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RM Vol 4: War – Chapter 40: Case Yellow (Day 13 – They do it early)
RM Vol 4: War – Chapter 40: Case Yellow (Day 13 – They do it early)
Right after the destruction of the Erusean Royal Air Force's Bomb Groups, stratostation Okonkwo was relocated to the airspace above the new Darscen province. More specifically, they're flying over Bruges, the capital of West Flanders in Northwest Darscen. The location is a mere stone's throw away from Dunkirk, thus giving the stratostation the perfect front-row seat on whatever the Hell is going on down there. By extension, Okonkwo has a full vision of all airborne and surface Erusean units in the Channel. Thanks to the extensiveness of the Belkan battle net, Okonkwo has a good grasp of sub-surface threats as well, even if they are not the ones detecting the Erusean submarines directly. This means that out of all military units in play, the stratostation has the best possible picture in this theater of war. Because of this, Belkan High Command entrusts the Commander of the stratostation with the enviable task of coordinating all three service arms of the the Reich's military. However, if one were to ask the unlucky harpy in charge, she would have no doubt answered with a middle finger. Even with all the state-of-the-art equipment and a host of subordinates for her to call upon, Okonkwo herself feels like she is running ragged with how micro-intensive everything is.
It's like she's playing one of those stupid role-playing Total War scenario board games but everything is happening in real time with a bunch of military strategies being thrown at her like bats out of Hell.
Okonkwo sighs away the stay thought, opting to focus on the presence and the fact that she is now on her sixth mug of coffee. Leaning forward with her hands resting on the edge of the large holographic MFD table, Okonkwo idly thinks she will have back pain later due to how her bountiful assets are weighing her down while perusing battlefield data. She also finds it annoying that she can't stretch her eagle-like wings after nearly 24 hours without proper rest. Granted, the fatigue she's feeling right now is brought about mostly by herself, having triple or even quadruple-check many tasks and intelligence data to ensure smooth operation of the immediate battlefront. If it weren't for her being a healthy non-human, Okonkwo might have lost it with all the stress she seems to be piling onto herself. Still, can you blame her for committing even her sanity to make sure that the task ordained by the Reich Marshal is completed beautifully like a crisp white sheet? If there's one thing to be said about this harpy Commander then it's that she's dedicated despite her impression of being mischievous on the radio.
After Okonkwo is done analyzing the new inbound data streams, she communicates some orders to her aides and subordinates. With some inputs, new sets of holographic Erusean targets, things like vessels and aircraft, are displayed on the MFD table, using both 2D and 3D formats for ease of planning and viewing. To maintain accuracy in the targeting data, enemy markers and information have to be updated constantly. Some previously unknown radar and sonar returns got cleared up just now, so Okonkwo has a random intelligence officer input the new data. The harpy Commander watches as some placeholder cigar shapes are replaced with the approximate hull forms of a pair of Royal Navy C-class destroyers, two Revenge-class battleships, and a Grampus-class minelayer submarine alongside the newer T-class submarine. Some of them are new faces, while others are old like the Revenge-class, which is a Great War-era Dreadnought battleship, unlike the Reichsmarine's modern Bismarck-class Dreadnought.
Although there's a digital clock on a corner of the MFD table, Okonkwo still opts to pull out a silver pocket watch, decorated with a talon insignia on its cover, to check the time. Knowing that they've less than half an hour minutes to leave their marks in the annals of history, Okonkwo doesn't seem to be all that excited about it. Instead, she breathes easier now that the hardest part of the job, which is compiling the battlefield data package, is done and ahead of schedule. Although the three service branches of the Belkan military already know what they should be doing and what to hit, nothing beats having up-to-date and accurate targeting information. That way, Okonkwo's staff on the bridge can determine which target is a high-value one and deserves an overkill instead of wasting taxpayer money on a fishing boat. An example is a Nelson-class battleship can be sunk with two Exoscars instead of three, or that the Eruseans' newer Vanguard-class battleship deserves four Exoscars and two JSOW glide bombs for overkill or three Amazoch torpedoes detonating beneath its keel. Beneath the wave, a Royal Navy submarine can be dealt with by a singular submarine-launched Amazoch torpedo or a long-range attack by a VL-ASROC of a Belkan surface combatant.
In other words, the Eruseans and the Allied forces at large are fucked.
Turning on the theater-wide comms, Okonkwo states.
"This is AWACS Okonkwo. Local battlenet has been updated. All battlegroups are to sound off their readiness for final taskings."
The harpy Commander then stares at the holographic projections of allied units all across this particular Dunkirk theater. The units are separated into numbered battlegroups, dispersing into air, ground, and sea, with the largest group being those from the Reichsmarine High Sea Fleet. Fittingly, the fleet is designated as Group 1. One by one, the battlegroups start pinging their green status.
"Group 1, in position." The High Sea Fleet, formed around RMS Bismarck, has aligned itself for a broadside position, East of the Royal Navy's Grand Fleet and beyond its visual range.
"Group 2, reinforced. Holding pattern locked." Squadrons of Belkan Air Force are flanking the Royal Navy's Grand Fleet from the West. Most notable is the presence of two B-40 Polar Bears in the formation of F-1 Phantom escort.
"Group 3, ready." Alongside their peers in the Air Force, the Naval Aviation Phantoms, Harriers, and Skyraiders are stalking the Grand Fleet from the North.
"Group 4, standing by." Grand Admiral Karl Donitz, leading his unit of U-boats, has dispersed them in a loose encirclement to the North and West of the Grand Fleet. More than enough to cause mayhem and destruction yet not enough to cause a friendly fire incident beneath the waves.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om
"Group 5, reporting in." The landbound cruise missile units of the Belkan Army are staging inland. Coming in atop war trains or heavy-duty Mercedes HX trucks, these coastal defense batteries go to war for once by leaning into the battlenet that gives their Exoscar missiles the targeting data they need.
Nodding at the green signals coming all over the gameboard, Okonkwo takes a deep breath before pulling on the confidence imparted onto her by the Reich Marshal's correspondence and order a few days ago.
"Group 1, target surface and sub-surface combatants in Sectors Alpha, Bravo, and Charlie. Overkill targets are present in these Sectors and overkill is authorized according to the targeting data package."
"Group 2, target surface combatants in Sectors Foxtrot and Golf. Overkills are authorized."
"Group 3, target aerial threats theaterwide and surface combatants in Sector Hotel and India."
"Group 4, engages sub-surface threats in all sectors. Target surface combatants in Sectors Echo and Foxtrot."
"Group 5, target surface combatants in Sectors Delta and Echo. Overkill authorized."
Okonkwo then watches on after her spiel as enemy markers and projections on the holotable are bracketed in red squares in all sectors. From the smallest of floatplanes to the largest of the Royal Navy battleships, all of them got locked on either by radar, sonar, or laser designators from multiple sources.
And the neat part is, the Eruseans don't even know what's going on at this very moment. It's true that some scout planes got a bit closer to the High Sea Fleet, hence they got shot down, but the delay in communication means that the Royal Navy is still blissfully unaware of their impending doom.
Oh, how Okonkwo pities those poor Erusean sailors. May the Mother Goddess bless their poor souls for the Belkans will cast doom on them all.
Pulling out her pocket watch once more, Okonkwo eyes the second-hand before opening her mouth...