NationStates Jolt Archive

ooc: This is a closed colonization RP. If you think you have something to contribute, please TG both Wolfish and Scandavian States before entering RP.

The island of Ascher is a uninhabited island, located near the equator. It's lush jungle, with a river system, several peaks, many islands (three substantial) and is almost 30,000 sq. km in size.

A topographical map can be found here: http://www.freewebs.com/wolfish/rpascherisland.htm

ic:

Off the coast of Ascher Island, Grid Point C1

The Wolfish Research Vessel Healy crawled towards the coast line at less than 5 knots.

“Navigator – what’s the sounding now?”

“Still at 200 feet of the bow – coming shallow nice and slow Captain.”

“Very good, Helm – come to course 270 – we’ll get a touch closer and then anchor.”

“Aye Captain. Coming to 2-7-0.”

Captain Revlor picked up the bridge phone and called Jim Samuelson, the head of the expedition to Ascher Island. “Jim- we’re close enough – you should get your team together and we’ll get you on shore in…let’s say half-an-hour.”

The next call went to the load master, with orders to get the cargo containers up on the deck and ready for transport to the northern coast of the small island.

The expeditions plan called for a detailed survey of the island – with the ship being assigned to logistical support and detailed mapping of the immediate coast line. It would be several months before the team could leave the area – but it was an experience Captain Revlor was looking forward to – a previously undiscovered, and untouched tropical island just waiting for someone to come along and make use of its 27,000 square kilometers of wilderness.

“Captain – we’re now coming shallow – reading 100 feet off the bow,” said the Navigator.

“Alright – All Stop.”

“Aye – all stop.”

“Drop the stern anchor…and now the bow.”

“Anchors deployed Captain.”

“Very good,” said Revlor. “Clear Helo 1 for take-off.”

The radio operator, who doubled as the flight controller, keyed his microphone, “Expedition 1, you are cleared for take-off, course heading 2-7-0, for research team deployment Ascher Island.”

The response came quickly, “Copy that Bridge. Expedition 1 is going feet wet. ETA to Ascher Island - 5 minutes.

The MH-53E Sea Dragon helicopter strained under the weight of equipment and people – a full 20,000 pounds of research equipment hung under the fuselage, and the 20 excited researchers in the cabin.

The flight was not long – in fact, as soon as airborne the crew could see the jagged coastline in the distance. And, right on schedule, five minutes later the helo gently set the cargo on the ground, detached the hook, and touched down a dozen metres away, allowing the researchers to disembark.

The second flight followed a few minutes later, carrying a cargo container on its belly – in this, more equipment, ATVs, fuel and supplies.

Three more flights followed, as the two helo’s worked overtime to bring the 20 researchers all the supplies and equipment they would need for the detailed survey of the island, including food, shelter, and even a couple rifles and a shot gun to deal with any nuisance animals that might wander into the camp.

It would take a couple days to set up the whole camp – but they were happy – alone on a rock…perhaps the only human’s to ever spend time on this little piece of paradise.

The expedition was military and ex-military heavy, why that was so was known only to the top brass. The military component was mainly Imperial Navy ships and their crews; a full composite flotilla of transports, a division of cruisers, and two divisions of destroyers. However, the largest component were the civilians, who except for their dependents were ex-military and had signed up to help build the Imperium's first colony in centuries.

As the small fleet began to slow for anchoring two helos -one from DDGN-30 Acheron and one from DDGN-62 Athena- took off from the decks of their ships and made for the shore in an assault profile. It wasn't as if they expected the natives, if indeed there were any, to have air defense artillery, it was just good practice for the bored Marines. The helos flared ten feet above the deck, the doors on both of the SH-24 helos slid open, and Marines in battle armour dropped from their rides to the soft sand below. Once they'd verified that nobody and nothing were expecting guests, they radioed the all clear to the assault ships.

Ramps dropped to disgorge heavy LCACs and even more helicopters took off, except this time the cargoes were supplies and people to set up a primary camp. It would take three days to completely set up camp for the few thousand people aboard the ships, but only one day woud be entirely dedicated to just the tents and supplies for the coming night.

ooc: where on the map are you landing?

[Oops, sorry. You see that large mountain SE of the mountain chain? I'm landing almost 180 degrees from that at the southern-most tip.]

Grid Point C1, Ascher Island, Wolfish Research Camp

Jim Samuelson watched as the team finished the last connection from the well to the newly built water tower. The camp was finished and about as cozy as a few tents in a jungle could be.

“All right folks – now we start our real job – lets go do some research.”

The team set out, the ATV drivers carefully winding their way through the thick bush, moving uphill towards what the team had affectionately named Mount Todler (northeast corner of grid C2) after the Wolfish President.

The jungle was thick as they began their climb – and the ATVs’ engines laboured in the humid air of the tropics – but slowly they made their way higher, passing 1200 feet above sea-level, where the rainforest gave way to sparser hardwoods and less-tangled underbrush.

They reached the top – 2000 feet – after 3 hours, and stopped to set up the first major pieces of equipment.

“Peterson – get the antenna out of the trailer…Clark – get out the stand, and anchor it to the bedrock sheet there…”

The team worked well together, and within another 2 hours had the first laser survey station. The small antenna had a laser range finder mounted to its top, which would “sample” many millions of “points” within its field of view – providing the team with a detailed topographical map of the island.

The problem, of course, was that this one station couldn’t see the whole island. In fact, the researchers would have to set up at least 10 of these stations to get the high-quality map they’d need to properly map Ascher Island.

Samuelson knew all to well that today’s trip to Mount Todler was the easy first step. It was the lowest peak on the island, and was close to the base camp. Tomorrow, however, he and the team would begin the multiple day trip to the massive ridgeline that ran virtually the length of the island along the western coast. For that, and all the equipment they’d need to bring – he’d have to call in the helicopters from the ship to lift the antennas to the summit.

Baron Aleron Cyr was a 49 year-old ex-Army tanker and he looked the part with his short-cropped salt-and-pepper hair and beard and tired look on his face. Right now, leaning forward and pearing intently at the topographical holomap of the island, he look every bit the Colonel he once was. Punching a few commands into the keyboard he brough the south end of the map to him and pointed it a bit downwards. "Gentlemen, today we begin claiming our island. Already we have brought the entire starting population ashore and they are using their skills to build port facilities and barracks.

"However, our primary focus right now is to start claiming land. A small expedition of people, about 200, have volunteered to scale the mountain along the south-eastern face. About halfway up they will stop to acclimate and set up a base camp and after three days they will continue to the top where they will place both radar and lidar equipment to map the surrounding area. They will then descend to the western face to a point where a stream begins, where another base camp will have been set up. They will then kayak down to the lake where helos will drop off supplies so that they can set up a second, smaller settlement.

"In that time, approximately two weeks, we will have set up a small harbor and roughed out a landing strip. After which IAF tactical transports will begin to ferry in heavy building equipment and a couple building crews so we can have the beginnings of a real city."

The helicopter circled above the research ship Healy – balanced on its underbelly were six 4 metre antennas.

“Healy, you’re clear – set heading 270 for Research Team Alfa.”

“Copy.”

The Healy had move substantially south from the research teams landing point – carrying out its secondary mission of mapping the ocean floor surrounding the island. It was now located almost due east of the natural bay and island (grid C3).

Getting to the drop-off point wouldn’t be a problem for the crew of the helo – the real challenge would be dealing with the high winds at the summit. To counter that – the pilot decided to take a circular route over the southern portion of the island, and then approach the ridgeline from the south (traveling from grid C3, to B3 then B2).

The pilot couldn’t believe his eyes when he looked out his left side window. He quickly keyed the intercom key – “Hey Joe,” he said to the co-pilot, “Looks like we’re not alone here. There’s got to be a couple thousand people camped out to the south.”

The co-pilot picked up his map and checked their position – “Rod – there isn’t supposed to be anyone else here – the map’s clear of settlements.”

“Alright, radio in to the ship as an unknown settlement – we’ll drop of this equipment and do a fly by and snap a few pictures.”

The helo swept up the mountainous ridge, straining through the thinning air – before reaching the designated drop-off point, gently releasing the cargo before turning back south for a pass over the camp (Grid B4).

“There sure as hell brought enough people – look like a god-damned full-fledged colony setting up.”

“Yep,” was the co-pilots only reply as he snapped an entire roll of film with his Nikon F5.

Minutes later they were on course back to the research ship, where there would now be a ton of paper work, and no doubt a full report to be filed with the Wolfish Department of Foreign Affairs.

[My God, have I really let this slip an entire month?! I'm terribly sorry, Wolfish. Let's get back to this as soon as you're ready.]

ooc: No worries - I've been tied up with the NWO vs RWC stuff - but I can keep up with this one. Post away.

ooc- since the last two posts have been OOC, I thought instead of using painfully slow TG i could post here. Is it possible for me to join in; say maybe just a battalion of airborne forces in say, grid B2. They are on a training mission when this all sparks off.

[Sorry, but this is an arranged RP. I plan to do another some time, so I'll keep you in mind.

Wolfish, I'll write up a post tomorrow because I stayed up all night and haven't had much sleep, I'm afraid any post I make would be riddled with errors and bad grammar.]

The helicopters had not gone unnoticed, the radars of the warships in the areas had been on scan but they had been unable to lock-up the aircraft in time and thus could not engage them. However, any future intruders would find themselves locked up quickly should they show themselves in the clear.

In the meantime, the objectives he had previously outlined had either been completed or were in the process of completion. The mountain already been climbed and descended from, and afterwards was named Mt. Dragoon by the men who had scaled her heights. Tactical transports were coming in day and night, mostly to drop off supplies for a new airport. The incident with the helo had changed priorities somewhat. The airport would be built to support medium transports initially, and then upgraded to handle full-up strategic transports once the city was fully established. The reason for this was that a Corp of Imperial Marines had been attached to the colony, the four divisions were welcome because the 39,200 men were more capable of defending the fledgling colony than the lightly-armed former military people were and the support elements of the Marine could help with construction.

However, this meant a managerial headache of monumental heights, one Cyr was not yet, and probably never would be, prepared for. He smirked, at least his wife had come along with him, she was very good at relieving his stress.

[Kind of a random post, more to get this RP going again than anything. Ball's in your court, Wolfish.]

The helo returned to the research vessel and the crew immediately developed the film.

“Jesus-H-Christ – will you look at that,” said the ship’s Captain as he poured over the still-wet prints. “They’ve got a whole city moving in...alright – I’ll get on the line with someone back home – you guys start an incident report. This is a bit bigger than what we can handle.”

The first call the Captain made was to the Wolfish Department of Oceanic Research…but quickly escalated from there as one government office past it on to another – from research it went to the Department of Natural Resources, then to Foreign Affairs – then, finally, to Wolfish Defense Command.

Wolfish Defense Command, Camden, Wolfish: Office of the Foreign Liaison

Major Brooks was used to government paperwork – and this “issue” was no different than a hundred other problems whose files were stacked up on his desk.

“Well – what do you want me to do about it,” he said to the pencil pusher from Natural Resources on the phone. “It’s not my damned research team – and its not my problem. I’d suggest that Foreign Affairs get off their asses and simply ask these “invaders” to leave.”

He hung up the phone and took another drink from his coffee cup and smacked his lips – it had been 4 years since actual coffee had been in the cup – “a little Irish makes the day go quicker,” he thought as he took another sip of the libation.

At the Department of Foreign Affairs, the phone rang…and rang…and rang – finally clicking over to voicemail.

“You’ve reached the office of Sally Borman. I’m not in, but leave a message and I’ll get back to you when I can.”

“Yes – its Nat Bodder from Natural Resources. One of our research teams has a problem with a foreign nation colonizing Asscher Island. Asscher is Wolfish territory and I just thought you might want to know that a colony of Scandinavian States has been set up there. Thanks.”

Asscher Island, on board the Healy: 2 days later

The Captain had grown tired of waiting for a response – any response – from the Wolfish government.

“This is madness – probably just some SNAFU.” He walked to the radio and put on the head set…

“Attention….attention. This is the Wolfish Research Vessel Healy to the Colony occupying the southern tip of Asscher Island….you are occupying Wolfish territory in violation of international law. Please leave.”

Quite pleased with himself the Captain put down the radio and updated his log… “Incident Report Update – Undesirables on Asscher advised to leave. Expect no further issues.”