Burning Bush

[Valkany]

The major woke up in the warehouse with a n aboriginal member of the national Guard staring at him.

Guard: Wake up captain, you and your men have to go. And make sure you Krauts don't show up in the Cape again.
Gustav: Oh don't worry, I wouldn't do so for all the money in the world.

Most of the men were already preparing to board the HIVMS February once she arrived. The warehouses were relatively big but even so the 2,500 national guards along with the Valkanian company of EKZA troops left little space. Then the major heard the siren of the February. The ship had finally docked. The national guards opened the doors of the warehouse. Light shined trough, temporarily blurring the major's vision. His vision started clearing out. No less than 200 men were already deploying on the compound of dock 14B. The military administration was dead serious about getting the EKZA back. Then he saw the February. He had heard about the size of Averof III class dreadnoughts, but he couldn't believe the sight of it! Four main gun towers, three on the front one at the back, and two relatively smaller ones on each side, along with god knows how many smaller cannons, AA guns and machine-guns. The control tower and bridge towered high into the sky. And on the side of the ship, with big white letters, was written FEBRUARIUS.

Valkanian Marine: OK everyone, get aboard, we haven't got all day! Unless you want to stay in this shit-hole that is!

The troops followed suit. Within minutes the warehouses were almost empty. Among the hundreds of men moving rapidly on the dock, the MP squad as taking the four-troublemakers with it stood out. The major stood last. "The commander always eaves the field last" he always told his men.

Guard: Alright major, get going along with the rest of your men, before we let the rest of the natives in here.

The national guardsman's tone was half serious half sarcastic. Incredibly professional considering that the aboriginal guard had surely lost friends and family by Valkanian fire during the war. The major stood in attention and saluted the man. The guard returned the gesture.

Gustav: Roger that, let's hope we meet again someday OK? But not here or in Valkany at least.

The tone of the major was also kind of sarcastic. The guard nodded and the major started walking to the ship. A few minutes later he was watching the dock from the February while the ship headed for home. It had been a long journey but now it was over. He and his men had been the last Valkanian troops to ever set foot in the Cape. And he hoped it would stay that way.

 

[Asylan]

OOC: It's time to spice up this RP

Lange stepped out of her jeep onto the dirty concrete of a side alley she and her men had pulled into. She had four other soldiers with her, some special forces she had been using for covert recon operations in the surrounding area, each armed with a small sub-machine gun tucked down to avoid stirring any trouble. Not that they were likely to cause any real trouble, the people here had been used to seeing the open display of firearms. For days there had been gunfire and smoke coming from the city and the surrounding country side. She had no idea what was going on, and even her recon teams had only been able to tell her that unidentified factions had been fighting with each other. Refugees had been flocking to the Asylan base, and much to her regret she had to deploy a few patrols around the base to keep order. On her way in, she had seen the effects of the fighting on the buildings. Bullet holes and fires around, but people seemed to be picking up the pieces again. In fact, she had only seen one militia group on her way over.

Next to her, Captain Savon the leader of the squad, pointed down the alley, "Ma'am, the message told us to meet him at the city hall. We should only be about half a block away."

She nodded and motioned for one his his men, "Keep the car ready just in case."

"Yes ma'am," the soldier responded.

Together, they made their way down to the street and emerged next to a seething crowd. People were ecstatic screaming, cheering, jumping up and down a few even holding makeshift signs in a language Lange couldn't read. They were soon confronted by two men.

"Are you the Commodore?" One of the asked.

She glanced back between both of them, then nodded, "Yes I am."

One of the men looked to the other. Lange could feel her men tense for a moment. The one on the right turned back to her, "Mr. Akkeson wishes to see you."

The two men guided them through the crowd, which could have numbered in the thousands. She had no idea what the hell could be going on the illicit such a celebration. No native holidays were close, at least she thought. No to mention all the recent fighting would no doubt have the people hiding in their homes.

"Can you read any of those signs?" Lange asked Savon.

"No I can't. I think they are in the local language. When they were occupied the government used a different language. I could read the official language of the country, but there are so many dialects, ethnic groups, and all together different cultures here it would take forever to learn them all. I believe in this city and the surrounding country side it is almost exclusively the Samhara ethnicity with a minority of whites. From what I read of the area before coming here it was a fair mix before the previous occupiers forced our the other ethnic groups. Pretty nasty affair, but nobody here would have been alive for that."

They finally broke through the front of the crowd and entered the city hall. Once inside they were escorted to a large room filled with at least a dozen people. Akesson was on the far end of the room.

"Commodore." He said when they walked through, "Welcome to history."

"Akesson, where is the mayor, the militia?"

His face turned sour at the mention, "He fled, along with most of his cabinet. They government militia is safe, many have joined us. I assume you observed the fighting in the last few days?"

"We have."

He stood up and slowly began to round the table, "Then you must be the first to know. My people have taken the city. Finally."

"What? I don't understand." She was shocked, she had no idea this was happening.

"We learned quite a bit from you at our stay at your base." Akesson replied, "We were tired of what was going on here. Every day a new war band would flood the street demanding money or food or weapons. Always something. Every time the Mayor would just give it away. He was like a dictator here, no matter how he presented himself. With no government, and none of those foreign peacekeepers here we need to take matter into our hands. Those monsters were driven from parts of the north and west and though they could have easy pickings here. No more. We are a tired people Commodore. I've come here to ask for your help."

"Mr. Akesson I know we have had good relations, but you know I can't defy the international community and just deploy my troops in the city-"

"You don't understand. We don't just need your help, we need your country's help. We need Asylan's and every democratic nation's help out there."

She was holding her breath now. She didn't like were this is going.

Akesson continued "In a few days we will make an announcement. We are leaving the Eastern cape to fester in its own misery. Our destiny is ours alone. There are many tribes still out there, some armed some not. But with no protection we have been vulnerable to all of them. We cannot lay down our arms. If the government will no let us save ourselves then we are not going to be apart of that government."

The other men at the table nodded.

"If you declare independence, Akesson I don't know if we can help you. I have no idea how my government will respond to this. I don't know how the international community will respond to this. I know it is chaos out there, but I'm not sure a divided Eastern Cape can tackle its problems."

"The temporary government does nothing!" Akesson raised his voice. "We are starting to make our people's lives better. We don't want to be with them can't you see? The time for discussion is over. The rest of the world will know soon. Please, when the time comes. Help us."

Lange sighed, "We will see."

 

[Great Engellex]

The Burning Bush role play now centres on the international peacekeeping efforts of the Republic of the Eastern Cape, following the disaster of the war by the Danish Empire in the former Danish Eastern Cape.

International peacekeeping efforts operate from the city of Frederiksborg.

The International De-Colonisation Commission has within their custody those Danish troops, peacekeepers, which had been stubbornly imposed upon the international efforts by the government of Danmark.

Ivernia, and those other nations executing the international determination for trials on genocide, continue to place pressures upon the Danish government for the extradition of those accused.

 

[Tyvia]

Port Victoria
1st ER Logistics/Medical Battalion

The entire affair, from start to finish, had been incredibly draining for both Brícca as well as his plethora colleagues that had become involved in the matter in one capacity or another. Either they were here in the first place under false pretenses, or they had an inflated sense of their own worth and position relative to all other foreign forces. Regardless, the sheer amount of explaining he was having to do over the last few hours began to quickly wear on Brícca, who was tasked by now in a de jure inasmuch as a de facto capacity to “deal with the problem” and sort the Danes out. The same tired mantras started to feel hollow when said so many times, and sounded almost meaningless by the dozenth utterance.

“They won't stay,” had been the word of the day, “why would we want to keep them?” Indeed, there was no reason to keep the Danes after they'd outstayed their welcome. Their Major's pleading and threats had been flatly ignored, and he returned to the warehouses to await transfer with his men. Now, Brícca toasted Scipo with his glass of scotch, smiling triumphantly as the recently arrived courier glanced between the two men with every appearance of bemusement. “We've given them over,” he'd said upon coming in, saluting the Cingetíbu, “we've handed them over to the Cathiopians.” The relevant paperwork had then been produced, and Brícca took a moment to carefully consider it, but it was all in order—the signatures of his Cathiopian counterpart, some diplomats, and the guard commander of his own forces were all there.

He therefore washed his hands of the situation, allowing the IDC as a whole to sort it out—this entire place was their responsibility, after all! Whether or not the arrest was righteous or not in the eyes of the law or world, he'd acted as logically as he could, handing over what were essentially suspected war criminals to civilian authority. It wasn't his business, and the Acgocatubí had made that clear as well. Apparently, a commendation and a possible promotion were in the works for his “adequate” handling of the situation, pending approval from the Commodore's office.

It was thus with a certain feeling of elation and swelling pride that Brícca returned to his previous task, shuffling paperwork and attempting to breathe some life into the economy and people of this damaged country. His boys were doing steady work, the reports said, and over the last two or so weeks, the engineers he'd sent north had either already completed or made great progress in establishing the promised relief/supply centers. They were fairly crude constructions, altogether, but were sufficient for their stated task: to allow for local peacekeeper patrols (with banditry still a problem in many rural areas), and to serve as humanitarian aid centers.

He was already bleeding doctors and trained medics from Port Victoria. It was the heart and center of the international forces, and attention was being lapped upon it from the IDC at every turn. Not so for the rural zones, and so Etnaea had steadily removed all but those forces necessary to operate the supply chain northward from the capital, spreading them out and assigning them to various objectives throughout the country. Responsibility for the city itself, outside of a few isolated staging areas and supply depots, was being slowly ceded to arriving Cathiopian and other IDC forces—the Etnaeans focusing their attention on the northern and central rural zones instead now.

Eventually, Brícca would be shuffled that way too. With things at home becoming interesting in the political sphere, it was the considered opinion of the Acgocatubí and the leadership in Isarmorga that Etnaea's direct contribution and involvement in the Cape ought to steadily decrease. He'd been made aware of that in a series of phone-calls, many of which only served to aggravate his heat-induced headache and cause several fits of laughter in Scipo.

“We'll be getting no more men,” he'd been informed, his face growing progressively more pale and his headache progressively more profound. “Except to replace losses. No more formations. Something about “limiting foreign entanglements” or somesuch garbage,” his commander had said, grumbling quite noisily under his breath thereafter. At the very least, he'd been promised continued funding and material, and Brícca could at least do something with that. He was now overseeing some civilian development projects in addition to the military ones, and soon he would move his office to a place where he could monitor those more directly.

The first project had been a mild success: with the newly inaugurated bus service, replacing a defunct (since the war) government-operated one, doing relatively well for itself. Most importantly, for the Etnaean forces, it freed up congestion on the main arteries in and out of Port Victoria, with the movement of refugees made altogether faster, and more organized by the introduction of bus lines. Significantly for civilians, local businessmen, and outlying villages, a mechanism now came into being for the transport of goods across great distances: the trucks and teamsters of the Cape Cargo Company moving food and supplies, on demand, much more efficiently than the Etnaeans would ever have been able to do. Reports, both oral and written, found their way to Brícca.

“You seem to be quite able to sort things out on your own,” he quietly remarked to Scipo, who nodded very seriously in return.

“It helps,” the large man replied, “when you have money.”

A small bit of wisdom.

Vaguely, he recalled the promise he'd made to some Tyrrhenian head-honcho, and set to work with filling out yet another appropriations form.

 

[Asylan]

One of her aides walked up to Lange with a worried look on his face, "Ma'am I believe it is happening."

She sighed, "Did you get the response from command?"

"Yes, ma'am. As far as they are concerned this is the act of a sovereign nation now. We are not to interfere."

She stood up, "Very well then. Let's listen"

They both left the confines of her tent office and walked to where a large amount of Asylan marines were standing around a big radio with the voice of Akesson spouting from it.

"My friends. We have now come to the precipice of destruction and risen from it. We have seen the death and despair that has spread throughout all of this Eastern Cape. Our former overlords have left us with nothing and we have been leaning on the mercy of other for too long. All of you, every one of you have been touched by this destruction and no longer will it last. We regrettably cannot take all of our people with us on this journey, none but the most close of our national kin. Now is the time to take our strength and create for ourselves a new world.

Today me and your fellow leaders from the districts of Augustaborg have finalized our plans for the removal of this fair city and the ethnic lands around her from the cancer of this ineffective government. We even see those who declare us their peacekeepers to forget about our city and be of only the bare effectiveness while rage and turmoil erupt through the Cape.

It is now that I declare the free Democratic Republic of Augustaborg! All people within her borders are citizens free and full! All treated in equality.

It is with the greatest excitement however that I announce that any military establishment from this point forward is abolished within our city state! We will leave the protection of law in order to our new dutiful Augustaborg Police Forces. More will come to you my friends as the days move on. But we haven't entered a brave new world together, let us create a new paradise. I call upon all friends from outside who share the same principles our fledgling nation wishes to help us during our greatest time of need."

Lange walked through the crowd to the radio and shut it off. She stood there for a moment, all of her men looking at her, contemplating her next move. She didn't expect this, and from a former militia leader to remove all military forces it was almost unheard of. That mean of course that it would be up to her to protect them. Was she allowed? Would her country even try to help. She could think of plenty of opportunities Asylan and other in the Triparte would enjoy if at least a portion of the country could be wrenched out of Communist dominated ICD hands. It was quite obvious what type of nation the Eastern Cape would eventually shape up to be. She just hoped that Augstaborg would be missed in the Eastern Cape union, or would civil war befall it?

"Captain!" She yelled.

He stepped forward from the crowd, "Ma'am?"

"Get them all ready. I want peacekeepers outside the city. I want it protected from any... lawless threat that may come."

He nodded, "Yes ma'am. Let's move everyone!"

The marines around her scrambled themselves running around the base getting to their equipement. The small contingent of Pershing tank's engines roared to life.

All Lange could do was pray silently that everything went well.

 

[Socialist Commonwealth]

Carentanian peacekeepers hadn't been in the Eastern Cape for long, just settling into their bases and receiving the heavier equipment that was shipped in by sea, when news of the events in Augustaborg were received. In total, Carentania had deployed a thousand soldiers in the former Danish colony, batallions of a mechanized guards brigade. Only a dozen tanks and about twice as many armored personnel carriers had made way to the Cape, leaving the Carentanian deployment understrength. Still, the Workers' Republic acted hastily to respond to the new situation.

Orders were given to approach a perimeter around Augustaborg and seal all routes into the city. Meanwhile, paratroopers would be airlifted into the country to reinforce troops on the ground. An official statement would condemn the Augustaborg independence as a coup d'etat by right-wing militias, threatening the future of the Eastern Cape as a whole. Other peacekeeping forces in the region would be informed of Carentanian actions, but only the Tyrrhenians would be invited to participate in the submission of the Augustaborg Gang.

Meanwhile, both the Maximo and the Samobor, Carentanias aircraft carriers, alongside their fleet groups, were hastily called to action and sent southwards to the Cape, alongside additional personnel and equipment from the mechanized brigade that was Carentanias contribution to the peacekeeping effort. Intelligence on the situation in Augustaborg was more or less non-existant and the whole situation had caught the Carentanians off guard, so no one in the High Command wanted to take further risks. Once the situation was defused, Carentanian ships could possibly make way for Vangala to restock and refuel, before joining operations against Yujin.

 

[Asylan]

Lange knew something bad was going to happen. She however didn't realize it would involve the Carentenians.

She had made herself a makeshift war room in her office tent. Her officers were gathered around her. She did have one thing though to take care of before she began talking potential battle plans.

"Captain Savon, I don't have any time to stand on formalities here, but I want to be the first to congratulate you on your new promotion. Major."

Savon, who was on the opposite side of the table could barely hold his shock in. "Ma'am, I don't know what to say. Thank you."

She smiled, "Your the best person for the job I have set ahead of you. Savon you are now in charge of all ground units in the area. I might out rank you, but I'm still just a naval officer. Ground tactics aren't exactly my foray."

Lange swiped her hands over the outside perimeter of the city. "The goal is to create the maximum amount of defenses in the shortest period of time. We don't have anything in terms of ground emplacements anywhere around the city. We have to prevent the movement of Carentenian troops until our diplomats can hash things out."

"What's our rules of engagement?" One of her junior officers asked.

"Don't shoot unless fired upon. Scratch that, unless the lives of the entire contingent are at risk I don't want anyone to fire back. They are going to try and provoke us, and we cannot be provoked back."

They all nodded. She could see the look of fear on their faces. The fact that they couldn't even defend themselves unless everything went to shit no doubt terrified them.

"Both our light carrier fleets have secured the passage between Augustaborg and the Erdenshire base. As of now, we have the tactical advantage in this situation let's try not to lose it. The fleet has also been issued the same ROE as every one of you. Until a time of emergency however I'm going back to the city to talk some sense into Akesson. I don't know if we are going to be willing to protect him with Asylan lives"

---

Eitlan, Asylan

"Mr. President?"

President Holland looked up from the map of the Eastern Cape that he and his top generals were looking around. "Yes?"

Jakob Heidenburg, his Secretary of the Armed Forces stepped into the room, "Commodore Lange has finished her troop deployments. She has assured me that they have been instructed to avoid confrontation at all costs."

Hollande nodded, "Thank you. Generals, Admirals I believe we have put ourselves in a good position here. Let's try not to screw that up. What's the war risk on this?"

Heidenburg shook his head, "I doubt Carentenia or Cathiopia would declare war on us at this stage. Our addition to a larger Triparte Agreement would at the very least secure mainland Asylan security. Etnaea has never been too fond of communists in their area so while they may not lend military assistance they certainly wouldn't try an attack or help them. Should Carentenia's current troops attack our troops I am certain we would succeed. The Erdenshire base is exceptionally close and a victory seems the most likely of outcomes. However should they bring in reinforcements or call in other allies. I'm just not certain."

"Alright I first need to get on the wire with the rest of the Triparte nations. We can figure out the next step." Hollande replied.

 

[Socialist Commonwealth]

Rijeka, Carentania

Telegrams from the Eastern Cape threw the Carentanian government into hurried activity. It had been difficult to assess the situation when the news of the Augustaborg declaration of independence struck like lightning, hitting the Carentanian efforts in Eastern Himyar unprepared. Thusfar, the Cape had been a sideline to Carentanian strategic interests, its involvement being more of a favor to its allies than genuine concern. Even though decolonization of Himyar and political dominance on the continent were central goals of Carentanian policymaking, there were other worries to the Workers' Republic right now and ultimately, Carentanian analysts and ideologues did not see to eye with their Tyrrhenian and Kyivan counterparts on the future of the Eastern Cape.

Marxists that they were, they believed independent colonies first had to develope a bourgeoise society before Socialism became a possibility. However, these considerations stepped back behind their allies efforts to coordinate a direct transition into socialist governance, believing that the situation of a post-colonial society is not only unique, but also that the existence of developed socialist states had upset the laws of history themselves when it came to countries like the Eastern Cape. Carentania was, hesitantly, going along with it and almost ironically now finding itself at the forefront.

Commissar for Defence, Matija Dracar, had reacted quickly to the events at the Cape, giving the local commander essential leeway to move troops into position to prepare a subjugation of the revolt, while assembling High Command of the military and ordering considerable assets down south. Up to this moment, however, this was the expression of Carentanias confusion rather than determination and the motivation behind the deployment of a strong force was, not to be caught by surprise yet again. It was only now that the Commissars Assembly, the Carentanian government, began to discuss for a broader strategy.

"Asylans vocal support for the Augustaborg Gang is suspicious. Do we have any more detailed reports on their involvement?"

Attending the meeting was an officer from Revolutionary Army Intelligence. It was his duty to keep the Commissars up to date with the latest finds of the agency and now, all eyes rested on him.

"There are reports of Asylan troops moving about the Augustaborg vicinity and the city itself. It is unclear, whether they are there to monitor or in direct support of the coup. We expect clarification of this within the next hours, as troops in the Cape move into position and can better assess the situation at hand."

"We should monitor Asylan in general," Tomas Jerman, Commissar for Foreign Affairs, spoke up. "They have been more vocal and more proactive geopolitically. It may well be that they are more directly involved than is apparent right now. I believe it prudent to order intelligence missions in mainland Asylan as well, to keep a closer eye on possible military movements and to have advance warning, should they expand their deployment to the Cape."

Everyone nodded. A stenograph took notes that would be formalized into orders for the RAI after the meeting and signed by the Commissar for Defence. Agents in Asylan would receive orders to monitor troop strength, movement and readiness at Asylen military installations, reporting any changes and whether there were signs of deployment abroad. They would furthermore update maps of the country and its military assets, running them back home through the Carentanian embassy. These were low profile missions, usually carried out under unconspicious disguises such as taking a walk with a dog in sight of the military bases, but without crossing into restricted areas. Others would try to incite military personnel to divulge information, for example by socializing with them at bars.

"We will also need to keep a closer eye on diplomatic traffic between the Tripartite Pact members. There is a growing military alliance of capitalist states and we should take this direct threat more serious. Infiltrating their diplomatic channels could prove useful."

Again, the stenograph took notes. This was going to be the harder mission. Carentanian agents would either try to get directly involved with the diplomatic corps of Tripartite Pact members or they would try to tap sources within. Likely, nothing would come of it for the duration of the crisis at the Eastern Cape, but if it could prevent Carentania being caught off guard like this in the future, it was well worth the risk.

"Come to think of it," Commissar Dracar said quite suddenly, "this could turn out to our advantage. Asylan is giving us the perfect pretext for greater involvement in the Eastern Cape. Acquiring a permanent base at the Himyari eastern coastline would be a tremendous help against Yujin."

Yujin, the bane of Carentanian security concerns. Much of Europe still tended to overlook that the socialist states were still at war with Yujin, the Empire never agreeing to any conditions for peace after its botched invasion of Vangala. Seora had been succesfully made independent, although it still was threatened by the Empire, and much of Yujin was under control of the Hongmenghui, though still under heavy assaults by loyalist forces. However, even though Carentania was shipping supplies to all fronts, its impact was negligable at the moment. Yujin was far away and Carentanias main concern, preventing foreign support or even intervention in favor of the Emperor, could not be upheld if Carentania was unable to operate its fleets close enough to the Yujinese mainland. Of course, the Cape was still far from Yujin, but much closer than Carentania itself and, what's even more important, well seated to allow interdiction of shipment headed for Yujins eastern ports from anywhere further west.

 

[Socialist Commonwealth]

Eastern Cape
Carentanian controlled airfield near Kongensten

A strip of dust in the middle of nowhere surrounded by a number of pre-fabricated barracks and hangars. The airbase which Carentanian forces had occupied for their operations was a remnant from Danish times, erected only very recently with the purpose of supporting actions against native insurgents. It never saw much use, the collapse of the Danish Empire came too soon after the bulldozers had cleared a field for planes to land on and until recently, none of the peacekeeping forces had bothered too much with any of these colonial remnants. Up to now, traffic had been routed through the major airport at Østkapstaden.

Although Østkapstaden was closer to Augustaborg than the base, Carentania had decided to utilize this small makeshift base rather than the major airport to airlift additional forces, lest it risk any of the other factions to interfere with its operations. While units already within the Cape were rushing to Augustaborg with orders to block the roads to the city, elements of the 16th Guards Airborne were arriving at the Kongensten airbase. The Revolutionary Guards Corps was an all-out professional soldiers branch of the Carentanian military, set up specifically for intervention beyond Carentanian borders and like many other divisions, the 16th Airborne had its fair share of veterans from the Solaren liberation.

While further south, the first tanks and APC's set up roadblocks - ordered to not to interfere with the movement of Asylan troops at this point, but to stop anyone not part of a foreign military - Carentanian airborne was setting up tents around the airbase and focussing their efforts on getting the basic logistics for the operation set up. It was one thing to fly in soldiers, weapon in hand. It was another entirely to make sure they had ammunition and food, vehicles to drive through the savannah of the Eastern Cape and fuel to power their engines. For now, Carentania would besiege Augustaborg while preparing for alternative routes to restore the sovereignity of the former Danish colony.

 

[Socialist Commonwealth]

Cazma, Carentania

The sprawling suburban garden cities of a major Carentanian metropolis like Cazma had distinct look of monochrome modernity, distinguishable from any place else on the world - but uniform enough that one could get lost between two streets. It were neverending rows of white concrete blocks surrounded by neatly mown lawn and pots of flowers. Fences were a rarity and frowned upon and no one locked their houses. For better or worse, there was hardly any incentive to steal in the egalitarian Workers' Republic.

However, the suburbs were nonetheless a socially stratified part of the Carentanian world as its homes were reserved to families, deemed to spacious for singles or childless couples. Thus, Frank Mejic was almost an oddity, having only recently become father to a beautiful little girl and now expecting his second child with his wife. A fair share of luck and the personal respect of the beuraucrat in the housing administration had moved the Solaren war veteran up the list. Things looked well for the young family and the Mejics had already settled into the neighbourhood, when a military jeep, adorned with the symbol of the Revolutionary Navy Corps, pulled up the 8th of May Street.

Exiting the jeep were two junior officers in the dark blue ceremonial uniforms of the Navy. Carentanian military uniforms were color coded, at least outside the battlefield, which made it easy to distinguish the different branches: Navy members wore dark blue, Revolutionary Guards soldiers a dab olive green, men and women of the army were dressed in khaki uniforms and the Militia Corps was dressed in black. The Coast Guard, officially a military corps as well and thus under the authority of the Commissariate for Defense, were recognizable by a bright shining white.

The two men of the Navy had been driving all day, passing by different houses to do what they would do at Frank Mejics house as well. They rang the bell and when greeted with worried faces, they would not bother to try and play it down: they handed Frank Mejic a letter calling him to duty and told him he had one hour to get his things ready before a bus would come and pick him up. Frank had known this could happen when he had signed up and it had happened before, when he was sent to Solaren. This knowledge, however, did little to ease the burden of having to abandon his young family for an uncertain fate in a far-off land.

But things had already been decided: the First Navy Infantry would be set into motion, shipped off to the Eastern Cape in a small fleet of Corvettes and transport ships. They would follow in the path of the light carriers Maximo and Samobor, which had already passed Ionian Himyar on their route south-east.

 

[Socialist Commonwealth]

From: Fleet Groups Maximo and Samobor
To: Marshal of the Revolutionary Navy

Fleets passed by Dumnusigan waters. Stop.Current orders are to proceed to Eastern Cape and await further instructions. Stop. Combat readiness minimal. Stop.

We have encountered no hostility. Stop. Detection by Etnaean forces has been avoided. Stop.

Will proceed with operations as planned. Stop.

From: Marshal of the Revolutionary Navy
To: Fleet Groups Maximo and Samobor

Raise combat readiness to operational levels. Stop. Proceed to Eastern Cape. Stop. Avoid detection by non-allied forces. Stop.

Fleets are to assume combat positions at target. Stop. Retaliatory fire is permitted. Stop. New target positions are within striking range of Erdenshire. Stop.

 

[Polesia]

Port Victoria
International Commission on Decolonisation

The International Commission on Decolonisation had grown in size and strength over the past few weeks, as staff and material from all member-states had started to arrive. Cathiopia's civilian contingent remained the largest, with the Cathiopian government investing heavily into the mission to the Eastern Cape - Cathiopia's Himyari policy and international prestige rested on the success of the former colony.

The City Hall of Port Victoria had now returned to being the bustling centre of administration it had been under Danish rule. An endless stream of diplomats, politicians, military officers, aid workers and bureaucrats passed through the Hall's doors everyday.

Foodstuffs were being distributed across the city, and even to the villages just beyond the city's borders. A semblance of law and order had also been established, with the Cape National Guard reinstated under the supervision of foreign peacekeepers. Reconstruction work had begun in earnest, with activity focused in the residential areas of Port Victoria.

Yet with work still be done, the crowds continued to gather outside, each time demanding more and more from the Commission.

Security for the Commission's operations was now provided by Cathiopian forces. Etnaean peacekeepers were in the process of withdrawing, and their activity had increasingly been focused in the remote northern and central regions, out with the Tyrrhenian peacekeepers.

The Republic of Cathiopia had deployed battalions not only from the Cathiopian Army, but also the National Republican Guard and National Watch as well. The two paramilitary organisations were to maintain law and order in more settled parts of the Cape, whilst also training the local National Guard. For the soldiers however, the story was different.


Augustaborg
3rd Provisional Mixed Brigade

The 3rd Provisional Mixed Brigade was the formal title of Cathiopia's peacekeeping efforts in the Eastern Cape, and represented the largest deployment of Cathiopia personnel abroad in Cathiopian history. A temporary formation formed from a combination of Army, Republican Guard and National Watch units, it followed the patterns of Cathiopia's peacekeeping missions in Bantyr and Monkecia, the former being successful, the latter not so much.

Once word of the crisis in Augustaborg had reached the ICD Mission in Port Victoria, the Army elements of the 3rd Provisional Mixed Brigade were immediately redeployed to Østkapstaden, pending negotiations with Asylan. Once an agreement had been made with the Aslyanian government, they were airlifted into Augustaborg to assume responsibility for the city's security, and to oversee the withdrawal of Aslyanian forces.

Many of the men active in the Brigade had served in either Bantyr and Monkecia, and had seen fellow soldiers die. So far in the Eastern Cape the Cathiopians had been lucky, with no casualties, having been patrolling in the safe confines of Port Victoria.

Now in Augustaborg, with the atmosphere in the city tense, and international tensions running high, the soldiers may longer be so lucky...

 

[Socialist Commonwealth]

Western half of the Cape

The Etnaeans were leaving the country. A result of the polarization of geopolitics by the Tripartite Pact. At least, that was how Carentania had assessed the situation. Until recently, the Eastern Cape had been of minor priority to the Workers' Republic, its involvement a result of loyality to its allies in Tyrrhenia and Kyiv. In difference to them, the Carentanian government didn't even believe in the possibility or wisdom of directly transitioning from a colonial society to a socialist one. Carentania was willing to let the Eastern Cape develope a bourgeoise society, at least for the time being. In the long run, Socialism was historical inevitability, of course.

However, Asylans little adventure had changed things, forcing Carentanias attention south. The Tripartite Pact was trying to expand its reach over south-eastern Himyar and disregarding Carentania in the process. The loss of face was one thing - if Carentania would show unwillingness to punish interference with those states it has vowed to protect, Carentanian foreign policy would be in grave danger - the other was the need to be able to intercept shipping to Yujin along the southern route around Himyar. At least, as long as Sikandara was pursuing its path of all out intervention in the civil war in Yujin, threatening Carentanian interests and its allies.

On the one hand, it was sickening to see the world being swayed by Tripartite propaganda - on the other hand, Carentania was used to these assaults. Asylan could set up a client state on sovereign territory of the Eastern Cape and get away with calling Carentania the aggressor. The real question, however, was whether Asylans allies were willing to go to war over this. Carentania had approached Asylan for negotiations, only to be outright rejected. It seemed that Asylan wanted to take "not one step back" and the mere mention of a transfer of territory was enough to lead to the breakdown of any and all talks.

Carentanian leadership was torn on the issue. Taking Erdenshire by force was a very real possibility and confidence was high that, even if the Tripartite Pact intervened, the war would be won by Carentania. To this end, Carentania had decided to reinforce units on mainland Himyar further, establishing new makeshift airstrips in the territory abandoned by Etnaea. Engineers were flown in to oversee construction work and preparations were made to deploy planes to the Eastern Cape: one wing of fighter planes from the Revolutionary Guards Aviation Corps and one wing of tactical bombers from the Navy Aviation Corps. The latter was a particularily insidious threat to the Tripartite Pact. The MP-1 was a recent developement which saw its first use to great effect against Yujinese ships during the Vangalan war. A bomber designed specifically to deploy anti-ship glide-bombs and its completely secret nature meant that Carentania wasn't just deploying forces for show any longer, but was preparing for an actual conflict.

However, on the other hand, the Workers' Republic had no desire for prolonged warfare with the Tripartite Pact. As much as their expansionism had to be deterred and it was better to fight this battle now rather than later, when Carentania would be knee-deep in a fight over the future of Yujin, the preferred outcome would be to avoid and prevent this war alltogether. Valuable ressources could be secured for use against Sikandara and Carentania would not risk losing important fleet assets over a part of Himyar that was essentially of minor and only temporary importance to Rijeka.

 

[Asylan]

Colonel Ena Henricks had taken over control of the base after Admiral Lange had been promoted and sent back to the Asylan mainland. He almost wished he hadn't. At present he had a little over one thousand fully equipped troops on the base. However luckily for him he was defending and he knew all too well his position. He had been present for the HLF attack on the base not that long ago, and had overseen the improvement of coastal fortifications that stemmed from the event. He had been proud of its expansion. He had heard that another set of troop transports was still right on its way from the mainland carrying another thousand able bodied soldiers. Luckily they had been ordered to the region at the beginning of the Augstaborg crisis and were only a day or two away barring weather concerns.

One of his assistants had come in while he was thinking, and handed him a folder with a few documents inside, "Sir, I've received a communique from the mainland, Etnaean forces have been ordered to the island and the Ivernish naval force will be arriving later this week. From what we can tell Etnaea's naval contingent should arrive at roughly the same time and the Carentanian naval units."

He nodded, "Have we receive word on where the remaining Etnaean peacekeepers will be heading after the last dispatches?"

"We aren't certain yet, it seems possible they will be deployed directly to Erdenshire, however we still have around a hundred Etnaean soldiers that were the last batch scheduled to leave after the HLF crisis. They've been ordered to remain on base."

Hendriks stood up and started to walk out of his office into the hall, "That's a start, how are shore defenses?"

"Anti ship and machine gun emplacements readiness are at about ninety percent readiness. Anti aircraft guns are ready for a fight."

From the hallway they walked into the base's war room. Sprawled out on a massive table was a large map, with a variety of small ship and infantry figurines about it. Around the table were several of his officers, discussing amongst themselves strategy. "Alright everyone listen up. Time for a plan."

He walked up to the map and began to reposition some of the figures below, "We are going to redeploy our current assets in a tight defensive posture around the island. We need to be have our naval units under the air defense bubble the base can provide. The top priority in an assault situation is protection of our naval assets. We will have three sources of aircraft for this battle, our two light carriers and the airstrip. Should any of the carriers be damaged they can be diverted to the airstrip for resupply and repairs. As far as their actual placement, i want the ships to be located on both sides of a small hole I want to open up in our defenses. If they take advantage of it we can hit their infantry hard when they hit the beaches. Even if they don't come, it's a win."

The men all nodded in response, each understanding their role in the coming battle.

"Now let's begin to talk about specific troop deployments..."

 

[Socialist Commonwealth]

Eastern Cape

Carentanian fleets had arrived, taking positions east of Erdenshire with enough distance between their own carriers and those of the Asylans to evade detection. Active radar was turned off for the largest ships, especially the Maximo and Samobor, as this decreased chances of a surprise strike by hostiles that would cripple Carentanian abilities to operate in the region. Only the accompanying destroyers, patrolling in fair distance to the capital ships, would search the area with active radar and sonar to intercept possible threats before they could become aware of the two light carriers the Revolutionary Navy had dispatched to the region. Similiarily, a pair of fighters was kept in the air perpetually by each carrier to search for foreign forces.

Once set up in combat formation in the south-western Implarian, two destroyers would approach, but not yet enter, the territorial waters of Asylan around Erdenshire. They would utilize their radar to scout the Asylan fleet assets in the region and give the Admiral aboard the Maximo detailed intelligence about strength and position of Asylan fleet assets. Likewise, fighters started from the Himyari mainland would circle the borders of Asylan territory at Erdenshire, scanning the waters around Erdenshire with active radar, before returning to their bases at the Eastern Cape. Should the situation escalate and a confrontation arise over Asylan, Carentanian forces wanted to make sure that the first blow would cripple the enemy.

In a few days, the Naval Infantry Brigade dispatched to the Eastern Cape would catch up with the carriers, followed by a few supply ships carrying fuel, ammunition and general troop supplies. The ships had only recently been ordered towards the Cape, originally intended for Northern Seora - and should a diplomatic solution be found between the Tripartite Pact and the RDTO, they could return to this route easily. For now, Carentania wanted to be capable of taking Erdenshire, just if it may not need to do it.

Hopes in the Commissariate for Foreign Affairs were high that a diplomatic solution may be on the horizon after all, one that would guarantuee no future confrontation over the Eastern Cape. Carentanias government had chosen the time of confrontation deliberately, to be able to call the shots and determine the terms under which a possible battle would be fought. Hawks in the military wanted to strike now and lead a short naval campaign that would leave the Tripartite weakened for the immediate future and would keep them out of the imminent Carentanian campaigns in Yujin. Once Carentania was committed there, it could use no distraction in the form of the Tripartites. However, others in the military feared an escalation, prolonging the battles and cutting off trade with Kyiv, ultimatively crippling Carentanian war efforts in Yujin, rather than "covering its back".

 

[Portusgalia]

Meanwhile, a part from all military theater, the portusgalian government honors the secret treaty with Cathiopia. In this way, the Church does the "quantum" issue. The Patriarch of Lisbon, D. José Carpa, uses is best efforts in order to help the victims of the conflict. Large campaigns in Portusgalia are done to collect founds for the humanitarian mission. Cathiopian dignitaries are always present on this events.
No body knows the nature behind this humanitarian help, but the main mobile is to fight back communist expansion in Himyar in cooperation with Cathiopia. Portusgalian humanitarian help personnel are dispatched to Eastern Cape via Cathiopia, and operate under Cathiopian flag. In fact this is public, and the Portusgalian government stated its help to the Cathiopian Humaniatarian aid efforts.
For now no military personnel from the side of Portusgalia is required, unless Cathiopia asks for it. If they go, they go under the orders of Cathiopian officers.

The borders with Mozambia are again open, although with heavy control. This was done due to the end of the "State of War" decreed by the Queen. If the end of "State of War" is already very criticized by many, the border openings in Mozambia are subject of even more critics.

The Queen wasn't very clear why the "State of War" is over, but rumors say that major corporations in Portusgalia forced the Queen to end it, because it was being bad for trade and economics in a long therm.

 

[Asylan]

"Sir, the latest intelligence."

Colonel Henricks looked at the folder placed in front of him, containing a variety of photographs and documents, most handwritten. Inside he could see a few reports on what his people were able to gather from Carentanian fleet movements.

"Can you give the short version lieutenant?"

The lieutenant nodded, "Scout planes have detected two Carentania destroyers on the outskirts of our national waters around Erdenshire to the east. They appear to be scouting the road ahead for whatever lay behind them. At this point, while we don't know for certain we can assume they have a substantial fleet asset in the region, most likely still in international waters in the east. We've also been scouted by a variety of aircraft outside our airspace as well. Our own patrols have seen them, but reported no incident yet."

Henricks silently nodded to himself. He knew it was best to assume that the Carentanians would have carriers with them, how many he didn't know, but they could hope to win the fight without air power. No doubt if they were being scouted by those destroyers their fleet was here. However in sending out such a blatant scouting party they had blown their cover, and he would be prepared for an attack at any moment. He glanced outside and saw the busy harbor, bustling with ships.

"I assume the Etnaeans have all arrived?"

"Yes sir, the roughly twelve thousand Etnaean troops that were in the Eastern Cape have been relocated to Erdenshire. At this point we have around fifteen thousand ground troops on the island. The Etnaean naval assets have arrived and began coordinating Captain Søndergaard on the Horizon. Commander Barestan is also keeping in touch to keep you informed and to assist with coordination."

"Alright I'll get in touch with the Etnaean ground commander to make sure we have forces deployed correctly, also send a message to Captain Søndergaard to relay to the Etnaean fleet commander our battle plans. Actually get Commander Barestan to do it, in person, I don't want any transmissions intercepted."

"Yes sir"