NationStates Jolt Archive

I can't believe I'm going to spend the rest of my term of service on this pig. the Firstmate thought. Of all the rotten punishments in the Empire, I get stuck on this damned freighter in the middle of nowhere going to the edge of nowhere. He paused for a moment as the Captain gave a command, and he executed those orders.

"And you might want to go down and make sure the cargo is secure." The Captain suggested.

Inspect it yourself, the Firstmate suggested silently. You dirty pig. He stepped away from his duties and made his way silently and stealthfully away from the bridge and down onto the rolling deck. The seas were bad, but not too terribly bad. It was called the Pacific for a reason. There were no waves rising over and smashing the top of the freighter, but just the occasional swells at the bow as the ship plunged head-long into the mighty blue waters.

The Firstmate threw open a small hatch on the deck of the ship and made his way down a small, almost claustrophobic ladder way. He held fast as the ship plunged again into the waters. Flipping a huge toggle switch he lit up the entire rear compartment. It was a huge thing, nearly a football field in length.

It looked like the regular cargo. He wasn't quite sure though, so he pulled a manifest off the adjoining wall and looked over it quickly. "Pipe-line for an oil refinery." He looked at the massive, steel containers that stretched about sixty feet each. "Looks about right. Be nice if those damned government types would let us inspect the cargo once in a while."

A harsh siren went off. He looked over his right shoulder and saw the spinning red light: there was a fire. The Firstmate scrambled up the ladder way and emerged onto the deck. There was a slight plume of smoke issuing from the bow compartment. He wasn't about to go down and check it out as there was a group of six men double timing it his way. A second alarm, this one beeping, went off. "Time to abandon ship."

- - - - - - -

At the extreme aft of the ship two massive metallic doors swung open. A large hovercraft like boat emerged from the rear of the crippled ship. The Firstmate was all too glad to see the ship disappearing behind him. Although the miniature boat was self contained, he still felt a little scared. But it was all for the best. "Better to be off that damned boat." He said aloud. The Captain looked as if he were going to reprimand the Firstmate but shrugged and pushed a small button on the console of the ship. The Firstmate was curious and looked back to the ship. The large flag of Akilliam, of the Empire, began to slink down the pole and finally disappeared inside the bridge of the ship.

80 kilometers away, four surface ships and two subs of the Berëzan Navy were making their way to a rendezvouz point, in preparation for a war against The Imperial Empire of Belem. One of the subs, a mid-sized attack vessel by the name of PFB Holstinin, recorded some unusual activity coming from the freighter that the naval group had long noticed and was watching without much regard. The command crew decided to inform the lead ship, the Phantom-class gun cruiser NFB Shtil', to see if anything should be done - it sounded like the freighter was having troubles. The commanding officer of the fleet, 2nd Admiral Anna Yesenina, slowed down the fleet, and sent a helicopter to investigate. Its orders were to investigate, report, and if the freighter was sinking, to pick up any shipwrecked sailors.

The pilots of the chopper, a tandem-rotor TV-3 transport helo, spotted the huge freighter, and a much smaller, but still large hovercraft speeding away from it. The ship had no flag. Something was odd. The chopper flew over to hover near the hovercraft to see if it could identify it.

"We've just been moblized to a place called Akilliam. Apparently a ship burnt up and no one is sure what was on board. We're going scuba diving, boys..." The commander smiled as he pulled on his wet suit and looked out of the helicopter's open door. The five other men looked nervous - but they knew what they had to do.

ooc: Sorry Sanchezium, the ship is still afloat :(

-----------

"This is the Rescue Ship Endeavor," The Captain muttured between sips from his flask. "Rescue Ship Endeavor to inbound helo. Our freighter, the ANSF Dierectus, was struck with a fire, all crew is accounted for and heading for safety now. We expect to be picked up by a military ship in... oh... about a day or so. That vessel is still property of the Empire!" The Captain shouted. "Until we all hit shore."

Just great thought the Firstmate. Going to be stuck on another damned ship with this drunk at the helm. "Hand me that flask." The Firstmate said with command in his voice. "I'm going to need it."

Only one of the helo crews spoke [broken] English, and had to be fetched from his spot at the rear machine gun. He understood it to mean that the hovercraft called for rescue and would be picked up, and were fine for now. "This is Berëza helicopter. The ship is no sinking, so why evacuate? And why it no has flag? What mean, 'still ours until we all hit shore'?" Though the hovercraft was of little importance and no threat, the helo crew was still slightly suspicious.

The Sanchezium divers slips silently into the water and swim up under the....still....floating....ship. "Here we go!" He tosses a rope up to the deck and the team begins climbing...

A small 5CN Coast Guard cutter approached the slowly sinking freighter. Three launches are dropped and they proceed towards the freighter. Meanwhile, the cutter sends a message via morse code to the Bereza vessels...

This is the 5CN Coast Guard cutter, the Absolute Sea, we received a SOS message and we are here to assist with the recovery operations...

"Ruhrian Pacific Fleet Flagship RNS Falcon to Berezan Naval Vessels, you are approaching Ruhrian Territorial waters. Repeat, you are closing on Ruhrian Territorial Waters. We request that you turn to course three-zero-seven. Repeat, please turn to course three-zero-seven to avoid Ruhrian Territorial waters. The Ruhrian Navy will deal with the vessel."

As the Lieutenant spoke into the open-broadcast, four Delta Class DDGNs ran at thirty-two knots in an attempt to reach the vessel they had been expecting. The fire was only a mask, a planned accident by the Akilliam Government and Ruhrian Imperial Navy. Onboard the RNS Delta, the first in class, Captain Voss was looking through the binoculars. He anticipated the vessel's appearance on the horizon. "How long, Mr. Ryan?"

"At our current speed, thirty minutes." The radarman responded. Thirty minutes, a lot could happen then. The captian realised this and walked to the communications bulkhead. After picking up the radio on a closed fleet transmission, he said "Delta to Destroyer Squadron. Launch Helicopters. Special Teams are to raid and secure the vessel. They know what we are looking for."

A Seahawk rolled out of each destroyer's hanger. Once they were loaded with the Marines, they took off heading towards the freighter. Lines dropped form each side of each helicopter, falling to the forward deck of the burning freighter. Four men from each helicopter jumped down the ropes and secured the northern sector. Colonel Mike O'Neil lead the group, his M4 Carbine pointed low on the deck, running around the side of a container. There it was, the hatch to the lower deck. He spoke into his headphones, "Marines, head below. We are looking for four blue containers that spans the vessel, marked with some silver crosses on the corners. I want the topside monitored at all times. Jackson's team, get to the superstructure and stand watch! Move! Move!"

The marines began a systematic search of the vessel's lower container bay. They ran through the rows, and finally, the four were located. After fifteen minutes of inspection, the group was successful. O'Neil pressed his headset, "O'Neil to Delta, we have them."

The same communications officer spoke directly to the marines, "Clear the deck with the ship's crane. Captain wants the containers on top on the double. As soon as we get closer, we will have some engineers over to make any repairs needed. Good job, Marines."

"Roger, Delta. Clearing the deck. Over and out." O'Neil signalled to the rest of the marines in the lower bay. "You heard the man! Get moving! Ryan, get to the crane and start your magic. I want that deck clear before those vessels get here!"

Now, they were really confused. They were told that the hovercraft was fine. Really suspicious, but fine. They didn't see the scuba team climb aboard the freighter...yet.

ooc: what are "launches"?

But they did see the other helos, and the marines. The gray TV-3 hovered near the ship, trying to figure out what the bloody hell was going on. The hovercraft was radioed again, "Hovercraft, there are soldiers descending on your freighter. The helicopters that delivered them have different markings than your ship does. Please acknowledge."

Meanwhile, the Berëzan ships diverted away from the coast.

OOC: Its just a small boat with a motor...

"RNS Delta to all surrounding vessels. The Akilliam freighter will be dealt with by the Ruhrian Imperial Navy. You are requested to vacate the area."

"What the hell is going on?" muttered Yesenina, partly to herself, partly to her XO. The ships had turned away from the Ruhr coast, and the helicopter was still flying around, trying to figure out what was going on. "Grisha," she looked at her XO, "have the Bohr monitor communications in the area, see what they can find. In the mean time," she bit her lip. This next was a hard decision, "send a small SMD* team to the ship. Make sure they know...oh, nevermind. Send them to my office. I'll be in there." Her executive officer, Senior Captain Carlo Bacardi, nodded and walked off to find the right people. Meanwhile, the NFB Bohr, a missile cruiser with sophisticated electronics, had begun attempting to monitor radio communications in the area. To its dismay, it discovered that most were encrypted. There was some information coming through, though, and its decrypting computers, run on the Genworks OS, could decode. It would just take a while and some effort.

*SMD stands for SpetzMorDesantniki, short for Spetzal'niyi Morskiye Desantniki, or Special Marine Commandos, basically a SEAL team.

O'Neil was topside of the freighter, his small M4 Carbine resting over the railing pointing harmlessly into the sea. The Berezan ships had turned away from the Ruhrian Territorial waters, stretching over 100 miles from the Ruhrian Barrier Reef, but they have not understood they had handled the situation. There was no more crew, as arranged beforehand, however the international attention on this vessel was great.

O'Neil clicked his headset once more, "O'Neil to Delta, What is the status on the Berezan ships? Their smaller vessels are maintaining their position around the freighter. Orders?" There was a pause, the Communications officer was conversing with the Captain.

"Orders, sir?" he repeated calmly.

"This is the Captain. See if you can get the freighter into Ruhrian waters. From there no foreign warships can enter and we can handle it. If not, hold them off the vessel. Do not fire on them, just imply that the situation is on our hands and we are trying to secure it. Once again, do not fire on them. We will be there in twelve minutes. Over."

"Aye, Captain. We'll do what we can. Over and out." The stern voice of the Captain reassured Colonel O'Neil the urgency of this mission. After changing the frequency of his headset, he was now speaking just to his teams. "Marines, continue operations. Jackson's team, start up the engine. We need this ugly hunk of metal in Ruhrian waters before Berezans can get any closer. Every move! On the double! Do not, repeat, not fire on anyone unless they fire first! O'Neil out."

er...all 4 surface ships have turned away. the SMD team is arriving via scuba gear. the helicopter's still hovering around, and you can't see the subs (they're with the ships, anyway). as far as you know, just the helicopter is still in the area.

The Captain, a man named Actius, was a bit set back by the situation. With his eyes he could see the morass of helicopters and teams hovering around his abandoned ship. The radar display indicated there was a large number of fleet vessels in the immediate area. Actius took another swig from his flask and burped. "Well, we got ourselves a little crap storm here."

The Firstmate, Braeteii, couldn't help but chuckle. "We weren't carrying oil pipelines, were we?"

"Of course we were!" Actius shouted, then took yet another swig. "You read the manifest didn't you? Or are you another one of those communist heathens bent on bringing down the Empire? Speak, you dirty Red!"

"Why would so many different forces be bent on capturing a vessel that isn't yet derelict if it is carrying something so invaluable?" Braeteii replied swiftly. "No, that ship wasn't carrying pipes."

Captain Actius smiled and finished off his flask. "If the Empire says we were carrying pipeline, then that's what we were carrying." He paused for a moment. "Bereza Helo, we lowered the flag in tradition of the Empire; when we abandon a ship we lower the flag in respect of the vessel. We evacuated because of the fact that the ship was on fire. A fire at sea is quite a tramatic thing, if you take my meaning.

"To Ruhrian naval vessels, you're kinda violatin' international law buds. We ain't made landfall yet, so that ship isn't yet derelict. In other words, my friend, it is still the property of the Empire of Akilliam. Any nu...er, pipelines taken from the ship will be considered theft and so on and so forth."

Braeteii looked at the radar and saw two bogies coming inbound fast. Then, a familiar language and accent came over the comm. "This is EvacHelo 158 to EvacHover of Freighter Illycrium, we're here to pick you up."

A big helicopter came over the horizon and parked itself in the air above the evacuation ship. A line dropped down and Braeteii opened the hatch. One by one the men were lifted off the evacuation ship and then flown to safety. Their destination: Semper in Angaria, Herculaneum.

The electronics surveillance team of the NFB Bohr was most interested in what Actius had to say. The crew briefly summarized what was going on, and radioed it to the 5 SMD men and women.

The 5 SMD's entered the Illycrium through the rear doors through which the EvacHover exited. They stashed their scuba gear, unzipped their sub-machine guns, and made their way towards the cargo area to see what they could find. Their orders were simple - see what there is to see, avoid detection, report back, avoid interfering at all cost, and definitely don't attack anyone. Dressed for the occasion in black swimsuits and silent footgear, they stalked noiselessly through the back halls of the freighter, trying to find the cargo hold...

The helo, meanwhile, had given up on figuring out anything, and flew back to the Shtil'. All 4 surface ships and one of the Berëzan subs continued sailing away, albeit slowly, while the Holstinin still lurked near the freighter to pick up the SMD team when they were done.

Excerpts from the Imperator's Weekly Speech

"...It has become clear from remote video feeds onboard the Freighter Illycrium that foreign parties have boarded and are attempting to steal property of the Empire of Akilliam. The parties involved are in violation of International Laws and the Empire will take every measure possible to ensure that these pirates of the seas are prosecuted to the fullest extent possible under International Law...
...Such acts of terror will not be tolerated on the high seas, or anywhere the Empire may tread. Let this be a warning to those that would pirate our ships, and ships of other nations: The Empire will not stand for this barbarism, anywhere!...
...Those parties that have violated International Law have, in essence, declared war on the Empire. We will meet that call. As of now, the Empire of Akilliam stands ready to respond to all parties involved with force. As of now, the Empire is at a state of high alert."


- - - - - - - - -

The Destroyer Nelo was running at flank speed ahead, ploughing head long towards a volatile situation. It was running escort duty with two other destroyers, but had been pulled from the line to run this dangerous risk. The captain confirmed to his crew that the waters around the freighter Illycrium were filled with hostile vessels. Nothing frightened the crew, save the name Ruhr. They had heard about the lethality of Ruhr's Navy and had no intentions of taking her on.

But that was their very mission. Come hell or high water, they would plunge into the frey to drive off the pirates, those violators of International Law. The Nelo would be the first on the scene, followed by a pair of missile cruisers flanked by six destroyers and then, in a week at least, the 7th Battlegroup.

The captain queued the comm to the Freighter's frequency. He punched in the Sound-All command that would transmit his message the entire ship. "This is ANS Nelo to all hostile parties, you will evacuate the Illycrium and heave to, I repeat, you will evacuate the Illycrium and heave to." The captain let off the comm.

It would be two days before the Missile Cruiser group showed up. In that time the situation would be a non-issue...

or Akilliam would be at war with Ruhr and Bereza.

Given that it was an uncoded transmission, the Bohr had no trouble picking it up. Given that Berëza was busy enough, and wanted to avoid conflict, Admiral Yesenina had as little trouble in forming a reply - "This is the NFB Shtil' to ANS Nelo. We are peacefully leaving the area, and will have nothing further to do with your freighter, or any other ships in the area. We have taken no hostile actions in this situation, merely sent a helicopter to pick up any shipwrecked sailors, which there were none. We have no personnel aboard the Illycrium, and have nothing more to do with it. Please do not attack us, for we have done nothing, and are currently doing less. Let us leave without conflict. Please acknowledge."

Well, it was half true, but nobody outside of the high command staff knew that there were 5 commandos aboard the freighter, and that the submarine PFB Holstinin was sitting silent under it, waiting to pick up the commandos.

....

Hearing faint noises from above, the SMD's kept lurking in the freighter's dimly-lit bowels, trying to find the main cargo hold. As yet, they'd found nothing of interest, and nobody had detected them.

"NFB Shtil', the Empire thanks you for your timely response. We hope that in the future such unfortunate circumstances will be avoided. ANS Nelo, out." The Captain let off the comm.

"Sir, do you think they're up to something fishy?" A lieutenant asked somberly.

"Bereza?" The Captain replied. "No, not Bereza. Ruhr, maybe."

OOC: sorry...lots of stuff going on. I will have an IC post tonight.

"Am I to understand that there will be no hostilities between us, Captain?"
undetected, woohoo! i knew that dumping 40% of the military budget into the special forces would pay off someday