Sovereign

“Video reports of CFN troopers executing a Gallian POW circulated the internet. The soldier, whose face was censored by the soldiers who captured them, was apparently a Gallian tank commander who disabled six Larissan MBTs. The video was uploaded to ‘warn men on the side of the matriarchy’ by the Larissan soldiers who captured it, before being taken down. However, the footage has now spread widely on the internet with sour outrage by the people against the CFN’s barbarity. However, as with all war crimes allegations, the CFN, especially the Confederacy, has denied any ‘unlawful shootings of POWs’.”

- ROCN News.

+++

West Orland

Fort Amelie

Complex-41

May 17, 2025

“The situation…has finally been temporarily stabilized,” General Albrecht declared in front of the gathered OHC personnel in the meeting room. Amelie, Jacqueline, and Walter, alongside Pristina, the Defense Minister, were present today as the OHC once again convened as one to discuss the developments nearly a month after the declaration of hostilities.

Quite frankly, while Amelie had been anxious about each event that happened since the CFN declared war, especially with their almost rapid breakthroughs in the Gallian DMZ, the collapse of the Central Vaeyoxan Coalition, and Empress Xue’s desperate defense over the Ginzhu Province that almost led to a collapse of South Hebeian forces in the East Coast of Hebei, so far, the frontlines have finally paused its breakneck advance.

“We have lost…considerable amount of materiel, and equipment. We are very much stretched thin at the moment, and our allies are not in the best of times, but regardless, gentlemen, and ladies…we did it. Our first goal of stabilizing the front has been achieved.”

While one would expect claps or cheers at this momentous victory, the OHC personnel were silent, mostly watching their leader continue his speech with grim stares. Amelie understood why. The lull in the fighting probably wouldn’t last a few days at most. Accordingly, the enemy was just licking their wounds, resupplying, regrouping, and refueling before they would continue their armored advance.

The CFN was tired slightly by the first responders of the MN, but the CFN was far out from the fight and their offensive operations. And that…that worried Amelie greatly. The idea that Imperial Hebei, Gallia, Constania, Latia, Imperial Larissa, and their newly formed defense lines in South Vaeyox on the border of Kusari and Perlistan would all collapse before May was over, was a nightmare scenario for the unprepared MN.

I need time to mobilize further. Amelie looked at the maps on the screens. It was ugly. Gallian borders, both in the southeast and northeast, had been broken. Pez was holding out relatively well, but she knew that the small mountain country would soon be besieged on all sides if Gallia fell. The only stable area for Gallia was their entrenched frontlines in northern Asturia. That stupid Queen.

I hate how she sabotaged everything. Now look at her damned country. And I have to salvage her. Goddess…

Then, on the other hand, South Hebei’s northernmost coastal holdings had been lost to North Hebei. Empress Xue’s forces were lucky; they even made a relatively organized retreat from Ginzhu. Had it not been for Orland’s donated air defense systems and the Imperial Asanaian Air Force’s local air dominance, she imagined that North Hebei would have overrun and encircled at least a hundred thousand soldiers and collapsed the coastal front of South Hebei.

Even in Southwest Hebei, a mountainous region held by Empress Xue, the enemy’s mountaineer divisions had dislodged her from nearly two provinces, alongside eight major cities. Empress Xue would be in a bad position, Amelie knew, as she would have to reorganize her forces and reestablish her defense lines once more.

And thus, I’d need to divert more production to her. Amelie thought. Losing Hebei would be an unacceptable disaster…

Then, the two former Order Pact Kingdoms that still resisted the Confederacy in Southwestern Vaeyox, the Kingdom of Constania and Latia, were both in a bad situation. Orlish and Lorathian forces could only help them from their bases in the Pieran Continent, but the Lombardian Republican Navy and Air Force had already begun hampering their efforts to support the two beleaguered Kingdoms.

Not that we can divert much there. Our hold in North Piera is tenuous at best. We still have to man those nations with our forces to support local armies in resisting a possible joint Asturian and Lombardian naval invasion. I just hope that Admiral Halberd has a plan to keep both of their navies off the Verdean Sea.

Unfortunately, with the Levantine Canal badly still half-operational, and the Asturian strait under the strategic control of the Republic of Asturia (no sane person in the Navy would send an Orlish ship there and have it killed by surface-to-surface missiles), the few Orlish-Lorathian ships present in the Verdean Sea was effectively the only assets they had to counter the combined Lombardian-Asturian navies (and Amelie knew that the South Gallian Naval Squadron was now stuck in port).

Which meant the support they could give to Constania and Latia would be limited until further notice. All in all, at all fronts, they were holding, but barely. And Amelie knew that such a situation could rapidly deteriorate unexpectedly. She really needed to free up more of her mobile units to be sent overseas to respond to the enemy threat.

That and I need more metal on the field. Her number of armored formations against the CFN was very lopsided. Granted, her units in the field usually scored more kills, especially against the inferior designs of the Confederacy, but still…

However, relaxing the training periods will be cruel for these tank crews. I can’t send them unprepared. Not to mention, it’d be a waste of tank hulls.

Options…options. This war truly was a difficult balancing act for Amelie. Walking through this entire mess was really quite the experience. It was truly unsurprising why she was aging so fast with the sheer stress of it.

General Albrecht continued his speech.

“Now that the enemy is licking their wounds, however, we must also do the same. Our allies, right now, are mobilizing further forces as fast as they can. Right now, our most valuable allies are Lorathia, Kusari, and most importantly, Asanai. These three nations have proven to be the most capable in the field, especially the Asanaians. Chief Air Marshal Zimmerman can attest to that.”

The head of the Royal Orlish Air Force, Lewis Zimmerman, was quite the absent man usually in Amelie’s presence. Unlike General Albrecht and Admiral Halberd, who were now both the main leaders of the Army and the Navy that always remained in close contact with Amelie, Zimmerman preferred to hunker down in his headquarters. He was, as always, a silent manager. Someone who kept the air war going as best as he could for Orland without really getting much recognition for it.

I should probably talk to him next time. Amelie thought. He hasn’t yet asked me much about the needs of the Air Force. Except for sending me requests that I stamp.

“Yeah,” Zimmerman nodded with a grin. “Those Asanaian airmen and airwomen are quite the good folks to work with. We shot down three hundred aircraft of the CFN since hostilities started in East Vaeyox. They are cooperating with us smoothly.”

“Three hundred?” Amelie was quite surprised. “We did that?”

“Yes, Your Majesty,” Zimmerman respectfully replied. “In comparison, we lost shy of a hundred aircraft, mostly Asanaian fourth-generation designs. We have lost only twenty of our new LF-20 Phantoms in the air, and we had nearly a hundred fifty confirmed kills. At this rate, the Confederacy will be forced to abandon their efforts to achieve air supremacy. And resort to missile and artillery attacks. Alongside airspace denial.”

“That’s…quite surprising,” Amelie muttered. “I thought the air war wasn’t going particularly well.”

“The air war is firmly on our side,” General Albrecht declared. “It’s the one thing we have absolute dominance on. Unlike in Orland where the enemy too has LF-20 Phantoms to deny us air supremacy, CFN forces in Vaeyox does not. They’re using numerous but outdated fourth-generation designs. Quite frankly, they already struggled to beat us when the ONS Rebenslof only fielded LF-12s. What now when the number of LF-20s that we have is swelling in numbers? Heh, I’ll be fine to declare that in a few months, the air war in Vaeyox will be ours.”

“Indeed,” Zimmerman nodded, before turning to Amelie. “Your Majesty, your support to the Air Force’s acquisition of more and more LF-20 airframes is very much appreciated. The results are showing. Our stealth fighters are the apex of the air. At the moment, it’s actually what’s holding the gaps in our lines.”

“Gaps?” Amelie asked. “We have gaps now?”

This time, the air in the OHC turned sour again, and General Albrecht frowned.

“Yes. The losses sustained by our ground forces were bad. But what’s worse is that our allies are still reorganizing their demoralized and retreating units. Our LF-20s, LF-12s, and the Asanaian Air Force are what’s covering the retreat. The enemy can’t conduct close air support on our lines properly, and we can.”

“We actually just destroyed a column of Pozneki MBTs earlier,” Zimmerman added. “Around fourteen PZT-18s and five PZT-96s, those are Larissan tanks modified by the Pozneki Army, were destroyed by Fighter Squadron 22 five hours ago. Drone observers operated by Gallian light infantry spotted the column right when FS 22 finished their air sweep sortie. They called in an airstrike, and five LF-20 Phantoms dropped five 1 ton GBU-05 bombs on the target. That was a considerable loss for them.”

“That much in one fell swoop?” Amelie smiled. “Heh…I guess we do stand a chance after all.”

“We did lose one of our LF-20s to enemy surface-to-air missiles five minutes later, but yeah, it is a nice development,” Zimmerman shook his head. “But not perfect. Ground attack missions can still be hampered by Larissan SAM units.”

“Well, we have our own SAM units too,” Amelie said. “If we’re struggling to do ground attack missions when our planes are so superior, then the enemy can’t either.”

“Hence why they’re using swarming tactics on us,” General Albrecht said. “We actually destroyed so much of the Confederacy’s armor since the start of the hostilities. Heh, I should say, while they’re making quite the determined advance, we’re bleeding them badly.”

“How well?” Amelie asked. Immediately, General Albrecht switched the slides of the presentation for the tallies of material losses for the CFN. Indeed, it was enormous. In fact, she struggled to imagine how the Confederacy would be recovering from those losses.

“Over the course of the hostilities, our ground forces inflicted severe casualties on the CFN’s armored formations. Prime of the tallies, we have visual confirmation of destroying or disabling one thousand three hundred forty-four CFN MBTs. The majority of which were Larissan T-18 MBTs, mostly of the T-18A variant, but we also destroyed fifty of the latest T-18C variants, mostly killed by our attack helicopters and LF-20s.”

The slides were briefly changed, showing multiple footage of T-18 MBTs being struck either by ATGMs, tank rounds, or rockets, and one was even struck by what appeared to be an artillery strike, captured by a drone. It was…in a way, satisfying for Amelie. Her Armed Forces’ technological dominance sure was showing. Sure, they were on the back foot, retreating, and their allies were less than stellar.

But the OAF’s presence showed just how much it had grown as a fighting force under Amelie’s rule. Of course, they would. She completely gave them operational independence and support unseen by previous Queens. Most of all, unlike all other armies, the OAF was fighting a high-tech civil war in Orland. They were veterans.

That and she sent her cream of the crop overseas. It was good news for her. Her troopers there weren’t being used as cannon fodder but as an effective fighting force.

General Albrecht turned the screen back to the tally of losses.

“Alongside these armored losses, the enemy suffered two thousand losses in their mechanized armor, IFVs, and the like. Mostly DMBs, which is the mainstay IFV of the Order Pact, the equivalent of our M8 IFVs. Alongside that, we have confirmed that the enemy lost three hundred SA-20 155mm SPGs, hundreds of various rocket artillery units, around a hundred mobile SAM launchers such as the PVP-300s, and more. All in all, we’re bleeding them well. However…”

He soon skipped multiple slides and showed the tallies of the losses for their allies. It was…not good. Even if it was only in the hundreds of MBTs lost, Amelie knew that it must be devastating due to their lower numbers.

“Yeah…the numbers for us are just as ugly. Luckily, I OEF Corps remains very much operational. We’ve lost only forty of our MBTs. Twenty-eight of our LSS Mechs, and only a handful of our M8 IFVs, alongside shy of two thousand infantry losses. We’re already replacing the losses, so, while it is grim, we are plugging the gaps, Your Majesty.”

Amelie sighed. Sure, this was good, but she had heard that the Confederacy had a massive arsenal of every weapon imaginable that they had built up throughout the Great War for their “final offensive” alongside the considerable numbers that had already existed during the Cold War, but…

She had to admit that her forces were doing well with the situation at hand.

“Good, then,” Amelie said. “Just, keep up the good work. I’m sure that within a few months, we’d have sent more reinforcements to our allies. We just need to hold on for now, and, as you’ve said, General Albrecht—plug the gaps. Please, tell us of your plans to stabilize the frontlines then.”

The General nodded.

“On it…”

And so, the meeting went on for hours.