Kantaria's military fortunes have substantially soured recently, though this was something we had foreseen as a possibility due to our great exertions. We have been mostly on the defensive rather than offensive, and this remains the reality, though the situation has been stabilized. After weeks of bitter summer fighting, both sides are utterly exhausted and unable to continue or start any serious contests, especially us. Our panzer formations are badly depleted, our regular and elite units are depleted and physically and psychologically exhausted from the miserable combat operations, and our naval forces are in dire need of the opportunity to finish repairs and to replace lost ships. We are now focusing on consolidation and fortification, so that the chances of a future enemy offensive succeeding are reduced, and the inverse for our future offensives. Ordering another substantial general ground offensive before September would be unconscionable.

The preferred strategy of the enemy alliance under Taneru's leadership is to retaliate against us after we have exerted and exposed ourselves, and not maximally commit to resisting us before that stage. These nations also have a greater regenerative capacity even now than our alliance does, especially Kantaria. We generally have at least tried to remain mindful of this tendency and capacity when conceiving and implementing offensive plans. After recovering their balance and marshalling their new and reserve forces, they started demonstrating their continuing threat and potency on 29 June in very grand fashion. They damaged severely our flagship, began a bombardment campaign against Kaleusthes, and sent much of our Eastern Front into a somewhat panicked retreat, all in a span of 24 hours. The feat was an impressive testament to their capabilities.

In the morning, I was aboard the Procyonidae with much of the Kantarian fleet, leading defensive patrolling operations a short distance from Kaleusthes. Of course, Lucien was by my side ever since his great victory over me not long before. He actually should have been at school, but he elected not to attend that day and I sent a communique to the school pardoning his absence. Because of my position and the respect I command from the populace, as well as Lucien's general excellence in scholastic affairs, they never object when he doesn't show up to watch me direct the fleet or spend the day with me shopping, lounging, and yiffing. Usually he returns the next day and he only declines to attend 5-10% of days, anyway. He got to witness first-paw something I had stressed to him before: the prospect of us being ambushed and incurring heavy damage.

The number of escorting ships was much lower than the weeks previous due to Likuria withdrawing most of its fleet due to necessity. Wesitaria's stealth technology and capabilities had also increased. The combination of these two factors allowed submarine forces to get abnormally close to us and fire torpedoes from a range which gave them a significant chance of landing. The ship detected the incoming torpedoes seconds before they were due to impact, and automatically sounded imminent impact alarms so all who could would take up defensive postures. Lucien fortunately didn't need to be told what to do and immediately sat in a chair which automatically buckled him in, and I did the same. Our defensive systems successfully intercepted all but two of the torpedoes. As all of them were high-yield nuclear torpedoes, both of them violently rocked the ship and caused severe damage to the armor belt, and caused secondary damage to the keel. Enough defensive ordnance was discharged into the water by us and supporting vessels after that to preclude any further torpedo strikes, but the damage was severe enough to cause our immediate withdrawal to Kaleusthes.

Our sensorial and intel units were reporting large-scale fleet movements by the enemy a short while after our return to base, which indicated to us they might be preparing to attack the base and fleet once more. That alone would have caused discontentment in Larien. Us returning hurriedly with 50% armor strength and keel fractures would have doubled his level of annoyance. This was also the day he discovered Lucien was aboard the flagship and had been there at least once in the preceding 10 days. The confluence of all three factors caused him to be the angriest and most dissatisfied I have observed since our near-disastrous adventure in March 2014. Not wanting to risk being trapped at our forward fleet base yet again, I invited him to confer with and angrily shout at me aboard the ship. I first had to send Lucien away since he did not need to observe such tension and upset from his father when the cause was me.

"You didn't tell Daddy you were going on these adventures with me. He somehow learned today about this. He's extremely angry, and he and I are going to discuss this alone in a short while.", I wearily informed him while stroking his chin.

"Do you think he's going to punish me or keep me from being here?", he fearfully inquired while enjoying the scritching.

"Probably not, at least after he purges some of his indignance on me and I use my powers of persuasion and placation on him. I need you to leave the ship, though. Go back home or visit Perredine at Supreme HQ in the capital.", I implored as much as commanded while lovingly stroking his cheeks with my paws.

Fortunately, he didn't protest the command, and as I predicted he took a shuttlecraft to Mirukan and proceeded to be his inquisitive and adorable prancer self at HQ that afternoon. Meanwhile, with the threat of the base being directly assailed with guns and planes and missiles at any moment, its commander came aboard and had a highly awkward and tense conversation with me in my office room adjacent to the bridge.

"I thought we were in agreement about this! This is outrageous, even for you! What caused you to reverse course on this?", he angrily shouted at me. "What is it with you prancers and wanting to be in naval combat? First it's you, and now Lucien. Can't you all just be super-girly male models everyone masturbates to and be satisfied with that?", he added bewilderedly.

I had to suppress the urge to giggle deviantly at the second part, "I don't think you understand just how persistent and persuasive he was."

"What could he possibly have done to compel you to acquiesce? Did he tie you down to your bed during one of your innumerable trysts and refuse to release you until you agreed?", he angrily dismissed.

I couldn't refrain from giggling at that remark, and I would have found that extremely erotic if bondage was a fetish of mine.

"Damn it, don't laugh! This isn't funny! I'm fucking angry at you right now!", he hollered with amplified rage.

I covered my muzzle and cleared my throat, pausing to conceive an appropriate response, "I have a question for you. Why don't you object to me being on the bridge during fleet combat maneuvers? It would be catastrophic to Kantaria if I was to perish, wouldn't it?"

Larien's countenance conveyed great discomfort, "That- that won't happen. The flagship's well protected and the entire military would come to save your sorry cub-pounded tailhole if you were in real danger of a hull breach.". His countenance started changing to reflect his realization of the dissonance of what he just said and his emotions now.

"Exactly. Lucien knew this because he had access to all sorts of data on the ship's designs and its exploits in battle. He made any plausible and rational counter-argument impossible.".

"What about the argument children should not be in warzones and should instead be in school, or playing games, or pawing off on camera, or whatever else he likes doing?"

"Even if he's utterly safe, is enthralled by being by the side of his great hero in action, and is adored by most of the crew?"

"You were just struck by two atomic torpedoes! And it's not the first time, either! The last time it happened it was on Revolution Day right outside this very island!", the disgruntled otter retorted in a renewed fit of agitation.

"Those are rare and there's never a plausible chance there will be more than what we can withstand in the initial volleys. The subsequent ones would be intercepted by the torrent of anti-torpedo ordnance falling around us from neighboring ships, and if we faced a gigantic initial volley we'd simply fire off nuclear weapons of our own to intercept them. Also, you just said I had no chance of perishing.", I calmly remarked.

"You don't when you take my advice and I don't have to threaten to order the Procyonidae drydocked. If this was still a problem, I would right now... I won't say it.", he looked away discomfortedly.

"It's fine, friend. I know what you were thinking, and I wouldn't blame you for being physically violent if I was that reckless AND let him aboard.", I reassured as I patted his shoulder and smiled.

Larien reflexively smiled in a very tense and uncomfortable manner, "Thank you...". His demeanor returned to one of anger and displeasure, "This doesn't change the fact he's 12 and on a warship during battle! He shouldn't be hanging around during those times, no matter how much he likes you and how great you are. I don't understand what is so difficult about telling him no and banning him from unauthorized entries. He's also getting a very skewed perspective of war when he's on there during battle."

"Firstly, if I continued to ban him, he'd probably still find a way to contravene my orders. He'd probably give a muzzlejob to one of the guards in exchange for allowing him entry. Secondly, I have repeatedly told him I long for the day I can just be an erotic model again and hate that we even need a military. Obviously, he doesn't grasp exactly how destructive war is and why, and he still wants to watch me direct it. However, I'm sure he doesn't find it glorious. He's too intelligent and sensitive for that."

"Oh, I know for sure he'd seduce a guard or whoever else he had to so he could be on the flagship. He's a slutty prancer just like you are, and he knows damn well how incredibly desirable he is just like you know you are. Anyway, I should have at least been asked about this, rather than find out from a secondary source. Oh, and, you two couldn't wait until clearing the battlefield before getting off, I hear."

I chuckled and blushed embarrassedly at the reminder, "He couldn't wait, and then I couldn't wait either. We only got off once during a span of 5 minutes. I have a minimal level of professionalism and propriety, I'll have you know."

Larien disapprovingly glared at me, then shrugged and exaggeratedly sighed, "I guess it doesn't matter. You would have used a young-looking subordinate if he wasn't there, anyway. Nothing new here aside from who you did it with."

I giggled in an exaggerated and mischievous manner, "Maybe so...". I looked at him in an intense and serious matter, "Please don't punish him. If someone is culpable it's me. If you wish to petition the Council to have me censured I will not object to it or contest the matter."

"And what would they do even if I went through with it? What good would that do Kantaria even if they would threaten to demote you over it? And Lucien would hate me for it either way. I just don't want him in any sort of battle regardless of how safe he is. Let him come aboard and do all the inquiring and admiring and gawking he wants while the fleet is docked and at rest. No more glorious fleet engagements for him!"

"I'll speak to him and apprise him of that. Hopefully he's had his curiosity satisfied and won't sneak aboard like he did the first time..."

"First time?! He was on here before this?!", he exclaimed in agitated shock.

I very nervously grinned, chuckled, and rubbed my snout, "Yeah, someone let him on after I told him no. Anyway, I'll let him know what he's not allowed to do! I have to attend to Supreme Strategist stuff now, so I'll leave you to repair the ship!"

Larien growled and clenched his fists, "Damn you prissy little prancers! I don't care whether you spend the rest of the day yiffing like heat-crazed minks, but you need to address this with him today! Now get out while I repair this gigantic floating target of yours!"

As my attention was urgently required to address the commencement of the bombardment of Kaleusthes and other pressing matters, I wasn't able to speak to Lucien muzzle-to-muzzle about this for long. He was awaiting my arrival at Mirukan and I flew there right after speaking to his enraged and only partially placated father, so a physical discussion soon after my arrival was inevitable.

"Sweetheart... He's not going to punish you, but you cannot be on the bridge during battle again. We cannot just ignore him, and Mommy also will not like what we pulled. You may be here or on the bridge with me during peace. That will have to be enough direct observation and admiration from you.", I gently apprised him while caressing a cheek and shoulder.

He wagged his thick lutrine tail in response to the affection while frowning disappointedly, "They won't take any retaliatory action against me? How angry was he?"

I smiled very adoringly to him as I leaned down and kissed his nose, "You're such a bright cub! I love your high intelligence! They won't. And, he was extremely angry, though he calmed down somewhat, until I thoughtlessly told him you snuck aboard here. Then he was livid again and commanded me to leave the ship and speak to you.". I smiled and chirred warmly to him, "Please don't do that again, either. And please don't use your pre-teen prancer wiles on any of my security in exchange for being allowed on when you're not supposed to be there."

His countenance brightened, grinning at me wickedly, "Do you mean I shouldn't paw or suck off any of your sailors to get them to let me on?"

"That is precisely what I mean. I know you very easily could do that and definitely would if you were determined. Anyway, I need to take care of some things, little tailraiser. We'll venture into the city tonight to shop for clothes and eat, okay?"

"Okay, bigger tailraiser!"

"Obnoxious little otterboi..."

The flagship's repairs were delayed because our fears about a new offensive materialized. Instead of being repaired, it and the admiral who by default commands it and the Kantarian 1st Fleet had to mount a defense against the ordnance, vessels, and bombers that were sent against it. Obviously, the disgrunted and rather rightfully indignant otter was forced underground to lead the garrison's efforts, causing me to feel quite remorseful for being a major factor in the negativity of his day. The scale and intensity of the bombardment would have exceeded their offensive in March had the Bengarian fleet been there. We assumed they were continuing their regeneration while keeping a mobile reserve to the rear in case we surprised them in response. The fortress islands had been substantially reinforced and were further bolstered by the presence of most of our navy, but this caused us to have to divert many ships to Marietta and elsewhere to undergo repairs and resupply.

The day would deteriorate dramatically for us. In the evening, after having dropped a blizzard of firepower on Kaleusthes and frustrated several attempts on land to seize tactically important areas, the Bengarian 2nd Heavy Cavalry Army started crossing the narrow strip of open coastal land between the Kleintrin Forest and the sea, very quickly overpowering the rather modest and undermanned segment of our line between the sea and the southeastern corner of the forest. The Bengarian armies within the forest had been applying pressure intermittently for a while, but now they began a very vigorous general offensive within the forest, putting our undersupplied Army of the Kleintrin Forest on the defensive. The Bengarian Navy in tandem with fortress artillery began a very expedited but effective preliminary bombardment of transportation infrastructure and turrets along our coastal Dortmere Line. At around midnight, marines from both enemy nations landed at 3 locations, quickly overpowering forward defenses and starting their drives towards the city of Dortmere, a Bengarian city which had 6 million inhabitants before the war but now only housed scarcely over a million. All of this happened while I was cavorting around the city with my highly endearing cub, necessitating an abrupt cessation of this and causing me acute displeasure and upset.

Our limited industrial capacity and repeated offensives by us had required us to divert materials and supplies to the Eastern Front only when absolutely necessary, reduce the number of units to just enough to adequately defend in case of attack through the forest, minimize our exertions on the entire front, and to only moderately strengthen the Dortmere Line. The Army of the Kleintrin Forest was chronically only given enough ammunition and other materials to fight at full strength for 2 days without resupply and had been mostly sedentary since the Spring Offensive. We saw no evidence they would even try to launch an offensive at the forest or on the coast, and our persistent naval sorties should have kept the enemy equivalent almost fully engaged in the West. Due to these various factors, their initial assaults encountered woefully inadequate resistance. When they landed, they didn't have very much difficulty punching through even with the very short preliminary bombardment. They struck just as our navy was least situated to either engage them at the onset or hurriedly redeploy and switch fronts, and I am sure the timing was as much deliberate as coincidental. There also were no sizable panzer forces in the general area to contest the thrusts from the coastal passage, and we instead had to rush reinforcements from near the Kotorei River in the form of units which were still severely depleted from their unsuccessful campaign.

Us strategic officers were emotionally unwell as the 30th dawned and progressed. Frantically railed in (OOC: he means units sent through their railroad system; they use EM-based technology we possess now and is referred to by us as 'maglev') panzer units overnight started making contact with the Bengarian 2nd, but they could do no more than moderately impede their drive across the southern edge of the forest before being driven back or destroyed. Within the forest, the Bengarians seemed intent on breaking through the sylvan lines in the middle and dividing the Army of the Kleintrin Forest in two and thus causing a massive envelopment as they linked with the panzers and mounted infantry to the south, and there was a fair possibility they would succeed. Even if they didn't succeed, the panzers would cut off avenues of resupplying from the south. They were also trying to punch through at the western edge of the perimeter, and if they and the cavalry force reached their objectives, the destruction of the entire grand army would not be far off due to lack of supplies. Over 150k marine and regular forces had landed and were well on their way to Dortmere, another 100k had been disembarked on the beaches by dawn, and 50k paratroopers had landed well behind the lead units south of the forest to amplify the chaos and difficulty responding. Multiple divisions were cut off at the Dortmere Line, many more were threatened with being surrounded, the Army of the Kleintrin Forest was on their heels, and we all very much saw the possibility of the front spectacularly collapsing over the next several days.

From the 30th to the 2nd the Bengarians continued to trample over us in the open field. The sylvan forces were far better protected and were also shaded during this horrible summer weather, but were at risk of running out of supplies if the situation degenerated much further. They were told to use ammo sparingly and sacrifice territory if necessary, though they didn't have much forest to fall back to since much of what we seized in the spring had to be yielded to the Bengarians in the interim. The Bengarian panzers were briefly stopped on the 1st after feverishly mobilized elements of our 1st and 3rd Panzer Armies minimally organized themselves ahead of the Bengarians and counterattacked, but the enemy regrouped and overcame them with numerical superiority and Wesitarian bomber support. Our regular armies were having a dreadful time of the whole affair. 6 divisions of the 6th Field and 3rd Reserve Armies were told to withdraw north towards the forest because we saw we couldn't possibly relieve them with cavalry and our sylvan units had to remain where they were. Most of the units outside the forest were from reserve armies, many of those units were in retreat or trapped at the Dortmere Line, and the remainder who were closer to Dortmere stood no chance of halting the offensive on their own. It was impossible to redeploy forces at the necessary rates to there, and our Western Front forces were already hard-pressed to defend what they took. The only successes we had were the landing of paratrooper divisions which were badly depleted from the recent offensives (though they were used in defense of our own rear rather than the intended purpose of threatening the enemy's), and the deployment of our navy to interrupt the Bengarian reinforcement and bombardment efforts, but they merely retarded their rapid advances moderately.

My job at these moments is highly unenviable for multiple reasons. Our populace was highly troubled by the sequence of events and our seeming inability to stabilize the front, and I had to address them and candidly tell them I did not know when or how they would be turned back before encircling Dortmere, or even if they would be stopped before they cut off a whole grand army at the edge of the great forest. I and the strategic officers had to decide whether to call on the civilians and our military personnel to evacuate the city. The overwhelming majority of the civilians there were Bengarians, so they wouldn't be nearly as frightened or upset if Bengarian units seized the city (there wouldn't be a feasible route for them to take to flee to if they wished to rejoin Bengaria anyway, for geographical and territorial reasons). However, no one wants to reside in a population center which is being contested by opposing armies even if neither side wished them harm, and thus informing the population we are not confident we will retain it would be highly disruptive to their lives. They deserve better than this even if they are Bengarians. They're still Takomenians, after all. The issue was not decided as 2 July drew to a close. The Bengarian pincers drew to less than 100 km from the city, but a hodgepodge of Kantarian and Likurian forces had arrived and had begun work on the Dortmere Perimeter 50 km from the city under the direction of Eastern Combatant Command. We were essentially told, "Maybe it will hold, but probably not. We can't get assets here quickly enough." A third of the civilian population elected to flee to the south without a recommendation from us. We felt as if we had failed them, though it was nice to hear them report our soldiers were courteous and rather unhappy for them in empathy.

We had severe worries about parts of the Western Front as well, as if the disintegrating East per se wasn't dismaying enough. Kaleusthes had remained under near-constant bombardment, the redeployment of so many of our ships making their offensive more effective on the 2nd. We inherited a base severely ravaged from our own ordnance and then the enemy's, so there had been a myriad of major structural problems that needed to be repaired. Not all of these were fully rectified due to time and material constraints when section were restored to serviceability or constructed, leaving potential vulnerabilities which may become problematic later during very adverse events such as massive atomic explosions. One of these sections was unfortunately chosen to house one of the major ventilation engines, and the failure of that section on the 2nd caused several others to become less habitable. A couple of others showed signs of severe stress soon afterwards and were evacuated as a precaution. Several main turrets were knocked offline. Another ventilation engine had temporarily failed on the 9th, and a power generator was showing concerning fluctuations. Repair and resupply needs quickly accumulated, and vessels had to receive those services elsewhere while everything above-ground was seldom actionable. The shelling and bombing was nearly constant over a period of 10 days, and then subsided over the next week enough to allow the Kaleusthes garrison to start repairing things more rapidly than they were breaking or destabilizing.

While the ordeal at Kaleusthes persisted over an extended period of time, the crisis at Dortmere was abruptly resolved on the early morning of the 3rd. The Likurian 4th Panzer Army had arrived and attacked the Bengarian equivalent on one of their flanks in a section minimally guarded, causing them to conduct a bitter and fighting withdrawal while attacked by Kantarian and Likurian forces at opposite ends. The losses they incurred greatly diminished their offensive capabilities in the near future. Further south, enemy vehicular and infantry troops had been in the process of breaching sections of our hastily constructed perimeter, and they were halted by a very dramatic and gallant charge of newly arriving Likurian divisions. Sensing the pendulum had swung in the other direction due to these developments, I ordered a general counteroffensive later in the day, causing the enemy's lines to gradually recede to evade entrapment. The Army of the Kleintrin Forest managed to absorb the focused attacks by the opposing equivalent and began limited counterattacks north into the forest, and southward outside the forest to help in strengthening our position there.

During the preceding 20 days, the Western Front on the mainland has been active. Attacks by us on important positions continued through the first week of the month, and occasionally the enemy has launched significant counterattacks to reclaim such territory or probe for weaknesses. During the entire period, there have been varying levels of artillery fire from both sides. On average, the intensity has been low, but during some moments it has been acute in specific areas. We expect it to intensify during the latter half of the month as demands on capacity from other areas taper off. Our forces have managed to take all of their ultimate assigned objectives, and thus our exertions there have become mostly defensive, in the form of fortification. We need to construct a powerful defensive line where we are now both to act as a springboard for our offensives later in the year and to help us stop and mitigate offensive actions by them. As this is being built on and just behind the front line there, there is a strong chance it will be at least somewhat interfered with by the enemy. We can only hope it doesn't degenerate to the degree it did during the construction of the Progress Line on the neighboring front during the previous spring.

The situation at Kaleusthes has gradually improved since the rapid succession of terrible problems from 29 June to 10 July. Even the massive industrial outputs of Bengaria and Wesitaria could not sustain the effort at such an intensity forever even without the ground actions demanding supplies and replacements. The amount of incoming has dropped off over the last week, though even today they are occasionally firing artillery en masse just to inconvenience us. Due to the numerous impacts and the extremely heavy usage of active defenses, the need for repairs and full replacements is extreme. Most of the barrels on the capital and secondary turrets need extensive maintenance or replacement now, there are subterranean sections and heavy equipment which still require restoration, some infrastructure above ground requires repair, and of course the plans for expansion and consolidation will require materials. We hope the base can be restored to its previous state within a week, or at the latest by the start of the new month.

The Eastern Front status is tolerable but not preferable. Several substantial naval battles have been waged with what we could send East, and we have caused them significant issues with resupplying from the sea but have not won a decisive victory in the traditional sense. Our counteroffensive has pushed the enemy forces backwards by up to 100 km and kept open supply routes to the Kleintrin Forest, but we still have large numbers of enemy troops and equipment in a region which was completely under our control three weeks ago. Our military was too exhausted to continue effectively counterattacking anymore before having to pause, and the enemy has been similarly overtaxed and has had a very precarious resupply scenario and thus have not resumed offensive action. Because we had to pause and have had to allocate logistical and industrial capacity to so many other places and formations, they have had ample time to entrench and thus making any future attempts to drive them back far more difficult. We need far more assets to defend adequately this area of the front now than before. Hopefully they will withdraw or be expelled by the end of the month.

Aside from the aforementioned short-term restorative aspirations, our plans for the remainder of summer entail the construction of defenses along the new front line on the Western Front, the same on our side of the Kotorei River, repair and augmentation of infrastructure throughout Kantaria and occupied Bengaria, and general regeneration. Warfare is a terrible and excruciating enterprise for those on the front lines ordinarily, and it's been made so much worse for both sides during the previous 45-60 days by the atrociously high summer heat. Frankly, I wish for even the Bengarian soldiers to be granted an extended period of convalescence and inaction. The duration and intensity of fighting on our continent has exhausted and depleted all four militaries in every conceivable way. Us strategic officers have been mentally and emotionally more taxed than usual by the abnormally heavy fighting, and I would like to not have to oversee and read about large offensives for the remainder of the summer. I'm sure that would make Larien happy as well, given everything he's been tasked with for so much of the year so far.