SD.Net World(RAR!) MK IV

[Coyote]

CANISSIA

Bombs rocked the earth, sirens wailed. King Arik Coyotus-I had no way of knowing who was alive, who was dead, how many of his forces still existed, how many of his people...

God damn that fucking Shep, Arik thought, To think I once mourned his death...

Reports were confusing-- damage was worse than intially reported, or it was amazingly undamaged outside except for a few spots. Everything was on fire, or everything was eerily calm. There was no verification, no way to confirm...

He and his extended family huddled in the bunker, deep beneath the Palace, and the adults did their best to comfort the children, as they waited for either the end, or a new dawn... sometime else...

[Raj Ahten]

Neverhood

There was pure chaos. Citizens were panicking in the streets, the PAP had broken down completely and ProTec was leaving as fast as possible. Ignoring everyone else they blasted their way to airfields, dumped their equipment, and flew as many of their people out as possible before the fallout got there. Civilians and militia units trying to gain access to the air fields were shot. It was worse than a bad day in Bosnia.

Alexandria

The Iron General had flown to e prepared cave in the middle of nowhere to ride out the nuclear holocaust. It would be challenging to keep Alexandria growing after this, but now he would have a free hand to do as he wished in Libertopia for a while. Smiling, he knew there was a time of opportunity coming up.

Indhopal

In Indhopal, the people had dispersed to their bunkers and the military was on full alert. Messages had gone out to ProTec personnel the world over urging them to save themselves if possible. Any Treadstone operatives left alive in UAR countries, mainly Sadaamistan, would do their best to disrupt military operations. It was a drop in the bucket though.

[phongn]

The IRT

The OTH-B radar, in peacetime, was normally operated at much lower power than it was capable of. The IRT's enemies were generally within range anyways; when the vast network of sensors started detecting the undeniable characteristics of a nuclear war in progress, the radar ramped up to full power, and to Hell with anyone who complained. So far, it was a huge mess.

Government and corporate investment into a comprehensive civil defense network and improvement of the defenses had provided extensive shelter for the populace ... but there were only a few truly autonomous shelters. The Vault-Tec Corporation(VATEC) was formed as a government-industry partnership, and a few vaults had been constructed: massive underground facilities powered by long-life UAR-designed nuclear "batteries" in case of disaster. But only a few, and only key government, industry and critical personnel could be moved in. Other hardened facilities existed, too, but they were not designed for long-survival.

Nor were many of them ready. Oh, yes, they were stocked with supplies ... but supplies intended for a "normal" nuclear conflict. Not what the airborne radiation sensors were starting to detect. Salted nuclear weapons, with time-to-safety measured in years, if not decades. And despite extensive decontamination units ... this would be a huge mess. Tracing back the plots and running simulations made it obvious whose weapons these were.

Thanks to the mountainous, a goodly portion of the IRT's east might be relatively clean ... but much of the rest of the country would shortly be radioactive. And all thanks to the FUN's nuclear strikes. That meant it was time.

The IRT would have to strike before it's western airbases were rendered useless, their ground crews and equipment frantically beginning evacuation to the east of the country. And the main show would trigger remaining retaliation strikes. Ships were moving to get out of port, preparing to defend against FUN carrier raids.

Day 2, IRT

The IRT constructed all of its main space launch complexes in heavily-reinforced facilities. In fact, they resembled the old elevating silos of Old Earth's Atlas ICBMs in many ways. Now, it was time to launch. Part of the IRT's space programme was the intention of space denial to their enemies, now it was time. Falcon 1 and Falcon 5 rockets were firing as fast as launch windows and crews could handle. And there were quite a few rockets stockpiled for future launch requirements, now being hastily mated to their kill packages. A few had nukes on simple time-delay systems, others had ball bearings, even gelatin.

ALMAZ and other FUN spaceborne command posts were their primary targets. The facilities were defended by heavy ABM systems - systems also capable of handling the extreme re-entry speeds of FUN's space weapons systems.

The first rockets were launching ...

Day 2, Bear Republic

Dozens of Advanced Air-Launched Missiles, thrown twelve-at-a-time from the few squadrons of F-111s and two-at-a-time from some of the F-114s covering them were streaking towards the Bear Republic. His radar saw them coming, of course, but the Tomcats were firing many of their missiles with midcourse update, fed by the advanced AEW birds working with the missile. Jammer aircraft were also coming in from the IRT - the objecting was to take down the Bear's airfields and defenses before they could be used to stage a major attack on the IRT.

The Bear's interceptors - advanced and highly sophisticated - knew they were being painted by long-range search radars. Then the missiles arrived; they needed not be accurate, not with a 200kT nuclear device onboard. Other missiles began their dive towards airports, missile batteries, known command posts and other sundry targets.

As a major air battle began between the Bear's survivors and the IRT fighters, the F-111s turned towards home in a desperate attempt to refuel, reload and rearm.

[Shinn Langley Soryu]

Royal Palace, Ashford City

By the time the first bombs hit the MESS nations, the Langley Armed Forces had already been mobilized. National Guardsmen and the National Police drove through the streets in their V-150 armored cars, ordering civilians to go home and get in their shelters. Halifax frigates with skeleton crews steamed away from their home ports as fast as possible, their ESSMs armed and ready should the order be given. Tejas and Fighting Falcons, all armed to the teeth with AMRAAMs and Vympel R-77s, rocketed from their hangars. From inside his command bunker, Lelouch and his officers watched and waited for the Shepnukistanis to make their move against them.

They never did. Not one bomber ever delivered its payload over Langley; due to the sheer amount of radiological contamination in Canissia, the Red Technocracy, and Shepnukistan itself, fallout would already reach the Duchy in days anyway, making an actual bomb just a drop in the bucket of pain that would soon be dumped on the small nation.

[Vohu Manah]

News briefs from the Qudlivun Free State

Martial Law Declared
In light of recent attacks, including a strike against our state, all military forces are going to full alert and martial law is declared. The militia is activated and NBC gear is being distributed to all citizens.

Astarte and MSDF Outer to return to home waters
All Qudlivun Free State flagged vessels are ordered to return to home waters. This brings an end their research operations.

UAR SRAM strikes Qudlivun Free State
Massive damage was done to the Qudlivun Free State's interior in an unprovoked attack by the UAR. The interior of the country was irradiated, but little loss of life thanks to the territories' emptiness.

Grand Duke moves to save humanity
A desperate attempt to build underground vaults to save at least a portion of the population has begun. In order to stave off any other attacks any non-FUN flagged vessel or craft will be destroyed on sight. The Grand Duke is not confident of success. No one from the Niihama prefecture, including the Grand Duke and family, is expected to survive due to radioactive fallout. Prime Minister Armaiti Mazda, who was not in the area at the time of the attack, is named Grand Duke Vohu Manah's successor.

[Beowulf]

Tian Xia
Imperial Palace

The subway line leading to the imperial palace complex did not, in fact, end at the palace. Rather, the line continued fairly deep inside the mountain the palace was built on, and terminated in a bunker. It was to this bunker that the Huang Di and the palace haremstaff was hustled to as soon as the DSP satellites detected the launch by Shepnukistan. It would be safe enough.

The THAAD battalion at the Imperial palace shot their launchers empty, destroying the warhead inbound.

Severn National Operations Center
The THAAD battery at Severn Operations Center did the same, but wasn't so lucky. The warhead initiated in a ground burst, scouring the national integrated air defense network's hub from the earth.

Cheyenne Regional Operations Center
"Severn's gone. We've been promoted to national air defense command," the general in charge stated. The techs merely looked at each other, and got on with their jobs. The war was real, and their jobs could save millions.

In a quiet, out of the way part of the operation center, a lieutenant typed in a series of commands, which got transmitted to a satellite in orbit.

Elsewhere, an Airman triggered his digital audio player. The song started:

That's great, it starts with an earthquake, birds and snakes, an aeroplane and Lenny Bruce is not afraid.
Eye of a hurricane, listen to yourself churn - world serves its own needs, dummy serve your own needs.

AEGIS land battery A

The SM-3 was primarily designed to deal with IRBM warheads. It wasn't really designed to hit a manned bomber. Making the bomber orbital changed matters. It made the bomber mostly ballistic, and removed the advantages that a bomber had. The pair of Standard Missile-3s that were launched were not avoidable. The RB-73 that had launched against Tian Xia was destroyed.

40,000 ft
The E-767 patrols had never stopped, since they were first started. Their job was to help vector in fighters from beyond the reach of land based defenses. They might take a hit, but that'd be one weapon that wasn't expended on the cities.

Multiple locations on rails
There'd been not much sense of tensions, so the Quickstrike HGV's launch vehicles were sitting in sidings, instead of on the rail lines themselves. Regardless, they'd not been targeted first off. At each of the sidings, a trio of missiles elevated themselves from the rail cars they'd been hidden in. The launches took only a minute to occur, having been authorized automatically when Severn was turned into a crater. They were the fastest reacting system, in terms of both time of flight, and time to prepare for launch. At least, with the exception of a system planned, but with only a test implementation. The Quickstrike system itself had just reached Emergency Operational Capability.

The missiles consisted of three stages. The first was nearly identical to a ballistic missile. The second was similar, but it also contained the equipement required to separate the warload. The third was actually attached to each warload vehicle. Said vehicles actually were hypersonic gliders, capable of much greater speed than the Kh-90 peddled by the Red Technocracy. They were nearly uninterceptable. Each missile lofted four of the gliders.

A total of 48 gliders were launched, the targets having been presurveyed by photoreconnaissance. All the targets were in Saddamistan. Each of the vehicles had been equipped with a pair of 500 kT devices. They were generally targetted at site believed to be command and control bunkers, weapon launch facilities, or otherwise vital to a nuclear strike capability.

Carswell AFB

The life of a bomber pilot sucked. Half the time they were on duty, the slept, ate, drank, and used the bathroom in a shack a 100 feet from their bomber. There was only one squadron of bombers stationed there, the other two squadrons in the wing having been moved to other bases. But the same thing occurred for all three squadrons.

The crews were hastily woken up and half run, half drug to their machines. The planes had already been equipped with weapons, and fuelled. Each carried two dozen missiles. Some of them had gotten the AALM upgrade, but it took a while to replace them all, so most still retained the air-launched ATACMS missile. Within minutes, all the Tu-160s that were ready had launched, and those that remained likely never would. They thundered into the air, heading for their targets. Half of them went north, the other half south.

In total nearly three dozen bombers launched. A couple split off to hit the IRT space launch facilities. AALMs would be returned to their makers. The rest continued to the UAR.

Tundra orbit

The single satellite floated serenely through space. It'd been put up for a test, but would instead be going to war. Fitted with a NSWR engine, it accelerated at 500Gs, reaching a speed of 360 km/s before impacting into the ground, vaporizing itself and its surroundings. From when it first recieved its command to impact was only 3 minutes. It hit with the force of 60 kT of TNT, knocking a hole into the Shepnukistani air defense network.

Shinra Republic
Presidental Palace

The Shinra leader didn't have a convenient mountain to hide under. He had to put his trust into the air defense network he'd bought. Both missile from the RB-73 had been targetted on his palace. Neither made it. They'd been salvaged fused, and one wasn't destroyed on impact with the interceptor. So it initiated, far too high to actually do damage.

4th Artillery Regiment

It was a little known fact that the MLRS launchers were assigned to ADCOM while on the Tian Xia soil. It made a certain twisted sense, however. The ATACMS they carried were nearly identical to the air-launched version, including the capability to be retargeted inflight. As such, the effectively performed the roled of heavy nuclear SAM.

The MLRS crews were woken in the middle of the night. The recall process was initiated. It'd take minutes the nation didn't have, but that was life. Not everyone would make it to the batteries, but then, not all batteries were equipped with the nuclear ATACMS. Those that did make it in time would suffice. They readied for the nuclear onslaught.

Various cities
Sirens wailed, waking people from their sleep. It was a sound usually heard during drills. It signalled the end of the world. Those that had shelters went to them. Those that didn't, tried to get into what public shelters there were.

[Coyote]

What nukes, missiles, and chemical weapons Canissia had, launched. In the Neverhood, full-scale ground warfare erupted, in a cataclysmic clash of conventional arms as armies and geurrilla forces duked it out. Tactical nukes were loosed, and MESS forces were supported by naval gunfire and TLAMS where possible.

Royal Navy forces based in the Shinra Republic-- those that weren't at sea on patrols-- were caught like the rest; the only force to escape destruction entirely was the South Seas Fleet at Port Serenity, Gottland.

The Canissian's most unusual contribution to the war effort was the last-minute appearance of blankets of missiles containing virulent strains of hoof-and-mouth disease, which were plastered all over UAR territory that had not been hit yet. King Arik Coyotus-I's standing orders, part of 'Case Joker's Wild', was to make sure that even if anyone did, indeed, survive in UAR territory they'd have to make do without livestock-- the infrastructure didn't exist anymore to organize large-scale culls. And with the radiation in the atmosphere and groundwater, now, things would be getting mighty hungry in the UAR in a few weeks...

It wasn't much, but it was a last Canissian middle finger to those who decided to destroy the good world they'd been given on a silver platter.

[CmdrWilkens]

" This is an emergency over-ride, all systems will re-route through New Horizons"

"Fuckin, A man we weren't even supposed to be going live until early next year..."

"Switch over, all systems to automatic. We have launch athority against any track with indications for Wilkonia."

"Sir he's gonna violate Bear- or IRT-space all to hell unless he drops it straight vertical."

"He could try for a clear shot coming in cross Tian-Xia the long way around. If that's the case we'll have an extra bit of warning. They have the test SPY-3b system in place on their East coast and I'm betting they should be going live...now"

"Link is up sir. All units reporting valid start and detection sweep sequnces. Our array is sitll topping them out, we just passed 240MW RF sir and still climbing, the array is still safe."

"Inbound tracks detected on Tian Xia's board."

"How may for us and how many for them?"

"Can't say for sure sure looks like at least a dozen headed our way, mostly targeted on Columbia."

"How many batteries will bear?"

"Only two sir, not enough to garuntee."

"Air raid indicators are out already, the subway has shut off 3rd rail power and all evacuation planning is proceeding apace if we can take out a few of 'em there is a chance the SM-2s around the capital will be able to bat cleanup."

"Acknolwedged. Weapons are now free."

With a turn of the key the MESS's newest and still experimental tracking and engagement system took charge of the defense of Wilkonia. With 6 years and nearly 60 billion in developmental funding for the radar system alone finding the targets was easy...hitting them was another matter. New Horizons as a program whole was working on that but for now it would be a bunch of SM-3s and BlockIV SM-2s that would be trying to swat the Shepnukistani attack from the sky.

-----

"This is a valid launch order sir."

"Key removal authority?"

"Sir I read authority as Alpha 9 9 Juliet Tango Romeo 4 Foxtrot 4 Sierra"

"I confirm sir Alpha 9 9 Juliet Tango Romeo 4 Foxtrot 4 Sierra"

"Very well then, key release is authotrized, SIOP1 to be initiated by aut-sequence, and may God have mercy on their souls."

"Aye,sir!"

"XO you have the conn, Weaps, Nav, Sonar, and Cobb you are with me."

"Aye sir"
"Aye sir"
"Aye sir"
"Aye sir"
"Aye sir"
"Aye sir"

"Gentlemen please turn your keys."

With that another automated system took over but this one wa more offensive in nature.

Ever since the assault on TF-23 the WIN had been leery that Shepnukistan would attempt to strike again despite the massive civil war that had engulfed them and despite the universal condemnation they would attempt to bully everyone else into having it Shep's way. Given that, the world's largest submarine force had maintained a near constant slow patrol of Shepnukistan. Now as war warnings had ratcheted up the subs in SubForNorth had been given a complete tactical download btained by unstated means but highly detailed in terms of targets, defenses, saturation neccessarry to acheive success given that they were still using UGM-109s though admitteldy the -N designation gave them a bit more punch.

All units were dialed in to max yield and a dispersal pattern was set to combine the efforts of all 12 subs to thwart any Shepnukistani attempts at stopping the strike. They had the locaiton and hardness of every air defense bunker, command center, refueling point, airfield, test field, hanger, barracks, SAM site, and SAM storage depot in Shepnukistan proper. It was a large list but with 12 launches per sub and 12 subs 144 nukes was a relatively decent first wave.

Moreover the follow on strikes by WAS B-1Bs would follow almost literally in the wake of the fireballs with a second round or air-launched W-80s to complte the destruction of everything Shep could laim to hold in terms of air defenses...he would be naked as a jaybird and glowing radioactive hot even before forces from the rest of the MESS arrived.

[Beowulf]

Tian Xia
15th Fighter Squadron

Like it brethren, the 15th fighter squadron rotated alerts. About one in three squadrons were on alert status at any time. Given that there were nine squadrons of F-22s, that meant that 3 squadrons were ready. They had lifted off less than a minute after the attack warning came in. The rest would lift as their crews came in. Still, not all of them were in a state to fly. Only 3 dozen F-22s lifted initially. It was likely that twice that number would make the second wave. Two squadrons were tasked to defend against Shepnukistani bombers. The other squadron of alert fighters went south.

Elsewhere, other fighter squadrons scrambled to get into the air. Some of them were F-14s, and were being loaded with a nuclear AL-ATACMS. Others were F-18s, with strictly air to air loadouts. The F-35Cs were loaded for air to air as well.

TXS Tireless (CSGN)

The F-35Bs on board the Tireless were tasked with something different. Their bomb bays were smaller than on the C model, but that wouldn't stop them from carrying a strategic payload. Like the ship they were on, they had been modified for nuclear strike. The Tireless was steaming towards Shepnukistan from it's patrol position NE of the archipelago, its escorts on the lookout for submarines.

On the bridge the captain read the order: "Release of nuclear weapons is authorized. Nuclear detonations detected on Tian Xia soil. Authentication confirms transmission by National Command Authority. Authorization code: Whiskey Romeo Uniform Niner Niner Tango Delta Four Two."

The XO opened the safe, broke the packet, and read out listed authorization code: "Whiskey Romeo Uniform Niner Niner Tango Delta Four Two. I confirm a valid authorization for unlimited nuclear release."

"Weaps, Cobb: follow me. XO: you have the bridge" The captain strode down to a weapons locker next to the hangar. On either side of the door, far enough apart that a single man couldn't use both at once, were a pair of key holes. The captain and "Weaps" removed keys from around their necks, as armament loaders gathered close.

"On three, Weaps, turn your key. One, two , three." Both men turned their keys simultaneously, opening the door, and allowing the weapons to be loaded onto the Lightning IIs. The keys were then withdrawn as the authorization group returned to the bridge. They keys would be needed for the use of the rest of the nuclear armament of the ship.

TXS Victoria

In the squadron briefing rooms, the F-14 pilots were given their orders. Nuclear strike on Saddamistan. Armament loaders were already attaching the nukes to the planes, one missile each. The F-35 pilots were being briefed similarly, but their planes were being loaded with a pair of nuclear free fall bombs.

The rest of the air group was tasked with protecting the strike package. The F-14s would open the way with their nukes, while the F-35Cs struck the real targets deeper in Saddamistan. Afterwards, the air group would return to the carrier, and strike again, and again, until either no planes returned, or there was no weapons left. At which point the carrier's escorts would get somewhat closer to shore, and begin bombardment with NATACMS-ER missiles at whichever targets were thought to be left.

[Grand Moff Yenchin]

Good Mountain Project, Somewhere in Mangka

The Good Mountain Project was entering it's 3rd year of construction. Originally, that meant at least 4 more years. But now everything was halted, probably for a permanent time. However, the Headquarter Post was now fully equipped and operational. A lot of places were running as well. Far more comfortable than last year, during the MESS-Nukistan Crisis. Which now seemed like a very long time ago.

Also this year the whole island had enough space for the troops and civillians. The Good Mountain Project itself, although a military base, even had enough extra space for civillians and supplies for 3 years.

The Vice President was at the Mt. Phoenix Command Post. It was an older base, but had far better conditions compared to Good Mountain. In the worst situations, they might have a better chance of surviving a war like this, and the aftermaths.

Hyperaccumulators were dispersed before everyone retreated, plus there was still a lot in storage. However with fallout amount like this, even the effective most remedial would still be slow.

Yenchin finished his rations and drank some water. Q's laughter seemed to sound from the passage outside. Yenchin opened the door, and only saw Sonija Kwok standing there, with some files.

"Sir...these reports..."

"Damn let's worry about the reports later. Grappling time."

[Coiler]

Coilerburg had effectively ceased to exist after the nuclear strike from the Ivan Drago. The navy that Iler and Poiskaga had put so much effort into had died alongside the country. All that remained of it was one submarine-one of the two loaned from Saddamistan that had been fortunate enough to be out at sea when the country was nuked.

The submarine's crew had trained for the possibility of nuclear war. They had heard reports of Zoria launching nukes at Saddamistan and the Canissian Southern Sea Fleet escaping destruction. So the submarine headed south, ready to avenge its country.

[The Yosemite Bear]

Some said that Colin could sleep through a nuclear attack. Today he almost proved it waking up after the battle had started, demanding coffee and wondering why the holy frag the ElDorado, North Fort, Fort Braggard, Pirate's Bay and other cites of primarily civilian traffic and trade in the northern section had been devistated? The Farmlands and secondary staging bases were in the north. Nor had there been any information about the existance of chemical weapon loaded scuds, or even any scuds at all in The BR, no one would have accepted the loss of good beach front property for that. The Pirmary military bases had always been in the south. The attack that had started while he was still asleep, and just now waking from a groggy haze still made no sense to him.

Oh well, I guess those underground farms will come in handy after all. The existance of the Bear's advanced EW Zepplin platforms had however done their jobs rather well. taking a giant radar system, and pumping sufficiant energy through it, created a disportionatly large radar blip. The Eye of Sauron had absorbed the vast majority of the Tonkin attack, obliterated by a nuclear exchange it had the effect of saving several civilian areas from attack. The remaining 688i subs were not so nice to the Tonkin coastline, nor was the Baradûr air Wings, flying up to intercept the Tonkin Airforce.

One had to wonder what would have caused someone to attack 90% civilian areas and leave the militarized southern section of the country intact.

[Coiler]

Coilerburg submarine Silent Warrior

Zoria had spread out its fleet so that a single nuclear strike could not take it all out in one blast. Spreading the fleet out also made each individual ship vulnerable to surprise submarines.

The Silent Warrior detected its first target-a Zorian Burke out on patrol in the southern Central Sea. A salvo of torpedoes was fired. The torpedoes wreaked havoc on the destroyer, breaking it in half, with both halves sinking quickly. There were only a handful of survivors. The Silent Warrior fled the area, both to hunt for more targets and to escape reprisal.[/b]

[MKSheppard]

40,000 feet over the Great Northern Ocean

The eighteen MGM-191C Land Attack Missiles and fourteen MGM-191D Land Attack Missiles orbited over the vast ocean, doing lazy eights and cruising well out of sight of everyone else. They'd been orbiting for the last day or so, waiting for the perfect time to execute their mission as defined by their now-dead mission planners.

On each of them, a mission clock ticked over, and they began to execute their missions.

Eastern Shoreline of Wilkonia, several hours later

The missile had no eyes; but if it had any, it would see uncontrolled fires burning all along the coastline of Wilkonia and deep inside the interior from Shepnukistani NUDETs where long range radars and SAM sites used to be; as well as several major cities.

On paper, air defense networks looked lethal and sturdy; but that was before you started flaming pieces of them to ash with nuclear tipped stand-off missiles. Building an IADS to resist a nuclear attack and ride it out with coherent command and control was a hugely expensive undertaking, and only the IRT had done that.

So it was through the huge gaps and confusion in the Wilkonian Air Defense System that the MGM-191C flew -- while a lone radar station that was still operating could detect it; it had no way of transmitting it's information to the surviving C3I sites; due to the lack of a very expensive landline network.

The Missile flew across Wilkonia at just a hundred feet above ground level at speeds around 2,000 MPH; it's skin glowing red hot with skin friction, the sonic boom of a 30 ton missile at those speeds lashing the ground behind it, and spreading radioactive particles from it's exhaust.

But that was not all the Missile could do. It was coming up on a city that was not part of the Shepnukistani first stage SIOP plans, and was thus assigned to the LAM units. A hatch opened in the bottom of the missile; and out popped a one megaton device, which deployed retarding fins almost instantly.

With a thud, the device landed directly on a major boulevard in the unnamed city, and it's timer began to tick away, to allow the LAM to escape the blast.

Thirty seconds later, the device initated, the one megaton ground burst wiping out the heart of the city, and sending a huge plume of fallout downwind.

All across the MESS, second tier cities in the SIOP were subjected to the lash of the LAMs and the 200 one megaton nuclear warheads they carried. Only three LAMs managed to be shot down by the depleted MESS air defenses, the rest reached their targets.

Likewise, in the FUN, the MGM-191Ds carried out their deadly mission, although they were for the most part, largely unarmed; with only ten warheads between them -- their weapon was their sonic boom and exhaust; followed by the commanded dive into the ground at major cities for maximal irradation.

OOC: I guess you just plumb forgot about them, guys

[MKSheppard]

Novak AFB, Northern Shepnukistan

The Shepnukistani military personnel walked across the scorched airfield, not caring about the radiation, they'd already, by their dosiometers, absorbed enough REMs to kill them; they were in the "walking ghost" phase of radiation poisioning -- they'd die in a short time, but there was still one last thing they could do.

WS-124A had been a theoretical exercise before the war -- they had carried out some experiments with it; disguised as stratospheric weather sampling balloons; and on the basis of that early test, about a hundred had been manufactured and placed here, for whatever reason, nobody knew.

"You got the warheads?" asked one of the Sergeants.

"Sure thing."

"Lets load them up."

Working through the night, the men at what was formerly Novak Air Force Base, managed to load and launch about thirty five Flying Cloud balloons before the cumulative radiation poisoning got to them and they entered the final, terminal stage.

As their handlers died slowly behind them, the 35 balloons slowly ascended into the stratosphere to their cruising altitude of 100,000 feet; their deadly payload of Saddam Super Anthrax and Saddam Super Smallbola borne in the cluster bomblets they carried; to be released when a camera on the bottom of the gondola recognized enemy landmarks.

[MKSheppard]

Somewhere in the Oceans

Captain Dan "Mr Coffee" Webb of the Shepnukistani DLGN RSS Texas was a very unhappy man. They had survived most of the initial first wave strikes due to being out on a shakedown mission; and now, they could only watch as civilization collapsed around them.

Lifting his huge 1 liter mug of coffee, Webb sighed. "Fuck, what do we do now?"

"Sir, we have a Canissian frigate at 30 nautical miles," said one of the officers.

"Fuck, I don't feel like killing any more people today after all that's happened today."

"Fuck it, set a course for the frigate; lets go team up with them and punch all the assholes who started this war in the cunt for ourselves!"

And thus TF Cuntpuncher is formed

[Beowulf]

Tian Xia
Cheyenne National Operations Center

"DSP shows Shepnukistani Land Attack Missiles incoming. AWACS should pick them up soon."

"Cue the ATACMS."

"Batteries responding."

---

200 km off the eastern shore, the LAMs began to be engaged. The ATACMS weren't all that accurate, being strictly command guided. On the other hand, Shepnukistani bombers hadn't yet tried to penetrate Tian Xian airspace. The missiles sequentially initiated in the likely paths of the missiles, proving the old adage "Close only counts in horseshoes, hand grenades, and nuclear weapons." It didn't matter if they missed by hundreds of meters, the nuclear devices had fireballs over a kilometer in diameter. A couple of the LAMs went through the fireballs, being destroyed instantly. Another was subject to a near miss, and was slapped into the ocean surface. None of the ones targetted on Tian Xia came close enough to be engaged by the actual IADS of Tian Xia.

[MKSheppard]

Tian Xia Cheyenne Comamnd Center, four weeks since Nuclear War; two weeks since outbreak of Saddam Super Smallbola

"Damn it, do we have to do this?"

"I'm afraid so, Gridley. The goddamn Shepnukistanis found a way to strike from beyond the grave. Order the nuclear strike on the city; we can't risk any chance of the Smallbola surviving...."

"WHORES WHORES WHORES," shouted the FUN liason officer.

"Yes, they are goddamn filthy whores."

[Zor]

Coilerburg submarine Silent Warrior

Zoria had spread out its fleet so that a single nuclear strike could not take it all out in one blast. Spreading the fleet out also made each individual ship vulnerable to surprise submarines.

The Silent Warrior detected its first target-a Zorian Burke out on patrol in the southern Central Sea. A salvo of torpedoes was fired. The torpedoes wreaked havoc on the destroyer, breaking it in half, with both halves sinking quickly. There were only a handful of survivors. The Silent Warrior fled the area, both to hunt for more targets and to escape reprisal.[/b]

A few minutes after the Lone Coilerburgian Submarine Torpedoed HMZS-Faraday, it was detected by the Royal Zorian Navy Attack Sub HMZS-Kusanagi assigned to guard against submarine attacks and was torpedoed itself. Not a single member of it's crew survived the attack.

Zor

[MKSheppard]

Forty Years Since Nuclear War

In the years since the Global Nuclear Holocaust, the survivors had banded together and managed to rebuild what they could. Terra Nova was now ruled by the World Humanity Organization - Recovery and Education council; or as everyone called it (WHO-RE).

Life had been hard in the years afterward, with all the crops on Terra Nova essentially failing due to the localized nuclear autumn, and the Cobalt-60 poisioning over much of the northern group of Islands.

Millions had starved; and millions more were killed by disease epidemics which ravaged the survivors, including a particularly nasty brand of smallpox that behaved like ebola; which was said to have been released by Sheppard.

[Raj Ahten]

Post War Period

The post war period had not been kind to the UAR's citizens. Hoardes of mercenary trash, backed by project Treadstone and others, had gone to work slaughtering every last UAR citizen they could find. Roving death squads had traversed the post apocalyptic landscape, going about their deadly mission. On the seas pirates attacked anyone trying to enter or leave Shepnukistan on a mission of mercy.

[K. A. Pital]

Generalisse Anna: a recollection

The POST-ATOMIC PEOPLE'S EXECUTIVE NEWS (PAPEN) found the 60-year old woman as the still presiding Secretary General of the Red Technoracy. Thrown back to early industrial times, the country experienced mass starvation and a huge exodus over the years. However, the neighoboring UKB and FUN ally nations that were relatively unaffected greatly helped the reconstruction.

Remaining a violent post-war nation with poverty, disease and crime abound, the Red Technocracy is ruled with an iron fist by the same woman who led the nuclear attack against Shepnukistan and Saddamistan 40 years ago.

We found a hour in her schedule of public visits and police and army rallies to speak about the events of the Great War, so long past.

- So, forty years after, did you have any qualms about irradiating the northern and southern islands of SDN with deadly isotopes, making them a wasteland that is barely recolonized now?

- Little if any, - the old woman in a military uniform which had so many awards it seemed it's left part constited solely of medals, spoke with a cold and alien voice. - I never had any pity for would-be world conquerors, even if they arm themselves with nuclear weapons. I have destroyed the cancerous cells of SDN World. Collateral deaths are regrettable, but it was the only way.

- It is said that special service agents are killing all and any refugees from UAR in all nations of the world, which basically amounts to genocide. Hospitals deny them treatment. A huge black market has sprung up. Ex-UAR men control crime syndicates which offer them some protection.

- Our border regulation system has greatly improved since the war. We never let the UAR survivors in from the first days. The nations which did made a grave error. The silent genocide that unfolds now should have happened years ago really, during the war. The UAR citizens... should've starved like irradiated zombies in their own nations.

- What of Coilerburg?


- Maybe we'll make a theme park out of it. It's a grim place. They say a person goes mad in a day if he stays there.

And now, tune in for the special report: a Great Victory anniversary parade from the New Red Square, where the mausoleum of Secretary General Stas will assemble the highest officials of our nation,s to greet the valiant de-activators, the crippled Hero-Farmers and Hero-Workers with the 40th Anniversary of the Great Pyrrhic Victory.

[MKSheppard]

Somewhere in the wastelands....

My life fades...the vision dims. All that remains are memories.

I remember...a time of chaos......ruined dreams...this wasted land.

But most of all, I remember the Road Warrior...the man we called Max.

To understand who he was, you have to go back to another time...when the world was powered by the black fuel..

All Gone now... swept away.

For reasons long forgotten, two mighty warrior tribes went to war...and touched off a blaze which engulfed them all.

Their world crumbled...the cities exploded. A whirlwind of looting...a firestorm of fear.

Men began to feed on men. On the roads it was a white-line nightmare. Only those mobile enough to scavenge...brutal enough to pillage would survive.

The gangs took over the highways...ready to wage war for a tank of juice.

And in this maelstrom of decay..ordinary men were battered and smashed.

Men like Max Shroomatansky.....

[Grand Moff Yenchin]

Wanhua 101, Republic of Mangka



Beneath the 101 story building, crowds were partying with the music of the Lipstick Lesbians, the top girl band in Mangka 40 years ago. Their songs were played during the harsh times of the years, as well as the 1st day the land was finally announced safe. Now it was kind of a tradition to dance in their music during the annual celebration of "Clean Day".

"You know, ever since the Last Nuclear War I always felt that there was some joke in the situation of our nation." a 70 year old Yenchin said as he watched the city from the windows.

"How is that?" asked Wenyi Li, CEO of the FORMOSA Initiative, and his 3rd wife.

"Well, pre-war we were trying to expand a lot to catch up with our MESS Brothers, a lot of Legislatives, and well, big name corporations were proposing big bombs, bio bombs, nuke bombs...etc, and then it seemed that it was the insignificance of our nation's firepower that saved us from getting nuked to hell. Which made us recover a bit faster."

"Well, Enderistan kind of argues against this notion." Said Sonija Kwok, his 2nd wife, CEO of the Pharmetics Franchise. Which now also provided all sorts of military service worldwide.

She did have a point. Miraculously, Enderistan didn't seem to suffer a lot, despite being another big gun in the MESS. They provided a lot of help to worldwide nations, except those of UAR of course.

His 1st wife, President Yuki Amami, walked in with her laptop. "Cut the chit-chat, is everyone ready?" She succeeded the office after Yenchin refused to form a dictatorship 30 years ago. After that, the nation's condition was improving faster than everyone could imagine. It was her idea to legalized polygamy. "We gotta make babies." She simply replied to the legislatives when they asked why.

"I guess so, Ada called from her office on level 40, she was reading some reports. We'll pick her up on the way." Yenchin said. Ada Wong, his 4th wife, was now CEO of the Parasol Corporation. According to her, the Corporation was making some big progress on curing the newly emerged cancer and diseases.

"Same old failure reports?" Asked Sonija.

"No, she said there was huge progress, the Corporation discovered some sort of virus which can serve ideally to deliver the required genes for the therapy. Some sort of 'Therapy to end all therapies'. They're calling it the 'T-Virus'."

[PeZook]

Astoria, 2052

"Get the motherfucker! Get him!!!", screamed an old man, pointing at a teenager trying to run away amongst the rubble. A gaggle of ragged workers started running after him, screaming obscenities.

Astoria was one of two PeZookian cities to have been hit forty years ago ; It's population numbered 1.5 million, to most of all cities on the small island, and more than 250 thousand perished in the nuclear blast. The ruins were later irradiated by Shepnukistani nuclear cruise missiles, and the Smallbola outbreaks following the war caused even more death.

After countless years of starvation, misery and disease, with help from other FUN nations, Astoria's reconstruction could begin.

Thousands of workers were moved into the city, to remove rubble and demolish damaged buildings ; The work would take decades. And after them followed displaced UAR nationals, clandestinely, living - as they always did - off scraps and scavenging. The people have not forgotten the UAR, reminded of them at all times by the rubble and diseased children. While the government forbid lynching of the immigrants, it was powerless to actually enforce that law.

And so, the young Thomas Myers ran, scared of his life, from a hundred angry reconstruction workers. He was born after The Fall and did not understand why these people hated him so much ; He's never even seen Shepnukistan. He scurried up the piles of rubble, dodged into small passageways and crawled through collapsed buildings. Eventually, he reached his favorite hideout - an overturned car, hidden amongst a dozen others. There was a skeleton there - still clutching a rusted pistol in its hand.

Tommy hid there, in the back seat, hoping he'd remain unnoticed. He clutched a can of food he stole from the field kitchen that fed reconstruction workers.

But they found him. With the grinning skeleton looking on, the PeZookian workers dragged Tommy from the car and started beating him to death with their shovels and pickaxes.