Operation Venenum Capiens

During the 20th of January 1048 a facility that was researching and manufacturing chemical weapons was attacked by Zoranian Special Forces commanded by Colonel Anton Relvski. The facility was located in the south east part of Hombur. Previously on the 18th of January 1048 Savorian secret service agents were able to trace a call that was made between a location within Hombur and a location within Kazarov. During the call someone was asking for Major Simmers. After Major Simmers said his name all that the unknown person on the other said was "Excercise" It´s supsected that it could have been a code word for what happend two days later.

The facility was sabotaged which caused an explosion within an area designated as "Level 3". Savorian secret service agents were able to meet one of the workers of the facility who had a very high position and to install listening devices on some of this personal items prior to the incident. The worker seemed to be working in some sort of main control room and a large part of the attack was recorded. It also seems that some of the chemical weapons leaked out during the attack. Homburian security forces were overwhelmed and the Zoranian special forces were gone by the time the reinforcements arrived. They took valueable documents and some of the chemical weapons with them. Some scientists have been missing since the attack and have most likely been kidnapped by the Zoranians.

On the 21st of January 1048 Colonel Anton Relvski attempted to inofficially contact Malden Company of the Savorian Strike and Defence Force. He tried to explain the reason behind his actions and expressed his will to end the war if Malden Company wouldn´t interfere with his plans.

On the 23rd of January 1048 the Savorian Government tasked the SSDF to assist the Homburian Government in recovering the documents and chemical weapons that have been stolen. The Homburian Government was asking for assistance as they were attacked by the Zoranians without any declaration of war. The Savorian Government agreed since Savoria was still at war with the Zoran Union and because they wanted to find out more about what exactly was going on.

On the 24th of January 1048 the SSDF High Command assigned Malden Company to the SSDF Task Force "Brand". The Task Force was made of different Company´s and SSDF air assets was supposed to conduct Operation Venenum Capiens. Command Major Mika Silo would command the operation once again. It would be the first Operation were the SSDF would act completly independent from any other military branch taking their own logistics and air assets to the area of operations.

Operation Plan
The main purpose the operation was to recover the stolen documents and chemical weapons and on top of all to find and free the scientists. The operation was supposed to start during the 25th of January 1048. The area of operations would be located around the borders of Hombur and the Zorran Union. Task Force Brand was supposed to find and extract the scientists and provide support to the Homburians as they would attempt to push the Zoranian forces away from the Border. After the scientists would be safe Task Force Brand had to find and recover the chemical weapons and the related documents and hand them over the Homburians. As a secret objective Task Force Brand was supposed to send copies of all documents back to Savoria and if possible take a part of the chemical weapons for analysis by Savorian scientists. The Homburians weren´t aware of that which meant that the SSDF had to do everything they could to do this secretly.

Heavy resistance was expected but since the Homburians were planning to attack the majority of the Zoranian forces would occupied with them and the SSDF air assets could help their ground forces to deal with difficult enemies. The SSDF would also provide all it´s soldiers with gas masks to avoid the risk of exposure in case any of the chemical weapons are used.

On the 26th of January 1048 after it was revealed to the Savorian Government that Hombur was developing these weapons together with Kazarov the plan was changed. On the first day of the operation the 25th of January 1048 only a part of the chemical weapons and some documents could be recovered. Only a single scientist was able to escape and be sent to safety by the SSDF forces. Now the SSDF forces were supposed to arrest all Homburian scientists that could be found with the order to not injure or kill them. If they would find any chemical weapons they were supposed to be recovered or destroyed just as any of the documents they could find. The Savorian Government declared war against Hombur the same day. The Zoran Union did the same shortly after but the war between Savoria and the Zoran Union was still continuing.

25th of January 1048
During the first day of Operation Venenum Capiens soldiers of Malden Company were transported to the AO via helicopter. It didn´t take long for them to get involved into first firefights with Zoranian Soldiers. While they were clearly superior in battle against the Zoranian Infantry the first encounter with a Zoranian tank caused a high amount of casualties among the SSDF soldiers. After the tank was destroyed Malden Company was facing attacks with chemical weapons but was able to mininmize casualties thanks to proper protection equipment.

As it became night Malden Company moved on to a military facility they wanted to check encountering more Zoranian Infantry and Armor on the way as well as being engaged by more chemical weapons and air support. Eventually they managed to fight their way through to the facility. In front of the facility they were able to stop a truck that was loaded with nerve gas and was trying to escaped. As a part of Malden Company was already securing the facility a Zoranian APC arrived and opened fire on the truck loaded with the gas. This led to the nerve gas leaking and affecting Junior Sergeant T. Roberts and Specialist Class 1 J. Watler. For safety reasons Malden Company decided to destroy the truck in order to keep the nerve gas from leaking further. After they searched the facility for any documents they could find Malden Company was evacuated by helicopters and returned to their base. Some of the documents suggested that the gas would be tested on civilians, that some scientists have regrets about developing this weapons and even that some scientists are supposed to be killed because of their doubts about the project.

Junior Sergeant T. Roberts and Specialist Class 1 J. Watler were immediately brought to the field hospital for medical checks. The doctors came to the conclusion that the nerve gas that they were exposed to wasn´t in it´s final stage which is the sole reason they survived. Fortunately neither of them would be facing any sort of permanent physical damage and they would be ready for duty the next day already. Unfortunately the doctors couldn´t figure out what the potential of the gas is and aren´t able to develop proper protection equipment, yet.

26th of January 1048
During the afternoon 3 Companies of the SSDF were moved into Homburian territory which were Rejm Company, Malden Company and Tolen Company. Their tasks were to insert into Homburian territory via helicopter and try to find and aquire Chemical Weapons, Documents regarding them and to find and arrest any scientists. After combat on various locations with Homburian forces, Malden Company was able to aquire a document that stated that the nerve gas would be ready for deployment by tomorrow. (most likely by the 27th of January 1048) They also managed to capture a scientist and evacuate him later on.

Rejm Company was surprised by Zoranian Armor during their mission and suffered heavy casualties. With only half of its men left Rejm Company eventually managed to retreat but was split up further during that leaving many seperated elements of Rejm Company. High command ordered both Malden Company and Tolen Company to abandon their original objective and to establish evacuation points where the remains of Rejm Company could gather in order to be evacuated. Soldiers of Rejm Company managed to reach both locations and a total of 24 Soldiers of Rejm Company could be evacuated. As Tolen Company was already evacuated and Malden Company was about to be a radio messaged was received from a Rejm Company NCO. He was reporting that he was hiding with only 6 men including himself that are still able to fight and 16 casualties including Command Major Mika Silo some of them urgently requiring medical treatment.

Malden Company was ordered to evacuate regardless but only a small part of them chose to. The majority went against the orders of HQ and stayed on the ground. On the last messaged they received from the NCO a gun fight was audible indicating that the position was being attacked. It would be difficult for Malden Company to locate them.

Malden Company managed to reach a city where they attempted to evacuate members of the Rejm company. During that the were being engaged by multiple Zoranian Infantry Squads. Despite their best efforts the helicopter that was called in to evacuate the members of Rejm Company some of them in dire need of medical attention the helicopter took heavy fire and the pilot started to panic taking off from the LZ. As he calmed down and turned the helicopter around again he was hit multiple times and crashed the helicopter into a building which killed himself, his co-pilot and one member of Rejm Company that was already on the helicopter.

After reaching the outskirts of the city Malden Company was calling in another helicopter aware of that this was the last transportation helicopter that would be available for a while. The helicopter evacuated the injured members of Rejm Company. However it wasn´t able to return to evacuate Malden Company due to heavy fire of enemy AA. The section leader of Malden Company was now attempting to make contact with the missing Command Major Mika Silo. They were able to make radio contact with an injured soldiers of Rejm Company that could give them the last known location of the Command Major. The injured soldier was already dying when Malden Company reached him. As they were on the way to check the city the Command Major was last seen the city was attacked with nerve gas killing many Zoranian Soldiers which suggests that the attack wasn´t carried out by the Zoranians. Malden Company encountered multiple enemy soldiers in the city but a ceasefire was agreed upon so that the Zoranians who were shocked by the nerve gas attack could retrive their dead and wounded. Meanwhile Junior Sergeant Roberts was able to make contact with Colonel Anton Relvski who had captured and given medical treatment to Command Major Mika Silo. He agreed to let Malden Company be evacuated together with their Command Major. He designated a location were Zoranian Soldiers would hand over Silo to Malden Company and to let them be picked up by a Savorian helicopter afterwards.

Conclusion
Operation Venenum Capiens quickly turned into something else than what it was supposed to be. It lead to Savoria declaring war on Homburia and many question to be answered. It is known now that Kazarov was attempting to develop chemical weapons in Homburian facilities that were funded by the Kazarovians. It is known that the Zoranians and more specifically Colonel Anton Relvski are now in possession of nerve gas. It is also strongly suspected that the Kazarovians are in possession of this kind of weapons as well and that they´re the ones who have used them against the allies the Zoran Union. Malden Company was put on a 2 months vacation after the Operation. Junior Sergeant Roberts was severly injured by a molotov cocktail thrown by enemies sending him to the field hospital.

A direct consequence of Operation Venenum Capiens was Operation Red Spearhead 2 months later.