“Arkelian cargo ship attacked by a Federalist submarine! In the wake of yesterday’s brief escalations in Vaeyox during the MN Conference session, an Arkelian cargo ship en route to North Vaeyox from its trip in Lorathia was struck by an unknown torpedo attack. It has now been confirmed by the Orlish Navy that the culprit was another Weirloff-Class nuclear attack submarine. The offending submarine is still being tracked by the Orlish Navy. The Arkelian ship however luckily held on until helicopters from the ONS Rebenslof saved most of the crew before it capsized. The Arkelian government has now denounced the ‘aggressive’ and ‘indiscriminate’ acts of the Federalist government. This worrying development may truly be just the start of an incoming shift in the Federal Republic’s policy of convoy interdiction, with the OHC expecting that they may fully shift into an unrestricted submarine warfare doctrine—wherein every ship headed to North Opellia, Orlish, or not, will be sunk by the rebel fleet.”

- Liberty One Radio

+++

United Confederation of Pez

Brewich

“Brewich is being militarized,” William said. “Two Pezan military brigades have now entered the city. Approximately eight thousand Pezan infantry, and around one hundred twenty tanks are now setting up in the outskirts.”

William tossed the report file to Amelie’s table, as she read it. Ever since yesterday, the tensions in the Pez–Poznek and Pez-Lombardia borders have intensified. Both the Lombardian Army (now definitely under the full control of the Confederacy) and the Pozneki Army have formed up in the borders. She read through the OHC report file, which detailed all the findings of the NID and AFI. The document further detailed that approximately a thousand tanks were now lined up in staging positions near the Gallia–Poznek border.

“They really are aiming for something big,” Amelie said. “Goddess…estimated one million troops?!”

“Beyond that, both Poznek, the Confederation, and Lombardia are fully mobilizing. At this rate, we’ll definitely be facing two million troops in total for the defense of Gallia, and most likely Pez, once the borders go hot. That, alongside at least three thousand tanks spread throughout the continent. All of them, ready for a tank rush to bash through the North Gallian plains, then straight to Toldoi.”

“That’s a lot,” Amelie said. “How much does Gallia have? They lost so many in the intervention in Asturia that it’s just…”

“They still have eight hundred formed on the border, approximation, of course, considering attrition and mobilization,” William said. “Then we have to count Lorathian Expeditionary Forces, so that’ll swell us up to around one thousand two hundred tanks total unless the OAF frees up enough Armored Brigades to serve as an expeditionary force here.”

“We’re planning to only send in armored forces, no?”

William nodded. “Quite frankly, it makes sense. The Gallians can throw the manpower at them. We’re already shipping in so much bread and butter-equipment for them. Artillery pieces, infantry equipment, APCs, IFVs, armored cars, the whole shebang. And the Gallian defense industry is now returning to wartime levels. They can hold the frontlines as long as we don’t ask them to execute complex maneuvers…”

“You’re really doubting their ability to do that, no?”

“Everyone in the OHC does. General Albrecht even laughed at me on the phone line when I suggested that the GAF should be able to hold a few months without the OAF. He seems sure that without at least two full-strength Orlish Army armored brigades, which would have around one hundred fifty tanks and a light mech brigade of one hundred fifty LSS mechs that would be used as a QRF against CFN breakthroughs, they’d have their asses encircled within days. I am now convinced of his assessment.”

“Sending in three powerful brigades is no easy task,” Amelie mumbled. “Ever since reorganization, how many light mech brigades and armored brigades have we left?”

William sighed. “On the OAF’s side, we have only seventeen armored brigades left, most at seventy down to fifty percent strength. We also have nine light mech brigades, all of them also badly mauled. Quite frankly, the OAF at the moment is mostly mechanized infantry brigades, the normal bread-and-butter ones that we had at the start of the war, around thirty-eight of them. The rest are mobilized infantry brigades. The horrendous holding units manning our trench lines. Those things won’t be very useful in Gallia. The Royal Guard isn’t far off. They only have four KDUs that are the equivalent of the OAF’s armored brigades. Shiny, yes, but no chance of being useful here. Most KDUs are infantry too.”

“Each armored brigade has…one hundred tanks, no?” Amelie asked. “And a light mech brigade has one hundred eighty?”

“Yes, though, we did have divisional formations, but they proved subpar during the early days of the civil war. To be fair, they’re really just relics of pre-professionalized OAF because the divisional command is easier for the Royal Guard to handle. Right now, our main operational unit is a brigade. Allows them more independence and autonomy on the field. We’re generally decentralizing the OAF more and more ever since the end of the Grand Duchy Campaign.”

“In contrast to Gallia. Queen Clericia seems to be exerting more and more hands-on control over the GAF.” Amelie shook her head. “That’s why the OHC expects that they’d get encircled without us, no?”

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“Exactly,” William laughed. “All those armored divisions of hers are definitely incapable of combined arms operations. They’re just going to drive straight into the jaws of encirclement. She literally purged her command six months ago. You think those replacements, who are at the moment, more scared of their own lives at the hands of the Gallian Royal Guard than the Confederacy, are going to be fighting with properly functioning brains once the CFN tank rush occurs?”

“No,” Amelie answered. “They’d disintegrate. From what I’ve heard, that’s what happened to the Lombardian Kingdom’s armed forces. Their Queen purged their command structure after she beat the revolutionaries, then when the Confederacy invaded, Lombardia lost seven hundred tanks in the first two weeks…”

“Exactly,” William laughed. “Actually, they didn’t ‘lose’ seven hundred tanks. The poor sods got encircled in the borders when Queen Irene Amici ordered that they meet the Confederacy spearhead head-on, alongside conducting ambitious pincer attacks. Turns out, she purged the Army leadership so badly, that those at the ground could barely coordinate their complex plans. Lo and behold, they found themselves losing approximately two hundred tanks in the first seven days to combat losses, and then three armored divisions were encircled and surrendered within the next week. After that, it was game over for Lombardia. But that’s also how the Confederacy rebuilt Lombardia’s armed forces. Those surrendered divisions literally kept their equipment and restored for their new government to face us instead.”

“I really need to speed up mass-mobilization of women,” Amelie said. “I’m not losing Gallia because Queen Clericia is this stupid. Freeing up OAF forces for this is going to be our priority from here on out. As the OHC suggested.”

William nodded. “Good to hear that you’re heeding their advice. On that note, Chief Air Marshall Zimmerman has an ambitious plan to get the Asanaians into this conflict.”

Amelie’s eyes widened. “What? Wait, is that this plan again? Rejected, I’m not ordering whatever the hell you guys are—”

“No, no, listen,” William laughed. “Think about it. You’re getting buddy-buddy with their leadership, and they’re expanding their Armed Forces because they know themselves that they’re going to be joining in on the hot water regardless of their desires. But that’ll take too long, because they’re not stationing military assets in already hot-areas, like Hebei. But…if they station just a little bit of their Air Force in Galllia…say, an MN training exercise to show our unity but then suddenly the CFN attacks…”

“You’re a demonic man, Director William Porter,” Amelie shook her head. “You’re going to bait them into a war.”

“Or, they want to join in, but can’t because their population is too stuck in their arse. Go talk more to Princess Kawasaki. Get her to speak. I’m betting big that they’re just looking for an excuse to finally intervene in the Hebeian Civil War, but they cannot because the people of Asanai said so. But if you offer them a good way to have their planes shot…well, you know. If Asanai has assets on Gallia during a training exercise right as the inevitable tank rush happens, then they're in. It’d be a win-win. They get to finally enact their security interests in East Vaeyox by having a valid casus-belli to intervene in Hebei, and we finally place the head of the ‘pro-peace’ bloc of remaining MN member states in a direct conflict with the CFN.”

Amelie shook her head. “I’ll consider it. I’ll talk with Adelaide about this, but your idea…is this an idea held by the OHC? Or just Chief Air Marshall Zimmerman?”

“General Albrecht and Admiral Halberd are in agreement, but they doubt you and Adelaide would do it,” William said. “To be fair, we are military men, our diplomacy isn’t exactly ‘diplomacy’. Lord knows the concept of that is probably foreign to us, but if you all want the most optimal way to unite the MN militarily, then we have a lot of cold ideas to do so.”

Amelie once again weighed her options. That just sounded almost as bad as their previous black-flag attack idea. Goddess…the OHC was something else entirely whenever they planned things. It seemed that everything coming from these men was the most cutthroat, bloodthirsty ideas. At the end of the day, that was their job after all. To win the damned war, and ensure that the OAF would suffer fewer casualties in the process.

She almost felt…a bit flustered at the level of loyalty that the OHC was showing her. She was still a woman, yet they were actively asking her to sacrifice their fellow men for her victory. That was…well, it was quite surreal, she supposed. Then again, if there was one thing men were known for, it was their devotion to the extreme. They were either the most deluded revolutionaries wishing for the world to burn, or the most deluded “I’m just doing my job” bootlickers of women.

Then again, General Albrecht, Admiral Halberd, and Chief Air Marshall Zimmerman were all expecting her to turn Orland into a democracy that respects the equality of all of its people. The more she acted in that direction (especially with her already now starting to vocally sponsor female conscription), the more she expected them to be more blood-lustily loyal to her goals.

And this could be one of them. Then again, it also served men on the MN side anyway. The more prepared they would be at fighting the CFN, the less men would need to be sacrificed for their grand project of turning everyone into reformist democracies. She also betted that the OHC was looking for ways to quickly beat the CFN into submission.

The faster they surrendered, the fewer men would die, and the less likely it would be for them to do more things that would damage the already bloody reputation of men. The actions of Lieplatz after all stirred overwhelming worries amongst moderate men that they would look even more shittier in the wake of all those…crimes against humanity.

But still, to coldly drag a nation at peace into the state of war just to maximize and optimize their strategic outlook…it was cold-hearted, and it sounded truly immoral. Especially since this would mean that the Asanaian people would be convinced of a war they wouldn’t have wanted in normal conditions.

Then again…conditions aren’t normal anyway.

“I’ll talk with Princess Kawasaki after consulting Adelaide then,” Amelie said. “But no promises. We still aren’t sure of the interests of the Empire after all. For all we know, this might turn into a diplomatic fumbling. We can’t afford that. Not at this moment.”

“But think about it. If it happens, the MN is instantly united the moment the first shots are fired. United at crushing the CFN as fast as possible.”

Amelie groaned. “Can you please sound more peace-loving next time?”

“Sorry, was born and raised in war, Missy. Can’t take me out of it.”

“Men…” She sighed. “You’re all really tiring.”