NationStates Jolt Archive

The storm had thrashed the sea relentlessly for the past six hours, rain flaying its surface, winds whipping it up into crushing waves as tall as houses. Clouds scraped across the steel sky, racing in the lunatic gales. The sun was smothered by a blanket of cloud, hurling the sea below into the darkness only normally found in the depths of Hades.

And so for six hours the bestial winds had savagely slashed the sea spread, defencless, below them, and let it writhe below them. The storm now ruled all below, and this reign of terror lasted nearly half a day before it finally shrank away, broken and spent.

And yet for all its destructive power, the storm had brought bounty to Helfaer. It came as a surprise, when, in the wake of the storm, a tentatively emerging coast defence boat found a cruise liner blown into Helfaer waters.

The liner appeared almost as an insult. Surrounded by dark, grey sea, ten miles from a dark, grey, barren coast, it was an island of affluence, the haven of the lecherous, champagne-pickled bourgeois elite. Two-thousand corporate leeches, with wives bedecked in pearls and then marinated in exotic perfume. Children too, larvae of the bloated worms, if possible more wretched than their parents. Even the parasites had parasites. Acres of silk suits, linen tablecloths, plush carpets. Bunting fluttering gaily across the deck, flying like butterflies over the outdoor pool, the deckchairs, the observation deck. A monument to wealth, a temple for the rich.

And yet it had been the harsh grey of Helfaer that had laughed last, and it was the liner that even now was struggling to escape with a dying engine. This was a place where no sailor wanted to be wrecked. Without a permit from the Helfaer government, any ship in Helfaer waters became Helfaer state property and could be dealt with as seen fit. But even now, two fast attack boats sliced through the water towards it, closing in on the flanks. The captain of the liner tried to push the engine harder.

With disastrous results. With a choking rattle, the engine died completely. Immediately the Helfaer boats were upon it, cruising lazily alongside each flank with contemptuous ease. The heavy deck gun twisted, then fired, neatly slicing off the communications mast. The liner lay dead in the water. No engines, no communications. No way of escaping. And so when the tug arrived it found the liner full of uncomprehending and terrified captives exactly where they had been told to find it, the boats still guarding their prize.

Over two thousand new slaves. Unfit, untrained, yet a few weeks of backbreaking work would whip them into shape. Some would be sent to the mines, some would become domestic servants. A life expectancy of maybe a year in the mines, more elsewhere. The ship, meanwhile, would be repaired and auctioned under a new name. It would spend the rest of its working life hauling cargo. With luck, the nation that had just lost citizens would blame it on the storm. After all, there is plenty that can go wrong at sea.

ooc: OK, anyone want to claim a cruise liner?

OOC: looks interesting, if no One else claims it by tommorrow then I will

OOC: I might have a few citizens aboard the ship. If that is at all possible.

OOC: I might have a few citizens aboard the ship. If that is at all possible.

Ok.

OOC: Guess its tomorrow so here goes

Red Orion Cruises Headquarters
"Mr. Lipowitz, The 'Joy' has stopped transmitting, their last transmissions were about that storm up near Helfaer, looked a doozy on sat but she's a good ship, should still be afloat."

"How about the transmitter, could that have been damaged?"

"Easily, but she carries a couple of backups, We'll give it a day to see if she starts transmitting again."

"Hmm, too long, if something went wrong I want to know about it immediately, Helfaer has a bad reputation. See if you can get us some time on a photo sat as soon as possible."

the aide began typing furiously on his computer, within seconds he had something.

"There's an open KeyHole sat about to pass right over in five minutes, 600 dollars per image, we'll probably need four to cover a wide enough area."

"Do it."

In ten minutes the images were on the screen and the search began, they combed every inch of the 2400 dollar map looking for the ship. after an hour of hard looking they found it, even with resolution measured in feet it was obvious that the ship was being 'escorted' by Helfaer navy boats. The aide jotted down the coordinates and sent them witht he picture to the Mondothian Ministry of International Affairs.

"Pull up the list." said Mr. Lipowitz resolutely. Tpgether they began scanning the screen again, this time for highlighted names on the passenger list. Hoping for Red and Orange, dreading Green and Blue. When they finished the list, the count was two Red, denoting Mondothian Special forces, Four Orange denoting Regular Military. Two Green denoting 'valuable persons' and forty blue, or foreign nationals. They sent the list of highlighted names with the images.

Mondothian Ministry of International Affairs (Sec. State)

"I want a fast response TF on the way immediately, gin up a surprise readiness exercise or something. Don't get in their territorial waters, just let them know that we're there."

"On it sir."

"Good, now somebody draft me some declarations, get me a Disapointed, a We want it back and a Dec of War, have them ready when the ships get in position. Alert the nations on the blue list of the situation and somebody PLEASE prep the media, if this gets out without spin we'll have a fiasco."

The room filled with noise as aides and functionaries rushed to follow through, Media contacts were called and fed stories while the Dept. of the Navy was notified that 28 of its ships were being 'borrowed' for heavy handed politicking and that more might be needed later. Messages were typed up and fed to the Prime Minister for review.

On the Cruise liner 'Joy of Orion'
Muhammed al jabar knew immediately that something was wrong. The distinct sound of a heavy naval deck gun followed by the clank of metal on metal. He knew that within an hour a list with his name highlighted in red would be circulating the Mondothian Government. but until the uppity ups in Mondoth City did something about it, he was on his own. He knew what was happening so he didn't leave his cabin, avoiding the rush of passengers who had heard the noise, felt the engines die and were looking for the nearest crew member to tell them what was going on. Instead he prepared, began moving furniture around, preparing his room to make a stand againstwhatever was out there.

"<click, click>This is your captain<click, click, click, click> speaking we are experiencing troubles<click, click, click> due to the storm, please remain in your cabins and off the deck until it is safe to come<click, click, click> outside."

The clicks, they weren't expected but he knew what they were, a sort of pseudo morse code, used by the Mondothina Military, Muhammed had known there would be a message, they'd told him that when he boarded, he hadn't known what form it would take but now it was obvious. 'Arm rm-217' armory, room 217. he kcked the baggage out from his doorway and sprinted, people were slowly going back into their rooms but he didn't care, he pushed them out of the way, spotted someone else doing the same and fell in beside her, together they ran, pushing cursing disgruntled passnegers out of the way on their way to room 217.

"J-force, 12th reg." She said, still running
"32nd myself." he replied
"Good outfit."
"So's yours." reachign the door they spotted two others running towards them, and two already inside pulling bullet proof vests and combat helmets over hawaiian shirts and new haircuts, checking the clips in their G-11ARs and packing as many extra's into the vest pockets and filling souvenir bags with 40mm grenades for under barrel grenade launchers.

OOC: Hope you don't mind if a few of the passengers put up a fight, Mondoth is suffering from terrorists so most possible 'targets' have small armories

A fast response Task Force:
2 Quicksilver Class Battle Cruisers
1 Quicksilver class Fleet carrier
1 Quicksilver class fleet Defense Vessel
3 Hermes class Guided Missile Destroyers
3 Hermes class Gun Destroyers
1 Quicksilver class Amphibious Assault Ship
1 Hermes class Amphibious assault Ship
20 Mercury class Corvettes (Various designations)
2 Shadow class SSGNs
10 Kraken class Hunter/Killer Submarines

"<click, click>This is your captain<click, click, click, click> speaking we are experiencing troubles<click, click, click> due to the storm, please remain in your cabins and off the deck until it is safe to come<click, click, click> outside."
Cabin 487

The boom of the gun had stired Jenny Mcneyer from her alchol induced sleep. But it was the odd, disjointed annoucement that finally pulled her conciousness up and adam.

Jenny heard the last words, and tried to peice together what was a dream and what was real. She kicked her new husband with her foot before rising and looking out the port hole.

Thedore Mcneyer picked himself half up out of the bed, "What the hell?" Jenny of course was noticing the wake, and then the gun boat patroling along the ship's port side.

"Hey, what's up?" Teddy said as he walked over and put his hands around his naked wife. "The engines..." Jenny said realizing something.

"What?"

"The engines, their dead..."

Teddy nodded, the clouds of a night of booze and sex clearing from his mind. "Huh...I suppose we could have lost them last night..."

"Well we have a welcoming party..."

Teddy looked out the porthole and noticed the gun boat sliding by again.

He turned to get a shirt thrown in his face. "Huh?"

"Listen you may have spent your time in Milita service chasing down drunks, and the occasional murder. But those boys look like they mean buisness..."

"They look like Navy chaps to me..."

"They look like Dyellian Navy to me..."

Teddy nodded and began to look for some pants as his new wife dressed. She threw on a pair of dark slacks, a tan shirt, and a pair of deck shoes. The young blond stood up and looked down at her new husband. "Remind me to yell at you for booking these discounted cruise tickets for our honeymoon later. Stay here."

Lieutenant Jenny Macneyer (late Debrach) of the Alconian Marines opened the cabin door and set off at a fast jog to the stairs. She was on the bottom cabin deck and needed to get to the bridge fast.

Oblivious to the frantic preparations taking place on board the ship, the tug moved the liner in towards the harbour. Twenty kilometres from the nearest large city, it was the only piece of the shoreline fit to land on for over one hundred kilometres. Carved into the rocky cliff-face, it was currently relatively empty. However, there were three cruisers in port, and a few cargo ships, as well as myriad small boats. The Coast Guard had been efficient about their work. Even now Helfaer Army troops were arriving, and with them trucks for the transport of the captives.

The tug dragged the liner into an empty area of the harbour, sliding through the water between two enormous concrete slabs covered in cranes and shipping crates. It reached the end of the lane and the tug immediately compensated for the ship's momentum, stopping it dead. The quay was swarming with armoured Helfaer troops, who rapidly assembled into squads. They carried mainly close-range weapons, submachineguns and shotguns, for possible use in boarding the liner. However, they would try the peaceful approach first.

Cranes moved overhead, slamming an enormous ramp down from the deck of the liner to the quay. Loudspeakers boomed out across the harbour.

"Passengers, please disembark in an orderly fashion. Leave all luggage on board and prepare for border control checks."

There was a hint of irony in the man's voice that survived the transmission, although none of the soldiers so much as twitched. And now, they waited. Bollards and chains had been set up, clearly sheperding the passengers to where they were meant to go. Perhaps this problem of unloading them could be solved without bloodshed, although it seemed unlikely.

Captain Steinbrenner had only a shortwave radio after the shot took out the communications mast. With no idea what frequency the Helfaerians were on and he had spent lots of time trying to find out, flipping through channels, repeating his message:

"Helfaerian Vessels, this is the Mondothian Cruise Liner 'Joy of Orion' You are urged to reconsider your current actions. You are violating international maritime law by attempting to take this vessel and its passengers. Please respond."

In the passenger area the crew was becoming restless, having heard the loudspeakers many were pushing to get on deck and the crew was hard pressed to stop them. as deck chiefs made their rounds they carried boxes full of PG-19 handguns and were passing them out to certified crew members. It was impossible to hide from the passengers and soon panic was on the verge of breaking out.

Jessica began to notice that some of the crew appeared armed. Unfortunatly it appeared they were armed with only handguns. And considering the cruisers in the bay up ahead it seemed like a poor option.

At the ladder up to the bridge was being guarded by an armed crewman. She strode forward and stopped almost ontop of him. "Lieutenant Debrach, Klatchian Defense Forces, Hull Division...I need a word with the captain Asap." Her accent was obviously foreign, but the level green eyes showed she was serious.

Actually Jessica was listed under her new name, rather than her maiden name. And was a Royal Marine, not a member of the Klatchian Defense Forces. Of course most of the world knew as much about the Klatch as they did katmandu. Her lies were more for when the locals began to beat out information from the crew, than subterfuge against them.

*****
Teddy was busy pulling a few items out of the luggage. The first two were sword bayonets. His was in decent shape, with a sixty year old wood hilt. His wife's weapon gleamed, a product of hours of careful cleaning, oiling and sharpening. Teddy would rather throw them in the sea than have some greedy state operated pirate get their hands on them.

The second item he pulled from the bag looked like an oversized cellphone. In reality it was a satitlite phone he had purchased to keep in contact with a wife who wasn't giving up her military career just yet.

Hearing the magic words the captain immediately pushed the guard aside.

"Defense forces you say? Good, we'll need everything we can get, there's weapons and body armor in room 217, not much but its all we have. there should be Mondothian military people there already. Anybody you know from your group would be a welcome aid. it seems these Helfaerians want to comandeer this vessel, are engines and commo are down. It's going to be tough but the Orion people should know whats happened by now, its been a some time since we checked in. We have to hold out until somebody from Mondoth can get a hold of these people and talk some sense into them."

In room 217 the six Military types were pouring over diagrims of the ship, Muhhammed and Janet, the woman from J-force 32nd, were pointing out good choke points and explaining their ideas to the four regulars.

Mondothian Ministry of International Affairs (Sec. State)

"Minister, The Prime has oked your Dissapointment. The ships are moving and thats all we can do right now. The James wants you to hold for some time until he can make some calls of his own on this one."

"Tell him we have to move on this, in six hours those people could be scatterred so far over Helfaer we'll never get them all back!"

"I'm sure he understands, but he's under a lot of pressure form these Naveirans, If word gets out thats two incidents in almost as many month's, he's starting to look like bad news and we can't ahve that right now."

"Okay, make sure he knows we're under a deadline over here wil ya?"

"Sure."

Too many characters damn it, Jenny not Jessica :rolleyes: I'm being idiotic

Jenny nodded, "Based on the tactical situation, and having delt with state supported piracy for years, the best way to protect the crew and the passengers is to burn both electronic and hard copies of the crew and passenger manifests Captian. Futher, I am about to send a burst com home. Anything I should add so my people can contact yours and let them know they are legit?"

In reality, Jenny didn't think that with apparently three cruisers in the approaching harbor, that the cruise ship would hold out long. It really didn't have any armor, and likey any weapons that could return give as good licks as they got. Destroying the manifiests would allow a few passengers to vanish into the ship.

****
Teddy plugged the adaptor and sat phone into the outlet in the bathroom and waited. "God, I would have never booked this f***ing trip if I though I'd get hightailed by some p*** ant third rate navy going pirate." He said to the far wall.

"Burst Com? Tell your people to tell the Mondoth Gov that we're planning on holding out against their attempts to board until we can get support, We should haveammo for a couple of days unless they get serious and we have food for weeks.
I can't burn the manifest now, we hae to make sure evryone is safe, when our defenses are over run, then we'll burn it. If there;s nothing else I'm sure the military people in 217 would be glad of any help you can offer, I don't know when they're going to try to board."

Jenny thought the captain's faith in 'holding out' were based on desire rather than reality. But then, she was planning for the worst. "Fine, we'll send along the message...good luck captain." Jenny bowed in her traditional manner and then turned to run back down to her cabin.

****
Teddy looked up at Jenny walked in the cabin door. "Well?" he asked.
"It seems this ship has an armory. They are going to try and hold out..."
"Does it look good?"
"With the enemy having three cruisers in port? Unless this ship is built a lot stronger than most cruise ships, its going to be a massacare."

"S***"

"Yup...here is our plan of action, I'll head up to the armory, you nose about in the engineering spaces for a bolt hole."

Teddy closed his eyes, "Well the phone is only half charged..."

"It should be enough, it is a BJ7 right?"

"Only the best for the most beutiful marine in the world..."

Jenny laughed at that, "well you will not be getting any nookie any time soon..." Teddy stood up, grabbed Jenny around the wait and pulled her tight.

"You know, I do love you..."

"Me too..."

The pair shared a breif passionate kiss before Jenny pulled back, there were tears in her eyes. "God f***ing world...not enough..."

Teddy put a finger over her mouth, "Be a black tab, and lead the damn fifth down on these bastards like the Var on a horde of Orcs."

"Aye Aye..." Jenny pulled out of his grasp, grabbed the satilite phone and went back down the corridor. Teddy leaned against the cabin door and watched her go. "God, if you don't get her out of this mess alive, I will personally perform anal rape on your son..."

Jenny pulled the phone out and began to type

Hull Fortress, Hull Division Headquarters

The communications tech was leaning back in his chair, watching a late night movie. Really there was tons going on, but over at the IIS building, they hadn't pulled the Hull Division into the loop yet. So the young non-com sat watching some American and his attractive wife sit in the open hole of an unfinished jacuzzi. Then the screen of the outside emergency line came to life. A burst satilite uplink had just found its way into the general mail inbox.

Burst communications was really nothing more than an compressed text message that was sent from a satilite phone that just quickly authenticated itself, dropped the message and vanished. Designed to keep other people from jamming the source, or using it to locate the sender, it was a standard operations technique of the IIS.

The communications tech opened the message. He expected it to be incrypted with something from IIS. Just forwarded to the wrong message box. It opened.

*******
GPS #### #### ####
Green Hill --- Joy of Orion
ship suffered full engine failure,
lost coms
captured state supported pirates,
crew and passengers attempting a.r.
prognosis--bleak
Message --Mondorth, ammo days, food weeks
HULL098-712-0921

The tech rose up from the chair and went over to a red door with the words Duty Officer painted in black upon it. He knocked loudly...

Fleet Manor, Thunderbay, Duchy of Alcona
The Naval Marshall was half out of bed..."What...Oh yes still here...so does personell, ahh...newlyweds. Hmm...with all the crap going on right now, I am not sending Winton out on that minor mission. No send Fullster...yes, I know the man is quite a character, but he has a decent record dealing with pirates....I am not calling his Grace at this hour...we can handle this...I'll get the Outer Ministry in on it..."


To: State Secretary of Mondoth
From: Outer Ministry of The United Duchies
Subject: Apparent act of Piracy

Our Naval Ministry has informed us that a cruise ship of your registry, the "Joy of Orion" has suffered an engine failure and been captured by state supported pirates from the nation of Helfaer. We have also been informed by our sources at the scene, that the vessel is going to attempt to hold out against the pirates. They advise you that they have a few days worth of ammo, and a weeks worth of food.

The United Duchies condems piracy, especially when it endangers our citizens. As such we will be sending forces to deal with the situation. Rear Admiral Fullster is available to fly to your nation and corrdinate our efforts if you so desire.

The announcer fell silent for a few moments in the wake of the message from the cruise liner, then replied.

"You accuse us of breaching international law? You, your crew, and your passengers are in breach of Helfaer law. By bringing your ship into Helfaer's territorial waters without permission, you have violated not only our national law, but also our national sovereignity. Furthermore, when challenged by a patrol boat attempting to carry out a legitimate halting and boarding of a highly suspicious, unauthorized vessel within our territorial waters, you attempted to escape, forcing normally unnecessary measures on our part. You continued to refuse to co-operate even then, forcing us to deploy a tug to move your vessels into harbour."

The announcer paused for a second to clear his throat.

"I am sure you will agree that this wilful violation of both national and international law compels us to detain your vessel and crew, in the name of international peace and stability as well as to prevent this obvious threat to our nation."

Meanwhile, seeing that no passengers had emerged, soldiers advanced onto the deck. They were instructed to board the ship and clear it room by room, using flashbangs to stun the occupants of rooms before entering. Anyone armed would be shot. The passengers were given one final chance.

"You have exactly five minutes before boarding, so I would like to suggest that you leave now."

Then, blasting away the deck doors with explosives, the soldiers entered. No sense in giving the enemy time to prepare.

OCC: 25 passangers from The State are onboard. 1 of them is VERY Important. The Minister of Foreign Affairs

IC: David Draiman was startled when the storm hit, he stayed in his cabin with 1 guard from his own country. He tried to use his cellphone, but since it used the communication tower on the ship it was knocked out the same time he felt a terrible rocking of the ship. The guard, wearing an orange unifourm, ran outside to talk to the captain.

Stalling for more time the Captain got back on his shortwave radio

"Sir, we were blown into your waters by the storm and were attempting to leave as fast as possible when your patrol demanded our cooperation with a patently illegal boarding and seizure. We had every right to deny that request and continue into International waters!"
then, hearing the detonations of the door charges he keyed the emergency code into the bridge console, the console immediately locked and could not be re activated without his key. Running he shoved the rest of the bridge crew infront of him to the auxilliary bridge, deeper int he ship and more protected, fromt here he got on the Public Address system

"Passengers, please remain calm, the ship has been boarded by Agents of the nation of Helfaer, you are advised to cooperate with your deck officers.'

The boarders were imediatley given free range over the deck and upper levels, there were no passengers there and the only way to the rooms was down. The second level was the main shopping and dining area. A long vast hall way with elevators and stairs down to it fromt he upper levels on both sides, lined with little shops and resaurants. Witht he elevators disabled by th e captains emergency order the only way down from that deck was through one of two grand sweeping stairways in the center of the hall. Betweent he two stairways the crew had spent every available minute heaping chairs, tables, boxes, push carts, everything they could find ito a pair of barricades stertching the length of the hall on either side of the stairs. Manning the barricade was the six Mondothian soldiers, ten crewman who had either prior military experience or experience with rifles were also lined up, holding extra rifles formt he armory. Another ten had only the PG-19s issued by the deck officers earlier. Not much but it was all there was to hold off until help could arrive, if it could arrive.

MNS 'Excalibur'
"Captn. Receiving Surveilance mission from CentCom, Task Urgent."

"Confirmed. Watch officer, set a course for near Helfaer waters, ready the ElInt package and prepare the Crows for deployment."

"Setting course aye sir. Bring helm about 12 points and set turns for 30 knots."

"Bringing helm about aye sir, setting turns for 30 knots."

The kraken class submarine was off, speeding ahead of the fleet it stayed deep and quiet, ready to slow to nothing in an instant and surface to deploy surveilance drones to assess the situation. Behind it the Mondothian fleet was cutting the waves at full steam towards Helfaer.

Message to the Outer Ministry of The United Duchies
From: Mondothian Ministry of State
Via: ESL-1109
Encrypt: public
Decrypt:******
Subject: RE: Apparent Act of Piracy

We are aware of the situation, although we did not know the precise situation of the ships occupants. We appreicate the information and any help you can give us in retrievin the ship in question. A Mondothian fleet is inbound and would appreciate company.
-Message Ends-


Message to the Government of Helfaer
From: Mondothian Prime Ministry
Via: OSL-1097

<Seal of the Trinitarian Republic of Mondoth>

The Trinitarian Republic has recently become aware of an incident in your waters in which a cruise liner flyign the Mondothian flag was accosted by patrol ships bearing thw Flag of Helfaer and apprently pulled by tug, without permission, to a Helfaerian port. We hope sincerially that this is a genuine mistake as we would be most dissapointed if we found that the Helfaerian state sponsored acts of piracy on the high seas. To insure the safety of our citizens and their property the 112th Task Fleet has been ordered to near Helfaerian waters on excersises. We would greatly apreciate it if the ship was in international waters, along with its crew and passengers when the fleet takes position.

OOC: Underwater shipwreck, competing would-be salvagers? Excellent situation for the Far Realms to make its debut...

IC: Near the wreck of the cruise liner waits an old submarine...

The submarine had born the marks of the Imperial Japanese Navy. Now it bore a random array of sigils and strange writing.
It waited near the wreck, her crew prepared to board the liner and seize anything of use. What that use was, nobody knew. They were insane, and that was that.

When the Far Realms submarine noticed others approaching, they were pleased. Those men could be captured, turned into mad servants of the Far Realms.
While some men descended in a converted survey pod, others consulted the sonar displays, trying to determine how to deal with the ships.

OOC: Do not think me some n00b. You may know me as Mirkana. The Far Realms is my first puppet state.

OOC: the liner isn't wrecked... not even close

OOC: Oops, my bad. Clearly the Powers That Be of the Far Realms have confused the future with the present. My sub will just wait for the cruise ship to go down eventually. Maybe they'll help.

Piruz Sharham sat in his suite, looking out at the ocean with a cigarette in hand. He smiled a bit as he heard the message, then laughed in his head before speaking to himself. "Ah, so Helfaer thinks it can dictate to a Parthian citizen what he can do, take a ship he was in and then demand he leave on an unsceduled stop for confinement. I think otherwise." Activating his satellite phone, he placed a call to the Parthian Foreign Ministry, he was well connected as a corporate owner, and would be able to get a severe government response if he needed one. Once, a corporate owner was arrested in another nation, the Shah ordered a fleet deployed and had the entirety of the nation wiped off the map. Now, he placed a call, short and to the point, "This is Piruz Sharham, apparently a cruise ship I was on was blown off course by a storm into the waters of a nation called Helfaer, please craft a response to ensure my saftey, since they are detaining passengers and crew to ensure that we mean them no harm." The Foreign Ministry employee responded simply, "Your saftey and rights are assured, we will immediatley craft a response to ensure you are extradited to Parthia with your bags." With that, the conversation ended and the Parthian lit another cigarette, taking a few packs with him and leaving his bag in his suite as the soldiers commanded, going to speak with them and then cooperate in any way possible.

The Foreign Minister now sent a message:

To the Government of Helfaer:

We have come to realize that a Parthian citizen may be detained by your government for a cruise ship being blown off course. We understand the need to provide saftey for your nation, but we also remind you that the person in question is not responsible for any territorial infringement. Please ensure that the citizen in question is treated with respect, then permitted to return with personal effects to Parthia. We wish to maintain good relations, so do not harm our citizens."

Military boots thudded across the floorboards of the upper level of the ship. Looking around, the Helfaer soldier took in his surroundings. His black helmet turned from side to side, a darkened visor hiding his eyes. He sneered at all the luxury around him, then spat on the plush carpet that marked the entrance to one of the many observation galleries. His nostrils flared in air slightly tinged by weak alchohol and strong perfume. No sign of resistance, and that was good, but apart from Helfaer troops there was no sign of any kind of human life. His squad followed behind him as he rounded the corner to report to his officer.

"Sir, we've taken the upper levels and the deck. No resistance of any kind, but no sign of any passengers either. Elevators down are disabled, but the floor plans show that there is a stairway down. The second level is a shopping area, and so it is likely to fairly open, with abundant cover. We have not yet investigated the stairway, however, the rest of this level is safely ours."

"Excellent. Take your squad and capture the stairway, then hold it and wait for reinforcements."

"Sir, yes, sir!"

With a motion to his squad, he turned around and moved along the corridor. Although he didn't turn around, he knew that they were following. As they converged on the stairway, he split the squad into two groups of four. One group would emerge from each side of the stairway and launch flashbangs. After that, they would attack and kill any resistance. Using a series of hand gestures, the leader passed on his orders to the squad. He finished just as they arrived, and waited for the order on each side of the stairwell. Counting down with his fingers so as not to alert any crewmen at the bottom of the stairs, they readied flashbangs. Then, as one, they leaned around the corner and hurled them, ducking back to avoid the blinding explosion. Then they swung back around the corner, guns levelled.

*************************************

To: Governments of Parthia, Mondoth, and the United Duchies of Alcona and Hubris
From: The Fell, Monarch of Helfaer
Re: Captured Cruise Liner

While the impoundment of the Joy of Orion is a regretable incident, it was necessary, and continues to be necessary, to ensure the safety of our nation. The vessel was found trespassing in our territorial waters, and measures had to be taken to prevent any danger to Helfaer citizens. While we all sincerely hope that the ship's course was an honest mistake, and that we are able to release it with its crew and passengers promptly, we must nonetheless question those on board, and search the ship, in the interests of national security. Your co-operation in this matter would be appreciated.

Two small stealthed transport subs approached the hull of the liner. The liner dwarfed them and they were able to move underneath it in the 40 foot mooring depth of the cruise ship. Most large cruise ships need fairly deep mooring depths. Magnetic grapples attached to the hull. -- SPECIFICATIONS
Crew 3
Passengers Up to 40
Length 80 ft.
Beam 8.0 ft.
Height 10.0 ft.
Dry Weight 85 tons
Range 250+ mi.
Speed 12+ knots
Propulsion 100 hp electric motor (Ag-Zn battery) (Silent Running)
Diving Depth Classified Capable of bottoming (Stealth coated) ECM Equipment.
Masts 2 (Port - periscope, Starboard - Communication + GPS)
Sonar Forward Looking - detect natural/man-made obstacles, Side Looking - terrain & bottom mapping, mine detection

They had used the wake of a Halfaer destroyer to cover their passage into the harbor. Small vents opened pouring small bubbles out as the sub entered the harbor masking the submarine against sonar. The stealth skin monitors had changed the color and texture of the submarines skin to match the surrounding waters with bits of flotsam and empty bottles seeming to float in the skin. Commonalitarian special forces readied for boarding. A man sized tube locked onto the underside of the ship. The first soldier started cutting. Within a minute they were through the hull and into the ship. Anesthetic gas started pouring from the entrance tube. The first Commonalitarianism special forces signalled the all the clear after tossing sleep gas grenades in front and back making quick hand signals to move forward. The schematic of the ship was on the third soldiers palm computer. He knew where Citizen Mayor Chun and Citizen Presley were most likely located. Their first job would be to extract the citizens then "arrange" for the ship to be returned to "international waters." The commonalitarianism soldier thumbed the safety off his silent gauss rifle, checked his rebreather mask, and wiped his kevlar mesh single suit. Thirty soldiers moved into the ship-- Fifteen from each transport. Ten lay in reserve. Citizen Officer First Class Jane sat down and turned on the ECM and jamming equipment in the submarine. Sensors would go dead, and radios would crackle. Hopefully, the Halfaer troops would not have time to react.

The massive narwhal class submarine carrier waited in the deep water on the edge of the extended economic zone of Helfaer. Three of its six missile tubes loaded with three recovered warheads. It had sent its full complement forward to the waiting naval base. Six new unmarked manned underwater attack gliders sleek triangular stealth coated underwater fighters and two stealthed retrofitted short range attack subs. One was the Nimitz a retrofitted submarine that was "lost at sea" and the other was the Olander an old soviet attack sub that had taken on water. Sub shark readied to launch torpedoes to blow a gaping hole through the wall surrounding the harbor. The attack gliders shadowed the ships invisible to their radar. The soldiers would have to act quickly.

*postage*

ooc: Entering a harbour without being noticed? I don't think so, somehow. No amount of stealth is going to get you up to the quay without someone spotting you, especially once you take sensors into account.

Also, claiming to have one of my subs captured is godmodding. I have never RPed losing a submarine.

Your writing skills are good, but please read the stickies at the top of the forum.

Mondothian Ministry of International Affairs (Sec. State)

Minister of State Zarqawi Al Jahzere read the missive again, flabbergasted
"They blew us off! can they even do that? I mean we went out and accused them of Piracy, told them a fleet was inbound, thats not something to be ignored."

"Well, they did ignore it apparently, and now they're going to 'question' our citizens."

"It can't be allowed, They can't just traipse over our Maritime rights like this,."

"The fleet is still a little ways out, we can send in marines but that would needlessly escalate the situation., Maybe we could buzz the shipyard? pop some 'spiders' in on full stealth, get low under the radar, pul up and show them some fang?"

"Make it happen, I want them to take some notice, Have a group of marines on standbuy too, just incase things escalate needlessly."

"On it sir."

MNS 'Tuscany'

A flight of four SX-24 'Spider' fighters was quickly loaded with fuel and ordinance in the internal weapons bays. These fighters were loaded for maximum stealth, not a single excess system broke the fighter's clean lines. Their LCD skins were turned on and the fighters flashed red for a second until they linked wit the ships Meteorological center and chose the appropriate camoflaughe pattern and brightness which quickly replaced the red 'standby' color.

The fighters took off in two flights of two fromt he twin Catapults of the 'Tuscany' Once airborne they dipped low, attemtping to lose themselves in the radar clutter of waves, to supplement their inherrent stealth features.

The plan was simple, fly straight into Helfaer until they picked up an airsearch radar signal, pop up into it, open their weapons bays to raise their radar signature and then return, staying in the enemies radar just long enough to let them know they were there. A modest show of force.

With a cigarette dangling from his mouth, Piruz Shahram exited his suite, walking around, puffing away and exhaling. Walking into the corridor, he noticed a few soldiers proceeding downwards with weapons drawn. Piruz was not bringing guns on a foreign vessel, and had no reason to, so he simply raised his hands and spoke, "Did you need to take the passengers for questioning?"

Citizen Mayor Chung slid the clip into the submachine gun. His aide Citizen Presley was sweating. She was arranging tear gas grenades. Moving them back and forth. One of the soldiers had recognized Chung and Presley as citizens of the commonality. The soldiers knew about the three years of compulsory military service to be a full citizen of the commonalitarianism. Chung had been cajoled into helping set up the barricades despite protesting his diplomatic importance.

The Joy of Orion's Engineering Spaces

The hum of fans, motors, and back-up generators almost killed out the sound of the flash bangs above. The room was hot and sticky with the smell of oil and salt water haning in the space.

Jenny stared up at the access hatch. It was to an air passage for the engines leading somewhere to the outside. Likely connected to an intake at the front of the ships smoke stack above, here it turned nintey degrees and went down the compartment for a short distance before making it to the desiel engines.

"Perfect" She said outloud, with all the equipment in here IR would be useless. All she had to do was make her little hidy hole a bit too bothersome to actually check.

****
Teddy had wandered up to the deck cheif who was still holding a box of guns.
"Hey, you boys look like your trying to do crowd control as well as defend the ship, need any help?" He flashed his badge. "Happen to be a cop back home, if I can get a revolver and borrow someone's overalls...eaiser than trying to explain 'I am a cop' to every passenger who wonders why I have a gun and am telling them not to panic or do silly crap..."

The coastal defence emplacements had been originally built in the medieval era. Helfaer was rapidly establishing a bad reputation with the rest of the world. With trade becoming increasingly important, corsairs operating from Helfaer became more and more of a threat. The favourite targets were the large trading vessels, but even warships were not safe from the more audacious pirates. Meanwhile, the various rulers of Helfaer did nothing to stop this, instead taking advantage of the pirates by founding the Raiders' Guild and levying an income tax on them.

Seeing that piracy was growing in the oceans around Helfaer and that the leaders were doing nothing to stop it, several nations attacked in a bid to end the attacks on their ships. Caught off guard, Helfaer was defeated at sea, and reinforced in case of further attacks, building large coastal emplacements to destroy enemy ships.

Since then, the defences had been renovated several times, and now they bristled with modern weaponary. Each one had bunkers, railgun batteries, and missile launchers. State-of-the-art sensor suites scanned the sea and sky with radar and lidar sensors, and in the water sonar and magnetic anomaly detectors kept watch for submarines. A few kilometres back, an airforce base provided air cover if needed.

It was this area that the fighters from the Tuscany reached on their mission to intimidate Helfaer. Inside the command room, hidden deep in the bunkers, a sensors operator noticed something.

"Sir, three contacts... no, four... weak signals, probably stealthed, flying low in this direction. No broadcast, so unless its spook planes we're looking at hostiles."

"Spook planes" was the general colloquialism for experimental aircraft in Helfaer. Although test flights were rare, quite a few radar operators had panicked when contacts had appeared out of nowhere on their radars.

"No, its not spook planes. No notification of any kind." replied the base commander, who would have been the only person informed of a flight. "It must be hostiles. Still, if they were going to attack they would have done it by now. Ulatr, get a missile lock on them, but whatever you do, don't fire. I don't want them dead, just scared shitless."

He grinned, his eyes reflecting the tactical screen in front of him, as Ulatr carried out his orders.

*******************************************

On board the liner, soldiers took the co-operative Parthian prisoner. Handcuffing him, they led him firmly, although not roughly, to the deck. One passenger taken, many more to go.

"This is Blue actual to Tuscany CAG, I have a lock warning, request updated ROE."

On the Tuscany the ommander of the Airgroup was surprised, the spiders weren't as stealthy as some fighters, but it was the rare air defense system that could get a solid lock on one under these circumstances. As much as he wanted to though, the Tuscany's CAG couldn't risk starting a shooting war. While it put his pilots in danger, he had to reinforce the rules of engagement.

"Blue group, this is CAG, ROE is reactive only, do not engage unless fired upon."

While he respected the CAGs authority, the pilot of the lead fighter was not one to take a missile threat lightly.

"Hawk, light me up a HARM and spike that target, do not engage, but let them know we have teeth too."

"Aye captain. HARM armed, radar pulsing."

With a few buttons Hawk, blue lead's weapons officer, had armed an Anti-radar missile, designed to track in on enemy radars and destroy them, and he had lined up his ground search radar to designate the enemy installation.

The commonalitarian special forces commander made several motions with his hands. The group split up into six five man fire teams. There would be radio silence inside the liner by now. They had been trained to operate in complete silence. Three teams moved forward toward the cabins where Chung would most likely be located. The other three teams moved toward the armory. Every twenty feet one of them released a small cloud of aerosol gas from a canister. They did not want anyone to be awake to see them. They saw several people drop to the floor quietly in a coma like sleep, they would be out for 12 hours.

The first team reached Chung's cabin unobserved. One of them rapped a sequence on the door-- we are friendly. No one answered. They found the door locked. They quickly picked the lock. No noise. They waited until they heard no noise. Then one pushed the door in sideways. A large blond woman lay on the bed sleeping. Chung was not there. The five man team moved in. She held a blue brochure in her hand which read Annual Council of Large City Mayors Convention. They moved inside. One of them turned on the light. The woman startled. They grabbed her covering her mouth with a square of heavy material. Then one pinned her in an arm lock. The commander said "No noise, breathe deeply." They waited for a few minutes until she stopped struggling. "Where is Chung". She said the armory then tried to scream. A brief ah then silence. The gas hit her.

The second set of teams moved toward the armory. They could hear people talking ahead. They signalled. There was a narrow corridor leading toward the armory. One of them braced himself against either side of the wall. He slid up the sides of the wall first left side, then right side. He was at the ceiling. He braced himself on either side of the wall left side right side down the corridor. His hands held small spikes which he used to maintain grip on either side of the walls. The split toed boots helped stop him from slipping. He braced himself against the ceiling near the entrance to the armory. He would listen then wait until no one was in his line of sight to drop down and return to his team. He could see into the armory.

"Touche."

The aircraft's lock on the installation had been detected, and sweat appeared on the base commander's dark brow. Would the aircraft fire? He suddenly felt a shiver down his spine as he realised that his ploy may have gone drastically wrong. Although the base would be able to put up an excellent fight, if his reckless decision brought any harm it would be his head on a spike.

To follow through and fire would not only lead to this posturing turning into a battle, it would bring the fleet waiting offshore down on Helfaer. While the railguns and anti-ship missiles would wreak havoc among the enemy, he didn't want to risk it, especially as Mondoth was far larger than Helfaer and most likely had a proportionally large military.

On the other hand, backing down and turning off the lock would lead the enemy to believe that Helfaer was weak and easily cowed. And, with the lock switched off, they may take advantage of the split-second opening and fired. Leaving the lock on but not following through would possibly do the same, although it would take longer.

He decided to leave the lock on them but without firing. Perhaps they would back down.

****************************************

Meanwhile, at the harbour, events were escalating more rapidly. While there was a momentary lull inside the liner, outside was a different matter. Sensors and communications were dying all around the harbour, leaving the troops and cruisers both blind and deaf. Someone was using ECM nearby, although for what reason no-one knew. Still, it was a problem that would have to be sorted out.

On board the light cruiser Pincer, the captain noted this. Flicking a switch, he engaged passive sensors. The source of the jamming was immediately obvious- a submarine had somehow managed to slip into the harbour unnoticed and had engaged jamming systems.

"Amateurs."

He snarled the word as he prepared to attack. Easing the cruiser forward, he prepared a torpedo. Rather than using a large weapon that could damage the harbour or the boats in it, he selected a smaller one, generally used for engaging light vessels, to reduce the risk of collateral damage. Then, prepping it to home in on the ECM, he fired.

It shot out of the torpedo tube, leaving a trail of bubbles behind it, racing towards the effective beacon that had been thoughtfully left for it.

ooc: Sorry, Communalitarianism. I didn't notice that you'd edited your post until now.

The torpedos homing system wobbled in circles, the combined ecm, stealth, and anti-sonar system was fritzing its aim. The torpedo spun in a spiral toward the small submarine. Then swerved brushing past the nose of the submarine exploding four feet away when it smashed into the deep water docking buoy for the cruise ship. A large gash was torn in the front of the submarine. Several Halfaer soldiers lay in pieces. The gangway clanged against the side of the ship as it was pulled from the docking.

The cruise ships mooring was destroyed it began to list into the harbor pushing the submarine away from the ship. A five foot hole appeared where the ship had been boarded. The other sub was still attached directly under the ship.

Blood began pouring from Jones forehead. She was seeing double. Her arm pushed the forward motion lever as she passed out. The ECM equipment was crackling but still barely functioning. An alarm sounded in the submarine. The remaining soldiers were jumping into the water from the now open docking gate. They had been waiting in case needed. The captain swore as she keyed in the self destruct sequence. She would go down with the ship.

The ten special forces soldiers began crawling their way along the bottom of the harbor. Their rebreather masks kept out gas and processed H2O into hydrogen and oxygen, letting the hydrogen out. They would take as much of the harbor with them as they could if they couldn't make it out of the quay.