SDNWorld Redux: Story Thread the Second

[Coyote]

OPEN PRESS RELEASE TO ALL NATIONS
Re: the ASTARIA SITUATION

The Royal People's Republic of Canissia is officially un-involved in any way shape or form with the events unfolding in Astaria. His Majesty the King, Arik Coyotus-I, has no intention of intervening on behalf of either side is issuing a statement of neutrality. Unconfirmed reports from the Palace state that the King is "officially unconcerned and disinterested" in the Astaria situation and sees no Canissian interests involved at any level.

[Steve]

Welles Island Air Base, Veleria


Civilian and military doctors from the Cascadian Department of Disease Control and Prevention were finishing their final equipment checks while their T-12B began preflight checks. They were carrying every single prevention agent and alleviation drug known to them to try and halt the spread of plague in Astaria.

As they continued their somber work, a KC-22 took off behind them to take up position for refueling transports from other countries trying to evacuate nationals from Astaria or to fly in materials to help there.


CRS Defiant


The 57,000 ton aircraft carrier and her battle group were steaming south at full speed for Astaria to provide support in quarantine and aid operations. The Cascadian Navy's Bio-Chem Warfare Operations Team had arrived the previous night from Van Halstoff and was being ferried now to the CRS Cascadia to deploy by helicopter.


CRS Intrepid


Like her sister ship Defiant, Intrepid was cruising off of the coast doing pre-deployment checks, having just put to sea after her R&R period that bridged the New Year. She was undertaking flight operations when the emergency command message came from Bremerton, instructing the carrier and her group to make best speed for Van Halstoff. The situation in Astaria had merited the decision to surge the Cascadian Navy into the region.



Other Actions:

The Shepistani pilots who were sent as part of Project Gold Mine, and other personnel, have been expelled from el-Yasuj and Welles Island and ordered to fly back to Shepistan via the Cayman Islands (for their protection since their presence near Astaria might provoke air attack).

Project Gold Mine has been terminated. The Cascadian Government has recalled their intel man from Annapolis.

A plan predating the current conflict is being enacted as a result of the new MESS-Shepistan Detente. The Cascadian units providing peacekeepers in Chesapeake are being withdrawn.

[Beowulf]

Statement from the Huang Di

We condemn the use of biological warfare agents by Shepistan. Such agents present grave risks, extending far outside the area that they are used. However, we have chosen not to intervene in the current conflict between Shepistan and Astaria at the present time.

[RogueIce]

WWW: blogs.buildyourownsoapbox.com

The World Reaps What It Sowed

As Shepistan prosecutes a biological weapons attack against the former slavocracy in Astaria, many nations, centered around the FUN, have declared their opposition and intent to defend the slavers.

It is interesting to note, however, that the MESS is not among the coalition of nations rallying to oppose the Shepistanis. Of course during the One Week War, when the MESS was trying to deal with those evil-doers, they were met with protests from around the globe about how horrible they were for ganging up on "poor little Shepistan".

And now that the rock-chuckers have shown their casual disregard for human life in a way that even those namby-pamby wusses in the FUN can't ignore, the MESS has decided to take a decidedly nuetral stance in the brewing conflict. In fact, there are even rumors of a MESS/Shepistan Detente in the works!

Well FUN, you get what you deserve. The MESS tried to deal with Shepistan before, and everybody was against them. Now that you can't ignore them anymore, good luck trying to contain them by yourselves!

-The Blogger of War

((OOC: Isn't the blogosphere fun? ))

[Lonestar]

Royal Palace

"Well, Doctor?"

Blitzschlag rubbed his chin. "Der images you took reveal a crude and primative mindset, there is no doubt as to the effectiveness of the attack. If everything goes off as planned for zee Rock-chuckers, I expect a range of 10-20% population deaths in the first couple of weeks as a direct result of zee attack. Civil Order will rapidly break down, which will cause much more harm in zee long run. I am assuming affected populations will be quarantined in a timely matter by the authorities, of course there is no guarantee. Even with an effective quarantine...10-20%. Biological Weapons attacks can be something of a crapshoot sometimes..." The Livonian Director of Special Projects at ODARPA looked deep in thought.

"General Sharpe?"

The Director of BMI spoke. "We got Colonel Jones off the island as soon as you ordered us to. The Dolphin is still in the AO...there are a swarm of potential hostiles entering the area, and they may mistake the Dolphin for a Shepistani Sub."

"Pull her out beyond the exclusion zone. Have our Defense Attaches inform their host nations that we have a SSN operating off the West Coast of Astaria, and we will not interfere with any operations their militaries take part in. Eric?"

SECWAR DiBacco spoke. "As you know, only 70% of the public shelters are in an acceptable condition in the event of a CBR attack...significantly less so in the event of direct nuclear strikes, but the deep shelter program has only 5% acceptable capability."

"I'm not particularly worried about a nuclear attack, at the moment. Keep running CD drills, the UAV?"

"On station. Just orbiting off the West coast and watching...."

"Make sure that our Defense Attaches pass that along too..."


Results:Colonel Jones escapes.
Defense Attaches inform their host nations of OD operations in the AO.

[Shinn Langley Soryu]

Ashford Times Headlines in Brief

Retired Fighter-Bombers Transferred to the Commonwealth of Vineyards
F-111Fs, EF-111As sold for research purposes

Armed Forces Place Large Order for KyoAvi Planes
Additional C-27Js, T-50s, Super Tucanos, ERJ 145s to be added to Air Force and Navy inventories

Peacekeepers Withdrawn From Shepistan
Infantry division to be redeployed to Sirnoth pending further orders

Langley Air Force Sends Fighter Squadrons to Sirnoth
501st Fighter Squadron "Strike Witches," 765th Fighter Squadron "Idolmasters," other units mobilized

General Secretary Ashford Late Arrival to Sirnoth FUN Conference
Langley delegation sent only the day before war declared on Astaria

Department of Defense to Consider Giving Military Aid to Cialan
Various contractors prepared to offer their wares

WOULD YOU LIKE TO KNOW MORE? Y / N

[Norseman]

Secure command centre beneath the Regent's Palace

"Excellency, we have the latest damage reports," the aide said, and passed a document across the table to the Regent.

"How bad is it?" the Regent asked.

"One hundred and fifty missiles launched, we have shot down at least twenty, possibly more, but the reports are still sketchy."

"Sketchy... and the damage?"

"Contained, for now, but most major cities were hit at least once."

"Lord... curfew?"

"In place, most people were indoors during the attack, and the local National Police with the Military Police have shut down all the city wards."

"Right you all know the drill," the Regent leaned back, "But just how bad is it?"

"Bad, but not the end of the world. The impacts were heavily dispersed, but we know exactly where and when each strike occurred. That in itself is a great advantage. Moreover we're already under martial law, and have our epidemiologists working full-time. That will greatly reduce the damage."

"The economy..." the Regent said.

"Is screwed," said John Hewith-White, the Minister of the Interior, "We have to shut down basically all economic activity."

"Oh Lord," the Regent said, burying his face in his hands.

"There's nothing for it, its that or risking that the disease spreads," General Jason Thornwall said, "But quite frankly that means Project Nanny Itch must go ahead."

"Must it?" the Regent asked, "They could retaliate."

"The additional damage would be minimal," General Jason Thornwall said, "At least in terms of control and decontamination."

"Minimal... how many dead so far?" the Regent asked.

"So far? Not so many, but, it all depends on how fast you want the areas decontaminated."

"As soon as possible."

"Tens of thousands, maybe in the low hundreds of thousands."

"Dead from the disease?"

"Dead from preventing it from spreading."

"Does that mean what I think it does?" the Regent asked, there was an uncomfortable, and confused silence. Then his memories flooded back, not his memories mind but that of the man whose body he held, memories of the Red Plague, of Tloggothl, of the things that were done in the 1980s to stop the disease. The things still done regularly in South Velaria. So he bowed his head, and added, "Better they don't suffer I suppose."

"Indeed Excellency, indeed."

Epidemic Prevention Research Laboratory

[OOC: Note I don't specify where the two scientists come from.]

The laboratory was filled with little beetle like scientists in white coats, scurrying to and fro among the vast array of test tubes, and strange machinery that went beep. It was very clean, very solid in feel, like any good medical facility. Of course the name of the laboratory, or laboratories since this was just one of many complexes, could at times be somewhat misleading.

As Lady Margaret entered an elderly male of Japanistani descent appeared, and bowed to her, "Lady Margaret, we are honoured to have you here in our humble lab!"

"Colonel Ishii, I see you are still in good health, and how is Colonel Wakamatsu?" Lady Margaret said, bowing back.

"Still in good health, but working on the Cherry Blossoms," Colonel Ishii said, "The Cherry Petals are ready to fall!"

"I know, they are ready to deploy, you certainly have done good work here!" Lady Margaret said, "It's safe to say that your former countries loss is our gain."

"Aaaah, not so, please, much too graceful," Colonel Ishii said, then a smile briefly crossed his lips, "Though perhaps you have a greater understanding for the value of my work. Alas old Unit 100 was cancelled long, long time ago."

"Now about your question as to why the supply of test subject has dried up," Lady Margaret said, she looked uneasy, "I fear it might never start up again."

"Ah! So it is true, he really is abolishing slavery?"

"Yes."

"No substitutes?"

"No, we thought of using prisoners of war, or difficult indentures but... the risks are too high, we have what we need."

"So the experiments come to an end," Colonel Ishii looked down, "Very sad, we learned so much."

"Are there any subjects still alive?"

"Yes, some, why?"

"I have ordered Colonel Rash id to remove all evidence of the, ah, special studies," Lady Margaret said, "You know best how to help him."

"I see," Colonel Ishii said, "All the evidence?"

"All of it, and it has to be hidden well, burn it with fire."

"Of course, of course, and the researchers?"

"Pardoned by the Regent, and don't worry, everyone needs your skills."

Colonel Ishii bowed, "I thank you, it will be done as you dictate."

Montalba Special Decontamination Zone

The medical tent was filled with special cases, and each of their beds were surrounded by canopies that prevented their particular bug from escaping. Outside the decontamination brigades were working hard to clear up the blocks hit by the bioweapons, the noise pierced the tent, and the shadows they cast played against the fabric walls.

Dr Thaddeus Jones felt sick to his stomach as he walked down the aisle, draped in protective clothes, and decontaminated for the fifth time that day. A nurse stood at one of the beds, waving him over.

"Doctor, we wanted your opinion on this case," she said, and pointed to the patient.

"Let's see," Dr Jones said as he examined the patients folder, "Haemorrhagic fever, a Shroombola variety, haven't seen those in years. I think this variety was discovered in the eighties you know. Last patient I had who died of Shroombola was in, oh, mid nineties."

"My niece died of it in the late nineties," the nurse said.

"Quite, well, this one has a 40% chance of survival, and no essential skills," Dr Jones said, he grabbed a syringe and filled it with morphine. "Standard procedure in such cases," he said, before injecting the contents of the syringe into the IV drip, "And, ah, have the body disposed of and the bed cleared ASAP."

"Yes doctor," the nurse said, struggling not to roll her eyes, doctors! They thought they had to explain everything, but if they had to run a medical facility it'd be chaos.

"Why didn't you call me earlier?"

"He was a citizen."

Dr Jones frowned, visible behind his transparent face mask, "That is not generally a priority in a plague situation."

"Yes doctor, but it's been nearly a decade since the last such situation on the mainland," the nurse said.

"Still, the next time standard procedures must be followed quickly, otherwise your medical facilities risk being swamped."

Irrumator Beach, Sirnoth

From the air the landscape of Irrumator Beach was terrifying, a vast tent city with SAM missiles, fuel tanks, and air planes ready to launch. One particularly well defended section held what appeared to be large hovercraft, and other landing vessels. The encoded radio traffic grew denser and denser by the day and by the hour, a constant line of chatter between the base at Irrumator, and the AEW airplanes above.

Most analysts would come to a single conclusion: An amphibious attack was being prepared, with alarming speed and efficiency, suggesting a long term plan behind it.

M/S Mucho Dinero

The Mucho Dinero looked like your common tramp freighter, beaten and weather-worn, it could fit in just about anywhere. Nor was there anything peculiar about her current position, though it was slightly off the common shipping lanes; Hundreds of miles from any shore, and from any prying eyes.

It flew a flag, a Frequesnian one, it was of course a false flag but you'd be hard pressed to figure that out; That was one good thing about being a pariah nation; the Astarian sailors had lots of experience in pretending to be an innocent ship from some other nation. For it was indeed an Astarian ship, as proven when a shrill flute sounded, and they lowered the Frequesnian flag that had so far flown over the Mucho Dinero. Instead the Astarian naval jack went up the flagpole, and Astarian sailors ran out onto the deck, taking up position next to the main cargo hatches.

Aboard the bridge the executive officer turned to the Captain, "Sir! Laser readings and the UAV both confirm wind direction and speed."

"Good, prepare to release Cherry Blossoms," the Captain said.

Down on the main deck the cargo hatches opened, and strange contraptions rose up from the cargohold. In thirty minutes the deck had changed character completely, and strange silvery shapes launched up into the air.

"When will they reach Shepistan?" the Captain asked. The executive officer handed him a piece of paper with a number on it, the Captain read, and nodded, "Good, alert our allies."

Later once the launch was complete the ship lowered its naval jack, and raised the Frequesnian flag once more. Perfectly in accord with the laws of war, which permit false flag provided that the real flag is flown when an attack is launched. Seeing the ship so transformed an onlooker might wonder if he had
hallucinated, especially given the very strange nature of the launches.

No doubt this onlooker would have been even more confused if he knew that the Mucho Dinero was but one of many ships that had launched their strange cargoes today.

Newton Airforce Base, Astaria

One by one the strategic bombers rose into the air, great silver birds rapidly picking up speed. Moments later came the first supersonic boom. The Astarian deterrent force was flying in the direction of Shepistan, and it was going in fast.

High seas between Shepistan and Sirnoth

"This is Tail Chaser, we are go, I repeat we are go."

There were Sirnothi airplanes, there were Pezookians, Zorians, even a few Shroomian ones. In fact the whole of FUN seemed to be represented at some level or other, if not in the air then on the ground. Operation Great Poofter, the largest FUN joint exercise ever was in store. That at least was the theory.

Of course the Shepistanis seemed somewhat less than willing to believe that theory. Air units rose all across Shepistan, ready to intercept and attack the FUN forces the moment that they betrayed their intentions. To the rear, protected by swarms of fighters, were the Shepistani RB-58s, ready to leap forward to smash the base at Irrumator bay before it could be completed.

Instead of attacking though the FUN units split into two, one moving towards the north-west, the other towards the north-east, hugging close to the Shepistani borders without ever violating them.

Shepistani Radar Station

The young radar officer sat bolt upright, "Sir! Unidentified radar contacts!"

"Well of course, there's a whole swathe of them," the commander said with a growl.

"No Sir! Further up! Faint but present at above 100 000 feet."

"Above 100 000 feet? That's impossible! There's nothing any of the enemy forces have that can move that high and fast."

"It's not moving fast at all Sir, in fact it's kind of slow."

High up in the air

[OOC: This section is so awesome it has its own Theme Song!]

There were hundreds of them, glistening silvery in the daylight, as the rays of the sun made the gas inside of them expand, and lifted them up higher and higher above the ground. Even the lowest of them hung at 100 000 feet, though some were over 110 000 feet in the air. Balloons, high altitude balloon released into the predictable winds of the upper atmosphere. They had drifted a little of course, but then again they were aiming at a country.

From each of the balloons hung a set of clusters, filled with bomblets, and other odd loads. Each cluster was wrapped in a tinfoil like material, and the interior kept at body temperature warmth. After all some of the contents therein liked the head.

Once the first balloons reached Shepistan their tiny electronic brains registered that they were over land. They studied the land, trying to match patterns to identify whether they were over a city, or the countryside. Either they found a good target, or they released when they were well over Shepistan.

Of course the Shepistanis didn't take this sitting down, wheezing high-altitude SAMs crawled up to altitude, including a few items strictly designed for ABM tasks. Some of them came close enough to detonate, but at those altitudes the explosive shock wave was attenuated. Worse yet there wasn't so much to hit, an air plane or a missile is actually quite a fragile thing, not so these balloons. On two occasions large SAM struck a balloon, tearing huge holes in it, and all it did was make the balloon slowly lose altitude. Slowly because up here the pressure inside the balloon at outside was nearly equalised, so poking holes in one did just that, it poked a hole, but there was no sudden out rushing of gas. That said scores of balloons were shot down, but hundreds made it through.

These balloons were the Cherry Blossoms mentioned earlier, and now they released their Cherry Petals. Hundreds of bomblets, roughly the same of a thermos bottle, but with odd spigots on the ends. There were also squarish bundles, and a few other strange devices. All of which were painted pinkish-white.

If you stood on the ground and watched it'd look almost as if a shower of cherry blossoms were falling upon Shepistan. As the bomblets reached the optimal altitude their tiny altimeters activated, and they began to spray their lethal cargo; among others cholera, bubonic plague, smallpox, and various strains of influenza, including one affectionately known as Captain Trips. It was a grab bag of old favourites, picked for their contagious nature, in the hopes that the Shepistani population would be particularly receptive to such.

Of course the ingenuity of the engineers that made them was not satisfied with this. Indeed if restrained the population could probably be made to avoid obvious sites of infestation. That was what the square bundles were for, at the right altitude they too dissolved and turned into a shower of Shepistani currency, forgered but forgered well. It literally rained money, and each bill came free with some suitable infection.

Down below Shepistani farmers looked up with confusion, but at the sight of the money they ran over, and snatched up such bills as came near them. Grabbing them, stuffing them into their pockets, and generally not paying too much attention to the odd drop of rain that occasionally struck their faces.

Actions: Whole of Shepistan gets drenched in biological weapons, which are released in aerosol form at the right altitude. There's also the fake money which encourages the locals to pick it up, thus further infecting themselves.

Ain't I a stinker?

[Coyote]

CIVIL DEFENSE DRILLS IN CANISSIA
"Just in Case" says King Arik

As biological warfare vectors sweep across various regions of the southern hemisphere, King Arik has called for several Civil Defense drills to be practiced over the course of th enext few weeks. The first few will be announced ahead of time-- with increasingly smaller lead times to prepare-- until fully random and un-announced drills are the norm.

Military and Civil Defense and Militia liasons are reporting that food, water, and medecine for shelters should be stocked to proper capacity, but the drills will allow them to determine any unexpected shortfalls. Civil Defense drills will culminate in a weekend-long exercise where as many citizens as possibel will be invited to participate in a drill that lasts from Friday evening until Sunday afternoon. "I know this will be hard, and a strain for many," the King said, "But try to make the best of it, and try to make it seem like a camping-out for young children who may not understand what is happening."

While Canissia is not at war in Astaria and has no plans to get involved, the use of so many biological agents has sparked concern and the Canissian government from top down wants to ensure that citizens are prepared in case a cloud of biotoxins drifts close to Canissia.

Work continues at a feverish pace on the latest deep-underground levels of shelters. "If we must, we can use the bare caves as shelters," the KIng said, "It will be very spartan, but it would be a temporary measure at best."

Civil Defense block wardens, especially in rural areas, are encouraged to do personal welfare checks on families in far-out parts of the country to make sure that all family members have civil defense gas masks, medical resources, and emergency food, water and shelter plans. Hand-cranked and solar radios are being distributed at Fire Stations and medical clinics, and all block wardens are encouraged to make sure that elderly and loner citizens have "welfare partners" to check up on them in the event of an emergency.

The military is on alert, but no units are deployed overseas, save those already in Katangwa. There, the Katangwan people are receiving basic civil defense training and inflatable over-pressure shelters are being dispersed to remote villages to ensure safety in case biological contaminants from Astoria drift over the borders.

"The Katangwan villages are far, far to the north of any Astarian viallges," assured the King, "And they'd have to go through Japanistani and Caravoland forces to attack Katangwa. It is highly doubtful that anything would befall Katangwa except by accident of nature."

Again, the King assured the people, and the world, that Canissia is not involved in the war, and has no intentions of becoming involved.

[Bluewolf]

Ciaran sat in the cabinet meeting room with his Minister of Defence, Gerald Elky.

“..yes sir, a mass air raid on Shepstan, including many fighters and what possibly could be some 100,000’s of little bomb devices. We have no other report but that but it looks like Astaria along with FUN has initiated a large scale attack. Now obviously we do not know the extent of the damage or what type of raid it was at all but this is going to have huge possibly repercussions on the whole world.” Gerald sat back and sighed.

“In that regard I would advice that we keep a low profile and keep our current projects and let our expansions go ahead. I have advised the medical ships to approach Astaria with caution sir and several miles off the coast until we see any recent development. The FUN forces as well as any Shepstani have been alerted. I would also start preparing for any possible bio weapon attacks sir. They are being used heavily.”

Ciaran nodded, taking in the information. When Shep chose to retaliate could make the medical ships mission one of uselessness. His government had released what it had wanted to buy: One aircraft Carrier, several MLRS type Artillery, several batches of Heavy SP Artillery and a few heavy lifting copters. He awaited to see if anyone had the weapons needed.

Result: Cialan hears about the attack on Shepstani and makes its desires clear over weapons. Preperation for any bio weapon attacks started on a military level.

[Master_Baerne]

Baernish Ministry of Economics, Industry, and Finance
National Directive
FROM: His Excellency Count Sabrino, Minister for Economics, Industry, and Finance, in consultation with His Excellency Count Lawrence, Minister for Internal Affairs
TO: All Municipal Governments

Sirs and Madams,

You are hereby directed to begin immediate construction on bomb/CBR shelters sufficient to house those civilians under your jurisdiction, to conform to attached design specifications. BDA Corps of Engineers units will be arriving shortly to aid in construction.

Counts Sabrino and Lawrence

[Sea Skimmer]

Random News Blog Post
“Hey guys, I think I might be the only one in Caravoland with the internet, but I’m noticing some major activity here, a whole battalion of tanks just rolled by south. We havn’t seen anything like this level of movement in months...”

[Siege]

State Dinner

President Hank and Director Morgan were enjoying a glass of exquisite and extremely pricey red wine on the pleasantly lit garden terrace of the Chinta Ria restaurant when a PSS-man approached and handed a black file to the President. He opened it, read it, and frowned.

"I know I'm not supposed to ask", Iago Morgan said. "But I really would like to know what is going on."

The President shrugged, and showed the director a series of black-and-white photographs, obviously taken from a very great height. "These are photographs taken by a Keyhole-11 we've sent skirting along the Shepistani borders."

The Director frowned. There were odd white specs on the photograph, almost as if it were snowing. But it never snowed in Shepistan, and at any rate there were no clouds to be seen. "What in the name of Good Fortune am I looking at?"

"Took our fellows at MIC some time to come up with an explanation", the President continued as he flipped through the pages of the file. "But apparently, it's balloons. Hundreds and hundreds of attack balloons, presumably launched by Astaria."

"Attack balloons?" The idea seemed alien to the Director, who was used to dealing with finance and government, not with the lethal tricks played by the world's militaries. "What weapons could they possibly carry?"

"At a guess? Every goddamn disease the Astarians saw fit to weaponize."

"Oh." The Director was silent for a moment. "Sweet Fortune. What now? Should we do something? Should we even be standing here?"

"Oh, we can yet stand here", the President smiled grimly. "We ought to enjoy it while it lasts. And as for what we should do? We should do nothing."

Sidney Hank recalled the horror in the eyes of the Shroomanian prime minister when he'd told of the nuclear destruction of the world that had come before. And of the one responsible the death of that world. "We should do nothing at all. If all people in Shepistan die, the world will be a far safer place for it."

The President turned around and beckoned the PSS-man to come closer. "Inform General Sturmond that his troops should be at the ready in case... Trouble reaches our shores. Feed this and any further intelligence to our friends in Shroomania, if they don't know about it already they'll know what to do with it. And tell the SDSA to impose the same limitations on vessels from Shepistan as they do for ships from Astaria." The man nodded and disappeared.

Hank turned back to the Director, who was gazing at the city-scape. The sounds of San Dorado by night echoed up through the canyons of steel and concrete. A billion lights flickered below their feet. For a while, the two men merely gazed at it, thinking of the horrors now unfolding in the two warring countries.

"It's a glorious sight" Morgan suddenly said. "I'd hate for all of it to vanish and go."

"Yes, Iago," the President murmured and sipped of his wine. "That would be a doggone shame."

[PeZook]

PeZookia institutes martial law!

"Citizens of PeZookia!

It is with a heavy heart that I appear before you today. Biological weapons were used once more, this time against Shepistan, by the very people they tried to utterly destroy. This retaliatory attack threatens to spread deadly disease like wildfire throughout the world.

This is why I have decided to institute martial law for the duration of the war between Astaria and Shepistan. While our allies in Sirnoth remain unattacked so far, we cannot exclude a possible retaliatory attack by Shepistani weapons of mass destruction.

From this moment onwards, all travel is restricted. A curfew has been instituted from sundown untill sunrise. All non essential facilities, businesses and government administration will be shut down. Food, water and medicine will be distributed by the military.

With God's help, the crisis which demands such extreme measures will pass quickly, and we'll be able to return to our lives in peace."

PeZookian ports close to air and sea traffic from other continents

All ships and aircraft from foreign continents will be unequovically turned around. Any ship or airplane belonging to an Old Continent power will have to submit to a search and should its itinerary indicate it stopped over in Astaria, Shepistan or the Old Dominion, it will be turned around as well.

[Bluewolf]

“This is CBS 1 Afternoon News with your host, Barry Jelwal.”

*cuts to reporter*

“Good Afternoon. Today’s main headline is that the Blue Iron Party has proposed a massive multi billion pound project to expand naval, air and military assets. The already proposed ideas for expansion have been further pushed ahead that would give the Air Force a total refit and expanded its current roles. The country has interest of weapons from the Republic of PeZookia, San Dorado and The Duchy of Langley in a major purchase of weapons and hardware. Prime Minister Joyce is discussing prices. The other parties have warned that this is blatant readiness for conquest and that the cost will be way too high, setting the nation back by billions.

Prime Minister Joyce is still calling for any sellers of aircraft carriers and artillery in which would expand the ground forces as well as the navy. This news comes after the massive former suspected FUN air raid, turning out to be a large patrol. Biological weapons have been released onto Shepstani from Astaria. Prime Minister Bluewolf has followed on to condemned this action saying it was a sickening act of revenge yet has maintained his netruallity over the issue. Any ships coming from Astaria and Shepstani are to be refused port. The sent 4 hospital ships will keep away from Astaria until it is judged right to do so. Meanwhile the Blue Iron Party plans to hand out leaflets saying what to do in case of a biological attack."


Result: Blue Iron Party shows interest in buying aircraft from PeZookia, San Dorado and Duchy of Langley as well as keeping their request for a seller of carriers and artillery up.

Prime Minister Joyce Condemns the biological attack on Shepstani and refuses to let any ship from there or Astaria in port.

Civilian education campaign against biological attacks started.

[CmdrWilkens]

Ministry of the Interior announces new round of Civil Defense drills

Columbia
Capitol District

The Ministry of the Interior today announced that local Civil Defense Battalions will begin handing out flyers this week with the most recent national emergency preparedness and evacuation guides. The flyers indicate how to identify shelter locations as well as designated shelter and assembly points for residential, commerical, and industrial zones.

Already a national television and radio campaign is spreading the word about how to identify shelters and how to identify civil defense alerts. The campaign was launched roughly one month ago to little fanfare as the Civil Defense program while always present, has consistently been the most underfunded national agency within the Interior Department. Several senior officials indicated that while there is sufficient stock of survivable bomb shelters surviving from the Second War upgrading them to handle modern Chemical and Biological agents only began in the wake of information received during the One Week War.

Since that time planners at the Ministry have spent the better part of a year inventorying the existing stock of shelters and determining a priority for upgrades and enhancements. in the meantime the Civil Defense Command Working Group has been setting the stage for the campaign to identify shelter locations and direct citizens to them as quickly as possible. There has not yet been word on when, or whether, full scale Civil Defense Drills will be held but already there are scattered reports of limited drills in several smaller cities such as Glenelg and Savage.

Also planners indicated that some of the land and sites that were supposedly purchased under the "New Horizons" umbrella have actually been turned over to the Ministry of the Interior for use as next generation shelters. Evidence exists that based on the last several decades of population growth and migraiton that existing shelter stocks are not sufficient to provide adequate coverage in a truly massive attack. The new construciton appears to be a government attempt to make up for the defeiciency in the inner suburbs paticularly.


Results:
-Wilkonia continues preparations for dealing with CBR attacks which began ramping up after the One Week War.
-Roughly 40% of existing shelters are rated "Level 1" against CBR with an additional 20-25% in process of upgrading
-Shelter capacity was already deemed "critical" in FY06 Ministry report and is now considered "deficient"
-Roughly 85% of the populace is likely to find a shelter in case of an attack (of which only 40% are fully covered)
-Remaining shelter stocks are sufficient against older style chemical agents only
-Evacuation plans for non-rated shelters are currently under review to move affected citizens to safe ground as soon as possible after an attack.
-Civil Defense Drills have not yet begun but are expected soon.

[Karmic Knight]

New Sheoth Castle, The Commonwealth of Vineyards

King Brandon looked at the various reports from both his FUN contacts and the ShroomSat channels, taking the latter with a grain of salt since he met with King Paul. Fucking bioweapons, the King thought, all of you fuckers are completely nuts. The reports of the Astarian bio attack sat on his desk, giving Brandon the slight urge to either vomit, or punch a wall.

Instead he said to an aide taking notes, “Have we begun implementing chemical and biological defence drills yet, if not start.”

“We have sire, Operation Cold War and Operation Upgrade has B/C provision.”

The King continued, “Ah, good. Also, implement Operation Kappa, and begin recruitment immediately. Request what submarine countermeasures the FTO is now going to implement what with subs being used to launch wmds. Operation EPA, speed it up, also complete Operation Consolidation. Send Abrashroom to Cialan, they seem to be opening up. Get someone in Byzantine to finalize the deal regarding the T-series main battle tanks, and the pzhes. Oh, it is time for Operation Cloud Ruler, again.”

The aide looked at his notes and nodded, “Yes sire.”

Results:
Operation Cold War – Creation of sealed bunkers for defence against NBC attacks for major population centres.
Operation Upgrade – building of infrastructure in the three underdeveloped states of the Commonwealth.
Operation Kappa – Training dedicated amphibious assault forces for the Commonwealth.
Operation Epa – Creation of the Ministry of Environmental Affairs, beging of massive air, water, and crop quality tests
Operation Consolidation – Creates Ministry of the Armed Forces, Ministry of the Economy, and Ministry of Frequesuan Affairs. Designates Ministries of the Army, Navy, and Air Force to sub-Ministry status of MiniArmFor, designates Trade and Finicial Ministries to sub-Ministries of the MiniEcon, and has Frequesuan Intelligence assets from the Office of Naval Intelligence, Army Intelligence, VEIL, and Office of Air Force Intelligence report to the MiniFreqAff.
Operation Cloud Ruler – relocation of major facets of government, Royal family, ministers and their aides, VEIL communications equipment to secure locations; bunkers, the Royal Retreat at Azzan (Cloud Ruler Temple), various closed mineshafts in Mining Country.

[Bluewolf]

Just a fast reply:

Ciaran looked at the listed arms on offer for sale and smiled. It was just what he needed and he was willing to buy. Even if he had to forsake another nations offer in terms of a better deal. It was not matter though; whatever he picked would serve his nation well. He flexed the paper and gave it back to the messenger. “Tell them that I am interested in all of what they offer and ask them to name their price. We shall continue from there.” He stretched and sat back, happy that most of what he needed could now be bought.

Result: Talks on the weapons with The Sovereign Duchy of Baerne start and the price is requested.

[Fingolfin_Noldor]

Constantinople Times

Orders given to initiate civil evacuation for elderly and young

Orders have been given to evacuate elderly and young to deep underground shelters for the time being.

Astarian cargo impounded in port.

Civil Defence drills initiated.

[Beowulf]

Hainan Submarine Base

All five of the SSGNs had been recalled to the base to have their basic combat loads replaced. The white marked standard Tomahawk missiles were replaced with green marked "special" Tomahawk missiles. The special Tomahawks were fitted with chemical weapon warheads, each consisting of 166 submunitions, designed to release a mix of chemical agents, and blow holes into structures, in order to maximize effectiveness.

Each submarine was loaded with an additional 16 torpedo tube launched cruise missiles, resulting in each having a total of 170 missiles. Missile switch out complete, they then set sail, their arrival and depature unremarked upon by any.

[Fingolfin_Noldor]

Imperial Chronicles

"Strategos, you asked me about biological and chemical warheads did you not?"

"Yes sire."

"Start stockpiling them. Obtain the required agents from MESS and Shroomania."

[MKSheppard]

Army House Bunker, Shepistan

"Reports are coming in sir, from all across Shepistan concerning the semi-successful Astarian bioattack," muttered a General.

"How bad did we get hit?" asked Sheppard.

"Varying degrees. Most of the balloons were blown off course."

"The blooody idiots," muttered Shroombekov from one end of a table.

"A lot of them hit the seas; we estimate about 30% or so overshot their targets due to the unpredictable high altitude jet stream over the New Continent, and moved across land too fast to recognize their targets, the idiot Slavers never reckoned on a ground speed faster than what they ran through their computers."

"We got another 40% of them with our air defenses; our surviving BOMARCs were our best weapon; they were able to zoom climb to 100,000 feet, and at those altitudes, the BOMARC's 1,000 pound blast fragmentation warhead has a very very large lethal zone, because the thin air slows down the fragments much less than the thick air down below. And of course, these are balloons..."

"What about the remaining thirty percent?" asked Sheppard, rubbing his temple.

"Um......Bad news sir."

"Define bad."

"About fifteen percent of them due to the vagarying air currents were blown on a course taking them over the Old Dominion."

"Fuck!" cursed Sheppard. "Get me Lonestar...I mean Lord Fairfax on the horn. This is NOT an attack on the Old Dominion by Shepistan."

"And the remainder?" asked Sheppard as he waited for the connection to be made with Lonestar.

"Scattered drops all over Shepistan. It's really strange, their attack plan;" commented Shroombekov. "Some key areas such as Frederick, were hit by several balloons, while other non-vital areas, such as Garrett county, with a population of only 5,000 was hit by ten balloons."

"Salvage fusing," muttered Sheppard.

"What, sir?"

"The balloons are salvage fuzed. If they can't hit their primary target, they'll drop their payload within a set period of time, to ensure that it's not for nothing."

"Makes sense, sir."

"Sir; we have Lord Fairfax on the line..."

With that Sheppard picked up the phone......

Results
Astarian half-ass attack using balloons fails miserably due to many vagaries in wind speed - like the original Japanese attacks in WW2 and the later reconnaisance balloon overflights of the USSR in the 1950s. Due to being blown off course, many balloons drop their load on the Old Dominion...

[MKSheppard]

Somewhere in Astaria



The great city stood silent, scores of corpses lying in the streets.

Many of them were those who had fled to the bunkers at the first sign of the attack alarms, and emerged shortly afterwards, only to run into the various long-lived strains that composed part of the Shepistani Cocktail.

Some had continued to wander the streets before dying of the diseases, while others had gone back into the bunkers, unwittingly infecting the others in the bunker, turning them into underground death houses...



Elsewhere, on the outskirts of the city limits, tent cities stood silent, their plastic sheeting flapping in the wind. The scientists and doctors in them stood dead, many of them from other nations. They had foolishly rushed into the Astarian hinterland shortly afterwards, all fired up and prepared to defeat the virulent Shepistani attack with SCIENCE!

Alas, Shroombekov's engineers and biologists had created viruses and diseases so astoundingly lethal in their laboratories in BioPreparat. First, they took each Combat Strain that had been selected for weaponization, then exposed it to a cocktail of antibiotics. The surviving agent had then been harvested, grown again to generate more stock for the experiment, and then exposed to the same cocktail, for several generations until antibiotic-resistant strains were part of the Shepistani stockpile.

But all was not silent in Astaria.

Many of the Shepistani weapon strains had mixed amongst each other during the period of rampant pandemic, exchanging DNA and RNA strands, until new and horrifying weapons unforseen by any Biopreparat scientist, existed.



The Z Strain, as the surviving foreign scientists and doctors in Astaria were calling it, turned those infected into classical movie zombies; and only head shots could stop them.

In addition to the Zombie threat, even though most of the Shepistani strains had died out in the weeks following the attack after exposure to sunlight and due to the heavy robotic trucks bought from Canissia, which rumbled through the streets with UV floodlights hitting every possible surface, several of the more long lived strains, such as Shroomthrax continued to be a threat, requiring everyone to drive around in fully NBC sealed vehicles or moon-suits....

Results
Mass death in Astaria, large amounts of the population are dead, weaponry still rampant, and we now have to deal with...ZOMBIES.

[K. A. Pital]

CSR, Palace of the Soviets

- And this Iron Curtain is for the safety of all, - spoke the President. - From this day onward, incoming flights from all nations sans the Slavic National Confederacy are banned. Any citizens of Shepistan, Old Dominion, Sirnoth and Astaria are to be denied entry into the nation even in case they try to move from within the S.N.C.

- The full extent of attacks and their damage is not yet known due to the reclusive character of the warring regimes, - spoke the man next to him - the powerful Narkom of Heavy Industry, Litzkevich. - This is why we have to be prepared. Since our economic ties are mostly within SNC, this ban will not have a major effect on our economy and industrial production. The CSR's major trading partners - USSR, Pezookia and Byzantium - have imposed similar measures or even harsher ones.

- Also, our air-defense forces are raised to "high preparedness" status, and we have been running civil defense drills in many cities. Daily operations which disrupt economic activity across the entire nation would be too extreme, but we are testing each city's readiness to deal with an infection outbreak, - followed the President with some explanations. - We have abandoned aerial recon in the Astarian and Shepistani territories due to the war, since their air defense system might down our T-4 planes at will. However, we have sent several supersonic drones which have been launched from the deck of our command vessel, SSV-33 "Ural". It is currently performing ELINT and SIGINT duties in the seas between the Impact Crater Archipelago and Astaria. All crews have been fitted with NBC gear in case we are suddenly under a biological agent attack.

[Fingolfin_Noldor]

Imperial Chronicles

"Our planes just took off?" asked the Emperor.

"Yes sire, it took a while to prepare the biohazard module."

"Recall them. The situation is a lost cause now," glancing at the report and sighed.

[K. A. Pital]

President Stanislav's live speech to all world's leaders

- I urge you, for the safety of mankind, to cease all contact with the parties subject to biological attack. Such include Astaria, Shepistan and the Old Dominion.

- Most of all, I urge the nations of the Old Continent, and the Slavic National Confederacy, to avoid sending anyone into Astaria, Shepistan or Old Dominion. Our calculations are such that after Day Three, it will be impossible to maintain a Total Sealed Regime and the spread of agents in places where it has not been defeated will cause major outbreaks.

- I hope that for the sake of our survival, nations involved in the biological war will not be contacted, and all measures will be taken to prevent contact with citizens of said nations will be executed in a responsible, swift and resolute manner.