Peace Through Infamy [Solaren Theatre]

[Rheinbund]

Kanzleramt
Trier, Eiffelland

The five amphibious assault ships and the amphibious transport dock that were not used at this moment were sent from Eiffelland into the direction Southeast. But they were empty. Transport planes were sent southeast as well, escorted by fighters and tanker planes. But also they were empty.

Meanwhile, certain events in Augsburg did not go unnoticed in Trier. The Wieser ambassador was invited for dinner at Schloss Bellevue by Chancellor Von Seydewitz and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Vice-Chancellor Kögler. The invitation indicated that it was needed to discuss the current affairs in Europe, that the future of Germania was at stake and that Wiese’s help in defending it was very much needed. The ambassador was invited to discuss the matters while enjoying a good dinner.
The King also sent a letter to the Wieser Emperor to ask for the help of Wiese. He wrote that Wiese itself would be crippled as well if the EDF would be crippled, and that Wiese should rely on its cultural and natural partners.

 

[Rheinbund]

Trier, Eiffelland
Friday 21 October

“Whow, this was a major success. We gathered 50,000 Mark,” Prince Ludwig said. He and Sebastiano had just returned to the palace from the school party after the charity action.
“And you played fantastic again,” Sebastiano said.
Ludwig and Sebastiano described all the events of the day to Ludwigs parents, the King and Queen of Eiffelland. But while they were telling, Ludwig suddenly fell asleep against Sebastiano’s shoulder. And then he frightened up.
“What? What happened?” he asked.
“You’re probably tired, young man,” his mother said.
“Tired? Me?” Ludwig asked stunned.
“Yes, also you can be tired. Especially after the past weeks,” the Queen said.
“You didn’t even have time for me,” Sebastiano complained.
“What? That’s really bad. Sorry. Then this weekend’s for you,” Ludwig said and kissed Sebastiano on his hand.
“But now the two of you are going to bed,” the Queen said.


Frigate F-10
Venetian Bay
Present day

Prince Karl had volunteered for an additional year with the navy because of the war. He continued his service as a Navy Lieutenant. Now he was patrolling the Venetian Bay on the F‑10. He had just returned from a shift, left to his own thoughts. Thoughts that went back to the two weeks holiday he enjoyed in September, when the Wieser Archduchess Eleonore was in Trier as well, as a guest of his father. Poor Ludwig, he thought, the boy had suffered from continuous attacks by the sharp‑tongued Archduchess. The same Ludwig that easily won fights with 2 meters tall and 3 meters wide skinheads was afraid of a girl.
Not that he had seen Ludwig much during those days. The boy had been extremely busy with that charity event and all those other activities he undertook. But Ludwig wasn’t Karl’s main topic of thought. That was the sharp‑tongued Archduchess. The future Empress of Wiese. This was the first girl that bossed him instead of the other way round. That was something that Karl fascinated. He easily bossed each girl he met, but not Eleonore. Had he finally met his equal? Or maybe even more than his equal?

Karl opened his laptop and connected to his mailbox. Then he became excited. A mail from Eleonore! Karl opened it right away. And soon he realised that he had fallen in love with the Archduchess.


Testono
Present day

The amphibious transport dock with the attack helicopters had finally arrive near Testono. Guarded by a destroyer and a submarine, and by fighter planes from the neighbouring carrier, it was protected against possible attacks by the remnants of the Solaris Navy. The attack helicopters took over the tasks the fighter planes had near Testono: Preventing each and every vehicle from going to or leaving Testono by means of machine gun fire, grenades, missiles and so on. It was impossible to enter or leave Testono, but the city itself was spared.


Torrence
Present day

Also here the amphibious transport dock with attack helicopters had arrived. The attack helicopters immediately took over the tasks of the fighter planes. All land routes to Torrence were attacked with machine gun fire, grenades, missiles, and all other things that could explode. It was impossible to enter or leave Torrence, but the city itself was spared.

 

[Khemia]

Xijie, Yujin
17:45

General Liu Hsi-lien paced the back of operations nervously, fingering a small note tucked away in his pocket. He could feel the signature of the head of the Party's stick burning through it, telling him to betray his President in order to save his country. He also knew the risk; if he failed, he would lose his family, career, and honor. That was not acceptable.

Still, he was apprehensive and yet eager; the job before him presented an interesting task. Though the scope was, by demand, limited; it was test the effectiveness of the military's most technologically advanced branch - cyber operations. He had at his command over sixteen squads assigned to this mission, a fraction of the entire force but more than enough to present a threat to the target...targets.

Two hundred men, their fingers already worn from grinding out streams of text over the past two days, were finally prepared to commence the primary phase of the plan. Connecting via links in Keida, Warre, Hajr, Coronado, and even Franken and others; but most notably Solaren, the intricate web was enough to scatter any real trace of origin of the attack and lay blame on those countries that the victim felt most affronted by. This would, hopefully, be Solaren.

When the initial preparations were made, the attacks began. Commencing with a barrage of signals pounded away at the Eiffellander network over a matter of minutes, no doubt overwhelming server loads and forcing programmers to react. The next phase was a sleu of minor, consecutive attacks on specific companies; most notably three private internet communications companies, a cellular phone company, two small, local banks. These attacks were little more than a feign, should they not be stopped they would become a threat, but stopping them would not take much time. It would take enough time, however, for the biggest attack to become a success.

The operation entered it's third phase after the thirty minutes, with already one hundred independent attacks on the organizations; when the major attacks began. Using a combination of SQL injections, cross-site scripting, buffer overflows, and other methods, the goal was simple: access every e-mail, every phone record, every bit of information of payment methods, and publish them on randomly chosen Frankish, Montelimar, Solaren, and Carentanian websites.

By the end of one hundred and minutes, the operation was winding down. Thousands of IP addresses had been burned through, over four hundred hours had been put into the effort, and the operation still had a final, fourth phase to undergo...

------------

Testono

Gu could hear the thunder that was the roar of jet engines just miles away. The anti-aircraft batteries had successfully down a plane, and though it had in fact rammed a apartment building it had done so at too high of a speed, killing dozens of civilians and slashing a hole through the third, fourth, and fifth floor, but not causing critical damage to the structure. Still, Gu had many bodies to clean up, and even more grieving wives who would never see their families again to feed. Still, many of the survivors felt more rage than despair, vowing to destroy the heretics. They were the perfect targets to begin training to attack the EDF at home.

He wrapped his hand around one of them, a college undergraduate who had dedicated his life to avenging his family, a boy named Galens. He smiled, knowing that this boy would need to be groomed well to replace him. When the EDF finally took over Testono, he would be an obvious suspect. He would need someone dedicated, intelligent, and trustworthy to hand over the assets allotted to the operation.

His head picked up, however, when a new noise throttled to life. Several streams of smoke erupted from the surface streets and parks of Testono, and Gu gauged by their trajectory that they were anti-shipping missiles bound towards some targets off the coast that had presented themselves. He had known that the EDF naval threat was a clear and present danger, but now they must have placed itself within range of the Exocet's placed throughout the city.

 

[Wieserreich]

Belvedere Imperial Palace, Augsburg
Swabia, Wiese - 28 Oct. 2011, 0012hrs

International pressure continued to mount. In fact, it was getting serious - kings making formal calls, foreign ministries leaking information that would not apply unless you wanted to insult their nations. Things it was difficult to refuse, unless you wanted to create a serious diplomatic precedent with your most important economic, military and diplomatic partners. The Council of Ministers, convening in Belvedere under the King's supervision, was alarmed.

"...and thus I believe it will be severely unwise to prove Franconian media wrong on this matter" concluded Graf von und zu Babelfisch, Minister of Foreign Affairs. "It can shake public trust in this Council and alienate an important partner" he added promptly, addressing his comrades. "I think it is safe to assume the wisest thing to do in this case is to attend and discuss the matters at hand."

The ministers, superintendents, chief director and King all nodded silently, before the Chief Director for State Security, Ernst Graf von Enzenbern, took up the mantle of addressing his colleagues. "Your Highness, Gentlemen, Ladies" he said, addressing the others - he was virtually of the lowest rank here, but his word probably counted more than those of many who were attending, in this crisis and matter.

"The Office for State Security investigations can be safely assumed to be concluded. With all the material evidence at hand, and with all foreign intelligence information provided to us, we can safely put the blame on two countries for the Ausgburg attacks, and this is directly tied to the matter at hand: foreign pressure to join the European conflict" he explained.

"As I have described in my report to this Council, evidence suggests that Breotonia and possibly an unnamed third party hold direct involvement in the Augsburg attack. Breotonia can and should be blamed for at least aiding international terrorism, whether directly or indirectly. Suggestions that Solaren was involved was inconclusive, and can be safely assumed to be bogus - but this does not mean we should want it to be bogus."

The Chancellor, Otto Reichsgraf von Baden, interjected. "Are you suggesting we put the blame on Solaren, use it to relieve popular and international pressure, and then utilise it as an exit from the crisis? If anything, our involvement would make matters with the international war worse. The EDF is not the only faction pressuring us" he frowned.

The Chief Director nodded. "Your Excellence, as Herr von Bumgarner explained, the Reichswehr has two air divisions ready to transfer to Lorraine and begin operations against Solaren in less than 72 hours. Preparations for this began eight... no, nine days ago. You yourself gave the go-ahead, the EDF has already been notified days ago of our possible intervention" he explained. "Plus, it does not eliminate the option of putting the blame on Breotonia, whether privately or publicly."

"The latter option is to be studied" commanded Baden. "The former... You do realise we need the Reichsrat and the Reichsrat to allow such a military intervention, though. We can put up the matter for voting either way, but there is strong support in the Reichsrat against a foreign intervention."

"The Reichstag will not be the easiest to convince either" muttered Graf zu Edelsheim, Interior Minister.

"The Council and the Diet can and will both be convinced" spoke the King, Archduke Karl. "The strongest lobbying is against entering the war against Engellex or against the EDF; Solaren is virtually seen as a non-issue" he observed. The politicians slowly nodded with reluctance. "Reichsgraf von Baden, His Imperial Majesty is not directly opposed to carefully planned military action."

The Chancellor frowned, before bowing his head softly. "As chairman of the [wiki]Imperial People's Party[/wiki] I am confident that my party will support a call against Solaren; but Solaren alone" he stated. He looked towards Edelsheim, who was the highest-ranking [wiki]CSU[/wiki] member attending; although in coalition, neither the CSU party secretary nor the party chairman currently held ministerial seats, but deputy seats in the chancery and the foreign ministry instead, which were more highly regarded.

"...I am not sure whether Reichsgraf von Schwarzenberg would approve, Herr Reichskanzler..." frowned Edelsheim. "I mean, the Reichsgraf might not be opposed to this, but I cannot speak for himself" he sighed.

"I will accept the political responsibility of the CSU downvotes this. But we need to remember, gentlemen; if this government falls or if we fail to act alike, Wiese will be in deeper trouble than it will ever have been in the past couple of decades to say the very least" frowned the Chancellor.

The Council universally nodded in approval. In a moment, no votes would be cast against the motion.

"With this matter concluded; Mr. Fraydenegg, I believe you wished to address the matter of fuel supplies?" asked the King next. The discussion went on, as orders were wired to the Reichswehr.

VIII., X. Military Regions, Western Military District
Saxony, Wiese - 28 Oct. 2011, 0155hrs

It had been approximately 25 minutes since the War Ministry had formally issued orders to the VIII. and X. military regions, concerning their resident air divisions. The units, having been on special heightened alert since the 19th and on DEFCON-1 since the opening of September, were anxiously waiting for operational orders; however secrecy was understood and maintained, and rumours were flying about the nature of the mission they were waiting for.

When they finally received the orders, the two divisions immediately began utilising their earlier preparations. They had spent the past week packing up, and preparing to move everything in the maximum possible speed. The logistics units were going berserk; their military regions, even, were going berserk as they were preparing the necessary supply lines infrastructure to support them far away.

It would take no less than 72 hours to fully transfer the two divisions of 10.000 personnel and 172 aircraft, and at least 96 to be proclaimed fully operational up to battle standards, at least for low-intensity operations. This included one day of resting and preparing for actual combat operations, allowing even the last arrivals to fully settle in their new bases and become acquainted with them.

The transfers would begin at 0200hrs sharp, the destination being Lorraine. Most personnel would be briefed on the way. The destination bases, hand-picked by Wieser military officers already present in Lorraine, would suit the Air Service's operational methods and habits of maintaining units scattered enough to not be big targets to counter-attacks, but not scattered enough to render their operations problematic.

That, and it had taken a few days of preparations on the other side as well. Rumour in Lorraine itself had it, among the Wieser officers and cadets present in the EDF forces under Eiffellandic flag, that the Air Service was coming; and everyone expected troubles at first, for this was the first time such a kind of force projection had ever been planned and being executed, at least in terms of distance.

Outright bending and violating the Treaty on the Germanian League for transit and passage, the two divisions from the VIII. and X. military regions would transfer through Danmark and into Lorraine; many forces by air, utilising the transports and escorts, with many others by a somewhat risky land route crossing a few square kilometres of Montelimar coastline that the originally arriving air forces would have to cover, heavily armed.

As the first forces left, Wieser diplomatic missions abroad were informing Danmark "peaceful transit" without violating Danish security, and the EDF that the forces politicians had promised to send against Urban were finally on their way and would start arriving within hours. Flight plans were appropriately registered at foreign FIRs. At the same time, special orders were issued - if third party forces were to be sighted, the Air Service had strict orders to only return fire, and warn any third parties (and especially Engellex) that this was a non-hostile mission to them.

 

[Rheinbund]

Staatsschutz headquarters
Eiffelland

“Sssscccchhhheisse!!!!” Krämer shouted as he saw what was happening. “Gottverdammte scheisse!!”
“What’s happening?” Strauss asked when he wheeled into the office.
“Look at your screens. We’re under a cyberattack!” Krämer said.
Strauss wheeled quickly to his computer and looked at the screens.
“Mist!!” he shouted. Then he lighted a cigarette. Two more cigarettes were burned in the next five minutes when he saw how the servers of one internet company went offline after a series of attacks. He also saw the size of the attack on the Eiffellandian internet network.
Then he cursed again when he noticed that his package of cigarettes was empty. He wheeled quickly to the cupboard where both men kept a stock of coffee and cigarettes, cursed when he saw that they were nearly run out of both, and grabbed the telephone.
“Jeanine, quick! We have an emergency. The country is under a cyberattack. Coffee and cigarettes. Now!” he shouted through the telephone to the woman who was the department secretary and meanwhile also his girlfriend. Then he wheeled in a rush back to his computer. He started to rattle on the keyboard and managed to prevent an attack on a bank by helping the programmers of that bank. He immediately sent the message “Drecksau” back to the at that moment unknown hackers.
“But now where does this come from?” Strauss asked while lighting up another cigarette.
“Let’s find out,” Krämer said. “But first I’m gonna mobilise some friends of ours.” He referred to a large group of computer nerds who were extremely good programmers and hackers themselves.


Testono

“Incoming missiles!” This was shouted at the destroyer near Testono. The amphibious platform dock with the helicopters was outside the range of the exocets, but the destroyer was not. Antimissiles were fired and some hit their targets. But one exocet managed to hit the destroyer in such a way that it exploded and sank,

Meanwhile, one helicopter flew over the roofs of the apartment buildings at the outskirts of the city where the anti‑aircraft guns were standing while shooting at the anti‑aircraft guns with everything it had. Machine guns, grenades, missiles and so on.

After the destroyer sank, planes from the closest by aircraft carrier flew to the amphibious platform dock to guard it, and a destroyer in the neighbourhood was redirected to there as well.


Eiffelland

The Eiffellandian banks had invested a lot in internet security. Because of that, they were extremely difficult to hack. Up to now, the cyberattack on the banks had done nothing more than giving the programmers extra work and in some cases a server crash. Only one small bank was successfully hacked.
A mobile telephone company came under attack as well. As a result, its network went down. The same happened to the networks of the internet companies that were attacked.

The government gathered together in an emergency meeting. Topics were Testono and the cyberattack. Großadmiral Fischer had already considered the idea of burning the city down. Now this option came on the table for a second time, because of the unexpected Exocets. It was uncertain what else could be found there, but it was also unclear what really happened there. It was decided to continue the current approach of trying to starve the city, and to investigate where in the city the exocets had come from.
The cyberattack made the government clear that there was a new way of waging war against a country. Eiffelland was the first victim of such an attack. An answer was needed, both on the short term and on the long term. The Staatsschutz had a team of about 50 professional hackers that did nothing else but trying to enter the servers of extremist organisations inside and outside Eiffelland. During this war, they had also hacked the servers of the Solaris and the Engellexic authorities. Unfortunately, the really interesting things were guarded very well there. And also unfortunately, this team was too small to hold a full-blown cyberattack.
It was decided to let the hackers of the Staatsschutz work in shifts as long as the war would last, so that there was a good team available 24 hours a day. Extra programmers were hired for the Staatsschutz immediately. All the hackers in the Staatsschutz were asked to mobilise their friends in the hackerscene. Internet companies were asked to make people free for blocking off the attacks. Everybody that knew at least something was asked to participate.

Furthermore, together with a large budget increase for the armed forces, it was decided to add a new department to the army. A department that would solely work on and practice for cyberwar.


Testono

A plane was making an espionage tour above the city to take as many pictures as possible.


OOC: Translation: Drecksau ≈ Asshole. Dreck = dirt; Sau = pig.

 

[Rheinbund]

Trier, Eiffelland

Empty transport planes and empty ships had been sent southeast. They were ordered back. Empty. The transport planes returned to Eiffelland guarded by fighter planes. The amphibious assault ships and the amphibious transport dock went back to Eiffelland as well, guarded by destroyers, frigates, a submarine and planes from the aircraft carrier in the waters Southeast of Eiffelland.


Southeastern Solaren

The fights in the mountains that were not under Eiffellandian control yet continued. Meanwhile, the army built up a front from west of Tegeata to east of Mazara to hold up the Solaris counteroffensive that was expected.
Meanwhile, stories about an obscure Solaris priest active in Southeastern Solaren started to spring up. Eiffellandian soldiers once captured a group of partisans that intended to burn down a village in which the people cooperated with the Eiffellandians. Those partisans had been steered by the priest of that village. Now it appeared that another village had been attacked. And burned down this time. Investigations started.

 

[Wieserreich]

Division 6, [wiki]Office for State Security[/wiki]
Augsburg, Swabia - 29 Oct. 2011, 0645hrs

Despite the time, Division 6 of the RSA, tasked with communications and cyberwarfare, was just entering a high alert status. What appeared like a massive wave of Internet attacks on several countries across Europe had been detected not too long ago, and quickly, the security service of Wiese sought to exploit the underlying chaos and take advantage of the situation.

The Chief Director's orders were clear: Division 6 had to take advantage of the chaos and unearth any possibly valuable secret they could before the situation lulled. A selection of attacked government and private organisations, including ministries, foreign and security services and corporations were among the targets, not discriminating between ally and enemy.

At the same time, another part of Division 6 was tasked with monitoring the methods, and preparing defences and anti-meters against a similar or other predicted attack against the country's cyber-infrastructure. A number of drastic solutions were considered together with softer ones, depending on the scale of the attacks. Most conveniently, RSA's cooperation with WIDO and Wieserreichische Telekom would ensure a tactical advantage on such a front.

 

[Socialist Commonwealth]

Carentania
Paki Military Base

The Commander could hear the sound of heavy military boots walking down the hallway before a knock on the door requested entry. She knew right away who had decided to pay her a visit, even though she was expecting no one and specifically told her guards she would be too busy with work to welcome any guest into her office. It was the rhytm of the footsteps who had given away his identity, a familiar beat she had heard all too often throughout her career. And it had always been a mixed blessing.

"Come on in, Marko."

The door swang open and the familiar silhouette of Commander Marko Krajnc appeared in its frame. Milena Hafners patron in the High Command looked concerned as he greeted his old friend and protegé.

"What's bothering you, Marko?"

Milena and Marko had been friends for a while, even from before Commander Krajnc had been promoted to a position in High Command, before Milena Hafner had been elected to Commander Hafner of the First Army Group and well before she had led her soldiers into the battles in Jurzan and now Solaren. Making her the first woman to sit in the High Command of the Revolutionary Army had been a bit of a pet project for Marko Krajnc, albeit one that had face considerable obstacles up to now.

"High Command has abandoned its plans for Solaren." This sentence from Commander Krajnc left Milena surprised. "The Commissar is too worried about Federation moves in Solaren. It reeks of confrontation and as a consequence, to entire operation has been trashed and replaced with a broader plan. Commander Rosenberg and his Second Army will join you in Solaren, vastly expanding the scope of this operation. Those new plans foresee massive operations and seizing positions that will allow us to counter any attempt by the EDF to drive us out of Solaren."

"I'm unimpressed thus far." Milena Hafner raised an eyebrow. "So what got you so concerned?"

"I'm no longer in charge of this operation. Bizjak is."

Commander Bizjak was essentially the one person in the High Command who Commander Krajnc wanted to get rid of to make way for his friend Hafner. The only problem was: Bizjak had a massive ego, coupled with the ability to usurp the victories of others for his own prestige, while transferring the consequences for defeats to his insubordinates. And he was well aware of the competition Commander Krajnc was building in the form of Milena Hafner.

"I just thought you needed to know the new circumstances we're dealing with here, before I inform you of the latest military developements. Second Army has begun transferring a few units as under the new orders. Second Anti-Air brigade takes position on Capraria. Fifth Armored, Seventh and Eight Infantry, Fourth Mechanized, First and Third Air Cavalry go to Iscla. Sixth Infantry will relieve your troops on Ustica, so you can deploy them to the mainland to secure gains made by the Air Cavalry. You'll be instructed to transfer at least four additional brigades to the western mainland once having secured ports. A Fighter Air Brigade will assume a base in Ustica as well. The attack on Mazara is to continue as scheduled."

Hafner had taken notes as her friend and supporter briefed her on the new orders. "Why the sudden increase of troops on Iscla?"

"Preparing for a new front. Not letting Lorraine get the upper hand in the north. Nothing to worry about, really. I doubt the EDF would act before Urban is out of the picture. Too much of a mess, if war breaks out between us."

Mazara

Smoke rounds descended upon the main street, blocking the vision of the approaching Solaren forces as Carentanian infantry crossed the street to reach their targets. The police headquarters in downtown Mazar had been heavily damaged by aerial bombardement before the Marines managed to seize control of the ruins that, albeit smoldering, allowed units present to cover the surrounding streets. The intersection of three main streets allowed the Marines, enough firepower provided, to deny Solaren units to reinforce their troops under pressure in the western outskirts as well as the ports in the south. Several squads had set up machine gun emplacements and prepared anti-tank weapons to make sure this plan went ahead.

"Enemy armor at delta position!"

The forward scouts had set up post at buildings further up the road, hiding within the houses to watch over the approaches and warn soldiers at the police station and surrounding fortifications about enemy advances. Damage to the sewers had flooded the streets of downtown, leaving a disgusting smell to hang over most of Mazara. None of this had caused fighting to lose intensivity, though, as Solaren forces attempted to shift units away from the Eiffelländer approach in the east to push the Carentanians out of Mazara again. Obviously, the Revolutionary Army was not going to let that happen and the troops at the Police Station were part of this plan, firing a shaped-charge towards the approaching Solaren armor.

Much to the horror of the Carentanian weapons squad launching the anti-tank weapon, the armor of the Solaren tank deflected the projectil, causing it to fly past the top of the tank before exploding, shooting its charge into thin air. Immediately, the turret of the tank turned around, targeting the police station and putting it under fire, damaging the structure further with each hit. Solaren infantry covered the sides of the tank, but were hesitant to storm forward in the flooded streets, their leaders fearing the soldiers to get caught in crossfire while being slowed down by the water. Smoke rounds landing near the police station further obstructed the Solaren advance, leaving the Solaren perception of Carentanian movements around the police station to pure guesswork.

Solarens troops continued to lay fire on the police station, more and more parts of it collapsed, though most Carentanian marines left the endangered parts of the building in time to save their own lifes. Two men got hit by Solaren rifle fire as they fled the building, then the scenery was drowned in the noise of a jet engine. Gun fire strafed the Solaren units approaching the Carentanian position, followed by a guided bomb hitting the enemy armor straight and vaporizing it in a tremendous blast. Cheers by surrounding Carentanians followed and a message through the radio assured the Guardsmen that additional support was underway.

"Two of our tanks headed your way, hold out just a little longer."

 

[Socialist Commonwealth]

Iscla

The Carentanian military on the small island had performed a complete turnaround, abandoning their attempt to penetrate Lorrainese demarcation lines and ordered all troops already on Lorrainese occupied territory to return to their previous positions. Fire, if opened, was not to be returned without explicit permission, which the Commander of the Revolutionary Army on Iscla would only give were he convinced the Lorrainese made a complete attempt at attacking Carentanian positions and were not merely trying to deny them access. It was domestic pressure that had forced the recent change in policy, not fear of the EDF. With the Solaren National Congress recognized by the Workers' Republic, their voice suddenly carried weigth and the Carentanians had to take the wishes of this organization into consideration, when deciding upon the fate of Solaren civilians.

It was therefore a return to the previous situation, with the first civilians returning while Carentania was trying to expand its bases on Iscla. The Workers' Republic was doing its best to discourage the deported civilians from returning at this point, constantly improving the conditions in the refugee settlements on Capraria and mainland Carentania and promising them that they could return at any time of their chosing, including, what was presented to them as wiser, once the war was over. Truth be told, the information about an impending chemical attack on Iscla, although not entirely made up, was rather shaky and vague. Carentania had intended to use it to free capacities for its forces on Iscla and also attempt to force Lorraine off the island, which the Revolutionary Army intended to use as a staging ground for its next steps.

Things would happen a bit slower now, but the socialist forces nevertheless proceeded with the plans, despite the obstacles. As civilians returned to their homes, Carentanian engineers focused on improving the capacities of the port facilities to ensure a constant supply of the forces on the island, while also constructing a small air base for the Fighter Air Brigade soon to be deployed to Iscla. Additional soldiers and heavy equipment arrived on the island and were stored in temporary bases, not intended for prolonged use. Their deployment would last only until Mazara on the southern coast of Solaren was won and the Maximo and the Samobor would be redeployed to the waters surrounding Iscla, participating in the next move towards regional dominance by Carentania.

Meanwhile, RAI officers began calling in those of the Marines that had actually made it past the Lorrainese lines. The Army Intelligence was particularily interested in anything the soldiers could tell about the strength and position of Lorrainese forces, the infrastructure behind the lines and numerous other information that could be useful in keeping tabs on the EDF on Iscla.

Rijeka, Carentania

When a storm draws close, there is a moment of calm as winds fall silent due to the drop in air pressure and animals sensing this go into hiding. Before attempting a large jump, people breathe in deeply and again, there is a moment of calm, right in between this breathing in and the moment they begin to move. In politics, however, a moment of great disturbance and change approaches with the buzzing of thousand voices, the sharp increase of diplomatic activity and a million of desperate moves as anyone involved tries to stack the cards in his favour. The confrontation between the EDF and Carentania over the fate of Solaren was no exception, having the possibility of exploding into yet another stage of the war that had engulfed Europe.

Carentanias government had been more than a little worried about the recent involvement of Wiese in the affairs of Solaren. If the germanic Empire decided to take sides of the EDF, it could easily fool the failing alliance into thinking it was capable of restoring its former hegemony. Worse, Wiese could sway Engellex to its side in a divide and conquer move that saw the entire EDF focussing on the aspiring socialist power in Himyar before attempting to liberate Montelimar. There were many "what if"s, but the Workers' Republic was unwilling to take chances and preparing for the worst. It had to make due with the possibility of a Wiese assisted attack upon its positions in Solaren and be prepared to repel any such meddling.

Naturally, Commissar Dusan Mejic, head of foreign affairs in the Workers' Republic, was not leaving out the issue of diplomacy and had approached the Wieser envoy in Rijeka. The short talks yeilded mixed results, as Commissar Mejic had to cut off Wieser attempts at presenting itself as a possible negotiator between Carentania and the EDF about Solarens future - Vangala had already taken that position and the Workers' Republic would not abandon its frail friendship with the Vangalans by needlessly giving the Wieser Empire additional status, even if that could possibly be interpreted by the Wieser government as slight. The Commissar was only visiting Lothar Schuhmacher, the Wieser envoy, to entertain the thought of an escalation of tension in Solaren and inquire about the Wieser stance. As things turned out, at least the way Wiese presented them, Carentania was not entirely set to confrontation with the Empire.

Wiese was primarily concerned with the Germanic space and the freedom of its commerce. Neither of which Carentania was intending to infringe upon. Fighting in Solaren would not see Wieser intervention if it stayed confined to the area beyond the Wieser sphere. Nevertheless, the answers were vague enough to leave distrust amongst the Carentanians. The reactionaries in Wiese were not to be trusted, that much was clear, and the possibility of a Wieser ruse was still taken into consideration. Perhaps the continued display of strength and preparation in Solaren would be enough to discourage an EDF assault, Wieser participation or not. And even in case that happened, there was still the secret agreement with Engellex, which would keep a good portion of the EDF occupied in the north. Realistic policies dictated that Engellex had more to gain from sticking to this course of action than by siding with the EDF or Wiese.

 

[Socialist Commonwealth]

Western Solaren

The small town of Positona on the westernmoast coast of Solaren was almost surrealistically quiet, considering the ferocity with which the war was being fought elswhere in the country. When the Carentanians had seized the small town with its harbor, populated mainly by fishermen, there had been no resistance. Positona was a calm rural town without military presence and Pope Urbans long shadow casted itself onto the settlement only in the form of the local church and its priest. Said priest had been the first to rush to the townsquare when the sound of helicopters echoed through the narrow streets of Positona, preaching to its people the need to resist vice and sin coming to their country in the form of foreign soldiers. Speaking like never before, he continued for hours, the people of Positona obviously fascinated by this zeal that seemed so unlike their priest, while the Carentanians continued to fly over their heads.

His speach was brought to a sudden halt, though, when two Carentanian firefly helicopters unloaded their squads onto the town and several guardsmen headed straight for the townsquare, seizing the surprised priest and arresting him. Prisoners on Ustica had reported the man for his association with various crimes against the population, as the man had used his position to raise accusations of heresy and witchcraft against farmers whose land he desired. It was a welcome incident to dispose of one of the areas largest landholders and create an example-farming collective without resistance by local smallscale farmers. The story would also serve as a good propaganda to be told on Radio Panetelleria, illustrating quite neatly how Solaren agriculture needed a sweeping land reform. The folks of Positona, meanwhile, witnessed the arrest of their priest by the Carentanian revolutionary guards and the prospect of resistance to the advancing socialists was done with, at least in this tiny community.

Eventually, Carentanian infantry arrived on trucks, setting up camp at the edge of town. The helicopters left for the east, pushing further the advance of the Carentanians, as their units prepared the small port of Positona for receiving ships of the RDTO carrying supplies, aid and soldiers. Their position in Positona would be slowly fortified to hold about fifty men and women of the Infantry brigade redeployed for peacekeeping from Ustica. It were to be part of a watchtower network, similiar to the one used on Capraria for anti-partisan duties; a number of guardposts and small bases, capable of withstanding organized Solaren attacks on a smaller scale and monitoring activity in the immediate region to allow aerial support and quickly deployable troops from Ustica to deal with anything worse than a small warband.

Being part of a small town, the watchtower in Positona would also serve as Carentanias embassy to the Solaren people there and the Guardsmen and -women deployed to Positona were reminded of their role and responsibility in several propaganda posters. Fraternization was actively encouraged, hoping that the Solaren people would abandon the harsh ideology of Pope Urbans theocratic dictatorship once they realized their enemies were not the demons which the Solaren government had portrayed them as. A representative of the Solaren National Congress had also arrived in Positona, setting up office inside the guarded area of the watchtower once the frontline had shifted further to the east so that the town could be considered safe. His duty would be to approach the local fishermen with ideas and proposals to improve the efficiency of their work by voluntary collectivization and signing a contract to supply Carentanian forces in the area with fresh fish - in exchange for, amongst other things, a modern, albeit used, trawler from the Workers' Republic.

 

[Rheinbund]

Lorraine
31 October 2011

Johann had always feared Eleonore a bit, but during the last months, the Eiffellandian Prince and the Wieser Archduchess had become friends. Also because of a kind of a shared fate as royals. Eiffelland was a more egalitarian society than Wiese, but also in Eiffelland a noble title led to a different way people were approached. The advantage was that it was easier to arrange matters businesswise. The disadvantage was that people stayed more on a distance leisurewise. Therefore, it was more difficult for noblemen to get friends among commoners. That made the life of a nobleman a bit lonely.
Not that Johann cared. He got enough friends, and there were also enough women that wanted to sleep with him. And in the end, he always got the woman he wanted. Despite the fact that he more or less was in love with the Montelimarian pilot Valérie Hainault, he continued to chat up women. That was a drive he could not stop. Hopefully Valérie would forgive him that, but he had the feeling that she was the same. In any case, jealousy was a word Johann did not know the meaning of, so he wouldn’t care if his girlfriend or wife would sleep with other men as well. He would even raise the children resulting from such side-steps if needed. Sex was too delicious to bind it in rules according to him.

Johann had once thought about sleeping with Eleonore, but he had rejected that idea at almost the same moment. First, Eleonore was too young for him. Second, he knew that his brother Karl was interested in Eleonore, and he did not want to disturb that. Third, he had already proven that libido was not the same thing as fertility, and Eleonore would have to continue the line, so she needed a fertile husband. And fourth, he knew that he could not give himself to one woman alone, and that would really be needed for the husband of the future Empress of Wiese. The Eiffellandians didn’t care for the extramarital affairs of their celebrities, but that was different in Wiese. The husband of the future Empress having an extramarital affair would be extremely scandalous, and the future Empress could possibly loose her crown for that. No, then it would be better to let her get Karl. Despite the fact that the latter was a womaniser as well, he could bind himself to one woman alone.

Eleonore had asked Johann if they could lunch together, and Johann had agreed. Now they were sitting in the officers’ mess, and Eleonore told about what had happened in the shower that morning.
“Well, in any case, they won’t do that again,” Johann grinned. “And I think that the guy who was peeping at you will be afraid of women for the rest of his life, so he won’t be peeping again, either.” He had the impression that Eleonore felt a bit double about it. She seemed to realise that she was in the army, a place where the humor could be extremely hard. And she was proud that she had beaten up the four guys. On the other hand, she seemed to feel sexually harrassed.
“But army or not, I think that they went too far. That those three guys harrassed the fourth guy for his peeping at you is one thing, but pushing him against you is something that people having even the slightest notion of honour simply don’t do,” Johann continued. “And I must say that the only Eiffellandian men capable of doing such a thing would be those in the far right scene.”


Venetian Bay
31 October 2011

This week, Prince Karl had to perform the night shifts. Because of that, he slept from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Therefore, it was evening when he read Eleonore’s mail. He frightened up a bit because of that. He knew that Eleonore was very well capable of defending herself, but he didn’t like the idea of that happening to her. He started to type.

Hi Eli,

Whow, what a story you mailed me. Good how you handled it. I’m impressed. Those guys won’t do it again, that’s certain. But tell those four guys to stay out of my neighbourhood, because I can’t wait to teach them a very clear lesson about respect. OK, we’re in the army, so the jokes are rougher than in normal life, but this is sexual harrassment. In the Eiffellandian army, this is enough for the court‑martial.
I also have something to tell. I have the night shifts this week, so last night I was on duty as well. Suddenly we received a mayday. It appeared that a trawler was attacked by pirates. We were just on time to catch the bastards. You know what? The pirates were Solaris Navy sailors. The Solaris Navy has been destroyed, but apparently not with all the sailors. We have strong laws about piracy, so those guys will spend some years in our coal mines. They’re on their way to Eiffelland now.

Cheers,

Karl

Testono
Present day

Once the positions of the Exocet launching installations were known, fighter planes of the closest‑by carrier flew to Testono to bomb them. It was hoped that the collateral damage would be not too large. After a destroyer had been sunk by an Exocet launched from Testono, the option of burning the city to the ground had been lying on the table. Once again, it was decided against doing so. Killing hundreds of thousands of civilians in one day was something the Eiffellandian government did not want to be directly responsible for.

Meanwhile, the battle for Testono went on. The harbour had been completely destroyed. Attack helicopters continued to prevent people from traveling to and from the city. Apart from the bombings of the Exocet launching pads, the city itself was not bombed.


Southeastern Solaren
Present day

The fight for the last mountaineous area had been won. Now everything of Southeastern Solaren was under Eiffellandian control. Now the army was building up a strong front line to defend against a possible Solaris counterattack.
Humanitarian campaigns had already begun in the more eastern areas, and had become successful. The Eiffellandians showed to the Solaris that they came with good intentions. Meanwhile, the electricity net was up and running again. The agricultural sector was reorganised according to the Eiffellandian model. Farmland that had been bought up or seized by the Solaris Catholic Church was given back to the original owning families. Farmer cooperations were set up. Those cooperations managed milk factories and large agricultural equipment, took care of collective purchase of needed materials, and started funds to cover for failed harvests. All this was financed partly with gifts and partly with loans to the farmers under lenient conditions. All in all, normal life had resumed there. Except for one matter.

It had become clear that a group of partisans had formed around a charismatic priest of the Solaris Catholic Church. That priest had ordered to burn down his own village after the majority of its inhabitants had decided to cooperate with the Eiffellandians and accept their aid. By accident, a platoon of the Eiffellandian army was in the neighbourhood because of a report about a group of children that had fallen victim to what appeared to be a mortar grenade. The partisan attack on the village was prevented, bu the priest managed to escape.

Marco Gambini was part of that group. He had been dragged into it by his older brother, but he didn’t want to. He wanted to get out. But how? Before the war started, he lived in Senigallia, a coast town with 20,000 inhabitants. In the old days, this town was regionally famous for its beautiful beach. The rich people from Southeastern Solaren went there to spend their holidays. Marco’s family had a hotel in Senigallia. Also Marco himself worked in it. It was hard work, but also fun. And it was also the place where he made his first steps regarding love. A kind of love that was forbidden under Solaris law, and punished severely. It was called sodomy. And Marco was initiated into it by the son of the mayor of Mazara, in the latter’s hotel room. Months later, he read in the newspaper that the son of the mayor of Mazara had been executed for sodomy.
But prohibition or not, severe punishments or not, Marco could not deny that he was in love with his classmate Gianni. A love that even defeated the fear for that strange disease under homosexuals that the priest described as God’s punishment. Gianni had hinted about a secret place where the “sodomites” of Senigallia met, and had more or less invited him to come there. Marco decided to accept the invitation. The secret place was a park in the outskirts of Senigallia. Marco only went there once. He only met Gianni there once. That evening, the police assaulted the park. Marco and Gianni quickly climbed the wall they were standing near. When they were at the top of the wall, the bullets flew around them. Marco and Gianni looked into the direction where they came from and saw one of the policemen into the eyes. Then Gianni was hit in the head. He fell off the wall and was dead. Marco jumped off the wall and ran away. He managed to escape.
The next day, the park was set to fire and the ground was salted. The people that had been arrested during the police assault were burned alive on the market square, together with a couple of men that had been arrested as a result of the interrogations after the arrestments. Gianni’s body was buried in unconsecrated earth.
As soon as the Eiffellandian army approached Senigallia, Marco was forced by his brother to join the partisans. Now he was fighting for a cause that was not his, to defend a system that killed the guy he loved and wanted him dead as well. He hated the people he fought with. He wanted to get out. But how?

 

[Socialist Commonwealth]

Ustica

More and more Carentanian soldiers passed through Ustica, using the island as a safe stop on their way to the mainland. Supplies, ammunition and equipment were stored on Ustica to shorten the supply lines and allow quick resupplying of the forces in western Solaren. Battles on the mainland were as tough as ever, but with Solaren fighting on four fronts, the units that kept landing in their rear positions were more than just a disturbance. The mobility of the Carentanian Air Cavalry forced the generals of Pope Urban to reposition their units constantly and adapt to an ever changing situation. Dropping soldiers behind the frontline while additional brigdeheads were established by forces landing along the entire western coast, the Carentanians were always one step ahead of Solaren and only one constant remained: Ustica.

But Ustica itself was troublesome. Initially, partisan activity and resistance on the island was less than in other parts of Solaren. The prison island was swamped with liberated enemies of the Solaren regime and their relative support for the Carentanian forces was fundamental in supressing the resistance of loyalist elements on Ustica. However, with the Carentanians focussed on pushing on to the mainland, deploying forces on the island for combat duties in western Solaren, the Revolutionary Army was having trouble maintaining a stable occupational force. Raiding parties of former Solaren soldiers and prison guards could not be pursued as long as helicopters and soldiers were needed for the offensive, rather than anti-partisan duties.

When rockets struck a number of Carentanian positions on Ustica, it was thus suspected that this neglect was what allowed Solaren forces to mark targets and transmit this information to the units on the mainland. The rockets contained chemical agents, the same that were used to attack Lorrainean forces in the early days of the war. Carentanian forces were alert and quick to respond to this threat that had loomed throughout the entire campaign, but it nevertheless took its tool on the units and set back the efforts in western Solaren quite a bit. Civilians were affected as well, but not as considerable as initially feared. Solarens forces had made sure to target the Carentanian military and not the island in general.

Capraria

On the same day that Ustica was struck with missiles, Capraria was rocked with a mayor surge of violence. Carentanians had been busy celebrating Revolution Day, the national holiday of their homecountry. Good food, drinks, fireworks, the guardsmen and women on peacekeeping duty were having an overall good time throughout the island. Capraria had become quiter throughout the last weeks, as the watchtower counter-insurgency system yeiled good results in tracking down partisan movement and the flexible Carentanian forces were quick to respond to any hostile activity. Revolution day was thus a day off for most Carentanians, who spent their day for the most part in Panetelleria.

Three bombs were set off in Panetelleria, as if to start things that were to follow with a loud bang. Groups of Solaren partisans had snuck into the city, taking positions across the city, seizing important infrastructure and using the buildings to assault bypassing Carentanians. Within a short amount of time, Panetelleria had been thrown into complete chaos and only the secured harbor zone, where entrance was still banned for civilians, was spared. Only one overly ambitious Solaren partisan group had started a frontal assault on the guard post on the main entrance, quickly succumbing to the fire of the guards. From here, Carentanian soldiers moved to repel the Solaren attack and secure the city once again.

But it wasn't only Panetelleria. Several watchtowers across Capraria, understaffed due to the celebrations for Revolution Day and many of the soldiers not on leave distracted with the holiday celebrations, were engaged by Partisans. Two smaller watchtowers were completely overrun, though both managed to send a distress call to their headquarters. Within less than an hour, Revolution Day had become a horrible day of violence for the Carentanians and the Revolutionary Army struggled to regain control over the island. In the end, the Solaren partisans had only the element of surprise, granting it some quick victories, useful for propaganda and to demoralize Carentanian forces - but the firepower of the Revolutionary Army meant that, at the end of the day, control would be in the hands of the Carentanians again.

 

[Socialist Commonwealth]

Mazara

The Revolutionary Army was hellbent on taking the city as more and more soldiers arrived on the shores. Both the Maximo and the Samobor had unloaded the units it carried initially quite early, but troop transporters and converted freighters were used to ferry more soldiers and more equipment to the assault fleet, which used its amphibious assets to bring them on land. It was a logistical nightmare on its own, even without having to coordinate the forces in Mazara itself, but with a clear work seperation, the Revolutionary Army pulled through. Mazaras port facilities already under Carentanian control, albeit heavily damaged, allowed smaller and theoretically expendable ships to unload directly onto the city while units in nearby buildings supressed any fire that the Solarens may attempt to lay down on the Carentanian ships.

Meanwhile, the Solaren forces pushed further into the city, causing intense firefights to break out wherever they encountered the dug in forces of the Revolutionary Army. The battle for the city was a complete chaos without any kind of distinct frontline. At several points, Carentanian units fell back, relentlessly pursued by Solaren infantry and armored units, only for them to discover that the reds had prepared ambushed along their retreat routes. With Eiffelland making no apparent moves to push further west, the Solaren army threw additional forces into the battle for the city, determined to deny this Carentanian foothold along the southern coast. Unable to call in artillery support, which was supressed by Carentanian air support coming in from Capraria, the Solaren forces instead relied on large attack waves of infantry with direct armored support to bust their enemies out of cover.

It was only very late that they realized the Carentanian strategy had never involved taking Mazara frontally. The forces spread out over Mazara were only in the city to tie the Solaren units in firefights, denying them from reacting in a timely manner as Carentanian armored and mechanized brigades were seen flanking the city and pushing into the rear of the Solaren units. Enjoying extensive close air support as well as auxilliary fire from the assembled fleet, the Carentanian tanks broke through any obstacle and crushed any resistance the Solaren forces could muster. Avoiding the urban area at all cost, the Carentanians used surrounding highways, fields, meadows and other flat land to move quickly and maximise the gain from their superior mobility. Their lines breaking, many Solaren soldiers were caught in the ensuring chaos, unable to regroup. Communication and supply lines collapsed and the defending Solarens surrounding Mazara were simply overrun.

The units in Mazara itself were facing a troublesome decision. Some of them decided to stay, some of them decided to retreat in the hope of escaping the encirclement and return to the fight at a later time. Neither decision could do anything about the fact that Mazara was now lost for the Solarens as the Carentanians began to clear the city from resistance once their enemies were trapped.

 

[Rheinbund]

Lorraine

“Congratulations, young lady. One step closer to the hollowed halls of officerdom,” Johann grinned. He was in his air force gala uniform, meanwhile decorated with quite some signs for shooting down enemy aircrafts. He had witnessed the ceremony in which Eleonore had been promoted. And of course had looked for some cadets with black eyes. To his regret, he hadn’t seen any of them.
“So, do you already know where you will be stationed after your holiday?” he asked.


Frigate F‑10
Venetian Bay

Hi Eli,

I finally got your eyepatch! And a sabre, a wooden leg, an arm hook, a pistol and an 18th century triangle-shaped hat with a large feather. Indeed, we captured another boat of pirates today. In fact we captured three boats. The coal mine bosses will be happy with us. It may sound a bit dangerous, but with those pirates we have something to do here in the Venetian Bay.

Congratulations with your promotion. Do you already know where you are going to be placed?

We currently have a severe storm here on the Venetian Bay. Meters high waves, and it is like we’re on a rollercoaster. This year’s first autumn storm. It came late, but directly heavy. I must say it is fun.

Kisses,

Karl

Prince Karl pushed the “send” button. Then he shut down his laptop and prepared himself for going to bed. It was wind force 11 on the Venetian Bay, but Karl wasn’t afraid. He had gone through this earlier. The ship would hold without a doubt. The Franconians knew how to build ships.
He was already lying in bed when he heard something different than the normal storm sounds. It was a fight. Scheisse, he thought. You could never know, so he jumped into his uniform and went to the door of his room to check out what was happening.
When he walked in the corridors, it suddenly became strangely quiet. Karl had a very strange feeling that something was terribly wrong. Then he heard shots. There was something terribly wrong. This looked like either mutiny or the pirates trying to take over the ship.
Then Karl saw somebody runing to him. He was covered with blood.
“Herr Leutnant,” he said, “the pirates have broken out.”
Then he fell on the ground and died. At first, Karl, did not know what to do. The first reflex would be to run to the bridge, but maybe the pirates had already got there. He decided to investigate the situation. Now he had a nice story to tell to Eli. When he would survive this. He took the gun and all the ammunition of the dead sailor lying in front of him. He already had his own gun with ammunition, but you could never know.
While the ship was rolling and pitching on the meters high waves, Karl tried to keep his balance and walk further. His destiny was the messroom. If the pirates would have been successful in taking over the ship, all sailors would have been either pushed overboard or captured in a large room. Given the fact that the pirates used to be sailors of the Solaris Navy, they would easily be able to control the ship. If they would know German, because all the indications needed to control the ship were in that language. The pirates would find that out soon.


Navy headquarters
Eiffelland

“The F‑10 does not reply any more after repeated calls. We don’t know what happened. During the last contact, everything was reported as normal, despite they are in that storm above the Venetian Bay. The wind was 172 degrees 56 knots at that moment.”
“Is it possible to get any reconnaissance from its location?”
“No, Herr Generaladmiral. The weather is too bad at the moment to get any ship or plane there.”
“Continue to try to get into contact.”


Frigate F‑10
Venetian Bay

Karl saw two pirates standing before the door to the messroom. His idea may have been right. The remainder of the crew had been captured and imprisoned. The pirates guarding the messroom were armed with machine guns. That meant that they had found the weapon chamber. That was bad news. Suddenly he felt a gun in his neck.
“Hands up, you sodomite bastard,” he heard in Italian. Then the ship made a heavy movement. Both men rolled over the floor. The two men started to fight.
“Ey, che cosa passa?” sounded from the direction of the guards in front of the messroom. Karl broke his attacker’s neck. Then he took the latter’s gun and looked around the corner again. He saw one of the guards coming his way. He took one of the guns and shot. The guard fell to the ground. The other guard started to fire his machine gun. The noise of a fight was heard from inside the messroom. Machine gun fire sounded there, then it was quiet. The second guard turned to the messroom to enter. Karl pointed at him and shot. The second guard was hit in the back. He fell to the ground but was not dead. He started to fire into Karls direction. Then the door of the messroom was opened, and an Eiffellandian sailor shot the second guard.
Karl looked around, walked to the messroom and thanked the sailor. Then he asked about the situation. It appeared that he was the only surviving officer on board. With 30 people, the Solaris pirates had managed to take over the ship. On the long run, they wouldn’t have enough people to handle it. That was advantageous to the Eiffellandians.
Karl knew that there was a double wall in the officers’ mess. Behind that wall, there was an additional set of weapons. The officers’ mess was immediately beneath the messroom. Karl went there alone, opened the double wall with his secret code and his key and called the others in. They took the weapons, after which Karl closed the double wall again. Then he split the men into a team that would take over the machine room and a team that would take over the bridge. Karl would lead the latter team.

Within a quarter of an hour, the ship was in the hands of the Eiffellandians again. Almost all pirates were dead. The leader of the mutiny was still alive. Karl started to interrogate him.
“Bastardi sodomiti,” was the first answer he got.
“You Solaris are not very original with your swears. I never hear anything else from you guys. But I can guarantee you that at least one of my men will indeed be eager to penetrate you in the worst kind of way, so speak up. Whom were you contacting, and what’s all behind this?” Karl asked in Italian.
The man started to talk.


Navy headquarters
Eiffelland

“Trier to F‑10. Trier to F‑10. Do you hear me? ... Trier to F‑10. Trier to F‑10. Do you hear me?”


Frigate F‑10
Venetian Bay

“F‑10 to Trier. F‑10 to Trier. This ls Lieutenant Karl von Dietz‑Hadamar, officer on this ship. We had an uprising on board. The pirates we captured today had broken out. The situation is under control again, but we lost 50 men. All the pirates but six of them are dead now. I am the only surviving officer at the ship. Wind 168 degrees 50 knots at our position. I advice to immediately notify all our vessels with pirates on board to bind them in such a way that they can’t move, and to transport an enormous number of handcuffs to all our vessels,” Karl spoke through the board radio.
“Trier to F‑10. Trier to F‑10. It is sad news you bring us, but we are happy to hear that you are alive. What is the reason for your advice?” Karl heard through the radio.
“F‑10 to Trier, F‑10 to Trier, we captured the leader of the uprising while he was contacting his bosses in Solaren. The Solaris Navy has lost all its ships, but not its men. Now they are trying to take over our ships through the pirates we capture. Therefore, make sure that they can’t even move a finger while they are on board of one of our ships. This is an emergency,” Karl said.

Immediately after that, the emergency signal to thoroughly bind Solaris pirates went out. On all Eiffellandian ships, duct tape, rope, electricity cables, everything that could be used to bind people was used to bind the pirates in such a way that they could not move themselves.


Southeastern Solaren

“I know who you are,” the man said to Marco Gambini. They had left the camp to go on patrol an hour ago, but had walked quite a long distance away. Marco couldn’t see the camp any more. Despite the late time of the year, it was still warm in the early afternoon. The sky was blue without a cloud, and the sun was shining. The camp was on a sandy soil near the mountains, but also near the sea. The vegetation mainly consisted of pine trees and other types of plants that grow best on a sandy soil.
“I don’t know you,” Marco said. He looked at the man. He was in the beginning of his fourties, but had a tremendous condition and a musculous body. He had been a very high person in the regional police until the Eiffellandians had attacked. Marco did know him. His name was Aldo Siciliano.
“17 June of this year in the Giardino San Vicence in Senigallia,” the man said. “We already knew that you’re a sodomite. We had already tortured your name out of Michele Marzellano before we executed him. We could have you arrested and executed as well, but we decided to use you to clean Senigallia from all its sodomites. We followed you everywhere you went, even on 17 June. And so we learned that the Giardino San Vicence was used as meeting place by the sodomites of Senigallia. In fact you all dishonoured the most beautiful park of Senigallia. What a pity that we had to burn it down. And it was our last large action against sodomites. After that, the war preparations took our time. We didn’t have the time to arrest all the sodomites of Senigallia. That’s why you’re still alive.”
Michele Marzellano was the son of the mayor of Mazara. During last year’s summer holidays, Marco had slept with him. In fact that was the first guy Marco had slept with.
“Marco Gambini, 18 years old, destined to go university after your military services, which your parents could afford. You would be the first one in your family to study. But what a shame you are to your parents. You’re a sodomite,” Aldo said.
Marco was afraid. This man was the right hand of the priest, and the second in command of the partisans. He was extremely powerful. This man could do whatever he wanted.
“I could hand you over to the priest now. I just say where I know you from,” Aldo said. “And he will make sure that you will burn.”
Marco looked around. The camp was far away, and nobody was in the neighbourhood. Suddenly Aldo fondled him in his neck. Marco slapped his hand away and gave him a push.
“Get your hands off of me,” Marco screamed. Then Aldo took his gun and pointed it at him.
“Do as I tell you, or I’ll let you burn,” Aldo said coldly. “Whom do you think the people will believe? Me or you? You are already known as a coward without a heart for the cause. More and more people want to get rid of you, and even your brother is doubting whether you will betray us. At this moment I am the only one capable of keeping the others away from you. I am the only one that can keep you alive.”
Marco looked into the direction of the camp. Nobody seemed to have noticed what was happening here.
“Your life will come at a price. And you know which one,” Aldo said. He paused a few seconds and then continued. “Michele refused me as well. And that’s why I had him tortured and executed.”
“Chiamiamo tutti i Eiffellandesi i bastardi sodomiti, ma tu che cosa sei?” Marco asked furiously.
“Io? Sono un bastardo sodomito anche io,” Aldo said. “Discovering that was the same shock to me as it was to you. It was even a bigger shock when my priest showed his interest in me. But after the shock, I realised his position and my chances. So I slept with him. Of course the priest would get away with it. Whom would be believed, him or his victims? So his position was safe, unless he would be caught napping. However, I asked something in return. I wanted the same kind of powerful position as he had. Not as a priest, but as a police officer. Bleeding your parish white won’t get you rich. The only way to get rich in this country is to smuggle and sell goods that are wanted but not available legally, either because of an embargo, or because the Church forbids it. When you’re in the police, you have access to seized illegal goods, which you can sell further. It is a piece of cake to let your colleagues look the other way. And when you get higher into the hierarchy, you can even force the police to look the other way. And so I helped a couple of smugglers and got my share. Of course, to get the necessary promotions, I had to sleep with the right people from time to time. Especially with the right priests.”
“Priests?” Marco asked.
“Priests,” Aldo said. “Maybe you never realised it, but one-third of the priests is homosexual. They all became priests because they realised that they wouldn’t be able to ground a family anyway. And nobody dares to report a priest, so your hands are free to take a nice guy from your parish from time to time. And the highest bishops go abroad from time to time to visit a brothel. But back to topic. Through the years, I became the head of the regional police here down south. And then the money really started rolling in. Smugglers competing with my own smuggling projects were sent to Iscla. And my own projects boomed. Unfortunately, that came to an end. But I have enough assets outside the country. Eiffelland Marken, Thalers, Reichsmarken, Wendmarker Franken, Breotish Pounds, Montelimarian Livres and so on. Although the latters aren’t worth that much any more. And I also earn a good lot of money with my stay in this partisan army. Together with the priest, I am smuggling my last harvest of cocaine out of the country. And I will also get myself out of the country in the end.”
Aldo paused for a moment. Then he continued. “Like I already said, I could do everything I wanted. Nobody would dare to denounce a high police officer. Not even when that high police officer would commit sodomy. I started a team that would actively track down homosexuals. The Church commended me for that, but I filled that team with homosexuals as well. People that are as unscrupulous as myself. The people in that team, and I myself, got our share of sex by blackmailing the persons we arrested: Have sex with us, or see yourself tortured and executed. And that’s also what I proposed to Michele. And he refused.”
Aldo paused again for a moment. Then he pointed his gun at Marco again and said: “And with that we are back at our initial problem: Your body or your life.”
Marco was furious. This man was responsible for the death of Michele and Gianni. The thought of having to sleep with him almost made Marco’s gorge rise. But did he have an alternative? He wanted to get out of this mess, but alive. He stood before Aldo and looked at him with his black eyes sprewing fire out of instillable anger. He took off his shirt and dropped it on the ground. Then he looked at Aldo again, his eyes still sprewing fire. He waited a few seconds before he started to undress further...


Testono

Attack helicopters continued to prevent all traffic to and from the city, from time to time assisted by fighter planes.


Eiffelland

Five amphibious assault ships and one amphibious platform dock were loaded with men for an additional attack. Furthermore, A complete airborne division was prepared for an attack.


Southeastern Solaren

The events in and around Mazara, in which Solaris and Carentanians terribly clashed with each other, were followed by the Eiffellandians with interest. Apparently the Solaris used quite a lot of forces to defend Mazara, forces which were annihilated successfully by the Carentanians.
Meanwhile, a good front had been built up to wall off Southeastern Solaren. The air force started to bomb further to the west to facilitate an expansion by the ground troops. It was planned to leave Mazara and Southwestern Solaren to the Carentanians, while the Eiffellandians would turn up north into the direction of Testono.


OOC: Translations:

Ey, che cosa passa = Hey, what’s happening there.

Chiamiamo tutti i Eiffellandesi i bastardi sodomiti, ma tu che cosa sei = We call all Eiffellandians sodomite bastards, but what are you yourself.

Io? Sono un bastardo sodomito anche io = Me? I am a sodomite bastard as well.

 

[Rheinbund]

Testono

Traffic to and from the city was still prevented by Eiffellandian attack helicopters and fighter planes.


Eiffelland

Five amphibious assault ships and one amphibious platform dock left Eiffelland. Destination: Solaren.


Southeastern Solaren

Tanks and troops started to push west from Tegeata into the direction of Testono. They were covered by fighter planes.

 

[Socialist Commonwealth]

Mazara

Calm had gathered over the smoldering ruins of the Solaren metropolis, as Carentanian soldiers fortified their positions in the city that was finally theirs. Once Solaren soldiers had been thoroughly encircled in the city and the attempts at breaking out of the trap that Mazara had become, the Carentanians made sure to maximise the effect of having their enemies cut off from supplies. Wherever the Solaren forces were engaged, the Revolutionary Army made it their goal to draw their enemies into extended firefights that consumed an awful lot of ammunition. Advances were made only when Solaren fire died and the Carentanians kept pinning down enemy positions as they approached the hostile positions through heavy cover. At every defense the Solarens had have left in Mazara, they were either forced to engage in a prolonged exchange of bullets that did little but to exhaust their dwindling stockpiles - or risk getting overrun by the socialist soldiers.

Eventually, the battles were over, resulting in a large number of captive Solaren soldiers. Barely any of the captives had surrendered to the Carentanians, most had been dragged out of their positions forcefully after depleting the entirety of their ammunition stockpiles. Many others had been injured and were now sent to Carentanian hospitals where they would be treated, although carefully guarded to make sure the fanatics amongst them did not try anything stupid. And of course, many more had died in the flooded ruins of Mazara, where one of the bloodiest battles of the war thusfar raged through the streets. The Guardsmen and -women of Carentania regarded it as a little taste of what was to come once the battle for Torrence began. The Solaren regime regarded it as yet another defeat for their dying rule.

After the battle was won, the Carentanian fleet broke up, the Ampihibous Assault Ships headed north, for Iscla, while the bulk of the fleet, the Carentanian arsenal ship at its heart, relocated to the coast of Himyar, where trouble was brewing around the Talemantine Empire. Mazara itself was fortified by the garrisoned forces and the more mobile forces, having succesfully completed the siege of Mazara and pushed back the Solaren forces, gathered for their next offensive. The Carentanian military brought more troops, more supplies and some humanitarian aid through the ports of Mazara, while engineers attempted to rebuild the destroyed parts of the harbor. Carentania was facing the difficult task of maintaining its speed and mobility around Mazara in order to continue the advance, while preparing similiar offensive movements at other areas of the country as well.

Planes flying attack runs from Capraria, reaching deep into the Solaren mainland, did a great job at denying the Solaren forces to reconsolidate their positions and arrange themselves with the losses of territory. Interdiction missions targeted the command structures and communications infrastructure of the Solaren army, still confused and thrown into disarray by the collapse of their eastern frontline. Meanwhile, dedicated close air support fighters launched attacks against any armored vehicle that could be identified, crippling the mobility of the Solaren forces. Ground forces around Mazara, unable to yet organize complete offensive manouvers, joined the attack runs by organizing quick raids against Solaren forward positions. Armored forces would utilize speed and firepower to annihilate exponated units and defenses of the Solaren forces, before retreating into the defensive zone that was being established around Mazara.

Eventually, realizing that Mazara was lost and the enemy superiority too large to organize another attempt at retaking it, the Solaren forces evacuated a sizeable area around Mazara in order to reposition themselves deeper in their own land and prepare a new line of defenses, relying on stay-behind operatives and a fanatical populace to disturb the supply lines and occupational mission of their enemies.

 

[Rheinbund]

Il Cancello

The air force had struck each and every military target on the island in front of Testono. Now an amphibious transport dock and an amphibious assault ship approached the island. Covered by the air force, they unleashed their freights on the shore of Il Cancello: 26 tanks and 900 soldiers. Airborne troops were dropped above the island as well. In total, 5000 Eiffellandian soldiers would become active on the island. The battle for the island had begun.


Testono

Covered by the air force, four amphibious assault ships unleashed their freight to the shores west of Testono: 52 tanks and 1800 soldiers. Furthermore, 3200 airborne troops were dropped in the area. Their target would be Testono. The air force and the navy had prevented all traffic from and to the city. It had been impossible for the Solaris armed forces to reinforce the city, but it was already clear that Testono had an enormous load of weapons, ammunition and food to its disposal. Much of the loads of the Yujiner ships had been destroyed during the initial attacks on the city, but not everything.
Testono itself had been relatively spared up to now. The harbour had been destroyed. A couple of exocets had also been destroyed, and with them a small area around them. Furthermore, the attacks on the land infrastructure around Testono had led to the destruction of several houses in the outskirts of Testono as well. But the remainder of the city was still intact. The generals in Trier hoped that they could keep it that way, but feared the worst.


Southeastern Solaren

While the Carentanian air force was bombing the Solaris armed forces west and northwest of Mazara, the Eiffellandian air force did it thing as well. Under the uncoordinated but combined efforts by both the Carentanians and the Eiffellandians, the Solaris armed forces did not find any rest. It constantly had to fear for bombardments. When army units regrouped, they were immediately discovered and bombed.

Meanwhile, the Eiffellandian armed forces were fighting heavy battles with the Solaris armed forces in the areas 50 kilometers west and northwest of Tegeata.

The images of the remnants of Mazara became also known to the headquarters of the Eiffellandian armed forces and the Eiffellandian government. People were stunned. The generals knew that the Carentanians would never do something like that without a military necessity for it, and that this was war, but nevertheless. The Eiffellandians hadn’t been at war since the Great War, and people from that time weren’t in charge any more. Images like these easily shocked an average Eiffellandian. And also the government. But the generals managed to explain their feeling about the Carentanian armed forces, namely that they would not burn down a city on purpose, and that they probably could not have done anything else than they had done.

Fifteen years ago, Mario Camici passed all the exams to become an internist. During the years, he had developed his knowledge about oncology and built up a good reputation in that field. Nowadays, he only saw patients with cancer. He cooperated with a surgeon, Giancarlo Petruzello, who had built up quite a lot of experience in oncologic surgery. Camici and Petruzello were successful, but they were not happy. Both knew that Medicine outside Solaren had developed to such an extent that quite a lot of forms of cancer could be cured with medications or other techniques. But they never got access to those techniques, mainly because of the money, but also because of boycotts and travel prohibitions.
Camici and Petruzello lived in Southeastern Solaren, currently occupied by Eiffelland. They had already heard that the Eiffellandian doctors managed to do things even in field hospitals that the Solaris doctors could not do even in regular hospitals. Camici and Petruzello decided to step into Camici’s car and drive to one of the Eiffellandian field hospitals.
Three days later, they reached a field hospital. They told their story to the soldier guarding the entrance, were let in, and told their story again at the administration offices. When Prof. Dr. Sauerbruch, who was at the administration office at the same time for a certain reason, heard the two men talk, he walked with his normal loud steps to the desk where they were sitting.
Camici and Petruzello heard Sauerbruch’s steps and looked into the direction where the steps came from. What they saw approaching, was more a giant than a man in their perception. Camici was 1.70 meters tall, Petruzello was 1.75 meters tall, and both men were thin. Sauerbruch was 2 meters tall, muscular and robust. His shoe size was 50 and his hands were big as coal shovels. Everything on his body was enormous in Camici’s and Petruzello’s perception.
“Good morning, gentlemen. Accidentally I heard what you were telling to this young lady,” Sauerbruch said while referring to the female captain they sat in front of. “Frau Hauptmann, is it OK if I take these two men from you? Maybe I can help.”
The captain agreed.

Camici and Petruzello could barely follow Sauerbruch’s pace, but they managed to follow him to his ward. There they seated themselves in front of Sauerbruch’s desk.
“Well, that’s what you get. I’m 80 years old. My hand motions are not fine enough any more to operate, but still fine enough to apply punctions and infusions. And my knowledge never disappears. So here I am so that a 40 year old can stay with his or her partner and children. Anyway, I globally heard your story. Could you tell it again so that I know what you need?” Sauerbruch asked in Italian.
Camici and Petruzello told their story. At the end, Camici said: “Now I have a 22 year old patient with a testis carcinoma and an 8 year old girl with a kind of leukaemia that can be cured. Now I have to tell them both that they are going to die, although I know that there are medications to cure them. Please, can you help?”
Sauerbruch took his adress booklet and started to riffle through the leaves. Then he took the telephone and typed in a number. Camici and Petruzello heard the telephone ringing, and then that the call was answered.

“...”
“Hello Dr. Simiak. Prof. Sauerbruch here. I heard that you retired last year?”
“...”
“Well, you knew that I’m in Solaren now? Believe me, it feels good to mean something for the people again.”
“...”
“No, of course I don’t operate any more. But I can still apply infusions, so I’m working as a ward doctor here. Both for soldiers and for civilians. But there is something for you to do as well. Could you come to Solaren?”
“...”
“Hey, come on, noblesse oblige, even after your retirement. I’m 12 years older than you. If I can do it, you can do it even better. Furthermore, you can play golf your whole life, but here you can help the Solaris doctors with curing easily curable cancers. They have to tell the parents of young children that their child is going to die, while they know that there is a medication available. What is more important, improving your handicap or saving lives?”
“...”
“I know that, and I will tell them.”
“...”
“They do have the knowledge. Solaris doctors are very well educated. But they miss the medications and the equipments. I’ll take care of that, but then you will have to tell them how to use it. Tell me what you need to setup a cancer centre here in Solaren and I’ll arrange the equipment.”

Simiak listed what he needed, and Sauerbruch wrote it down. Then he talked to Camici and Petruzello again.

“Very well, gentlemen. I can help. That is, Dr. Simiak can help. He will help you with setting up a cancer centre here in Southeastern Solaren. The medications are one thing, but he will also tell you how to use them. You will be working with highly toxic agents and radioactivity, so some form of instruction is needed. Furthermore, you are going to give your patients very strong medications. Our oncologists manage to cure quite some forms of cancer, but they loose about 10% of their patients because of the treatment. And another thing. How is your German?” Sauerbruch asked in Italian.
“We learned German at secondary school, but for us that is of course long ago. Although it will be less long ago for our younger employees,” Camici said.
“At least that is a basis, but you will have to improve it. Dr. Simiak does not know Italian, and I don’t know if I can get enough medications and equipment with Italian descriptions and user manuals,” Sauerbruch said.

A few telephone calls later, Sauerbruch had arranged second hand equipment for a small cancer centre, a lot of medications, and a couple of crashcourses German. He used one fact to the maximum. He was Privatdozent Professor Doctor Alexander Reinhold Johann Maximus Sauerbruch, Chefarzt, traumatologist. His grandfather developed many surgical techniques, among others thoracal surgery. He himself was a respected surgeon, more because of his knowledge and skills than because of his ancestry. And he had one thing in common with Pope Urban: If he asked you to do something, you did it.

 

[Khemia]

Testono

The invaders in the South had gained much ground over the past month, with several major cities falling and territory quickly transferring into the hands of an enemy. Whether or not this was part of the Solaren battle plan - to overextend EDF forces, was unknown. It was unlikely that they had the sheer manpower required to maintain security, defend against counter-attacks, and continue to launch offensives for very long. Despite these facts, the combined Eiffellander-Carentanian forces were encroaching upon Testono.

The civil defense and the Army had worked together to heavily fortify the city, and over a divisions worth of combat-capable troops were ready to face off against the Eiffellander force. Twelve thousand infantry, coupled with 200 T-62's and T-72's, 300 BTR-60's, and hundreds of pieces of artillery ranging from high to low caliber howitzers and mortars. They had been given weeks to plan the defense. The army, not large enough to hold the entire city successfully, had determined tactical objectives throughout the city which would be heavily fortified. These included power-stations, railroad yards, weapons manufacturing plants, supply depots and oil reserves, as well as hospitals and some critical civilian infrastructure. For blocks around these locations, machine gun nests dotted the roofs of homes, jersey barriers stood in the middle of living rooms to act as cover in house-to-house fighting, artillery equipped with deadly chemical weapons were hidden in some locations, while decoys were located elsewhere. Anti-aircraft guns stood ready to deter air-strikes; even the oldest equipment could bring down a plane which had to attack at low speed and altitude in order to be effective.

Many of the exocets had been destroyed by cruise missiles, but some still remained. Those couldn't be used though, since the locations of enemy ships was unknown they could not acquire targets. Instead, they were jury-rigged to be improvised explosives, set up along major thoroughfares into the city and rigged to detonate by radio trigger. Others IED's included 155mm chemical weapon shells, bombs and missiles which had no planes to be fitted on, and even homemade explosives. Tank scrapes had been constructed like trenches in major thoroughfares of the city; any mechanized offensive into the city center would need to punch past T-62's and 72's hull-down in dirt and covered in sand bags. Along the coast, mines dotted the once beautiful, sandy beaches, interspersed with tank traps. Sea mines had been put out in sea by small boats whose radar silhouettes would have been difficult at best for the offshore Eiffellander ships to detect.

The defense was surely beatable by a determined and powerful force, but it would take time. And time was what the Solaren forces were attempting to buy - they knew that Solaren command recognized the threat in the South, and it wouldn't be long before reinforcements arrived and a counter-offensive began. Whatever the cost - Testono could not afford to be lost; the 350,000 civilians and 100,000 refugees would ensure that any attempt by the EDF to crush the city would be unnecessarily bloody. Command knew that a defeat here would give the EDF and RDTO the capacity to launch strikes against the capital.

 

[Rheinbund]

Southeastern Solaren

The partisan camp wasn’t really a camp. It was a small village of which the original inhabitants had been murdered by the partisans before they took it as their residence. Because of that, the partisans lived in quite comfortable circumstances given the fact that they were partisans. And also because of that, Aldo Siciliano had got the opportunity to claim a small house for himself. Now Marco Gambini was living with him, officially so that Aldo could “teach” him. But every night the curtains were closed. That was already the case before Marco moved in, so nobody paid attention to that. Both slept in separate beds to prevent suspicion, but every night before they went to sleep, Marco had to make love with Aldo.
Also this night. Marco was still lying next to Aldo. Both were naked. They had just made love. That was, Aldo had made love to Marco and Marco had undergone it with disgust. Aldo’s arm was wrapped around Marco’s chest. Marco played with the thought of screaming out loudly, but he knew what would happen. It would be the end of Aldo, but Marco’s end as well. And if there was one thing he really did not want, then it was dying together with this man. Marco wanted to resist, but didn’t resist.

Aldo started to talk.

“In two weeks time, we will get a weapon delivery. Weapons and ammunition for heroin and cocaine,” he said.
“Heroin and cocaine? What are those and what makes that you can buy weapons for those?” Marco asked. He was an intelligent boy, had absolved school with very good notes and would have certainly gone to university if the war would not have broken out. But he lived in Solaren, a country in which the citizens were generally kept ignorant about most things. Marco had enjoyed the privilege of going to a higher level of secondary school preparing him for university, but there he hadn’t learned anything else than the normal subjects and religion classes. Schools in democracies and in Carentania reserved some time in the curriculum to inform their pupils about drugs (even the schools in anti-drug country Eiffelland did) and sex (especially safe sex), but at Solaris schools information about drugs was not given and information about sex was given by the priests, who continuously referred to Leviticus 20 and emphasised how bad sex outside marriage was.
Furthermore, he had lived in a town with 20,000 inhabitants, in a country where the people generally didn’t travel much. He had never been further away than 100 km from Senigallia. He had never been in a town with more than 50,000 inhabitants. He had never been in Tegeata or Mazara. Michele had told about life in Mazara, but not enough to grasp the whole phenomenon city life. Marco really had never heard of drugs.
“Oh, it’s so cute how naive you province boys are,” Aldo said while fondling Marco’s cheek. Then he explained what drugs were, and also what heroin and cocaine did. At the end, he said: “Believe me, there are people in the heretic countries who spend half their salaries for drugs. Many people. So many that it is worth producing them and trying to get them over the borders illegally. The drugs I have here are worth billions of Lire on the streets of the heretic countries.”
Marco decided to stay far away from drugs. He considered it better to keep his head clear.

Aldo continued.
“I told the others about a weapons delivery. In reality it is my ticket out of the country. And I leave with the drugs. Let’s get real. What sense does our struggle make? The EDF and Carentania are going to win this battle anyway. What we do here is a lost cause. I’m only using it to get out of the country. With my drugs.”
“But why didn’t you get out before the war started? You could have easily arranged that,” Marco said.
“Indeed I arranged an escape, but the people that would help me were arrested in Eiffelland. The bloody fools. That country is extremely harsh on drugs, and they decided to stay there. Shortly after that, the borders were closed,” Aldo said. “But this time it will succeed. My men work under the cover of a humanitarian organisation. They will help me to Carentania. And from there I will travel further. With you, by the way. We will enter Carentania as lovers. I would feel lonely without you, and you want to get out as well. I know that. The end goal is Breotonia. Enjoying cocktails you never heard of. Driving your own Porsche or FMW through the streets of Lunden. Buying as many expensive clothes and watches as you want. I offer you a luxury life on a silver platter. You won’t have to work as a servant in your parents’ hotel any more. You already have it in you to become rich, but only by working for it. Now you get it for free. What do you say to that?”
“Sounds great,” Marco said. He hoped that he sounded enthousiastic. Despite the image of luxury Aldo had given, Marco didn’t want to go with him. The idea that he would have to act as Aldo’s beautiful award-boyfriend made him nauseous. Furthermore, what would happen if Aldo would be tired of him?

Then Aldo pressed Marco against him and whispered in Marco’s ear: “Come here, I want to do it one more time.” Marco let it happen.


Testono

The Eiffellandian soldiers west of Testono blocked off the land access to Testono, assisted by nearby attack helicopters and the air force. They dug themselves in to be prepared for attacks both from the side of Testono and from the other side.
Meanwhile, anti tank weapons, ammunition and all other needed materials were sent from Southeastern Solaren to the troops west of Testono.
At this time, the Eiffellandian strategy for Testono was waiting for reinforcements and meanwhile continuing the current approach of blocking off the city. The reinforcements were on their way.


Il Cancello

The battle for Il Cancello was extremely severe. It looked like the most fanatic Solaris had concentrated themselves on this island. The Eiffellandian army had managed to secure a stable bastion for itself, but at this moment that was it.


Eiffelland

Additional airborne troops were prepared for the battle of Testono. It was planned to drop 10,000 additional troops with anti-tank weapons, ammunition and so on west of Testono.


West of Tegeata

The Eiffellandian armed forces started their attack into the direction of Testono and Torrence. A total of 20,000 troops with tanks moved northwest. Soon they discovered that the Solaris armed forces were far from dead, despite the many bombings. The battles were severe, and both sides lost quite a lot of people and equipment.


OOC: Regarding “Lire”, we all know the former Italian valuta as Lire, but actually it was the Lira (the Pound; they sometimes even used the ₤ for it). In Italian, the plural form of Lira is Lire. Because of that, you always saw the word “Lire” on Italian money. I could have said “Liras” as plural form, but decided to go for the Italian plural “Lire”.
The Italian Lira fell victim to quite an extreme form of inflation, because of which it went into the Euro with a rate of 1936.27 Lire to 1 Euro. I don’t know how far I cross the line by presuming that one Solaris Lira could currently be compared with about 1 Eurocent, while it was still worth around 2 Eurocents before the war.

 

[Khemia]

Testono
The Eiffellander troops had put themselves into a precarious pocket by pushing to the west of Testono. To the south, a flank had been left exposed, but unfortunately Testono did not have the manpower to exploit the weakness and punch through. To make matters worse, only crude methods of communication were left available to coordinate a counter-offensive from Torrence with an aggressive defense in Testono. The army commander in Testono was inexperienced and had earned his position more through loyalty and birthright than merit. Still, he knew that his capabilities were insufficient, and he knew that he needed assistance. Gu shook his hand vigorously and maintained a stern face despite sheltering some hope that the General of the Solaren forces in Testono would permit him to give advice, or to be a part of his inner circle. The youthful face of the General, aged at maybe 38, looked at him. He was of the Tarenus family, a native of Torrence. His grey uniform was laden with many crosses signifying all the battles he had never fought.

"Mister Gu," the Solaren man said with some abrasiveness. Gu could tell that the native aristocrat was skeptical of Gu, and concerned about asking for advice from a foreigner. No doubt Gu's contacts had put in a good word for him, but he could sense the xenophobia of the man was an impediment. "Have you served in the NRA?"

The question was one Gu had expected, but not one he was prepared for. It caught him off guard, and took a moment for him to respond. "Yes," he replied.

"What was your rank, and why are you here?"

The two questions were intended to gauge his loyalty, and determine whether or not he would walk out of the room alive. This was the opportunity he had worked so hard for, and still the risk was enough that the palpitations of his heart manifested in the rhythmic dancing of his fingers. "I was... I am a Captain in the NRA. I am on an assignment for my commanders because I am a believer, and because they believe that Solaren needs to remain free, and that Solaren is the key to the downfall of the EDF. God willing, it will be so."

General Tarenus grunted and turned away, pacing around a table for a moment. "So, you are a spy implanted here to use Solaren for your own country's purpose?"

"With all due respect, sir, our purpose is the same. Whether it be the will of God or the will of man, I have come here with food, aid, my life, and a desire to serve the people of Solaren," Gu bowed his head.

"Then Captain," Tarenus lifted his hand and beckoned the foreigner Gu towards him, "come and be of use." Gu obliged and stepped forward, looking down upon the table. Before him he could see all of Testono's martial assets and their locations, key objectives and defensive chokepoints. Tarenus had done a fine job securing key areas with his limited resources, Gu could tell, but it seemed that the strategic picture was lost to him. "I need to know, what do we do to help reinforcements from Torrence punch through the EDF positions in the west?"

Gu placed his hands on the table, his eyes looking over the map, the cogs of his mind turning over and over around one central thought: he had finally achieved his main objective.


West of Testono
The first waves of a relief force from Torrence began to trick towards the Eiffellander positions. Company sized units deployed as skirmishers to probe the defensive line and determine their tactics, concentrate enemy forces, and bait them into traps. In the chaparral shrubland climate it was easy for small, foot-based infantry units to find cover in dense vegetation. Small farm roads and dirt paths wove through the countryside, and the main focus of the small units was to maneuver through the shadows of hill ridges, staying out of sight of potential enemy scouts. The goal was to either bite away at an entrenched foe, or to lure them into traps and hamfisted counterstrikes, while a sizable reserve force was held back in the hopes that a gap could be created. As the front lines blurred through Solaren skirmishers infiltration, the first battles of the Solaren counter-offensive began.