Introduction
None of the places you will read about actually exist in the official Strangereal world. I have named these places myself spending quite some time at the translator. The languages used are Italian (Clavis) and Polish (Verusa).
Before I started everything I thought it would be better if I briefly told you people something about the history (also made by myself) and geography (also made by me).
1996. The democratic republic of Valga (a small territory bordering Verusa, Clavis and Romny) is sanctioned by the world superpower Yuktobania for drilling oil despite political pressure to not to. All trade to the country is stopped. The country is very rich in diamonds but cannot mine due to foreign political pressure. As all trade is stopped Valga keeps on taking debts from various countries.
1998. After two years of sanction, Valga continues but the water level had exceeded its limit. Without any money in the national bank and unable to exploit its natural recourses the economy collapses completely which sparks a civil war which in turn sparks a massive refugee movement. All three of its neighbours: Clavis, Verusa and Romny refuse to take in any refugees but Sotoa sends is ships repeatedly to take in people via the Sokoi Gorge. Amidst the chaos the diamond and drug smugglers of Valga take up power and six different gang groups divide the land into six parts. They fight for four years among themselves until finally a group supersedes all others and takes control of the abandoned and devastated country.
2004. Without a government or a national bank or ruling body the Democratic Republic of Valga is snatched of its status as a nation and is declared as “the unoccupied hostile territory” as it is still controlled by diamond and drug cartels.
Since the 80s relationships between Clavis and Verusa were always bitter-sweet as both countries are business competitors. Their main clients are the countries of Osea, Aurelia, Romny, Yuktobania and Sotoa. Verusa’s main production is rubber, rubber products (which are the by-products of its massive oil production) and paper. Clavis on the other hand has mastered the art of weapon making and along with this it also exports iron and steel and small amounts of textile product.
As the Valgan crisis grows, so do the gang activities in Verusa. The government is forced to pour more and more money into the law enforcement agencies as gang wars become common in the once quiet and quite peaceful land. As Yuktobania raced with Osea in an arms race and put up more and more weapons manufacturing plants, it no longer needed weapons from foreign sources; naturally Clavis loses its client for weapons.
In the 2005 G8 summit, Verusa blames Clavis for the increasing gang activities in its cities and the reason it gives for the accusation is that Clavis; after losing a client for weapons started to export its weapons to the diamond and drug smuggling gangs of “The Unoccupied Hostile Territory” or TUHT. Clavis denies any such involvements although the government knew that the private gun manufacturers in the nation were secretly smuggling out arms from light to semi-heavy ordinance types. The summit ended without any occurrences.
The Clavis government starts anti terror operations but finds out that over the years from 1998-2005 the weapons cartels had grown very strong and it would not be as easy to eliminate them as any other gang. The gang activities in Verusa continue as usual.
Having most of its land bordering the sea, the government of Clavis at a very early stage in the 20thcentury had decided to merge the air force and the navy as one to reduce the amount of military expenditures. All the air force and naval divisions are known as Naval Aviators’ Division or NAD. The entire navy consists of 17 aircraft carriers, 18 frigates, 18 destroyers, 15 submarines and 25 battleships. Long-story-short, it is a very formidable force. On land there are only two Airbases by the names of Forza Airbase and Balboni Airbase. Its capitol city is Rifugio City. It has a few ports; all the ports have neighbouring cities by the same name. The names of the ports are as follows: Fratelli Ville Port, neighbouring the Fratelli Ville City on the eastern coast, Soldato Port on the south-eastern coast, Angelo Port, a man made port between the Lorenzi and Lucini peninsulas. It is connected via bridges from tips of both the peninsulas on the south-western coast and Ricoh Port on the western coast near the Ricoh Mountains. All ports have naval bases within a few kilometres of them. In the southern half of the country is the capitol Rifugio City but it does not face the sea; it is land locked. In the north there are a few army bases such as Donizetti and Novato but mostly there are only open farm lands and industrial estates. Out at sea, a few dozens of miles west of shore lay Morte Island which directly translates from Italian to English as Death Island. It is named as such because the only settlements there are the oil well operators who are there working in three-month shifts. Devoid of vegetation and rough, infertile soil Morte Island is only good for oil mining as it is the only thing possible considering the environment. There are no permanent settlements. To the west in Clavis are the Ricoh Mountains, Ricoh being derived by the Italian word Ricco which translates into rich. They are named such because they are very rich in coal, natural gas and oil. Angelo Fort, a massive bunker 200 miles north of Angelo Port. It houses a satellite assisted targeting system (Zeus’ Eye) to pinpoint a target on the ground and accurately transmit the coordinates to either air squadrons or feed them into the integrated chips of cruise missiles that reside along side the Zeus’ Eye or await being launched from an aircraft in the air. The NAD consists of four main squadrons:
· 1st NAD, 6th TFS Falco,
· 1st NAD, 15th TFS Frusta,
· 11th NAD, 8th TFS Aquila,
· 16th NAD, 1st TFS Freccia. There are many others.
The other country, I bet you people forgot about, Verusa. Verusa too has a large navy but it is quite small if compared to Clavis’. Having four neighbours by land, naturally Verusa has a massive army with 85 different regiments. By a ratio of kilometres2and number of army units Verusa has the largest concentration of armed forces on land in the whole world. The air force is not far behind. There are in total 106 different squadrons. The ones with aces are:
· 5th AD, 6th TFS Batorowka
· 5th AD, 9th TFS Ekran
· 6th AD, 2nd TFS Pocisk
· 15th AD, 8th TFS Armata
The naval fleet consists of 7 aircraft carriers, 11 frigates, 9 destroyers, 2 submarines and no battleships. Verusa has a large concentration or armed forces at the border that it shares with the UHT to stop the illegal diamond trade but the efforts so far have gone in vane. The diamonds come into the country and from there are transported around the world to countries such as Estovakia and Osea. Verusa has a total of two ports which are connected by road and rail to the oil wells that riddle the entire surface of the country. The two ports, although less in number are twice the size of Oured each. They both have: a naval area, an airport, a rail station where passenger and freight trains come to refuel and deliver the oil respectively and of course there is the commercial port area where cargo ships are unloaded and loaded for the transport of goods to and from the country. The names of the ports are as follows along with their respective positions: Zamglenie Port on the northern half of the coast. Near this port is the capitol Wazraw. Second is Fala Port in the southern half of the coast. To the north, bordering Yuktobania are the Skalisty Mountains. These mountains are bare of vegetation only rich in oil. There are several oil rigs in the mountains being operated by Romnian petrochemical companies. Under the law they are required to pay 60% tax on the profit obtained by the oil production which is one reason why they do not operate all-year-round. The main river that runs throughout the country in a zigzag manner is the Szorstki River. There are many towns on the river; it ultimately flows into the UHT and drains out through the Sokoi Gorge. Somewhere in the middle of the country is the Wysoki Imperium Plateau. At the base of the plateau are lush, green and dense forests. Trees are cut and sent to two industrial cities in the west for the manufacturing of paper and its by-products. This is where the Szorstki River starts from. On the western stretch of border with Romny are two industrial cities by the names of Karo City and Zwob City. The Karo is in the north and within a few kilometres from the border. The Zwob is further south, situated at the bank of the Szorstki.
THE WAR BEGINS
25thAugust, 2005. The drug and gang activities throughout Verusa keep increasing. This is a major hindrance for the industrial power of Verusa as the business rival is not far away. Yuktobania’s arms race left Clavis without an option to sell its arms so they start exporting the arms Aurelia and Sotoa but some manufacturers had started to sell their arms to the diamond cartel in the UHT. This further accelerated the situation which was already quite bad.
26thAugust. A group of Verusan army units is fired upon by artillery coming from inside the UHT. Taken completely by surprise they ask for directions from base command and the latter orders them to stay on their ground and not move. The army fights back while the base command operators look through the satellite and pinpoint the locations of the gangsters and two Tornado GR-4s unload on them. All the cartel members in that area are killed. The army moves in and extracts the weapons there. They seem to look like the weapons made by Clavisi companies. Immediately a meeting is called in Rifugio. The Verusan PM, Dmitri Kruger tells the Clavisi president about what had happened. The President, President Antonio Del Rosario promises him that dire action will be taken against the perpetrators. The PM goes back, still devoured by his anger. President Del Rosario ordered all weapons exportation to halt. He then orders a regiment from Donizetti base to advance forward toward the UHT. The regiment breaks through the borders and begins their operation named “Restoration”. They begin to track down and destroy cartel groups.
30thAugust. The sun rises from the horizon to give birth to another ordinary day at the Fratelli Ville Port but today is not normal. As a frigate leaves from the naval base near by an F-14D of an unknown origin at low altitudes breaks the sonic barrier over the port. The sonic boom startles the port authorities and damages glasses all over the port. Amazed at what just happened the port authorities report the situation to the president. A few minutes later the president receives a call from the Verusan president that they have declared war on Clavis and it will wage on until and unless one or both the countries should collapse. It was terrifying news. All bases in the country are alerted and are given the order to keep up the reconnaissance drones flying.
This is the time where the player comes into play. He is the leader of the 11th NAD, 8thTFS Aquila. His squadron consists of four planes including his. His name is Fernando Rafaeli but is famous from his moniker “prestante” which means handsome in Italian. His team mates are as follows: Eduardo Gandalfi. He is Aquila-2. Next is Elnora Genovese. She is Aquila-3 and finally Michaela Mori. She is Aquila-4.
6thSeptember. A Clavisi recon drone spots naval movement a 100 miles east of Fratelli Ville Port. The drone is sent in to investigate the unknown naval vessels but as soon as it gets closer to the ships it gets shot down by AA fire. The ships, which by now is quite clear belong to Verusa are contacted by the Fratelli Ville Naval base but they do not respond and just then they start to receive hits from Surface-Surface Missiles or SSMs. Instantly the Aquila Squadron is scrambled to go in combat. They reach the fleet and warn them to halt fire or they will be fired upon but the fleet does not stop. Instead the aircraft carrier scrambles it jets and they engage the Aquila. Outnumbered the Aquila Squadron retreats back to FV naval base. The navy is slow to respond which ultimately results in the destruction of FV port. The Verusan fleet moves back to its waters and on the same day they its army breaks into the border with a massive regiment. They are backed up by the Armata and Batorowka Squadrons. Again the Aquila is scrambled to intercept the enemy forces but this time they are backed up by the Frusta and Falco squadrons. As the battle on the ground intensifies in the air the Clavisi airmen suffer great losses. As they face the ace squadrons of the enemy Falco-1, 3 and 4 get shot down and Frusta-2 as well is KIA. With no where to go except back the army retreats but the airmen keep up their efforts but soon realize that their efforts will go in vane so they too retreat back to safe soil.
14thSeptember. The northern half of the country gets taken by the Verusan forces and they all gather outside of Rifugio, the capitol. All the Clavisi army gets gathered up in the capitol prepared to defend it and the assault starts. The Verusan army starts shelling the capitol. Aquila with Freccia is launched from the naval bases near Ricoh. They come in and start to bomb the Verusan forces but half way through their mission they are facing the Ekran squadron. Determined not to lose any more comrades the Clavisi airmen fight with valour and ultimately shoot down all Ekran fighters. This victory in the sky is hollow as the Verusan army advances forward and inches closer to the capitol. When it seems that all things have failed a tomahawk hits the Verusan army. Terrified at this new development they run back towards their own country and are pushed into the UHT. All industries and bases overcome by them previously are released. Later that day as the Verusan army fights its way out of the UHT (it was fighting with the cartel members) the president, enraged by the defeat he sets up a committee to try to track down where did the tomahawk came from and within a few minutes they find out about the Zeus’ Eye. From satellite images they record the dimensions of the bunker and plan on another invasion but this time they plan to eliminate the Zeus’ Eye.
20thSeptember. A B-2 stealth bomber squadron is prepared in a base on the eastern bank of the Szorstki near the border. It takes off on sunset and within minutes it starts to fly in UHT airspace. From there it crosses into Sokoi gorge and from there it makes its trip around the western part of Clavis, over Morte Island. After it crosses Morte Island it turns east toward Lucini peninsula and when it gets within 1 mile from Lucini it fires two MXR-32-G nuclear armed cruise missiles (a special weapon developed by the Verusan Air Force with the help of Yuktobania). The cruise missiles travel toward Zeus’ Eye and hit the target. Two massive explosions illuminate the dark night sky and the shock waves are felt as far away as the oil rigs in the Ricoh Mountains. Zeus’ Eye is vaporized completely and on the very next day the Clavisi president on national TV declares war on Verusa. During the address to the continent his words are “we understand that why you Verusans have always shown bitterness towards us, we even understand that you are angry at us because we are an indirect reason to why the gang activity in your country has increased over the years, we understand that you were angry and in your rage you violated our borders, invaded our land and all we did was defend our home but a nuclear strike, that is outrageous. We will not tolerate the murdering of our people in our land by any means. Not too long ago your president said to us that this war will wage on until one or both our countries are destroyed, well I, president of Clavis today take a vow in front of the millions of people watching this broadcast that I will give you this war to the fullest. You have placed your hand in the lion’s mouth, you will pay”.
25th September. Verusa ignoring the call for war from Clavis again invades the country and advances toward Donizetti Base. They reach the base unharmed but at the base they face the stiffest opposition they had faced in years. They get pelted with heavy artillery fire and then a tank battle ensues. Although the Verusan force is outnumbered by the Clavisi army, they still call in aerial reinforcements to make sure that the enemy is annihilated. Aquila and Falco, now with its new members fly over to the scene of action in Mirage 2000-5s and bomb the enemy with high explosive bombs. 91% of the Verusan force gets crushed and the rest is imprisoned. Suffering from such a humiliating defeat the Verusan military HQ decides to fight back after more preparations are done for battle.
1st October. Clavis after days of preparations mobilizes its whole navy for an operation which is to be conducted against Verusa. The name of this operation: “Operation Justice”. The 1st and 2nd naval fleet advance first. They consist of 3 battleships, 2 submarines, 2 frigates and 4 destroyers each. As they advance forward they ultimately reach the closest Verusan naval base; Ochraniacz Naval base. One submarine from miles away launches a low yield nuclear torpedo, set to explode two miles away from the base. As the torpedo explodes it sends out shockwaves that hit the base with great fury. This startles the sailors and wakes them up. The alarm is sound but it is too late; the battleships, destroyers and frigates commence attack on the base unanimously. The battleships fire all their mark type guns at once, artillery starts to rain down on the base. The large HE shells disintegrate hangars, storage compounds and other ships at the base like toys. The destroyers and frigates fire SSMs and their medium calibre guns on the base further aggravating the destruction. The Verusans, petrified at the fact that they had been invaded send out SOS signals to near by bases and the Air Force base near Fala Port scrambles the Batorowka Squadron. When they reach Ochraniacz they realize that they are too late. Most of the port facilities have been destroyed but they decide to sink the fleet while they are still at it. The Verusan airmen fire upon the fleet but because they are so few planes among so many ships they ultimately get shot down by SAMs or AA fire. As they day progresses Verusa sends in a fleet of its own with an aircraft carrier to face off with the Clavis’ 1st and 2nd fleet. As the Verusans engage in a bloody sea battle a bomber squadron consisting of 5 B-1B supersonic bombers being escorted by the Aquila Squadron blaze past from above the fleet at an altitude of 4000 feet at supersonic speeds. The bomber squadron named Poiana (buzzard) along with the Aquila squadron perform a blitzkrieg on the Fala Port and naval base. The airbase near by again scrambles a few fighters and as the battle ensues each one of those fighters is shot down by the Aquila on the return journey but one of the Verusan fighters gets damaged by gunfire, the pilot loses control and the plane rams into one of the bombers, disintegrating it to bits. So in this mission one casualty is chalked on the Clavisi side.
3rd October. After their successful operations at Ochraniacz the 1st and 2nd naval fleet return home and the 3rd and the 4th naval fleets take their place and steam forward toward Zamglenie port and naval base. This time the Verusans are prepared and they send their submarines to intercept the fleet. Taken by surprise the two submarines eliminate two ships out of 8 but the rest manage to flush out the submarines and destroy them. The Aquila squadron prepare with another bomber squadron to bomb the rail yards that connect the oil fields to the ports. As they proceed to perform the blitzkrieg they are joined by another rookie squadron from the Clavisi NAD. As they get closer to the base they receive positive calls from the navy which is busy battering the port. They fly over from there to Wazraw; where the rail yards are. They had been warned about stiff enemy opposition as Wazraw is the capitol of Verusa. As they reach Wazraw, instantaneously they are under fire from flak cannons. The bombing mission is partially successful as they are not able to complete the number of targets to be destroyed. They had to leave as the bombers could not survive more of the flak shower and one of the rookies was already dead. As they make their way back home the bombers get shot down all at once by an unknown aircraft that approached them from the rear. The unknown pilot in his F-18E keeps pursuing them until they cross over to the Clavis front line. Confused Rafaeli inquires about this new ace and the HQ replies that he is a very famous mercenary from the Osean continent and he is famous by his moniker Demon Lord.
4th October. News arrives the 3rd and 4th naval fleets were single-handedly destroyed by an unknown pilot flying an F-18E. Questions obviously rise and so do fear. Ignoring this new threat the NAD calls a night strike on Wazraw’s rail yards. An elite knight fighter bomb wing is prepared for the mission. They are to fly F-22s carrying bombs and missiles just in case the Demon Lord appears. They fly into the night with their payload and the Aquila and Falco squadrons are put on standby. The stealth fighters complete the mission of bombing the rail yards and as they returned they are engaged by Cipher. The knights think they can handle the Demon by themselves but they bite into more than they can chew and all but one out of the six F-22s comes back to base. Very curious and enraged at this new ace Rafaeli disobeys orders and takes off to face Cipher. As the pilots meet a furious aerial dogfight begins Cipher ultimately shoots down Rafaeli. He ejects and lands in the water and after 30 hours a rescue team finds him. The night leaves a massive impact on Rafaeli’s psyche as he had never been shot down before.
After this encounter both the sides stop hostilities for two months and the politicians discuss matters until 5th December when the cartel groups in the UHT retaliate and conduct a strike operation on the Clavisi army camp near the border. The army retaliates and pushes the rebels back and continue to push until they break out from the Verusan side. The Verusan also attack the cartel and in the chaos a few Clavisi army units are also destroyed. This sparks a quick revenge spree which turns into an all out battle. The Aquila along with Falco and Freccia are scrambled from Balboni Airbase to stabilise the situation in Clavis’ favour and again the Aquila face of with Cipher and this time Rafaeli manages to damage Cipher’s plane after which the latter leaves the battle field, complimenting Rafaeli on his flying skills. The Aquila and fellow squadrons land back at Balboni AB with the battle reduced down to a simmer back in the UHT.
As a result of this the cartel group is more or less completely eliminated in the cross fire. A steep drop in gang activity is noticed in Verusa as the illegal arms traders’ clients are now dead. Within ten days all illegal arms traders are arrested and their factories are bombarded by the Aquila squadron members. The arrested personnel are sent over to Verusa for justification of their crimes. The war officially ends on 15th December 2005 and Verusa and Clavis go back to being business rivals only. Cipher again disappears in history and the writer of this story sits down and massages his fingers which ache after all the typing.
I hope you like this one just the way you liked all the others. Regards:
Blitzschlag1
Personal opinion: writing a fanon story based in areas not developed by Project Aces is pretty difficult. You can check the map out and you will see that Clavis, Verusa and all other countries not involved in any wars do not have any names of places or cities etc.