NationStates Jolt Archive

<An undisclosed location several hundred miles SSW of Nova City>

The lead boat in the patrol wolfpack of four Kraken-class submarines, FNS Krait, crossed the invisible boundary indicating the Federated Concordat of Autonomous City-states' Economic Exclusion Zone and passed out into international waters. In a three-dimensionally staggered pattern calculated by the battle AI so that no one sub was immediately aft, fore, or aside another, the other three submarines followed in short order.

The mission was a simple one: Keep your eyes and ears open. Captain Marissa Wolrup had never actually taken the Krait into battle before, but, in the long tradition of submariners, she put her crew to the meat grinder to prepare if they ever did.

Captain Wolrup had the oceans in her blood. Her father was a retired sub driver and had commanded a Narwhal in the last "combat action" against Attica. Her mother had been a loadmaster on one of the massive Galapagos amphibious warfare subs.

Wolrup had graduated from the top of her class at both the Naval Academy and submariner school at Abyssinia. Her crews consistently rated at the highest readiness levels, despite the young Captain having had no combat experience of her own. This unique combination of high skill and a fresh outlook was why the Joint Operations Command had selected her to lead this experimental unit.

The Krait and the other three submarines were equipped with an experimental laser microburst communications suite designed to keep the subs in near-constant contact with each other without sacrificing stealth. In addition, only the Krait's sister ship - the Coral - was manned. UFNX-01 and UFNX-02 (U for unmanned) were entirely automated and controlled by battle AI like those developed for the Leviathan sea control ships.

Captain Wolrup was in charge of this trial run of the composite submarine battle force concept and was one of only four people given the abort codes to shut down the unmanned submarines. The other three were her executive officer, Commander Ryne Albers, and the captain and XO of the Coral. There hadn't been a critical failure of a sapient AI in living memory... but Command wasn't taking any chances during an experiment.

Everything was proceeding smoothly, though, and the Krait's AI (which everyone had pretty much grown to associate with the boat itself) was reporting 100% functionality and connectivity. So, Wolrup gave the order to head to the next waypoint.

The ANS Sliver was over a month out of port, one the Stormjack patrol subs, they were hardy little things, designed for long endurance and deep probing. Her Captain Leanna Kai, sat on the bridge, idly flicking through the reports brought in in their last sensor run, The Sliver was sitting hull down in a rocky valley, five hundred meters down, waiting for the two dolphin crew members to return from their tracking run.

About a kilometer out the two dolphins were playing, yes, they were taking their sensor readings, but that didn't mean they didn't have to enjoy it.

"Look look, smell big fish! "

Gicka, the female dolphin intoned, picking up something on the currents, thankfully, the osmatic lungs both dolphin wore allowed great depths with no surfacing, and both sped down.


Rill the male, started to be a little unsure of things as four massive dark shapes loomed out of the depths. He squeaked a quick warning to Gicka, but she had allready turned on her micro LIDAR pack, sending out a millimeter wave signal..

Out in the open water like that, it was relatively easy for Krait to pick up the dolphins talking to each other even if they weren't quite close enough yet for "him" (Krait had adopted a male persona) to sort out their dialect.

"Captain, responsive biologic contacts about two kilometers off the port bow. Dolphins, possibly uplifted. I suspect augmentation of some sort for them to be this deep this long. They are most certainly aware of our position," Krait reported to Wolrup in his eternally calm voice.

She nodded. "They aren't one of the local pods, then. They prefer not to use our biotech. Tell Coral and the NX-02 to break off and sweep our baffles, just in case. Send the NX-01 one hundred meters ahead of our position and clear the ridges of any contacts."

Krait acknowledged the command and immediately transmitted the plan to his counterparts on the other boats. Coral and the UFNX-02 immediately began to arc around in a wide half-cloverleaf pattern to clear their rear of any potential attack. The UFNX-01 sped slightly ahead of Krait and began its own LIDAR scanning of the ridges ahead of the valley.

"Our job here is to wave the flag and make our presence felt. Don't worry about silent running. It's too late if those dolphins are jacked in to a mother somewhere. Once we get close enough for a clear signal that won't carry too far, see if you can talk to them, Krait," Captain Wolrup said.

"Yes, Captain."

Wolrup then glanced at her XO. "Maintain speed and heading. We don't want to spook them if they're friendly. Our posture shows that we mean business if we need to, but that we don't consider them a threat."

"Maintaining speed and heading, aye, Captain," Commander Albers responded before passing on the orders to his small bridge crew.

Gicka Squealed wit delight

"Big fish dance! Play play!

Rill did the equivilent of a dolphin rolling his eyes, he squeaked and twisted in the water, kicking the water hard with his tail to get ahead of Gicka, butting her gently with his bulbous head.

"No play, Tall Speak Girl, get worried..."

The female doplhin let out a petulant squeal as Rill lead them deeper, heading to the sea floor, where a small probe extended into the silt and a Geo pulse communication was sent to the ANS Sliver, then both hurridly swam towards their mothership.

Onboard the Sliver, Captain Kai took the communique, her forehead creased, speaking to dolphins, albiet sentient ones was difficult, their minds were a lot more visual based, and 'Come quick, we come back, dancing metal fish' did not help matters.

"Helm, fire up the engines and break us from bottom contact,"

Slowely the sub came to life.

"Sensors, I need a fix on those two,"

"Captain, sonar contact just beyond the ridge, originating from the canyon," Krait alerted.

"Momma is coming out to see what's up," Marissa mused to herself. "Everyone stay alert. Krait, pull up the LIDAR feed from the NX-01 and put it on my screen. I want to see this contact when it clears the ridge."

Commander Albers looked to his Captain for guidance. He was damn professional, but always tended to err on the side of caution. She smiled at him.

"If they wanted to take a shot at us, they already would have. As it stands now, they're in a bad tactical position and I'm sure they know it. Prepare to open a line with whoever comes up."

"Aye, Captain."

In the meantime, the Coral and the NX-02 finished their sweep of the baffles and began to turn back around to approach the canyon from their respective positions. This meant the canyon was being monitored from three angles now... but the submariners had left a clear path to the open sea.

"Let's just hope they're getting the right message, Ryne," Wolrup said.

Commander Albers paused for a moment and smirked. "What message is that, Captain?" He did his job well as an XO, setting up Captain Wolrup's subtle nuggets of wisdom intended for the more junior crewmen.

"We're here. We see you. We're calm, cool, and collected. We're also leaving you a way out."

Captain Kai raised an elegant eyebrow as the Adaptive Screen Display showed the inbound subs, small glowing cones of varying angles registerd lidar activation across the board. The herding action they were performing, obviously showed there was something of adelicate nature in the area, Kai pondered for a few seconds sending off a brief geo pulse communication to ANA Central Comman, but she dismissed it with a shake of her head. Stormjack Captains were chosen for their bility to think out side of the box, and starting war just because she had accidentaly stumbled into someones military playground didn't sit right with her...

She smiled to herself, take the initiative, thats what her instructor allways said..

"Comms, open a channel to those subs.. transmit.. now.."

An open radio channel beamed the Captains voice through the water.

"Good evening! I was just out taking my dolphin for a stroll, and I thought what a wonderful night it is! I do hope your enjoying it to!"

She smirked to herself, that ought to throw them.

While the rest of Krait's human crew looked utterly amazed at the radio call, Captain Wolrup just smiled. She had a vidlink with the Captain of the Coral on one of her screens and he was trying very hard not to start laughing.

"Open a channel to respond."

"Channel open, Captain," Krait said immediately.

"This is the Federated Navy Ship Krait, Captain Marissa Wolrup speaking. Those are lovely dolphins you have there and it IS a nice evening. What brings you to our neck of the abyss?"

Captain Kai smiled as well, this was more like it, she muted for a second to speak to the helmsman.

"Ok, take us up into open water, and make sure our offensive equipment is in lock down."

then she clicks the comm back on.

" Permit me to introduce myself, I am Captain Leanna Kai, of the ANS Sliver, we are on a Deep Range Exploration project, mapping sea currents and topography for the government of Aqua Nation Atlantica.

Oh and please don't let the dolphins bother you, Gicka and Rill are just being playfull.

Marissa realized then that this was going to be her first test at diplomacy. How interesting...

"Captain Kai, it is a pleasure. Gicka and Rill are certainly not a bother. You are now currently several hundred kilometers off the southern coast of the Autonomous City-states. We're on a routine patrol of the Exclusive Economic Zone, waving the flag a bit."

Krait silently indicated to Wolrup and Albers that the ANA submarine was rising and that her weapons were secured. Everyone breathed an internal sigh of relief at that. Captain Wolrup gave her XO a hand signal to stand down from alert readiness.

The Coral could easily see this too and she took up a position overlooking the next ridge. The NX-01 and NX-02 moved out about two kilometers, clearly providing cover for both the Krait and the ANA sub.

"I've heard of Aqua Nation Atlantica and your undersea prowess. I see that reputation is well-earned. Let me be the first to welcome you to our little slice of heaven."

Kai sounded quite suprised

"You've heard of us? as far as I know, ANA has been keeping a pretty low profile.."

Quickly she recovered, and indicated for the helmsman to take up a non threatening position in front of the lead submarine.

"Well, its a nice bit of heaven for sure, our readings show this area is festooned with life, and the water is really rich in nutrients, ideal for kelp, allthough you do have a particularly nasty current as soon as you drop off the edge of the continental shelf."

She smiled.

"So, Captain Wolrup.."

Inwardly Kai cringed, she could allready hear off to the side the dolphins chatter on their comlink squeaking to each other about Captain Walrus, the dolphins minds were very visual based, and this suited them perfectly.

"Over to you. Where do you want to go from here? As part of the Deep Range project, these incidents were forseen, and all Captains involved are allowed ful diplomatic capabilities.."

Albers quietly reminded Captain Wolrup that they were just a patrol squadron and didn't have such diplomatic authority. She nodded and whispered to him to send off a message to Nova City advising them of the situation.

"Only in passing, of course. This is the first official contact between our nations. In fact, if you would like, we can escort you to the nearest major city where arrangements can be made to have more formal meetings with government officials. I'm certain that they would love to hear more about your people and begin the process of establishing formal ties."

Captain Leanna Kai nodded to herself, and realising this was only a voice communication, spoke

"I would love that Captain, diplomatic contact is one of the aims of the Deep Range project. I hope I will have the pleasure of your company sometimes in the nearfuture??"

Kai rubbed her chin, the other captain sounded like a nice person, so, what the hell.

By this time both the dolphins had returned and were down in their compartments on the wet deck squeaking noisily about their new finds.

"Please, lead on Captain Wolrup!"

"Let's get a move on, then. As need be, we can be reached on this channel," Captain Wolrup said.

She then tasked Krait with sending the ANA sub a map outlining their projected course back to Nova City.

The other three submarines took up escort positions to the sides and aft of the ANA submarine, while Krait began to churn ahead.

Indicating with a nod of her head, Kai lets the helmsman know to follow the lead sub.

"So, what do we know on these people.."

She muttered to herself, then with a small shake of her head, she turned and headed to her cabin and digital library.

"I will be in my cabin, call me when we reach their landmass."

After a good couple of days' travel, the submarine flotilla entered the straits leading to Nova City. Captain Wolrup had Krait and Coral run on the surface, while the unmanned subs maintained undersea patrol.

The city itself was massive and easily seen from the water. A cluster of gleaming metal and glass superskyscrapers (each one easily as tall, if not taller, than the the Petronas Towers) indicated the commercial heart of the metropolis. Various arcology domes and lower structures fanned out from the towers like moss on the edge of trees.

Near the water's edge, though, were the unmistakeable launch facilities that gave Nova City its name. Miles upon miles of runways, launch towers, laser heavy-lift rocket pads, hangars, and facilities for personal craft stretched out and across the numerous barrier islands and peninsulas comprising the coast.

Captain Kai whistled under her breath, the whole city reminded her of ANA's only surface city, Jirocan, that wasn't what made her whistle however, the massive launch assemblies caught her eye, and to a nation not very intent on reaching the stars, they were very impressive.

"Paul, Sensors, are you getting this?"

"Yes Ma'am"

"Good..."

The subs eventually navigated their way to a degaussing station, at which point the two unmanned subs also surfaced. One by one, the patrol submarines passed through and then led the way to a rather large island roughly in the shape of a crescent that had a deep lagoon in the center.

The island itself was covered in various metal and concrete structures and buildings. Various docks and cranes lined the interior of the crescent. Every one of the docked craft was a military vessel of some kind.

One of the docks near the center of the curve had been cleared for the Krait, her sister ships, and the ANA sub. A welcoming committee of various naval officers, government officials, and civic leaders awaited them.

Captain Wolrup smiled as they approached the dock. Home, sweet home. She opened up a channel to her ANA counterpart. "Welcome to Naval Station Nova City, Captain."

Captain Kai smiled and transmitted back

"A pleasure to be here, its goig to be strange to sleep on the surface in building that stand in open air. Thanks you for the escort, I shall perhaps see you on the docks. Kai out"

Then she turned to the Helmsman

"Richard, you can take her in, Im gonig to get into my parade uniform.."

"Yes Ma'am."

By the time the ANS Sliver had pulled into the dock, Captain Kai was in her full 'diplomatic' uniform, and ready to greet those on dock..

Various staffers and personnel from fleet command were standing at attention on the dock. A smaller group of people in nicer uniforms and clothes, including a few representatives from the Transdynamics Consortium, were waiting at the bottom of a walkway extended out to the Sliver.

The unmanned submarines seemed not to have any room for them, except for possible side-by-side docking, but then suddenly submerged and disappeared from view entirely. The Sliver's sonar operator could swear that he or she heard the sounds of mechanical devices operating in the lagoon, maybe even doors of some kind.

Admiral Jake Longstreet of the Navy, Mayor Kaia Restin of Nova City, and Robert Yancy of Transdynamics Corporation led their respective contingents and were the first people they would see.

Captain Kai had a tiny earpeice, and listening to it while she mounted the exit ramp, her two most senior officers behind her, she narrowed her mind to undersae bases, something ANA was familiar with.

.oO(I must remember to ask weather or not the dolphins can swim in this lagoon..)

at which point she met the people on the ramp, a bog diplomatic smile plastered across her face, then she snapped of a salute in return.

"Gentlemen, and ladies, Captain Leanna Kai, of the Aqua Nation Atlantica Ship, Sliver, requeating to visit your nation under the diplomatic flag."

Admiral Longstreet returned the salute and smiled. He appeared to be in his mid-fifties and had a very calm demeanor to him. "Thank you, Captain. I am Admiral Jake Longstreet, commander of this naval station. On behalf of the Federation Navy and the Secretary-General, I welcome you and the crew of the Sliver on your diplomatic mission."

Mayor Restin, by contrast, was a good twenty years his junior and much more vibrant. She wore a flowing aquamarine dress and her raven hair was done up in numerous braids and held up with chopsticks. "Mayor Kaia Restin of Nova City. Welcome to our wonderful home!'

The corporate rep wore traditional business attire, as did the other members of his contingent. He spoke very succinctly, as if no further words were needed. "Robert Yancy, Transdynamics Corporation. Welcome."

Longstreet took the lead, since they were on his base. "Captain Kai, it's a pleasure to have you and your crew as our guests. We've arranged for a presentation about our country for your benefit in the main auditorium. Afterwards, Mayor Restin and Mister Yancy will take you on a tour of Nova City and the Transdynamics Spaceyards. Does that sound alright?"

Captain Kai nodded a smile at all three of them as she relaxed from salute, and then turned to the Admiral and with a bright smile said.

"Thank you Admiral, me and my two Lieutenants will be more than pleased to accompany you, “

She turns and smiles at both Mayor Restin and Mister Yancy

“And I look foreword to seeing your great surface city, you must realise, living on the surface seems a little strange to me!”

Then she turns back to the Admiral.

“but first, if you could make your Harbour master known to my Quartermaster, he can take over replenishment of the Sliver.."

This served several purposes, one of which was to see what kind of goods the base could supply.

"Also, my two dolphins prefer free water, would it be possible for them to access to the open water of the bay?"


http://mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk/totalrandom/SubComand.jpg

The Admiral nods at Captain Kai. "We'll get your quartermaster all fixed up. The dolphins can head out into the open water so long as they steer clear of any shipping lanes and one of our cybershells accompanies them. I'd hate for one of them to get too close to a launch pad vent."

A few moments later, the base's Materiel & Supply Officer heads over to the dock with a notebook-sized PDU in hand and his two executive officers in tow. They are both carrying book-sized PDUs and obviously running multiple tasks at once, nearly constantly tapping on the screen with the electronic stylus.

Around the same time, a shape that appears almost like a large metallic sea snake, but with prehensile and finned arms, rises to the surface. "Admiral Longstreet, I will be happy to accompany our pelagic guests on a tour of the local waters."

The Admiral nods. "Captain Kai, this is Iason. Rather, this is his cybershell, though he doesn't leave it much. He is one of our habitat maintenance specialists that monitors the local aquatic environment and helps us make sure that we don't have too negative an effect on the natural system."

Iason's voice rings out clear and confident, though he has no moving mouth to speak of. "Captain, welcome to our home. I look forward to learning your pod's culture and dialects."

Kai nods and smiles, security on a whole she thought was good, even sub surface.

"A Cybershell you say? oh, a cybernetic organism, what tribe do you have
working for you?"

She looked down int othe water where the two dolphins were eying the cybershell suspiciously.

"Metal mansnake eat eat fish not warm blood?"

Kai sighed and called down to Iason

"You will have to get used to them, even though they are as inteligent as you or I, their minds work on a far more visual basis, and their language operates in many different frequencies which we cannot hear, so their speech can seem a little.. disjointed. however, it is understandable, with a little effort."

Back onboard the Sliver, Quartermaster Cliveer rubbed his hands together in joy, clamping a big meerschaum pipe between his teeth, he'd seen the three guys heading his way, and exited the hatch to meet them.

Kai nods and smiles, security on a whole she thought was good, even sub surface.

"A Cybershell you say? oh, a cybernetic organism, what tribe do you have
working for you?"

Iason turns his body as if to indicate curiousity. "Tribe? My frame was designed and built by the Ocean Systems Division of Sterling Robotics."

She looked down int othe water where the two dolphins were eying the cybershell suspiciously.

"Metal mansnake eat eat fish not warm blood?"

He chuckles in an eerily human manner, having understood them quite clearly. "My cybershell is powered by high-density fuel cells. I do not require food."

Kai sighed and called down to Iason

"You will have to get used to them, even though they are as inteligent as you or I, their minds work on a far more visual basis, and their language operates in many different frequencies which we cannot hear, so their speech can seem a little.. disjointed. however, it is understandable, with a little effort."

"Captain, I am quite familiar with the minds of dolphins. The local pods and I get along quite well. I can even converse with them in their own language, if they would prefer," Iason commented.

Back onboard the Sliver, Quartermaster Cliveer rubbed his hands together in joy, clamping a big meerschaum pipe between his teeth, he'd seen the three guys heading his way, and exited the hatch to meet them.

The M&S Officer nodded at Cliveer and smiled congenially. "What can we do for you?"

OOC: Please note that I leave on vacation for a week starting tomorrow and I do not know what internet access I will have.

Captain Kai apologized

"Im sorry Iason, but back home the only cyborgs we have, are those of the Moray Tribe, expats from the African continent.. most everything is wetware or bioware back home.."

The two dolphins whistle and squeak

"Metal man swim long, deep no swim?"

Kai turns to the diplomats with her, and smiles.

"It seems my crew are in good hands, shal lwe continue?"

Quartermaster Cliveer pulled out a databad of his own and raised a bushy eyebrow as he looked through it..

"Ok, Me Lad, to start with, what consumables ya got?"

Iason nods his biomechanical head at the ANA leader. "No worries, Captain. If you'd like, I can begin their tour." Iason whistles and squeaks back at the two cetaceans in the dialect of the local dolphins. "Just around the bay, not too deep."

The assembled diplomats all nod and murmur in agreement with Captain Kai as they begin to walk away from the docks.

The M&S Officer smiles at the Quartermaster. "We've got everything from prepackaged food modules to fruits and veggies. What would you like?"

*Both dolphins squeak and flick their heads in the air, bidding gooday to those on the dock and zip off inot the water, figuring to test out how really manouverable this 'snak man' is!*

Captain Kai and her Officers follow, eager to see this great city.

Cliveer grins a big white shiny smile at the M&S Officers,

"Well Now me lads, lets say I be wantin' to start with one of most things, then we can work from there!"

He takes the lead M&S officer by the shoulder and leads them into the sub, and the cargo area, 'his' space..

Iason keeps up with the dolphins easily, thanks to his waterjet propulsors nestled in the articulating frame. However, he just keeps up with them... not wanting to be a show-off.

The first thing they see after clearing the island's lagoon is the open expanse of Nova Bay. Numerous ships of various sizes and designs pass overhead on computer-coordinated paths. Iason squeaks and clicks out: 'Go visit friends. Just past reef.'

And, with that, Iason zips off towards the north where a cluster of low islands can be seen rising up from the floor of the bay. It would seem that the base island is part of a small chain of barrier islands that stretches across from the north and across towards the southwest.

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In the meantime, Captain Kai and her officers are given a general tour of the base. It is outfitted with the same amenities anyone could expect at a Fifth Wave-technology naval station; though, it is made clear that the dedicated large naval bases elsewhere easily put this one to shame. Admiral Longstreet speaks especially fondly of his time spent at Abyssinia, the giant undersea arcology and research center.

_________________________________________________________________

The M&S officers head down into the cargo area with Cliveer, having already forwarded a supply order to their warehouse for the provisions.