“Major air battles between the Federal and Royal Orlish Air Forces above Orlish skies! After the botched attempt by the CFN to break Gallia’s resolve with an overwhelming air offensive, the Federal Republic responded by deploying approximately two hundred LF-20 Phantoms in air supremacy missions on the frozen frontlines of Orland. Royalist LF-20 squadrons however responded in kind, leading to a two-day period of heavy air-to-air engagements with these planes. The tally of losses however is more matched compared to the losses sustained by the Vaeyoxan CFN nations. Minister Pristina Dubois announced today that the air battles ended in a ‘slightly satisfactory’ conclusion, with thirty-eight Federalist LF-20s shot down, compared to twenty-nine Royalist LF-20s shot down. The engagements have proven to be unsustainable for both sides though, as the the frontlines of the Orlish Civil War became just as silent when the Federalist air attacks faltered. Throughout the fight, approximately one thousand AAMs were fired by both air fleets due to constant round-the-clock air sorties, as both Eutstadt and Eirhow refused to budge even an inch of aerial control. However, outside of a few Royalist REGAL SAM batteries disabled, the two-day battle left inconclusive reports, except for the dozens of shot down advanced stealth aircraft of the Orlish military.”

- Geopol Press

+++

West Orland

November Palace

June 5, 2025

Amelie sipped her morning tea as she read out the first reports on her desk.

As expected, the Federalists tried their best to counter the shattering MN victory over the skies of Gallia by launching their own offensive here to divert her Air Force. Painfully, she lost nearly thirty of her precious stealth fighters in the two-day quagmire, but the OHC report satisfied her.

“Aerial stalemate achieved.”

Reading that part of the report made Amelie chuckle, which went unnoticed by the Prime Minister, who was present in her office as they worked on their strategy by deciding where they would really focus their counter-attack.

“Quite a pleasant news, huh?” Jacqueline asked as Amelie continued shaking her head and laughing at the news.

“It’s like…I mean, they tried, I suppose,” Amelie looked over the report file. “I don’t understand what they were hoping for. Our pilots literally gained so much experience killing the Larissans and Poznekis. Then they try an air offensive on us to…fight our superior pilots? That and…they had to deal with our air defense too.”

“They did bomb two of our airfields,” Jacqueline said. “Losing a squadron of LF-12s still hurts.”

“Yeah, and they lost nine more stealth fighters than we did,” Amelie replied. “I don’t see their good calculus here. They functionally lost more with the cost they incurred. And all they really changed was giving our air force a confidence boost.”

“I mean granted, they did further deplete our missile stockpiles,” Jacqueline said. “According to the calculations of the OHC, the amount of missiles we’ve fired would take about a month or two to replenish. Those long-range air-to-air missiles aren’t exactly as cheap and easy to build as artillery shells. And each time we engage in major air battles…we literally lose so much.”

“But they also lose a lot of missiles,” Amelie countered. “That means their air force, just like ours, will be temporarily operating with great limitations. Unless they want to go all in and exhaust all of their emergency stockpiles.”

“Well, that’s a possibility if they want to end this war in six months,” Jacqueline said. “The risks in that are too high though. They might use up too much and render their air force useless, leading to their rapid defeat. Or their attempt miraculously works out and we lose. I doubt they’d do that though. Again, they lost so much in their last attacks. There’s just no way they’ll be doing this. It’s not happening.”

Amelie looked back down at the report document.

“Well, assuming then that it doesn’t, and both sides settle for a lull in the air war, what’s our best option then? Politically…losing Gallia is a no-go.”

“I’m on that side of the debate too. Losing Kusari or Hebei is strategically painful, but Gallia is our true original ally by association with the Mandate of Nations. That and…Hebei and Kusari are too big to fall within this year. In Gallia’s case, they’re now only around one hundred eighty kilometers from Toldoi, and they’re massing more of their forces for the final tank rush. That’s a critical situation we have to solve…”

“Mhm…yeah,” Amelie said. “But…I really hate their Queen. Saving her arse over Empress Xue is a painful thing to do. Generally, our eastern allies feel more…ideologically aligned than that stuck-up arrogant old hag. Sometimes I wonder if we should just let Toldoi fall and not evacuate her.”

If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

“That’s a cruel thing to say to our ally, Your Majesty,” Jacqueline chastised. “I understand that Queen Alois is…quite the problematic figure, but we have to think more than that. Perhaps we should look at this not from the perspective of saving her throne, but the Gallian people. No one in that country deserves a CFN occupation. I can’t imagine letting our fellow sisters there be under the punitive armies of the CFN. Especially when we gave them a bloody nose already.”

“Yeah, but the side effect is clear. Saving Gallia means saving the control of House Alois in that Kingdom. Even her hair is a painful figure to me. She’s too clueless and confident. The worst possible combination. I admit that I’ve been mostly clueless in my reign so far, but I’ve never been confident. Imagine if I surrounded myself with yes men instead of…everyone right now. We’d be in a true disaster.”

“Well, you didn’t,” Jacqueline said. “Though…you did kinda dismantle much opposition to you, Amelie. Case in point, the conservatives.”

“Well, they’re all stupid so I can’t give any care about them. They’ll either fall in line with the rest of the Royalist government and help me actually end this war, or they can fall by the wayside.”

“Which is what happened. They already fell by the wayside. They practically have no ability to affect our decision-making anymore except for rubber stamping the bills we pass in Parliament. Not that Parliament or much of the civilian government have any say in this war. I feel like the Kingdom is truly now more of a government led by you and the Orlish High Command.”

Amelie didn’t really deny that much. So far, the OHC and its inner circle: General Victor Albrecht—the Chief of Staff of the Orlish Armed Forces, Admiral George Halberd and Minister of Naval Operations Danie Fisch, and of course, Chief Air Marshall Lewis Zimmerman, were now the ones calling the shots on how Orland would be run.

It was an ironic grouping for a Kingdom described as matriarchal, that in its darkest days, it was a group of men who knew how to prosecute a brutal war that was going to lead it beside their Queen. Amelie of course had not much of a problem with that. To her, the OHC had proven themselves to be stubborn loyalists to her Kingdom and its people.

Unlike her civilian government, which had, so far, mostly hampered the war effort except for the Ministry of the Economy—the OAF had fought battle after battle to stubbornly defend her subjects. It wasn’t a surprise to Amelie that she found herself gravitating toward allowing the military informal control over the country’s decision-making. She wanted it because they showed her absolute commitment to her planned victory.

“Do you have a problem with that?”

“As the Prime Minister, my job is to ensure that the civilian government of Orland remains in control,” Jacqueline said. “What I’ve done so far was become a mediator between the Queen, the Parliament, the War Cabinet, and the OAF. Not even that. Realistically, the only thing I’ve done is relay the plans and needs of the OAF to my peers. And to tell them to follow it, or else.”

“Well, that’s a good thing,” Amelie said. “The needs of the Armed Forces supersedes everything else until this war is won. Besides, you don’t need to get too worked up about it. The OAF is under my command. They’ll fall in line with my post-war designs so long as my planned reforms follow through.”

“I hope that’s the case. The people can see how much power OAF boasts now. I understand it’s martial law, but what everyone expected was the RGO doing the enforcing of order. No…the Principalities in the frontlines are right now practically under the full control of local military units loyal to General Albrecht. Nobles and local civilian officials have no more power to even advise Army officers on how evacuations would be done, for example. Sometimes a battalion of troops will just…march into the city, and tell a mayor to her face that she and everyone will leave in twenty-four hours without exceptions. It’s brutal.”

“Again, nothing we can do about that. The OAF is the one fighting. They know how they’ll manage the frontlines and the areas surrounding it. I’d rather not let some out-of-touch moron overrule military officers trying their best to win the war. That’s just that. Again, look, I have a plan for this after the war. For now, the focus is winning.”

“Yeah…” Jacqueline sighed. “So…then where are we focusing our upcoming attack on? Gallia? Hebei? Kusari? Where?”

“Well…I’m personally leaning towards destroying CFN forces in Hebei,” Amelie answered. “Empress Xue holds a special place in our alliance network. If I can magically give her aid I’d do it in a heartbeat. But then again…everyone else seems to be leaning to helping the Gallians.”

“Again…they’re getting near Toldoi,” Jacqueline said. “And to be fair, the fighting is reaching ridiculous proportions there. Like…hundreds of planes were shot down. Hundreds of tanks and armored vehicles were destroyed in weeks. Everything is being burned like it’s nothing. Men, civilians…people. We’re not even counting the civilian casualties. One month, and I’d bet at least eighty-thousand are dead in northeastern Gallia. No way that’s not the case.”

“Well, a lot of people are also dying in the far-east,” Amelie countered. “But yeah…I guess the intensity of the fighting in Gallia is really extreme. Then there’s the problem of it being one of our last footholds in West Vaeyox. Ugh…maybe I should give Princess Anastasia a call and ask for her to start an offensive.”

“She won’t.”

“I know. She’s basically in the same position as me. Both sides are too entrenched to push onward. Though, I’m honestly baffled why the CFN didn’t just…throw everything against her and crush her once and for all. Instead, they poured their resources into attacking everyone else. They really do have strange decision-making processes…”

“Attack, attack, attack is kinda their entire thing,” Jacqueline laughed. “What’d you expect? I bet the Confederates are just keeping her there so that they have more propaganda material to tell their support base that, ‘look, until we crushed everyone else, we can’t crush her!’, and that’s how she survives. Or not and the Imperial Army is actually doing half-decent to hold on. Who knows, really…”

“Indeed, I guess…who knows…” Amelie leaned back in her chair after she took another sip of her tea. “I guess we’re leaning in a counter-offensive in Gallia then. How far, I’m still not sure. Is it just regaining Gallian land? Do we just…try to destroy the invaders by encircling them? Do we also push toward Poznek?”

Amelie looked up at the ceiling.

“We need to know more before we can decide, I guess…”