Stevid
05-11-2004, 19:08
Tens of thousands of citizens had travelled from all over Stevid to see this sad and historic event. Some had come from nations afar, allies of Stevid. The people were gathered at the Argyle Fleet Dockyards in Southern Stevid, homeport to the largest naval fleet in Stevid, the fifth fleet. The Argyle Fleet Dockyards were also home to the most feared, most powerful battleship in the Stevid navy, HMS Akira, the flagship for the entire navy.
Security was tight, armed police patrolled the neighbouring areas of the Argyle Dockyards and were patrolling the dockyards themselves looking for any troublemakers. People had been arriving for hours and hours, some had come in advance and some where still looking for parking spaces in the nearby.
It was a hot day and the five o’clock sun was a blazing orange. It was quiet, a few murmurs from the huge crowd but nothing more. It was only a few minutes after five that a heavily escorted black limousine arrived down the road towards the podium in front the giant shadow of the HMS Akira. The jet-black limo stopped short of the podium and the police escort formed a perimeter around it. The driver, dressed in black and wearing black shades and earpiece, got out of the driver’s side of the limo and walked to the back door and opened it. A tall, smartly dressed man with high ranking insignia’s and ribbons on his left chest stepped out of the limo, thanked the driver and started to walk towards the podium.
A man was already on the podium and spoke into the microphone.
“Ladies and gentlemen, Admiral Sir Alan West. First Sea Lord of the Stevid Royal Navy and Commander of the HMS Akira.”
The entire crowd broke into a huge applause and extremely loud cheering. Hundreds of people in the crowd raised the flag bearing the White Ensign and patriotically waved the flag amidst the cheering and the applause. Admiral Sir Alan West smiled at his supporters and raised his arm and waved to the crowd as he walked up onto the podium and approached the microphone.
The Admiral raised his hand to silence the crowd. They obeyed.
“On behalf of the entire Royal Navy, I thank you all for coming to this to this historic day. We all know why we are here, but in case there are some people who don’t, we are to witness the greatest ship in the Royal Navy of Stevid retired from service. HMS Akira, the largest most powerful, and probably most fear vessel in the Stevid Navy.”
There was a ripple of applause from the crowd and a few photos being taken. In the dim light, the flashes could easily be seen.
“She was the first ship to ever be erected in the Stevid Navy, she was to mark the first step of the journey to have one of the largest navies in the world. She is the first cause, the inspiration of the Stevid navy. I am privileged to be her captain and I’m privileged to be with her one last time, before the break-up of her hull.
She has done her country proud, prouder than it ever has been. She has made the navy proud, her crew proud, me proud, and most importantly of all… her allies proud.
Many have come to see this ship as invincible. In fact, I’ve yet to see the day when the navy of Stevid will lose a battle. The Akira has been an influence, a good luck charm for the navy, the fifth fleet and the allied navies she has fought alongside with. She has never had to bear the unfortunate duty of defending her home country; she has always fought with allied nations on the offensive, never defensive.
She has fought with Holy Panooly, Huzen Hagen and many more in response to a request for help and the Akira had a real influence on the battle.
The HMS Akira is a miracle of naval and shipping engineering. She has had, over her lifetime; over 20 billion pounds spent on upgrades, updates and refits, a real miracle of engineering. She was designed as a warship and to be able to work independently of the main fleet. The Admiralty thought that she was that powerful. But after careful discussion, it was believed that if she was escorted by at least eight cruisers with variable capability, that the nine ships could take down a small fleet single handily.
Of course now we know that in this day in age it isn’t that simple. Some modern destroyers can wipe out 350 square kilometres of a city with one missile. Wars from now on are not as easy as we thought they would be. The Akira had served her primary purpose.
From that point onward, she would only see action along side-allied fleets or the fifth fleet, but never again, take on a nation by itself and eight other little ships.
Today my friends is the End of an Era, the HMS Akira is to be decommissioned and soon to be replaced by an even bigger and more powerful battleship. The HMS Akira has gone past it’s time and it becoming obsolete, the design is getting older and older and soon refits won’t do the job. Her time is over and a few sad years, or hopefully months, we won’t have a flagship as good as the Akira.
I can also assure you, that I am trying my best to get the new flagship to be named HMS Akira in honour of this one.
The Royal Navy does not want this ship to be broken down for scrap or sold to another nation. It would rather keep it as a museum piece with the money. We would appreciate any donations, small or large, and you can be guaranteed that the money will go towards the preservation of the HMS Akira.
Once again, I thank you all for coming today!”
Once again, cheering and applause washed over the dockyard and lasted for five minutes before the man who was on the podium before the speech took the place of the Admiral and spoke into the microphone.
“Ladies and gentlemen, the was Admiral Sir Alan West, First Sea Lord of the Stevid Navy and now former Commander of the HMS Akira. Now please may we have silence for the Stevid national anthem?”
The cheering faded away as the Stevid national anthem was played, and in view of everyone on the video wall to right of the podium, the White Ensign was being raised on the HMS Akira… one last time.
Security was tight, armed police patrolled the neighbouring areas of the Argyle Dockyards and were patrolling the dockyards themselves looking for any troublemakers. People had been arriving for hours and hours, some had come in advance and some where still looking for parking spaces in the nearby.
It was a hot day and the five o’clock sun was a blazing orange. It was quiet, a few murmurs from the huge crowd but nothing more. It was only a few minutes after five that a heavily escorted black limousine arrived down the road towards the podium in front the giant shadow of the HMS Akira. The jet-black limo stopped short of the podium and the police escort formed a perimeter around it. The driver, dressed in black and wearing black shades and earpiece, got out of the driver’s side of the limo and walked to the back door and opened it. A tall, smartly dressed man with high ranking insignia’s and ribbons on his left chest stepped out of the limo, thanked the driver and started to walk towards the podium.
A man was already on the podium and spoke into the microphone.
“Ladies and gentlemen, Admiral Sir Alan West. First Sea Lord of the Stevid Royal Navy and Commander of the HMS Akira.”
The entire crowd broke into a huge applause and extremely loud cheering. Hundreds of people in the crowd raised the flag bearing the White Ensign and patriotically waved the flag amidst the cheering and the applause. Admiral Sir Alan West smiled at his supporters and raised his arm and waved to the crowd as he walked up onto the podium and approached the microphone.
The Admiral raised his hand to silence the crowd. They obeyed.
“On behalf of the entire Royal Navy, I thank you all for coming to this to this historic day. We all know why we are here, but in case there are some people who don’t, we are to witness the greatest ship in the Royal Navy of Stevid retired from service. HMS Akira, the largest most powerful, and probably most fear vessel in the Stevid Navy.”
There was a ripple of applause from the crowd and a few photos being taken. In the dim light, the flashes could easily be seen.
“She was the first ship to ever be erected in the Stevid Navy, she was to mark the first step of the journey to have one of the largest navies in the world. She is the first cause, the inspiration of the Stevid navy. I am privileged to be her captain and I’m privileged to be with her one last time, before the break-up of her hull.
She has done her country proud, prouder than it ever has been. She has made the navy proud, her crew proud, me proud, and most importantly of all… her allies proud.
Many have come to see this ship as invincible. In fact, I’ve yet to see the day when the navy of Stevid will lose a battle. The Akira has been an influence, a good luck charm for the navy, the fifth fleet and the allied navies she has fought alongside with. She has never had to bear the unfortunate duty of defending her home country; she has always fought with allied nations on the offensive, never defensive.
She has fought with Holy Panooly, Huzen Hagen and many more in response to a request for help and the Akira had a real influence on the battle.
The HMS Akira is a miracle of naval and shipping engineering. She has had, over her lifetime; over 20 billion pounds spent on upgrades, updates and refits, a real miracle of engineering. She was designed as a warship and to be able to work independently of the main fleet. The Admiralty thought that she was that powerful. But after careful discussion, it was believed that if she was escorted by at least eight cruisers with variable capability, that the nine ships could take down a small fleet single handily.
Of course now we know that in this day in age it isn’t that simple. Some modern destroyers can wipe out 350 square kilometres of a city with one missile. Wars from now on are not as easy as we thought they would be. The Akira had served her primary purpose.
From that point onward, she would only see action along side-allied fleets or the fifth fleet, but never again, take on a nation by itself and eight other little ships.
Today my friends is the End of an Era, the HMS Akira is to be decommissioned and soon to be replaced by an even bigger and more powerful battleship. The HMS Akira has gone past it’s time and it becoming obsolete, the design is getting older and older and soon refits won’t do the job. Her time is over and a few sad years, or hopefully months, we won’t have a flagship as good as the Akira.
I can also assure you, that I am trying my best to get the new flagship to be named HMS Akira in honour of this one.
The Royal Navy does not want this ship to be broken down for scrap or sold to another nation. It would rather keep it as a museum piece with the money. We would appreciate any donations, small or large, and you can be guaranteed that the money will go towards the preservation of the HMS Akira.
Once again, I thank you all for coming today!”
Once again, cheering and applause washed over the dockyard and lasted for five minutes before the man who was on the podium before the speech took the place of the Admiral and spoke into the microphone.
“Ladies and gentlemen, the was Admiral Sir Alan West, First Sea Lord of the Stevid Navy and now former Commander of the HMS Akira. Now please may we have silence for the Stevid national anthem?”
The cheering faded away as the Stevid national anthem was played, and in view of everyone on the video wall to right of the podium, the White Ensign was being raised on the HMS Akira… one last time.