Sovereign

"Aptly named the Battle of Halia, all eyes are now on the Royal Capital of Orland as it raged on. The downfall of the leader of the Ivory Alliance and the Mandate of Nations came as a shock globally as hostilities between the Order Pact and the Ivory Alliance resumed mere days before the so-called "June Putsch". Is the days of Orlish Hegemony over? And with nations falling left and right to pro-male Republican revolutions, will we women weather the raging storm before us?"

- Geopol Press

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June 18, 2024

Northern Sea

GIS Terror

22:00 Hours

"How?! How did we lose them you buffoon?! Explain it to me clearly!"

Empress Katerina Illyenov - the sole absolutist authority of the Empire of Larissa, shouted with great fury at a man before her.

Her brother, Admiral Rurik Illyenov, averted the gaze of her glowing yellow eyes. While much older than the 17-year-old woman, his fear overcame any notions of challenging his little sister, and all he could do was obey.

"I-I'm sorry, Your Majesty, but-"

"But what you idiot?! You lost him again! You told me that you would find him within a week, yet it's already been ages! Do you understand clearly what kind of trouble you are in now?!"

One of the officers beside him spoke up in an attempt to defend his superior.

"Look, we are trying to find hi-"

A slash and a jolt of electricity zapped the heavens out of the man. The body of what was once a Larissan naval officer fell limp beside Rurik, which made him shiver in fear even more.

A sentiment shared by the rest of the officers before her and the Imperial Knights.

"Do not try to answer me with insolence! I thought you rats had learned of that already?!"

"We are sorry…please, Your Majesty…"

"I have heard enough of your incompetence already! Because of your stupidity, we have not been able to proceed to Phase 2 of our invasion plans. Do none of you understand the utter shame of this? Do none of you love your own Empire? Are you lot a bunch of TRAITORS?!"

The silence before her was deafening, as the officer wisely chose to stay quiet and not challenge the raving Empress. Not even Rurik spoke, as he kept his gaze downcast.

"Look me in the eye, Rurik."

"I-"

"I said look me in the eye."

He followed her orders as he attempted to straighten himself. She crossed her arms.

"Explain yourself."

"We…one of our formations, Destroyer Division 48 met another hostile formation South West of our current position. By the time our strike sortie arrived, DesDiv 48 was in full retreat and we lost sight of the enemy task force."

She tapped her fancy shoes on the ground rapidly.

"And then…"

"They jumped our planes…and shot down 14 planes from those 2 air wings, and we completely lost them afterward."

Her eyes twitched. Twitched as her utter irritation at her older brother reached its melting point. How could this dumbass call himself an "Admiral"? He cannot even find his enemies!

"And do you see the problem with that, Rurik?"

"...I assure you, it is crystal clear."

She fell silent as she stared at his fearful eyes in many ominous seconds before her icy, sharp words came out.

"Rurik, find him for me, or you will absolutely regret being the Admiral in charge of this fleet."

"I understand that completely, Your Majesty."

"Now leave! Leave all of you! I want results, or all of you will end up like that guy!"

With much haste, the officers, including Rurik, left, as some of them dragged the stunned officer out of the room.

…

Her anger had not dissipated. No, she was still livid.

Another sip from her tea, yet her anger didn't subside. She flipped another page of the book that she was reading after the sip, as she sat on a fancy chair in front of just as fancy table that absolutely had no business being in a Larissan aircraft carrier.

That sneaky little rat. How dare he? How dare he sabotage my plans? Lorathia should have been mine by now, but no, that man just had to ruin it. Albert, you nasty rat!

Now, strangely enough, one might ask, what indeed was she doing by being personally present in an aircraft carrier on combat operations? Indeed, to Katerina, it was simply extremely ridiculous as well.

Had it not been for the fact that her Empire too was falling apart.

Dammit, I cannot lose. If I lost, there would be a revolution in the Empire.

She furiously flipped further through the pages, her anxiety rising as every moment where there was no news of Albert's ONS Rebenslof being sunk passed.

Her Empire had suffered crisis after crisis, the worst being the Lavoslav Nuclear Meltdown, which nearly irradiated an entire Duchy of her Empire, her crackdowns on information being the only thing standing between her and international humiliation.

Not even the Empire's female aristocracy was on her side anymore, their petty squabbles being the only thing that bought her the tiny time to desperately turn the burning ship around.

And her brilliant plan?

A military victory like no other!

Indeed, how else could one distract squabbling elites and place them back on her side? A war of course.

But with Katerina's shameful defeat in the Great War, she wasn't exactly the most reputable kind whenever she would promise a "victory" in war.

Luckily, she had always blamed and scapegoated the "dumb, stupid, rat" Admirals and Generals of her High Command. And so, without much choice, she declared that she would "take command herself!" and "bring a decisive victory!" to the Larissan aristocracy before promptly attacking the Ivory Alliance - and boarding the GIS (Grand Imperial Ship) Terror, the flagship of the Larissan Imperial Navy, to personally command them to victory.

Yet, such victory remained elusive, as she was unable to send the 2nd and 4th Armies to land in Lorathia, all because Albert's lone carrier stood against her.

She flipped faster and faster as she was now merely pretending to be reading. Albert, Albert, Albert - that damned Orlish rat who destroyed her plans in the Great War, was now once again a thorn in her side.

There were a great many things that ran through her mind about that Commodore. Of how she both hated and admired him. Such utter competence, such loyalty, yet all those were for Amelie - not hers.

If she only had him, Lorathia would be singing praises to her under Larissan occupation by now. She would have the Northern Sea for hers. She would be able to blockade Gaul and the small Kingdoms of Western Vaeyox that were in the Ivory Alliance.

She would have won and secured the throne and its stability if she just had him. Instead, she had Rurik - a moron, a fatass, a coward, and a spineless Prince that only had the title of "Admiral" because she was his older brother.

She closed her book with fury.

…

<>

Above the skies of the Northern Sea, merely a hundred kilometers up north from Strike Force 7, a W-2 Vision, the mainstay AWACS asset of the Orlish Navy, lingered around in the stormy skies.

Even with the powerful gusts of wind and turbulence that rattled on its airframe, the circular radar mounted on the plane scanned widely.

While there was no visual confirmation, it was clear to the pilot and the operators of the AWACS plane that yes, something was out there.

<>

<<14 Surface Contacts. 4 more in a separate cluster. Moving west. Sending contact bearings and coordinates.>>

<>

<>

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Northern Sea

Strike Force 7

22:30 Hours

Albert had received the report from his CIC rather quickly. Immediately, he had given the order to scramble his best strike squadrons to prepare for a possible sortie, as he dashed toward the bridge to take control.

"Captain?"

"Commodore, we have them. We have eyes on them."

An officer closed the door to the bridge behind him as he entered and followed Captain Vogel. The Captain pointed at a grid 400 kilometers away from them on the map, where a cluster of red icons that represented the surface contacts glowed on the screen.

"We suspect that at least one flat top is in that fleet. Callsign 'Ajax 1' is currently over here, monitoring them closely. If we send a sortie now, we will have full AWACS coverage for the next 30 minutes."

"That so? But we aren't sure if that thing is Katerina's-"

"Maybe, just maybe, she's there, Commodore. If she's not, we would still sink multiple ships and eliminate a task force, possibly a carrier even. We have no choice but to bite."

"Captain, my concern here is, what if this is a ploy? They would know our direction immediately once we launched our strike. Even if one of their carriers is present, I cannot authorize a strike when we run the risk of a separate carrier discovering our position."

Indeed, that was the main concern of Albert. He knew these kinds of things. Even if it was no ploy, any competent fleet commander would know how to react whenever his fleet was attacked from a certain direction - send his planes and missiles over there.

"But you told me already that attrition would do us in if we do not strike first. We found them now, do we even have any other choice but to take this chance and strike first?"

And Captain Vogel had a point as well. They found them now. Why not attack? Naval warfare was always about who would strike first. Whoever found the enemy unaware and launched their missiles first would start with extreme combat advantage.

Especially since the enemy still had no idea that they had eyes on them. In other words, Albert's Strike Force now held the initiative. They could choose when and where to strike, while the Larissans would not be able to respond until the Orlish attack had commenced, in which case they would suffer severe losses.

But those other carriers…14 ships, that's probably just a fraction of the Larissan fleet. If I attack now, who knows how many other aircraft carriers would respond and swarm me?

"I have an idea, Captain."

"I'm all ears, sir."

"What if…we send the sortie further east, before swinging west, striking them, and then dashing straight west to land in Lorathia?"

"You mean to tell me, they won't rejoin us?"

"If we attack from a different direction, and our air sortie avoids landing back here, they won't know where we are."

"But then those planes would be lost. At least, until we break EMCON and return to Lorathia."

"Exactly. We break EMCON and steam south to Redcastle Naval Base. If we sink an aircraft carrier and return to a friendly port, we would have technically won a tactical victory."

"But this might compromise our strategic outlook. If they know we are at Redcastle, they might push on to land at Northern Lorathia. Our uncertain presence in the Northern Sea is the only thing preventing them from invading. Without these air wings, we would not be able to stay here and we would be forced to follow your plans of returning to Lorathia. Albert, this is a risky plan."

"So is yours, James. If they find us, we would be sunk, and nothing would stand to defend Lorathia. An utter tactical and strategic defeat."

"But if we succeed, we would not be in a risky strategic position. We would be able to keep a tactical victory and maintain the stalemate."

Albert paused and looked around the bridge as he considered his options. His own idea or Vogel's? Both were unsavory options with too many holes. Although truthfully, he preferred his own plan as it offered the best chance of survival for them.

And to survive, even if he would concede the strategic stalemate that his one carrier managed to project in the Northern Sea, would still mean they would live on to fight another day.

Or we could do nothing.

"So what would it be, Commodore?"

"What if we do nothing?"

"Nothing? I already told you, we cannot let this opportunity slip from our grasp."

"You have a point. But both of our plans are still unsure. We should observe them further and wait. Can we really not get any visuals?"

"No can do, sir. Even if we send another AWACS, they would run the risk of being intercepted if they get too close. In fact, Ajax 1 won't last long up there. We would have to rotate another W-2 in ten minutes to keep watch, assuming we don't lose them."

Decisions, decisions. He had to make the call swiftly, as the time passed. To attack or not attack. His plan or Vogel's plan. What would he do?

But…if they land in Northern Lorathia, it would be the end of this campaign. Indeed, he has a point.

"Captain, I authorize you to initiate your plan. It would be a gamble, but let us do it."

He nodded.

"Aye, sir!"