Aequatio
05-11-2007, 06:57
Arnold Air Force Base, Innovata, Aequatian Republic Havenic Authority
The chartered Air Mobility Command C-181A Starlifter II set down on the tarmac of the airbase's runway with a screech of the tyres as the breaks were applied and the engines' trust reversed. After slowing to a halt and making its way onto one of the taxiways, the aircraft stopped at the freight terminal and began to unload its equipment onto waiting civilian transport trucks. Aequatian Republic Navy Captain Richard Alford, recently pulled from the Naval Academy on Neo Aequatius to work under the Department of Natural Resources, watched from the terminal as he observed the airport personnel unload the massive, standardized containers from the Starlifter II planes and loading them onto a flatbed trailer before the trucks pulled off into the assembly area.
The trucks, including the cargo containers, would be heading for Rodney Naval Base on the opposite side of the island, where they were to be loaded onto the DNR-chartered, privately-owned vessel MV Saint Michael which was to be used for the underwater surveys performed in the northern expanses of Haven's oceans. A number of other vessels were already performing or preparing to perform the same duties in other locations, especially the Ambrose and Hamptonian Seas, the Michael would take its task to the North, travelling further than the others in order to study areas formally unknown to Aequatian scientists. At least, that would be what the world would make of its mission from the information publicly available to the world from the Aequatian DNR website, Captain Alford was well-aware of the ship's true purpose as he stepped into the waiting staff car as it started its journey on the island's quickly expanding causeways towards Innovata City, where he would stay the night before cross the island and taking command of the ship at the naval base.
Overnight, the equipment delivered from the aircraft would be transported to the dock yard and loaded onto the waiting vessel while the remaining members of the crew arrived on the island, hence the launch date the following day. Until then, the island fell quiet as dusk fast approached, bathing everything in a glow that calmed most as the trucks started off along the causeways. In the morning, Alford would be meeting with his civilian counterparts and other officers that would join the crew for its mission.
The chartered Air Mobility Command C-181A Starlifter II set down on the tarmac of the airbase's runway with a screech of the tyres as the breaks were applied and the engines' trust reversed. After slowing to a halt and making its way onto one of the taxiways, the aircraft stopped at the freight terminal and began to unload its equipment onto waiting civilian transport trucks. Aequatian Republic Navy Captain Richard Alford, recently pulled from the Naval Academy on Neo Aequatius to work under the Department of Natural Resources, watched from the terminal as he observed the airport personnel unload the massive, standardized containers from the Starlifter II planes and loading them onto a flatbed trailer before the trucks pulled off into the assembly area.
The trucks, including the cargo containers, would be heading for Rodney Naval Base on the opposite side of the island, where they were to be loaded onto the DNR-chartered, privately-owned vessel MV Saint Michael which was to be used for the underwater surveys performed in the northern expanses of Haven's oceans. A number of other vessels were already performing or preparing to perform the same duties in other locations, especially the Ambrose and Hamptonian Seas, the Michael would take its task to the North, travelling further than the others in order to study areas formally unknown to Aequatian scientists. At least, that would be what the world would make of its mission from the information publicly available to the world from the Aequatian DNR website, Captain Alford was well-aware of the ship's true purpose as he stepped into the waiting staff car as it started its journey on the island's quickly expanding causeways towards Innovata City, where he would stay the night before cross the island and taking command of the ship at the naval base.
Overnight, the equipment delivered from the aircraft would be transported to the dock yard and loaded onto the waiting vessel while the remaining members of the crew arrived on the island, hence the launch date the following day. Until then, the island fell quiet as dusk fast approached, bathing everything in a glow that calmed most as the trucks started off along the causeways. In the morning, Alford would be meeting with his civilian counterparts and other officers that would join the crew for its mission.