Xanan News Service: From the Spur to Your Inbox!

[NewOriginalSchwann]

Colettish Government Announces Defeat of Solarian Restoration Front Assault

Act 4 Article 1 of the Amor Patriae arc

Adelmira de Noi, Presidential Liaison for the Colettish government, stands behind a podium on a stage. A Colettish flag covers the wall behind her and she idly flips through a binder. At an unseen signal from out of the camera’s focus she clears her throat and begins speaking.

“Today the combined forces of the Middle Ring Shield Pact and Free Solarian Fleets repulsed an attack on San Colette by the forces of the Solarian Restoration Front. Our defenses will continue to hold the enemy back until they are defeated. Due to the sensitive nature of the defense situation I cannot answer questions at this time.”

de Noi closes the binder and walks off of the stage to a door, which she disappears into after a Civil Guard soldier opens it. The camera switches to Mariska van den Soeterik behind her desk.

“While the War in the Northern Wildlands continues San Colette, for the time being, continues to stand. We go now to Ajit Gopal and Delphine Deschamps, our analysts for the War.”

The camera switches to two shots: one of van den Soeterik, the other of Deschamps and Gopal. Gopal speaks first.

“Thank you Mariska. Delphine and I have been observing the Front’s activity elsewhere in the Wildlands.”

“The Front,” Delphine interjects, “has continued its assault against the League and has gained some territory, though its pace has slowed due to shifting forces to San Colette.”

“Do you think they’ll attempt another assault?” van den Soeterik asks.

Deschamps shakes her head.

“Not unless they can push the League back further. Ajit’s research suggests they still have a decent amount of forces left, though not enough to mount a serious assault.”

“Ajit, Delphine — thank you for your work on this.”

“Thank you for having us,” Gopal responds, then his and Deschamps’ section of the screen fades out.

“The Xanu News Service,” van den Soeterik says, “will be back after a short break.”

Edited September 17 by NewOriginalSchwann

[NewOriginalSchwann]

XNS Exclusive: Front Shift Forces from League Assault, San Colette Holds Steady

Act 4 Article 2 of the Amor Patriae arc

Following the typical XNS jingle the camera focuses on a screen displaying the Northern Wildlands flanked by analysts Ajit Gopal and Delphine Deschamps. Grimly, most of the Northern Wildlands aside from San Colette appears to now be under Solarian Restoration Front control.

“With much of its offensive strength lost in its unsuccessful April offensive, the League has not been able to hold onto its remaining territory,” Deschamps begins as she taps her PDA and centers the map upon a thin stretch of League territory which stands on the Coalition’s border. “With the Front apparently content to let this remnant remain most sources indicate they’ve begun shifting vessels to San Colette, likely in order to begin another assault. Ajit?”

“Of course,” Gopal pulls his own PDA up and taps it. Various Front and League units appear on the screen, though there are far fewer League units than Front ones. “Most of the remaining League forces are elements of the 67th Fleet, which was — ironically enough — garrisoned in San Colette prior to the Collapse.”

“That is a bit ironic,” Deschamps interjects.

“Isn’t it?” Gopal clears his throat. “Anyways, the 67th has managed to maintain much of its cohesion during the Wildlands War while others have not. Most other League units, particularly its irregulars, have been fleeing across the Republic and Coalition’s borders.”

“And what are they doing there?”

“I can’t really speak to Biesel, but in the Coalition it depends. Some are doubtlessly going to make it through Coalition patrol forces and settle somewhere, but most have been caught and detained by naval forces such as those from Konyang. It’s all up to the legal system now. What about the Front’s movement?”

“Well with most of the League, as you said, either fleeing or defeated the Front has moved or is in the process of moving most of its forces back towards San Colette. It won’t be surprising if they try another assault once they’ve managed to amass more forces.”

“How long do you think it’ll take for them to be ready?”

Deschamps waves her hand in the nearly universal “so-so” gesture.

“I’m not sure Ajit. Honestly, they’ve got a lot of different drives ranging from brand new Hammer Drives to more dated ones from the early 2400s. A fleet only moves as fast as its slowest ship, so maybe we’ll see something in about a week’s time?”

“Maybe. On that note, we’ll be right back! Remember to stay tuned to the Xanu News Network for the premier coverage of the War in the Northern Wildlands!”

Edited September 17 by NewOriginalSchwann

[NewOriginalSchwann]

XNS Exclusive: The Volunteer Tapes, Tape Four

Act 4 Article 3 of the Amor Patriae arc

The camera focuses on a short, wiry, and pale woman wearing a battered Solarian Army uniform with a red-and-white armband wrapped around one sleeve. A Tribunalist eye dangles from a necklace around her neck and her blue eyes have a piercing look despite her short stature. A Solarian Army marksman’s rifle, sans ammunition, sits across her thighs. The woman idly pulls the bolt back, snaps it back into place, and looks directly at the camera.

“Do I begin speaking?” her Common is heavily-accented and absolutely, without a doubt, Dominian.

“You can, yes. We’re recording,” Liao Qi says from offscreen.

The woman nods.

“I am Branka Buković, formerly of the Imperial Dominian Army and now a volunteer fighting for San Colette. I serve under Commander Forsythe and serve as one of the Battalion’s sharpshooters,” Buković pauses for a moment to clear her throat. Her accent is, to one familiar with the Empire, obviously Jadranic. “While the Empire may be too far to be interested in this struggle, I have taken a different perspective.”

“What is that perspective?”

“That the Goddess would not wish for us to stand idle while innocents suffer. You and the Coalition,” Buković leans towards slightly for emphasis, “may view us as simply Imperials. The matter is not so simple. Nearly one-hundred years ago the Empire saved my home from starvation. Is it not righteous for myself to save San Colette?”

“We’re here to discuss San Colette, not Dominia. But with that said, how has it been to be in the Alliance as a Dominian?”

Buković takes a moment to ponder her response.

“Unusual. The Alliance places a great emphasis upon its military, much like the Empire, but has long suffered from issues we have not. It is similar but too different to be familiar, I suppose. My faith has been my anchor.”

“How has being a sharpshooter been?”

“I am familiar with it, though Solarian equipment is different than what I am used to. It is simply a means to an end.”

“Right, right,” Qi can be heard clicking his pen. “Do you have any closing comments?”

“Only that I will fight until I am no longer able to, and that the Goddess will see us through this. I know She will.”

The tape cuts out.

Edited September 17 by NewOriginalSchwann

[MattAtlas]

XNS Exclusive: Pact Announces Victory Over Second Front Assault!

Act 4 Article 4 of the Amor Patriae arc

Following the typical XNS jingle the camera focuses on a screen flanked by analysts Ajit Gopal and Delphine Deschamps. Rather than all of the Northern Wildlands their screen now solely displays the system of Patria Nueva, which contains San Colette. All of the system’s major bodies — Nuevo Hispaniola, San Colette, San Colette Minor, and D’Anzin — are featured on the map, as are rough approximations of its defenses. The planets slowly orbit Nuevo Hispaniola until Deschamps clicks something on her PDA which causes them to first stop, then reverse before shopping again. Outside of Patria Nueva forces marked by the black-white-gold flag of the SRF are stationed in preparation for an assault. Inside, a mixed force of Pact units and Free Solarian Fleets mercenaries stand in formation with Civil Guard defenses.

“Here are the Front’s forces and the Pact’s defenders as they stood roughly thirty-six hours ago,” Deschamps begins. “Through analytic work the XNS war room has managed to reconstruct some of the assault repelled earlier today by the Pact.

Deschamps mods to Gopal, who hits something on his PDA and sends the entire system model into motion. Front forces stream through four paths cut in the Field of San Colette — a massive stellar minefield — and begin to slowly advance through the Colettish Belt, starting to take losses as they pass a faint circle labeled “Spear Range.” One of the advances — the 32nd Fleet’s — buckles under pressure in the Belt and retreats, having taken noticeable losses. The assault sections of the 33rd and 34th Fleets make more progress into the Belt before also being pushed back, with the 34th nearly breaking through into inner San Colette. The 35th Fleer’s assault detachment, the most experienced of the Front’s five fleets, managed to break through the belt and forms a small “beachhead” which is quickly repulsed by a combined Civil Guard and FSF force. As the final 35th Fleet forces return to their previous positions the display stops moving and Deschamps clears her throat.

“The attack was repulsed effectively by the Pact, but not without losses. The Front, however, was similarly mauled in its advance, particularly the 32nd Fleet. It was badly, badly mauled by railgun fire during its retreat.”

“It was the force behind the initial assault, wasn’t it?”

Deschamps nods her head in response.

“It was, yes. Its Admiral, Renart Paquet, is suspected to have died during the retreat when his flagship, the Mumbai-class battleship Implacable, was hit by a railgun round and suffered a critical reactor failure which resulted in its detonation.”

“And the Pact?”

“They’ve lost a lot of their mines and automated defenses but their inner defensive lines remain stable. It’s entirely possible the Front’s sole purpose behind this assault was to ‘soften up’ San Colette for future assaults by more modern vessels. While San Colette is an intimidating target to most attackers it’s cut off and entirely unsupported currently, and there are some points in their defenses where modernization efforts weren’t as widespread as hoped. The Colettish government has never disclosed that information but we can, at the very least, assume the Front is attempting to exploit weaker areas.”

“Any other news?”

Deschamps ponders for a brief moment before speaking again.

“According to rumors the Front has begun work on repairing some of the Pact’s destroyed warp gates, such as those in New Peoria. Most were totally destroyed by the Pact as they retreated but some are at least partially intact.”

“Are they going to use them to teleport into San Colette itself?” Gopal seems to be incredulous at the mere thought of doing this.

“Probably not,” Deschamps responds, “since they’d need the relevant codes from the warp gates in San Colette. But if they do get those, hm, they might try it.”

Edited September 17 by NewOriginalSchwann

[MattAtlas]

XNS Exclusive: The Volunteer Tapes, Tape 4

Act 4 Article 5 of the Amor Patriae arc

The camera focuses on a severe-looking man in a Solarian Army uniform with an unusual, non-Colettish garrison cap upon his head. The badge upon its front marks it as a Schiffchen of the now-defunct Visegradi National Defense Force. The man looks at the camera with the same intensity as Lieutenant Colonel Kaohi did earlier. He looks off to the side of the camera briefly and his mustache twitches slightly, then he begins speaking.

“I am Willerich Kozak, formerly of Visegrad’s defense forces and now serving as the commander of Third Colettish Volunteer Battalion. Prior to coming to San Colette I was roughly equivalent to a Lieutenant Colonel in our forces and fought against other traitors to the Alliance. This conflict is simply the next step for me in ensuring our nation can reclaim its former glory.”

“Right,” Qiao responds, “can you tell us a bit about the Third?”

Kozak nods in response.

“Boze,” Kozak sighs briefly, “it’s a bit of a hodge-podge. Our core is made up of NDF — Visegradi civil defense — soldiers and officers. Below that’s a mix of other Solarians and Coalitioners like you. Hale might disagree with me when I say this, but you Coalitioners can become fine soldiers with proper guidance.”

“Why would he disagree?”

“He’s a gold commander, but he’s got a lot of personnel behind him — he can make choices regarding who he brings in while I really can’t. There’s only two things I won’t bring into the Third.”

“What are those?”

Underneath his mustache, Kozak grins. He holds up one finger.

“No communists,” the second finger goes up, “and no kigyo.”

“Kigyo?” Qi asks after a momentary pause.

“Lizards,” Kozak responds. “I haven’t seen any in my time here, but I have seen a lot of communists — mostly through our gunsights, but I’ve still seen them. It’s not a surprise they’re just as murderous here as they’ve always been.”

“Right, right. That aside, do you think the Pact can hold without the Alliance?”

“I’m not going to answer that. If it holds, it holds. If not, we’ll fight until we can’t.”

Qi can be heard flipping a few pages before speaking again.

“What do you think of the other battalion commanders?”

“Hm,” Kozak’s mustache twitches slightly as he considers his words. “Hale’s a good soldier and I trust him to have my back. Forsythe’s from the Legion so he’s not my equal in terms of training, but his unit was the first to get boots on the ground. His X-O does most of the heavy lifting, I imagine. She’s Martian, he’s not.”

“What has the Third been doing since the encirclement began?”

“Training Pact troops, especially the Coletters, in urban operations. During the Collapse and its aftermath, right during the start of the Civil War, we ended up having to fight hard battles with secessionists on Visegrad, and most of my personnel saw action in Sloboda — sight of the hardest fighting. Not all of them took up the Navy’s call to arms when they dissolved the NDF and some of them — the synthetics the NDF used to own  — didn’t want to get wiped. We ended up here.”

“How has the training been going?”

“It’s difficult to learn, but hopefully we’ll prevent some of them from getting killed by Fronters or by friendly fire from some kretyn. A lot are still going to die — that’s just the nature of it — but some won’t, and they’ll pass the lessons on.”

At the point the tape cuts out.

Edited September 17 by NewOriginalSchwann

[MattAtlas]

XNS Exclusive: The Volunteer Tapes, Tape Six

Act 4 Article 7 of the Amor Patriae arc

The camera opens to an Elyran man seated in a very worn-looking armchair inside a room lit by artificial lights. The windows of the room have sandbags on them and tarps draped across them to catch shattered glass. Prior to the Collapse, and the outbreak of war in the area, such a sight would have been unthinkable in the Alliance. The Elyran is clad in a Solarian Army uniform with an orange-yellow armband, and appears to be in his middling thirties. Offscreen, Liao Qi clears his throat and begins speaking.

“We’re recording. You can begin speaking.”

“Right, right. I am Khaliq Akhtar, formerly of the Najada Phoron Dogs and now serving in the First Colettish Volunteer Battalion. Before mercenary work, I was in the Army.”

“What made you become a mercenary after your service in the Elyran Army?”

Akhtar laughs briefly, and it has something of a bitter edge to it.

“I couldn’t really go back to my office job on Bursa after the Incursion, so I figured I’d do something with what they taught me. Plus, we always need phoron, don’t we? Both the Republic and the Spur, right?” Akhtar leans back into his recliner. “What does it matter if a little bit of it’s got blood on it?”

“Right, right,” Qi clicks his pen. “What brought you to San Colette?”

“Money, what else? My company was hired to escort a few Elyran-flagged tankers which were doing business with the Coletters. Were they probably doing it to dodge regulations? Probably, but what do I care if I get paid? A Pound’s a Pound and a Credit’s a Credit,” Akhtar shrugs, then leans forward. “Now, you’re probably wondering why I stayed, right?”

“For money?”

Akhtar laughs again!

“Right you are! Sure, there’s a degree of idealism or fighting extremism for a lot of people, hm? But for us – the Phoron Dogs – we follow our noses,” Akhtar demonstratively taps his nose, “to where profits are. This got us put under somebody from Biesel, but does it matter? The Solarians are still paying us to stay here and guard facilities on D’Anzin – now we’re just seconded to another group stationed here.”

“How has this made your, ah, Phoron Dogs feel?”

“If they’ve protests, they keep it to themselves. There’s a lot of Volunteers and they’ve been useful on San Colette while we get to stay nice and pretty on D’Anzin — the weather’s just like Bursa here! If the Front comes, they’ll stand – and so will we, assuming the Credits stay flowing.”

The tape cuts out.

Edited September 17 by NewOriginalSchwann

[MattAtlas]

BREAKING: RESTORATION FRONT FORCES BREAK THROUGH COLETTISH LINES — D’ANZIN CONTESTED

Act 4 Article 8 of the Amor Patriae arc

The camera zooms in on, as always, Mariska van den Soeterik, the dedicated host of XNS’ foreign news segment. Her augmented eyes glow slightly as she reaches across the table for her PDA. As before, she appears to be somewhat stressed — an unusual emotion for the veteran newscaster.

“Just now,” she begins, “the Xanu News Service has received credible information which indicates the defenses of San Colette have been breached, and the system itself is now contested. Pact forces are currently engaged near D’Anzin — a distant planet within the system — in an attempt to repulse the Solarian Restoration Front and force them back into the area surrounding the system. Delphine?”

The camera switches to a view of Delphine Deschamps and Ajit Gopal in front of a map of Nueva Patria, San Colette’s home system. Gopal taps his screen and causes the screen to switch to a view of D’Anzin and its surrounding area.

“Thank you, Mariska,” Delphine gestures to the map. “As you can see by our map — which has been updated with the most accurate information available to us — elements of the 34th and 33rd Fleets with support from the remnants of the 32nd Fleet have managed to break through Colettish defenses near D’Anzin, though they have certainly suffered losses in the process. It’s likely that the relatively fresh 31st Fleet, recently returned from the fight against the League, with some support from the 35th, will do much of the fighting in the system.”

“Right, right,” van den Soeterik responds from off-screen, “what positions does this leave the Front and Pact in?”

“Neither of them are doing well,” Deschamps responds. “The Pact is doing its best to hold and the Front is, if rumors from the Alliance are true, potentially about to be involved in a two-front war against the remnants of the Pact and the Alliance. They might be able to occupy San Colette, but they’re not going to be able to defeat the Alliance. Back to you, Mariska.”

The camera switches back to the stressed-looking van den Soeterik behind her desk. She clears her throat and begins speaking.

“As always, the Xanu News Service will attempt to keep you updated with the latest news from the Wildlands. For now take care, and stay safe.

Edited September 17 by NewOriginalSchwann
typo

[NewOriginalSchwann]

XNS Exclusive: Battle for D’Anzin Continues — Colettish Forces Hold

Act 4 Article 9 of the Amor Patriae arc

“Earlier today,” Deschamps starts as the screen behind herself and Gopal shows an image of Nueva Patria showing the SRF and Pact fighting over D’Anzin, home to San Colette’s major phoron facilities, “Colettish forces announced D’Anzin’s defensive line is stable, and there is no immediate risk of further breakthroughs by the Front."

On the screen various units of the Front, Pact, Civil Guard, and FSF fight for control of D’Anzin and its surrounding areas as Deschamps talks. The defense, led by the renowned Caravaggio according to the map, is holding steady.

“While scattered, reports have also reached us of new weapons utilized by the Civil Guard: phoron-tipped railgun rounds, a potential first for any non-Biesellite force.”

Gopal clicks something on his PDA which causes the screen to switch to a blurry still image — likely signifying its origin as footage from a nearby ship — of a Front Taipei-class heavy cruiser which has been impacted by one of these alleged shells. The bow and much of the front of the vessel have been blown apart. The explosion is a brilliant purple-white color and has not yet totally faded.

“That effectively confirms it,” Gopal says. “This makes San Colette the first government to use weaponized phoron after Biesel.”

Deschamps nods.

“Ajit, you’ve been looking into the interstellar response to these allegations of phoron-based weapons. Have you seen anything noteworthy?”

“Nothing official as of now — these photos are only a few hours old, so most governments haven’t responded to their use. Chirper and other forms of social media are ecstatic throughout much of Sol outside of Mars, and concerned in many other locations — particularly Tau Ceti and Konyang. Reactions in Hang Tuah’s Rest, a planet on the edge of the Corporate Reconstruction Zone near the Alliance, have been particularly enthusiastic, with the local governor and the Solarian People’s Liberation Fleet hailing this as a clear example of Solarian greatness.”

“We’ll have to see what else comes of it, won’t we.”

“We will — and the XNS will be back after these messages from our sponsors.”

The broadcast fades out.

Edited September 17 by NewOriginalSchwann

[MattAtlas]

XNS Exclusive: Ground Combat Begins on D’Anzin — San Colette Proper at Risk?

Act 4 Article 10 of the Amor Patriae arc

“Over the past 48 hours,” Deschamps begins as the screen behind her and Gopal switches to a close-up of D’Anzin and its surrounding areas, with distances demarcated in units of of a hundred kilometers — a relatively small scale for interstellar combat, “Front forces have pushed Colettish forces and their allies back in the space surrounding D’Anzin, and have begun to launch limited assaults against ground facilities using their marines. What limited information we have suggests the garrison has been weakened by the fighting but has repulsed most assaults so far. Ajit?”

Gopal taps something on his PDA which causes the screen to switch to a map of D’Anzin. Roughly two-dozen spots across the planet — most of them related to phoron production are marked as having been the target of Front assaults.

“As you can see Delphine,” Gopal begins, “we believe the Front has launched about two-dozen assaults on D’Anzin’s surface recently. This does not count orbital strikes not involving ground combat, as there have been far more of those. Most of these assaults were not successful due to fierce resistance by Civil Guard forces, but the Front has secured some territory on the planet and is, according to what we’ve seen and heard, attempting to exploit its gains.”

“Have they secured anything noteworthy?”

“They managed to secure one Colettish Phoronics facility — known locally as Valle Púrpura — after an extended fight with the Civil Guard and Free Solarian Fleets marines, and were processing phoron at the facility. Unfortunately for the Front an explosive ‘stay-behind device’ left by the Civil Guard detonated late last night and destroyed most of the facility, scattering processed and unprocessed phoron across the surrounding area. With regular emergency services disrupted and the Front having abandoned the facility it’s likely Valle Púrpura will continue to burn for potentially several weeks, spreading Phoron contamination through its smoke.”

“That sounds dire.”

“It is,” Gopal nods. “Most of the area around it is uninhabited, but who knows how far the smoke will travel?”

“Right,” Deschamps taps her PDA and brings up an image of Nueva Patria, then draws a line from San Colette itself to D’Anzin. “With D’Anzin contested, many are concerned San Colette itself could reasonably be under threat within weeks if not days. For now the defensive line appears to be holding, and rumors have begun to circulate about imminent naval intervention, but the situation doubtlessly remains quite dire for the Coletters. With the Solarian Navy as tight-lipped as ever we are, for the time being, left to only sit and observe. The Xanu News Network will return with more observations regarding the ongoing conflict in San Colette after this short break.”

Edited September 17 by NewOriginalSchwann

[NewOriginalSchwann]

XNS Exclusive: D’Anzin and San Colette Cut Off — San Colette Itself Threatened

Act 4 Article 11 of the Amor Patriae arc

The camera opens, as it typically does, to XNS analysts Delphine Deschamps and Ajit Gopal standing by a map of Nueva Patria — San Colette’s home system. D’Anzin, home to the Colettish phoron industry, has been cut off from San Colette proper. An odd, oval-shaped circle marked “Pact Forces” covers D’Anzin and area surrounding it, and this zone is marked as containing three fairly large warp gates — one of which is a type typically used by large freighters and tankers which would have often visited San Colette in more peaceful times.

“As you can see by our map,” Delphine begins, “D’Anzin is now effectively cut off from San Colette itself, which is now at risk of a Front assault against Pact positions on the ground — assuming they can break through the Spears of San Colette. This line of railguns and defensive positions now, it seems, is all that stands between the Front and the heart of the system.”

“To make matters worse on D’Anzin,” Gopal taps on his PDA and switches the screen to an image of D’Anzin’s surface. “Phoron fires have continued to burn at multiple facilities such as Valle Púrpura as fighting against the Front has continued and, in some areas, intensified.

Gopal taps his PDA again and the screen switches to an image of Colettish troops — likely regular Civil Guard infantry judging by their modern equipment and winter camouflage — wearing gas masks standing in a snowy environment overlooking a burning facility nestled within a valley. Purple-black smoke rises from several holding tanks in the facility and destroyed vehicles, some still smoldering and some simply abandoned, are scattered in and around the facility.

“This is Valle Púrpura as it now stands. It has, according to information provided by the Pact, been retaken following the recapture of hills surrounding it. The Front appears to have detonated all remaining phoron stores they could not evacuate before the Pact arrived. Supplies of cardox — one of the few things capable of stopping a phoron fire — are insufficient for the current fires across D’Anzin and more cardox can’t be acquired due to the ongoing conflict.”

“That’s awful,” Deschamps comments. “It’s simply going to have to burn itself out?”

“It will.”

Deschamps taps her PDA again, causing the screen to switch back to a view of the entire system. The three gates are highlighted.

“These three warp gates,” Deschamps points to the gates, “have been fiercely defended by the Pact and have remained in their hands during the assault. It’s currently unknown why they’ve made such an effort to hold them, but several theories have been put forward. The first is that these gates are estimated to be the most likely point of insertion for the SRF, should they successfully reactivate the warp gates near New Peoria. The second is that these gates will be used by a foreign power to transport their forces in, thus saving San Colette.”

“I imagine most are hoping the Alliance will intervene?”

“Most are, but we don’t know anything for sure at the moment regarding their plans. For now, it’s anybody’s guess as to what will happen. The XNS, however, will return after a short commercial break.”

Edited September 17 by NewOriginalSchwann

[NewOriginalSchwann]

Front Forces Reach San Colette’s Last Orbital Defenses

Act 4 Article 12 of the Amor Patriae arc

The camera opens, as it typically does, to XNS analysts Delphine Deschamps and Ajit Gopal standing by a map of Nueva Patria — San Colette’s home system. Colettish and Pact forces, alongside FSF mercenaries, have held their ground near D’Anzin admirably, but the Front itself has pushed through Nueva Patria and is now almost at San Colette itself. Between it lies only a thin line representing the Spears of Saint Colette: a series of modern railgun stations which have inflicted grievous damage upon the Front so far, but now find themselves under siege.

“These fourteen stations,” Deschamps begins as she clicks her PDA, causing the screen to shift into an image of San Colette proper with the Spears floating above it, “represent the last major obstacle for the Front before they reach San Colette itself. Their forces, after months of fighting, have been worn down, but remain capable of mounting serious assaults — and threatening San Colette itself.”

“Do they have enough to reach San Colette and invade it?” Gopal asks.

Deschamps considers the question for a brief moment.

“They may be able to, but I doubt they can destroy every station. The Spears are, for the purpose of conveniently resupplying them via San Colette’s space elevator, placed in geosynchronous orbits above San Colette — they don’t change their positions while they orbit, so to speak.”

“So in theory they’d only have to destroy or disable one or two stations in order to launch an invasion?

Deschamps nods.

“—that’s an alarming thought. Has your team thought about which one they might target?”

“Of course!” Deschamps nods. “Two are fairly likely.”

Deschamps taps at her PDA and causes two railguns to be highlighted. The first El Conquistador is in stable orbit above Nueva Isabela, the planetary capital. The second, Dedo do Destino, is in orbit above the industrial city of Nuevo Villaviciosa, home of the Castrejon Space Elevator.

“If you had to pick one, which one is the most likely?”

“Undoubtedly Dedo do Destino due to its position above Nuevo Villaviciosa,” Deschamps responds without hesitation. “If the Front can seize or disable the space elevator, they’ve effectively neutralized San Colette’s railguns. Currently, according to some reports, these are the most effective weapons the Coletters have. Multiple Front warships have been lost to them over the course of this week, and D’Anzin’s continued ability to hold the line is due to their continuous fire support.”

“I suppose we must simply wait and see, then?”

Deschamps nods, then speaks.

“That we will — and we’ll be right back.”

Edited September 17 by NewOriginalSchwann

[NewOriginalSchwann]

Colettish Railgun “Esmeralda” Destroyed — San Colette Invaded!

Act 4 Article 13 of the Amor Patriae arc

The camera zooms in on, as always, Mariska van den Soeterik, the dedicated host of XNS’ foreign news segment. Behind her is an image of, distressingly, a ruined Colettish railgun station with a Front vessel next to it. A person familiar with the Solarian military may recognize this vessel as a Mississippi-class transport, a vessel commonly used by the Solarian Marine Corps to transport troops and heavy equipment. Its position in the orbit of San Colette likely only means one thing.

“Good evening, and thank you for tuning into the Xanu News Service,” van den Soeterik begins. “Unsettling news has reached us from the besieged San Colette, where a loose alliance of pro-Solarian groups have been fighting against the extremist Solarian Restoration Front. We go now to our expert on the Front, Delphine Deschamps. Delphine?”

The camera’s view splits into two, revealing a tired-looking Deschamps. She smiles and begins speaking, attempting to fight through an exhaustion she is feeling.

“Thank you Mariska. While we didn’t expect for the Esmeralda to be destroyed, its destruction allows for the Front to menace Nueva Isabel and San Colette’s space elevator, assuming they’re able to fly transports that far. With that said, roughly fifteen minutes ago the Colettish government’s military sent out this message across the system. I’ll play it for you now.”

Deschamps reaches for something offscreen and a recording of a voice identified as Admiral Emerico Tolentino, the overall commander of the Colettish Civil Guard, begins to play.

“Citizens of San Colette,” the Admiral begins. “Know that this is our Republic’s darkest hour. The Front, which seeks to destroy us and our proud nation, has come to San Colette and now seeks to occupy it by force. This is a desperate effort by deserters who will be defeated, but it remains a dire threat to our nation. Just now, the crew of the railgun station Esmeralda gave their lives to destroy their station rather than see it fall into Front hands. As a result our proud capital, Nueva Isabela, and our space elevator in Nuevo Villaviciosa are now under direct threat. The coming days will not be easy, but our Republic will endure. All Civil Guard personnel, militia, and others willing to fight should report to their assigned stations across San Colette immediately. Those who cannot fight should report to appropriate bombardment shelters. Remain strong, and know we will survive and endure this.”

The camera switches back to a view of Deschamps and van den Soeterik.

“It sounds quite dire,” van den Soeterik says after a short pause.

“It’s a very difficult situation, yes, but the Coletters are confident they can hold, and recent events at the Solarian border — and rumors of the Navy being directly involved in confrontations with the Front — have helped to keep morale high. However, we have received rumors — unconfirmed ones, mind you — of Front troops landing near Nueva Isabela.”

“Thank you, Delphine.”

“Of course!” Deschamps disconnects, leaving solely van den Soeterik.

“The Xanu News Service will do its best to ensure you remain informed during these unfortunate times. Liao Qi, our reporter in the area, has advised he is safe and currently in Nuevo Villaviciosa, where he intends to capture the events as they unfold. For now, we will return shortly.”

The broadcast fades out.

Edited September 17 by NewOriginalSchwann

[MattAtlas]

Ground Combat Begins Outside Nueva Isabela!

Act 4 Article 14 of the Amor Patriae arc

“Earlier today,” Deschamps begins, sounding somewhat tired — it seems she hasn’t slept well recently, “Front forces landed in the fields surrounding San Colette’s capital, Nueva Isabela. The following footage has been retrieved by our analysts and, at times, provided by the Colettish government. Viewer discretion is advised.”

Spoiler

The first footage shown is from a small drone, flying a few hundred meters over a scorched battlefield which was once — perhaps even hours ago — a small farm. It appears to be midday, though smoke on the battlefield makes it difficult to determine the exact time of day. A crashed dropship in Front colors has impacted the burnt remains of a farmhouse. Two destroyed dropships, both of which are smouldering, are located relatively near it. Behind one of the intact barns is a Solarian Army M35A6 with a Colettish flag proudly waving from its radio antenna. The tank fires, kicking up an impressive cloud of smoke and dust, and a distant object explodes a few seconds later. The tank reverses and backs away from the barn as the footage cuts out.

Spoiler

The second footage shown is, confusingly, seemingly from before the first one — the sun marks it as the early morning — and seems to have been captured from the helmet or shoulder camera of a Pact soldier. The soldier, who is taking cover in an entrenchment as heavy gunfire can be heard all around him, looks up as another person shouts a warning and sees three Front dropships descend from the sky. He swears to himself and, with some effort, pulls out a small device which appears to be some form of laser projector. After a moment he uncaps the device and aims it at the lead dropship, then engages it. He whispers to himself in Tradeband — a prayer, to those familiar with the language, and a missile streaks into his field of view and smashes into the lead dropship’s left wing, causing it to drop out of formation and descend into the farmhouse with a loud crash. The man screams in triumph, as do others around him, then ducks down to grab a radio as the other two dropships descend near the first one. After a moment a female voice responds in Tradeband, with the XNS helpfully providing subtitles.

“5-6 this is Overwatch, send traffic - over.”

“Overwatch - this is 5-6, we have visual on armored landers. Requesting, ah, two papas bravas,” the two preceding words, perhaps due to translation errors, have been left in Colettish Tradeband, “on laser-designated grid, over.”

“Roger that 5-6, two inbound to grid,” the numbers are censored by a beep, “shortly. Get to ground, over.”

“Roger that 5-6, two inbound to grid shortly. Get to ground, over,” the man puts the radio and shouts something out in Tradeband, then takes his camera off and puts it on top of his entrenchment to view the dropships.

"Solid copy Overwatch, out."

As Front troops begin to disembark there is the distant sound of jet engines flying low and very, very fast. The camera begins to turn and pivot — likely being controlled remotely by the man — and shifts left to show two jets in Colettish colors streaking towards the farmhouse at barely above tree level. As they get closer they pull up, and six deformed cylindrical objects fall off of the bottom of them. The entire farmhouse and its immediate surroundings — though some barns dodge this — are bathed in fire as the objects hit the ground and the jets fly over the Coletters, sending dirt, dust, and the camera flying in every direction.

Spoiler

The third footage shown appears to have been taken in the early evening, and is from a camera mounted on a vehicle identified as M35A6 main battle tank “El Bandolero.” The camera swivels and pivots around as El Bandolero drives through the outskirts of the farm, pushing back towards the ridge line where the second footage appears to have been filmed from. Its radio idly transmits chatter from nearby units suggesting the Civil Guard has, over the past day of fighting, destroyed most Front troops on the ground. As El Bandolero begins driving up the hill the camera swivels to the left, showing a group of Colettish soldiers — one with a radio on his back — swapping their positions with another unit clad in Solarian Army fatigues and led by a woman whose messy blonde hair sticks out of her helmet slightly. These are likely Volunteer Battalion members and, judging by their appearances, they have seen their share of combat as well.

 

The footage ends to reveal the exhausted-looking Deschamps standing in front of her and Gopal ‘s typical monitor. Gopal himself is off to the other side and looks as bad as Deschamps.

“The Xanu News Service,” Gopal says, “will return shortly. Delphine and I will work to provide you with what coverage we can of these historical events as ground combat continues on San Colette.”

Deschamps nods as the broadcast fades out.
 

Edited September 17 by NewOriginalSchwann

[MattAtlas]

Ground Combat Begins Outside Nuevo Villaviciosa Suburbs

Act 4 Article 15 of the Amor Patriae arc

The camera opens onto the XNS’ war room, with Delphine Deschamps and Ajit Gopal standing on either side of its trademark display screen. Gone are the maps of the Northern Reaches, of Nueva Patria, and San Colette itself. Now upon the screen is a map of Nuevo Villaviciosa, a populous Colettish industrial city, and its outlying towns. Gentle elevation markings note that the outlying suburbs of the city are located at a somewhat higher elevation than the industrial core of the town, which is centered upon a gentle slope which ends in the Bay of Villaviciosa – home of the massive Castrejon Space Elevator, the likely target of the Front’s invasion of this area. Both Gopal and Deschamps look relatively tired, having apparently not slept well over the past few days. Gopal is the first to speak.

“Roughly two hours ago, according to Civil Guard authorities in Nuevo Villaviciosa, the Solarian Restoration Front landed on the outskirts of the city, somewhat beyond its suburbs, and is currently attempting to assault the outlying suburbs. Guard authorities have advised civilians to evacuate the surrounding area and seek shelter if unable to flee. Delphine?”

“Right,” Delphine taps her PDA and several black splotches labeled as Front-controlled areas of control appear on the map. These marks have just reached Nuevo Villaviciosa’s outlying suburbs. “As you can see, the Front has landed in significant strength near Nuevo Villaviciosa – in far more strength here than in Nueva Isabela, which suggests that attack was either a diversion or an effort by the Front to distract Colettish air defenses from their landing outside the city.”

“That makes sense,” Gopal responds, “the Front likely wants to secure the high ground around the city in order to bring artillery from orbit to their forces and disable the space elevator rather than seizing the city. Even if they only manage to disable it for a few days, that’s going to severely impact Colettish supply efforts for their remaining railgun stations.”

“--and those have remained in operation despite this, to the best of our knowledge,” Deschamps interjects. “Despite the ongoing Battle of San Colette, Pact forces near D’Anzin have continued to hold their ground in the face of multiple Front assaults both in orbit and on the planet itself.”

“Of course,” Gopal responds. “In and around Nuevo Villaviciosa the Guard is attempting to contain the Front and has had some success skirmishing with them in the temperate forests around the city. Unusually for a conflict in the 25th century, the Porto de Ouro Civil Guard has opted to send several reactivated seaborne warships from the early colonial era to Nuevo Villaviciosa to support it.”

“That is unusual,” Deschamps responds, taking a moment to consider the words, “but it is a coastal city, and they may be useful.”

“They may be! Before we go, one last thing –” Gopal clicks his PDA, causing the screen to shift into a paused, blurry image of the sky with the Civil Guard’s emblem in the corner. “This is gun camera footage – and audio – captured by a Civil Guard interceptor above Nuevo Villaviciosa earlier today.”
 

Spoiler

The camera switches to the footage, which clicks on and reveals itself as captured by a TyVS Tifón atmospheric superiority fighter. This particular one is marked as belonging to Murciélago-2, Flight 2, Squadron 2, Wing 1, Civil Guard Airbase Castillo San Felipe. The pilot breathes in heavily through his oxygen mask – nerves, perhaps – as he flies along to the rear right of another, identical fighter. Idle Colettish Tradeband chatter can be heard in the background. As the jet flies along, several messages in the idle chatter are translated.

“AWACS this is Sabueso flight, we’ve finished the napalm run. We’re evac caisc, returning to Castillo.”

“AWACS reads, visual on scope.”

The flight goes further onwards, nearing Nuevo Villaviciosa from the sea. More chatter sounds.

“AWACS this is Gavilán flight, bingo fuel – direct PhoroCol to us, over?”

“Gavilán flight, PhoroCol is two o’clock from one three kilometers out, level.”

“Gavilán-1 reads, out.”

As the flight reaches the outskirts of Nuevo Villaviciosa an authoritative male voice sounds over the pilot’s headset.

“Murciélago-1 to all elements, maintain formation. AWACS reports five Front bandits coming towards the suburbs from 4 o’clock, high. Probably bombers sent to soften up the defenses like they did back on Peoria. We’re moving 4 o’clock and ascending to intercept, throttle to full – none of those uvas make it through.”

At the signal from the lead plane the entire flight shifts to the right and begins to ascend. A few minutes pass before the planes level out and Murciélago-2’s camera captures its first sight of the bomber flight – five gray-and-blue-painted objects flying in a v-formation over the Colettish countryside towards Nuevo Villaviciosa at high altitude.

“Tally six!” Murciélago-2 yells into his microphone.

“All Murciélago elements,” Murciélago-1 responds, “you’re cleared hot! Bring these,” a brief beep, “down to the ground – stick with your wingmen bring them all down!”

Murciélago-2 and his wingman move to engage.

“Loba, you got me?” Murciélago-2 asks.

“Roger, Loba has visual,” a woman responds over the radio.

Murciélago-2 begins to breathe more heavily as he maneuvers his plane in to engage the bomber flight, which begins to return fire. To anybody familiar with the Solarian Navy, these are Matterhorn-class attack craft – not the best choice for a ground strike craft as they’re intended for spaceborne work, but serviceable. Serviceable, however, does not always mean good – as Murciélago-2’s gun camera demonstrates by sweeping onto the rear right bomber and starting to let out a buzzing tone which transitions into a beeping noise as the gun sight confirms a lock.

“I got tone!” a female voice – presumably Murciélago-2’s copilot – triumphantly cries out over the headset. With a tremendous WOOSH! from the right wing, a rocket streaks out from the side of the aircraft as the woman shouts, “FOX-2!”

Mere seconds pass as the missile, clearly shown on the gun camera, streaks across hundreds of meters and impacts into the atmospheric engine on the right wing of the Matterhorn, causing the wing to be shorn off entirely.

“Splash one!” the pilot shouts, “The bastard’s going down!”

“Good kill Murciélago-2,” Murciélago-1 shouts over his headset. “Move to engage the lead bandit!”

The hit Matterhorn ungainly lurches to the side and rapidly falls out of formation as it begins to spin out of control towards the nearby sea. The gun camera pivots back towards the bomber fight just in time to see another two explode, leaving only the rear left and lead bomber. Murciélago-2 moves its gun camera to the lead bomber, causing a tone to sound as the targeting reticle meets the bomber. The text >> CERRAR << is displayed at the bottom of the gun sight in Colettish Tradeband, and is not translated..

“Tone – tone!” the woman shouts. “FOX-2, FOX 2!”

Perhaps understanding one missile was not enough, two rockets – one from each side of Murciélago-2 – shoot out from the sides of the fighter and streak towards the lead bomber, which proceeds to explode in a fireball as the missiles hit it. What’s left of the lead Matterhorn falls out of the sky forwards as the rear left Matterhorn is hit and explodes in a similar manner.

One of the Murciélago pilots lets out a shout in Tradeband which is – perhaps due to error – not translated or censored, but anybody who speaks the language can tell the four words he has yelled at: “Fuck off, Front bastards!”

“Murciélago flight, this is AWACS,” a male voice sounds over the headset, “clear skies – nice work with the bandits – break contact and return to Castillo to rearm.”

“Murciélago flight reads you,” Murciélago-1 responds to AWACS. “Good work out there, boys and girls! We’ll show these bastards how Coletters fight – and keep killing them until they learn their lesson!”

At this point the tape cuts out and returns to Gopal and Delphine.

“For now,” Gopal says, “we’ll have to take a short commercial break. The Xanu News Service will do our best to keep you informed of any events in the Battle of San Colette as they unfold.”

Edited September 17 by NewOriginalSchwann

[MattAtlas]

Ground Combat Continues in Nuevo Villaviciosa Suburbs

Act 4 Article 15 of the Amor Patriae arc

The camera opens to the XNS’ typical screen, still showing Nuevo Villaviciosa and its surrounding area, flanked by Delphine Deschamps and Ajit Gopal. The Front has gained some ground against the Civil Guard over the past day, and fighting has formally reached the city’s suburbs. Gopal speaks first.

“While fighting has mostly come to a stop around Nueva Isabela, it has continued near Nuevo Villaviciosa with the Front making limited gains on San Colette itself. In the broader system, D’Anzin has continued to hold thanks to the efforts of San Colette’s railgun stations. While the Front never quite managed to reach the outskirts of Nueva Isabela they have reached the outskirts of Nuevo Villaviciosa’s suburbs, where the Civil Guard and its allies are attempting to halt their advance. Delphine’s team,” he looks over to his counterpart, “has found some footage from the ongoing combat there. Delphine?”

“Thank you, Ajit,” Deschamps taps on her PDA for a moment. “This was originally captured by the Third Volunteer Battalion of the Civil Guard, and shows some of the combat they’ve experienced over the past days. This footage may be unsettling to some viewers, as it does show active ground combat.”
 

Spoiler

Deschamps clicks something on her PDA and the camera’s view switches to helmet camera footage of a Civil Guard infantry squad moving through a mostly-ruined suburb. The personnel appear to not be Colettish regular infantry based upon their mismatched firearms – some carry modern M-469 assault rifles, some native Colettish designs, and others older Solarian Army rifles which have been phased out of regular Army use and provided to the Alliance’s various System Defense Forces – and older-looking uniforms. These are almost certainly militia troops recruited during the past few months out of desperation. The soldier in charge of the patrol – a Sergeant, judging by the three chevrons on his uniform – is wearing a Visegradi flag around one arm and raises his hand, causing the patrol to halt. He turns around and points back to the camera-wearing soldier, somebody next to them carrying a rocket launcher, and a third soldier carrying a Colettish submachine gun and wearing a rocket ammunition pack, then speaks.

“Listen up,” as the man speaks, the camera identifies him as SGT. Maczka. “Front armor’s going to roll down this street in front of us pretty soon. I’m going to stick here with fireteam one. IDelgado, take Ortega and Rakić across this street and set up to fire into the second tank’s rear once it passes. Use the trench to cross and, Chrystus, keep your heads down until you’re ready. Remember what the Lieutenant-Colonel taught you.”

The three men give affirmations and proceed onwards, with Delgado – the man wearing the camera – in the lead. Behind him, Ortega softly mutters about the weight of his rocket launcher and Rakić’s equipment clinks lightly. After a few moments they plunge into a small trench – only several feet deep, but enough to give cover while moving at a crouch – cutting across the road and crawl through it to the ruins of what, at some point earlier in the week, likely a fairly pleasant suburban house in a typical Colettish style. After a few moments they reach a fighting position dug into the ruins of the house and jump into it. Delgado turns to his two compatriots and begins speaking.

“Alright – Luis, get the launcher loaded. Pavle, make sure you’re ready to load the next round in if it doesn’t kill that tank. Once we get two rounds off, we retreat back. These things need to be killed by us before they get to our guys wiring the bridge up – got it?”

Ortega, unholstering his launcher, nods in affirmation. Rakić does the same. Across the street Maczka flashes a thumbs-up and promptly disappears into the ruins. After a few minutes of tense waiting set to the sound of distant battle – gunshots, explosions, and the sound of Colettish aircraft flying overhead – the sounds of armored treads and engines can be heard further down the street over the ambient noise. Delgado taps Ortega’s shoulder and the two Coletters, and Rakić, get as far into the fighting position as they can. The clanking grows louder and some Solarian Common chattering can be heard – too distant to make out, but definitely growing louder. Another minute passes and the clanking grows even louder, causing Delgado to tap Rakić and Ortega’s shoulders as all three men rise out of the fighting pit.

Greeting them is a column of two heavy tanks – dated, but still dangerous, M35A4 main battle tanks if the observer is familiar – flying the flags of the Solarian Restoration Front and Lycoris, its headquarters. Around them is roughly two platoons of infantry, some with red flowers on their helmets – a symbol commonly associated with Army units from Lycoris – walking alongside the tanks and talking. At a hand signal from Delgado Ortega fires and the rocket files from his launcher, kicking up a small cloud of dust as it leaves the tube. The Front troops dive for cover, but it is too late — the rocket impacts the side of the rear tank, penetrating its hull and causing the entire vehicle to explode in a fireball which sends metal and debris flying across the road. A second later as Delgado opens fire on the street and Rakić runs to Ortega, a rocket shell in his hands, the first tank explodes in a similar fireball. As Delgado continues to shoot and the Front troops remaining return fire, the footage cuts out and returns to Gopal and Deschamps.

“As you can see by that footage,” Deschamps gestures to the screen, which has switched to a map of the city, “the Civil Guard is holding its ground quite effectively. Encouragingly, they’ve managed to retain control of the skies around Nuevo Villaviciosa and, while still unusual, the naval reinforcements from Porto de Ouro are expected to arrive later today. They may, once those arrive, attempt a counterattack.”

“We’ll have to see what happens, won’t we?”

“That we will, Ajit. Unfortunately, for now, we must go onto a short commercial break – but we’ll be right back with more breaking news!”

Edited September 17 by NewOriginalSchwann

[NewOriginalSchwann]

Colettish Forces Halt Front Advance in Nuevo Villaviciosa

Act 4 Article 16 of the Amor Patriae arc

The camera opens to the XNS’ typical screen, still showing Nuevo Villaviciosa and its surrounding area, flanked by Delphine Deschamps and Ajit Gopal. Fighting has continued in the city’s suburbs, but the Front has not gained any ground over the past day. In some areas near the coast it has lost ground to the Civil Guard, and fresh Guard and militia units have begun to arrive to assist the defenders by assaulting the Front’s rear flank. Gopal, as usual, is first to speak.

“This morning Civil Guard forces in the suburbs of Nuevo Villaviciosa confirmed they have halted the Front’s advance into the city and have, in areas along the coast in range of their naval vessels, performed successful counter-offensives and pushed the Front from much of the city’s suburbs. Delphine, I believe your team found some footage of that?”

“We did,” Deschamps clicks her PDA, “and here it is.”

Spoiler

The screen fades into a recording of the very early morning of a Colettish summer near Nuevo Villaviciosa. The recorder bobs up and down slightly — likely showing it’s from a handheld device like a phone — as the recorder looks out to sea, towards four or so fuzzy grey objects which have not yet been fully revealed by the dawn. The camera holds for several moments before the objects light up with several sequential flashes, starting from the right and going across to the left. The largest of the gray shapes has four flashes, two on each side. An unseen man to the left side of the camera whistles approvingly.

The camera operator zooms out unsteadily. After a few moments of silence several low booms echo over the water. Several more moments pass before several large objects whistle by — far above the camera, judging by the sounds — to the right, causing the camera to turn and follow, stopping with a view of several structures which have vehicles outside of them. A moment later the shells impact, sending up geysers of dirt, dust, and debris as they turn the structures, and most things near them, into dust. A nearby tank – a heavy object, by any stretch of the imagination – is thrown into the sky by the sheer concussive force and lands several feet away on its side. As men and women around the camera cheer, the tape cuts out and transitions to a view of a ship’s deck – likely the ship which was just firing – with smoke still rising from two turrets fitted with three fairly large guns apiece. The camera seems to be mounted within a room, and the command deck of the ship can be seen in part – including a serious woman with gray-white hair in an officer’s uniform looking at the land with binoculars. In the room, a radio buzzes and a male voice sounds from the other side.

“Morro, this is Eagle-6. Good hits on last shells! Walk your fire up towards coordinates Foxtrot-5, then hit Hotel-7. Our forward observer will advise you of the effect on target there, out.”

“We read you,” a man off-camera responds, “battleship Morro confirms and will engage, out.”

The gray-haired woman turns to another officer, taking her binoculars down.

“Get those sixteen-inchers on target as soon as you can! I want the whole squadron to hit that sector with every gun we’ve got – tell them we’re turning those invaders into paste!”

“At once, Commodore!" A man shouts from the side and scurries off to a radio, which he begins speaking into. The woman turns to another, far younger woman – and a somewhat familiar face for long-time viewers of the XNS.

“Lieutenant Leticia de la Fuente, get the weapons team the coordinates at once!”

“At once!” de la Fuente shouts, going to another radio and speaking into it. The Commodore raises her binoculars again. After a few moments, de la Fuente shouts, “Ready to fire, ma’am!”
 

Across the room, the other officer confirms with a response of his own: “The squadron’s ready, ma’am!”

The Commodore lowers her binoculars and gives the command.

“Fire!”

“Fire!” de la Fuente and the other officer shout into their radios.

A second passes and the two turrets on the front of the Morro roar to life once again, shortly followed by the other vessels in its squadron. The guns of the Morro – while their size is not provided by the camera – are large enough to kick up spouts of water in front of the vessel, and a keen-eyed viewer may notice they do not kick up water so much as they displace water through sheer concussive force. As the camera refocuses, having been thrown about slightly by the Morro’s guns, the footage fades out.

“In addition to this,” Deschamps says as she points at the coastal regions of the map, “the Civil Guard has managed to retain control over the battle in the air over Nueva Villaviciosa through its use of orbital missiles and atmospherics-based craft. The Front’s supply efforts have, as a result, been severely hampered and it’s likely their forces on the ground have been run ragged by the fighting.”

Gopal nods.

“Right, and some Front units are rumored to have begun negotiations to surrender to their Civil Guard counterparts — particularly the System Defense Force units the Front has used as auxiliary troops to support its offensives. Of course, this may simply be rumors created by the Guard — it’s unclear what’s happening in the minute-by-minute fighting.”

“Hopefully we’ll have more good news tomorrow?”

“Hopefully, Delphine. For now though, we’ll be right back after a short break.”

Edited September 17 by NewOriginalSchwann

[NewOriginalSchwann]

Colettish Ground Forces Repel Assault — D’Anzin Remains Threatened

Act 4 Article 17 of the Amor Patriae arc

Adelmira de Noi, Presidential Liaison for the Colettish government, stands holding a binder and wearing a bulletproof vest. At her side is a holstered pistol and across her back appears to be a Solarian Army submachine gun. This appears to have been filmed within a bunker. She opens her binder and begins speaking.

“Colettish forces have, as of noon Nueva Isabela Standard Time, repelled Front forces which attacked San Colette itself,” de Noi looks up at the camera and away from her binder. “To the remaining soldiers and sailors of the Front, know this: Nueva Patria will be your tomb. Surrender, leave, or die. You cannot defeat us. You will never defeat us.”

The camera switches to footage of Front-aligned troops — distinguished by their black-and-gold armbands or navy blue equipment — being marched down a road by Civil Guard militia troops. The camera lingers on the Front soldiers for a few moments. The soldiers of the Front look exhausted and have clearly been run ragged by the weekend’s fighting. Many are wounded and appear simply happy to be alive, but some still have eyes which burn with hatred for the Coletters. One of them — an officer with a red flower in her green cap, a symbol sometimes associated with Army units from Lycoris — holds a particular defiance in her eyes, and mouths the words, “death to traitors,” to the camera as she passes.

The footage cuts out and the camera switches to Deschamps and Gopal standing in front of a map of D’Anzin and its three warp gates. The smaller gates are marked as destroyed while the large one is, stunningly, marked as active. Around the gates a hasty defensive formation — a mix of Civil Guard, FSF, and Pact ships — is still holding against the Front, which is attempting to seize the gate.

“Roughly two hours ago,” Gopal begins, “the large cargo gate near D’Anzin turned on without any visible external input. This indicates that either the Front’s reserves — which are estimated to be stationed in New Peoria — have activated the gate, or another party has.”

“Any idea which party?”

“None currently. The Alliance has had a communications blackout along its border with the Wildlands since its skirmish last month, and the Front has never spoken to any journalists. We’ll simply have to wait and see.”

“It isn’t exactly satisfying, is it?

Gopal shakes his head.

“We’ll see what happens over the course of the coming days. For now, we’ll be right back,” Deschamps waves at the camera as it fades out.

Edited September 17 by NewOriginalSchwann

[NewOriginalSchwann]

Signature Detected in Warp Gate — Pact Forces Hold Steady

Act 4 Article 18 of the Amor Patriae arc

 

“Just now,” Deschamps begins, “we’ve successfully confirmed that a warp signature has been detected in the large-scale cargo warp gate within the D’Anzin defensive lines. Attempts to identify the object have been unsuccessful so far, but it is at least confirmed to exist.”

“In the meantime the Front’s forces, despite sporadic fire from the still-active defenses around San Colette, have continued their attempts to assault and secure these gates,” Gopal says as he points to the map of D’Anzin and its surrounding area. The Pact has barely given any ground but has, it seems, taken losses. The Caravaggio remains standing, along with several Colettish capital ships and heavy cruisers. Opposing them is a mix of every Front fleet engaged within the system. "This may very well be every Front ship remaining in the system, and they badly outnumber the gate’s defenders."

“Will they succeed?”

“They’ve got a numerical advantage over the Pact and, if the gate is in use by Front forces, should be able to handedly defeat the defenders. But there’s no guarantee they’ll break through, and they may very well not.”

“Right, of course,” Deschamps responds. “We’ll have more news — and live updates — shortly. For now we go to Xanite political news while we confer with our teams.”

Edited September 17 by NewOriginalSchwann

[MattAtlas]

Warp Signature Nearing San Colette — Warning Lights on Gate Engaged

Act 4 Article 19 of the Amor Patriae arc

“Minutes ago,” Gopal begins, taking the typical role of Deschamps, “the XNS received a credible report which indicates the unknown warp signature has nearly arrived in Nueva Patria. Unfortunately, no external observer is certain of what this signature is. Delphine?”

“Thank you, Ajit. Presently little information is available regarding this signature. Some believe it’s a Front vessel, while others believe it’s a Navy vessel coming to save San Colette. Other more creative, but perhaps less credible, rumors have stated the object is a vaurca hiveship, an unknown alien race, or a Gadpathurian vessel.”

“How long will it be until it arrives?”

Deschamps hems to herself and moves her suit jacket’s left sleeve back to reveal a watch, which she looks at for a moment before speaking.

“Roughly an hour to two hours, assuming our information is correct.”

Gopal nods his head and idly looks down at his PDA, then to the camera.

“—in that case we’ll return in roughly fifty minutes, though other coverage will continue in the meantime. Please stay tuned to the XNS for live updates on the ongoing conflict in San Colette!”

The broadcast fades out.

Edited September 17 by NewOriginalSchwann

[NewOriginalSchwann]

XNS LIVE: WARP SIGNATURE ARRIVES

Act 4 Article 20 of the Amor Patriae arc

The camera zooms in on, as always, Mariska van den Soeterik, the dedicated host of XNS’ foreign news segment. Her augmented eyes glow slightly as she looks up from her PDA, setting the device down on her desk. Also behind the desk are Delphine Deschamps and Ajit Gopal, the XNS analysts who have covered much of this crisis so far.

“Good evening and welcome to XNS’ foreign news hour. I’m your host Mariska van den Soeterik. The long-awaited warp signature in San Colette’s network, subject of much speculation throughout the Spur, is expected to arrive within the hour. Thanks to the deviated work of our team on-site we have secured a unique perspective for this historic event: one of the external cameras on the mercenary vessel Caravaggio has been seconded to us after payment. Ajit, Delphine, what can you tell us about this vessel while we wait for the connection to be established?”

“Well,” Delphine starts speaking, “the Carvaggio is a Solarian cruiser of the Free Solarian Fleets. Those are the, ah, mercenaries defending San Colette currently. It’s seen significant action both against Elyran and corporate forces in the Badlands, and has been engaged in multiple battles against the Front and League over the past months. It’s a testimony to the vessel’s quality that it’s still operational, let alone fighting.”

Van den Soeterik nods along, then looks over to Gopal.

“Over the past few days it’s seen especially harsh combat,” Gopal says, “as it has served as the command vessel for the defense of D’Anzin.”

Before Gopal can continue, van den Soeterik’s PDA pings and she looks down at it.

“Wonderful!” she says, clapping her hand together. “The connection is stable enough to begin broadcasting. We’ll be going to it now!”

The camera cuts to footage of what seems to be an external gun camera on the Caravaggio, positioned above one of its railgun batteries. The battery itself is looking out towards deep space at the edge of Nueva Patria and the cargo warp gate is visible on the left edge of the camera’s field of view. In the foreground a Albatros drone lands on a Cabral-class cruiser, which promptly launches another flight of drones up and out of the camera’s field of view. In the distance larger ships led by a Castillo-class battleship trade fire with some distant, unseen target. Idle Solarian Common chatter – a departure from the Tradeband utilized by Colettish troops – can be heard over the camera’s audio feed alongside the clicks and squelches of radios. Nothing is translated or subtitled due to the broadcast being live. A Mictlani-accented man can be heard saying, “gave the camera feed to the fucking journalists,” before he is drowned out by a series of beeps and the railguns firing a salvo.

“Battery three,” a male voice sounds over the camera’s feed. “Reload guns and shift to target contact five, that corvette. Knock it out of action.”

As the railguns retreat inside the hull to reload and battle continues around the Caravaggio, Gopal speaks.

“As you can see by the camera feed, we’re currently witnessing the largest Front offensive against D’Anzin since they managed to land troops on its surface.”

“Why launch the offensive now?” van den Soeterik asks as the railguns pop back out of the hull and begin tracking an unseen target.

“They know they’re running out of time,” Deschamps interjects. “Their raid on San Colette’s space elevator was a failure and most of its railguns are still operational, so the Front may only have this chance to knock out the warp gate – or seize it, if they’re attempting to bring reinforcements like some have spectated. Connecting directly to the warp gate would let them bypass its security measures and bring reinforcements directly into Nueva Patria, bypassing a great amount of San Colette’s remaining defenses, or disable it completely.”

The railguns fire again, then retreat into the hull to reload. To the left of the camera, the warp gate’s warning lights begin to flash as a duo of Front corvettes rise into view near it, having managed to bypass the Pact forces either through stealth or coincidence.

“Battery three,” the male voice speaks again, “new target, refocus on those corvettes once you reload.”

The railguns rise out of the hull once again, with one half locking onto the lead corvette and the others locking onto the second one. They fire almost immediately, and several shots go wide – but enough hit the lead corvette to destroy it in a small explosion. The second one pivots and continues its path towards the gate, hoping to reach it.

“Three,” the voice speaks again, sounding more stressed, “engage and destroy that corvette. Do NOT let it get to the warp gate, that’s an order straight from the Fleet Admiral herself!”

“--herself?” Delphine asks. Before she can say anything further, the camera – and the Caravaggio – begin to pivot to port, bringing more of the gate into view. It is very evident by the red warning lights that whatever is inbound is about to arrive. All three reporters go silent. The seconds begin to tick by as the railguns retreat into the hull to reload and the corvette streaks towards the gate. As it approaches and the railguns emerge from the hull, the lights shut off and the gate flashes white. Seeing this the Caravaggio accelerates and continues banking hard to port, drawing further away from the gate while keeping it in view. The corvette itself is essentially directly in front of the gate but somewhat above it — a hazardous, but not deadly, position for the teleportation of any ship up to battleship size.

But what warps in, unfortunately for the corvette, is not a battleship.

Seconds after the Caravaggio begins its turn the bow of a large, somewhat blocky vessel exits the warp gate at good speed. The corvette has no time to react before the rest of the ship warps in and it is smashed against the shields of the vessel, causing the corvette to not as much be destroyed as it is evaporated. As the bow fully exits the gate and the middle makes it most of the way out, it becomes very, very clear this ship is a good deal larger than a typical Solarian battleship, and dwarfs the Taipei-class heavy cruiser filming the scene. The Caravaggio’s turn ends and it begins to even itself out parallel to the vessel. The camera pivots slightly to look at the massive vessel’s bow and focuses upon Solarian Common lettering on the side which must be dozens of feet tall:

SAMV GUNNHILDR

Deschamps gasps at the sight as the sound of cheers are heard over the camera’s microphone.

“That’s a– that’s a dreadnought!” Deschamps shouts. “It’s a Solarian Navy dreadnought!”

Cheering continues over the camera’s audio as the Gunnhildr finally clears the warp gate fully and its batteries are deployed on both sides — massive arrays of railguns, torpedo tubes, and point defenses. Behind it a small force of destroyers and frigates — likely screening vessels for it — in Solarian Navy livery jump through the warp gate and race to catch up to the larger vessel. Several Pact vessels, including the Caravaggio, fall into formation with it.

“ATTENTION ALL RESTORATION FRONT FORCES,” a Lunan-accented woman calls out over the radio, “WE ARE A SOLARIAN FLEET INTERVENING ON BEHALF OF AN ATTACKED MEMBER-STATE. TRANSMIT YOUR SURRENDER MESSAGES TO US OR WE WILL ENGAGE YOUR VESSELS UNTIL YOU ARE REPULSED.”

A Front heavy cruiser, visible in the distance on the Caravaggio’s battery camera, responds by shooting at the Gunnhildr. Its railgun barrage is absorbed by the dreadnought’s shield without a single round making it through. While the battery camera does not capture how many of the dreadnought’s guns fire back, it does capture the heavy cruiser exploding shortly after firing. A few moments later, a male voice with a Lunan accent is clearly heard over the battery camera’s radio.

“SAMV Caravaggio, we read you as having an external data connection. Cut it immediately and fall into formation – Fleet Admiral’s orders.”

The feed then cuts out, switching back to the XNS’ journalists. All three look fairly surprised.

“That’s the Alliance, then?” van den Soeterik asks the two analysts.

“That it is!” Gopal responds. Deschamps, for her part, is desperately shuffling through a booklet of papers.

“Delphine?” van den Soeterik asks.

“I need a minute, can we go on a short break?” This is, uh–” Deschamps looks up, “well, it’s monumental. Mariska.”

Van den Soeterik looks off to the side of the camera and nods at somebody.

“We’ll be back after a short break,” van den Soeterik says. “Please stay tuned!”

Edited September 17 by NewOriginalSchwann

[NewOriginalSchwann]

XNS Exclusive: Solarian Navy, Pact Allies Move to Secure Nueva Patria

Epilogue Part 2 of the Amor Patriae arc

The camera opens upon Mariska van den Soeterik, Delphine Deschamps, and Ajit Gopal still behind their desk in the XNS’ main foreign news room. The desk space in front of the two analysts is a mess of papers, scribbled notes, and a map of the Nueva Patria system which is covered in pins, writing in various colors, and a miniature ship model likely standing in for the SAMV Gunnhildr. While van den Soeterik is clearing her throat, Deschamps puts down her papers and speaks.

“--sorry for the delay!” she shouts. “I just got the footage we need fully translated!”

“Delphine, we’re broadcasting,” van den Soeterik responds. Deschamps sheepishly looks at the camera, then hides her head in her hands as van den Soterik begins speaking to the camera. “Good evening, and welcome back to the Xanu News Service’s foreign desk. As always I am your host Mariska van den Soeterik, joined today by our two top analysts for the situation in Nueva Patria and the Northern Wildlands: Delphine Deschamps and Ajit Gopal.”

“We’re happy to be here,” Gopal responds as Deschamps removes her head from her hands. “Over the past few hours the situation in Nueva Patria has changed drastically, with more Solarian Navy forces coming through its warp gates and the Navy launching a large-scale offensive against the Front along its border with the Wildlands. The situation has drastically changed on D’Anzin, which was the site of recent fighting. Delphine, your footage?”

“Oh!” she responds. “Right, yes! It was difficult due to the ongoing battle there, but we’ve managed to secure this short film from a Civil Guard soldier on D’Anzin – that’s the planet the Front and Pact have been fighting over for the past few weeks – outside one of its phoronics facilities. Just as a warning this footage may be disturbing to some viewers so, if any of you are watching with children, you may want to take them out of the room.”

 

Spoiler

After a moment of waiting van den Soeterik gestures to somebody offscreen and the camera’s view switches to blackness, then to a wintery scene on D’Anzin. The camera, which seems to be mounted on top or on the side of a helmet, is looking off into the distance from slightly overtop a Colettish machine gun which has been dug into position. In the field and hillside before the trench there are scattered destroyed and disabled Front vehicles and dead Front marines – some covered in fresh snow. Smoke rises from a destroyed M35A6 main battle tank in the middle of the field – a recent kill. The soldier’s thick gloves are resting atop the gun as he looks first to his left and then to his right, showing he’s standing in a curved trench line dug on top of a ridge. Around him other Civil Guard troops – most wearing gas masks likely due to ongoing phoron fires in many regions of D’Anzin – run half-crouched in the trench line. A few of the Colettish soldiers are looking, or pointing, upwards at the sky and the space combat which must be ongoing beyond the planet’s atmosphere. At the sound of a tapping on his shoulder the machine gunner turns around to face another Civil Guard soldier, this one with an officer’s rank on their collar. Somewhat messy brown hair peeks out of the side of her helmet and heat coif.

“Javier, we’ve got friendlies incoming,” the officer says in Colettish Tradeband.

“Friendlies? They’ve finally come?”

The gas-masked officer nods her head.

“Finally, yeah – they’re regulars too and going to be landing behind us so mind your head – they’re landing shortly.”

“Yeah, got it. Thanks for the heads-up,” Javier gives a thumbs-up with his gloved hand as the officer runs further down the line. A few moments pass and a series of booms are heard above the line, causing Javier to look up and see five objects flying in a pattern towards the line.

“God bless the,” a beep plays, “Alliance!” a man shouts from further down the line as cheers ring out.

Javier himself cheers and pumps his fist at the approaching dropships, which do a circuit over the Colettish positions as the cheering continues – waving their wings occasionally in an apparent effort to show off. All have the flag of Venus near their nose, an unexpected sight in a warzone. The men and women in the Colettish positions continue to wave and cheer at the Venusian dropships as they circle around for their final landing, even as the dropships come into their final approach and engine-wash begins to blow snow, dust, and dirt across the open space behind the Colettish positions. As one of the dropships mostly comes to a halt its sides pop open and Solarian Army troops in much newer equipment than anything seen during the weeks of fighting in Nueva Patria begin to jump out of its sides, most wearing gas masks like the Coletters. The first trooper out of the dropships has his gas mask on and is wearing the distinctive cavalry Stetson associated with only one unit in the Solarian Army: the 2nd Venusian Air Cavalry Division, also known as Jintaria’s Claws. As Javier continues to cheer the Stetson-wearing trooper gestures behind himself and several soldiers run with him to Javier’s section of the line, jumping into it. The man – a Sergeant’s insignia now clearly visible on his sleeve – looks over at Javier.

“Heard you Colettish boys needed some help! Sorry we’re late – you know how it is with the politicos and brass back home.” the Sergeant claps Javier on the back. “But we’re here now, and we’re not gonna leave until we get this fixed!”

At this point the footage cuts out and returns to the XNS newsroom.

“You said this footage was about an hour old, Delphine” van den Soeterik asks. Deschamps nods in response.

“It is! This is, well,” Deschamps waves her hand in the air for a moment, looking for the right words. “It’s a huge event! The Solarian Navy’s currently working to push the Front out alongside the Coletters, Pact, and mercenaries by the looks of it.”

“Something else to note,” Gopal interjects, “is that there’s been nothing in the way of reported incidents between the Navy and Pact forces in the system, including mercenaries under their command. It’s too early to say why, but the Pact and Navy may have had some form of agreement in place before the intervention. That would explain why they fought so hard to control the warp gate.

Next to Gopal, van den Soeterik nods her head.

“Interesting, interesting. The Xanu News Service, while we must be right back, will continue to update you on further developments in the Northern Wildlands as we approach the weekend.”

Edited September 17 by NewOriginalSchwann

[NewOriginalSchwann]

Solarian Navy Continues Advance — Fighting Breaks Out in Some Front-Controlled Systems

Epilogue Part 1, Article 6 of the Amor Patriae arc

The camera opens upon, as it has for many months now, the XNS war room and their map of the Northern Reaches. Judging by the map, over the past days the Solarian Alliance’s Navy has made significant progress into the area controlled by the Solarian Restoration Front. Along the main frontline the Navy is nearing Lycoris, the Front’s longstanding headquarters and capital world, and near Nueva Patria the last bastion of the Pact has grown in size. Near it the Navy has begun to push towards New Peoria and Novo Igman, seemingly not content to simply bunker down and await their main force. Novo Igman is marked by a small explosion graphic despite the Navy still being some distance away. Off to the sides of the map, looking much better than they did during their coverage of the invasion of San Colette, are XNS analysts Delphine Deschamps and Ajit Gopal.

“As you can see by our map,” Deschamps begins as she points her PDA at Novo Igman, causing a small laser dot to appear on it, “the Solarian Navy has pushed the Front back and, as a result, we’ve been able to receive many more communications from areas under their control. Recently it was revealed the Front-occupied Pact world — perhaps ‘the former Pact world’ might be better, as they’ve effectively rejoined the Alliance — has been in open revolt against the Front’s occupation force.”

“Right,” Gopal says, “and we’ve heard similar reports from across the Front’s occupied worlds such as Lhokgon and New Peoria. With the arrival of the Solarian Navy it seems the writing for the Front is on the metaphorical wall.”

“So it does. What about the League?”

“It’s effectively destroyed as a fighting force Delphine, with the vast majority having fled over the border with the Coalition or died fighting against the Front in their last stand at New Atlantica late last week shortly after the Alliance’s intervention. Those who have fled across the border have mostly been detained by the Coalition naval forces stationed there, assuming they didn’t slip through the border undetected. We don’t know how many managed to slip through undetected, but some are concerned we may see a growth in piracy if many did. Particularly piracy along more remote regions of common Konyang-to-Xanu routes.”

“Concerning,” Deschamps responds. “To go back to Novo Igman it seems they’ve been fighting for some time. First against the League and now against the Front, with success against both. Reports we’ve received from its Pact government indicate they’ve regained control of several major industrial cities and are currently engaged in urban fighting against the Front in others. Much of this is unconfirmed at this exact moment but if the Navy’s advance towards the planet is any indication, they’re trying to reach it and free it from Front control before waiting for the majority of their fleets to punch through.”

“Hopefully we’ll have more information soon.”

“Hopefully!” Deschamps nods! “Personally, I'm looking forward to getting photographs from them -- or videos! For now, however, we’ll be back after a short break.”

Edited September 17 by NewOriginalSchwann

[NewOriginalSchwann]

Fighting Continues on Novo Igman

Epilogue Part 1, Article 6 of the Amor Patriae arc

The camera opens upon, as it has for many months now, the XNS war room and their map of the Northern Reaches. The Solarian Navy has almost reached Lycoris and will, at their current rate of advance, likely do so by early next week. Their push towards Novo Igman has continued smoothly, and the Solarian Restoration Front remains on the backfoot throughout the Northern Reaches. Delphine Deschamps is the first of the two analysts to speak.

“Earlier today the Solarian Governor of Novo Igman succeeded in sending out a message via, surprisingly, Chirper. Here it is,” Deschsmps clicks her PDA and the screen switches to an image of a chirp by Governor Vladan Janković, who is marked as a Solarian official. It reads as follows:
 

Fellow Solarians! I write to you from free Novo Igman, where we are resisting the terror of Frost’s regime! For the past six months our soldiers have fought the fascists and bandits on all sides — in orbit, in our cities, in the forests, in our mountains. We are not defeated and Novo Igman continues to fight! We will secure our Republic from the invaders and have pushed them back to only a few locations! Long live Novo Igman, long live our Alliance!

“— and you said you’ve been able to get some video footage, right Ajit?”

Gopal nods and taps at his PDA for a moment.

“Indeed my team has! What we have is fairly recent and comes from fighting in one of Novo Igman’s major industrial hubs, Velinova. Over the past two months Novo Igman’s militias and Army units have gotten pretty creative with how they’re fighting, which you’ll see shortly once it’s pulled up.”

“Two months? That’s a lot longer than San Colette, wouldn’t the Front have bombarded any opposition by that point?”

“They would have if they hadn't needed the planet’s industrial infrastructure,” Gopal taps his PDA one last time. “There, we’re ready!”

Spoiler

The video feed switches to a view of a mostly-ruined street. The camera is apparently helmet-mounted and is being worn by a man on top of some kind of armored vehicle. What exactly this armored vehicle is is unclear: it’s got a M35A6’s main gun but, following a brief look around by the man, seems to have an open gunnery compartment situated at the back of the vehicle. The gunner compartment is home to a young Solarian man wearing an odd mix of civilian clothes, an Army flak vest, and a construction helmet which has hastily had a Solarian flag painted onto the side; the gun breach itself, and the ammunition “storage” — a small, lowered platform featuring a somewhat dinged and scratched G2 wearing a factory jumpsuit, a flak vest, and a Solarian flag headband who is standing over an ammunition rack which was likely part of an actual tank at some point. As the man looks outwards over the gun it’s clear the entire gunnery compartment is some kind of mounted structure on the back of the vehicle, which features large treads, an armored driver’s compartment covered in metal and sandbags, and a prominent bulldozer blade on the front. This isn’t an armored vehicle at all — it’s a Hephaestus-produced bulldozer which has been turned into an improvised armored vehicle. A flagpole has been welded onto the side of the gunnery compartment and ends outside the camera’s field of view.

“Kopile, are you in position?” a radio inside the vehicle squawks.

“We are,” the cameraman says into his headset. “Will the Front tank be here soon?”

“Looks like it,” the voice responds. “It’s the last one in this section of Velinova. Take it down and we’ve got the factory secured.”

“You got it,” the man responds.

“Good luck,” the radio replies and goes silent.

“Radenko, are you ready?” the cameraman asks, looking over at the younger man. Radenko nods in response.

“Yeah, Professor Kostić. I’m ready!”

“Good. Slavka?”

“Ready, Professor!” a female voice responds over the radio — presumably the driver.

“Good. Big Man?”

“Ready and operational,” the G2 responds in a monotone Konyanger-esq accent.

“Good, good,” Kostić says, “a few months ago you were engineering students — or a factory synthetic, Big Man — but now, we’re going to take back our home.”

“Yeah!” Slavka responds over the radio. “The Frosties messed with the wrong damn planet, Doc!”

The vehicle goes silent as clanking is heard in the distance. Radenko crouches down to his gun sight (itself positioned right above the main gun) and Kostić pulls out a set of binoculars, looking out and into the street. After a few tense moments a M35A2 — a very dated tank replaced first by the M35A4 and then by the M35A6 — flying the Front’s flag rolls into view, totally aware of Kopile.

“FIRE!” Kostić shouts.

“FIRING, GET CLEAR!” Radenko leans back from the gun and pulls a string as he and Kostić cover their ears.

With a resounding KABOOM the main gun fires, causing debris, dust, and dirt to kick up across the street. The sheer force throws the Kopile back slightly despite its weight as the entire bulldozer shakes. A second after the gun fires the Front tank explodes in a dramatic fireball, then grinds to a halt. The Kopile’s crew screams in triumph as Big Man loads another shell into the now-stationary cannon.

At this point the tape cuts out and switches back to the war room.

“With the Solarian Navy rapidly approaching Novo Igman and Lycoris, the Xanu News Service will continue to keep its viewers updated regarding the latest events in the Northern Reaches. For now, have a good night – and stay tuned!”

Edited September 17 by NewOriginalSchwann

[NewOriginalSchwann]

Fighting Concludes on Novo Igman

Epilogue Part 1, Article 7 of the Amor Patriae arc

The camera opens onto the XNS war room. Over the past two days the Solarian Navy has advanced even further and has taken back Novo Igman. They have reached Lycoris and appear to be actively engaged in and around the system. Off to either side of the screen are Delphine Deschamps and Ajit Gopal. Gopal is the first to speak.

“Earlier today forces of Novo Igman’s Solarian government announced they had driven out the last of the Front’s forces from its major population centers, and had regained control of the planet in its entirety, with the Navy moving in shortly after this. One of the most popular images from this liberation is the following image.”

Gopal clicks his PDA as the screen beside him switches from a map to a photograph of two individuals shaking hands in a conference room. The first, an older man clad in a suit with a bulletproof vest over his torso, is clearly Governor Vladan Janković — the last official Solarian governor of Novo Igman prior to the Solarian Civil War. The other individual, a tall and pale woman in an Admiral’s uniform with an oak leaf on the side of her peaked cap, is clearly Fleet Admiral Ingrid von Varnhagen und Langenburg — commander of the First Battlegroup and a major figure behind the Navy’s effort in the intervention. The photo is captioned with the following Solarian Common writing: FIRST BATTLEGROUP MEETS NOVO IGMAN LIBERATORS — OFFICIALLY WELCOMES GOVERNMENT BACK TO ALLIANCE!

“It’s impressive they managed to defeat the Front’s occupying forces without any outside help,” Deschsmps says as she looks at the photo. “Do you have the second photograph?”

“I do, yes,” Gopal clicks at his PDA again. “It should be on the screen in a moment.”

The screen switches to a photograph — likely taken from a video — of the Kopile, odd construction now fully visible, smashing through a gate while the crew in the back cheers, throwing their fists into the air. The gate has the Front’s flag upon it and is in the process of being messily removed by the Kopile’s bulldozer blade. Interestingly the crew appears to have painted an eye on either side of the gun, creating an odd image where the gun itself is the “nose” of the face. The image is labeled “Improvised Novo Igman SDF vehicle breaks through Front barrier, 19.06.2465.”

“Interesting,” Deschamps responds. “With Novo Igman secured by the Alliance this places the Front on an awkward footing. Most of their remaining forces are almost certainly at Lycoris or near New Atlantica, where they were previously fighting against the League. Without most of their holdings near San Colette and Nueva Patria now threatened, this is likely the end of the Front as an effective force.”

“Good riddance,” Gopal responds.

Deschamps nods in response.

“Well said, Ajit. I can’t imagine Lycoris standing for much longer as most reports seem to place the Solarian Navy at its outskirts. Once we have more information we’ll be certain to update you. For now, however, take care and have a good night!”

Edited September 17 by NewOriginalSchwann

[MattAtlas]

Solarian Navy Continues Advance into Northern Reaches as Solarian Restoration Front Collapses

Epilogue Part 1, Article 9 of the Amor Patriae arc

The camera opens onto a view of the XNS war room, staffed by Delphine Deschamps and Ajit Gopal. Between them is their map of the Northern Reaches which shows the Solarian Navy’s advance into the sector. The Navy has made significant gains over the past few days following the collapse of Lycoris and has taken back New Peoria, the last of the major Pact worlds occupied by the Front, and the main offensive push has made contact with the 1st Battlegroup in Nueva Patria. The Navy has surged towards the Coalition border and is nearing New Atlantica, the former stronghold of the Anti-Corporate League. Deschamps is the first to speak.

“Over the weekend the Solarian Navy has made significant gains against the Solarian Restoration Front and has effectively destroyed the majority of the Front’s strength in two decisive engagements at Nueva Patria and in Lycoris. Only scattered rearguard forces of the Front which it left behind to finish off the League are estimated to be capable of mounting serious resistance, and information about these forces has been rare and difficult to verify. Some appear to be willing to fight to the lady vessel, while others are surrendering to the Navy without a fight.”

“Right, right,” Gopal taps at his PDA. “We have this photograph from the 1st Battlegroup’s meeting with the Alliance’s main offensive. It should be on our screen now.”

The screen between the two analysts switches to a photograph of two Solarian Navy admirals, both clearly Lunan by their tall heights and pallid complexions. One is clearly Fleet Admiral Ingrid von Varnhagen und Langenburg of the 1st Battlegroup and the second is an equally tall man in an identical uniform, and is unlabeled. An individual familiar with the Solarian Navy may recognize this as Fleet Admiral Gerhard von Erlanger, commander of the 2nd Battlegroup. The two Fleet Admirals are shaking hands in what appears to be the bridge of a naval vessel and are surrounded by a small group of Navy officers and adjutants, almost all with the same pallid complexions and tall, thin builds typical of Luna’s upper classes. Everyone in the photo appears to be quite happy, and the copyright watermark of the Sol Alliance News Network is faintly visible in the corner.

“This photo was taken by Céline Eylenbosch of the Sol Alliance News Network and shows the meeting of Fleet Admirals von,” Gopal pauses for a moment and looks down at his PDA, seemingly a bit surprised by the lengthy surnames he has been confronted with. “Varnhagen und Langenburg and von Erlanger.”

“Very Lunan, aren’t they?” Deschamps interjects.

“Very Lunan, Delphine. This shows the two fleet admirals meeting on the bridge of the Gunnhildr near Nueva Patria in celebration of the First Battlegroup and main Navy force meeting. This is from yesterday and they’ve only pushed further into the sector since.”

“How long will it be until they reach the border?”

“Less than a week, potentially. This will be the first time the Alliance has shared a border with the Coalition since 2462! It has caused some concern in the wider Coalition and we have seen the Konyang Armed Forces raise their readiness level, but we haven’t been able to speak to one of their representatives yet.”

“What about Gadpathur?”

“Nothing yet,” Gopal replies. “They’ve stationed combat forces near Konyang like all other Coalition member-states aside from Assunzione, which has only sent humanitarian vessels due to its longstanding policy of non-violence.”

“Hopefully we can speak to somebody from the K-A-F soon,” Deschamps replies.

“Hopefully! For now, however, we’ll be back soon!”

The broadcast fades out as the two analysts wave at the camera. The ad, somewhat alarmingly, is for a Xanu-produced emergency generator.

Edited September 17 by NewOriginalSchwann