Forward the Arcadia! (TGOD-ish) (CVBG)

phongn · Post by **phongn** » 2006-07-16 10:06pm

[Is it safe to assume that we might have extra ships in the CSG and ESG to "fill out" the forces, like extra suppliy ships and landing ships?]

Captain Nguyen observed the flight operations onboard his ship, the USS Omaha. F-35B "Lightning II" fighters were keeping a steady combat air patrol as ESG 28 steamed nearly two hundred nautical miles away from CSG 5. This was not his first carrier command - his last one was CSGN-2, USS Colorado.

Those ships were billed in Western media as a reaction to the big Soviet Kirov-class cruisers. Six Harriers, two Mk. 26 missile launchers, Harpoon and Tomahawk launchers - and even an 8" gun - made them formidble ships. But they seemed nothing as to the Kirov in the popular press. No big antiship missiles, no enormous SAM batteries, no batteries of point-defense guns. Yet professional analysis and sailors knew the two ships were much better matched than their "paper" specifications.

Now, he had one of those Soviet monsters as an escort. It was a fine ship indeed - and with his fighters, his force could provide long-range targetting for the big antiship missiles; something that bedevilled those cruisers for years. It was a strange world, elements of the Soviet Navy working with their Western counterparts. But when the Cold War ended and the Soviet Union fast becoming close friends with the Americans, a new source of tension was bound to happen.

It did. Brushfire wars all around were starting. Rumours of a new global terrorist organization that had absorbed such disparate groups as the IRA, Al-Queda, Action Directe - under one banner. But only rumour. Al-Queda had been thought crushed after their foolish attack on the US back in 2001, a combined Soviet-American force overwhelming their bases. But now familiar faces were returning to the world terrorist stage.

Thus, the GDI was born. Military forces were "loaned" to the UN on a semipermanent basis to stamp out brushfire wars and terrorists before they could grow. Arcadia could provide overwhelming air support in titanic waves while Omaha could support a steady stream round-the-clock fire. But most importantly, an entire brigade of US Marines were with her ESG. Enough firepower to crush most resistence, to take and hold land or to capture the enemy.

And so, Captain Nguyen mused, it was time to embark on this grand experiment. Already the rumour mill was working overtime and soon the whole of CTF-81 would steam for destinations far away, to defend peace and to restore order to the world.

Noble Ire · Post by **Noble Ire** » 2006-07-16 10:09pm

Somewhere over the US East Coast

"Brigadier General?"

Isaac Reynold lowered the weathered book he had been scanning for the last hour. "Yes, Lieutenant?"

"Sir, we will be landing in a few minutes. Captain Cho recommends fastening your seat belt; there's a storm moving in over the base, and we might hit some turbulence on the way down."

Reynolds glanced out his small window, through which roiling clouds and the occasional flash of lightening could clearly be seen below, obscuring vast suburbs that streched out to the darkened horizon.

"So there is. Thank you, Lieutenant."

"Sir."

As the officer walked away down the narrow aisle of the Air Force transport, Reynolds put the book down and fastened the belt that lay around his waist. Before picking up the worn volume again, he paused to look at the title.

Some Principles on Maritime Strategy by Julian Corbett.

The Marine officer grimaced. "Well, I hope those Navy boys I understand this damn thing better than I do. I suppose it would have been too much to ask for Corbett to get H.G. Wells to transcribe for him. At least it'd be more interesting."

Lonestar · Post by **Lonestar** » 2006-07-16 10:11pm

Uraniun235 · Post by **Uraniun235** » 2006-07-16 10:23pm

Ar-Adunakhor wrote:
Uraniun235 wrote:How long until all of these modifications are completed? I'm getting antsy to head out to sea.
[How are we going to be managing the battles, and what system are we going to be using? Do we need to make one up?]

[Uhhh... I don't know. I'm really new to this sort of thing. Suggestions...?]

Darth Raptor · Post by **Darth Raptor** » 2006-07-16 10:30pm

[Tasoth: The map isn't down unless you're getting it second hand from a quote box.

Uranium235: We could probably just wing it for our first few engagements. Those are bound to be absurdly one-sided anyway. We can introduce more structure as needed as we get a feel for combat. That's my suggestion, anyway.]

phongn · Post by **phongn** » 2006-07-16 10:32pm

[Ideally we need some experienced people running the OPFOR otherwise it'll degenerate into wank. Either that or we come up with a general story first, then write around the plot points]

Post by **Surlethe** » 2006-07-16 10:40pm

The Eastern Pacific Ocean

"Commander Bayh, sir? The pilot has cleared us." John Bayh snapped out of his reverie -- he'd been remembering The War, as he liked to call it -- and nodded.

"Thank you, Lt. Commander. See us out." He stood and, stretching, moved from his quarters through the cramped passages in his Ticonderoga's interior to the fore deck. Skirting the VLS, he walked up to the new 65-calibre gun, patted the warm metal housing it for a moment, then moved over to the bulwark. Ahead, the open sea, dark blue with brushed-up whitecaps tipping the rollers, stretched under a perfect sky. The sun was beating down fiercely; a sheen of sweat covered his forehead already. Underneath his feet, the deck's quiet hum changed pitch as the four diesel engines ratcheted up their power. The ship was, of course, quieter than when he'd brought it into dock; he'd instituted modifications for quiet running. A Tico at three-quarters power could outrun a quiet Seawolf, and at three-quarters power, no submarine would hear the Irascible until it was too late.

The stiff ocean breeze whipped across the deck as the low bow of his ship, labored down even more with the extra weaponry he'd installed, plowed into the first rollers. It broke the splash of water into mist, and dampened his back. Looking across the side -- the wide forward superstructure (the one aspect of his ship he didn't love with all his heart, on aesthetic grounds) blocked the view direct aft -- he could see the white Hawaiian shore stretching into the distance. Already, they'd receded nearly a mile; the Irascible was steaming away from Oahu at full power, pushing thirty-four knots. Far ahead, and somewhat off to the left, the Twenty-Eighth Expeditionary Strike Group, under Brigadier General Relihan, waited.

Lonestar · Post by **Lonestar** » 2006-07-16 10:41pm

Norfolk Navy Yard
Portsmouth, Virgina

Now

Bucher glanced around the Cabin that would be his stateroom for the Arcadia's first deployment, and sighed. Personally, he had never expected to make it out of WW3 alive, and after the war had ended expected to be RIF'd out. To his surprise he had had a pretty damn successful career, but hadn't really expected to make it past Captain. He had done a pretty good job of burning every bridge possible with the Senate Armed Forces committee during his Flag "Job" interviews. More than once he had broken out some personal insults, and at one point accused one of the more public backers of the GDI of selling the country out.

He had stormed out of that meeting, and his wife (a retired Lt. Colonel in the USAF) had cinched the impression during the charecter interviews. Apperently he must have tickled the Republicans on the commitee, because he got his first star. Maybe common sense and patriotism would prevail.

Then he got his marching orders. With much gnashing of teeth he said "Yes Sir" and took over as the CSG Commander for the recently comissioned Arcadia(So Named because Congressman Roger Hernandez of Arcadia, California, knew names and where the bodies were). It would be a dream for any Rear Admiral. The news of it being attached to GDI was a clear insult, however.

"Sir, just thought you'd like to know, Admiral Rebikov called, and said he'd be checking on board tonight instead of tomorrow, and was wondering if you'd like to join him in his stateroom for dinner?"

Bucher sighed at his aide's question, and bit back a retort. 1st LT Chan was a good aide, and didn't deserve to be snapped at, no matter how much he wanted to snap at someone.

A Russki on an American CVN. Jesus H. Christ.

"Thanks Travis, tell him I'll be glad to join him for dinner." It wasn't that Nickolai was a bad guy, but he was Russian and had the Vague title of "Senior Intelligence Officer". If he was anything like his counterprts at ONI and DIA who knew what chicanery he was up to?

"Alright Sir. Commander Bean dropped the profiles you requested by." Chan handed over the thick stack of folders. On the top was DIA's file on Rebikov, followed by every other senior non-american officer in the task force.

"Thanks. Leave them on my desk. Anything else vital at the moment?"

"Uh, not at the moment sir..."

"Alright, mind if you leave me for a moment? I need to catch up on some paperwork."

"Yessir." Chan turned and left the stateroom. Bucher sighed and put the folders in the drawer safe. He turned on his computer and checked his email, cursing at the first message, from the Arcadia's Captain. He considered calling her and chewing her ass for not coming personally, but the odds were she was just as swamped as he was. Personally, he suspected Pick got the Arcadia for political reasons(as she hadn't had an interim command between CAG and this) but she was generally a good troop.

The email said NAVSUP was dragging it's ass on getting stores to the ship's in the CSG, both American and the other ships assembled up in Norfolk. Glancing at the forwarded email, he too got the feeling that they were getting the run-around. So now the USN was ignoring them because they were "GDI" (nevermind the paycheck came from the DoN). Perfect.

He noticed there were similiar e-mails from the other strike group captains.

Bucher growled and reached for his phone. He knew there had to be a God, because someone was mocking him.

Post by **Surlethe** » 2006-07-16 10:41pm

phongn wrote:[Ideally we need some experienced people running the OPFOR otherwise it'll degenerate into wank. Either that or we come up with a general story first, then write around the plot points]

[I'd love to help come up with a story.

Also, may I suggest a new, clean thread for background and stories, and keep this one for discussion, please?]

phongn · Post by **phongn** » 2006-07-16 11:28pm

[With respect to Darth Raptor - here's another idea for a map. Link

Keeping North Korea intact adds to the fun. Most of the West + the UNSC are funding the GDI with nominal support from other nations, but not all are friendly. Many other nations are neutral (and possibly taking a "wait and see" attitude, or "lets not reveal ourselves to the Je^H^HGDI quite yet")]

Lonestar · Post by **Lonestar** » 2006-07-16 11:31pm

Post by **Surlethe** » 2006-07-16 11:52pm

[I'm going to start a map of our terrorist organization.]

Uraniun235 · Post by **Uraniun235** » 2006-07-16 11:56pm

By popular request, here is a separate thread for story and character background.

Darth Raptor · Post by **Darth Raptor** » 2006-07-17 12:05am

[I defer to phongn's superior geopolitical expertise. We'll use his map. Although that pretty much kills the campaign I was working on, I can start over.

]

Post by **Surlethe** » 2006-07-17 12:11am

[Okay, here's a map of nations supporting our terrorist group vs. nations who are hunting it (or aspects of it) and nations who don't give a shit. Who's going to smack me down first?

]

phongn · Post by **phongn** » 2006-07-17 12:11am

Darth Raptor wrote:[I defer to phongn's superior geopolitical expertise. We'll use his map. Although that pretty much kills the campaign I was working on, I can start over. ]

[Sorry dude, didn't mean to step over your toes but I thought a more "nuanced" map might do good ...

Notes:
Afghanistan was left to rot by the Reds. Islamic fundamentalists took over, helped in a major terrorist operation in the US and now Afghanistan is under GDI (read: US) military occupation. The USSR was politely asked not to send ground troops this time around.

Iraq tried invading Kuwait in 1991. They got kicked out. Then Saddam Hussain started getting uppity a few years after Afghanistan got crushed and he got smacked, hard. Currently under GDI (US, UK, USSR) occupation.]

atg · Post by **atg** » 2006-07-17 12:12am

OK since the mods I suggested for my ship were vetoed (damm thee), does anyone have any suggestions as to how to mod the Renown?

Uraniun235 · Post by **Uraniun235** » 2006-07-17 12:24am

[Just a bit of advance warning... I'm going to be leaving Thursday morning and coming back Monday.]

phongn · Post by **phongn** » 2006-07-17 12:37am

atg wrote:OK since the mods I suggested for my ship were vetoed (damm thee), does anyone have any suggestions as to how to mod the Renown?

If you want my absolutely honest opinion - perhaps add some RAM launchers on it (even replacing the Phalanx mounts) for self-defense, add the usual datalink stuff and have modernized helicopters. That's about it.

Space proposal:
Following the end of the rather brief "World War III," a name already falling into disfavour due to the rather limited scope of Europe and the Atlantic Ocean, there was a new resurgance in space funding. The first elements of the Space War had begun, with American and Soviet ASAT weapons being used operationally.

It was during a review of emergency shuttle operations during the war that the segmented SRBs used by the shuttle program had dangerous erosion of O-ring seals in colder weather; all shuttle flights in the interim were required to launch only in warmer weather while work on a monopiece Advanced Solid Rocket Booster began. (e.g. Challenger is not lost). Unfortunately, problems with the foam on the external fuel tank destroyed the thermal insulation on Columbia. The loss of that shuttle froze shuttle operations for two years. Neither the Soviet nor European shuttles have shared Columbia's fate at the time of this writing

Big on the list of space exploration was the construction of the American space station Freedom; funding support from the USAF allowed NASA to construct the "maximal" dual-keel station design. By the station's "completion" in 2004 to the tune of not a few billions in cost overruns, a crew of twenty were onboard the station for scientific and military purposes. Facilities also were in place for ship construction and a possible return to the Moon or exploration to Mars. [Think the dual-keel Freedom ... even bigger]

Soviet Russia launched their own shuttle not long after the war; often considered a copy of the American shuttle it was actually a superior design in some ways. It would help construct the Soviet station Mir-2 (again, sometimes considered a clone of Freedom due to its "dual keel" design but in fact a totally different design). Due to the immense Energia boosters that launched the station modules, the need for expensive Shuttle assembly was greatly reduced. [Expanded Mir-2]

The EU launched the Hermes light shuttle in the 1990s; it serves as a crew transfer vehicle for European scientsts and launched from the French Guiana. The ESA, along with Japan, is currently building a scientific station in orbit; unlike its American or Soviet counterparts, it will not be designed for military or ship construction purposes. Some private American firms have expressed interest in launching their own modules to the International Space Station as it is a more open design than the military/scientific Freedom or Mir-2. [Full ISS, possible expansion]

China has begun its long march into space with the Soyuz-derived Shenzhou; it is believed that the People's Republic will soon form a sort of mini-station by docking multiple Shenzhou vehicles and eventually begin construction on their own program. ]

Uraniun235 · Post by **Uraniun235** » 2006-07-17 12:51am

Awe, Noble Ire... Relihan is a way more awesome name than "Reynold".

Noble Ire · Post by **Noble Ire** » 2006-07-17 01:03am

Surlethe wrote:[Okay, here's a map of nations supporting our terrorist group vs. nations who are hunting it (or aspects of it) and nations who don't give a shit. Who's going to smack me down first? ]

Why is Japan funding a terrorist group (or, at least, one with relevance to us)?

Uraniun235 wrote:Awe, Noble Ire... Relihan is a way more awesome name than "Reynold".

Perhaps (you seem to like it more than I ever did), but since it is actually my last name, I think this would end up getting rather weird, at last for me. However, if we were ever to come into the possession of a small island or something during our exploits, I'd be more than happy to volunteer a name for it.

Post by **Surlethe** » 2006-07-17 01:10am

Noble Ire wrote:
Surlethe wrote:[Okay, here's a map of nations supporting our terrorist group vs. nations who are hunting it (or aspects of it) and nations who don't give a shit. Who's going to smack me down first? ]
Why is Japan funding a terrorist group (or, at least, one with relevance to us)?

It's not. It's a different shade of blue (retcon: blue blue = hunting down; dark blue = funding).

Actually, I just forgot to recolor it and S. Korea red.

JointStrikeFighter · Post by **JointStrikeFighter** » 2006-07-17 02:30am

Being the resident F-35 Fanboy here would it be alright if i assumed the role of CAG on the Omaha?

Failing that just leader of one of the F-35 Squadrons?

atg · Post by **atg** » 2006-07-17 02:32am

[Okay, here's a map of nations supporting our terrorist group vs. nations who are hunting it (or aspects of it) and nations who don't give a shit. Who's going to smack me down first?

I noticed that Tasmania doesn't care while the rest of Australia does.

Post by **Surlethe** » 2006-07-17 04:11am

atg wrote:
[Okay, here's a map of nations supporting our terrorist group vs. nations who are hunting it (or aspects of it) and nations who don't give a shit. Who's going to smack me down first?
I noticed that Tasmania doesn't care while the rest of Australia does.

[Wait, is Tasmania part of Australia?

]