NationStates Jolt Archive

In the smooth, silk-blue waters just off the coast of Valient, a lone, steel hulk floated silently, aimlessly, ponderously, seemingly without a care in the world.

A contrast to the figure standing on the prow of the ship, the Valient Royal Navy Stealth Carrier Vidion. The man looked out towards the landmarks of Valient. Even from his position, he could still see the DEO twin towers, Alexandria International airport and of course, the Harrison Naval Base.

The man sighed. His was a task unenviable, but, he mused, life was a constant test: you move from one problem to the other, and so on.

But what happens when you get the answer wrong? What then?

He smirked to himself, and pulled out a cigarette from his breast pocket, blue and pockmarked with tiny holes made by various medals and accolades. He put it to his mouth and fumbled around for a lighter, when he was interrupted by a voice.

"Admiral D'rtang, we are ready."

The man turned, and nodded. The lieutenant saluted, turned on his heel and left.

With a look back out towards Valient, the man sighed and put his cigarette back into his pocket, and went back into the ship, ducking low to avoid the overhang.

A test... nothing more, right?

(OOC: Hiya, Valient... Prepares blue-water navy for more combat... This has been a very blatant TAG)

“Attention all hands on deck - Admiral on the bridge.”

With precision honed by hours of practice, all of the crewmembers jumped to their feet and saluted smartly. With a genteel wave of his hand, Joseph D’rtang waved them back to whatever they were doing before.

D’rtang was not a man who liked such formality. Such things were for old stuffed shirts who needed things like salutes to make them feel important. But, D’rtang supposed, it was all part of the history, and he took them with a grain of salt.

History… the Valient Royal Navy had that. D’rtang was a part of that. At 48, he was the youngest standing Admiral in the over 200 year history of the institution. With that authority came prestige and a bit of latitude within the Navy.

At least, enough to not be questioned when he requested the use of the Vidion, the flagship of the VRN. Enough to not be questioned when he personally oversaw the transfer of the best and brightest minds in the Navy to the Stealth Carrier.

And loyal. They were loyal. After all, most of them had served with him on the various tours he had undertaken, and the rest he had… helped… their career move in the right ways.

Loyalty. If there was one thing he demanded, it was loyalty. He was never disappointed.

“Lieutenant Kendell, please take us forward at half-speed, mark 17 by 45”

“Aye, sir,” said the lithe, young woman operating at navigations.

As the ship moved slowly but surely out of Valient’s territorial waters, another figure approached the Admiral, nearly tall enough to overshadow D’rtang’s own 6 feet 4 stature.

“Admiral, it is an honour to have you on board, but would you mind letting me give the orders around here?” said the man with the three stars shining on his left breast pocket, outmatched by D’rtang’s four.

“Absolutely Captain, once we get to our destination that is.”

If the Captain felt any displeasure at this, he did not show it. D’rtang did not expect anything less. James Langdon was a man that he could trust. After all, they did serve together for over a decade on the Kingston and Langdon was not one to go against an order.

“Understood sir, but could you tell me what our destination is?”

D’rtang looked around. It was not that he was paranoid, but it was more prudent to be sure.

“Yes Captain, but in your ready room.”

“Yes sir. Commander Yolange, you have the conn.”

A beautiful woman in her thirties nodded assent, and walked to the front of the bridge area, a small black shadow on the forward viewscreen currently showing nothing but the ocean and the odd white cloud.

*****

D’rtang and Langdon entered the ready room, lights automatically coming on at the onset of motion. D’rtang went to the bar at the side of the room, which was filled with nautical memorabilia, and poured himself a stiff drink of Valient Ale.

“Would you like a drink, Captain?”

“No thanks, sir. What I would like are some answers… Where is this ship heading.”

“To the Fallujian Islands, James. Please, no need for our titles amongst friends.”

“Ok, Joseph, but… why the Fallujians? That’s far outside our usual shipping lanes.”

D’rtang took a drink of his ale. He smiled, and lifted the glass up to the light: little beads of evaporated water trickled down the sides and onto the Admirals fingertips.

“Perhaps I should ask you a question first, James. Tell me, what do you know about the Project Eternal Peace?”

“Project Eternal Peace? I’ve never heard about it.”

“No wonder… perhaps you’ve heard of the Omega Pulse…”

"...Omega Pulse? No, haven't heard about either."

In a dimly-lit office all the way across from Harrison Bay, two men sat slumped in chairs, facing each other set in confusion and horror.

In the hallway beyond the closed door, firgures could be seen running up and down the hall, shouting the odd order from here and there.

"The Omega Pulse... oh, wait, you weren't here when the project officially wrapped up. GODDAMMIT!"

The man balled his right hand and looked around, as if for something to break, or throw across the small room.

"Wait, what's happening, Greg. Tell me!"

The man looked across at his partner, face now a look of concern and bewilderment.

"Look, Harka, this... Omega Pulse... is so... classified, only 10 people know of it's existance. If I told you, both of us could be in very serious trouble..."

"I just want to know what the hell is going on around here. What is with everyone scrambling around with their heads cut off today?"

The man leaned in, setting the example for his colleague to follow.

"Let's just put it this way: if the Americans had the Omega Pulse instead of The Bomb at Hiroshima... there would have been no survivors."

"In the city?"

"In the country, and the schematics for the Omega Pulse are missing."

The other man's face fell an ashen grey. Outside, men continued to hurry along, shouting again from here and there."

OOC:
Valient.. Omega Pulse... Valient.. Omega Pulse...

Oh, right, now I remember; I put an orbital lance through your leader's house for trying to sell that thing back in December.

That was, oh, nearly two and a half centuries ago, by our time scale.

OOC:
Valient.. Omega Pulse... Valient.. Omega Pulse...

Oh, right, now I remember; I put an orbital lance through your leader's house for trying to sell that thing back in December.

That was, oh, nearly two and a half centuries ago, by our time scale.
OOC: Hmm, sounds fun. Now this time, we can do it in unison! With Tsunami Anti-matter Missile launchers. Thank you Klonor, thank you.

OOC: Hmm, sounds fun. Now this time, we can do it in unison! With Tsunami Anti-matter Missile launchers. Thank you Klonor, thank you.

OOC:
It was just a demonstration strike to show that we were serious in our threats; basicly, he tryed to call our bluff. We weren't bluffing, and that was just a 'warning shot'.

This time around, however, it looks like the situation is completly different, but not enough has been revealed to say what is going on to begin with.

OOC: So, what is it exactly? I just ask OOCly. Anyways, at the moment, my national leader is trapped deep in a military base being attacked by genetically-created mutant monstrosities. And members of the RP are dropping rapidly. I have around 3 of the original ten or so.

OOC: So, what is it exactly? I just ask OOCly. Anyways, at the moment, my national leader is trapped deep in a military base being attacked by genetically-created mutant monstrosities. And members of the RP are dropping rapidly. I have around 3 of the original ten or so.

OOC:
Basicly a type of 'super' WMD. A search for all the threads he has started reveals this (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=295352), the thread in question.

Ahh, Kanuckistan, I am very glad to see you again, as I am in need of your assistance.

You are correct - this time, the situation is different. This is a tightly-controlled RP in a timeline called Elseworlds.

In Elseworlds, history has taken the different courses that could have been, or should have been, if one thing or another happened differently. Taking the Omega Pulse incident, I have decided to create another reality for the Commonwealth-Dominion of Valient.

That said, i do not want to reveal too much of the plot here, but I definately need, you, Fuggolia, and Indra Prime to RP later in the thread, you probably much earlier. Could you tg me and if possible, get Indra and Fugg to do so as well?

Nothing here is real, as in real NS history. This is just an excercise in alter-reality. I will post again tomorrow and continue with the thread.

Valient.

OOC: Could I join in with the fun? I would use Taren as national leader, because he isn't in a bunker in the alter-verse.

OOC:
Um, why don't you just TG 'em? It's your thread, so you'd be more qualifyed to recruit folks.

And what purpose would me TGing you have at this point?

OOC: Good point. I'll be in touch. Also, JJR, this thread is closed for now, but I will open it soon enough.


IC:

The next day, as the sun broke over the Novopian Mountain range on the outskirts of Alexandria, weary, bed-raggled people dragged themselves out of their slumber, steeling themselves for another day, another battle for yet another doller.

The president of Valient was no different, though he did allow himself the luxery of lolling about in bed for a couple minutes after the alarm had rang.

Lazing about in bed was one of the few luxeries Alexander Valient allowed himself lately. After all, the business of running the country did not end at the stroke of midnight, only to start again at 6 a.m. No, he had to be a leader 'round the clock, all day, everyday.

"Sigh..."

With his right hand, Valient picked up the free pillow next to him and held it to his bare chest. He could still smell his wife's shampoo on it.

Herbal Essence. It was the most feminine smell he had ever encountered. He was glad Christina loved it.

"Mr. President, are you just going to lie in bed until that rebellion reaches out and smacks you in the face?"

Valient smiled at his beautiful wife, resplondent in her teal summer dress that hugged her hips and kissed her figure.

"Madame First Lady, I have it on good word that the Sicythirus rebellion has been successfully quashed. Don't I deserve a reward?"

"Yes..."

Christina moved from her spot in the doorway and leaned over onto the bed, With a gentle touch, she drew Valient's face forward for a kiss, deep and one that tasted mildly of toothpaste.

"...but you still have to get up."

With that, the first lady moved back and walked out the door. However, her voice came back as she moved towards the dining room.

"Hampton made us some eggs and pancakes. Hurry, you have that meeting with Troy at 9 o'clock."

Valient smiled, and swung his legs around to the side of the bed. With a soft grunt, he stood up and turned on the laptop computer at the side table. As it was booting up, he pulled on a velvet dress shirt.

It was smooth, and made him feel a little more classy.

"You have one new message."

Valient groaned inwardly. He did not know why the president of any country would need anything that promised "Another 4 inches..."

But it was not Spam at all. It was a message marked urgent from Lee Natarin, Director of the Department of External Operations.



From: Lee Natarin
Subject: Project Eternal Peace


Project Eternal Peace is Condition Zero.

Repeat, Condition Zero.



Valient's face tightened. Suddenly the shirt had seemingly cut off all air to his throat.

But he knew it wasn't that...

"Honey, can you get someone to call Troy? I'm going to have to get him to meet me directly at the Towers."

Condition Zero: Item missing and presumed stolen.

Condition Zero. Not exactly a good way to start the day.

OOC:
Oh, I see where this is going...


...you want to make me feel bad for lancing Valient's house and accidently killing his family, don't you? :p

No. Actually, in this timeline, that incident still happens. However, it will be a flashpoint that leads to... other actions taking place. Just keep on reading ;)

"Thanks. Keep the change."

The taxi-driver nodded and waved a simple goodbye as Troy Clemington climbed out of the white and blue Alexandria Taxi cab. As he drove away, the driver pondered why the Vice-President of Valient took a cab - his cab - to work,

and why did the vice-president look so... scared?

Perhaps if Clemington knew what his driver was thinking, perhaps he would have hailed the cab down, and offer some platitude, some explanation that would assuage his concerns.

Of course, Clemington was in no mood to offer any platitudes.

But he did want someone to assuage his concerns.

Condition Zero. Not exactly a good way to start the day.

Clemington looked up at the sheer rise of Tower A of the DEO Twin Towers. Both towers were identical in nearly every way, standing at a lofty 75 floors high.

But he wasn't going up at any rate. He was going down...

******

The vice-president was the last to arrive at the conference room of the DSWA in the sub-basement 15 of Tower A. He caught the eye of Valient, and nodded. Seated at the huge, round table were six other men other than he and the president.

At the front of the room was a large, pull down display, which had a map of the continental North America on it. Beside it stood two men, who looked nervous but ready, as if with a purpose.

"Good morning, gentleman I am Dr. Gregory Millard, Deputy Director at the Defense Special Weapons Agency in the Department of External Operations. With me is my assistant, Harka Kandour. I appreciate the opportunity to appear before you today to discuss the current crisis that is facing us - the dissapearance and presumed theft to the schematics of Project Eternal Peace.

For those who do not know of the project, I have been instructed to explain what exactly is Eternal Peace, or the Omega Pulse."

Cleminton leaned forward in his chair, which was starting to make his back a little sore. It had been years since there had been any mention, even in the upper echelon of the defense department, of the project.

"Now, the most common perception of a nuclear detonation is that represented by a mushroom cloud -- a burst at or near the surface of the earth. Such a burst results in a variety of weapons effects, most prominently blast and thermal, whose extent can reach up to several miles from ground zero, depending on yield. The only exception is radioactive fallout from a surface burst, which at low levels can traverse the entire globe.

However, a high altitude burst, detonated at heights ranging from 50 to several hundreds of kilometers above the earth's surface, is also capable of generating a wide variety of effects and disturbed environments, the most far-reaching being EMP. Depending primarily on the burst height and to a lesser extent on yield, a high altitude burst can bathe a continental size region in EMP. Such a detonation causes particular concern because of the sensitivity of modern electronics to strong electromagnetic fields.

For example, if a high-yield weapon were to be detonated 400 kilometers (250 miles) above the United States, nearly the entire contiguous 48 states would be within the line-of-sight."

As if to illustrate the point, a map of the US appeared on the screen.

"The frequency range of the pulse is enormously wide -- from below one hertz to one gigahertz. Peak electric fields can reach tens of thousands of volts per meter. All types of modern electronics are potentially at risk, from Boston to Los Angeles; from Chicago to New Orleans."

On the screen, a wide swath of red cut across the map.

A man who seemed to be very anxious spoke up from his seat next to Clemington.

"Hurry up and get to the Omega Pulse!"

Millard nodded, and continued without hesitation.
"My apology to High-Minister Garret. At any rate, it is important to discuss the EMP, as the Omega Pulse is... a type of pulse wave.

In essence, the pulse is designed to... use altered electromagnetic fields that are designed to not target electronics, but instead the synapse of the spinal cortex in humans.

By targeting the synapse, the Omega Pulse literally fries the nervous system of the human target..."

"Which we all know contravenes the UN treaty on Weapons of Mass Destruction," said Valient, standing up to address the members of the conference. Clemington looked around, and recognized other high ranking officials, including Generals from the Royal Guard and the Royal Air Force.

"True," added Kandour, who until now had remained silent. "That is why the DSWA discontinued work on the Pulse. All that did remain why a half-built satellite and the schematics..."

"Which are now missing," Clemington said. As all eyes turned to look at him, the vice-president continued. "How long exactly have these plans been missing?"

"Uncertain," said Millard. "They were hald in a secure position in the vaults on Sub-basement 30. The only ones with access to that room are in this room right now."

"Not everyone," said a man dressed in full army formal wear. "What about D'rtang?"

"Now, now Harrovich," said Valient. "D'rtang is on an extended mission on the Vidion. I can personally vouch for him."

"Well," said the General, "then we're at square one: someone is out there with the key to the most powerful weapon of the world, and we are absolutely powerless to stop him."

Inside sub-basement 15 of Tower A, 10 men stared at each other, for the first time in the meeting, at a loss for words.

Captain James Langdon looked out the forward viewscreen and wondered at the majesty of the Fallujian Island Chain. A string of seven islands, the largest being the size of Texas, and the smallest merely the size of Vancouver Island off of the coast of Western Canada.

However, the Vidion was heading for neither island. Rather, the carrier was headed for the fourth island, simply known as Fallujian-4.

Only one thing bothered the Captain: the Fallujian's were not in Valient water.

They were in Kanuckistan territory.

Langdon walked over to D'rtang, who was studying some charts that langdon did not recognize. They looked vaguely like schematics for some sort of... machine.

"Excuse me, Admiral, but we are getting closer to the Fallujians. We will arrive within 30 minutes."

"Good, good, Captain. Now, tell me, what do you see when you look at these?"

D'rtang lifted up the sheets of schematics and handed them to Langdon. Langdon looked them over, trying hard to look like he knew what he was looking for, or at.

"I don't know, sir. Engineering was never a strong point, but, if I am correct, these are the plans for your Omega Pulse?"

D'rtang took the sheets back and studied them himself again.

"No, Captain, these are not just schematics to the Omega Pulse. These," he said, shaking the papers to emphasize his point, "are the key to the future of Valient. These are the schematics, the framework, the PLANS to ensuring the peace and stability of the Commonwealth-Dominion for your children, my children, and our children's children."

Langdon nodded briefly.

"I... understand sir."

D'rtang looked at Langdon for a moment, studying him as if he too was just a part of the schematics.

Then he smiled, and clapped the Captain on the back.

"No worries. I'm sure everyone will understand soon enough. Now, if you excuse me, I must get back to my work. Let me know when we are within 10 minutes of Island-4"

Langdon nodded, and left the Admiral to his work.

He went back to the viewscreen, and looked out again at the Island Chain of Fallujia

He did mean to ask D'rtang one question,

What if Kanuckistan found out about the Vidion or the Omega Pulse? What happened if they were all discovered.

but he supposed that could wait. After all, everyone would soon understand...

Right?...

This has been an Ineffable Tag, sponsored by Molten Boron. There's no better boron!

Alexander Valient swore silently to himself as the rest of the taskforce exited the room, no closer to finding out the fate of the Omega Pulse plans, and thusly, no closer to knowing what the next step of action should be.

Valient cursed again, this time more loudly, not caring who heard him.

"Alexander, this isn't your fault."

Turning around, Valient found that his vice-president, Troy Clemington, was the only one remaining in the room other than him.

With a nod, Clemington took a seat directly across him, setting his black attache case aside on the dark, marble table.

"Alexander, I know that you want to blame yourself for what is happening, but you... for god's sakes, don't do this to yourself."

Valient took a hand and rubbed at the side of his face. It was itchy, a thin cover of hair had grown back from where he shaved.

"Do what?"

"Worry."

"Worry? Worrying is what a president must do, Troy. A president worries that he will screw up his speech on national television. A president worries the stock market will crash, taking the economy down to whatever depths of hell it sees fit.

A president worries that some megalomaniac gets the hands on a superweapon and take the world hostage. A president worries. That is ALL a president does."

Clemington looked across at Valient, and nodded.

"I'm only 35, Troy. In political terms, I should still be wetting my bed, and... and now this comes up? Of course I worry..."

Though he was nearly 20 years his elder, Clemington felt nothing but awe. It was a rare politician who was able to reveal his emotions so well.

Clemington tried to interject, but Valient raised his hand to stop him. He wasn't finished quite yet.

"And this could not have come at a worse time for this nation, Troy. Our military is still mopping up that business in Sicythirus, and we don't have enough ships in case we have to deal with the pulse."

Clemington could only nod at the logic behind that.

"So what do we do then, Alex?"

Valient looked across the marble table at his vice-president.

"What else. We ask for help."


*****

TO: All Heads of State in the AHA region
From: Alexander Valient, President, Commonwealth-Dominion of Valient

Dear Presidents, leaders, monarchs, etc.

I request your prescence in Valient in three days time for a conference concerning a major crisis that looms over all of our heads - the Omega Pulse.

No, I understand that none of you know what this is, but please read through the information that I am sending you, and reply in due time that you will in attendance.

Thank you, and god speed.
Alexander Valient

OOC:
Just an FYI to readers; Valient has taken some liberties with my geography for the purposes of this RP. There is no Fallujian Island Chain in Kanuckistan, outside of this thread.

BTW, for this RP, are you still the small nation you were back when this originally happened in December?

IC:
Captain Alexander Whetstone paced the bridge of his stratocruiser five hundred kilometers away from the intruding Valient carrier; it's entry into Kanuckistani waters not long ago had been readily detected, for tho a so-called 'stealth' vessel, Kanuckistan employed LiDAR as much as RADAR, along with optical and IR satalite imaging. Already there was enough ordinance targeted on the lone ship to sink a small country, but, as no one had every deployed forgine military assets into Kanuckistani waters befor, and it was aparently not an invasion(who attacks with a single carrier?), there had confusion as jurisdiction, and so for a time they had remained uncontacted...

And now, they were closing with the Fallujian Islands, their ETA to the fourth land mass a scant 15 minutes, "Have the Warden launch a pair of UAVs to intercept that ship; air supe and a gap with anti-shipping munitions."

An "Aye sir," acknowledged his order as he once again passed the theatre tactical plot, the ops tech relaying his command to one of the Battlegroup's StratoCarriers; a few moments later, two new green dots apeared on the screen, an ETA of 6 minutes amoung the assorted data that accompanied them. The intruders would be just within 9 minutes of land by then.

"Prepare a radio relay; when the UAVs have line of sight, I want to take to the interlopers."

This thread is officially ended, and has ben reincarnated here:

http://forums2.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?p=6842769&posted=1#post6842769

Thank you for you patience.