Viktor shivered, putting his hands in his Alpenjager coat and looked around the base. Snow fell and gathered on his already white camouflaged patrol cap. Nearby, a company of Alpenjager recruits was drilling with their Instructor, he identified the recruits as apart of the 2nd Alpenjager Division. Viktor himself was apart of the infamous 5th Alpenjager division, which brought hell to the Ancradian troops during the 1st Civil War. Construction workers walked around him carrying beams of Titanium and carbon.
“Major! There you are!” a young lady called out to Viktor from behind. He spun on his heel to face the girl to find her panting.
“Lieutenant, is there an issue?” He took his canteen off his belt and offered her water. The canteen was one of the newer high tech insulation models made specifically for mountain climbers.
She looked up and took the canteen, gulping down a quarter of the contents, then handing it back to him. “Thank you so much, sir! Uh… Arcadia has given us orders to be on standby and to be ready to mobilize at a moments notice.”
He’d nod, “Okay, what else Cristy?” The young Lieutenant looked up in surprise, after hearing him say her name for the first time in a while.
“Nothing else sir, thats it for now” She saluted and walked off towards the underground entrance building.
Cantaz Joint Ops. Command, 0734 Hours.
The 2nd and 5th Alpenjager Divisions was taken off standby and every man reported to the base’s airstrip to be loaded up into C-17s. Each soldier wore standard issue woodland Jieitai and a helmet instead of the usual winter camo and patrol cap that they wore on base. Viktor made sure everyone in his company was seated and then took his seat beside Cristy.
“Here we go,” He stared at the cargo in the middle of the plane as it took off. Three Humvee’s, one T-90, and some pallets stacked with crates sat still in the middle of the plane, buckling a bit on take off. Soon after, a F-15 escort took off after the C-17s and the whole air wing flew towards the DMZ Joint Security Area.
Command Building, Joint Security Area, 0842 Hours.
“Colonel, the Alpenjager are almost here” said the Sergeant at the communications station.
“Acknowledged, once they get here, assign them their orders and post them on the checkpoints” The sergeant saluted and returned to monitoring communications.
The Mil Mi-8 helicopter alighted carefully on the landing pad. Propellers still whirling, an older man in a general’s uniform, adorned with many medals, disembarked. Behind him jumped out four men, clad in body armor and each with guns on hand.
“Gentlemen,” General Gleb Lapidus addressed his guards, “put those away. I wouldn’t want us to make a bad impression on our hosts.”
After they complied, Lapidus gestured to the helicopter pilot. With a nod, the pilot took off.
“Now, let’s meet our allies. Shall we?”
A pair of A-32 transports hovered over the row of landing pads at Cantaz Command, both stocked with soldiers bound for conditioning and spec-ops training with some of the South East Coalition’s Finest. Out of the second jet stepped another figure, a general. Fareeha Litts stepped out of the jet, ready for her new post as one of three joint training command officers at the base.
Together with her ten other soldiers she strode toward the main building, the A-32’s taking off and moving to another pad after they were clear.
“Brigadier, it seems that our allies have arrived on base” a Lieutenant said. The underground section of Cantaz was bustling with construction, civilians, and military moving around. Brigadier General Wilhelm sat in the mess hall eating his lunch.
“Okay, tell them to head to the main command room in Sector 1A” He replied, finishing the rest of his food. Wilhelm stood up and walked off, cradling his peaked cap with his left arm.
Litts and two other soldiers arrived in the command center. “Good to meet you all.” She handed a technician a data drive. “This has satellite imagery of the Fire Line. I’m here to help get that bay locked down.”
Lapidus strode into the command center, two guards at either side.
“Good day, gentlemen.” With a nod towards Litts, he added, “and lady, of course.” He looked at Wilhelm. “I have been given command of the Strataric 3rd Fleet. Should I deem it necessary, I am authorized to send them to the Fire Line.” He paused. “I have no intention to attack Tripartite State, only to make Stratarin’s presence known in their waters. Should they attack us, though,” he chuckled. “Whatever god above they believe in will not save them.”
“I like your style.” Litts mumbled, giving Lapidus an approving nod before she spoke.
“At my back is gonna be the Second, Third, Fourth, and Eighth Emberitian Fleets, as well as a metric shit-ton of planes. Let’s get in there and stare them down.”
Wilhelm nodded, “The 2nd and 5th Alpenjager Divisions are already at the line, posing as checkpoint guards. The 1st and 5th Fleet are currently resupplying outside in the port.”
“We can mobilize the rest of the base’s combat units at a moments notice.”
A few kilometers from the Fire Line, a flotilla comprised of SEPCF ships stood strong, upholding the promise made just hours before. The occasional shard of metal floated past, presumably from the last fateful encounter the two powers had had just weeks before.
“As of 6:43 PM, December 7th, the SEPC has passed a trade embargo, and a military arms embargo concerning the import and export of military weapons on Tripartite State and her allies, the Fire Pact by majority vote.” Lights from the crowd of reporter flashed brilliantly as journalists snapped pictures for their papers. Journalists and T.V. News broadcasters international and those local to Setzna recorded almost every single word coming from the mouth of the Director of Foreign Affairs.
“Any defiance of the embargoes shall be met with force, whether it be diplomatic or physical, swiftly and accordingly.” Bret walked back inside the Capital building, wiping the sweat off his forehead. The Secretary of Defense applauded him as his diplomatic counterpart walked back inside.
“Great job with the speech man, let’s go and make sure these embargoes are enforced.”
A few kilometers from the Fire Line, a flotilla comprised of SEPCF ships stood strong, upholding the promise made just hours before. The occasional shard of metal floated past, presumably from the last fateful encounter the two powers had had just weeks before.
— End quote
A segment of the third fleet maneuvered into its position in the convoy. In the flagship, Reyndzher, Admiral Abramov strode onto the bridge. One of the officers stood. “Sir, ship and crew are operating at peak proficiency!”
Abramov allowed himself a slight smile. “Good work.” He paused for a moment. “The fleet fares similarly?”
“Affirmative.”
“And the rest of the 3rd?”
“Maintaining their distance, should an incident arise.”
“Very good.” And indeed it was. It had been a long time since Abramov had been at sea, and the feel of it did him good. “Signal our allies greeting.”
“Right away, sir.”
“Patch it through.” Jordan ordered, rising from her chair.
“Channel open, Captain.”
She addressed the air before her as if it was a friendly ship. “Hello, Admiral. Good to see you around. I’m Jordan Falhas, captain of the U.N.V. Cygnus, at your service.”
After hearing Falhas’s message, Abramov replied, “I’m charmed, Captain. I myself command the SBS Reyndzher. Oh, and I hear that Emberwood possesses viewscreen technology aboard their ships. I must apologize that we do not have similar capabilities.” he added, slightly smiling. He continued. “Just so you know, we have the rest of the 3rd fleet off at some distance, to provide reinforcements should this turn to conflict.”
“Understandable, sir. We’ve got the second fleet on station here, and the third and fourth fleets are en route.” She thought a moment, and added, “It’s an honor to work with you, admiral.”
The seaport instantly lit up as lights turned on one after another quickly, search lights lit the skies and the ships in port. Whistles were blown aboard ships as the 1st and 5th Fleet steamed out of the harbor. The combined fleet headed north to meet up with the Allied Flotilla at the line as apart of the blockade.
“Likewise, captain.” Abramov turned to his comms officer. “Close channel, I suppose.”
“Channel closed sir.” The officer hesitated for a moment. “What do we do now?”
“Now?” The Admiral settled in his chair. “Now we wait.”
Not far from the flotilla, the 4th detachment of Axdelian naval vessels prowled forth to join the blockade fleet. The ships were lead by the aircraft carrier ANV Noya-Jenski, whom was closely tailed by the sleek, angular outline of ANV Jekyll. Flanking the vessels were two Waster-Class destroyers, two Falcon-class frigates, an Element-class frigate, and guarding from below were two Proton-class submarines.
In the island of the Noya-Jenski, Admiral Pelorre glared harshly out at the distant flotilla. He glanced over at the ships radio operator, who simultaneously returned the glance back to the admiral, who nodded.
“We’re in ideal position” Pelorre began, drawing his attention back to the rest of the crew. “Begin communications with the international blockade, and prepare for forthcoming manoeuvres.”
“Aye sir!” the crewmen chimed in unison. The radio operator promptly returning his gaze back to the console and adjusted his headset, tapping a few keys to open a secure channel with the SEPCF forces ahead. He twisted the microphone down to his mouth and began transmitting the pre-planned message to the fleets.
“Attention all ships of the international blockade. This is the Axdelian 4th naval detachment flagship, ANV Noya-Jenski, informing of the imminent formation of our vessels with the greater flotilla. We will remain at a safe distance from other vessels during our positioning manoeuvres and will be in contact shortly, over”
Pelorre relaxed back into his seat as the operator relayed Falhas’s message back to him.After a second he stood up and strode purposefully towards the operator, motioning for him to remove his headset.
“Step aside, I’ll take this one,” he ordered, leaning over and re-opening the channel to Falhas.
“Greetings, this is Admiral Pelorre and we would be honoured to join you for the dinner. We’ll make contact once we are properly positioned in the flotilla, over.”