by XanderOne » Wed Jan 25, 2023 4:01 pm
25 January 5247, 11.12 a.m.
LHD Aquila sailing towards the Kundrati waters,
southern South Ocean
Finally also the helicopter with the division general Count De Adam and the Squadron admiral Silvana Polidori on board had finally landed on the Aquila and also them reached the commanding officer's quarters where there where already present the division admiral Mattia Arena, the air brigadier general Alessandra Calefi, the air force lieutenant colonel Stefano Leoni, the brigadier general Tiziano Sgarbi (Defense Intelligence), Domenico Sangiorgi (AIDIE, foreign intelligence agency), the Colonel of the Army Marianna Barbieri (Defense Staff), Army Corps General Giovanni Voiello (Defence Staff), and then Admiral Alberto Cantalamessa, Chief of Defense Staff.
"very well, finally we are all" the Chief of Staff welcomed them.
"What a wheater!" exclaimed general Count De Adam as he unzipped his field uniform jacket. In fact, the ship rocked dramatically, the portholes were lashed by the rain and were frequently illuminated by lightning.
"alas it was necessary to meet as soon as possible" the Chief of Staff spread his arms.
"with everything that's going on we need to take matters into our own hands!" General Voiello placed some glass glasses with a polygonal base on the table in the middle of the room, which he held skilfully with all the fingers of both hands so as to satisfy all the throats with some "fil de ferru" (trivenditan home made distillate) kindly offered by the very trivenditan Admiral Arena.
"The Prime Minister... has already made the matter clear with our allies" Colonel Barbieri replied, catching her breath after the second sip of the clear distillate.
"I really hope that the "professorino" (egghead) has enough balls to put them all in line" exclaimed lieutenant colonel Leoni contemptuously refering to the Prime Minister.
"You don't necessarily need balls" General Calefi retorted chuckling. She then downed the rest of the distillate.
"in any case" Admiral Cantalamessa spoke up as soon as he too drained his glass "I think we all agree that we will have to take over the direction of operations in Kundrati as soon as possible, where we are redeploying our forces from Malivia"
"what a shame in Malivia" General Voiello shook his head, draining his glass.
"the crisis in Kundrati broke out on our hands overnight!" colonel Barbieri intervened "We found ourselves overnight without the entire Kundrati contingent in Malivia, all the plans had to be redone, we had to postpone operations that were vital"
"Are you going to deny that there were several issues in all the organization?" retorted Voiello "do you want to deny that someone has gone too far this time? We relied on the information of the legitimate Government, the Beiteyneuses on the other hand agreed... and what happened? 3500 soldiers death! Don't to talk about the political consequences in Beiteynu"
"And now there is Likatonia too that can't even tell us how many troops they are going to send" added Admiral Polidori in consternation.
"I hope all these "gentlemen" have understood that OUR pilots will be in the skies over Kundrati and soon OUR soldiers will also be on the field" General Calefi also commented.
"And if we can't count on reliable informations we risk hitting a school or a hospital instead of military posts" added admiral Polidori.
"AIDE and the military intelligence are already on the spot collecting information" Mr Sangiorgi intervened "but... the Kundrati services are left with few resources, many agents killed, zero logistics, and what's more the putchist forces have taken the control of telecommunications and their SIGINT installations"
"sir" general Voiello turned to admiral Cantalamessa "the Arturo Gabriele II has re-embarked the medical personnel and is making a route to Istalia, let's redirect it to Beiteynu: we load it with Beiteynese troops and vehicles and send them to Kundrati! Let's amass forces, send them against those sons of bitches, crush them and put the government's ass back in charge of the country"
"The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is in contact with our embassy in Yishelem" Colonel Barbieri resumed "we are trying to evaluate the situation, politically the government has come out quite shaken and many in their parliament seem to be questioning military operations"
"We will make return the Arturo Gabriele II to Istalia, attack helicopters, armored vehicles and amphibious landing troops will be embarked" the Chief of Staff cut short.
"nostru uòmunu, ca canussciunu u mestieri!" exclaimed in strict trivenditan admiral Arena ("Our men! Who known their trade")
"okay, but since the whole Pact is redirecting its forces into Kundrati, here we need to establish a central, unified command led by US!" general Voiello continued "the only thing that Likatonians, Kundratis, Beiteyneses, Selucians... all of them, the only thing they shall say is "yes sir!""
"and we must convince Dundorf to act also in Kundrati" added General Calefi "they cannot just close the borders and welcoming refugees! We need bases in Dundorf, if we could use bases also in Dundorf we will halve the duration of the conflict"
"The Prime Minister has already pointed out the need for a central command, clearly with us at the top, you can rest assured, General" replied Colonel Barbieri "and the Foreign Ministry is getting in touch with Dundorf about the matter"
"The Prime Minister must not only let it be understood, he must say it and demand it! Here we are the ones who are deploying the bulk of the weapons, the bulk of the artillery, the missiles, our ships, our planes... and I think not must mention OUR men, men who... one of ours is worth ten of theirs"
"The Prime Minister is well aware of it general" Colonel Barbieri replied again "the whole Pact is not making a good impression"
"he had to point out to the Pact that without our weapons, without our air cover, without the arms and ammunition that we are sending to Kundrati, even 50 thousand, 100 thousand, 300 thousand men would only be cannon fodder"
"general, calm down" the Chief of Staff intervened "we as the Prime Minister are aware of all this and the Prime Minister is also worried because of how the Pact will evolve"
"if everyone really wants this coalition, alliance, or call it what you like... let everyone make up their minds to have our military advisors teach them how the fuck to wage war"
"For the moment, however, we have to deal with the one in Kundrati" Colonel Barbieri intervened again, bringing everyone's attention back to the present.
"we have to offer air cover on Keita" then the general of division Conte De Adam took the floor "we have to hit the enemy artillery and take out the armored units, if Keita falls we will only be able to keep the island and if that happens... really Likatonia will have to send us all his army"
"Yes... good cannon fodder for a landing" Admiral Arena chuckled.
"I will be in Likatonia next week" General Sgarbi spoke up "I will meet their General Staff: they must tell us exactly what they can and want to send us"
"and let them do it quickly!" General Voiello almost growled.
"yes" nodded Colonel Barbieri "we have to quickly turn the tide of the conflict in Kundrati, the Prime Minister wants to put everyone back with his ass firmly in the saddle and proceed quickly in unison, and shake off all the shit that rained on the head of the Pact in the last months"
"proceed in unison in Kundrati and even after, as mentioned, if we really take the next step with the Pact, they take it into their heads that they learn from us and let us organize military matters, tell this the Prime Minister by returning to Romula, sir" Voiello said to the Chief of Staff.
"I won't find him when he gets back: he will be "discreetly" flown to Beiteynu to speak with their government. He should stay there until the 2nd and..."
Suddenly the room tilted to the side and made the glasses slide on the surface of the table forcing all the officers to try to stop them from falling while trying to grab the fixed fornitures to hold on.
"cristu! Iera granni" Admiral Arena muttered through clenched teeth in trivenditan (Jesus Christ! It was a big one), then went over to the intercom while the ship was recovering trim and called the bridge asking for information.
"The sea is getting bigger, the meteorological control has said that the hurricane is increasing in intensity but that it is deviating towards the east: it will hit Likatonia at force 5, especially Pirland" Arena reported to the others.
"great!" general Voiello exclaimed sarcastically "we just need the Hurricane to hit Likatonia, so they didn't even send us half a soldier"
"by how much do they suggest to deviate?" asked the Chief of Staff.
"60/70 degrees to the west, they suggest to sail along the Malivian coast, the Pirland channel will be impassable and Keymon too will soon be in the eye of the storm"
"mmm... better review all our flight plans then" Admiral Cantalamessa commented to himself.
"perhaps it would be better for you to leave within two hours admiral, also the Sagitta will probably be slowing down to avoid running into the hurricane: we risk finding ourselves too far away for the helicopter's flight range" admiral Arean was referring to the frigate which further south would have had the admiral's helicopter refueled to continue the journey to Selucia from where he would then take a flight to Italy.
"damn... then better move to the CCO and start seeing the tactical situation in detail"
Continuing to hold on so as not to be tossed about by the increasingly agitated sea, all the officers agreed and left the room, sliding along the walls, occasionally changing sides according to the ship's inclination.