Sender: Commandant Pierre Vaillant Recipient: Rheinland Fédéralistes Subject: Cologne, Karlsruhe.
Bonjour Fédéralistes,
A large holographic image of Vaillant sitting on his command chair appeared. We could see the old Kingdom of Gallia emblem on the back of the chair as it was not facing the screen. Suddenly, the chair turned in a fast move towards the luminous screen showing up a determined Vaillant holding a glass of wine in his left hand.
Let me introduce myself. I am the Commandant Pierre Vaillant of the Marine Nationale Gauloise. I shall represent the Gallic Confederate Navy during our talks.
Let me get this straight, Gallia has a great concern regarding the current events in Rheinland and especially Cologne. It appears the system fell into the hands of criminals called Red Hessians. This unexpected situation has lead to a quick response from our forces, as the Battlegroup La Fierte has been deployed in Zurich to safeguard our borders and especially the EFL infrastructures.
Despite being a Rheinland system, we cannot let such threat to our doors, and the fall of Cologne represents a blow to the Gallic investments in Rheinland. On the other hand, our long range telescope have detected a battleship and its cohort moving into Zurich just before the fall of Cologne. Our recon vessels reported it was the Battleship Karlsruhe belonging to the Federalists Forces.
While La Fierte is watching with a GREAT intention the Karlsruhe, we were actually wondering if the Fédéralistes forces, with your isolated battlegroup in Zurich, would be ready to help the Gallic forces to push the Hessians back and take back Cologne.
This is the actual question that needs a clear answer. I'll be waiting for it.
Sincèrement
Vaillant greeted with a gesture of the head while the holographic image was disappearing.
Marine Nationale Gauloise, Commandant Pierre Vaillant.
Transmission received
Code recognised as NNA-419A-PFA
Decrypting.... Recipient:Commandant Pierre Vaillant, MNG Sender:Walter Kappmann - Provisional War Office, PFA Date:05.05.827 A.S. Subject:RE: Cologne, Karlsruhe Priority:Medium
Greetings, Commandant Vaillant,
I am Walter Kappmann. In these troubled times I have taken on the difficult task to organise the war effort in this conflict against the illlegitimate imperial regime. While I cannot assure you to speak with absolute authority - or confirm that there is even such a thing amongst the yet regrouping federal government - I would like to think that I can at the very least provide some insight. So let me briefly share my view on this.
First off, there is no doubt about how dangerous the gains the Red Hessians have made in Cologne could become in the future. The Hessian movement has been a threat to the safety of Rheinland and the Omega regions for a long time, and little about their modus operandi or their views has changed up until today. I still consider them brigands with dangerous communist ideas and a past of terrorism. Our eyes need to be on them, and wherever possible they need to be kept in check.
However, there are much, much worse problems at hand right now. I am not sure if you are aware of them, but there is the Unioner movement, for example. A similarly extremist and merry band of criminals and terrorists, only that with this coup, they have been absolved of all their sins. Where the Hessians at least have to strike from the safety of the shadows and wait for their opportunities, you will soon find the emperors new lap dogs march on New Berlin, their heads held high. Pirates and Radicals, now emboldened by the favour of a new regime. And their is of course the imperial insurrection itself, which has had many supporters in the highest ranks of the military caste. This has not only left us with uncountable acts of treason by friends and colleagues, but also with a strong opposing force to fight.
In light of this we have come to agreements with the Hessians - not solely endorsed by me - to abstain from hostilities, at least for the moment. While they are a foe to consider, the emperor, his junta and his paramilitary are a much bigger threat in my eyes, and a mutual enemy one could say. Keeping our momentary capabilities in mind, I consider it vital that such agreements are honoured, if only temporarily.
However, these considerations are all somewhat academic, considering the current status of our forces near Cologne. Only a little earlier we managed to reestablish contact with the Karlsruhe, and I am not very delighted about the situation it is in. During the battle of Stuttgart Karlsruhe was involved in a prolonged close range engagement with battleship Altenburg, during which both ships suffered considerable damage. Karlsruhe eventually had to retreat from Stuttgart - for lack of other escape vectors straight into Zürich.
While the damage does not seem to pose an immediate threat to the ship's structural integrity, I will be honest with you: At the moment I consider it too risky to take Karlsruhe right back into another engagement. After something like the battle of Stuttgart, the optimal measure would have been at least several days of work in a proper drydock - something that in the current situation is understandably difficult to arrange. But without at the very least some field repairs I find it unlikely for the ship to be valuable beyond the point of a diversionary target.
To give you the clear answer you requested: While I agree with you fully that the Hessian problem has to be dealt with eventually, at the moment I cannot offer my support for such an operation. Neither would it be wise to risk a fragile ceasefire nor to risk a valuable military asset like the Karlsruhe on an operation to secure a system that we might not be able to keep secure with only a damaged battleship and what remains of its escort.
Should the circumstances change, however, then my opinion might as well.
Yours sincerely,
Walter Kappmann
Provisional War Office
Provisional Federal Army of Rheinland
► Quelle:Karrier R.N.C. Weser, Passau Station, Munich system, Bundesrepublik Rheinland ► Von:Großflottilenadmiral der Garde Katherine Anneliese von Meyer ► An:Commandant Pierre Vaillant ► Gegenstand:RE: Cologne, Karlsruhe ► Verschlüsselung:BW-SF-OK-SCS-VK12
Schönen tag, Herr Vaillant.
I am Katherine Anneliese von Meyer, Commander of the Bundeswehr and Acting Chief Tactician of the Rheinland Federal Military. I believe we spoke before this coup when the Marine was looking to pass through Rheinland into the distant Omicron systems. Such a time was quite long ago, and better days compared to what we in Rheinland have now.
The situation in Koeln, or Cologne, is indeed a precarious one, as the Confederal Defense Force sits as the only presence of true lawful enforcement within the system. While we thank you and yours for taking up the defense of Gallic-made assets within the system, we can only begin to coordinate what resources we have at our disposal. Battleship Karlsruhe did not make it out of Stuttgart, and by extension Koeln, without sustaining significant losses, and we cannot currently commit such a valuable remaining asset to a counter-attack just yet. Karlsruhe currently is commencing spot repairs to her remaining flotilla, after which talks will begin again of how to utilize her forces within Koeln or Hamburg.
To add to this, the Red Hessians have reached out to the Federal Military in an attempt to coordinate against the Imperial Usurpers. While the Hessians remain an enemy of the Federal Government, I at least have notified them of our willingness to cooperate, insofar as their actions do not threaten civilians and non-combatants. This includes foreign civilian and non-combatants as well, which remain our top priority, even during this era of Rheinland history.
Once Karlsruhe returns to a battle-ready state, we will look to coordinating with the Confederal Defense Forces to see where our options lie. I'm aware the Confederacy has already notified the Red Hessians of their stance, but should the Hessians begin to coordinate against Gallic civilians or military personnel, I would very much like to be notified of it. This way, we can be sure of where the Karlsruhe will be cementing Federal authority.
Für Rheinland.
Hochachtungsvoll, Großflottilenadmiral der Garde Katherine Anneliese von Meyer,
Schlachtgruppe Weser
Bundeswehr Oberkommando
Sender: Commandant Pierre Vaillant Recipient: Rheinland Fédéralistes Subject: Cologne, Karlsruhe.
Monsieur Kappmann, Commandant von Meyer
A large holographic image of Vaillant sitting on his command chair appeared. This time he wasn't wearing a cup of wine. Instead he had a beautiful model of a Valor. This model was certainly 10 centimeters long. Vaillant put the model on his desk. When the holographic image has reached its maximum size, new details could be seen. The Valor was indeed surrounding with several models of smaller Gallic ships, what seemed to be a small model of the Karlsruhe...
While I had never spoken with Monsieur Kappmann, I perfectly recall our little talks Commandant von Meyer. Good thing that you are still alive with all these troubles I guess.
We understand your stand regarding the Hessians, yet we hope this is only provisional. I am going to emphasize the following point. Gallia does not seek to be involved in your civil war, this isn't our concern. However the recent events forced us to react quickly. Our only matter is the safety of our Gallic citizens doing business through Rheinland and we wish to re-establish the trading connections with Rheinland as soon as possible. Nevertheless, it appears the Hessians and Gallia aren't on the same wavelenght.
We still hope to resume the situation before to jump on the guns too quickly. In regards to the Karlsruhe matter now. Not everyone in the Gallic Navy has appreciated this incursion within Zurich and it appears this Battlegroup is not going to depart from there imediately.
I am coming with a proposal for you. The Gallic Navy has valuable logistics assets, such as the Division du Train. We propose to supply the Karlsruhe with repair materials and vital supplies thanks to our transports. Obviously comes a condition for that. In return we ask the Karlsruhe to stay to its current location till the Cologne crisis is over. I am sure you understand our concern in this matter.
Do not be worried by these little models of Gallic and Rheinland ships on my desk. Or rather you don't have to worry as long as you play carefully.
Sincèrement
Vaillant greeted with a gesture of the head while the holographic image was disappearing.
Marine Nationale Gauloise, Commandant Pierre Vaillant.
Transmission received
Code recognised as NNA-419A-PFA
Decrypting.... Recipient:Commandant Pierre Vaillant, MNG Sender:Walter Kappmann - Provisional War Office, PFA Date:05.05.827 A.S. Subject:RE: Cologne, Karlsruhe Priority:Medium
Commandant,
I can absolutely assure you this stance will merely be temporary. It is purely a matter of choosing the lesser of two evils. They remain pirates and radical revolutionaries, and thus there can not be any grounds for a permanent toleration of their presence. You know this, I know this. And I am sure Generalmajor Heinrich knows it as well.
Concerning Karlsruhe, the concerns of the Marine Nationale are completely understandable. The Provisional War Office sees no purpose in having the battlegroup remain in Zürich for longer than necesarry, and it is certainly not our intention to use the safety of territory under Gallic influence to launch strikes against the imperial regime. Believe me, Karlsruhe's positioning gives me as much of a headache as it must give you.
Your offer for logistical support is much appreciated, Commandant Vaillant. While we have looked at possibilities to set up a logistical chain via auxiliary cruisers and blockade runners, this would be no optimal solution to the issue at hand, and certainly not a timely one. Plus, I am sure the Marine Nationale would not appreciate the influx of even more military vessels.
Thus being able to call on the capacities of the renowned Division du Train is something I can only accept in great gratitude, and I am sure Karlsruhe's commanding staff will feel the same. Your conditions for this deal look perfectly acceptable to me. As both guest and suppliant in this matter it is not my intention to cause any trouble to Gallia. The only request I would like to make is that you give us the guarantee that, while under monitoring of La Fierte, the independence and safety of our ships is respected.
I personally trust the Gallic high command in this matter, but then again, I am not the one who finds himself caught out of place like the men and women of battlegroup Karlsruhe do. Please, do them this favour.
Yours sincerely,
Walter Kappmann
Provisional War Office
Provisional Federal Army of Rheinland
8th May 743 A.G.S.
Picardy system, Haute-Seine Shipyard
Sender: Enseigne de Vaisseau Miroslav de Gobineau Recipient: Provisional War Office, PFA, Großflottilenadmiral der Garde Katherine Anneliese von Meyer Subject: Division du Train, Karlsruhe, Maintenance And Material Management (3M) and CASEVAC
Video-feed opens up with Miroslav de Gobineau in all his splendor comparable to a very humble and gentle bear is seen sitting in a small and cramped dimly lit office. There's several holographic screens on his side. There's also cup of hot coffee and ashtray on a table nearby. There also was a small picture frame on other side of a table. Several officers, one of whom was Miroslav himself. But those were not Royal officers. Miroslav is calm but somewhat tired as it seems he was working a lot recently.
Bonsoir, mesdemoiselles et messieurs.
Name's Miroslav de Gobineau and I am current Acting Head Of Division du Train, I will deal with general question of logistics. My pleasure.
So let's start from the beginning. Oui, it's totally possible to conduct field emergency repairs. Non, we can't just tow battleship to our drydocks and do proper maintanance there. That would result in political fallout and PR nightmare. But dull jokes aside.
I need to get fullest damage report or in case if there's no possibility for that - conduct inspection myself. Structural damage of outer hull is not that hard to fix - we will be able to patch plating with few repair tugs and some ablative material but delicate avionics such as weapon system controls or navigational systems are much harder to fix right away. Hardware is absolutely different and I doubt it is compatible. If you have experienced pioneers or engineers amongst crew we can provide you needed materials for these kinds of repairs.
Logistics are straight-forward but might be a little bit tricky. It's easy task to supply you in ideal conditions as Picardy have absolutely everything needed. Problem is that for some reason beyond my comprehension there's L'Enclave activity in Zurich. We are still making tactical report on that activity but there's several problems with their presence. First - they shoot our transports, easy as that. Second - if they get an idea what we are doing they can relay information to Imperial forces and this, again, can hurt our neutrality. If we are going to supply you and help you with maintanence, we must be swift.
But this is only one side of our affair. We also need to supply you some relief commodities. I need to get CASREP so I can organize supply list for medicals. Also, general amount of crew can be helpful aswell so you we can provide you plentiful of food, water and wine.
Basically and briefly, let's decide, do I need to be there personally or do you have all needed information already. Let's deal with it quickly and efficiently.
Sincèrement
Division du Train de La Marine Nationale Gauloise, Enseigne de Vaisseau Miroslav de Gobineau.
► Quelle:Karrier R.N.C. Weser, Passau Station, Munich system, Bundesrepublik Rheinland ► Von:Großflottilenadmiral der Garde Katherine Anneliese von Meyer ► An:Commandant Pierre Vaillant ► Gegenstand:RE: Division du Train, Karlsruhe, Maintenance And Material Management (3M) and CASEVAC ► Verschlüsselung:BW-SF-OK-SCS-VK12
Schönen tag, Herr de Gobineau.
Karlsruhe and her remaining escort have relayed the damage reports so far to the Federal Military's Command Staff. From what we've received, heavy hull damage was sustained, in addition to moderate damage to secondary weapon systems. Beyond that, we have not received word of damage to critical systems like life support or navigation, so the situation aboard is fairly tenable. Damage to more delicate systems may be reparable, and our engineers may come up with something.
Regarding supplies and security, we will notify the kommandant of Karlsruhe to keep patrols on alert for the duration of this exercise, and to have the crew work as quickly as they can. Her compliment of two-thousand will likely run through the on-board rations and medicinal supplies, though protocol will kick in soon if it hasn't already, especially if the casualties inflicted during her escape were sufficient enough. An influx of supplies will only help this process along.
Any attacks by the Enclave will hopefully be discouraged by the presence of your La Fierte, though you are right in that we cannot count entirely on the battlegroup being a one-all solution. We will also notify the kommandant of Karlsruhe to remain on alert for any distress signals should they be needed, though we are hoping they will not. Beyond all of that, I cannot thank the Confederacy enough for supplying us with this relief. With hope, it will not be long before Karlsruhe will be back in the fight.
Für Rheinland.
Hochachtungsvoll, Großflottilenadmiral der Garde Katherine Anneliese von Meyer,
Schlachtgruppe Weser
Bundeswehr Oberkommando
10th May 743 A.G.S.
Picardy system, Haute-Seine Shipyard
Sender: Enseigne de Vaisseau Miroslav de Gobineau Recipient: Provisional War Office, PFA, Großflottilenadmiral der Garde Katherine Anneliese von Meyer Subject: RE: RE: Division du Train, Karlsruhe, Maintenance And Material Management (3M) and CASEVAC
Video-feed opens up with Miroslav de Gobineau in all his splendor comparable to a very humble and gentle bear is seen sitting in a small and cramped dimly lit office. There's several holographic screens on his side. There's also cup of hot chocolate and ashtray full of cigarette butts on a table nearby. There also was a small picture frame on other side of a table. Several officers, one of whom was Miroslav himself. But those were not Royal officers. Miroslav looks like he is invigorated and full of positive energy.
Bonsoir, mademoissele von Meyer et tous les autres.
I have received your message. Preparations for logistical operation named "Fallen Eagle" are almost finished. We are currently in process of final preparations for convoy organization and we are finishing printing insignias.
I excluded complicated electronics and machinery from supply list and decided to focus on more 'basic' supplies. Namely - hull panels, platings, alloys, food, water, medical supplies and all kind of practical stuff - toilet paper, utensils, fresh clothes and so on. Whatever. We will start convoy runs tomorrow or in two days, depends how soon we will get repair tugs from conservation. I will keep you updated and you will get report as soon as our first convoy reaches destination.
Sincèrement
Division du Train de La Marine Nationale Gauloise, Enseigne de Vaisseau Miroslav de Gobineau.
It would appear that our colleagues from the Federal Military command staff have abruptly abandoned this communication, therefore i have taken freedom to bring it up from the archives, and take over the flow of this conversation. The first thing i have done was contacting Karlsruhe to confirm that the flow of supplies from Marine Nationale have indeed been present in the due time - and the answer was positive. Wounded personnel received much needed medical supplies, all the affected systems and breached decks have been repaired, and are running under optimal conditions; therefore Karlsruhe is considered prepared for extraction.
Büro will soon execute relevant orders, and dispatch additional forces - including Folkvangr on her maiden voyage to escort Karlsruhe through hostile and potentially hazardous environment.
The entire operation will most likely be conducted in a week from the arrival of this message, and will not take too long of a traverse through Zurich. I would appreciate it if Confederal forces would have overlooked these movements in order to attract less attention to departing vessels.
From,
Minna Dietlinde-Vilke,
Büro des Marinenachrichtendiensts
Sender: Amiral Pierre Vaillant Recipient: Minna Dietlinde-Vilke Subject: Karlsruhe
Minna Dietlinde-Vilke
A large holographic image of Vaillant sitting on his command chair appeared. We could see the old Kingdom of Gallia emblem on the back of the chair as it was not facing the screen. Suddenly, the chair turned in a fast move towards the luminous screen showing up a determined Vaillant holding a glass of wine in his right hand.
Again a new person in charge for the Karlsruhe matter. I wish you the bonjour. I must say it been some time since I personally dealed with this. I had charged the Commandant de Gobineau to continue the operations.
As promised the Division du Train brought the vital supplies it needed to remain operational. We are glad that you warned us about the future extraction of this battleship, you are obviously aware of the very tedious situation we are currently facing.
In order to guarantee the success of your operation and avoid any incidents, a squadron from La Fierte battlegroup will be dispatched and we'll be ready to assist if necessary.
Sincèrement
Vaillant greeted with a gesture of the head while the holographic image was disappearing.
Marine Nationale Gauloise, Amiral Pierre Vaillant.
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