Saint HeleneBoard

Delta 1 lined up in a convoy, four vehicles total. The plan was a simple one everyone could agree upon: two gunners watching the left, two gunners watching the right, and the drivers would be putting the pedal to the metal. There was no time to waste. The Catletts, with their modest maximum speed, didn’t exactly blast through the city roads, but they chugged along at a reasonable pace, their crews dispensing the occasional rain of lead at any armed figures wandering about the industrial areas.

“Magister to Delta 1-1, smoke screen inbound, ETA is 20 seconds. Over.”

Artillery shells struck the streets ahead of them, some even hitting the factory complexes and storage areas around, much to the dismay of any bosses who still cared about their equipment. However, these were no ordinary shells - rather than explosives, they dispensed a thick fog that enveloped the Solarians. It was a rather disorienting thing to drive through, especially in an already crammed vehicle, but GPS was invented for a reason. The enemy’s accurate fire that threatened to overwhelm the formation suddenly fell apart, instead the Cadetist riflemen became loose cannons, strafing the air, the pavement below them, or even other buildings, as smoke poured into their positions.

“Delta 1-1 arriving at the crash point! Hang tight, guys!”

The allies in front of them each veered into one direction or another, leaving 1-5 as the last in the pack. The vehicle crew took up a position as the rear guard - committed to guarding their retreat path - while the support squad dismounted, bringing their heavy weapons with them, setting off for a worker’s dorm that overlooked a wide section of the industrial park. Many of the civilian employees still present were in the building were sheltered in the concrete air raid shelter built ever since the days of the East Osean Crisis, locked away from any threats. A handful of others were peeking from their rooms at the on-going battle, with a lethal curiosity. The troopers, unhindered, got on the last floor of the building and picked one of the many dorms that had been quickly abandoned when the fighting began. A stench of poor cigarettes filled the air.

“1-5 is on point,” called out Hutchkins through his extended range radio, “ready to support.” Meanwhile, what looked like a small segment of hell was unfolding down below: the crashed Kestrel at the center of the battlefield, on fire and gushing out fumes, with a few survivors rested beside it, trying desperately to crawl their way out. Cadetist pillboxes laying down heavy fire with machine guns and RPGs, from their well-entrenched position in a manufacturing plant. Hostile reinforcements, pouring out from newly-arrived APCs, trucks, or even just from the surrounding streets. The Marine Recon teams, nestled between their Catletts or next to cover of dubious quality, firing everything they had to try and push the front, so that they could rescue their comrades.

“This is Delta 1-3 to 1-5, it’s swarming with these f@ckers down here! Can you take out the guys on the right flank and the bunkers? Over!”
“Delta 1-5 here, I have our machine gunner and our sniper engaging hot, but we can’t take out that fortified position without getting ourselves killed. I can try to call in air support. How copy? Over.”

“Copy! Just get me anything that can suppress those guns! Our guys in that wreck won’t last much longer! Out!”

The corporal frantically tapped on his radio before reaching the correct airwave frequency. “Break, break, this is Delta 1-5 to Magister Actual. We need immediate close air support at the crash site, we are in contact with hostile troops barricaded inside an industrial area. Do you have any assets which you can task over at this time? Over.”

“Magister to Delta, be advised, air units are on tap but RoE is restricted at this time. Bombing runs are prohibited against targets not cleared by High Command. We cannot provide an air strike at this time. Over.”

Hutchkins cussed out the commander as he was off-radio for a second, then resumed: “Magister, we have laser guidance that’s compatible with missiles. If you can send us something that has them, we can provide designation to prevent collateral damage. That should match the RoE. How copy? Over.”

“Magister copies, stand by… Delta 1-5, CAS mission cleared. I am sending you Poniard 1, flight of two F-2Ns, time on station 0+40, passing through IP Battleaxe, TOT 30 seconds. Go for readback - over.”

“Poniard 1, flight of two F-2Ns, 0+40, through IP Battleaxe, TOT 30. Over.”

“Readback is correct. Proceed with designation.” Hutchkins’ assistant, a private, shone an invisible laser against the pillboxes, and a couple of seconds later two missiles smashed through them at high speed. One detonated in a corner of the building, its explosion rather tame, but the second overpenetrated and blew up at the center of the factory. What followed after was a massive fireball, prompting both Solarian and Merilian soldiers alike to look on in shock.

“Uhh… damn,” the corporal said to himself. So much for “minimum collateral damage.”

<< This is Poniard 1 to Delta, egressing west, awaiting BDA, over. >>

“Delta to Poniard, BDA is 100 over… eh… 100. Enemy target destroyed. Over.”

<< No further remarks, Delta? >> inquired the pilot, confused at the lack of details.

“Negative, not at this time. Out.” Despite the unintended detonation, the strike had its intended role, with the marines capitalizing on the confusion and launching their own rocket attacks to delay the enemy and recover their allies. “Delta 1-1 here, we’ve rescued Nomad 6-1, the Raider element onboard the flight. I have three KIA, four wounded and nine still mobile. Magister, do we have any evac or ground support incoming? Over.”

“Magister here, I’ve dispatched Alpha 3-1 and 3-2 with tank and MEDEVAC support to provide you relief. ETA is five mikes. Over.”

“1-1 copies… Our position is a bit tight, Magister. We might get overrun soon.”

“Just do what you can to hold them off, help is coming, Deltas. Out.”

The colonel’s last words brought out bitter memories from the Fusean veterans among the platoon, but they kept them confined in their own minds, not wanting to scare the more fresh-faced soldiers they were leading. “1-1 to 1-2, cover that western approach. I’ve got plus ten enemy footmobiles switching firing positions there.”

“1-2, copy! Engaging with Catlett support.” Rockets flew at them - endangering their precious APC. “Damn, this isn’t working. Pull the armor back, we’ll engage with small arms.”

“1-4, these insects are everywhere! They’re blindfiring from the alleys and the dorms- send reinforcements over to the left flank! We’re gonna fold soon!”

“1-3 to 1-5! You have OpFor storming your building! Look out!” From the floors below, the sound of boots smacking along stairs was audible. Hutchkins and the others hurriedly turned around and set up firing positions in the corridor, with even the sniper pitching in as he pulled out a submachine gun from his back. Emerson, having been filming in the comfort of a relative “safety”, decided, rather reasonably, that he’d rather not be in the thick of it, and so pulled himself to the other end of the corridor and hid in a storage room, but left his camera on the hallway, to film the shootout.

What ensued felt more like a siege: the first Purple to set foot on the last floor was shot dead on the spot, so the others behind him wisely chose to engage indirectly, throwing grenades, smokes and trying to fire through the walls to hit the pinned Solarians. The marines retaliated with their own grenades and suppressing fire, ensuring a stand-off that could only be broken by some outside support…

While the other Delta squads kept hanging on, they were in no position to help, which is why it came down to someone else to relieve the team. Another pair of footsteps could be heard, followed by a long sequence of gunshots, and then a sudden silence on the stairwell. “What the…” Alex told himself, afraid to look out. “Our guys… they didn’t just get wiped out, did they?” But soon a shout from Hutchkins cleared up any such thoughts:

“1-5, check fire! We have friendly guerillas in the building!”

Emerson was suddenly interested, and so decided to take a cautious look. He saw as the marines stood down from their shooting postures, with a couple of men in green drab and some patchy armor and rifles chatting with them. Mark picked his camera back up and recorded the exchange:

“Solarian friends! You have come to our aid! We come to yours now!” said a rather lithe man with a mariner’s cap on his head. “I am soldat Aleks with the Resistance- it is good to meet you!” Behind him were two others, of similar age but slightly larger in statute.

“Corporal Hutchkins- good to meet you,” the radio operator stated as he passed the fighter, staring down the stairway to ensure the place had been secured properly. “Another Alex, eh? Might want to say hi for the cameras back there!”

The fighter’s eyes gleamed with a pride visible even through the darkness of the night, and so he smiled and waved. “Hello, Alliance! Hello, Merilia! We are fighting for our freedom and for YOUR freedom!” Emerson couldn’t help but loosen up at such a sight, despite the wartime conditions.

“Alpha 3-1 here, arriving with attached support to your pos, Delta 1! Lafayettes, bring the rain!” The arrival of tanks rendered the obsolete enemy RPGs completely ineffective, and they struggled to combat the armored might of the M1s. “Get the injured men to safe ground, stat!”

Under the cover of their fellow troops, the recon marines finally managed to withdraw the wounded to an evacuation point. Wasting no time, Alpha and Delta platoons set off back to base, in order to refuel and rearm. Emerson, now back with Barton from 1-3, asked if there was going to be any rest or not.

“Heh… That’s a negatory, journo. Afraid this night’s far from over. Next stop: Hoffgrad Power Station, four klicks deep into enemy territory. Resistance’s main forces are centered around there and they’re giving it everything they’ve got to keep the grid under our control. Buckle up, team - I hope you’re ready for another ride soon.”

…

SBS Channel 1 - Special News Report (LIVE!)

𝘞𝘈𝘙 𝘐𝘕 𝘔𝘌𝘙𝘐𝘓𝘐𝘈: "𝘚𝘰𝘭𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘢𝘯 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘤𝘦𝘴 𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘖𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘯, 𝘧𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 (...) 𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘰𝘯𝘨𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨" - 𝘎𝘦𝘯. 𝘈𝘯𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘸 𝘔𝘢𝘤𝘒𝘪𝘯𝘯𝘰𝘯

For the members of the audience who didn’t tune in last night, we now turn back to the surprise landing of SAF units behind enemy lines, in the region of Ostrosetin, one of the targets of the naval and air strikes in weeks prior. The Armed Forces have released a statement just a few hours ago, confirming that members of the Army’s 1st Airborne, the Marine 1st and 2nd Divisions, as well as numerous Air Force squadrons, took part in Operation “Varsity”, which is meant to kickstart, in the words of General MacKinnon, a “precise, rapid campaign” targeted against the Cadetist regime reigning in much of the country.

Having been on-going for roughly twelve hours now, troops are reported to have already seized much of the countryside of the region, and, in conjunction with local resistance forces, have nearly conquered the industrial district of Hoffgrad, although heavy fighting is still on-going. Reports of fatalities have been issued, but an exact death count is not available at this time. Our war correspondent, Alex Emerson, has been on the ground, filming important bits of the battle, but is not currently available for comment. In a message to the studio, he said that the urban combat is intense, but commended the elite spirit of the troops he was with, as well as the bravery of the locals who have chosen to join forces.

First Representative Bell has also addressed the country in a televised statement: “My fellow Solarians! On this day, precisely at midnight, soldiers from our ground, air and navy units have engaged in battle against the Cadetist regime, which has, for too long, plagued the East Osean realm. Engaged in terror and bombings not only against innocent Merilian civilians - but even our own compatriots - this Purple Menace, which has festered for a long time now, has been dealt the first of several hits that will amount to a killing blow for autocracy in Merilia, and will bring peace and democracy to these lands, and by extension, boost peace in our own land.”

“Many of us have grown tired of war. But this is one conflict we can not afford to lose. The Cadetists came to be, in part, due to our own mistakes and oversight. In our political stagnation and bickering, we gave them time to prepare and grow into what they are today. I promise to you - this shall be the case no further. We will not have another Osean Crisis - we will not have another Long War. The tyrannical regime of Bondarev, of Autokolskiy and of Johan Krečimir ends here and now.”

“Effective immediately, and in recognition of the long-time efforts of our democratic allies, I am proclaiming the commencement of Operation: Merilian Shield. Our mission is simple. Destroy the Cadetist threat and any other armed formation that does not recognize the rightful authority of the Merilian Federal Council and the Merilian people. Provide relief and support to the wounded, the displaced and the missing of this war, and prevent another disaster like Trebired from happening again. Then, rebuild the country, into a democracy worthy of the Saldanha.”

“I know that my mandate has, again and again, put the Alliance into the position of confronting the world’s turmoil. But we have always come out victorious, even under the harshest circumstances. We have stopped rogue states and actors - we have curbed genocides, saved millions. This is part of the burden of liberty that each free man carries upon their back. Let us stand, shoulder by shoulder, with the oppressed, and then lead them out of the dark, dark night that their slave masters imposed onto them. Free peoples of the world - unite! Let us shatter the chains that hold others apart from ourselves.”

Bell’s speech has been met with wide support from both the Alliance Council and the public. When polled, respondents told us in 78% of cases that they believed that the operation would be “swift and efficient”, and in 71% of cases they also stated that they believed there is “little to no risk” of intervention from other parties or states. In any case, as this is a developing story, SBS will continue to keep you updated in real time - on the minute, to the minute.