Chp. 5: Strategic Study
October 9, 2049
New Rovennti AB, Sotoa
Luukas pushed open the main door to the officers' lounge just as a round of cheers broke out. He looked up at one of the screens mounted to see a replay of the Anchorhead West Football Team's latest goal. The camera centered on team star Olavi Heikka as he embraced a teammate. Several officers in the seating area were doing the same or shouting "Lavi!" in support of their favorite player. Luukas avoided the fanfare as he went to the coffee machine; he preferred women's soccer. Besides, coffee was his strongest connection to home. Out here, on the other side of the world, it always kept the spirit up when northern Erusea's slopes and forests were so far away. He took a long gulp before he went to a chair near one of the windows. Another officer, dressed in fatigues rather than a flight suit, was enjoying a newspaper crossword.
"Good afternoon, Seppo." Luukas said as he sat down and pulled a copy of the same newspaper, Paznja!, over to himself.
"Good afternoon Luukas, you arrived just in time. The clue for ten across is simply "Montresor" and nothing more." Captain Seppo Jarvi replied with a friendly grin.
"Montresor? What's that, some kind of wine?"
"Too long to be wine."
"How long is it?"
"Nine letters, and it's in quotation marks with an exclamation point at the end."
"Then you're on your own, my friend."
The tall, wedge-shaped Seppo was one of the select group of friends Luukas maintained. It wasn't that he was a loner, but he would rather have a few good friends than many acquaintances. The fellow Captain, in charge of the base's M10 battery, hailed from the same part of the country as him.
"Okay then, what about a six-letter word with the clue "despite the name, there is only one species"? It ends with an L, and if one of these acrosses is what I think it is, then it also has a V in it."
"So it's the opposite of one?"
"So it seems. These puzzles love to use vague clues to seem more sophisticated than they are. Half the time they just end up being so vague they backfire."
"So why not simply look those ones up?"
"And ruin the fun? I do this to relieve stress, not simply complete it. That'd be a hollow victory if I'd ever had one."
Luukas awkwardly dipped his head in agreement as he tried to determine what the word was while his friend scratched the side of his crew cut with the back end of his pen. The soccer fans on the other side of the lounge erupted in cheers again; Luukas glanced towards the lot and found that one of the men was a Major. Otherwise he might've been tempted to get them to quiet down, but for now he tolerated the matter. It was also worth noting that they were members of the base's army garrison. Paras were notorious for being rowdy bastards.
"Serval." Seppo spoke up.
"Hmm?" Luukas replied, having gone back to his copy of the paper.
"The word is Serval. Serval...several. Clever enough for a chuckle, but still very stupid."
The two snorted in amusement.
"Don't let the intelligence section hear you say that." Luukas warned.
Seppo scoffed as he started writing in another part of the crossword while Luukas went to the new section of the paper. The paper was from a week ago, but again any connection to home was a good connection. The Erusean Air and Space Agency (EASA) was due to begin a serious look at reaching for the Moon and the potential of space colonies. This coming off the heels of the Millenium Space Station project, which had been lambasted by the rest of the world as an attempt to militarize space. As if their own projects didn't exist Luukas thought with a doubt-filled grimace. But space...the final frontier. The endless "sky" and what it held, and the possibility of going there. He had several steps to fulfill, first of them being making Major, but he maintained his confidence on reaching the stars. He searched for anything else on the EASA but was disappointed to find little else to read. The weather section was useless to him, and so were most of the other stories. Politics, things beyond his control or concern. He was a soldier of Erusea; a mind clouded by affairs above him threatened his ability to fight.
"Oh you'll love this one, Luukas." Seppo spoke up.
"Spare me, please." The redhead replied with a sarcastic grin.
"The kind of paper bad jokes are written on."
Luukas shivered and made a scene of getting back to his paper. He only noted the appearance of Major Heinonen when he gave up the act and Seppo's laughter subsided.
"Good afternoon, Major." The two said, standing up in respect.
"Good morning gentlemen, it seems the other half of the party is over here." He observed.
"You could say that, Major. Some of these clues on the crossword are quite hokey." Seppo explained.
"What was the one that had you two giggling like schoolgirls?"
"The clue for the word "terrible", Major. It asks what kind of paper bad jokes are written on."
"Oi...that is terrible."
The Major grabbed a copy of an automotive magazine from the table and sat down in a chair with the others. More noise came from across the room, albeit this time in anger. Luukas glanced at the screen facing him and saw that the AWF had apparently failed to stop the other team from scoring a goal. Not even Major Heinonen seemed interested in telling the paratroopers to calm down.
"Either of you have a vested interest in the fanfare on the other side of the room?" He replied as he sat down, obstinate to make conversation. Namely conversation other than bad puns.
"Captain Miemi tells me the same thing every time I ask: he prefers women's soccer." Seppo replied casually. Luukas shrugged.
"I have a preference for strong women and am an unabashed leg man."
"I cannot trash a man's preference in women. It's something you simply do not do."
The Major flipped through a few pages of the magazine, then joined the two air force officers in doing some reading. Somehow he was also dragged into helping Seppo on the crossword every now and again. The man waited until the paratrooper officers had left and the air defense officer had given up on asking for hints to speak again. The man set his magazine down
"Captain, before I forget the Colonel asked me to delegate some work to you. Extra-curricular, as he put it." He said.
"What does he need?" Luukas replied, lifting a brow at the description.
"Colonel Mistros asked that you provide him with a study on the capabilities of the region's air forces. He told me it'd be an excellent way to maintain cohesion with the Sotoans."
Luukas raised an eyebrow at the request, and it was enough to get Seppo to do the same.
"Is that something to be talked about here?" He asked cautiously.
"I trust in the discretion of Erusean officers. Besides, this is a simple matter of helping to keep intelligence up to date. It's something that naturally falls into the Captain's area of expertise."
The paras seemed to be oblivious to the matter, and the Major's tone was enough to convince the two Captains that he was right.
"How detailed does he want it?"
"Come, let's discuss the rest of this matter at the squadron HQ."
Luukas bid farewell to his friend and followed Heinonen out of the officers' lounge. They walked out of the rec building and walked a short distance to the administrative home of the 87th FIS. Their destination, in particular, was the unit's intelligence section. Despite the implications the name brought, the information held here was the end product of a long process. In practice it was little removed from news reports. Still, the uncomfortably sterile room presented itself as being more than that. At this time the place was almost empty, and Luukas noted that the few personnel there were acting like no one had entered. He wasn't even sure they were really doing anything, but kept his eyes from the screens they were fixated on.
"Lubavitch, that memo on the Chakaris if you'd please?" He spoke up, looking at a man behind a computer.
"Yes sir." The airman replied.
The Major went to a printer and pulled a piece of paper from the tray. He presented Luukas with a memo talking about the ChRAF. It'd been confirmed that they'd declared their latest combat squadron operational, this being their first electronic warfare unit. There was also mention of the country's rotary-wing inventory, which had just been reinforced by a second squadron of PAH-6 Cheetahs. Certainly more specific than the region, he noted.
"Colonel Mistros's request focuses mainly on the fixed-wing capabilities of the ChRAF. Defensive and offensive, combat radius and what they might target within that radius." The senior pilot said, lowering his voice. Luukas tapped a thumb against the memo a few times before he slowly spoke.
"Might I ask a few questions, Major?"
"I believe I have given you all the information needed to conduct this study, Captain. I cannot comment on hearsay. Was there anything I missed?"
The Major maintained his usual demeanor, but his tone made it clear that Luukas would be wise to get on with the matter. Still, he did have one relevant question.
"Should I consult with our Sotoan liaison while conducting this study?" He asked, lowering his voice to the same level as Heinonen's.
"For now there is no need to bother them with such a matter. Does that satisfy your curiosity, Captain Miemi?" The man replied quickly.
"Yes sir. Please let me know if the Colonel has any further instructions as soon as possible. I assume this matter can be started tomorrow."
"Yes, and best of luck Captain."
Luukas gave the Major a quick salute and left, immediately walking to his office in the building. His two assistants looked up with surprise as he entered, then snapped to attention.
"Calm down both of you, I'm simply here to drop off some paperwork for tomorrow." He said to the two Airmen, Mitar and Dmitri.
"Oh...well, once again have a nice day sir." Mitar replied, nodding before he sat back down.
Luukas went to a desk in the corner and sat down. He reached into a pocket and pulled out a key, which he used to unlock an old safe between the desk and the wall. He slipped the order onto one of the shelves, then stopped and pulled out a slip of paper. He considered it for a few minutes, then put it back. No way he was going to forget to do this, he assured himself. He did, however, make a note to visit the base archives for additional information. He looked up as his assistants went back and forth about squadron gunnery qualifications. He gently reminded them to focus more on tactics for scrambling against threats as he stood up and left. Originally he'd planned to go back to the lounge, but suddenly he felt a desire to force down (he wasn't hungry) an early dinner and go back to his quarters. Perhaps get in touch with home. There was a lot to process, factual and speculative…
Admiral Paul Royez leaned over his desk and ran his eyes over the still frame of the news report. The warship taking up much of the frame, the "Erusean Imperial Warship Tanager", was a collection of trapezoids and pyramids topped by spherical tilings. Typical of most surface combatants today, and something his background made him familiar with. She was exiting Farbanti's port with adoration the world over. Ticker tape and Erusean flags everywhere; the largest was fluttering prominently from her mast. Ironically, the ruins of the municipal district were evident in the background, looming over the battlecruiser. They were of no concern to the people bidding farewell to the Erusean Navy's flagship. It was neck-and-neck with the irony of Tanager's (EKA-01) name. She bore the same title of a battleship that was sunk trying to escape Comberth Harbor in Lenshire. He'd long guessed Erusean sailors weren't the superstitious type. No, the old submariner thought, they were too proud to let ghost stories spook them. Royez looked down at the satellite images on his desk and looked at a round man in civilian clothes.
"Alright Bill, you can turn that off. Let's get to brass tacks." He said, motioning at the wall-mounted screen.
The employee from the Defense Intelligence Agency nodded and whistled the first few bars of "Anchors Aweigh" at the device, prompting it to shut off. Royez's own intel chief, Captain Martin Franz, quickly forced back a smile. Lindsay Gunston stood up and took the floor.
"This footage we just saw shows the Tanager leaving Farbanti yesterday morning. At this time we believe she's met up with her surface group and the carrier Invictus roughly 80 Miles south of her homeport. That group's predicted course is about as sure as the weather. We predict she will set sail for the South Atlantic or turn east towards the Eusian Sea. This brings the number of deployed groups to three. The supercruiser Prince Lazar and amphibious ship Krivacho just transited through the Aurelian Straits with their escorts, and we believe they're bound for Varcia, likely as a show of force and global reach." He started, speaking at a steady pace and in a plain tone.
"With the intended message being for us." The Admiral guessed.
"We believe so, but intelligence is a naturally fluid field. Meanwhile the carrier Farbanti and her escorts remain in the Arctic; their current position puts them 300 Miles east of Wellow. Two more amphibious ships, Ruevema and Sazvezde, are conducting amphibious exercises in the Twinkle Islands. Nikula I is scheduled to deploy in the next three months, with Erusea's remaining three carriers currently in port between deployments. Her subs remain the biggest number deployed. Right now there are 22 subs deployed with the aforementioned groups or on lone patrols."
"So the same number we have out...Is the Tanager deploying with anything new?"
"A few matters came to our attention via the CIA. You'll note we have a few snapshots of them loading up Tanager and two of her group's Loz-class cruisers."
The analyst walked up to the desk and Royez flipped through a few of the images until Gunston nodded.
"You can see here that the Tanager is receiving a SAM-heavy load. OSINT suggests that they may be deploying with the new M10-P2 variant, which would give them a firing envelope roughly equal to the SM-7ER system."
"Franz, you've been awfully quiet over there but I see your ears perking up outta that head of spikes you have."
The brown-haired Captain stood up and pulled out a device. With a few clicks he had his PDA project an image of a missile for the three to look over. Lindsay let him explain.
"We've been waiting for the Eruseans to roll out their latest copy of the S-400 series. Mister Gunston is right to compare it to the Standard II family. Naval intelligence also has some good leads on a new variant of the Eruseans' primary cruise missile. Likely one to replace the older KR-200 series of cruise missiles. The variants seen in the images gathered match this new model, the KR-220. More specifically, our current hypothesis is that she's carrying a mix of anti-ship and land-attack variants. The KR-220's range is believed to be about 1450 Miles, which puts it ahead of our Glaive JLRMs."
"That does pose a problem...And what about their anti-ship capability?"
"They still retain the AB-2D system, which by now we feel we've got a good handle on."
Royez's triangular jaw tightened as he looked over the image of the Erusean cruise missile, then held up one of the photos he'd brought over with him.
"So what about the carrier in this group?" He asked. Despite the Tanager-class's power, carriers remained the main striking force of any modern navy.
"Invictus shows no new upgrades at this time, but she retains her already significant striking power. Recent exercises by the Farbanti's group gave us another good view of how the class and their air wings operate. There was nothing we already haven't figured out, and it appears a greater emphasis was being placed on long-range defense by the carrier's F-03s. The bulk of the exercise also appeared to focus on striking land-based targets." Franz said, storing the model of the cruise missile and changing to one of the carrier.
"I have some footage they released to the media if you'd like to see it, sir. My daily report for you also contains what we managed to pick up via ELINT." He added.
"We'll incorporate that into the overall strategy. Right now I wanna stay focused on bringing this all into a nice, actionable report for the queen bee. From what I'm getting, the Eruseans are making a new round of efforts to match our naval abilities. My last question is, what do you two make of this?" Royez said, eyeing both men expectantly. Franz nodded for Gunston to go first.
"In my educated opinion, Admiral, there's nothing particularly suspicious at this time. The Prince Lazar and Krivacho might be heading towards our front yard, but a single group has no chance of causing us any trouble. They know we'll see them coming, and they know we'll be watching. They want us to watch, again, because they can make a show of force. Our best response is to maintain the posture we always have, and to match their moves with our own."
"I agree, sir. The Eruseans want attention, but they don't want to look too provocative. For all the steel they have at sea, we have plenty to match them with. I concur with Doctor Gunston's outlook. For now we keep an eye on them, watch for how they go about moving. Especially the Tanager and Invictus. That new base they have in Sotoa might get a visit to flex more muscle, especially with the Prince and Princess in town. It's no secret that Markos gets his rocks off on military power like his old man does. If the president's concern remains, I would suggest having one of our subs shadow that group. Actually scratch that, we should have one shadow it as soon as possible."
"Excellent proposals, gents. I'll make sure Madam President is well aware of them. Both of you keep me informed if anything changes."
"Yes Admiral."
"Aye aye sir.".