Stories of the Maori New Swiss War

[ctwaterman]

The Prelude to War.

January 7th 1920 [19:00 Local Time]:  Taking advantage of the ending of the rainy season New Swiss Airship NSAS-15 a Type 3 Airship out of Phoenix is extending its patrol to the East of the Home Islands.   As it starts its homeward bound turn a hour or so before dusk it spots an extremely large plume of Smoke to its South and East.   Turning south to intercept it runs into a few scattered low level rain squalls but makes contact with and reports the Following.

"Many Ships, I repeat Thousands of Ships Heading for Home Islands, position approximately 300 miles due east of Phoenix... Message repeats."

Shortly after that a message in the clear is transmitted by a powerful transmitter from the roughly the same area.  The message reads.. "The Operation begins deliver the message plus some numbers and letters. The Message repeats 5 times and then an hour latter repeats 5 times.

January 8th 1920 [05:00 Local Time]: later after the NSAS-15 has had to divert north to avoid a localized thunder storm it moves south to reacquire the huge fleet.  It continues to shadow the fleet which seems to contain thousands of ships many merchants and occasionally the clear silhouette of warships under the light of the waning full moon.  By Dawn NSAS-15 has Identified a number of warships and transmits the following message.

"Maori fleet consisting of many merchants, at least 3 Battle Ships many Cruiser and Destroyers now approximately 220 due east of Phoenix south by south east of Sverdlovsk Island."

January 8th 1920 [08:30]:  The Maori Ambassador to the United States of New Switzerland has requested a meeting with the New Swiss Foreign Office.   Upon his arrival at the New Swiss ministry of foreign affairs smoke can be seen pouring from several smoke stacks in the Maori Consulate.  The Maori Ambassador delivers to the New Swiss foreign ministry a crisp creamy white vellum sheet of paper.  The words it contains are a Declaration of War.

[ctwaterman]

As of this day the NINTH OF JANUARY, INSTANT of the one thousand nine hundred and twentieth year of the generally accepted Christian calender, in the name of the KING and the PEOPLE of the Maori and Mayan kindreds, and

BEING that the lands of the islands of Ataria, commonly called New Switzerland, were historically in the possession of family lines of known provenance and

BEING that those lands were appropriated by force without recourse to the force of law in the wake of the late disaster upon the island of Kuala and

BEING that the legitimate lines of inheritance of those lands is of historical provenance and

BEING that the current rightful holders of that inheritance have been denied the fruits and benefit of their just property and

BEING that the political establishment of the Swiss Confederation and the United States of New Switzerland has systematically aided and abetted to the best of its ability the continual misappropriation of these titles and

BEING that this policy has not only acted as a miscarriage of justice but a material and ongoing harm to the life and condition of the heirs of Ataria and

BEING that other policies of the government of the United States of New Switzerland have aided and abetted the deliberate financial ruin of those heirs and all of the other native peoples of Ataria, Hawaii, Papua, and the various other islands of the Pacific under their power and

BEING that all of the peoples named above are in like wise kin by descent to the people of the Maori and Mayan kind and

BEING that they are therefore entitled to the aide and succor owed to kin by the political state representative of the Maori and Mayan peoples, the Kingdom of the Maori and

BEING that the governments of the United States of New Switzerland and the Swiss Confederation have in the past undertaken various and sundry courses of action disruptive to the commerce and peace of neighboring nations and of all the world and

BEING that the governments of the United States of New Switzerland and the Swiss Confederation have knowingly and willingly failed to honor agreements prohibiting such behavior,

IT IS ACCORDINGLY RECOGNIZED AND PUBLISHED that a state of OPEN WAR does and will exist between the SWISS CONFEDERATION and the KINGDOM OF THE MAORI until the establishment of a government acceptable to the Maori over all territory of the United States of New Switzerland is an accomplished fact.

YUUNO I, KING OF THE MAORI

[Desertfox]

...and January 9th happens to be New Switzerland's 210st Independance Day...


January 8th

Emergency Mobilization ordered


***


January 9th, New Switzerland Foreign Office

"Quick make copies of the Declaration of War, forward a copy to each of the German, Columbia, and French embassies, they might be interested in its content. Next go to the Maorian embassy, tell them they have 12 hours to rescind their Declaration of War, after that we will accept their surrender at any time."


***

Fleet Anchorage Halmahera

The men of the 1st Destroyer Squadron where uneasy. They should have been enjoying a week's liberty in New Amsterdam, not stuck in a random island. Something was up, for there was no reason to stock up fuel and ammunition here and in such a hurry. Their questions would soon be answered...

"Men, this is your captain speaking. Yesterday a Maorian invasion fleet was spotted bound for our home islands. In two hours time we sail in their defense. This is the moment we have trained for..."


***


January 10th?, Lead plane, Victor Flight, near New Switzerland

"Only barbarians fight without music. Lieutenant! Fire up that phonograph, give me some Wagner!"

[Valles]

January 9th, 1920 [7:03 local time]

Dawn found the fleet in good order, and in sight of land. The destroyers led the van, spread in a scouting net around the broad wash of the transports, with the war fleet steaming between the two - the battleships in two columns, Kerykeion leading Asclepius leading Cross Mirage, and Raging Heart leading Bardiche leading Reinforce, with the cruisers tucked in close around them.

Above the rush of wind and water, and the clatter of their own frantic labors of preparation, the soldiers on shore could hear men's voices, raised in hoarse, bull-throated unison - rendered quiet by distance, but still clearly audible.

"...ka ora', ka ora'..."

For a moment there was silence. The sharp eyed could make out a slight shimmer of antlike motion along the rails of the fleet steaming, grim and dark, through the rising golden dawn.

"...ka ora', ka ora'..."

"What are they saying?" one soldier wondered to his buddy, both of them leaning on their spades for a moment.

"I dunno, but it makes my bleedin' flesh crawl," his comrade answered.

"tenei te tangata puhuruhuru!"

They were not alone in that. Even the officers among their number, sweeping their spyglasses along the ships of that fleet, felt a chill that had nothing to do with the nighttime breezes.

"nana i tiki mai whakawhiti te ra!"

There were a number of those soldiers who had been born elsewhere from the Home Islands, the most of them from Hawai'i - who had been taught their own chants and customs by parents and grandparents.

"aa upane! kaa upane!"

They knew what they were hearing, in general if not in specific.

"upane kaupane!"

The knowledge did not comfort them any more than ignorance comforted their fellows.

"whiti te ra! Hi!"

Not even five minutes after the last word was roared with especial emphasis and volume, the first of the landing boats hit the water, loaded full of armed men ready to do harm.

[ctwaterman]

Day Break January 9th 1920:   The Airfield located at the New Swiss Capitol of Phoenix was overloaded with aircraft.   Over 500 had been flown in from near bye satellite fields and were being armed in preparation for an attack on the Maori Fleet.   A shortage of Torpedoes existed as the airfield was designed to support a mere 2 wings of Aircraft and currently over 5 wings of Medium Bombers were assembled for what would be the Largest ever anti-shipping strike ever attempted.   Using every torpedo on the bases still left many aircraft without torpedoes.  But even two days of frantic effort by repair crews were unable to bring all 500 Medium Bombers up to full readiness.   A mere 425 aircraft managed to sortie 300 armed with 16" Torpedoes and the other 125 with 8 New Swiss 8" High Explosive Shells modified into aircraft bombs.  A frantic request was sent to Phoenix and other airfields to forward more torpedoes.

09:00 Off Phoenix Harbor:  The Maori were rapidly closing directly towards the Harbor of Phoenix and the Z-15 overhead was in contact with the New Swiss command despite occasional attempts at jamming and having to dodge the occasional ill timed shots from some of the smaller ships with deck mounts.   The third such attempt had forced Z-15 to seek higher altitude with damage to 1 engine.

The Airstrike out coming from the Phoenix Aerodrome was not what one could call a coordinated attack by any definition of the word.  The Sky was filled with Squadrons, and Flights little groups of planes forming up on their wing men and then heading off to strike the Maori.   Given that these little groups added up to over 400 aircraft still made for the largest airstrike in history to date.   

The New Swiss aircraft were directed to the Maori fleet by the cloud of coal smoke hanging in the air less than 10 miles off the city of Phoenix.   They slashed in with the level bombers with their lighter less unwieldy loads slightly faster than those laden with 16" Torpedoes.   The level bombers received a few inaccurate shell burst and as they dropped their bombs some fire from a dozens of medium caliber and hundreds of light machine guns.   The fire was inaccurate but disconcerting to pilots who had never faced enemy fire before.  Even so a few bombers were brought down with lucky hits and dozens more suffered some form of damage.

Next the Torpedo bombers went in ahead of them at least half dozen columns of smoke from damaged ships and many concentrated on the undamaged cruisers leading the Maori Screen.  As the Torpedo bombers began their low level runs they dropped into the range of literally hundreds of deck mounts and casemate mounted 3" guns.   They were forced to maneuver through the occasional fountain of water from such guns and many pilots pushed there throttles forward to minimize the time under fire, and many more pulled up to avoid the Black puffs of smoke as Shrapnel rounds burst infront of and behind their aircraft.

As the Torpedo planes exited the battle field there pilots were jubilant many would claim hits on the Dozens of Cruisers and 6 Battle ships that had been attacked.   The Sea behind them was filled with smoke and fires of burning ships.   Once back at base the losses were tabulated of the level bombers 6 were missing and a dozen had suffered serious damage, of the Torpedo Bombers 15 were missing and over 50 had suffered some form of damage requiring repair.  Most of the damage was suffered from light machine gun fire from many of the ships.  Claims by the pilots amounted to between 24 and 36 Torpedo hits and roughly the same for the level bombers.

Reports from the Pilots claimed that 1 cruiser had broken in half from a torpedo hit and was sinking and 3 others had suffered at least 1 to 3 torpedo hits.   In addition a Maori Battle Ship the Cross Mirage was reportedly hit by 3 Torpedoes and was reportedly on fire, further claims of upwards of 12 Freighters either on fire or in sinking condition were claimed by the Swiss Pilots.

10:15 Phoenix Harbor:    The Maori fleet had not even slowed its advance after the New Swiss air attack they had closed directly on the port and the New Swiss watched in Horror as Maori fleet  led by a around a dozen Captured New Swiss Coastal freighters steam directly into the harbor.   The Command detonated mine field claimed 4 of the New Swiss freighters 2 Maori Destroyers and 3 Maori Freighters before the first troops reached shore.   The Antique 10" Battery was quickly suppressed by the Maori Battle Ships standing off shore and the few small mobile batteries deployed about the harbor were destroyed for only a few hits on the merchants and a some damage to a Cruiser.   As the Maori singing their war chants began to unload into boats and docking their larger merchants at the Phoenix Docks word was quickly transmitted to the Phoenix Aerodrome and the 1st Special Division which began moving quickly by train into the city of Phoenix.   The fate of the City hangs precariously on just a single Division.

10:30 Olympia Harbor:  In nearly an identical attack to the one occurring in Phoenix, Maori warships and Transports move into the undefended harbor of Olympia seizing docks and unloading Maori troops directly into the city.   The only resistance was by a few light shore batteries and mobile guns quickly silenced by direct fire from Maori warships.   New Swiss national guard units with only 2 days of notice are not prepared or ready for combat.  Those that have managed to gather try desperately to resist the Maori troops but are outnumbered by a huge margin.

22:00 HQ New Swiss Special Operations Division Phoenix:  The day had been one of bitter loss and exhilarating victory.  The 2nd Air Strike at noon had pounded a large number of Maori transports in the harbor while they waited to unload their troops.   The Level bombers having much more success than the few aircraft which had managed to find torpedoes.   The Torpedoes simply did not work in the shallow waters of the Harbor.   However the Maori troops that had reached the docks in the first rush were excellent troops with more machine guns then the Swiss Special Forces Division and by mid afternoon they had begun to outnumber the Swiss as well.   The Maori Warships providing direct fire on concentrations of the New Swiss Division was probably the only thing that had prevented the Swiss from pushing the Maori back into the Sea.   Three Damaged Cruisers were anchored in the Harbor and were providing direct fire support for troops that had stormed ashore into the City of Phoenix.  Fighting in the city had prevented the city from falling but Civilian casualties were mounting and a steady stream of refugee out of the city was clogging the roads.

Finally news of landings by Maori troops to the East and West of the City were beginning to arrive.   The New Swiss Commander thanked God for the Coral Reefs off shore keeping the Maori from off loading their artillery.   Even worse due to the poor state of Maori amphibious technology many troops had apparently made it ashore only by wading and many had lost their weapons.  But there was a good part of a Division of Maori troops scattered to his rear.  Did he dare move brigades already engaged inside Phoenix out to deal with the threat to his rear.

22:00 Maori Fleet Command Cross Mirage off Phoenix:   Reports were sporadic from the brigades he had tried to land to the East and West of the City to cut off reinforcement and resupply of the city.   The Surf and Reefs were familiar to the Maori warriors but row boats were no way to get heavy equipment and supplies ashore.

News from Olympia harbor were much more promising, there his troops had surprised the defenders and even now were mopping up resistance in the city.    The Port was secure and his troops were planning to move out and Secure the New Swiss National Guard armories after a few hours rest.   But here in Phoenix things were a shambles the 2nd Air Strike and then the Airship raid just before dark had been a disaster.  Even with one of the Airships shot down as it escaped was no consolation as they had unloaded tons of High Explosives on the Docks crowded with his troops.  His troops were ashore many more would be ashore before morning, but losses both men and ships were mounting and they could only get worse where was the New Swiss Navy he had expected to confront the Swiss Navy before arriving in Phoenix so where were there ships and what could he do about the Airships constantly dronning overhead?

[TexanCowboy]

Pheonix, January 9th, 9:00

"Here's 20 pesos, solid silver, right here, right now!" screamed Assistant Junior Naval Attache Rafael Sotomenor at a Swiss bartender on the waterfront. "Now just give me the telescope now and unlock the roof hatch!"

"Ok, ok," replied the Swiss bartender, "Just....just don't let those....those...savages ruin my place, please, I beg you! I've worked my tail off for 20 years just to be able to own this place...my own little land...the Swiss dream."

"I'll do the best I can, but no promises" said Sotomenor as he grabbed the telescope and the keys and headed up to the roof to watch the assault that would define the existance of the New Swiss as a state or not. He was escorted by Jose Alizandro, a private in the Columbian military here for base security that also happened to be the president's son.

"Jose, get over here and help me set this sucker up!" Sotomenor yelled as he looked over at Jose, who was awestrucked looking at the greatest assembled armada since the Spanish in 1588.

"Aye, ensign," he replied with a bit of a grimanced look on his face. After he finished setting the equipment up, he looked back at Sotomenor. "My lord, that looks larger then the entire Armada assembled."

"It probably is, too. We aren't exactly into impressing merchant ships without any reason to do so...there they go!" Hundreds, if not thousands, of the bombers lottering overhead started heading, at full speed, towards the assembled Maori fleet, accompanied by the squeals of fear from woman on the streets below, and, oddly enough, a strain of Wagner? The bombers headed in, against what appeared to be an ad infinium wave of fire. As if by the hand of god, only 3 or 4 of the massive birds were shot down by the incoming buckshot, and the rest of the birds managed to....poop on the gigantic assembly.

"Impressive, eh?" said Sotomenor to Alizandro, who was staring agape at the battle occuring out beyond the harbor. "You ain't seen nothing yet. See that next wave right there?" pointing at a group three times as large as the first assault wave, which managed to snap Alizandro out of his trance. "Ten to one says that they're loaded with torpedoes....here we go now."

The next wave of aircraft came in low, much lower then the first wave of bombers, confirming the ensign's suspicions that they were in fact torpedo craft. In the background, he vaguely heard Alizandro whisper "Oh my ******* god" as a another wall of fire opened up, this one at least four times as strong as the previous. The aircraft began dropping like flies, but continued to press on towards the ships. As they neared, they began to drop their torpedoes, hitting a cruiser straight down the middle, sinking it, the fragments from the ship knocking down 3 other Swiss aircraft making their own attack runs. More torpedoes, more chaos, more firing continued until the final element of the Second Swiss Wave struck and recoiled in a classic "Monty Python" manuever. As the last group flew overhead, Alizandro could have swore he hear someone yell "Where the hell is a Romanian when you need one!"

The Maori fleet continued steaming on, into the gaping mouth of hell....or what would soon be hell for the Maori. Leading the way was several Swiss steamers....apparentely captured, since they weren't fired on, and....there she went! A massive explosion deafened the entire harbor as the ancient command dedicated minefield went off, shattering what looked like dozens of ships as it exploded...and then he saw it.

A Swiss mobile battery was setting up shop right in front of the bar he was on top of. Alizandro and Sotomenor tried to get them to move, with all their might, even firing a gun into the air to emphasize their point, but the Swiss either didn't hear or didn't care. "Goddammit, no!" Sotomenor screamed as they began to fire on the Maori landing craft, drawing the attention of the Maori battleships...which soon began to fire back.

Debris and spent shell, wall and stone began to fire overhead as the Maori cruser - slightly looked like one of the ex-Gran Columbian ones - fired back, luckily missing the bar. The final shot, what appeared to be an 9.2'' shell that hit the wharf, not 20 feet away from where the battery was, absolutely destroyed the battery, the guns not even being recognizable as guns. Sotomeyor ducked as the shrapnel came down, and it missed him, by an act of god...but Alizandro was not so luck. Sotomeyor peered up to see Jose screaming as a massive shell fragment embedded itsself in his knee....

[ctwaterman]

The Maori New Swiss War January 10th thru January 17th 1920:

Land Combat:
The Commander of the all New Swiss forces on Ariel was not having a good week.   He had personally walked the ground near the New Swiss Aerodrome outside of Phoenix before it had been overrun.  The bombardment by at least 3 Maori Battle Ships had reduced the base to ruins.  The Fuel Depot had burned itself out.  The repair shops were flattened and the Zeppelin hangers for the Civilian airships well Hydrogen burns and there was nothing left of several airships accept for twisted ruin of their skeletons.  The slaughter among the air and ground crews had been tremendous in the pre dawn hours had caught an armed strike being fueled and wood and fabric planes when damaged burn and then their munitions cook off in the fires.   The New Swiss Air Force on Ariel was severely damaged and all Air Ships and aircraft had been forced to retreat to Serenity valley to operate from the Airship hangers located there.

On the Ground things could have been worse.   The Maori had attempted to raid every single National Guard Armory that they could reach before the New Swiss National Guard could reach them.   They had not quite got as many as they had hoped.   From the base of Matterhorn along the mountains to the West of Phoenix his troops held a fragile line.   Since noon on January 16th the troops inside Phoenix had been cut off and the City of Phoenix surrounded.   Maori troops unable to cross the mountains or move up the costal railroad to the west of Phoenix had instead enveloped the City from the East and the West and overrun the remains of the Airfield 4 days ago.

On Persephone and Olympia to the South there was simply no word the radio station in Olympia had gone off the air only to return 3 days ago playing broadcast appealing to socialist masses in New Switzerland calling for them to rise up and overthrow there Imperial Swiss masters.   The last message from any organized resistance on Persephone had come on January the 14th.  

The Commander of the Maori Invasion forces had a problem there had been significantly more force available on Ariel then he had been led to believe the Naval Bombardment of the Airfield had significantly reduced the threat to his fleet units however one of his fire support cruisers had been sunk by a sub 3 days ago.  The only good news there is the sub had become entangled in some moored fishing netting on its way out of the harbor he had hoped to capture it but the crew had surfaced and abandoned ship shortly thereafter the sub had submerged with its hatches open.  He also suspected another one of hitting a mine his forces had laid off the entrance to Phoenix Harbor.

Ashore his forces advancing to the west of Phoenix along the railway had run into an ambush by dug In New Swiss Marines about 4 days ago.   He was concerned where had those troops come from his agents said there were not supposed to be any New Swiss Marines on Ariel they were all supposed to be on Miranda and Shadow Islands to his west.  But those troops had held the railroad at the narrows and blocked his advance up the coast.  
To the East of Phoenix things had gone better.  The landing beaches were more sheltered and even though it had taken about 5 days to get the troops fully ashore and organized they had then pushed around the City of Phoenix from the east meeting nearly no resistance accept for huge numbers of refugee'.  He had a growing problem with nearly every adult male in New Switzerland in the National Guard he had been forced to detain all males between 16 and 45 accept those of Polynesian heritage.   But there were simply not as many Maori sympathizers as he had been led to believe.

The New Swiss still held the center of Phoenix.  They had rejected his demands for surrender to spare the civilian population and they had rejected his plea' by replying come get some you cannibal.  Typical European Bravado he had thought.   But now Seven days latter they still held out and once out of direct line of sight from the water his naval guns had not been as effective as he had thought they would be.  The rubble he had created also provided the defenders ample protection and they fought on from the basements and sewers of the center of the city.   Casualties on both sides were high and fighting at night was often hand to hand with no quarter asked for or given.   His objectives were almost in reach and finally his full force and all its surviving artillery were ashore.

On Persephone things had gone exactly according to plan resistance in the city was quelled by the afternoon of the second day and his forces had seized the main armories all over the Island in less then 4 days.   There were still persistent sniper attacks on his forces but those could be dealt with in time.  What was the term the Europeans used "Collective Responsibility"?

Air war

The Air war had slowed considerably since the morning of January the 10th.   The New Swiss Aerodrome just north of the City of Phoenix had suffered a 20 minuet bombardment by the heavy guns of 3 Maori Battle Ships.  The survivors of that bombardment taking off under fire had managed to strike at the battle ships moored in the bay off the harbor.   Reports of as many as 8 Torpedo or Bomb hits were reported but many of the aircrews pressed there attack and suffered badly for their bravery.   Returning to a burning airfield many diverted to auxiliary fields and many more simply never made it to any base.
 
War at Sea:

January 13th 1920:
Shortly before midnight Maori Destroyer off Phoenix Harbor reports and explosion and investigate but finds nothing to engage!

January 14th 1920:
E-1 penetrated the harbor at Phoenix and fired 2 torpedoes from her bow tubes at the Rapid Strike one exploded short of the target and the 2nd impacted amidships on port side of the Rapid Strike where it detonated.  The Rapid Strike rapidly flooded from the hit to its engineering spaces rolled over on its port side and capsized in fewer than 20 minuets.  Two additional torpedoes fired from the E-1 Stern tubes both missed Hammer Head and while attempting to maneuver out of the harbor submerged and under gunfire while in shallow water became entangled in moored fish netting.   The Crew successfully abandoned ship and were picked up by Maori vessels.   The Captain of the E-1 died while scuttling his ship to prevent its capture.

January 16th:
Under a waning moon and overcast sky two groups of ships both on the same mission encounter each other to the west of Phoenix.   The New Swiss MP boats are laying a barrier mine field when one of them notices a sail and a splash about 6000 Yards off his starboard bow.    While slowly turning south and advancing to investigate he radios his Squadron commander when there is a loud thumps amidships.  To his horror his mine laying crew reports that a mine identical to the ones they have been laying is what made the noise.   Ahead he can see two possibly three Fishing boats laying mines.   With help on the way and nothing else in sigh he turns on his Search light to illuminate his targets and demand their surrender.

That single searchlight instigated what would become known as the battle of minelayers.  With Flares and spotlights spearing the darkness From North to South the water in the Narrows between Persephone and Ariel came alive.  The New Swiss MP ships exchange fire with a group of Maori Destroyers escorting the Unarmed mine laying boats.   Under orders to avoid combat and with their decks loaded with mines they quickly turn off their spotlights and maneuver to the west working up to there maximum speed.   One of them  from the Northern most groups does not make it and explodes violently along with her cargo of mines there are no survivors.

Note To Players: If you have any neutral Shipping that would reasonably be expecting to make a port of call to refuel or transfer cargo in a New Swiss Port on the Trans Pacific Routes please let me know.   Neither Side has greatly advertised this war and any ship that left port say 10 days ago could reasonably expect to arrive in the New Swiss Islands and find it a war zone with out any warning.  ;D

[Desertfox]

Embassies around the World, January 20th

New Switzerland hereby announces that the seas of of Phoenix and Olympia are currently war zones. Also non-Swiss minefields have been identified in the straits leading to said ports. Neutral merchants are strongly ecouraged to avoid said areas, ships bound for said areas can divert to Haven or Bellerophone.

[ctwaterman]

Night of January 19th 1920 Central Pacific:
The SS Cartagena bound from Maracaibo to the Manila carrying passengers, mail, and general cargo was somewhere between Sverdlovsk and Ariel approaching the New Swiss Capital where it expected to arrive some time tomorrow.   It had mail and diplomatic messages to deliver to the Gran Columbian Embassy in Phoenix.   The Captain was worried the usual music broadcasts that his radio receiver usually picked up where off the air and there had been very weird broadcasts on a different frequency that stopped around 10PM local time in a language he did not understand well it had not been in Spanish, English, or German anyway?

Suddenly one of his lookouts reported several ships south of his position heading on a reciprocal course. One of which was well lit and who had a green cross painted on its side.   All told it looked like a small group of ships possibly ten or twelve in number heading east.   While he was watching the other ships his eyes were immediately drawn to the flash of light low along the hull of the ship bearing the Green Cross.   The Flash of light was followed by a large tower of water erupting above the side of the freighter.  The ship immediately began to slow and list to port.   There were the audible sounds of escaping steam followed by unmistakable sound of a boiler explosion.

Surprisingly the Master of Cartagena noticed the other ships of the small convoy and it simply could not be anything else simply scattered to the south and east away from the clearly foundering ship.  Less than five minutes from the from the first explosion and the list to port was becoming critical if not fatal and on the deck of the ship, illuminated by a fire aft, the crew were trying to lower the ships boats and get what appeared to be stretchers loaded into the boats.

Dawn January 20th 1920
The Master of the SS Cartagena was shocked by what he saw.   He had stopped his ship and turned on all his lights he was not sure what had sunk the ship to the south of him but given the actions of the ships that had been accompanying it he had to assume they feared a submarine attack.   But with the dawn and the flag of Gran Columbia flying both fore and aft he had turned south to render what aid and comfort that he could.   The Ship had sunk quickly simply rolled over to port, turned turtle and then sunk all in less than a half hour.   Now the sea was covered with the Flotsam and Jetsam of a ship wreck and even worse hundreds and hundreds of human bodies.

A decision was required where to go and what to do with the rescued  Maori wounded and the crew members of the Maori freighter?  The Master of the SS Cartagena reached a quick decision he was not sure what had sunk the freighter but he was not going any further into the unexpected War Zone.   However quickly finding a hospital for the many wounded pulled from the water was needed.   Hera he thought a small Island not likely to have a huge military presence from either side and with only a few hundred people pulled from the water and only a dozen or so of them critical a small hospital would do.

January 22th, 1920:
The Port was clearly marked on the map but in the early morning light the Master of the SS Cartagena was still having trouble making out the entrance to the port.  It would take over  an hour and his ship had to anchor about a 100 yards off shore but eventually the local authorities had been contacted and the slowly the wounded were being taken ashore to the small local clinic.

[ctwaterman]

In an effort to move this along Im am not taking the time to pretty this up lest I accidently delete the whole thing again... >:( ::)  I apologize for the nearly week extra delay.

The Maori New Swiss War January 17th thru January 31st 1920:
The War on Land:
The Maori were finally fully ashore and they had isolated the defenders of the center of Phoenix.   The New Swiss Marines to their west and small forces of New Swiss National Guard were blocking the direct approach to the Center of the Island of Ariel.  Given the rough approach up the pass into Serenity Valley from Phoenix it was decided to go around.  This required removing the Blocking force of Marines between the Mountains and the Sea to the West of Phoenix.

For Three day starting on January 18th thru January 21st the Maori bombarded and attacked the New Swiss Marines.   The Marines held their positions grimly and only on the 21st did the Brigade along the shore finally shatter under the repeated attacks by three brigades of Maori Infantry.   The other Brigade already heavily engaged desperately tried to withdrawal to the west along the rail way tracks but was forced north and west towards the entrance to Serenity Valley.
 
The Maori spent three days reorganizing the Division used in the attack and prepared to assault the Southern Flank of the Defenders of Serenity Valley.   On January 25th the Assault by 2 Division fell on the New Swiss Marines who had used the time to dig in and been reinforced by additional marines and a single Brigade of New Swiss National Guard.   The Swiss had utilized the time needed to reorder the Maori Divisions and the Bring up the 2nd Division into attack positions.   The New Swiss held their positions by the luck and the intervention of the New Swiss Air Force.   New Swiss air losses were heavy but the low level attacks on the Maori Artillery positions and supply columns slowed the pace of the Assault.  The Maori were cautiously probing to find the flank of the New Swiss positions in the wide expanses available.  And when they found it January 27th they attacked it in full force routing the New Swiss Defenders and seizing the southern approaches to Serenity valley.

On the 28th of January the Maori were again reorganizing there forces to advance into serenity valley when one of their reconnaissance patrol reported large numbers of troops unloading from trains a mere 10 miles to their west up the coast.   By the 29th nearly an Entire New Swiss Expeditionary Division were deploying to the Maori West and threatening both their left flank and their line of supply.

The City of Phoenix:
In Phoenix itself the Fighting had been reduced to small unit ambushes and sniper attacks with the occasional artillery barrage to keep things interesting.   The New Swiss Division trapped in Phoenix was surrounded and the Maori were building blocking positions and not assaulting the heavily dug in New Swiss Unit.   Civilians were allowed to leave the area during day light under flags of truce however all military age males were put into POW internment camps.
?
At  Sea
The absence of the New Swiss Navy still was still a question to all on land the Swiss Citizens were wondering where is the Navy why are they not here.  On the Cross Mirage the Staff of the Maori Admiral in charge of the fleet was asking the same question just where is the New Swiss Fleet he had expected to meet them at sea and defeat them either before the invasion of just after.   The total absence of New Swiss Capital ships was almost unnerving.   

January 22th 1920:
Somewhere off the North East coast of Phoenix 02:00 local time.

The Maori ships had been patrolling north and east having used a local squall front to break off from main fleet off Phoenix 2 days before.   There job find the New Swiss and report.

The Decks of the New Swiss Ships were crowded it was even more crowded below another 2 possibly 3 hours and they would complete another transit with their cargo.

There was no surprise for either side within a minute both sides spotted the other in the pale light of the new moon.   The range was short extremely short as collision warning alarms blared out across the water as both sides rushed to action stations.

The Crew of the New Swiss ships was at a severe disadvantage both in experience and there decks were crowded with cargo.   The Maori opened fire first as the New Swiss Ships accelerated to full speed and scattered to the North and East turning away from the Maori who had been heading North and East along the Ariel Coast.  Shell Splashes arouse around the New Swiss ships and while none were hit several close straddles caused damage to the ships and cargo.  The New Swiss commander wondered if the three Ships he was now fighting were perhaps cruisers.

The Fight broke down quickly in the chaos of a night action where one side is intent on avoiding action and the other is desperately trying to bring the other to action.  The New Swiss vessels outnumbered the Maori 5 to 3 but were unwilling to risk their cargoes.  Two of the New Swiss vessels were quickly lost in the darkness and the battle broke down into individual pursuits.

The First hit occurred on the New Swiss Destroyer about 10 minutes the New Swiss were slowly ever so slowly pulling away and trying to shoot out the Spot light keeping them barely illuminated from astern about 9000 yards back.  The heavy shell plowed into the superstructure from aft causing casualties among the amidships guns while the HE round had not endangered the floatation or speed of the Destroyer is did start a fire and fragments turned the crowded decks into a slaughter house.

Further to the East and West the shooting by both sides were equally bad it was a dark night and both sides were maneuvering widely and two of the vessels the ones who had nearly rammed each other were slowly moving further and further apart.   The Maori vessel had taken an extremely large amount of small arms fire while the ships were maneuvering to avoid collisions and had lost its forward spotlight and had wounded crew among the gunners.

A half hour into the chase and all but one of the New Swiss destroyers had lost their pursuers.  One of the New Swiss Destroyers had achieved a hit somewhere forward on the Maori ship chasing it and the Maori vessel had broken off the chase to fight the fire created by that hit.   The New Swiss vessel had escaped under a volley of shells with some near misses causing some damage from fragments.  The last New Swiss ships the furthers back in the line had managed to maneuver its way clear and escape into the night after only 20 minutes of gun fire with neither side hitting the other.

The New Swiss Destroyer with a fire amidships was having a very difficult time loosing the Maori perusing it.  The New Swiss speed advantage was nearly canceled by the need to chase salvoes from the perusing ship.  The good news the ship behind the New Swiss destroyer only had 1 forward firing gun but it was at least 5" or larger and the gunners were getting tired the rate of fire was falling quickly.

After nearly 35 minutes of combat two things occurred the New Swiss Captain decided to stop chasing salvoes so as to finally pull out of range and the Gunners on both sides finally got a good shot at each other albeit one at extreme range.  Both sides hit each other one last time.

On the Maori ship the New Swiss HE Shell barely hit the port railing exploding just behind the forward gun crew spilling most of the crew to the deck dead or wounded like bowling pins.  On the New Swiss Destroyer the Maori HE Round struck one of the rear Guns exploding among the ready ammunition killing the entire crew and starting an even larger fire.   But without the ability to fire while chasing the New Swiss Destroyer the Maori vessel broke off its pursuit and maneuvered south to rejoin the other vessels in its patrol group.

[Valles]

CARTAGENA, LATE JANUARY 1920

The Maori Ambassador to the Republic of Gran Colombia opened his interview by saying, "Your son is alive, Senor Presidente, and I am advised that the doctors who have treated him believe that in time he shall walk again, though perhaps with no love for ill weather nor without a cane."

Rey Alizandro's first reaction was a father's pure relief and joy.

His second was a father's fury. "How did Jose come to be injured in your war?" he enquired acidly.

"His superior had chosen a good point to observe the initial invasion from," the Ambassador said. He was an old man, a veteran of his people's evacuation of their true homeland, and difficult to frighten, "and because it was a good point, so the Swiss also tried to set up a mobile shore battery only a few hundred feet away. When the battery began firing, one of our ships suppressed it. A shell fragment - whether from the Indefatigable or the Swiss ammunition store, we don't know - struck Private Alizandro in the knee. Attache Sotomenor immediately attempted to bring him to hospital, but the Swiss had shut down all civil institutions in Phoenix to 'deny the invading forces their use'... and never mind the cost to their own citizens. One of our own landing squads found them shortly thereafter; Sotomenor identified them and they were brought to one of the military hospitals set up on shore, at which point Private Alizandro's wound was treated immediately.

"As a politically significant neutral, he was given a berth on the first hospital ship to return, the Gentle Hand. Unfortunately, after sighting an unknown vessel, the hospital ship suffered an underwater explosion and sank, at which point the commander of the convoy, believing his vessels to be under attack, reported as much by radio and gave the order to scatter.

"A destroyer squadron sent to investigate and recover survivors eventually made contact with the commander of a Colombian merchant vessel, the Cartagena, which had been present in those waters that night and recovered the survivors of the Gentle Hand, Private Alizandro among them. Based on her skipper's testimony, we believe that the ship sighted by the convoy was the Cartagena, and that the Gentle Hand was destroyed by an unmarked Swiss minefield. Her people were put ashore into Swiss care on the island of Hera.

"The Swiss had attempted to destroy the undersea telegraph cable linking Phoenix to San Francisco, but the damage was finally repaired yesterday evening, allowing this news to reach me by cable."

As the Ambassador spoke, the passions of Rey Alizandro the father cooled, slightly - just enough to give way to the calculation of Rey Alizandro the ruler. "I suppose I have to thank you for your efforts, then," he said. "What do you want in return?"

In fact, the Ambassador had not intended to discuss any 'business' that visit, or that day, but he had had instructions on the course he was to chart before matters had gone so profoundly awry. "That is a seperate matter," he said, "but in essence, credit."

"Money."

"Yes."

"You don't want Gran Colombia to go to war with the Swiss." Rey's tone was that of a man making sure he clearly understood an implausible statement.

"The only powers we want to see actively fighting the Swiss are Firanj and Rohan, or Russia," the Ambassador answered. "Japan, or the Dutch, we... would not object to. Colombia, or the CSA, would be likely to regard Hawaii as a 'reasonable return' for losses, and the domestic politics of my people would ultimately make leaving those islands in foreign hands... difficult. At the moment, the feeling in Kaiwera is that a more difficult fight now may avoid trouble later. Instead, my instructions are to seek Colombian support of an open and general embargo of the Swiss, and credit for the purchase of war materiel - to pay for our own efforts to update our army reserves, to commission vessels from Colombian yards, or to purchase any obsolete or obsolescent warships, particularly cruisers or destroyers, which your fleet feels it could spare.

"In return, my government will repay all debts incurred, honor any and all existing contracts with Swiss businesses, and guarantee an end to troublemaking 'deals' such as - to name the most recent of many examples - that that provoked the Rift War."

Alizandro looked at him for a long moment. "You'll have an answer within the week," he said.

"Thank you, Senor Presidente. These," the Ambassador retrieved an envelope from his case, "are the texts of the telegraphs I received, including a message that Private Alizandro wished to send to his mother."

Rey hesitated for a split second, then accepted the envelope and dismissed his guest.

Alone for a moment, he opened the package and began to read. There was, indeed, a letter for his wife - not a long one, only a few lines, but enough to put a bright face on the young man's situation and beg her not to worry.

For Rey himself, there was not a word, and as he rang for his secretary, he found his mouth tasted of ashes.

[Desertfox]

So I have the President's son and don't know about it? And how the hell do the Maori have a secure telegraph line to San Fransisco?

[Valles]

RICHMOND, EARLY FEBRUARY

"May I call you John?" asked the Maori woman as she settled into the chair across the table in Richmond's finest restaurant from him.

John Cousland knew perfectly well why she wanted to talk to him, personally - even as a mere aide, he did have direct access to the Secretary of State - but had less idea of who he was dealing with, or why she wanted that access. Several of the possibilities, given the war her people were involved in, were quite dangerous.

He also knew why he'd gone along with it even this far: she was lovely enough that even the most pure-hearted Klan member would react to her as a woman first - and he himself was none of that, else he'd never have entered the State Department - even with the barbaric tattoo sprawled across her right cheek. "As long as you may be Shona," he said, returning her smile.

"Of course!" she answered warmly. They chatted of inconsequential things throughout ordering and the appetizers, then, as the main course was served, she noted, playfully, "But I notice you haven't asked what I do."

"If you were a secretary, a doll like you wouldn't be talking to horse-faced me," John said wryly, "and if you were ranked in your people's mission, I'd have heard the gossip about it as haven't. The last option is that you're a player in the Great Game, and want to learn something from me, and telling you 'no' sooner than I must would bring a miserable end to the evening, don't you think?"

Shona laughed freely. "Oh, you are clever," she said, "but you missed a possibility - that there's something my superiors wish to pass on before it has to come up in some stuffy formal office."

"Ahh," he said softly. "That, I can do."

"Swell. You want to cash it, or take a check?"

"I'm already picking up the check," he punned, "and I've always been a fan of cash."

Her eyes danced, and he felt a bit of an incredulous thrill at his own audacity - cash could mean a kiss as well as hard currency - before she started in. "Okay, so, anything you and yours already want to know before I get the message out of the way?"

Is this just me falling for the femme fatale's game, or do I actually have a chance? he thought, without thinking to say. "There's a lot of kerfluffle and confusion about why this war started," he said instead, "and a lot more concern about what's going to happen after it's over."

Shona hummed thoughtfully around a sip of wine - John fought valiantly to keep his thoughts, if not pure, at least on task - "All right," she said. "Let us begin, oh, seven hundred years ago. In this time, people of any kind have only been living on Aotearoa for a few generations; there aren't many yet. Despite that, there are journeys made between the islands of the Pacific every year or so. Other journeys head west, from Melanesia into Indonesia - they sell things, there, art and carvings, and buy tools of iron to bring home... Over generations, it becomes a 'done' thing, trading with the Malays, trinkets back and forth. Not so difficult, for a people who can find their way from Rapa Nui to Tahiti in a canoe. Around, say, fourteen hundred as you would count it, the journeys begin to go farther, carrying coral and the like to China and India themselves, and bringing back more things than ironworking - writing from the Kingdom of Bisnaga, the teachings of the Buddha from Sri Lanka, and so forth. When the first Europeans, the Portugese and the Dutch, came, 'exploring', they found, oh, many tribes, living on many islands with only small canoes, and could not imagine how they could be anything but 'seperate' fallen settlements..."

"But even today, you say it's a matter of many islands being connected by an ocean," John said.

"Exactly," Shona agreed, flashing him an approving grin that made his heart skip not one, but two beats. "But in the nineteenth century, everything goes wrong - Ataria is wiped out by a volcanic explosion, Europeans with guns show up all over the place, and, most particularly, some of them start taking over the largest surviving group by massecreing the kings who had met under truce to discuss taking them in as refugees. A lot of those kings' subjects flee rather than take their chances, and wind up on a big, mostly empty island called-"

"Maoria."

"Mayan, actually," the beautiful woman shook her head. "Maoria's what the Germans started calling it once they realized they hadn't gotten all of us. But the 'treaty' that ended that war with them never ceded anything beyond an end to fighting; we didn't give up our right to Aotearoa, we didn't grant their claim to it any legitimacy - it's our home, and we want it back. No treaty could ever be anything more than a ceasefire, and that one, at least, didn't pretend to be. Of course, the real trouble starts because that's also where they went and built their new homeland - it's not just a matter of bribing or threatening or shaming them into leaving, but the DKB have put themselves into a position where they can't back down any more than we can... There's just no way that that can end well."

"It's going to be war, sooner or later."

"Right. But - we're not fools, we know they have more industry, more money, a bigger military... It won't happen diplomatically, not when we're pressing a claim against good white Christians-" her tone and expression were momentarily viciously sarcastic "-and half the world still thinks we eat the people that piss us off and a quarter is ready to back the Germans rather than let mere natives get out of their place and start demanding their birthrights back. Why, that could lead to anarchy, the second coming, a loss of money!" A pause, and a slight shake of the head, then a stunning smile. "Sorry, it gets to me."

Part of John's heart was furious, defensive and hateful. Another part, fairer and more Christian, was sick. "It must be hard, then," he said.

Shona blinked at him, and cocked her head to the side, puzzled. "How so?"

"The negro issue." He'd heard too many condemnations of uppity darkies to deny the parallel, nor escape the implications of the fact that - coming from someone like her, rather than a slave's descendant - it sounded quite unjust indeed.

Another blink. "Oh." She shook her head. "Not really. A person is responsible for their own life, and their kin's, and agitating out of our own territory wouldn't be practical. The best that we can do is treat others fairly, ourselves... Anyway, even if it were as close a parallel as all that, it wouldnt' be the kind of thing an allied government said to another, right? Realpolitik, as the Germans put it. We're not out to change the world, we just want to recover ours."

They sat in silence for a moment, food cooling between them, and then he said, "How does New Switzerland fit into it?"

"Two ways," she said, relieved at the subtle change of subject. "First, even on Mayan, it's not... We're not some monolith. You have six kingdoms on the island and one offshore, each with its own language, culture, history - feuds with the others, often enough - and no real interest in Aotearoa. Exiles like me, we're the single largest block, and spread all over the place, but we're less than half the overall population. The idea that all of the island peoples are one people, that Maori and Kaiwera and Hawaiian are brothers who add their own variations to the same thing, that's... that's something that started as rhetoric to keep the country together, keep the unity that was the only thing that kept Mayan from being invaded and taken over the way Aotearoa was. But even to someone like me, who knows where that idea came from - heard as much from one of the people who came up with it! - it's real, emotionally real. So Hawaii and the other little islands, even Papua when it was always half-Malay anyway, they become part of 'reclaiming our world', even when they really wouldn't be. If we give up, if we really give up on any of it, we come apart... and then we die, when the Germans or whoever stop having to pretend to be polite because we're too big to rape."

John winced at the crudity of the language.

"Second, and getting back to where I was when I got off track-" another grin "- there's the purely practical. The Home Islands - they were empty when they got there, you think we'd go to war with a major power over that? It wasn't cheating gunmen that took them, it was the gods, after all.

"No, the Swiss are rich enough to pay for the other half of the army and fleet we'll need, if they're smart enough to give up. If they won't, sure, we'll keep the land and the factories, probably, because we'll have bled enough to have earned them. Hawaii and Papua, too, of course, though if they settle we'll dress it up by demanding a plebescite of the populations there... Most of the people living on those islands aren't white Swiss, you know. Even if it doesn't go our way, well, family marries out all the time, right? No call to go chasing them if they've made their choices. Regardless, aside the islands they think are theirs, they were weakened by the Rift War, so it's not as much of an uphill fight as it could be, and most importantly..."

A grin with the devil in it. "They're the Swiss. As much trouble as they make, who will weep for them? More, who would stand with them, feckless and treacharous allies that they might be?"

"A few, probably," John said, watching her eyes, "but not so many as would wish them ill."

"Mmn!" Shona agreed, around a bite of the house specialty. "Not even the Germans, really - and they're not such big fools, they can see where we're leading, but since the Swiss are a problem for them, also, they're as like as not to figure that the balance of 'trouble' holds even if they stay out of it, or even go down as we weaken ourselves in the war... So we figure that they'll wait and see, and ready themselves for five or ten years down the line when that account finally comes due.

"And that war will be to the knife... and the last we'll start. We won't try to take East Africa, or any territory outside the Pacific, we won't try to fight anyone but the DKB... The ultimate goal is a seat at the table of peaceful nations, but when you don't share a skin color or a religion with the ringleaders of the club, the only way that that can happen is if you're too big to bully."

"Your government thinks that way?" John asked, carefully.

A vague 'maybe' sort of gesture. "All the reports, and the analyses, dress it up more formally, but that's how I'd boil it down. Aotearoa is the key, both socially and practically. Without it, we're too poor, too weak to be safe, too desperate to be generous even if we know it'd be smarter - and without either a lot of backing or a lot of concessions that would only work for a little while, only work once, there's no way we can take it... Counting on someone else to guarantee your security, or gambling that you can make the other guy's victory cost more than you're worth... We're not willing to, we can't trust that. Beating up the Swiss and taking their lunch money wouldn't work on anyone else, or more than once, and we know that...

"And that's if they give up like a sane person. If they don't, on our own, we're the ones looking at a Pyhrric victory."

"Ah," John said. "Hence the need to pass an under-the-table message."

"Under something, at least," Shona smiled, and John had to resist the urge to tug at a collar that was suddenly much too tight. "But yes. Even if we thought it would be politically possible for your government, we wouldn't ask the CSA to get directly involved in the war. What we do want is a loan - credit to buy war materiel from Confederate factories and shipyards, maybe any ships your navy finds 'surplus' that have the range to work the Pacific."

He smiled, as professionally as he could. "I can pass that on," he promised.

"Swell," Shona said, and John about jumped out of his seat as he felt something begin to run along the side of his leg. "Now that duty's out of the way, we can get back to enjoying our night."