Lavenrunz
30-11-2004, 10:35
Zwoll Harbour, Lavenrunz
People had been working on the pier area for weeks, making it look as perfect as possible. There was still, naturally, the smell of rather still marine waters, a salty tang that held also the smell of barnacles bleaching in the sun and paint mixed with seawater.
A grandstand would be built on the bund area not far from the pier, and flags and banners would be arranged; there had to be room for a parade and for spectators.
The destroyer that sat at harbour was a low deadly shape in the water, with people swarming over her like worker ants on a branch. Her five inch gun rose majestically, aimed across the sweeping bow. The upper stacks were low slung like the jaw of a pit bull. The arcing quadruple doored mechanism of the forward Anti Submarine Rocket Launcher conveyed more menace than the gun to those in the know.
The name on her was Baldur, and she was soon to pass from Lavenrunzian hands into that of Glorious Humanity.
Commander Frieda Lang felt a pride and melancholia warring in her. On the one hand, she was pleased she had been entrusted with being leader of the transfer crew. On the other hand, her orders immediately following were for shore duty at the Naval Academy. She was going to miss skippering a ship. And this one was the one she had spent so much time on, making sure it was properly refurbished, that the initial tests were done properly. She now stood on the bridge, checking reports from her division leaders and signing bumf, waiting for the new crew to arrive. The plan was that the GH crew would steam her to Glorious Humanity after the joint inspections and then the transfer ceremony.
Lang had been in the Navy all her adult life; had become a Lieutenant-Commander in the Shadow War in Knootoss, going toe to toe with the Brotherhood of Nod's navy as XO of a frigate, then finding herself captain when the commander was injured as an enemy plane strafed the ship...
She wondered about her counterpart, what his experience, if any, was.
People had been working on the pier area for weeks, making it look as perfect as possible. There was still, naturally, the smell of rather still marine waters, a salty tang that held also the smell of barnacles bleaching in the sun and paint mixed with seawater.
A grandstand would be built on the bund area not far from the pier, and flags and banners would be arranged; there had to be room for a parade and for spectators.
The destroyer that sat at harbour was a low deadly shape in the water, with people swarming over her like worker ants on a branch. Her five inch gun rose majestically, aimed across the sweeping bow. The upper stacks were low slung like the jaw of a pit bull. The arcing quadruple doored mechanism of the forward Anti Submarine Rocket Launcher conveyed more menace than the gun to those in the know.
The name on her was Baldur, and she was soon to pass from Lavenrunzian hands into that of Glorious Humanity.
Commander Frieda Lang felt a pride and melancholia warring in her. On the one hand, she was pleased she had been entrusted with being leader of the transfer crew. On the other hand, her orders immediately following were for shore duty at the Naval Academy. She was going to miss skippering a ship. And this one was the one she had spent so much time on, making sure it was properly refurbished, that the initial tests were done properly. She now stood on the bridge, checking reports from her division leaders and signing bumf, waiting for the new crew to arrive. The plan was that the GH crew would steam her to Glorious Humanity after the joint inspections and then the transfer ceremony.
Lang had been in the Navy all her adult life; had become a Lieutenant-Commander in the Shadow War in Knootoss, going toe to toe with the Brotherhood of Nod's navy as XO of a frigate, then finding herself captain when the commander was injured as an enemy plane strafed the ship...
She wondered about her counterpart, what his experience, if any, was.