NationStates Jolt Archive

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Flight MVF-8217 --- Arctic Circle
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The B-1B II Stealth Modified Lancer cruised at 45,000 feet. Her sleek and elegant lines tore through the cold arctic air, the wings swept back to provide for the high speed of the long-range bomber. The sun hung low in the sky, rotating quickly around the Earth’s surface. Because it was winter, the sun would not be out for five days as it normally would. Lieutenant Colonel Avery Debs held the throttle with his left hand as he looked around the cabin at the flight crew. The cabin’s built in radar schematic was clean, absolutely no blips appeared except for the scheduled in-flight refueling KC-10 that was just leaving the range.

With his peripheral vision, Debs saw a red blinking light on his display console. Right before he can ask the status of the other systems operators, he turned around and his eyes widened behind the black helmet’s visor. In bright red lights, Engine two’s power levels began to fluctuate. The plane lost its stability and began to shudder. The excessive torque was tearing the wing off. Captain Dave Scott, co-pilot, noticed the shake and asked through his headphones, “Colonel, What was that?”

The Lt. Colonel stabilized the plane three thousand feet lower, trying his best to maintain the power level of Engine two. “We are losing E2. Power levels are fluctuating from extreme low to high,” the Colonel responded. “I am shutting it down.” He reached over onto the console and flipped the switch shutting of the jet turbine engine. “Chip, radio to command that we have maintenance problems.”

Chip, the call sign of the Communications officer, began his transmission, “MVF-8217 to RSBC, MVF-8217 to RSBC, the plane has suffered maintenance problems. We had to shut down engine two, repeat, we had to shut down engine tw---o,” the plane jolted again. Debs looked at the monitor again, Engine four had incurred damage also. Debs flipped up the emergency light that blinked blue in the top corner of every console in the plane.

“Engine Four has also been shut down. We require an emergency landing, repeat. We require an emergency landing. Over.” Chip paused his transmission hoping for a response. There was no response from RSBC, or Ruhrian Strategic Bomber Command. “Colonel, no response.”

Debs cursed under his breath. Looking over at Captain Scott, he asked: “Sunny, what are there as far as landing strips close to us.”

Scott looked over his GPS, they were unfortunately closest to Aperin, too many enemies in the CACE dominated region. All of them were hostile in some way to Ruhr except one, Xikuang. “Colonel, there is a paved runway in the southern region of Xikuang.”

“Ok.” The Colonel thought about it, he felt a slight vibration in the controls. He shook his head before he began to bark out orders. “Chip, declare an emergency landing. Request permission to land in Xikuang’s southern region. Then send a message to RSBC telling them where we are, what we are doing, and what the situation is.” The Colonel thought for a minute before he thought of an immediate danger, they needed to fly over Anhierarch to get to the runway. “Sharpshooter, once we get over Anhierarch airspace, it is important that you do not do anything to provoke a SAM attack.” Sharpshooter, the radar and weapons officer, nodded in return and switched off the active stealth.

The plane rolled to starboard and began its slow and long descent towards Xikuang. Debs muttered under his breath once more, “God help us.”

Terminal
Activity
Growing

tag

Gundams? Please?

(ooc: hey Ruhr! - do you own any vessels that don't spontaneously combust? I mean... where do you buy this crap ;-))

ooc: are you sure you're where you think you are? Southern Xikuang is smack in the middle of Aperin and is a far cry from the Arctic...
http://www.drnightshade.org.uk/images/aperin/aperinmap.jpg
Put yourself in the north and have to fly over Cirdanistan or Celdonia and it's a lot more plausible.

This has been a message from the Ministry of Map

Can I ask why you were in Aperin airspace in a bomber? I'm not really up to date in CACE RP.

(ooc: hey Ruhr! - do you own any vessels that don't spontaneously combust? I mean... where do you buy this crap ;-))

OOC: Sigh. Evil capitalist imperialist forces just ain't what they used to be, I'm afraid, W. Just can't get the staff.

Watsford: *coughing*purposelynomorecarrier*cough*

The Weegies: Those imperialists and their greasy hair! They can't build squat if they needed to with their lack of competence! Go Socialism! Go Peace! Save teh wurld!111!! Hey, you SATO Bastard, get your hands off my neck! *Gag* [/sarcasm]

Ex: Now, why do you bitch and not RP?

Demo: Think militaristically, is it better to have your units prepared for any war in any place on earth? That is why I had a bomber over the ARCTIC CIRCLE.

-TAG-

Not bitching, just clarifying, that's all. And it's just X. No E.

OOC:

Ok ok, if you guys are going to go forward with this (and eveyone's nice) the plane can attempt to come in over Celdonian airspace.

OOC: #Honestly surprised not-knowing-what-is-going-on tag#

-tag-

:agrees with X that coming in from the arctic circle, over Celdonia and then to northern Xikuang is more plausible:

#tag#
OOC: Well, if you would even fly towards Xikuang it would be AWAY from the polar circle and heading south. You would probably crash into me, Cirdanistan or the most northern region of Celdonia. But that's just my point of view.

*Tags it*

#tag#
OOC: Well, if you would even fly towards Xikuang it would be AWAY from the polar circle and heading south. You would probably crash into me, Cirdanistan or the most northern region of Celdonia. But that's just my point of view.

OOC: Cirdanistan's probably the most likely, but as he's not around to respond.....

ooc: Having conferred with those involved, I'm going to assume that the flight is coming from the north, over Celdonian airspace, which seems the most reasonable thing. There is a paved runway in the north; we'll use that one.

"This is Xikuang Air Control to Ruhrian Flight MVF-8217. We have received your transmission. You are cleared for emergency landing at Meldrogunkar Airfield. Please follow the course transmitted. We are alerting Celdonian air traffic to your presence. Please advise of any special circumstances, over."

At another console, another officer was already in contact with Celdonian air traffic control, while another was busily checking against international flight paths. "All's clear, sir." "Good. Full emergency complement to the runway, immediately. And somebody alert Mr. Chanh. I expect this might get a little delicate."

Chip looked to the front of the cockpit. He smiled as the clearance for landing at Meldrogunkar Airfield came through his headset. "Thank you, Xikuang Air Control. Flight MVF-8217 out." He still broadcasted the Ruhrian Mayday signal, surprised that he had not received a single response from command. "Colonel, we have clearance to land at Meldrogunkar Airfield in the north, but we need to fly through the northern edge of Celdonia first. Xikuang Air Control says goin' through Anhierarch is a bad idea."

The Colonel cursed, that meant more mileage to go through on a broken plane. They were almost to Anhierarch Airspace already, "Very well, Chip. Sunny, plot us a course. Take us south some more." Captain Scott entered the new coordinates and general flight path into the computer. After a few seconds the new flight path was made and Colonel rolled the bomber to the left. The Colonel, Remington by call sign, eased the rudder back to its normal position. The plane, now at 20,000 feet, began a slow decent into Celdonian Air Space. "Chip, make sure that we signal ahead before we head through Celdonian A.S."

"Yes, sir." Chip went ahead and began to contact them repeating the words in a general multi-frequency message: "Ruhrian Flight MVF-8217 preparing to cross into Celdonian Air Space in five minutes." He repeated every minute hoping that when they finally crossed, a surface to air missile will not be waiting. A drop of sweat rolled down his right temple. Chip wasn't worried about the engine, only the Celdonian Anti-Aircraft divisions.

(OOC: I hope you don't mind Celdonia. Thank you for letting this broken capitalist piece of crap fly over your nation. I am just going to really skip some. And yeah, I just remembered Anhierach is to the south of Celdonia and not the north. Lousy NationStates Geography classes. Thank you.)

The plane was deathly quiet as they passed through Aperin airspace. The land seemed quiet, it was...foreign. The only Ruhrians to step in Aperin were the NATO delegates to Svea Riga as well as the Ruhrian doctors in Skargarden for SATO war games. The bomber tried to pass, when any military bases came up on the radar, Captain Scott felt as if death hovered below the belly of the plane. After a while, however, they became more comfortable over Celdonia.

Finally the plane ventured across into Xikuangese air space. It began it's initial decent when it was fourty-five minutes from the airfield, the nose pointed just a few degrees off parallel bringing the plane safely down. Remington opened communications with the Airfield control tower requesting permission to land. Once it was granted, rather rapidly at that, the plane lifted its nose and coasted into a quick stop. The air brakes pulled the plane to a stop and it was taxied off the runway. Sharpshooter had been gathering all the engine schematics and repair manuals he could and read through each one them looking for a possible problem with the engines. The fuel injectors might have been clogged, the turbo fans loose, there were a number of possibilities for the failure of the two engines.

It was now the moment of truth, what will happen when they step out the hatch. The Colonel rose from his chair, "All right, let's all go do what we need to do. Remember, we represent Ruhr. They don't typically like Ruhr. Use your best judgment and freakin' be courteous. They let us land our plane in what the DIA classifies enemy territory. Be diplomatic," he finished. "Let's go."

The door opened and the four crewmembers walked down off the one hundred forty-six foot long strategic bomber, its grey and silver Arctic/forest painting matched their gray uniforms. Each of the officers left their weapons in the plane in the locker. Colonel Avery Debs, Captain David Scott, and Lieutenants Mark Schmidt (Sharpshooter) and William Ghost (Chip) awaited the unexpected.

OOC:

Ok, as this is really you and X's RP I'll let you through with no trouble. Assume you were escorted by 4 Eurofighters (maybe I should call them Aperinfighters :wink: ) untill you reached xikuang airspace.

And I was going to ask whether the plane was carrying nuclear armaments becasue that would have affected the course we'd tell you to take.

Assume you were escorted by 4 Eurofighters (maybe I should call them Aperinfighters :wink:
OOC: noooooooooo *uses Eurofighters too* :wink:

(ooc: standard double-posting pre-apologies apply. Stupid forum, mrrg, fraagnagl, iä, iä, Cthulhu fhtagn.)

As soon as the damaged bomber touched down, emergency vehicles began converging upon its path: fire control, paramedics, and a mysterious blue van with darkened windows and a government license plate surrounded the aircraft once it had come to a stop. Only when the emergency crews were satisfied that nothing was on fire or about to explode and that nobody on the plane needed immediate medical attention did they allow it to be directed to a bay somewhat apart from most of the others.

The first thing to greet the four crewmen as the door opened was a blast of frigid wind and stinging snow: it was cold, and the bright reflection of the sunlight off the haze of snow both on the ground and in the air momentarily blinded them. As their eyes adjusted, they could make out some thirty or so figures on the runway below, a number of them-- the green and yellow sashes they wore probably designating them as functioning in some official capacity-- organising themselves around the foot of the exit ramp. As they descended, one figure came forward to meet them: a man of rather unimpressive physical stature, dressed appropriately for the climate in a heavy wool coat of unassuming dark grey, his sash bearing an additional badge.

"T'qirqii k'am elam, Sailinqi. Welcome to Xikuang. I'm afraid I'm going to have to confiscate any weapons or communications devices you may be carrying, and then you'd better come inside before you freeze. I trust you are all well?"

The Colonel was cold, very cold. Remington, having served the majority of his career in extreme climates, was used to it, yet stepping out of the cockpit after being in air conditioning for eight hours made it slightly uncomfortable. He took the few short steps down the stairs and made his way to the man with the sash. Shaking his hand, the Colonel thankfully greeted him. "My name is Colonel Debs of the Ruhrian Imperial Air Force. I humbly thank you for your gratitude in allowing us to land."

The Xikuangese delegate spoke, ""T'qirqii k'am elam, Sailinqi. Welcome to Xikuang. I'm afraid I'm going to have to confiscate any weapons or communications devices you may be carrying, and then you'd better come inside before you freeze. I trust you are all well?"

The Colonel looked to his left and right checking the other crewman. Each seemed to be fine, he thought Chip was a little shaken up. "Overall, yes. The only problem is our engines." He looked at the left wing of the large aircraft, smoke still rolled from engine four. "We have left our weapons in the locker of the aircraft, and our satellite phone as well. If you don't mind, we would like to keep them there." He remembered that they landed in Xikuang and they were on their terms, not his. "But we will be happy to turn over the weapons should we need to."

The four crewman followed the delegation inside, out of the bitter cold.

The man with the sash shook the Colonel's hand, meeting the eyes of each of the Ruhrians in turn, noting that the man whose name tag read Ghost seemed a little pale. "Colonel Debs, gentlemen. We're just glad you made it down safely. I am Senior Officer Khanh Qyinkhri, head of security here. You can just leave your weapons and 'phone onboard, that's fine. Please, come this way."

The Ruhrian crew followed Officer Khanh's lead, and six green-and-yellow sashed people fell in flanking them and bringing up the rear, quiet and focused, but not seeming in any way unfriendly. The Colonel noted that, perhaps unusually for security personnel, they did not seem to be armed-- at least, they didn't appear to be carrying guns, a two-sticks-and-bit-of-chain contrivance and some unidentified chunky device apparently standard issue. Blessedly, there was not far to go before they were indoors, and they may be grateful to note that the Xikuangese appear to have the healthy respect for heat shared by many denizens of cold climates. The crew will be obliged to go through somewhat more than standard security checks: in addition to the obligatory metal detector scans, they will be patted down; hopefully they will not be too alarmed when they are approached by two enormous dogs resembling nothing so much as shaggy black wolves who are evidently part of the Xikuangese security detail. The dogs will circle the crewmen, giving each one a thorough sniff, finally giving a nonchalant wag of a bushy tail as the men apparently pass inspection.

(ooc: I'm assuming they're not carrying weapons or explosives and nobody lights up like a Christmas tree, but let me know otherwise and I'll edit as appropriate).

Security proceedings out of the way, Khanh leads the men through a quietly bustling waiting area where a beleaguered looking woman in staff uniform is patently explaining to some irritated-looking people carrying large briefcases that yes, there has been an emergency, no, everything is fine, and yes, flight schedules will be resumed shortly-- "Shortly? Just what does that mean, shortly?" one of them blusters. "We're supposed to have been in SeOCC and hour ago-- we have an IFTA Expo to get to, you know!" The woman casts a questioning look toward Khanh, who returns a helplessly apologetic gesture, leading the Ruhrian crewmen towards an unmarked door at the other side of the spacious room. Several small children who had been engaged in an impromptu game involving a set of improbably large plastic rings that have been set out for their amusement stop and openly stare.

Passing a card through a magnetic reader, Khanh opens the door. "If you'll just come this way, gentlemen." The men are led down a narrow corridor, round a corner, and through another unmarked door, into a somewhat spartan but comfortably appointed room: a pair of sofas and a number of comfortable chairs are arranged around a low table, where someone has already set out tea and steamed rolls, a small pitcher of milk and some sugar-- on the off-chance that the Ruhrians take their tea the way the Celdonians do-- and butter on the side.

"I have found, in my experience," Khanh says, motioning the men to enter, "that what one really needs after a critical engine failure is a nice cup of tea. If you don't mind waiting for a short while, I have a couple of calls to make. If you need anything, just let one of my people know. I'll be back in a few minutes." Khanh bows and leaves the room, closing the door behind him, while two of the six green-and-yellow sashed security people take up positions inside the room on either side of the door.

***Meanwhile...***

A small light aircraft lands, taxiing towards a bay somewhat apart from most of the others. One man disembarks. He is tall-- very tall by Xikuangese standards, well over six feet, and powerfully built, dressed rather lightly for the weather, but he doesn't seem altogether bothered. Another man in a long black coat emerges from the hangar and waves, coming out to meet him.

"Councillor Sarekh."

"Inspector Zhe. Glad I could get you on such short notice."

"That's my job, Councillor. I've only just got here myself. Are we expecting Deputy Chief Qin?"

"She's on her way. What have we got?"

The inspector shrugged. "One rather large bomber, two damaged engines, that's all we know so far. Officer Khanh says the crew have been very co-operative."

"Well, that's good. The last thing we need is any trouble. Right... let's get started."

Debs' flight crew took notice of the airport and what they could of the people. For the most part, the adults seemed somewhat angered and short tempered. He could only imagine what was coming before stepping into the unmarked room. After exchanging glances with Chip, Sharpshooter and the Captain, the Colonel lead them, along with their escorts, into the room.

The Officers sat down and were served the tea, and as Khanh left, Remington gave a signal to his crewmembers that they are probably listening and or watching. “First off, let’s go over the engine,” he says to please whoever is watching. “Sharpshooter, when you were reading the books, did you read anything that might have caused the failures?”

The weapons and radar officer was young, quite interested in his work and a good mechanic. He often would just sit and read the manuals on transit, probably to ease his mind. “Well, when we went through that air pocket, we might have inflicted some damage to the engine’s structure. I doubt that is the cause though. However, it might have roughed up an already existing problem. Like a belt loose or a screw getting caught in the burner. You said we met extreme highs and lows…I mean something blocking the burners could have done that, but to lose two like that? Either good coincidence or there were two different problems. I think it is time we put aside the tea and go fix our plane, sir.”

“Right, definitely have to check all four engines. This very well can be an act of sabotage as well, but I also doubt that. Not too many of our people are happy with Ruhr, and our mission was to gain strategic dominance over the Arctic.” Using code that has been taught in these situations, the colonel sighed and asked, “Did you put the emergency rations back?” The real meaning was: did he tear up and dump the weapons’, radar, and computer details and codes.

Sharpshooter raised one of his eyebrows as if he was very agitated, “Yes, sir. I checked them and we have plenty. I also made sure that we brought our emergency gear with us to.” The Colonel was relieved. Sharpshooter brought in the small, plastic remote device operating the weapons system. Should he need to, the plasma-yield missiles would detonate causing the fuel cells to blow up. It can also be done with the thermonuclear device onboard.

Remington nodded and said, “Good job, we’ve got our tents and food. That’s all we need.” He redirected his attention towards the Chip. “Chip, did you ever get a hold of Base?”

Chip shook his head, “Sir, something must be wrong either with them or with us. But we were able to contact the Celdonians and the Xikuangese, I think it might be Command’s problem.” He closed his eyes as he took a sip of the tea, who the hell drinks tea anyways?

“To be on the safe side, let’s run some checks on our equipment. Maybe our frequencies were wrong. I am sure the Xikuangese will be contacting Ruhr very shortly. Until then,” he looked at his co-pilot, “Captain, are you ready to tear apart these engines?”

The Captain grinned; he was also a chief mechanic before his second tour of duty. Every time he got a chance to pull apart an engine and put it back together, he took the chance. “You remember when my BMW died on me sir? My torque display read a failure much like the one we had today. I think we can find out what part of the engine we are having the problem with if we get out the ol’ physics book. It’s how I fixed my car.” He laughed, also taking a sip of the hot tea.

“Right, let’s see if we can get out of this little cement prison and go work on our plane. I want to get out of this country as soon as possible. Chip, I want you to keep running diagnostics on the communications board, but every thirty passed the hour, try to contact base. Let them know we are OK and trying to fix the plane. Tell them our whereabouts and that the Xikuangese have been very helpful.” The Colonel paused, getting out of his chair and walking to the door. He knocked, waiting for Khanh or some other delegate to answer.

When somebody did, he quickly asked, “Would it be fine if we get to work on our jet?”

As soon as Colonel Debs knocked on the door, it was opened by one of the two security crew standing outside. "Yes, can I do something for you?" she answered in a somewhat weirdly accented English.

"Would it be fine if we get to work on our jet?"

"I'm sorry, you'll have to wait for Officer Khanh. He won't be long..." And indeed he wasn't, emerging around the corner even as she spoke. "Colonel Debs." he says as he sees the man standing in the doorway. "What can I do for you?"

"I was hoping we could get to work on our jet."

Khanh blinked at the Colonel, then motioned for him to go back into the room. "I'm afraid that isn't possible just now, sir. If you'd just come inside and sit down, we can discuss your situation. Please."

***Meanwhile, in the Hangar***

Inspector Zhe and Councillor Sarekh entered the hangar together, where a large assortment of engineers and technicians were already hard at work securing the bomber, preparing for thorough inspection. "Right." Sarekh boomed, his clear bass carrying well even over the various mechanical din, and a number of directors snapped to attention. "First things first. I want this thing disarmed, completely, and I mean completely. All munitions are to be physically removed from the craft and disabled. I want the fuel tanks emptied and inspected for self-destruct devices; you never know with some of these characters. If they've got those clicky ballpoint pens you can get to pop their cartridges, unscrew them. Anything looks weird, we've got specialists on the way, so let me and Zhe see it first. Hop to. I take it you've already disabled the communications equipment."

"Yes sir." answered a female engineer, apparently a director, walking briskly up. "I've got people scouring the inside. Thought you might like to keep hold of this." he handed a satellite 'phone to the Councillor, and then, separately, its battery. "And the onboard computers?" "Some are intact. Some have been destroyed; we're assuming those will have been the ones with any classified data, but we're having a look through the others as well as the parts. Who knows, we might be able to get something." she said. "Radar details have been scrapped too, and we think something may have been jettisoned, but we don't know what." "Well, I suppose we can expect they'd have done that, making an emergency landing in a country where you're officially classed as hostile. I'd have done. Let's have a look at this thing."

Inspector Zhe was already co-ordinating data from the advance inspection teams, and was busily going through the munitions when he stopped, something of a hiss escaping him. "Oh, dear." he muttered.

"What, 'Oh dear'?" Sarekh answered, approaching the bomb bay Zhe was inspecting.

"Have a look at this."

Sarekh looked. "Is that what I think it is?"

"Depends what you think it is. Do you think it's a 24 kilo-tonne nuclear bomb?"

"I rather wish I didn't think that."

"Well, we can't help perceptions occasionally reflecting reality with a modicum of accuracy. Empirical evaluation and all that."

"Quite. Well, it's a good thing we have the experts on the way." Sarekh said. "They should be here anytime now."

***Back in the Room***

The two security officers on the door follow Khanh inside as he enters, motioning for the men to sit down, then sitting down himself.

"Gentlemen, I understand that you are anxious to get back to your aircraft, but I am afraid the situation is an extremely delicate one, as I am in no doubt you will appreciate. Ruhr is, as you know, recognised as hostile here, and while you can hardly help it if engine failure forced you to land here, we can't overlook that fact. We will have to conduct our own investigation before we can allow you participate, if indeed that can be countenanced; we'll see how things go. Though, if you have any suggestions as to the reason for the engine failure, I'm sure our mechanics would be glad to hear them.

"Because of the somewhat, ah, strained nature of relations between our nations, I can't straightforwardly issue you with entrance visas, but I've arranged accommodation for you which I hope you'll find comfortable enough until we hear from the Ruhrian government. Do you have any questions for me?"

Official communication to the Government of the Armed Imperial Republic of Ruhr



Greetings--

As you may already be aware, Ruhrian aircraft MVF-8217 was forced to make an emergency landing at Meldrogunkar Airfield in the Khetari province of Xikuang. The aircraft has sustained some damage to the engines, the extent of which is undergoing evaluation, but was able successfully to land. We reassure you that the flight crew, consisting of Lieutenant Colonel Debs, Captain Scott, Lieutenant Schmidt, and Lieutenant Ghost, are unhurt. We wish to discuss arrangements for their return to Ruhr.

With benedictions,

Dr. Xu,
the Elected,
Chair of the Elected General Council,
the Serene Socialist Republic of Xikuang