NationStates Jolt Archive

Communiqué
Channel E.415.225
Broadcast Code RR15323######

TO ALL NATIONS! ViZionarian Nuclear Submarine Missing; Believed Rogue!
Today, a ViZionarian nuclear submarine has gone missing. Her last reported located was due east 48.2 miles off the coast of Miami.

We believe she has gone rogue. Armed with four 20 kiloton nuclear torpedo's and four 20 kiloton water-to-surface nuclear missiles, she is capable of detroying an entire coastline, and killing billions of lives.

Captain Kiro has been known to be very vocal against many of ViZion's enemies - current and past. He is a firm believer in complete destruction of any who oppose ViZion, and is someone who will do all he can to kill those he is in battle with - even if it kills his entire crew.

We urge all nations to be alert. We has lost all communication and contact with this submarine, and are fearing she has gone rogue. Be on the lookout!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Secret IC]
Order the military to prepare. We do not know what will happen. This sub could come back to us for all I know. Or it could be working with another nation... who knows. We must prepare to war! Begin mobilization. Immediately! ordered President Villian.

Defence Minister, Countess Katerin Palir stood outside the First Minister's office, a dossier in her hands.
She'd just sent in the Imperial Security Advisor, to break the news to the Iron Maiden, and was now counting under her breath...
"3... 2... 1..."
"HOW MANY?!"
Katerin, a fiery woman who looked to be in her late 50's, smiled to herself.
"KATERIN!" Elgiva's voice boomed through the doors.
Bingo... Katerin thought, smirking at the First Minister's Secretary, then entering the office, where the dangerous woman who ruled Macisikan in the King-Emperor's name turned a diamond-drill stare on her.
"Highness..." she began in a placating tone.
The First Minister did not wish to be placated.

==========
Communiqué
From: Ministry of External Affairs, via His Imperial Majesty's Ambassador to ViZion
To: President Villian
Subject: Submarine situation.

Mr. President,

You may rest assured that His Imperial Majesty's Government considers this development a significant security issue, and we shall treat this situation with the utmost gravity.

- Lady Justina Valdir, Minister for External Affairs

Attached is a handwritten note, which reads "You'd better have a good explanation for this, Villian.
-deMa'iska"

His Majesty Kaiser Arthur III was at Imperial Naval Commands HQ. He strode along the long corridor to the Operations room, flagging him on his left and right were various Naval officials and the Foreign Minister.
He came to the door, the two guards snapped to attention, and saluted. The doors opened. The Kaiser walked in, the room when quiet, everyone was at attention.
"Stand ease, get on with your work" the Kaiser said. He walked over to Lord of the Admiralty, Ernst Karllmut.
Ernst, saluted, the Kaiser saluted back. "So then Ernst, what do we have here." The Kaiser said gravely.
"A problem sire"
The Lord of the Admiralty explained, got various documents, a map showing the area.
"This is a bit more than a problem, don't you think?" the Kaiser says mockingly, "this is a bloody capsthorphe!"
"So then what can we do?"
"Well sir, nothing. We can not anger this Captain Kiro, he could blow Mattvia out of the sky" Ernst said.
"I see, well get in contact with there Navy."
"Yes sir!" Ernst, stood to attention, saluted and walked off.

-------------------------------------------------

Communication:

From: His Imperial Majesty's Navy of Mattvia.
To: The Navy of ViZion
Subject: Submarine Crisis.

Dear Sir,

The government and armed forces of Mattvia supports you, this is all backed by His Majesty Kaiser Arthur III. Who is concerned about the fact of what this submarine can do, and wants it out of action ASAP, it is in Mattvia's eyes a threat to human kind.
But we ask the question of what can be done? Surely if we attack it (submarine) it will blow everything into the sky!
Do you have something like a control center than can turn off the Nuclear devices? Because sir, we are in the gravest of situations here, it is not if your Captain strikes, it's a question of when, and where.
Yours,


Lord of the Admiralty:
High Admiral of the Sea Ernst Karllmut.

Luxembourg

The large fountain, built in front of the large castle, built just outside of Luxembourg, was almost rammed by a BMW storming up the lane. The car braked and stopped just before the large stairs, providing entrance for VLIA personnel, working at their HQ, Chateau Vianden.

Uri Lüngnau, A messenger, got out of the car and ran into the building. He was clothed in a T-shirt, with jeans. He was clothed like this, as there was no clear uniform for VLIA messengers. Unfortunately for Uri, in the winter, it could be -5 degrees Celsius overday in Luxembourg. Uri was forced to show his ID, and then walked on to the room of his officer, 2nd in Command Per Lindstrom.

"Wha? A Nuclear sub? Off of Miami, heading East? Damnit, It could hit our coasts if we aren't careful enough! Get me Marine Command West on the line!"
Lindstrom was almost shouting, a thing he didn't knew. As he picked up his phone, the LED indicated that a safe line had been established between him and his contact.
"Marine Nationale, Command West? Luigi Brani speaking."
"Luigi. I just got a message from one of our messengers. We've got a ViZionary Nuclear Sub on drift 43.2 miles East of Miami. If their info is right, that sub is heading straight for us. We have a problem. Can you get a taskforce out? I'll get the ViZionary Navy a message."
It was silent for some seconds on the other side, before Luigi answered.
"I'll do." With those words, the conversation ended.

Some hours later, two frigates out of the Marseille class and two dieselelectric subs, of a licensed German make, A U-212 copy, left the port of Gibraltar on the Van Luxemburgian continent. They were, together with a Breguet Atlantique 2, inbound to help the ViZionary Navy to find the sub.

From:Van Luxemburgian Intelligence Agency (VLIA)
To: ViZion, President Villian

We have heard of the loss of your submarine, and therefore want to help you in your battle against this sub. We have sent a small taskforce, consisting of two Dieselelectric subs, aswell as two guided-missile frigates and one Breguet Atlantique 2 ASW aircraft. We will try to protect the surrounding environment against the submarine. There are only a few things:

-Class, Specifications and Identification of the Submarine?
-Possible motives to go rogue?
-Possible targets?

That is all. We ask you to answer or questions, because we couldn't get to work without the answers.

Per Lindstrom,
2nd in Command,
VLIA HQ,
Chateau Vianden, Luxembourg, Van Luxemburg

(OOC: A few things:
-May I drop in?
-Remember, Van Luxemburg is on it's own continent, and not on any pre-existing. The Van Luxemburgian continent roughly consists of a man-made copy of Europe, Asia and Africa.)

71st Patrol Group, Vicinity of Miami

Two Minister Class FFNs led be a single Praefele Class DDN but leisurely through the calm seas. The world's oceans were smattered with small groups such as these, intended primarily just to fly the flag and monitor goings on. Events, however, seemed to be conspiring against the crews' plans of spending a few relaxing months on a patrol detachment before being consigned to the rigours of a year or two aboard a battleline warship. On the other hand, events were also making what was to be a very dull and predictable voyage somewhat more interesting.

"Quite. These orders from Praeton appear quite direct on that matter, Captain," said Commodore Marcus Vitellius, "we must try our utmost to capture this rouge vessel and force it to the surface, if possible."

"Isn't that rather risky, sir?" Replied the Captain, clearly not relishing the prospect of having to get close to a submarine without really being allowed to sink it.

"Indeed it is, Captain. However these orders do not seem overly concerned with cleaning up the ViZionians' mess once again, but more with serving our own interests. If we can force the submarine to surface, board and capture her then we will not only be able to disassemble a ViZion submarine, but also capture codebooks, orders and all manner of equipment. I'm sure you can see the advantages involved."

"Yes, Commodore, quite so," replied the Captain, patiently, "but we are not hostile to ViZion and I doubt that the IPG, in all its wisdom, even cares particularly about them."

"That is true, Captain. I do not like to risk ships and men like this - but capturing the submarine would be an intelligence coup, and excellent for the reputation of the Service. On the other hand, if it goes wrong and we are forced to sink the submarine then no one need know. There is nothing to lose, but a great deal to gain - I am sure that the Admiralty will reward each one of us lavishly if we can take the submarine."

The Captain nodded, but the second Captain in the room - that of the Praefele Class and superior to the other two - was still not happy. "And how do you propose we do this? We have sonar, helicopters and missile-launched torpedos - yes, I grant you this - but we have only three ships and no submersible capability at all. If the Admiralty wants us to hunt a submarine, where are our submarines?"

"A fair criticism," said the Commodore with a gracious nod, "I am told that Praeton is dispatching a Vanguard Class submarine. The boat is reported to be only 3 days' distant, and is one of the newer Flight IIA versions. Until that time, we will sweep with active and passive sonar. Each of these ships has a towed array which can be put to full use in this instance. Once we have located them, we can fire torpedos to detonate in reasonable proximity and hopefully force them to surface."

"What if we are engaged ourselves," asked the hitherto silent second Minister Class Captain, "With only three ships, any casualties could be fatal to the mission."

"Indeed, indeed. We do not have the time to be as careful as I would like, but we have enough helicopters to sweep a wide area around us, and with sonar bouys we can form a mobile perimetre around our vessels. If we are directly engaged, we shall have to have faith in providence and our countermeasures and agility to see us safe. Anyway, you have your orders. God Save the King."

The other Officers echoed 'God Save the King' and then departed to their own ships, which launched their helicopters and began to sweep the area of the submarine's last sighting for any signs of the elusive boat.

[OOC: ViZion - tell me if you want me to RP detecting your sub or not.]

The name ship for the new class of heavy attack submarine, the ISS Poseidon ran at periscope depth for two days to monitor news reports and find an assignment besides the dry patrol mission the ship was being assigned to perform. For Captain Benito Bandanaris, he could only view the mission profile as an insult.

"I've proved myself over the last 18 months as the commander of the Silver Crew," Bandanaris snapped. "They're acting as though I can't handle a real assignment." Before Bandanaris could contact the Officer's Mess to bring him a shot of Pacitalian brandy, the intercom beeped.

"Bridge to Captain Bandanaris."

"Go ahead Pete." First Lieutenant Marcelo 'Pete' Rodriguez was the duty officer and usually only contacted Bandanaris if something was up. But Rodriguez was also Bandanaris's best friend on the sub, so he knew that it was possible that Pete was trying to check on his well being.

"Picking up word that a Vizion submarine has gone rogue. We're being assigned to help look for it."

Finally, something to do, Bandanaris thought. "On my way."

Bandanaris walked onto the bridge.

"Status report?"

"Batteries are fully charged if we have to use diesels. We've just run tests on the MHD and it checks out. We're fully rigged for silent running, sir."

"Understood. Have you uploaded sonar signatures for Vizion's sub fleet?"

"Already done, sir," Rodriguez said, looking at Bandanaris with his piercing blue eyes. He leaned in closely and whispered. "Benny, the only one on this sub I'm worried about is you. I just want to make sure you're not upset that we're going to be off on some wild goose chase."

"Pete, I appreciate your concern," Bandanaris said. "And considering how long we've been patrolling like we're a SSK, it's not misplaced. But now we've got an assignment that befits this ship and her crew. I'll be fine. Really. If not, you are ordered to flog me with a wet noodle." He punctuated the last comment with a smirk and a playful glance at Rodriguez.

Pete laughed. "Got it Benny," he said. He turned to the rest of the crew.

"Take her under!"

"Taking her under, aye sir!"

The Poseidon began its descent under the waves to begin its silent search for a wayward child, even though it wasn't one of their own. Bandanaris pored over the orders with Rodriguez in his cabin, shaking his head.

"They want us to capture them without firing a shot," Bandanaris said. "Frankly, how else are we going to capture them? Ram them?"

"You may be onto something Benny," Rodriguez said. "The Red October did it."

"Pete, that's the movies."

"We've been ordered to capture that sub at any cost," Rodriguez said. "I don't think Navy Command gives a flying fuck just how we do it, as long as that sub is in the hands of someone who's not going to blow our brains out."

"I don't think Navy Command has that much confidence in me, Pete," Bandanaris said with a sigh. "That might be all they need to chain me to a desk, or worse, put me on a frigate."

"Benny, if we capture that sub without their causing the sort of destruction everyone expects them to, Navy Command is going to love you. They wouldn't risk a PR nightmare of having the man who saved the country from nuclear ruin court-martialed. There'd be a riot in Woodstock."

Bandanaris sighed. He wished he had his distant cousin's bluntness, but with his emigration from Pacitalia at an early age, it seemed to be harder to come by. At least he'd give it a shot with his best friend at his side.

Alpha-B class SSN Morningstar

The teletype chattered and the captain ripped off the operation orders that appeared atop it. He read the message and moved to the control room, "Secure the mast, make your depth nine-hundred metres! all ahead two-thirds"
"Sir"
They dived to 900m and then the commander gave his next set of orders
"Course 215, All ahead flank, weve got to go and find some maniac in command of a boomer before he starts armageddon"
"Not Again!"
"It appears so, leuitenant"

the Cascadian State Dept. has contacted NATO and will send help.

"You must be joking!" Exclaimed an incredulous Empress Lien I.

Admiral Jorgenssen shook his head, "I'm afraid not, Your Highness. Why anybody would want to give somebody as remarkably unstable as that nuclear weapons, I have no clue. But this Captain Kiro is obviously quite insane, so we must take the possibility that he just might view the Imperium as hostile to ViZion quite seriously."

Lien sighed, "I don't think we have much choice where that's concerned. However, we have ask ourselves what to do. We can shut every square kilometer down where submarine traffic is concerned, or we can send deploy submarines to take this man out. Might even manage both, if it becomes necessary."

"Highness, I would be inclined to be proactive about this. Deploy what hulls we have from the Strike Fleets and use them to sweep the entire Atlantic. We know the signatures from pretty much all the ViZonian Navy attack submarines, so finding the thing should be relatively easy. The problem becomes, do we destroy the rogue sub or do we try to force it to surface?" The last question was, in the Empress' mind, a very valid one.

"Admiral, I am inclined to accept your recommendation about what action to take. As for what our submarines are to do when they find this idiot Kiro, they are to immediately engage and destroy his submarine. At no time shall they be allowed the opportunity to launch their missiles. We cannot, will not, risk the lives of innocent cilians or military personel, be they foreign or Imperial, by giving this Kiro character justification to do exactly what he wants to." Empress Lien made sure that her command was emphatic.

"As you wish, Highness. I shall issue the orders upon my return The Citadel." Acquiesed Jorgenssen.


..::Emergency Deployment Order, 2048KQb Encryption::..
TO: SUB CMMDS, STRKFLTCOM
FR: FRST SELRD, IMNAVCOM

EMDPO AS FLWS...

1. SRTE 1800Z
2. DP N SHF-4-S
3. MV IMMDTLY TO BHMS
4. BGN SWP TWDS MXGLF
5. DTCT ROGE VZN SSN
6. ROE BRVO APPLY

IMNAVCOM SNDS
GOOD HNT
..::End Deployment Order, End Quantum Encryption::..

FleetCom, New Meiji City

"Admiral, a lost boomer, we've got some specs here, as you can see, its not what we want loose."

"We can't get involved in something like this directly...covert assistance?"

"That would be the best solution."

"Tell the boys down in Hydrophones to keep an ear out, alert all patrol subs to ensure this sub doesn't enter our sovreign waters, if it does, orders are to engage with no mercy. If it is spotted, tell them to send an encrypted message to us and we'll relay it."

Secure FleetCom Transmission

We know that a lost nuclear ballistic missile submarine is a dangerous situation. However, at present we cannot assist directly, we will however lend you our services. Be assured that if we hear or see a sign of it, you'll be the first to hear.

[END]

Optischer has deployed ships to scan and intercept this ship. If found, we will investigate the area found, the ship and the crew. We will report all necessary evidence.

PNFB Patinkin, West Timiocato

The printer screeched and whined as the large code-lined paper emerged, lined to the tip with red ink. Admiral of the Navy Rodrigo Moreno-Cruz ripped the sheet off and began to read, his eyes widening with adrenaline-induced excitement and shock. "Dammit!" He sprinted down the hall to NAVCOM.

The officers inside sprang to attention. Moreno-Cruz waved them down into their seats. "Gentlemen, initiate a Level-3/Blue search protocol immediately, and alert the nearest submarines to these coordinates. A ViZionian sub is missing and possibly rogue." He passed them the page. "Hurry, now."

They sat down at their computers and terminal stations, typing furiously, yelling back and forth at each other for information. Some started telephoning other bases and establishing DirectLink with the RPN Ferragamo and RPN Sampotina, the closest submarines to the coordinates given. They were SSGNs, primed and loaded. The captains of each received the coordinates and the subs began to turn eastward, chasing the rogue ViZionian sub.

"Looks like the Sarzonians and Praetonians are sending subs too," Officer of the Watch at Base Lindifeu Amantocescu said, pointing at an OMP/D-1 satlink. "This may be over before it's even started, sir."

Moreno-Cruz nodded. "Just keep those subs on the ViZionian rogue's ass. Send me a status report in 15 minutes."

"Yes, sir!" Amantocescu saluted and turned on his heel.

Warm waters off Miami

The Sampotina and Ferragamo snaked through the warm blue waters, just kilometres behind the rogue ViZionian sub. The radar of both Pacitalian SSGNs was picking up a strong signal on radar.

"ID?" the Ferragamo's captain, Roberto Mastoguno, said.

"Magic 202 Alpha 3 Beta Charlie Foxtrot Opera 1708 Beta," the Radar Officer said. "Bearing slight left at 330 degrees, declination 14."

Mastoguno glanced over at the compass and glared. "Why is it heading back to shore?" And then it dawned on him. This sub was going to launch an attack on the coast. They were certainly close enough to it.

"Full speed ahead! Target is assigned - M202A3BCFO1708B. Alert NAVCOM."

"Yes, sir!" was heard around the cabin and the SSGNs three propellers sighed as they picked up speed. Mastoguno called the Sampotina's captain and told him to follow suit. The thrill of the chase, Mastoguno thought.

[OOC: ViZ, it's up to you whether I should have the Ferragamo and Sampotina surround your sub.]

A deep sea hydrophone was listening, sitting in neutral buoyancy, suddenly a noise, a noise like a submarine, it rushed to command at the speed of light, and soon alarm bells rang like mad. Command recognized the signature, it was close to where the submarine was last sighted. A quick relay of this tone was sent out to the search fleet's command, the hydrophone was 180.90 km off the Coast of Morocco.

Optischer search ships had reached 50,000 leagues under the sea. They had just begun to scan for a ship, when it clunked on the head of a search vessel.
Something clunked on our head and didn't explode. Something was a nuclear missile. The ships scanned it for make. It was Vizonian. Optischer decided to take it to the service to scan.
BOOM
1 million lives were lost. The government contacted Vizonia. Awaiting reesponse.

Optischer search ships had reached 50,000 leagues under the sea. They had just begun to scan for a ship, when it clunked on the head of a search vessel.
Something clunked on our head and didn't explode. Something was a nuclear missile. The ships scanned it for make. It was Vizonian. Optischer decided to take it to the service to scan.
BOOM
1 million lives were lost. The government contacted Vizonia. Awaiting reesponse.

OOC: A league is 3 miles, you pretty much went through the earth right there. The book 20,000 leagues under the sea meant the distance they traversed while underwater, not their depth. And did Vizon give approval for this? Also why would you be a major enemy of that country anyway?

Sorry, I thought it was free. On your command I'll erase them straight away.

OOC: I would simply ignore that and keep the story moving. Just because it doesn't fit with the way the rest of us are RPing.

OOC: Some notes to you guys...

-Van Luxemburg, yes, of course. Everyone is free to join.
-Prae, yes, you can detect it, just not immediately...
-Pac, you can surround it, but not immediately... let the RP develope a little... ;)
-Optischer, if you retract your "BOOM" post, I wont ignore you and you can continue RPing, alright?
-To everyone... you're all welcome to join, just make sure you don't put an end to the RP before it developes a bit to make things get interesting... ;) and Godmodders will be ignored unless they retract their post and do not godmod further...

IC post coming in a bit as I gotta make up IC responses to peoples posts and what not...

Communiqué
From: Ministry of External Affairs, via His Imperial Majesty's Ambassador to ViZion
To: President Villian
Subject: Submarine situation.

Mr. President,

You may rest assured that His Imperial Majesty's Government considers this development a significant security issue, and we shall treat this situation with the utmost gravity.

- Lady Justina Valdir, Minister for External Affairs

Attached is a handwritten note, which reads "You'd better have a good explanation for this, Villian.
-deMa'iska"
Lady Justina Valdir,
We thank you for your willingness to aid us in stopping this rogue submarine. We feel no one - ViZionarian or not - is safe with this man. We worry that he will strike at anyone - even though he has a record of extreme nationalism.

We look forward to ending this situation before it turns into a bloodbath.

President Villian.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
A reply to the handwritten note was sent off.
What do you expect me to say? That we wanted this to happen? No. How did this come about? Probably because he is extremely nationalistic and we do not go out and destroy every nation we disagree with.

President Villian


Communication:

From: His Imperial Majesty's Navy of Mattvia.
To: The Navy of ViZion
Subject: Submarine Crisis.

Dear Sir,

The government and armed forces of Mattvia supports you, this is all backed by His Majesty Kaiser Arthur III. Who is concerned about the fact of what this submarine can do, and wants it out of action ASAP, it is in Mattvia's eyes a threat to human kind.
But we ask the question of what can be done? Surely if we attack it (submarine) it will blow everything into the sky!
Do you have something like a control center than can turn off the Nuclear devices? Because sir, we are in the gravest of situations here, it is not if your Captain strikes, it's a question of when, and where.
Yours,


Lord of the Admiralty:
High Admiral of the Sea Ernst Karllmut.
We first wish to thank your nation in its willingness to put a stop to this crisis, as it is indeed a threat to every person living on this planet. We have no clue where or when he will strike, or where he is headed now.

We do not have a single 'switch' that will deactivate all nuclear weapons for the simple reason that if hostile forces took control of that, they could stop all of ViZion from a retalitory strike in the unfortunate event we need to.

So what is the plan? With a man such as this, we feel the only way to deal with the situation is to blow that submarine to hell before it realizes what is happening. The problem is, the submarine will alert them if they are being fired upon. This is a sticky situation. We need to plan, and quickly.

President Villian


From:Van Luxemburgian Intelligence Agency (VLIA)
To: ViZion, President Villian

We have heard of the loss of your submarine, and therefore want to help you in your battle against this sub. We have sent a small taskforce, consisting of two Dieselelectric subs, aswell as two guided-missile frigates and one Breguet Atlantique 2 ASW aircraft. We will try to protect the surrounding environment against the submarine. There are only a few things:

-Class, Specifications and Identification of the Submarine?
-Possible motives to go rogue?
-Possible targets?

That is all. We ask you to answer or questions, because we couldn't get to work without the answers.

Per Lindstrom,
2nd in Command,
VLIA HQ,
Chateau Vianden, Luxembourg, Van Luxemburg

Per Lindstrom, we thank you for your aid. We must end this quickly.

This is one of only three submarines of its type, and they are in commission to test the subs. It is of the NIT (Nuclear Iron Tear) class. She is quick, stealthy, and compact. 307 ft length, 31 ft beam, 5,200 submerged displacement with a submerged top speed of 33 knots. She can go to a depth of 1,100 ft. The water-to-surface nuclear missiles are intercontinental, and the torpedo's range is 221 miles.

She is indeed a dangerious one. Her name, T882, as she is a test version. However, its crew and Captain called her Miss Assassin.

We believe that Mr. Kiro was not satisfied with ViZion's restraint when dealing with hostile nations, as he believed anyone who disagreed with ViZion should be destroyed or taken over, not something ViZion is keen on doing.

And possible targets? Anyone... more likely those who have, in the past or currently, disagreed with ViZion or been hostile towards us. But even our own people are worried, and for good reason. A man who has gone insane probably would have no problem with attacking his own people or those who are aligned with us.

Thank you again for your aid!

President Villian

Secret IC: The submarine began heading south, south-west at 30 knots towards South America. Onboard, nearly half of the crew had been killed. They had resistant going rogue. Unfortunately for them, over half of the crew was loyal to the Captain, as well as being paid for this mission. They, as well as Captain Kiro, believed in a more nationalistic ViZion. They believed those who did not agree with them completely must be punished. And they would force the world to realize this view.

" Commander, we have an update on the missing ViZion sub."

" On the commscreen, ensign."

Apparently, the sub was not headed towards the Straight of Gibralter, which was at least some good news. Question was, where was it going and what were the renegade's intentions?

" Ensign, open a hailing frequency to President Villian in ViZIon."

"Aye, sir. Channel open. No response."

" Very well, I guess we'll leave a message."

_______________________________________________________________

" Mr. President, I am Commander Talagri of the Royal Xeraphian Navy. I am sector commander for the SouthSea area of the Atlantic. I have been made aware of the situation with your missing sub. Our latest report is that it is nuclear capable, four of the Big Boys on board. Also that the captain of the vessal is unstable and has disregarded standard orders.
Please be aware that due to the situation in Xeraph that we are at present unable to engage any hostile force. Our forces here and in the MedSea sector are spread very thin, just two CBG's in each area. I will continue to scan for the sub's presence and alert you when/if we find it. But, I repeat, we cannot engage and risk the loss of any naval units.
If we can be of any further help, please let us know. Our acting commander-in-chief, Prince Vlad, would want one of our oldest and most loyal allies to know that Xeraph will do everything in it's power to aid you. The Emperor, were he able, would be there personally to direct the search for this renegade."

He looked at the ensign, and then the bridge of his ship. He hoped that this situation would resolve itself peacefully. He didn't want to leave his command area unguarded..........

Secret IC
The submarine continued on, however now changing direction. It began heading east with a slight degree of southern travel. It would not, however, surface for quite some time. The dead bodies had been pilled into a small storage room, locked up. They would soon be fired through the torpedo launchers to dispose of them, but it would be a matter of days before that happened.

On board, Captain Kiro met with members of the crew as they plotted their course, planning their actions carefully. They had so many to choose from. And they were excited to light a nuclear fire under the feet of those who they felt must be destroyed.

The subs had slipped off without any fanfare, it was after all an emergency deployment and the only indication that something was amiss was when sailors abruptly left places of intertainment where Imperial Marines acting as shore patrol found them or they recieved a phone call while having dinner with their families and had to excuse themselves. Beyond that, nobody was the wiser that over a hundred of the Imperium's newest SSNs were being deployed. Which was fortunate, considering recent tensions.

It would take the better part of two weeks to reach the Panama Canal, where the subs of 1st and 2nd Strike Fleet would transit the canal and the two other groups of subs would swing around the Strait of Magellan, hedging against the bet that the enemy sub would slip towards South America and around Chile in an effort to reach the Pacific. Once the submarines left Haven, they'd be traveling in two groups, with each group consisting of four staggered lines of eighteen and four lines deep. Which roughly equated to 34,000 square kilometers of sea being actively scanned with lidar per group, with much of that space covered by two subs. The Pacific's square footage at any depth was certainly much larger than that, but if one was hunting a target in a specific area that area of coverage suddenly became relatively much larger.


[Despite the ancient design of the Upholder class, they've been kept up to date with more advanced technology as they come along. IIRC this newest build represents something like the seventh flight for the Upholder. One of the key technologies that will probably play a role is the new quieting technologies that Freethinkers introduced with his Tyrant class, which were an improvement upon technologies I introduced with the original Upholder and now-retied Dreadnaught class submarines. My point being, these SSNs are extremely quiet, even at top speed, so they aren't going to be easy targets to detect even for state-of-the-art subs and ASW surface ships like those deployed by the OMP nations already involved.]

Bandanaris sat down in the officer's mess that was at the moment doubling as the situation room for his senior officers. Senior Chief Petty Officer Lyle Scruggs was nominally "in command" of the sub as the Chief of the Boat since Bandanaris decided he needed all his senior officers in the situation room.

"What intel do we have on the rogue boomer," Bandanaris asked.

"She's armed to the teeth with nuclear weapons," Rodriguez said. "We don't have much more information than that. The last confirmed information we got was that they were off the coast of Miami."

"That could be a million places," Lieutenant Glenn Hawley, the ship's chief sonar operator said. "I recommend strongly that we surface to get a reading of where the hell they are at the moment."

"And open us up to a surface attack," Rodriguez said incredulously. "We'd better get reliable intel and quick or we're all up shit's creek."

"Clearly," Commander Angela Jordan responded. "But if we don't find out where they are, we won't have a probable angle of intercept and we certainly don't want to keep traveling at five knots to try to get a sonar fix on a target that may not even end up being the rogue."

"But if they've chosen us as their target, and that has to be taken into consideration, we can't very well prevent them from wiping out Nicksia before we've had a chance to respond," Rodriguez said.

"If they wipe out Nicksia, what the hell do we do? Declare war on ViZion? It's a rogue boat for fuck's sake," Jordan countered.

"Guys, please," Bandanaris said sharply, trying to keep the daggers in his officer's eyes from portending something ten times worse in his mess hall. "We're going to have to surface unless we can get a comm link from other surface assets in the area. Once we get an idea of their trajectory, we can know what to tell Navy Command."

"But sir," Rodriguez said.

"Pete, sometimes we've got to do things by the book. If we get that motherfucker in our grill, that's going to be when we have to at least think about not following the manual to the letter. But for right now, we need to have a better idea about what we're facing. Dismissed."

Bandanaris strode to the bridge and barked out his order to surface. The Poseidon slowly broke the surface and established its comm links with the nearest vessel in the fleet.

"Sir! I'm getting a communicade from the New Copenhagen," Jordan said. As the boat's XO, she normally didn't run the communications station, but the comm officer was in sickbay with a migraine. "We've got new intel on the rogue. They've turned toward South America... wait, now they're turning east!"

"Shit! That puts them right in our path," Rodriguez exclaimed.

"General quarters," Bandanaris said. "Notify the New Copenhagen that we're on the chase. Hopefully, we can pincer 'em before they get too close for comfort."

"Benny, they're already too close for comfort with nuclear ICBMs," Jordan said. "I say we chase this asshole down and stop him before he costs hundreds of millions of lives."

"That's a given Angie," Bandanaris said. "Hopefully, we'll be able to trap him between us and the New Copenhagen. Otherwise, we could find the going a little hot in Nicksia. Or Woodstock."

"Contact Navy Command. Have people ready to go to the underground shelters at the first sign of trouble."

"The New Copenhagen's already done that Benny. The SDI grid's already running simulations and should be calibrated and ready to go if needed. Let's hope they're not needed, but the Navy should be ready."

Let's hope, Bandanaris thought along with over 3.7 billion Sarzonians.

Lady Justina Valdir,
We thank you for your willingness to aid us in stopping this rogue submarine. We feel no one - ViZionarian or not - is safe with this man. We worry that he will strike at anyone - even though he has a record of extreme nationalism.

We look forward to ending this situation before it turns into a bloodbath.

President Villian.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
A reply to the handwritten note was sent off.
What do you expect me to say? That we wanted this to happen? No. How did this come about? Probably because he is extremely nationalistic and we do not go out and destroy every nation we disagree with.
President Villian


Mr. President,

Sadly our deploying direct aid will take some time, as we are presently monitoring a more urgent situation immediately to our east, not to mention that we do not maintain a permament naval presence in the Atlantic, for rather obvious geographic reasons.

Our intelligence indicates that a number of nations are deploying forces in a bid to neutralise the situation. The First Minister respectfully urges you to co-ordinated amongst these nations, so that such efforts are not made at cross-purposes.

Attached was a small note, in Valdir's handwriting[/i]
Sorry, but the First Minister is presently unable to reply to your message. I have passed it on. -V

------------------------

Valdir pursed her lip as she sent the communiqué to ViZion... Respectfully urges? HAH! she thought to herself. The First Minister had used expressions that had made the guards blush... she's slightly upset... or it's the ladies' time of the month... I wouldn't like to be in Palir's shoes today...
She sighed, and stalked away from the communications node.
In the distance the First Minister could be heard bellowing something about "clearing room for another pike"

"Commodore, our sweep of the area has been completed. No firm contacts reported." This much the Commodore already knew. He would have been informed already if a confirmed contact had been made. Earlier on in the day, two unconfirmed contacts appeared heading towards South America. They were quickly lost and there was no confirmation it was even a submarine, let alone the submarine they were hunting for, but it was the only lead they had.

"Captain, bring the ship about. Follow the bearing of the two unconfirmed contacts at full speed - 38 knots. Continue to sweep the area with ASW helicopters as we progress."

The Captain nodded and affirmed his Commodore's commands, before the Signal's Officer passed the orders on to the other two ships in the fleet.

"If this is indeed the boat we're after," said the Commodore," they will be sailing right into the path of our Vanguard Class. As we speak, they could be locked in combat." The Commodore sighed. It would be a great shame if the submarine caught up with their prey before he did and stole all the glory.

"Quite so, Commodore, but I doubt that they will engage for a few hours yet even if it is the one we're after." The Commodore nodded grimly.

"Let me know when you find anything, Captain," replied the Commodore, sternly, before strolling out of the bridge and onto the observation deck to take in the sea air. Meanwhile, deep beneath the waves and some considerable distance away, the PWS Charger was unknowingly advancing at maximum cruising speed right into the path of the oncoming ViZionian submarine.

[OOC: ViZion - Ok @ the detection thing. I RPed some vague detections to keep my ships in the race, but I wont detect your sub for a bit. If I do, it will probably be with the Charger.]

"Any word on the hostile's position?"

"Captain, nothing new to report. There hasn't been anything new to report for a while now."

"Understood." Lot of good that does me, Bandanaris thought. He began to pace the bridge of the Poseidon as the boat lurked in the depths at nine knots, trailing its towed sonar array in an effort to get a passive contact.

With the New Copenhagen also in the chase, he knew that if he fired a torpedo, he stood as good a chance of sinking a friendly as he did getting this rogue sub, so he had to make sure it was a ViZionian sub before he did anything.

"Weapons officer, how's our supply of Epee* torps?"

"We've got 12 for countermeasures use," he said. Bandanaris knew that figure was a standard complement for the Poseidon, but he also realised the Epee was not an effective ASW torpedo, at least not against the large quarry it was trying desperately to track. If he hit 'em in the wrong place, it'd be like a wasp stinging the arm of someone wearing a thick winter coat. In other words, mostly an inconvenience.

"What are you proposing, we shoot down their torps or missiles?"

"If it comes down to it," Bandanaris said. "However, I've got another idea in mind. "If we are able to get a positive ID on the sub and it's the rogue we're looking for, we can fire an Epee to slow 'er down so we can take 'er into port. That way, we can get whatever information the suits want and we can prevent this guy from threatening our coastline.

"Captain, I'm picking up a passive contact bearing 030 mark 6."

"Can you identify?"

"Negative."

"Begin active sonar sweeps. We need to find out who the hell that is."

"Aye, sir."

*The Epee is a 240 mm torpedo, making it an ultralight torpedo that I use to serve as an anti torpedo-torpedo. As such, it would probably only be effective against minisubs and heavier torpedoes.

Patrol Group Delta, HMS Andreas, 350 Kilometers off of the coast of Miami:

"Sir, we've just recieved reports from Command, a Nuclear Submarine has just been confirmed missing, and has been reported rogue," Petty Officer Harlson reported.
"Harlson," Capitan Young inquired, "what was the last known position of the sub?"
"Sir, just off the coast of Miami," Harlson stated.
"Notify the ship's home nation, we're going to search." Capitan Young announced.
"Aye, Sir!" replied Harlson.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Office 1
1217 Government Way
Balkan City, 85546-6245
Druid Province, Armed Holy Democratic Empire of Asgarnieu


TO: Armed Forces of Imported_ViZon
FROM: President Justin A. Herbert
SUBJECT: Rogue Nuclear Submarine


From The Office of President Justin A. Herbert


To Whom It May Concern:

We are sending 10 Mountain-Class Aircraft Carriers to the area. They are equipped with sub-hunter aircraft. If we find it, we would like to know what you would like us to do with it. If you give us no direction, we will destroy the submarine. We also are sending an investigation team to aid in the capture of this rebel. We wish you the best of luck in finding this subject before we do. We are sorry that this has happened to your fine nation.


Respectfully,

Justin A. Herbert
President of The Armed Holy Democratic Empire of Asgarnieu

OZ-13 "Woudrichem", Rogue Submarine Area

The U-212 copy slowly progressed at it's electric engines, not using the option to go loud and blow it's cover, by starting the diesel engines and go snorkling. Captain Rutgers, the man in charge of the sub, and servant to the Marseille-Class Frigate "Werkendam", walked through the Comm, after he had left the sleeping quarters.

"Dijkman, any updates on sonar or radar?"
A youngman, with brown hair in a trendy haircut looked up.
"Nothing, sir. I bet it has vanished off the earth. We however have some vague sounds, possibly an Pacitalian submarine, but we aren't sure. Sounds similar to a Praetonian one, from this distance. the database isn't much of help either. I simply can't say."
The grey-haired Rutgers now stood behind Dijkman, looking at his monitor.
"I see, Dijkie. Get on with your job. Oh, not to forget, I got this card from your family lately."
Rutgers pulled a small card out of his pocket, which was set on his chest, next to several medals he had earned during his education at the Royal School for Maritime Operations. He handed it to Dijkman, and walked off to another station.
"Michels? How's Communication?"
A tall man, in his forties with blond hair looked up.
"Nothing. The "Werkendam" mentions that nothing has been found as of yet, but OZ-14 "Dussen" has seen something interested and is on it, together with one of the NH-90's, aboard the "Sleeuwijk". No contact with our air support, Polar Fourteen."
The man got back to his work, while Rutgers sat back in a basic seat, but still one of the most comfortable ones on the comm.
"Technics, Battery?"
The answer came through the intercom fairly quickly.
"50 percent, sir. I'll warn you when we need to get up."
"Perfect. Prepare for surface now, we're going to rendezvous with the "Werkendam"."
As Rutgers gave the orders, an alarm bell began to sound, indicating the ship would be surfacing soon enough, and attending the deck crews to report to the top deck as quickly as possible.

Several minutes later, the "Woudrichem" was alongside the "Werkendam". While no real clues of the submarine were found, the commanders were already planning their strike on a possible rogue submarine.
"If we take the "Sleeuwijk down here, we could close off their right side."
Rutgers replied with his opinion.
"I think this is ridiculous! We shouldn't be planning, but searching! get your sorry asses off those maps and do something! I don't want half this taskforce blown away!"
At that moment, several guardsmen rushed into the room, with, for Rutgers, exciting news.
"We've an unidentified submarine, several kilometers off. It cannot be recognised by our crew. Go after it?"
"You bet! Immediately adjust the course of my submarine for that target, the rest of the taskforce stays on-task. got that?"

Six ViZionarian naval ships neared the last-known area that the submarine was located at. In the middle was the ViZionarian Control ship, sent there to be the headquarters for this mission.

The ship sent out a broadcast to the naval ships in the area working on this submarine hunt;

This is VNCV Harmony, Admiral Verion speaking. We are requesting the top official in the area from your naval forces working on this submarine hunt to join us on our ship so that we may work together and become more efficient. This is a very risky opporation, and the more we have working together, the better chances of zero casualities on our side will be.

Thank you.

Office 1
1217 Government Way
Balkan City, 85546-6245
Druid Province, Armed Holy Democratic Empire of Asgarnieu


TO: Armed Forces of Imported_ViZon
FROM: President Justin A. Herbert
SUBJECT: Rogue Nuclear Submarine


From The Office of President Justin A. Herbert


To Whom It May Concern:

We are sending 10 Mountain-Class Aircraft Carriers to the area. They are equipped with sub-hunter aircraft. If we find it, we would like to know what you would like us to do with it. If you give us no direction, we will destroy the submarine. We also are sending an investigation team to aid in the capture of this rebel. We wish you the best of luck in finding this subject before we do. We are sorry that this has happened to your fine nation.


Respectfully,

Justin A. Herbert
President of The Armed Holy Democratic Empire of Asgarnieu
President Herbert, we are very thankful for your nations willingness to assist in this situation. We must work together, or the likelihood of a catastraphic nuclear attack will very likely be the next world crisis.

Again, thank you!
[Signed]
President Villian

OOC: Reviving a very old RP that needs to continue... and even though ViZion's still in the midst of a civil war, let us consider this still happening in the past when Villian was a good President. ;)
IC:
Captain Kiro continued to give orders, having the submarine go in all different directions to help keep any hostiles looking for them from being able to follow them should they be able to track them at any point.

After a full day passed, they had headed east, then south, then south east, then south, then west, and so on. In the end, they were now heading towards England.

OOC2: Sorry about the crappy IC post, I'm tired but came across this thread and got to excited to pass up a quick post to jump-start this thread.

An AS-9 Satellite with an infrared lense picked up what appeared to be some sort of distortion under the water, but it was faint. No one at Central Command could figure out what it was.

On board the A.N.S. Gordon Hemsly, 2 SH-60 LAMPS MK III Seahawk helicopters took off in search of the vessel. With any luck, it would be found soon...

bump - new people can join... old people gonna rejoin? Or is it just gonna be me and Asgarnieu?

[OOC: Some of the older players are more inactive ViZ. Sarzonia has gone into retirement, for example.]

[OOC: Some of the older players are more inactive ViZ. Sarzonia has gone into retirement, for example.]
I am aware some have, but I didn't figure a whole RP's worth of people from less than a year ago would be gone.