Sovereign

“Imperial Forces of Kusari and the remnant forces of the Central Vaeyoxan Coalition beaten by combined Larissan–North Hebeian forces under the banner of the CFN in the final defense line held by forward deployed Kusari Army units and rearguard units of retreating military formations from the three Kingdoms that had recently capitulated. The Orlish Air Force and Asanaian Air Force, in conjunction with the Kusari Air Force, have managed to slow and blunt the advance of CFN ground forces, but the situation remains ‘critical’, with MN forces fully retreating to the border of the Empire of Kusari.”

- Geopol Press

“Defense Minister Pristina Dubois announces the successful deployment of five KDUs of the Royal Guard to support MN forces forming up in the Kusari border with Perlistan. Strike Force Nine and the Orlish nuclear aircraft carrier ONS Victorious have also been deployed near the West Kusari Ocean. Two Marine Expeditionary Units of the Orlish Marine Corps have also been deployed with the now-termed II Eastern Royal Guard Corps (ERGC) to support them in combat operations. All in all, it is expected the five KDUs will be one of the core elements of the defense of northwestern Kusari.”

- ROCN News

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West Orland

November Palace

May 22, 2025

The situation in East Vaeyox…continued to be less than stellar, Amelie knew. Quite frankly, at this point, it was her Chief Air Marshall Zimmerman’s efforts that were keeping the fight going for them. The sheer losses being sustained by their allies on the ground had been something worrying for the Orlish High Command and the Mandate of Nations’ defensive posture in the area.

So far, while in Gallia, progress to check and slow down the CFN had yielded some redeemable results, their lines northwest of Kusari in the former lands of Perlistan in comparison had been folding like wet paper. Unable to even hold on for a few more weeks with the complete capitulation of the Central Vaeyoxan Kingdoms.

And so, today, she was meeting the three Empresses of their main allies in the East Vaeyox region by call. Three screens were in front of her. One showed Princess Kawasaki Yumi of the Asanaian Empire, who, for all intents and purposes, was taking the reins of ruling her Empire due to her mother’s age. Beside her was Empress Xue Li of the Empire of Hebei, or South Hebei.

Then, there was Empress Arushi Mehra—a woman already in her fifties. Amelie knew that the Empire of Kusari had always been a neutral nation in the affairs of the Ivory Alliance and the Order Pact, but she also knew that Empress Mehra was a sort of a conservative early “reformer”.

Much like the more liberal and “egalitarian” Empire of Asanai, which had largely accepted male rights reform, especially during the 2024 crisis, and thus, avoided revolution, the Empire of Kusari was a relatively half-decent place for men. While all men of the Empire were required by law to serve in the Army, they also had a society that treated them as mostly lawful “equals” outside of their lamentable labor conditions.

Still, Empress Mehru gave Kusari men votes three decades earlier than Orland after the First Great War. Did it change much? Perhaps not. But she uniquely granted them that political nicety when she was crowned. Unfortunately, she had completely stopped her reforms there, and just Kusari heavily cracked down on any further reforms in the guise of the reforms being “enough”.

Still, Amelie hoped that the Kusari Imperial Armed Forces would at least not fold like wet paper similar to how the Central Vaeyoxan Kingdoms did. Their Army after all, while mostly staffed by men in the lower ranks as enlisted, was mostly led by female officers. Many of their elite units and many of their brigades/regiments were also all-women forces, and they were already easily mobilizing women in their ranks.

All in all, she hoped that the Kusari people and their forces would at least fight instead of completely collapsing. This was why she was sending a lot of support to them (besides the fact that Kusari was populated by eight hundred million souls) and was now in the talks to send more. She wanted to bleed the Larissans with Kusari manpower—if possible.

“Well, quite frankly, our plan of bleeding them from the air is working,” Princess Kawasaki said. “Should we continue this path, we’d be able to cause them enough casualties to seriously stop their advance.”

“I doubt the situation will be as stellar as that,” Empress Xue frowned. “Even with your Air Forces aiding us, we were almost mauled at Ginzhu, and they’re showing no signs of stopping. I think it’s clear that they’ll replace the losses they sustained, secure the areas they captured, and deny us air coverage once their SAM systems are fully deployed. Then resume.”

“That’s the tempo we are seeing in Central Vaeyox,” Empress Mehru added. “Our allies up north have had their lands turned into death zones for Orlish and Asanaian air. Queen Ludendorf’s Air Force already suffered seven planes, their advanced LF-20s, being shot down yesterday.”

Amelie tried to smile.

“I assure you, Empress Mehru, that we are taking steps to prevent further losses,” Amelie said. “Besides, the enemy lost a staggering ratio of sixteen to one since the start of the war when it came to air-to-air combat with our LF-20s. We lost eighteen LF-20s in total to their two-hundred-plus air losses. I think the numbers should be on our side soon due to our qualitative advantage.”

“Advantage or not, the losses yesterday demonstrate that our strategy would no longer become viable once the frontlines hardened,” the Kusari Empress insisted. “Once the enemy air denial strategy is in full swing, we won’t be able to inflict any losses on them any further. And while the LF-20 is certainly an impressive plane when used against hostile air forces, it struggles in the face of ground surface-to-air missile threats.”

“That’s…true,” Amelie admitted with hesitation. “But we’re producing more and more of them, so we should soon be able to still keep the fight. In fact, my Chief Air Marshall, Lewis Zimmerman, is already cooking up an operation to disable a large chunk of the enemy’s air defense capabilities by destroying their SAM launchers, ground radar, control units, and everything in between in a massive SEAD offensive.”

“A SEAD offensive?” Empress Xue asked. “Wouldn’t that be quite the costly operation if it failed? I heard that the Orlish Air Force is running low on standoff missiles…”

“I’m rectifying those supply issues,” Amelie replied. “I will get those missiles sooner or later. Plus, we’re still at forty percent capacity on our active squadrons in East Vaeyox. We should be able to sustain it until replacements arrive.”

“I doubt that it’s a great idea to do a massive SEAD operation deep in enemy lines,” Empress Xue said. “Those missiles are needed to destroy actual offensive targets advancing at us. Each missile and plane sent against an enemy SAM launcher is a missile not sent to a tank driving to my cities or Empress Mehru’s defense line.”

“Then what shall we do?” Amelie asked. “The enemy’s solidifying their air defense to deny us from being able to strike their columns at the distance, so we’re gonna start struggling to hit them from the air, but we also don’t want to destroy their air defense because we might compromise our ability to defend from their ground forces. Then what?”

“We’ll remain in a bind so long as Orland has other commitments,” Princess Kawasaki said, as she leaned back on her seat on the video feeds. “Asanai is also depleting our missile stockpiles…basically everything. At our current consumption rates, our Armed Forces said that we’d have to cut down to fifty percent of our missile usage within a month. After that, we’d have to wait until our industries catch up.”

“It’s the same for us,” Amelie said. “Goddess…we’re all in a bind then. I can’t really divert the rest because…there’s Gallia. There’s Orland. There’s the oceans too…my Kingdom is fighting on many critical fronts.”

“We’ll try to hold on to our lines as best as we can,” Empress Xue said. “But I’m not sure how much longer. We lack the ability to produce heavier and more advanced equipment. We’re only barely managing to get the basics for our troops out. At this point, half of our heavier equipment in the field is from Orland in Asanai…”

“We’re doing better but we cannot raise more formations outside of mobilized infantry,” Empress Mehru said. “We have enough heavy equipment to keep fighting in a decent manner should they come for us, but it’ll probably dry too within a month or two. Mobilizing our industry may take a year or more to catch up with a high-intensity conflict. If Orland fails at keeping the enemy off our land by air strikes, we’d suffer irreplaceable losses.”

“That’s…” Amelie paused. “Well, that doesn’t seem to be ideal. We really need a good plan for this. While the OHC is communicating well with your respective military arms, I believe that we should really expedite the process of creating a unified command structure in East Vaeyox. A permanent one until the war ends. We’re basically running around like headless chickens.”

“That’s true,” Empress Xue said. “If we can coordinate our forces well, we’d be in a much better situation. But that doesn’t change the nature of the war on the ground. This war is very much an attritional war. She who loses the most war materials quickly, and is unable to replace it, shall lose.”

“We still have to stack our ability to use what we have better,” Princess Kawasaki said. “I’m in favor of this. In fact, we have already been preparing for it since we started cooperating with the Orlish Air Force. We should begin full integration of our forces.”

“I’m fine with it,” Empress Xue said. “My priority is winning this war. So long as we have a say, then we’re in.”

“That’s good,” Amelie said. “Empress Mehru? Do you have…any objections perhaps? We are already on board with it. I think this will be good. In fact, my Kingdom’s high command expressed broad support for this and they call this an utmost necessity.”

“The Kusari people will find it with great displeasure if we give up our independent command,” Empress Mehru said. But, even with those words, she soon smiled. “But, their voices don’t matter. We will join. I shall order the heads of my military to begin coordinating with Orland, Asanai, and Hebei for full command integration. What shall it be called then?”

“The East Vaeyox Allied Command,” Amelie answered. “It has a nice ring to it. But regardless, I thank you all for this. This…is a good start for now.”