Operation Winter Candle 2113

Operation Winter Candle 2113 is both the last DDS exercise of the year and the last under the current monthly schedule, next year the DDS will concentrate on 4 larger exercises. The last Winter Candle is a special forces orientated exercise and will include simulated ship boardings by Prowler units (on one of the DDS' ex-Bolitic Helwins) and a counter-terrorism event.

DDS Territorial Forces observers will be on-hand to feed in ideas for the DDS' new Space Marine force which is currently under development. The ships to be deployed in Winter Candle are:

A303E Braun (flag)
H161 Solaris
M164 Sea Of Fertility
X131T Alpha Centauri
A184 Zealous

• DDS Commander Firefly has agreed to a request from the DDS Logistical Corps for a further increase in the size of the transport fleet to match an ever increasing need for capacity. Three more Provider 71As will be built by the Raegris for the DDS, the first has been added to the current Ship Building Plan (so will be built early next year, one of the ships on the jig will likely be reallocated to the DDS) and the other 2 will be added to next year's plan.

DDS to concentrate on just 4 exercises next year

The DDS are to stop having monthly training exercises and instead concentrate on 4 larger exercises next year. The 4 exercises will have a more "multi-spectrum" approach with as many parts of the DDS included as possible. For example Atomic Fist 2114 will, as well as the core strategic attack mission, include mock combats, cyber warfare, special forces and minesweeping missions.

The schedule for 2114 is therefore (primary mission objective given) :

• Ground Shock 2114 (March) - ground attack, amphibious
• Atomic Fist 2114 (June) - strategic attack
• Civilian Partnership 2114 (September) - relief, humanitarian
• Northern Project 2114 (December) - full-spectrum mock "war"

The special forces exercise Winter Candle 2113 will take place as scheduled next month but then from January 1st the DDS will switch to the new schedule a DDS spokeswoman said.

Winter Candle 2112 / Exercise schedule for 2113

The final exercise of the year began yesterday, like last year Winter Candle involves special forces. This year the Dino SS-D have joined the DDS Prowlers for a series of simulated incidents including hostage recovery, covert surveillance and anti-terrorism operations. One exercise that has been missed this year is Ground Shock which has taken place in November in previous years but the DDS say this will now occur next month and will start the 2113 programme.

As for Winter Candle the ships taking part are :

A301E Marconi (flag)
H122 Illustrious
H169 Sanger Alpha
M125 Forward
A155 Pentane

A full schedule for 2113 has been published and will be as follows :

• January - Ground Shock 2113 (ground attack / amphibious)
• February - February Flourish 2113 (EW / ECM / cyber warfare)
• March - March Hare 2113 (combat)
• April - Atomic Fist 2113 (nuclear attack)
• May - May Mission 2113 (new internal defence exercise, full details TBA)
• June - June Fade 2113 (minesweeping)
• July - July Wave 2113 (amphibious)
• August - August Flourish 2113 (combat)
• September - September Sunrise 2113 (strategic attack / interdiction)
• October - Civilian Partnership 2113 (humanitarian / disaster relief)
• November - Northern Project 2113 (joint exercise with Raegris)
• December - Winter Candle 2113 (special forces)

Winter Candle ends, DDS begin shutting down for Christmas

The final exercise of the year Winter Candle has ended with a special forces "raid" in the Rim Worlds. The ships in the deployment are now returning to base. Other patrols and deployments are also running down ready for Christmas.

This holiday period will be much happier for the DDS this year who were in the middle of a desperate war with the ABBOs this time last year. Indeed the battle for Delta 9 was raging last December with heavy land fighting and space bombardments taking place. The DDS was also in turmoil with New Arit leaving the DDS to join the DTA a year ago today.

Commander AP, before he left for his holiday, said that the DDS was in the process of healing and also becoming stronger than ever. "2111 will be a good year for us though it did start badly of course. I am confident however that 2112 will be a year of renewal, strengthening and refocusing more on the new astralpolitical environment rather than the immediate post-war."

XE wins backing for reborn religious armed force

The spiritual leader of the Clone Star Empire, Ayatollah Clone XE, has won backing from Oojok for a resurrected religious based armed force and more importantly has secured 270 million zarks to kickstart development of the force which will be known as the Oojok Holy Brigade or OHB. The OHB will be much smaller than the old, and controversial, Religious Police which formed a legion strength force with dedicated space ships at its height. The OHB will contain "6-10 regiments, mostly infantry but with at least one armoured regiment" according to insiders.

Whereas the old RP was intended as a "full spectrum" bolster to the regular HCS and ensure the "spiritual purity" of Clones the OHB will be mostly concerned with defending religious sites and providing a ceremonial and actual bodyguard to Oojok and senior clerics. It is possibly in future though that the OHB could provide a back-up for the regular HCS though this is thought unlikely for some time.

With a number of HCS regiments due for disbanding there will be plenty of potential trained recruits for the OHB which XE is hoping to have operational by 2113.

• Winter Candle, the final DDS exercise of 2111, has begun with 2 Panther 35As performing a 3 day reconnaissance mission with their tactical reconnaissance module with the task group flagship A304E Fleming performing real-time data analysis and direction.

Ground Shock 2111 ends with final landing on Mars; Winter Candle

Ground Shock 2111 has ended with an "invasion" of Mars by the entire DDS 1st Division utilising nearly all of the DDS' Amphibious Warfare Squadron. Supported by Prowler and Mars Defence Force troops the landing took place near New Helens, a battalion of Proximan Army troops acted as "defenders" and opposed the landing.

The troops and ships are now returning to Proxima 7 and Solaris. The DDS has announced its next operation for December will be Winter Candle. This will be a special forces and reconnaissance mission according to a spokesman. Two Panther 35As will be fitted with the tactical reconnaissance module and seek an "enemy base" somewhere in the Rim Worlds. Once found then Prowler special forces will be sent in to "take it out". The ships to be involved in the operation will be:

A304E Fleming (flag)
H101 Panther
H104 Lynx
M121 Freedom
M155 Sulu Sea
A145 Argus