The Annals of Arcadia
Or
The Longest Night
Prologue:
The big Akagi class battleships, and their escorting destroyers and cruisers, crossed over into Nasr Airspace just north of Pyryrn Temple. There were only six of the battleships, but they were each towing six torpedo barges behind them, and that meant something. You see, the barges were a product of combined Yafutoman and Valuan engineering, and actually multiplied the battleship's initial broadsides effectiveness by a factor of two or three times their normal strength.
Basically this meant that in the initial salvos fired, the squadron sized element, because it was indeed Twelfth Yafutoman Squadron, was throwing as much weight of fire as a fleet sized unit. Now, that tremendous firepower could only be sustained in the first few minutes of engagement, but, all that terrible destruction would be focused on just a few ships, resulting in their being crippled or destroyed almost immediately, and thereby effectively removing them from the rest of the battle.
Then, after that initial holocaust of destruction, the barges would be released from the battleships and the battle would devolve to more conventional combat that hopefully was now in the Yafutoman's favor.
This was the first time these new weapons and tactics would be used in a war that had been ravaging most of Arcadia for the past five years. Basically, this latest weapon represented a desperate attempt by the Valuan/Yafutoman/Esperanzan alliance to finally force the war to a conclusion.
Really though, it wasn't like they had a choice. The Confederation, a coupling of Nasr, the new Neo-Valuan nation comprised of remnants of Lord Galcian's grand fleet and black pirates, and the enslaved nation of Ixa Taka, had a crushing numerical superiority over the Alliance, and, unbeknownst to Alliance intelligence, that disparity was to widen even further. The Confederation's new, hidden ship yards were busy building the new Requiem class battleship en-masse, and the first Requiem's would be rolling off the production lines within the next moon cycle, Giving the alliance only a few, short months to end the war before it escalated out of control.
The Yafutoman Navy had been working very hard to offset the Alliance's numbers problem with an ever increasing technological edge. In the five short years since the Crystal War, Yafutoma had gone from being a feudal, pre-industrial nation to being recognized as a modern world power, due in no small part to their monarchs strong, unwavering friendship with Emperor Enrique, Valua's head of state. For a few peaceful, wonderful years, Arcadia had been blessed with universal peace and prosperity and all of Arcadia's nations lived in piece. This wasn't to last however. Valua had been left the world's strongest nation at the conclusion of the war, but Nasr secretly began to rebuild its economy and military with the cessation of hostilities and soon surpassed Valua in military strength. All this was a recipe for disaster, and it came true all too soon.
You see, old grudges die hard, and history always seems to repeat itself. This proved to be the case two years later in an incident involving the Valuan destroyer Courageous and an unmarked Nasrean battleship. The Courageous was reduced to a stricken hulk within a few minutes of fierce combat, and the few surviving crew members were summarily executed on the spot. The remains of the destroyer were set adrift near the Nasr/Valua border and were found a week later by a Valuan patrol boat. The human remains were barely recognizeable.
Valua, of course, was outraged by the incident and, within a few days, had declared war on the nation of Nasr. It didn't end there of course, no; the intrigue ran much deeper than that.
You see, the aforementioned remnants of Galcian's fleet had retreated to Dangral Island to regroup and lick their wounds. Leadership of the broken fleet had fallen to Rear Admiral Vladimir Muerte and he took swift action. Muerte had been Galcian's executive officer aboard the Revenant, an elite type battleship, during the Battle of Soltis and, upon Galcian's death, found himself leading a grueling, painful retreat to escape the victorious pirates.
Muerte's broken fleet just managed to limp to Dangral Island, what with so many of their ships barely holding together. Once there, they buried their dead, patched up the wounded, and began to regroup themselves. Thanks to Admiral De Loco (also deceased in the war) Dangral was equipped to repair the damaged ships and begin building new ones. It took two years to rebuild, during which time Muerte began secret negotiations with Nasr's new Nasultan.
The Nasreans had suffered horribly at the Valuan's hands during the war, and certain factions that had come into power wanted revenge. The new Nasultan's father had been taken to Valua and beheaded, so he easily played into Muerte's hand. As a direct result of these negotiations, Nasr began the previously mentioned secret military buildup as well. All of this plotting culminated in the attack on the Valuan destroyer Courageous. Really, this sudden, treacherous blow, which kicked off a massive assualt by Muerte's grand fleet, should have rolled the alliance over like a dracoslyth.
However, one important thing that saved the alliance from a quick defeat; the ingrained paranoia of the former Tenkou in Yafutoma's Navy and the foresight of a few officers. Admirals Jao and Mao Tseong, Vice Admiral Kayko Fuchida, and Prince Daigo Kurita were all students of history and knew that history repeats itself. So while Valua kept it's armada's numbers at a minimum level, Yafutoma began an ambitious technology exchange program that modernized most of their navy in two years. This program had them unsurprised and prepared for Muerte's initial onslaught.
It was Yafutoma that kept the Alliance alive during the first terrible years of war. With almost no help from it's allies, Yafutoma's navy found ifself stretched to the limit trying to keep the Confederation at bay while Esperanza and Valua desperately tried to rebuild their decimated navies.
Yafutoma's perseverance was finally rewarded when Valua and Esperanza began their own counter-offensive that re-took the territory they had lost in the initial battles. With Valua and Esperanza finally relieving some of the pressure, the situation slid into a tiring, bitter stalemate. This is the point where we find ourselves in the beginning of this story...
Muerte is Spanish for death, and, since a lot of the Valuans have Spanish names, I thought this fit. More to come soon.
"A fine weapon in the hands of a novice will soon find the hands of a master."