin and house her in the diplomatic quarters. Just to be safe." He took a large bite from his sandwich and they moved on to other matters important to the nation.

In the skies, the invaders faced a near litteral firestorm of anti aircraft missiles, seemingly from every direction, as both stationary and mobile missile turrets emptied a first basic load of hundreds into the air. Right behind those launched wave after wave of fighters and attack aircraft. Over eighty squadrons took to the air and began a methodical crippling of all the oppositions airpower. Smoke trails filled the skies as the fighters engaged with their long range weapons, using both their tactical and numerical superiority to their advantage. In southern England, Taeunas ground forces kept silent until a majority of the opposing forces had landed. About half of the civilian population had been evacuated beforehand. Taeunas military had decided to use existing buildings as cover. Once transport aircraft had been detected, the Partisians moved out, filling the skies with AAA fire. The paras would have to face clouds of shrapanel bursting around them, as well as their planes taking heavy fire before some could even get out. Those that had managed to land and moved to their objectives would face sporadic "strike and fade" attacks all along their routes. Bursts of heavy machinegun fire, mortars, grenades would rain down on them. Many streets and buildings had been rigged with improvised mines and traps. On the coastal landings, heavy artillery was landing as Raindrop units took turns firing and moving, their long range allowing them the time to pack and move, while their escort AA and mech units kept watch. Taeunas bombers also hit this area with cruise missiles programed to open over the areas and scatter their munitions like a rain of death. From the air, it would look like firecrackers going off. On the ground was different. Anything out in the open was affected. Along the routes being used by the enemy ground forces, highly mobile raider units did the same as the infantry forces were doing. Their ambushes were much more powerful, with heavy concentrations of anti armor fire and missile artillery from Hailstorm MCVs. Units moving through towns and cities even had buildings collapsed on top of them. Lastly, the enemy fleets were struck. Land based ASM batteries launched several hundred Hydra cruise missiles at the fleets. Here too Taeunas bombers were used. In addition to the wave top skimming Hydras, the bombers loosed more of the Chimera cluster missiles. The bomblets would be especially effective against the flat surfaces of the carrier decks and the delicate detection and fire control equipment. Guns and launchers would be vulnerable to the powerful explosive used. The Louisanian fleet would be especially hard hit as the attack on them would wait until they were in the Celtic Sea. Here they would be directly in view of the Taeunas coast and easily dispatched by concentrated heavy fire. With Taeunas having been on high alert, it had been no problem for their forces to see the impending invasion and plan accordingly. Their soldiers knew the cities and lands intimately, givin them the upper hand. In fact, in many cases, soldiers from the former Scottish military were aiding their Celtic kin. ----- DeSchaine sat in his war room, listening to the reports coming in from the field. The counter to the invasion was going well. Richard Mulcahy sat down beside him, both men drinking cups of coffee. "I see things are going well, Richard." "Yes sir, they are." He pointed to a screen showing a view from one of the UAVs. The scene was of a flight of Yellowjackets ambushing an advancing armor unit down to the last man. It had started with the choppers several miles away, blasting the tanks with their Black Cat missiles. After all the vehicles had been taken out, the helos closed in. The area around was hosed down with their AC's, any troops from that unit left being tore apart. "That was particularlly well executed." "Yes it was. What's that group of blinking green over London?" Mulcahy looked over his notes and plans for a second. "Ah, that's a full company of Red Branch, sir. Task seems to be hunter/killer." He made a slight face at that. "You know what that means when it comes to them." DeSchaine nodded "Yes, it means a litteral bloody mess. They give no quarter." He shrugged. "I don't see that as an issue, except for the problem of cleaning it up." "Yes sir. Was it wise to put O'Malley in charge of them?" "Who better, Richard? She's the descendant of the most ruthless pirate to ever sail these waters. She's perfect." "Aye, I suppose it does." He sat and sipped his coffee for a minute. "Sir, what do we do with the bodies?" "Well, when this is over, we could just burn them all, but they ARE people, and they DO have families." He sighed as he thought it over. "We'll refit a freighter with refridgerated containers and ship them back. It's the only decent thing to do." "Aye sir. I'll see to it."

The Red Branch troopers encircled the cowering young girl. Her condition was severe, but they had the right supplies. The sarge shook his head at her choice of clothing and feeble attempts to fend them off. "Rogers, sling your weapon and get her into the Cougar. You and Ryan check her out and patch her wounds. Sure and intel is going to have a fine time trying to get this one straight." One man snapped his rifle onto his ruck and moved forward, picking up the girl in his arms. His armor endured a flury of weak blows that probably wouldn't have hurt a fly as he carried her back to the vehicle. Inside, the teams medic had already retrieved the things he was likely to need. Belt and leg restraints, plasma IV and an autoinjector of morphine. Rogers held her as the restraints were placed on her. The men were very careful to not hurt her further with the enhanced strength of their suits. Ryan tapped the girls thigh with the morphine pen, snorting a short laugh at the shriek of surprise and momentary pain that came from the girl. "Easy now, little one. You're safe enough. We'll have you fixed up soon enough and ready for a proper interogation." he said as he slipped the IV needle into her arm and taped it down. He handed the bag to Rogers to hang up and then made sure the girl was secure. "Ok, we're all set back here sarge." "Right. Back to the command section then. We'll call up a medevac and have her in Dublin in less than a day. Nichols, send those pics to intel and infrom them we have a guest. Jenkins, move out." The Cougar engine gave a growl and the vehicle sped off, bouncing over the terrain. Jenkins glanced at the HUD and set them on a course with the divisions HQ Morningstar.

Need a lock for two weeks. Thanks.

They saw the glow from the buring jet fuel and angled towards it. The Cougar bounced over the rocky earth in the mountains outside Covhila. The battle armored soldiers climbed out of the vehicle and walked up to the remains of the aircraft. They had set the knuckle electrodes in their gloves, but kept their rifles slung as they moved. They carefully moved around the solid side of the plane and checked the body they found. Dead. No help. "Sarge, over here. Blood and footprints. There was someone else in that plane after all. Trail leads off in that direction." He lifted an armored hand and pointed. "Right then. They'll keep, if they're losing blood. Take a look at this. Anyone recognize this crest?" "Nope. Not a clue Sarge." "Ok then, lets snap a few pics fo the intel weenies and head out. Jenkins, grab the Cougar. The rest of us will hoof it." They slowly made their way down, following the trail of blood. Their rifles came off their shoulders and up in a semi ready position. The snow crunched under their boots, but was almost drowned out by the noise of the engine behind them.

Label Scotland and Wales as Taeunas, England and Portugal as joint protectorates of Taeunas and Norway. Thanks.

**Private Reply** Your Highness, Yes, Taeunas has begun to land troops and supplies. We care very deeply for our fellow Gaels and Celts. It's a simple matter for us to bring supplies over from Taeunas, as we are so close. Most of the formerly Scottish Western coast is being well covered by incoming Taeunas soldiers, and my people report progress in moving inland. Most of the southern areas seem to be quite under control, as far as the plague is concerned. Portugal is likewise settled, but of a more serious concern due to terrorist elements that are possibly hiding out there. Oweing to the fact that many citizens from both nations have crossed the Irish Sea to live and work in the other, we propose to hold a public vote on making the two states into a single nation. This will happen as soon as we have fully restored public services that seem to have not suffered much at all, and so should happen shortly. Regards, Christos DeSchaine, President of Taeunas **end** In Cardiff and all of the towns and cities where Taeunas soldiers appeared, people followed directives to be tested at the numerous medical centers. Tests for the plague were administered to all, and nearly 95% came back negative. Of those that did test positive, most were admitted to the hospitals, where TRIAD medtechs started treatments. In the major cities, Taeunas engineers and communications specialists worked to repair radio and television stations. Soon they were up and running, broadcasting programming from Dublin, Galway and Belfast. Taeunas MP's started working with their civilian counterparts and even brought in a few Garda officials to evaluate the tactics and offer suggestions. ----- In Portugal, things were slightly different. Small pockets of resistance had been found in the north. Cerberus had gained a small foothold here, and had decided to not hide as much. Two Puma UATV's had been lost and three of 7th divisions soldiers had been hurt before a pair of Glory tanks had showed up and blasted the building the terrorists were hiding in. Due to this, the bulk of the division was moved up to the north and began to sweep for the fiends. ----- In London, a boat raced down the Thames, hell bent on reaching the ship at the mouth of the river. Onboard were three men with semi automatic rifles, one driving the thing. In the bow was a large quantity of high explosive, home made. Their plan was well thought out, and was bound to work, except for one little problem. From an office building overlooking the river, a muzzle flashed and the engine of the boat caught fire. Three more shots went off and the boat slowed, just bobbing on the water. Anyone boarding it would find the three men, each cleanly shot through the head. In the building, a platinum blonde finished breaking down her weapon and stowed it in a special case. Pushing a pair of shades onto her face, she smiled and walked out of the offices, making her way to a car and driving west.

IMO, it was a seriously craptasitic escape clause to begin with. The fact that you are going to use it is blatently and undeniably revolting.

In the skies over what had been Scottish Portugal, a flight of Taeunas Tyre fighters circled the small nation. The storm over the region seemed to be huge, and they all tried to stay above it as much as possible. Bolts of lightning flashed here and there, forcing the pilots to keep their visors lowered so their eyes wouldnt be too messed up by the glare. "--day, mayd--... one, we... down..." "Slipstream six, did you copy that?" "Roger, five, I heard em. What the hell was it?" "No clue. What say we drop a bit and find out?" "Sounds good to me, but it's gonna be rough." "So? You sign on for the neat pension? Seven, eight, you boyos stay put. Six and I are going to check this out." "Roger five. We've got it covered. Have fun." Two of the slim craft rolled and dove into the clouds, heading for less clear skies, hpoing to catch a glimpse of what had made the radio call. Checking his radar, five spotted a blip on a heading of 300 and according to his data, it was falling fast. They both popped out of the clouds just in time to spot the explosion from the second engine exploding. They raced to the spot where they had seen it, and circled as tightly as they could. "Tacom, this is Slipstream five... we have a possible crash. Twin engine civilian jet. Over." "Copy that, Slip five, we had it also. Continue to circle. If you can make a low pass, go for it. Nearest mudbugs are thirty out. Over." ----- On the ground, a squad of Taeunas' Red Branch soldiers were on a scouting mission for the remnants of Cerberus holdouts. It was believed that some had escaped the island and made it to the mainland. They stopped their Cougar UATV's and got the lowdown from command. A jet had crashed and they were tasked with finding it. Not really the kind of mission one gave to elite troops, but the fact of their NoKS armor and the fact that they were the closest unit dictated the response. They whipped their vehicles to the right and headed off.

"What good would it be to have the 'protection' but not the full rights granted by the government? Of course I voted for the whole thing!"- Random Croatian voter being exit polled.

17th June, Early Afternoon The Taeunas Raindrops had arrived on the field. Using GPS, they had manuvered into a position that kept them in range of the river, but out of normal artillery ranges. The tractors unhooked from the guns and moved a little ways off. The gun crews for all six of the large pieces scrambled to load and elevate them. Each gun had a computer slaved to a Morningstar configured as a fire direction center. This FDC would move to the French command positions and set up as liason units. The guns would keep up a slow but constant bombardment of enemy positions, the large 16" shells creating nearly as much chaos as the cruise missiles had done. The one ton shells would seem to contain the very fires of Hell itself, especially the Inferno shells. These were fitted with fuses set to explode the round when it reached 100' over the target area. The result was a burst of burning liquid/gel raining down on the enemy positions. The individual pools of this would burn between 1500* and 2200* F for up to ten minutes or so. Intermixed with these, in equal numbers of all three types, were the more typical fragmentation shells that showered the area beneath them with high speed shrapnel and standard HE shells that exploded on contact with the ground. All around the guns, Meteor SAM and Partisan AAA units set up to interdict incoming aircraft. The Guardian systems on the Partisans were set to detect both incoming aircraft and incoming artillery, using the latter to plot the positions of the enemy batteries. The Meteors would use the information from the Guardian equipped Partisans to launch long and medium range missiles at the the Slavo aircraft if they came within range.

In the skies above Scotland, Tyre fighters circled at 20k, keeping an eye on things. With the war on the continent in full swing, they kept their eyes and EW systems peeled. Contact with the incoming aircraft was sporadic. In the main cities and port areas, Taeunas soldiers would be meeting the Norwegian troops and aid workers. The recon elements that had entered the country just a few days before would share their maps and gathered intel with the newcomers. From the opposite direction, Taeunas troops and supplies began to cross the Irish Sea. All along the western shoreline, soldiers landed and moved in to secure the main routes in and out of the cities. Light mechanized forces moved out along the main routes and through the smaller towns, dropping off small bundles of essential items. Meetings between the Taeunas diplomats and local leaders had revealed a lack of central government and slight loss of services. Mostly the people had banded together to keep things as normal as possible. Most people welcomed the soldiers from both nations, and the aid that was coming in. Crime was lower than expected, mostly from concerns of the plague. In the west, near Cardiff, the bulk of the Taeunas 11th Division was landing, mostly in light vehicles and MSV's. Medical units made their ways to hospitals to observe conditions and deliver drugs found by TRIAD to be effective in combating the disease. Taeunas intel techs went over patient records of plague vics to try and determine a patient zero and method of delivery. It was well known that the threat was still out there. To combat the threat, HCT teams spread out, and began covert operations to discover the so called "Illusive Man" and his Cerberus group. ----- In Scottish Portugal, the Taeunas 7th Division began to land. Quickly they spread out, doing much the same as their brothers and siters in arms were doing up north. The last intel from the Scots had said that the suspected HQ for Cerberus was somewhere nearby. In addition to the HCT teams already attached to the division, two companies of the Red Branch were sent as well. Maj. Cormac had taken personal charge of this part of the operation at the behest of Cmdr. O'Malley. ----- In London, a platinum blonde was sitting at a cafe, sipping a latte in the warm morning air. Her phone buzzed, eliciting a raised eyebrow as she answered it. "Yes?" "Starlight, starbright, wish I may, wish I might, have the wish I wish tonight." Her eyes narrowed at the line, even as a smile played across her lips. "Of course. Your wish is my command." She listened for a minute to the voice on the other end. "Very well, Wishmaster. Consider it done." She ended the call and settled back to enjoy her latte and watched the movement of people and soldiers in the streets. ----- In Dublin, a man sat looking east from his balcony as he hung up his secure phone and reached for a glass of well aged whiskey on the rocks. "A new dawn of our own then. Slainte."

Its been a long time since we've heard anything official from our ally, Scotland. Towards that end, Taeunas has decided to approach the nation with caution, using friendly IFF codes. From the Shetlands to Eastbourne, Taeunas Yellowjackets and Dragonflys from various reserve divisional recon units will approach local Scottish airfields and bases. Each would be making contact with local authorities and military commanders. Taeunas Tyre fighters are in the air and on standby to cover Scottish airspace. Taeunas diplomats have flown over and are discussing the current situation with the Scottish leaders. Depending on the results of these talks, other stronger measures may be taken. Following the initial recon deployments, should it be needed, full divisions will be moved into the area to take over. Similar measures are being taken in regards to Scottish holdings along the western side of Iberia. OOC: Before anyone yelps about this, its RECON units on a fact finding mission. It covers my ooc action of sending a PM to KP.

BREAKING NEWS This just in from the Defense Ministry... four of the seven reserve divisions have been put on alert. All soldiers from the 8th through 11th divisions are hereby ordered to report to your respective units and prepare for possibility of extended deployment. We now return you to your regularly scheduled program. **Classified** Warning Order 7th Mobile Division, the Black Knights Belfast Complements to the General and all divisional soldiers. Make ready to airlift light infantry, light armor and HCT's to primary landing zones in the SC-SP-PLZ file. Follow up will be by the rest of the division as air assets allow. Regards, Secretary Richard Mulcahy

**Private** As you wish. This will result in the order arriving in one shipment, in a [i]Raven[/i] class super freighter at the southern most port. Due to the conflict in Europe, the ship will not be transiting the Med. Instead, it will go the long course around the tip of Africa.

MARS will accept the contract. Order will be broken up into a series of deliveries by MARS owned Condor transport to an airfield of the buyers choice. Ground transport should be contracted through local companies or military transports. Original order numbers will be divided equally amongst the number of deliveries.