NationStates Jolt Archive

Associated Press: In international waters, an ASoGM cargo ship containing various machine parts, bound for an undisclosed location, was hijacked. Its crew was put on lifeboats, the ship was rigged with charges, and the charges detonated, which caused the ship to sink. There are no figures on what, if anything was taken from the cargo, or if this was just a random attack against an ASoGM cargo ship. Rumors are that mixed in with the machine parts were small arms from the Superior Arms Manufacturing Company. These rumors coincide with the report of a drop in SAMCo's quarterly profits. The SAMCo legal department vehemently denies any correlation between the 2 events, and states that there were no products from SAMCo on that cargo ship. The ship's owners, Worldwide Transport, Inc has offered a $50,000 reward for any information about the pirates that destroyed their ship and cargo. WTI's insurance company has agreed to match the offer, for a total of $100,000.

OOC: Various containers of weapons were on the ship, unofficially. If anyone's interested in playing one of the crew, the pirates, or the intended recipient in this RP, feel free.

(OOC: Me being the pirates is a bit repetitive... I'll be the pirates if you do not mind, and if you do I will either step out of it or be the intended recipient.)

Perfect prey. A slow cargo ship, filled with machine parts, and a more valuable cargo: small arms. Just what the AUM needed.
As soon as its route had been plotted, a craft had been sent to intercept it, from the colony of Neo'los. Sailing on the winds, the "privately owned" airship approached its target, using a range of illegal modifications to make sure the crew did not know what would hit them.

The Clipper-class airship, the most common long-range haulage airship in the Novan region, was officially registered to the Alfegos Trade Consortium. However, it was supposed to have been scrapped after it failed its annual inspection. The tender hands of engineers had resurrected the beast, which now was even better than it had ever been before.

Along the 700m length, 4 sails had been fitted, each 80m long, catching the fast winds high above the ground to propel it faster than its engines would alone. The gondolas had been modified for the operations as well, sporting ceramic armour plating and even flare launchers. Hidden beneath the first layer of cells, the area above the front of the cargo hold was home to a pair of missile racks, each a crude cluster of tubes filled with laser-guided rockets, the designators stolen from a helicopter gunship mounted upon the control gondola. But the most stark update was its camoflauge system. Nestled in the folds of mylar-latex was a metal cylinder containing an advanced countermeasure system, designed to jam any missile in the area so that it did not harm the airship. And in the main cargo hold was an enormous smoke-machine.

As it came within the last 120km of where the cargo ship was supposed to be as planned beforehand, this system activated: heated masses of solid oil created a black cloud of smoke that smothered the length of the airship. Areas unprotected by the smoke did well with the base paint coat of dark-grey, which did well to give the impression of the airship being a fast-moving cloud. With its current speed of 60km/h, with sail fully retracted, it would be upon the target within two hours. Then the ship crew would have one hell of a shock.

(OOC: Me being the pirates is a bit repetitive... I'll be the pirates if you do not mind, and if you do I will either step out of it or be the intended recipient.)

Perfect prey. A slow cargo ship, filled with machine parts, and a more valuable cargo: small arms. Just what the AUM needed.
As soon as its route had been plotted, a craft had been sent to intercept it, from the colony of Neo'los. Sailing on the winds, the "privately owned" airship approached its target, using a range of illegal modifications to make sure the crew did not know what would hit them.

The Clipper-class airship, the most common long-range haulage airship in the Novan region, was officially registered to the Alfegos Trade Consortium. However, it was supposed to have been scrapped after it failed its annual inspection. The tender hands of engineers had resurrected the beast, which now was even better than it had ever been before.

Along the 700m length, 4 sails had been fitted, each 80m long, catching the fast winds high above the ground to propel it faster than its engines would alone. The gondolas had been modified for the operations as well, sporting ceramic armour plating and even flare launchers. Hidden beneath the first layer of cells, the area above the front of the cargo hold was home to a pair of missile racks, each a crude cluster of tubes filled with laser-guided rockets, the designators stolen from a helicopter gunship mounted upon the control gondola. But the most stark update was its camoflauge system. Nestled in the folds of mylar-latex was a metal cylinder containing an advanced countermeasure system, designed to jam any missile in the area so that it did not harm the airship. And in the main cargo hold was an enormous smoke-machine.

As it came within the last 120km of where the cargo ship was supposed to be as planned beforehand, this system activated: heated masses of solid oil created a black cloud of smoke that smothered the length of the airship. Areas unprotected by the smoke did well with the base paint coat of dark-grey, which did well to give the impression of the airship being a fast-moving cloud. With its current speed of 60km/h, with sail fully retracted, it would be upon the target within two hours. Then the ship crew would have one hell of a shock.

OOC: I don't mind. Feel free to take the story to your escape, the crew is oblivious to the special cargo, and don't have weapons to put up a fight. Also, my naval battlegroups are tied up with various other missions, and the cargo ship is far out in international waters.

IC: A lookout with a pair of high power binoculars spotted what appeared to be a cloud, and paid it no mind. The captain would tell him that he wasn't being paid to be a weatherman, he was paid to watch out for other ships, land, or any other trouble that could put the ship at risk.

(OOC: Mind if I am the intended recipient? I'm thinking that a very powerful arms dealer set up the purchase of the special cargo, and my nations equivalent of the CIA and FBI expedited the transit because they wanted to catch him in the act of receiving illegal goods. If this is good, then some nasty criminals and the Siapian Intelligence Network will be going after the pirates, and the intended destination would have been Blake's Point, Siap)

OOC: Go for it. :)

(OOC: Mind if I am the intended recipient? I'm thinking that a very powerful arms dealer set up the purchase of the special cargo, and my nations equivalent of the CIA and FBI expedited the transit because they wanted to catch him in the act of receiving illegal goods. If this is good, then some nasty criminals and the Siapian Intelligence Network will be going after the pirates, and the intended destination would have been Blake's Point, Siap)

"We have RADAR visual on the cargo ship: get ready to deploy the men and the missile bombardment."

The captain of the airship, Vi'lo Ha'soi, sat at the control alongside 4 other men who sat at various desks. Outside, in the freezing cold of their height, 16 men waited with parachutes on their backs and a range of customised weapons in their hands, ranging from pairs of machine pistols up to a grenade launcher, loaded with stun-gas shells. The order was yelled back that they would be jumping soon. From the sides of the airship into the cold sea, hoping to aim correctly and get onto the ship.

The airship was only 10km away now, and the smokescreen was beginning to fail. In ten minutes, they would be over the ship, and that would be when the strike would commence. Hopefully they would have their camouflage work up until then.

The lookout, left on his own in the lookout tower, fell asleep. He did not see the rapidly approaching "cloud", or the fact that in some places, the cloud appeared to be made out of an airship. All of the crew was in their quarters asleep, except for the aforementioned lookout and the ship's pilot, who didn't notice the approach of the "cloud".

"We have RADAR visual on the cargo ship: get ready to deploy the men and the missile bombardment."

The captain of the airship, Vi'lo Ha'soi, sat at the control alongside 4 other men who sat at various desks. Outside, in the freezing cold of their height, 16 men waited with parachutes on their backs and a range of customised weapons in their hands, ranging from pairs of machine pistols up to a grenade launcher, loaded with stun-gas shells. The order was yelled back that they would be jumping soon. From the sides of the airship into the cold sea, hoping to aim correctly and get onto the ship.

The airship was only 10km away now, and the smokescreen was beginning to fail. In ten minutes, they would be over the ship, and that would be when the strike would commence. Hopefully they would have their camouflage work up until then.

(I AM THE GOD OF TIMEWARPS!)

"Now!"

The airship smokescreen unit was ejected into the water, where it rapidly sank below the surface. The smoke was blown away quickly as the airship deployed its sails in a braking manoeuvres, and the attack commenced.

"Open fire on the water around the airship: give them something to be scared about while we descend!"

The 16 paratroopers from the airship could be seen below, their parachutes beginning to deploy as they glided over the cargoship. Meanwhile, an engineer had aimed the missile batteries to the port of the cargoship: he wouldn't need to use laser designators for this.
8 missiles shot out from the airship as the false cell layer was ejected, shooting downwards before exploding as they hit the water, their 10kg warheads throwing up massive jets of spray and producing resounding shockwaves.

The paratroopers touched down across the cargoship, and began to spread out across the ship, performing a systematic sweep for personnel from the bow to the stern, which would take precedence over finding the arms crate, of which the numbers had been intercepted originally. They were silent for now, ready to let loose on anything that moved.

Undisclosed Location

"Sir! We have a situation on our hands." A thin man wearing a cheap suit stared at the monitor with a cigarette in hand.

"What is it, Damon?"

"UFO approaching pregnant whale."

"You sure thats not sunlight reflecting off of a low ceiling?"

"Sir, with all due respect, there is evidence of an oil fire. That in itself is protocol to run a check with TURING (passive intelligence gathering system). TURING shows no official records of an oil tanker passing through this region. Plus, if we focus the resolution here and here," he tapped the monitored, "either the lack of sleep is kicking in, or this is a weapons system."

"I think this is bull, but I'm calling it in anyway."


20 Km away

The Passive Reconaissance Submarine Monitor was assigned to surveying the final leg of the WTI transport ship.

The Comms officer sat at the desk, studying the words that appeared on his screen. All communications between the sub and home were via quantum key encryption, which, apart from being unbreakable, allowed them the opportunity to know if anyone was trying to listen in. Unfortunately, they were strictly prohibited from surfacing, as this operation was to be totally covert.

The officer promptly relayed the information to the XO, who in turn made an announcement. "Dive teams one and two. Reports of interference with package. Prepare to survey situation. Siap expects you will do your best."

The comms officer looked at him. "Do you think they will need demolitions?"

"A little bit of RDX never hurt anyone." he replied, dryly.

OOC: I need to step out. I won't be able to reply for about 2-3 hours.

(I AM THE GOD OF TIMEWARPS!)

"Now!"

The airship smokescreen unit was ejected into the water, where it rapidly sank below the surface. The smoke was blown away quickly as the airship deployed its sails in a braking manoeuvres, and the attack commenced.

"Open fire on the water around the airship: give them something to be scared about while we descend!"

The 16 paratroopers from the airship could be seen below, their parachutes beginning to deploy as they glided over the cargoship. Meanwhile, an engineer had aimed the missile batteries to the port of the cargoship: he wouldn't need to use laser designators for this.
8 missiles shot out from the airship as the false cell layer was ejected, shooting downwards before exploding as they hit the water, their 10kg warheads throwing up massive jets of spray and producing resounding shockwaves.

The paratroopers touched down across the cargoship, and began to spread out across the ship, performing a systematic sweep for personnel from the bow to the stern, which would take precedence over finding the arms crate, of which the numbers had been intercepted originally. They were silent for now, ready to let loose on anything that moved.

The lookout jerked awake at the sound of the weapons fire and explosions. Some of the crew members were awakened as well, but in their groggy states, didn't do anything. The pilot tried to use the radio to call for help, but apparently some shrapnel from one of the exploding missiles severed the antenna. Seeing the armed paratroopers landing on the ship, the pilot and the lookout surrendered, as the pirates had the 2 of them outmanned, and they, like the rest of the crew of the cargo ship, were unarmed.

(OOC: Don't worry)

The airship navigation officer scanned the area around the airship on the RADAR screen, yet could not see anything within the 40km range of the airship. The airship continued to descend slowly as the Captain eased the gas back into its reserve cylinders, slowly sinking over the ship. With a total lifting power of 5800 tonnes, the airship would have no problem with the cargo. If it had been an Erika-class airship, it wouldn't have had trouble if it tried lifting the entire ship.

At a height of 800 metres, a long cable was lowered down into the water, a sonic warhead and sensor on the end.

"If there's any subs within 20km, they'll be found by this beaut. And their sonar operators will be permanently deafened."

The man with a pair of APM-72 machine pistols, each with a drum magazine, advanced on the lookout, while three men with AF-87 assault rifles took the captain.

"Get all the men aboard to the lifeboats. Now. If not, we will give the order to shoot them all. Then you will give us the manifest and help us locate some cargo aboard the ship. Co-operation is in your best interests, since if you do not then you will be shot."

Inside the ship and on the surface, the men continued to seep the ship rapidly, so that no-one would be able to intercept them.

The order was given to the crew to abandon the ship. The crew members that were still asleep were woken up, and everyone assembled in the life boats. The pilot gave the pirate the cargo manifest, and asked, "What are you looking for? There's nothing on this ship but machine parts, as far as I know".

To any experienced submarine captain, this entire operation was a nightmare. To any paranoid sadistic intelligence operations commander (or compulsive compartmentalizer), this was a stroke of genius. The submarine resumed its position below the surfaces without any instrument, as it had for the entire duration of the operation. Driving all aboard to nearly the point of madness, the sub was relying on staying as best it could out of visual range of the ship and basing literally all of its maneuvers off of the periodic update from headquarters IMINT data. Positional correcting had all been based on very careful math and religious reliance on their modeling programs. This combined with investments in materials and noise canceling technology aboard the sub meant that, although theoretically not impossible, it would be highly unlikely that the sub would appear as any more than a fleeting ghost on a SONAR screen.

The first of the divers, the designated photographer was the first to poke his head above the surface. To coin a phrase, he was the 21st wheel, and it was his duty to hit the surface a significant distance away from the actual scene. About 11 Km away, his head popped barely out of the surface, and raised the rather large, waterproofed digital camera. A sniper by training, he was able to quickly snap several hundred in the span of a few minutes before returning below the surface to his SDV where he would return to the submarine.

The remainder of the two dive teams had scattered throughout the water, each with their own SDV, deep below the surface. The divers were approaching the ship with wide intervals, to the point that it would be hard to tell that they were all traveling together. The first team, however, was a significant distance ahead of the rest of the team. The Intelligence Specialist assigned to supervise the operation had decided that the package he had gone to great pains to insure would be on this ship would be much to dangerous to let into the hands of a third party, and as such, the first dive team would be affixing limpet charges to the hull of the ship. Within 45 minutes of the placement of the charges, they would have to assess whether they had the firepower to reclaim the ship's cargo, or whether it would be safer to simply deny everyone access to the package. More likely cover our boss's ass he had wanted to say, but knew better.

"Firing... NOW!"

The sonic charge detonated, sending a loud pulse of sound through the water, at a low frequency and very high amplitude.

Above, the men watched as the sound wave illuminated what was in the sea, the virtualised image of the advancing soundwave so far picking up very little in the way of a threat.

10, 15, 20km. Then, right at the edge, some sort of interference.

"What is that?"
"Anomaly at around 20km, on the edge of the screen: if it isn't interference, then it will show up on a second firing."
"OK, lowering another charge."

A second device splashed into the water.

"And 3, 2, 1... FIRE"

_________________________________________

The AUM personnel quickly checked the ship for any more crew members: not many at all. Herded into the lifeboats on the side of the ship, they were then cast off and left to drift away.

Meanwhile, the 8 men not posted on watch had quickly searched through the manifest and found where the crates had been located, confirmed when he opened the 5 crates filled with weapons.

"Right, lets get this stuff moving!"

The airship above let out a mournful cry as the cargo container opened at the bottom, the remains of the smoke generator clanging down on the deck below. A large magnetic crane was lowered down from above, where it began to systematically clear away any crate that wasn't armament on top of their target goods. By just knocking the crates overboard, one every 10 seconds hitting the water or shaking the ship. Within 10 minutes, it had begun to load the crates into its hold, now resting only 40 metres above the surface.

The guards to the side of the ship looked around the seascape especially carefully, making sure that no boats slipped in without noticing, or if any aircraft came over.

"Firing... NOW!"

The sonic charge detonated, sending a loud pulse of sound through the water, at a low frequency and very high amplitude.

Above, the men watched as the sound wave illuminated what was in the sea, the virtualised image of the advancing soundwave so far picking up very little in the way of a threat.

10, 15, 20km. Then, right at the edge, some sort of interference.

"What is that?"
"Anomaly at around 20km, on the edge of the screen: if it isn't interference, then it will show up on a second firing."
"OK, lowering another charge."

A second device splashed into the water.

"And 3, 2, 1... FIRE"

_________________________________________

The AUM personnel quickly checked the ship for any more crew members: not many at all. Herded into the lifeboats on the side of the ship, they were then cast off and left to drift away.

Meanwhile, the 8 men not posted on watch had quickly searched through the manifest and found where the crates had been located, confirmed when he opened the 5 crates filled with weapons.

"Right, lets get this stuff moving!"

The airship above let out a mournful cry as the cargo container opened at the bottom, the remains of the smoke generator clanging down on the deck below. A large magnetic crane was lowered down from above, where it began to systematically clear away any crate that wasn't armament on top of their target goods. By just knocking the crates overboard, one every 10 seconds hitting the water or shaking the ship. Within 10 minutes, it had begun to load the crates into its hold, now resting only 40 metres above the surface.

The guards to the side of the ship looked around the seascape especially carefully, making sure that no boats slipped in without noticing, or if any aircraft came over.

The crew from the cargo ship watched from a distance as crates were thrown overboard. The captain, who was in the same life boat as the pilot, asked, "Do you have any idea what they're looking for?". The pilot replied, "I haven't the foggiest, sir. Maybe there's some machinery they desperately need. It's not like we were hauling weapons". The captain said, "True. Once they're done ransacking the cargo and leave with whatever they're looking for, we'll head back to the ship and call for help".

The first dive team had reached the ship, although the sonic charge had not gone unnoticed. If the sub hadn't been detected yet, then the next one might even show the divers. Specialist Riker, leading the first dive team, and noticing the crates hastily being tossed overboard, communicated to the other first divers that they didn't have time to try and retake the ship. The divers carefully, but quickly fastened the limpet mines to the strategic points on the hull. The timers were reduced to five minutes.

This has all gone to hell. Riker thought. When did pirates get so sophisticated? If we're lucky, the package will go down with the ship. He and the other divers returned to the SDVs and tried to get as far from they could from the ship in the short time.

The second charge exploded, and now the SONAR monitor showed some disturbing details.

"That anomaly has not gone, and we have some pinpoints practically underneath us, around the ship."

"Get the men aboard that ship to shoot whatever's in the water, and get a move on with the crates! Get the final charge ready, and if in a minute it shows that anomaly is moving, we're outta here. I reckon its probably a bloody sub!"

__________________________________

Aboard the ship, the fifth crate was being lowered as the order crackled across a radio set.

"Look lively lads! Once that crate is up, we're off!"

A pair of rope ladders had been dropped down from the airship, brushing against the deck on which the men frantically rushed about.
In the water, one of the men saw a stray bubble pop on the surface, near the aft.

"They've got divers! Give us a missile strike on the water, and shoot them before they try getting onboard!"

The men on the sides of the ship begin loosing off rounds into the water randomly, hoping at least one round would hit any divers who were not too deep in the water. The blast of a shotgun, the only weapon that would harm anything underwater, could be heard easily roar across the deck.

A few seconds later, as men begin to clamber up the ladders to the whine of the closing cargo-bay doors, there was a hiss as 12 rockets exploded in a circle around the ship, hopefully scaring off any of the divers.

___________________________________

"Once everyones on a ladder, we're off lads! I don't care which way we're going, as long as we've got a strong wind behind us."

"The colony of New Alfegos should be our destination, with the current wind."

There were screechs as the sails changed position, and a roar as the engines were test-fired before they would need to be used.

Underneath the water, one of the divers took some of the shotgun spray in the back of the leg. Instantly, Two divers near him raised spearguns and fired the masses of men on the deck, before pulling the wounded man with them deeper under the water. The rockets exploding on the surface killed one of the men who went to assist the wounded diver, while the rest continued to swim deeper.

Amidst the explosions of the rockets, the dull thud of the charges could be heard underneath the water. The placement of the charges was such that no amount of compartmentalization could save the ship. It would only take a minute or two to sink.

20 Km away, the submarine had quickly resurfaced to send the images that had been captured earlier as well as to relay Riker's intent to demolish the ship. The sub also snapped a few quick images of the firefight around the ship and of the airship lifting the cargo off the ship and included those in the transmission before resuming its place underwater.

As the airship shot upwards, trailing ladders from its sides that were hastily being pulled back in, the RADAR detected the submarine surfacing.

"It's out of range for a missile strike, but likely as not will have located us and will be tracking. Activate the countermeasure device and see whether they can follow us after that. Set our heading to 251.9 degrees and put the engines to full."

The airship rocked as the engines roared to life, before they were throttled to full speed, screaming as they consumed hydrogen from the core of the airship. The tail moved slightly, adjusting the airship's course so that it was headed towards the colony of New Alfegos, in Old Vanatia.

Undisclosed Location

"Gentlemen," The short man wearing a short-sleeved white shirt faced the conference room full of mixed civilian and military personnel. "This is a general briefing on the situation pertaining to the Coldwater Affair."

He clicked the button and a picture of a young woman appeared. "About one month ago, Dr. Leyla Ragen, well renowned for her work in theoretical physics as applied to nuclear systems had been selected to work at Coldwater National Laboratories. Because of her experience, she had been selected to head the development of the new nuclear weapon system..." He looked around at the unchanging faces "...I would tell you more about it, but the thing is, we don't know. Coldstream isn't talking, and the Joint Chiefs of Staff are compartmentalizing operations. Anyway, Dr. Ragen, with unknown assistance, was able to remove the partially completed device from the facility and leave the country. Specialist Jordan Riker was assigned to locate the missing doctor and recover the device."

"What about Ragen's colleagues, friends and family?" A soldier asked.

"Ragen was an orphan, and her colleagues are currently in our custody. There is a boyfriend in the picture, however Riker went to question him before we could take him into custody."

"Where is he now?"

"Sir, he is in the intensive care unit at Esmund Medical College. The doctors expect he should be out of traction in about a week." The slide changed to several snapshots of a laboratory. All but one of them depicted the lab as being completely ruined. "Riker was able to trace her to a laboratory constructed on an abandoned oil platform off the coast of Siap. In the ensuing struggle, most of the personnel on the facility were killed, but Ragen was captured alive."

"Do we have her in custody?" One of the civilians asked.

"Unfortunately, no." He began to sweat a little. "During interrogation, it was discovered that she had heart troubles that somehow never manifest themselves during medical screening. Before her death, he was able to determine that the device was not only incomplete, but was apparently leaking radiation. They were sending it to another facility where it could be completed." The next slide showed DNA charts and mug shots, as well as a burned fragments of an invoice and a dossier on several corporations. "Riker determined the facility to be fit for manufacturing NBCs, so he sanitized it, and sent back blood samples from the deceased, as well as fragments of documents that he located on the facility. The companies identified by these documents are known fronts, and the individuals here all have rap sheets stemming from violations in connection to the arms dealer known only as Cassius. This is not the first time he has mettled with nuclear weapons."

The next bunch of slides were various pictures of individuals, most of whom had gunshot wounds and appeared to be either inside their homes or in drainage ditches at odd hours of the night. "I honestly admit that Riker is up for evaluation soon, but these individuals all have known ties to Cassius. Anyway, Riker's investigation had yielded that the weapon had been sealed in a large lead crate. It is impossible to determine whether the weapon is complete, but it was still leaking radiation, as all of those who had handled it prior to its enclosure had early symptoms of radiation poisoning. Riker had also determined that the device was going to be transported to ASoGM, where a previous shipment of small arms was going to be smuggled into Blake's Point."

The next slide showed a metal box about the size of a desk held shut with large metal rivets. Something that closely resembling a radiation symbol had been crudely painted along the side, along with "fragile" written in several languages.

"The weapon was to be concealed among the other small arms aboard the ship. Brass decided that it would be better to allow the device to be shipped into Blake's Point. A raid on the offices of one of the aforementioned front companies had yielded all of the shipping information, so Riker was summoned back to The Community, where we placed him on a recon sub that was to follow the shipment." The next slide showed pictures of the airship, with an arrow drawn in to show the magnetic crane lifting a crate. "There were complications. Riker was succesful in destroying the ship, although it would be reckless to assume that the package went down with it. A sweep of public records indicates that it is a Clipper class airship, and the analysts think that it probably at one point belonged to the Alfegos Trade Consortium." The next slide showed a satellite photo of the shipwreck, rendered in many different spectrums. "The camouflage job is the work of a professional, and between the electronic countermeasures and the shear speed, the sub couldn't track it. However, the engines are dumping raw heat and low band IMINT, after a probabilistic spectrum analysis, plainly show the direction that the airship is heading. We have two long range UAVs that took off from Lombard Air Force Base an hour ago. Their hydrogen slush rockets have placed them well into suborbit, however it seems unlikely that they will be able to head off the airship, so instead they will be doing quick surveillance of the destination of the airship. We are also preparing a special response team to handle recovery of the device."

Underneath the table, the clicking of telephone keys were inaudible. The soldier in uniform breathed a sigh of relief once the text message was sent.



Blake's point

A man wearing a Rolling stones T-Shirt sat in the back of the bar. Feeling the vibration of his phone, he looked at the message and shouted to the bartender. "Tell the boss there's trouble with his package."

New Milkavich, The colony of New Alfegos

A man stood on the shoreline of the city: it was a pristine shoreline, showing no evidence of the chemical holocaust the massive island it was on had been exposed to in the '50s. A pipeline from one of the many underwater pumping stations snaked past him, carrying thick oil from the huge deposit under his feet to one of the many hundreds of domes behind him, that made up the oil refining and processing complex.
An armoured car drove by on the road behind him, the soldiers inside the only current police force inside the colony that took up a huge bowl-shaped area inside the ring of mountains behind him.

He was deep in thought about the operation he had just pulled off, the one where his men, mere Maif'namas, had just raided a ship carrying what they thought were small arms. Being a Fego'soi of course, he knew about the true contents of the haul, which would fetch the organisation some serious money from a client. Better than that debacle with the ASoGM mainland raid, which ended in a heavy loss.

There had, of course, been the complication of some rather serious receivers who would now be onto them. As well as a governmental secret force. So they had to make the items disappear. And what better a place than this nation. Anyone coming in illegally would find that the colonial force were particularly trigger-happy at the moment, being permanently at DefCon 2.

In the last message with the airship, a quarter of an hour ago, it had been 600km away from the colony. 5 hours flight if the wind kept up and they had no complications. And 4 hours till they were safe.

_________________________________________
Aboard the Airship

"Small inbound targets on RADAR sir!"
"Already?"
"Yes, and they're at extreme height, we can only just make them out."
"If they try anything, then shoot at them with all weapons. Prep the countermeasures just in case we have problems. And get ready to drop the cargo should we need to call in the cavalry."
"Alright then."

The WTI employed sailors watched from the life boats as the ship was sunk through demolitions. They didn't know who had planted them, but they did know there was another party involved with the whole situation, as the sailors watched the pirates firing at the water. The captain activated the EPIRB (Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon) located in his life boat, hoping that another ship that was traveling in the shipping lanes would stop and pick them up.

Over International Waters

The UAVs had exited orbit at an attitude that would have killed any human pilots. Upon entering the lower boundary of the mesosphere, they pulled up hard to reduce their velocity and to avoid slamming into the ocean. By the time they were in the troposphere, they were still maintaining hypersonic speeds (above mach 5) as they approached the airship. The technicians operating them from Lombard Air Force Base understood that their presence was probably known, so they activated the electronic countermeasures aboard the UAVs. Breaking their course, the UAVs took wide but opposing circles around the airship, while broadcasting over all communications channels in a variety of languages and in morse code the following message:

"You are carrying stolen and extremely hazardous cargo. Please jettison all cargo immediately. You have five minutes to comply. Noncompliance will result in use of deadly force." The message would be repeated, continuously, verbatim (except for the time remaining for compliance) until the airship began dumping its cargo or until the five minutes ran out.

"Right, the two craft appear to be kindly reminding us of our cargo. Open fire on them as soon as they come close enough, and get ready to call in to New Alfegos in case we are attacked in retaliation."

The communications officer sat behind him began to flick switches, shutting out the continuous message from the two UAVs, and preparing a recorded message to send to New Alfegos Strike Command in case of things getting out of hand.

_________________________


Six men stood along the side of the massive gasbag on the network of internal and external gantries. They were in pairs, with one man clutching a launcher and the other kneeling and observing through an electronic sight unit. To the distance, the two points of the UAVs had been marked by their extremely hot hydrogen-slush engines. Each one locked onto the fast-moving dots at their perihelion of their orbits around the airship, followed by the roar of their launchers being fired: a group of AAT-87SA launchers purloined in Alfegos from condemned surplus.

Three missiles shot towards the UAVs, holding each a 12kg Angular Fragmentation warhead, further proven by the painting of orange tips on the end of the guidance units. Each followed the UAVs via the bright heat signature of the laser designators illuminating the targets that were now coming in on their approach of the airship.

The men reloaded, ready in case there were any misses of the targets. Behind from the interior of the airship, 4 more men had crawled out with a mix of mid-heavy assault weapons ranging from rail-mounted 20mm autocannons to AF-07P assault rifles, aiming ahead of the distant dots and preparing to fire on the fast moving objects.

The aircraft, flying in opposing circles, separately dropped canisters of white phosphorus and magnesium immediately before they crossed paths. The illusion, to any heat-seeking system, was that the two heat sources crossed each other and were now moving much slower and towards the ocean surface. The first UAV pulled up, dampening its speed and unleashed a Siapian Type-10 HARM, a much smaller cousin of the American AARGM that would lock on to the RADAR source inside the airship Type-12 HARM. The Type-12s would follow the Type-10s unless of course a higher frequency source of radiation was discovered (ie-LASER), in which case it would affix to that source.

The warheads on the Type-10 were significantly smaller than their American counterpart, carrying only 35 Kg of explosives, however this was offset by a unique application of the munroe effect. The charges were not only formed, but the cone also contained a thin layer of depleted uranium, whose pyrophoric properties would not only allow it to pass through armor like a hot knife through butter, but also posed a significant fire hazard, especially if any flammable materials were nearby the point of impact. The Type-10s possesed 20 Kg fragmentation warheads.

The second UAV had pulled far away from the engagement, but was now returning at a greater altitude, readying an E-bomb, pending the results of the missile strike or should any communication be detected.

The weaponry on the airship opened fire as another volley of missiles launched.

The missile that hit the airship did so near the rear: it shot straight through the outer fabric before hitting a beam a few metres in. Exploding on impact, it showered burning phosphorous and uranium throughout a weak internal frame. However, the few fires that started in an oxygen-deprived atmosphere were soon tackled by the ships engineers who came rushing to the scene.

A harpoon shot into the jagged end of the shattered support, fired form one of the engineer's cable guns. A second such harpoon embedded itself in another more stable beam, while the third hit the other damaged end. After a few minutes of tightening the cable, the structure was back to its original shape. But the enemy UAVs appeared to be much more dangerous than originally intended.

________________________

"Sir, that last impact lost us approximately 2.4 tonnes of lift. We've compensated on the roll for now, but a second hit might knock us off balance."

"Call in the cavalry then. That'll scare off these bastards."

________________________

New Milkavich Military Headquarters

"We are under attack by unknown enemy air vehicles: they came out of nowhere and fired off a missile at us. We don't know how much more we can take of this..."

"Alright sir, calm down." A radio operator hit the red emergency button, and within seconds the commanding officers had arrived in the room. The operator switched to the speaker.

"This is flight NZ-NM0072, we are currently 422km ENE of New Milkavich, heading towards you at about 90km/h. I repeat, we have been attacked by unknown enemy aircraft, which have fired off a single missile and caused structural damage. Its holding for now but..." The message was cut off by a sudden scream of white noise, then silence.

The commander nodded to the radio operator, and switched to the airbase speakers.

"We have an emergancy attack on our national craft, at the following co-ordinates. Send 16 Karish's to intercept them at once."

_______________________________

The 16 planes were in the air within a minute of the warning. Each was a state-of-the-art air superiority fighter designed in Bredford and used as a reliable dominator of the skies. Each was armed with a pair of Hyacinth II Ultra-long range AAMs, and an underside pod holding 4 CQD short-range AAMs. Also visible on the wings were extra fuel tanks to allow them to travel to such a range.

They soon hit a supercruising speed of Mach 1.2 as they rocketed towards the airship. When they were within a range of 220km, their missiles would be fired to home in on any source found near the airship.
At a speed of a kilometre every 3 seconds, they would reach their targets within 10-15 minutes. Hopefully they would be there in time to save the Alfegan airship. If not, they could hunt down the aggressors and run them into the ground.

_______________________________

EITS 4, one of the 17-strong spy network, had been requestioned by the military in New Alfegos to get an idea of what was going on. As the satellite locked onto the airship in both IF and visible, it began to transmit the images it saw to the command centre. Images of an apparent attack on Alfegan citizens. Someone was going to pay for this.

Lombard Air Force Base

"Damn!" the supervising officer screamed.

"Should we get out of there, sir? We have enough fuel left to put ourselves into orbit" hopefully he thought.

"No. The cargo is much to dangerous to allow into the hands of others. Prepare to sacrifice the aircraft."

________________________

The two UAVs immediately faced the aircraft, firing off whatever countermeasures and flares they had remaining and positioned themselves towards the airship. The one that had dropped the E-bomb dove towards the airship, lining up on a trajectory the analysts believed would cause it to pass through the bridge, and then applied maximum thrust while firing the remainder of its weapons blindly. The second UAV maximized its thrust and approached the airship at an angle the analysts believed would do the most damage to the airbag.

"Get the Fuck outta here!"

The men leapt out of the silent bridge, parachutes billowing further below as a UAV smashed straight into it and exploded in a massive ball of flame. Further along the airship, the men on the side gantries ran towards the rear as one of the UAVs smashed through the gasbag at an angle, exploding as it hit the sub-surface network of beams.

The airship began to roll to the side, no control available on the gas distribution, the total lifting power of which had now been reduced to only 2100 tonnes out of an original of about 7000 tonnes mainly concentrated on the right-and side of the airship, holding up the remains of the airship that had now drifted to a much lower altitude of 300m, the engines still running blindly with no control after the loss of electric signal meaning that the continued to run on leaking hydrogen from the internal airship core.

A single spark could set the whole lot off, possible detonating any nuclear warheads it could be carrying onboard...

_____________________________

An ekranoplan lay on the beach as the Fego'soi talked to the AUM crew who illegally operated it.

"Get onto that airship before the authorities do, and get the nuclear material. Bring it back here, and then we are safe. Until then, we will have to keep up the masqarade with the military and make them think the explosion took off the cargo container, which I am sure can be arranged. Now they have seen from satellite the destruction of the airship, they will be flying back to base as we speak, while a pair of recovery ships and a recovery chopper is sent. If you go now, you will be there an hour and a half before the military, so should have time to arrange things. And a glitch in the satellite means that they won't be able to see anything until its next pass in about 4 hours."

The Fego'soi always knew his mole in the local military was a good investment. He pondered more on how this operation would pan out, as the ekranoplan roared off the beach, before screeching off over the sea, hovering above the water as it travelled. It was easily able to carry the contents of the shipping crates from the airship.

___________________________

The ekranoplan crew slowed down underneath the smoking hulk of the airship. A small fire seemed to have started in the obliterated nose section, the remains of supports for the bridge visible amongst the smoke. They had little time before it came down.

A pair of missiles shot into the air, trailing cables. After they had hooked through the airship, already sinking downwards, motors began to drag it down towards sea level, where it continuously tried to escape from the hold that was holding it down. At a decent height, ladders were extended to the container front, where the men began to unload the crates using explosives to open them and large nets to carry down the goods.

Within about 1/2 an hour, the material was sitting in a large netted area of the hold of the Ekranoplan. As it roared off, a pair of missiles hit the exposed core section, igniting the hydrogen in an instant. As it disappered into the distance, a massive explosion blew the airship remains to pieces, showering debris across the water.

A passing ASoGM cargo ship of Elite Transport Associates ownership was nearby, when they picked up the EPIRB signal. They set an immediate course for the source of the signal, and were shortly in the area. As the men in the life boats saw the cargo ship approach, they steered their life boats to it. Even though they were competitors in the worldwide shipping industry, the ETA crew quickly assisted the WTI crew aboard. A salvage ship from WTI had been dispatched as soon as the EPIRB had been activated, but since the ship went down in international waters, the ETA sent their own, with the hopes of claiming the cargo under international salvage rules.

Undisclosed Location

"Gentlemen, they have it. There is nothing to be found on the UAVs that could possibly us to this wreck. On the other hand, we need to realize that Riker's indelicate handling of this matter creates a very clear trail of bodies until the point where the device was transported to ASoGM. Also, non-involved armed forces are going to be crawling all over the airship wreck. This means that the Monitor and all personnel on board have been removed from this operation, and will be putting putting into port at Checkpoint Alpha." The uniformed man speaking before the room was a representative sent by the Chiefs of Staff, and had the privilege of being able to speak the truth with little fear of repercussions here.

"Our problems have now multiplied. Salvage ships are moving to recover the ship that was carrying the package before the pirates took it. News reports that the ship was sunk by pirates makes sense, but since the pirates had control of the ship, the fact that limpet mines were placed outside the ship will clearly prove that there was another presence besides the pirates. From the reports gathered, there is no reason any of the sailors should have seen the Monitor, although if they did, there is nothing to indicate it is Siapian. Unfortunately, SIGINT reveals an increased level of encrypted data traffic coming from Blake's Point, and I hate to point out the giant screaming elephant in the room, but the analysts believe that Cassius may be preparing to make a move."

"The CoS has seen fit to put me in command of this operation. I understand that we have a Special Response Team ready. My estimate is that the pirates have taken the weapon to the colony to hide it before they transfer it to another party. Have the SRT standing by for immediate deployment."

He looked at the eyes staring at him. "Go!" He bellowed waving his hands and they quickly lept to their feet and ran back to their stations. "You'll be lucky not to be sent to the camps for this!"

Above the tatters of airship fabric, a salvage helicopter sank down until it was hovering just above the surface. The sight was the same all over the wreck: dead bodies floating in the water. The ekranoplan had not picked up the survivors of the airship wreck, and had left them to drown in the water.

Now with murder added to the list of crimes the assailants had perpetrated, the authorities would have questions to ask.

_______________________________

The ekranoplan floated on the quayside, its cargo hold devoid of all equipment. On the quayside, the crew had been lined up, and were being decontaminated by a mobile unit stolen by the mafia: they couldn't take chances. Jets of steam emanated from inside the ekranoplan, as suited individuals cleared out the hold of all radioactive traces. So that the authorities would not be able to track the nuclear material in the case of its discovery.

Multiple wooden boxes marked with FRAGILE were lined up along the quayside, alongside a large shipping crate that was lined internally with thick lead slabs. The weapons were being loaded as the boxes were nailed together, while the shipping crate lay undisturbed, fear pulsing from it.

The AUM would have it moved to a hidden locations soon, on the back of the lorries parked behind them. In the centre of thick deciduous woods that still hadn't been mapped, old crumbling bunkers hid the New Alfegos branch of the AUM, as well as one of their largest stashes. And in a land where the rules were still enforced by the military, it was an ideal base of operations.

Esmund

"General Urban, I think I can say without fear of exaggeration that we have quite possibly the greatest intelligence failure in our nation's history." Alex Connor, the Speaker of The Community looked at the general. His face was an emotionless, expressionless, mask.

"Sir..."

"General, The Council of Ten wants blood. And that they will have, once this is over."

It was an uncannily beautiful day in Esmund. The back patio of the Speaker's Residence was an almost hauntingly serene contrast to the number of deaths that had been ordered through these two men so many times before.

"The Ten convened this morning. I had to listen to someone advocating full military mobilization and a first strike to retrieve the weapon."

"Sir, you know they could never trace it back to us."

"Your missing the point." He looked at the general with an expression that conveyed an almost generalized dissatisfaction with the world. "Your department is to stop international incidents. Not create them." He turned to face the compact, but still strikingly beautiful garden. "The head of nuclear research was here earlier today. He confirmed that there is a very low probability that anyone outside the lab or your custody is truly aware what this is capable of. Even the one who stole it, she wasn't fully briefed. All I can tell you is that if someone tampers with this, there is a good chance that a lot of people will die. And it would be very bad to advertise that a weapon of such capacity exists."


Blake's Point

Shipping containers were being loaded and unloaded from the steady stream of incoming and outgoing freighters. "Mr. DeCell," A man wearing a grey uniform faced a man wearing a black jacket and olive drab pants. "What-"

"We have a leak, Malloy. Its on your end."

"What?"

"Listen, my source in the government tells me that the weapons used during the ship hijacking were far to sophisticated for a simple act of piracy. Plus they have pictures of the pirates being hosed off for radiation. We didn't know the thing was leaking radiation until just before we put it on the ship. The boss is getting ready to make a move, and he wants to make sure everything is airtight beforehand."

"You sure there is a leak on my end?"

For your sake, pull someone off the street, torture him and kill him. DeCell thought. "The Boss says there is a leak. For all intents and purposes, we need to assume these bastards will know our moves before we do. I need you to fix that immediately."

The Star Chamber, Beneath New Zevkhay

The four most powerful people in Alfegos sat around an exquisite table, made from inlaid woods upon an ebony base. They were in the star chamber, a secret room in the Ministry of Secrets, the most secure place in Alfegos for people to meet. In the centre of the table, a holographic image flickered, showing a computer-generated sequence of events over the area of land the incident that had summoned them there had happened.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we have a problem. A very big problem. It appears that we have a mysterious problem, which we haven't got to the bottom of yet. These images were taken by satellite."

The display flicked to 2D, showing a flat image on the tabletop of the airship, magnified intensely, being hit on the side by a missile.

"These drones were tracked on takeoff by the EITS network, which as you all know are crucial in maintaining surveillance of the planet and maintaining our space-born missile shield. The heat of the engines and the lack of any warning of a launch instantly alerted the satellites to follow the two objects from near Siap.
Now, we do not have extensive relationships, if any, with the nation of Siap. But when it appears that a report from ASoGM shows a cargoship of theirs was sunk using high-tech limpet mines with enough power to blast down bulkheads yet silent enough not to be detected by the crew who were on lifeboats at the time, we got suspicious. An encrypted signal that we are still trying to crack on the supercomputer hub in Project 19 was detected being sent to Siap from the middle of the ocean, on what appears to be a submarine."

The consul interrupted the president.

"Sir, the ship was reportedly at the time being attacked by pirates, who were only after specific goods."

"A cover, most likely: that ship was holding a secret assignment of firearms, and most importantly nuclear devices. This is where we have to get worried: the unprovoked attack from Siap may have been against the airship that the pirates were using, which we still don't have any details of except that "it was big." And if they have dropped a nuclear bomb into the sea because of this, then we will have to have words. The pirates did not know what they were getting into, since we only had rumour of that ship being used in weapons smuggling, so we have to assume that Siap has broken multiple international conventions."

The head of the armed forces spoke up.

"Sir, shall we send a warning party?"

"No. We will send a message: if they do not give us an explanation, then we will attack them. Prepare an aero-flotilla for the assault, if we have to, and get onto the Valhalla network controller. I think that those Odin satellites have been up there too long without a decent firing, and since you're decommissioning the project at the end of the decade it will be nice not to waste what the 4 remaining satellites still have."

___________________________________________

New Alfegos, AUM Hideout

A large concrete silo, originally designed to hold some sort of ICBM, held mountains of boxes and crates at its smashed-up concrete base and along the concrete gantries to the side of the missile. Surrounded by lead bricks, the shipping crate had been put on a separate gantry, a large cable leading to an operational booth monitoring the device.

"The temperature level appears to be alright for now, but since we've been here the beta and gamma emissions have steadily risen. If we don't get an expert now, we could be looking at potential disaster or at least spoiling of these goods."

"We have four men on the way."

From up here, they could see workers scurry away from the opened-up end of the crate as four heavily suited men walked up to the side of the crate, holding geiger counters and tool boxes. From here, it was possible to hear the crackle of the counters.

The men walked inside, and were quiet for a few minutes, before one stuck his head out and shook it.

"We need to get these shifted soon then, since they don't know what to do. I reckon from the sensors that we have about 72 hours before it becomes just too dangerous."

"I have one lined up already. They are anonymous for now, but their details rest with one of the Fego'doi. Get ready to shift this thing within 2 hours of my signal, and get a suicide crew to man the ekranoplan shifting this."

OOC: Should I assume the ultimatum was sent?

IC:

Undisclosed Location

"Sir, we have the most recent status update from the Monitor, and it appears that someone has intercepted the communications and attempted to break our encryption." The computer screen showed the updates, with the most recent being a random jumble of keyboard characters. "This, combined with an increase in military chatter in Alfegos suggests that they probably were able to link the airstrike on the airship back to The Community."

The major had his hands on the side of his forehead. "You know what doesn't make sense to me?"

"Sir?"

"Medical reports from the Monitor indicate that several of the ops guys who torched the ship were exhibiting mild hair cell damage in their inner ears, consistent with exposure to a low frequency emitter. Now, this was, ostensibly, a civilian freighter, carrying machine parts. The captain and crew of the ship had no idea that they were carrying anything hazardous. The pirates had enough hardware on board that airship to put up a serious fight. Generally, anybody whose nation can play host to pirates this heavily armed would probably not have the capacity to track our operations. But suddenly, they are trying to crack our codes and their IMINT traces our aircraft? Frankly, I have to say this whole 'pirates' business is a crock of shit."

"Sir?"

"I've been asked to make recommendations before the CoS in a few hours, and afterwards, I'm speaking to the Council of Ten. This whole thing stinks. I'm willing to bet some element within their government saw the pile of corpses Riker left behind trying to get that thing, and they figured they would get their hands on it."

"Sir, we have another thing. Our assets in Cassius's holdings abroad indicate that he is marshaling together his mercenaries. SIGINT is quiet, and IMINT shows nothing, but HUMINT gives a strong positive for several possible locations where his forces may be gathering."

"I'm going to need those. The Council of Ten will probably want to strike his forces before they go out and make things worse."

(OOC: The AUM did used to have very good contacts with the government, and are used occasionally for mercenary work. That is how they got so much advanced equipment)

In Alfegos, the military waited for a response. The precursor to an invasion force was building across Alfegos: 80 airships of varying types were grouping in strategic harbours, picking up supplies and aeromarines for assault of the enemy.

Some regiments were put up to full alert, ready to be shipped out to fight on foreign shores...

________________________________

OOC: I guessed something like that, but most of the military leaders in my nation are eager for a war, unlike the Speaker.

IC:

Council of Ten Chambers, Esmund

"Right now, I believe that our first responsibility is to the civilians in Alfegos. They are mobilizing, and as such, I am willing to consent to a mobilization on our part." Speaker Alex Connor stood before the highest governing body in The Community. "But I am not ready to leap to the accusation that this whole operation was sponsored by the Alfegos military." The group stirred.

"It is my intention to inform the Alfegos command that there is an extremely dangerous weapon that was stolen from Siap and is located within their borders, and that our IMINT has a fix on its location. Discussion on the legality of the legality of any actions cannot resume until this device is recovered. Since we are interested in full cooperation, we will supply them with the locations of said device, as well as the information that it will decompose into its most dangerous state in 48 hours. I have also informed them that we have a team of specialists standing by as well as means to transport it back safely to our nation, and that we would be willing to aid in stabilizing the device so that it would be more receptive to transportation. I also mentioned that I refuse to comment on any military affairs until they respond to this."

"Mr. Connor," Councilman Larkin stood up, "Once again, you have completely missed the obvious. This has been and is a military operation and requires a response in kind. We will not allow you to send such a message to the leaders of Alfegos."

"With all due respect, Mr. Larkin, I sent the message half an hour ago."

Quickly ducking into his office, Connor slid the heavy bookshelf in front of the door leading to the chamber, and put on a pair of headphones to drown out the pounding and heated swearing from the other side. His calm was interupted by a knocking on the door on the opposite side. Didn't think politicians did wind sprints. He opened the door and a skinny man in a cheap suit walked in. "Sir, I'm from Coldwater."

"Pardon?"

"Sir, I am here from Coldwater labs. I'm supposed to brief you on the stability of the weapon and how much time we have before it decomposes. Is this a bad time?"

"Not at all."



_________________

All across Siap, an emergency mobilization was in effect. Civilian maglev lines had been commandeered by the military and all the reserve units were recalled. It had been a long time since the last threat of invasion. Aerial patrols had skyrocketed, and the number of space increased tenfold, hauling material to the space-borne defense network.

Valhalla Control Centre

"Loki board?"
"Five satellites ready, sir."
"Odin board?"
"Satellite firing window starts in 30 minutes."
"Ceres board?"
"All weapons batteries are loaded and ready to fire."
"Thor board?"
"We have an estimated 85% of Siap artificial satellites being tracked as it is."

The Valhalla control centre never usually was as busy as this: the screen at the front of the room showed the orbital track across the planet of many satellites, each with a different symbol and many with different coloured orbital tracks.
They had been told that a war could start soon: a war that would devastating to both nations. And they had to rely on this first strike opportunity.

________________________________

"We have had an interesting message from our colleagues in Siap, gentlemen."
Rather than meeting in secret, the matter had been brought in front of the senate. Men dressed in red, purple and orange robes formed a wall of colour around the sides of the chamber, as the Consul stood in the centre of the hall talking to all.
"The government of Siap have notified us of a nuclear device stolen by pirates, which resulted on an attack on Alfegan assets without our permission. Furthermore, they accuse us of this being a government plot.

Now, the only place this can be in New Alfegos. We currently have a Black Guard company flying over there, but that won't be enough.
If the Siapnemese government can give us more information, since they seem to know more than us, then we will have to get it from them. At the front of the preliminary invasion force are diplomatic representatives, who will be trying to sort out this situation.

What I need your vote on is whether to pursue hunting down the pirates in New Alfegos, the nearest place to the incident's location. I will let the Representative of New Alfegos discuss this with you, before the hall will be open to questions."

________________________________________

A flock of blue-grey airships could be seen in the distance, if one looked carefully enough. They were still outside Siap airspace, but could easily attack and destroy targets from this range. As it was, they were silent, weapon bays containing up to 3000 tonnes of munitions ready but not firing.

Across the surface of the sea, an ekranoplan shot towards Siap. It quickly passed the malevolent wall of airships, before entering Siap sea-space. The diplomats onboard were anxious to speak to the Siap government.

Lombard Air Force Base

"Status?"

"Harbinger-1 in position. Harbinger-2 will be in position in fifteen minutes. They will be in the thermosphere over the enemy invasion fleet shortly. Harbinger-3,4 and 5 will be in position over Alfegos in one hour."

"How about Bartleby?"

"All systems go. Targets are identified over Alfegos."

"Starburst ready?"

"Firing now."

______________________

In orbit, the important communications satellites and weapons systems were accompanied by very large and seemingly useless satellites. Upon the issuing of the "starburst" command, these large satellites broke into fragments of ten smaller satellites. Most of these were nothing more than decoys, however two of the ten satellites were specifically designed to intercept anti-satellite munitions. Their effectiveness was unproven, but the general effect was already achieved, in that the number of satelites fielded by the community would appear to have increased ten-fold.


______________________

Esmund

"Alex, I promise you that if that invasion fleet enters our waters, the chiefs of staff will inform their generals on down the chain of command that no prisoners are to be taken, and I will personally see your hanging for not striking them when they mobilized."

"Mr. Larkin, if this is peacefully resolved, I will see you censured for the accusations you forwarded to the Alfegos governing body, and I promise you, no matter what, we will get rid of your war-hungry Chiefs of Staff."

"Alex..."

"The Council of Ten needs you. See that the defenses are prepared."

The angry councilman stormed back into the chambers. Speaker Alex Connor moved, alone, into the chambers of Anselm Hall, which was where the Council of Ten usually received foreign emissaries. The room was designed to seat the members of The Council, so it was slightly awkward for Alex, sitting alone, facing room where the diplomats were instructed to be brought to.

The diplomatic team walked briskly to the area they had been designated to go to, and waited for whoever was in charge of this sorry affair to turn up and explain to them what was going on.

_________________________________

The satellites above the airships appeared to have multiplied, as well as those over Alfegos. At once, a check was made with space centres in all Novan nations, and the number of satellites was gradually reduced down to the tens of satellites coming into dangerous areas of LEO.

"We will let them fire the first shot. If anything is detected coming towards us, you have authority to commence the attack and launch orbital weapons.
You also have authority from me to launch biological and Electromagnetic warheads at the enemy on my command."

The Head of the Armed forces left the office in the underground bunker, before pacing towards the communications room. What a sorry mess this was. If it blew up in their faces, he would be bearing the blame. And he knew that the High Marshall of the army would launch the nuclear arsenal of Alfegos at Siap, starting Armageddon for both nations. He felt nauseous as he thought of the last nuclear test he had seen: a 300Kt nuclear warhead on Neo'Los. And with the thought of hundreds of them screaming from the sky in a mass that no defence system could hope to cope with...

___________________________________

The lead bricks around the crate were being removed again, as a long cable from a crane reached down from the opened silo doors, grasping the crate with four large claws. As the bricks came away, the workers began running as they saw the faint eerie glow of the ionising air around the gaps in the doors, patches of radiation flickering light blue with a green tinge. The high level of radiation was confirmed by the geiger counter in the control office, showing radiation levels rising still higher. If it was like this at the moment...

The crate was hauled up, trailing wisps of blue light as it was hefted onto the back of a lorry. Here, engineers welded the doors shut as rapidly as possible, before the driver drove off, the engine revving much faster than it normally would have. They wanted to get this off the island as quickly as possible. The lorry, if the roads and military were favourable, would take an hour if they were lucky to reach the Ekranoplan waiting at New Milkavich. Another 15 minutes to load, and the nuclear materials would disappear forever.

"Gentlemen," Alex faced the room of diplomats that he assumed would be righteously angry "I am Alex Connor, Speaker and official representative of The Council of Ten, the body that governs all affairs in The Community of Siap. Time is of the essence, so I am going to address the most pressing matters first. As we all know, an armed group hijacked a consignment of arms, including an experimental nuclear device, from a freighter that was en route to Blake's Point. Some of my colleagues have speculated rather openly about the possibility of your government being behind the attacks, however this is a sentiment that I do not personally hold and do not intend to pursue any further. Our intelligence officers have succesfully tracked the location of this nuclear device. We believe it to be in transit, and its current position as well as possible future positions should have been transferred to your military sometime between the time you sat down and I started talking."

He paused, inhaling quickly and then continued.

"The intended recipient of the arms has marshaled a mercenary army and has, by means we are currently unsure of, also tracked the location of the nuclear device. We believe he intends to stage an attack when the weapon is in transit, but the weapon is unstable as it is, and probably cannot stand a full-scale assault. In the spirit of cooperation, we have transmitted the location of his mercenary fleet, which should be disguised as a fleet of container ships. Presently, they are extremely vulnerable and the ships, though they fly the Siapian flag, are not recognized as Siapian vessels. Unless prior action is taken, we intend to move to destroy these vessels before they can cause any damage."

"I realize that there is much that needs discussion, however, I think our first efforts should be the recovery of this device."

"I see."

One of the diplomats, obviously the head of the party, nodded to a colleague who began to furiously type into a tablet computer.

"Well, in that case, it seems that your attack may have been a righteous attack. We are worried at the existence of this 'Mercenary army', and if you can give us the co-ordinates of the location of the enemy, we may be able to step down from the alert status we currently are at.

But, if you say, the device is currently in transit, where is it exactly? I could be anywhere."

"This device is decomposing very rapidly, and emitting a barely traceable signature of extreme spectrum cosmic rays, like those of the sun that pass through planets. The absence of other radiation emission suggests that its in a lead or other dense-metal crate. IMINT says that its on the back of a truck..."

A man in military uniform walked in and sat next to Alex, sliding a small dossier to him. "...headed towards New Milkavich." Looking at the dossier, Alex read off a series of coordinates "They should be approaching 50 Km off the territorial waters of New Alfegos." Looking up at the diplomats, he continued, "Once the device is recovered, we have a team of specialists who will be able to rendered it harmless. Most importantly, I would advise seriously against letting anyone take it out of the container it is in, because of the radioactivity."

"Right then. Do we have your permission to strike them hard, before they can react?"

__________________________________

A group of 16 airships broke from the cloud of airships around Siap, shooting forth at high speed towards New Alfegos. The Aero-taskforce, designated Lightning, consisted of 6 Consul Aerocruisers, 4 N-class Aerofrigates, 2 Aerodropships and 4 Fleet Auxiliary ships. The group easily had enough power to level a large city, and enough modern gadgets aboard to ensure that they remained safer than anything armour could provide.

They would take 5 hours to arrive though, even with favourable winds. The response from New Alfegos would have to be quick.

Alex looked at the diplomat, coldly. "The man the mercenaries work for has been the single greatest threat to our national security. I would consider it a great personal favor if you left none alive."

"Right, that appears to be in order.

What we need to discuss now is the standing down of your forces to low level of alertness, so that we know that we will not have to keep the airships still positioned outside your borders there any longer."

_________________________________

The coastal defence batteries had begun to fire off at the ships in the distance: a large block as picked up by an AWACS-equipped craft flying out of range of the fleet's weaponry.
These were not conventional batteries in a sense: amongst the hundreds of Harpoon missile cells embedded in the sides of hills along the coastline, five large railguns installed in the city of New Milkavich had begun to fire, lobbing SABOT clusters of 24 needles into the air with great force with each shot, large underground generators roaring as they supplied the capacitors with charge and men with machinery observing the gun's coolant levels in the rails themselves and preparing to replace them after 4 shots.

As the bombardment continued, a pair of Consul-class airships took off with a foreguard of 16 FegoFighter III Multirole fighters armed with missiles to take out the container ships.

The Consul aerocruisers themselves were heavily armed with weaponry: a large missile bay along the centre underside of the airships were filled with a total of 2500 tonnes each of mixed missiles: enough to cause at least a moderate amount of hell alongside chattering machineguns.

_____________________________

The lorry had been stopped on the road into New Milkavich by an armed patrol: 6 Gecko FAVs had stopped the convoy the truck was hidden in, and 16 men were busy searching the vehicles while the other 8 maintained their aim on the vehicles.

When they got up to the lorry containing the radioactive material, they did have a problem: the driver refused to co-operate. The argument intensified, with the four men riding on top of the vehicle amongst multiple crates strapped to the roof reaching into the folds of canvas to pick up their guns: 3 AF-07Ps with drum magazines and an ASR-22 Riot shotgun.

A shot rang out as the co-driver, infuriated, fired off his concealed pistol into the forehead of the soldier yelling at him. At once, silence descended as the body fell to the ground, blood pouring from the shattered temple. For a few seconds, no-one moved. Then the 7 remaining soldiers in the fallen soldier's section opened up at the cabin, to discover the driver had installed bullet-proof glass, that was now crazed with cracks from the assault rifles fired.

As the truck drove off at very high speed, the four men on the roof began laying down rounds at the 6 Geckos in front. A missile flew past, fired from the roof of one of the FAVs, followed by a pair of grenades that crater the road. The men on the Geckos with roof-mounted machineguns fired off loud bursts of rounds, impacting around the men on the roof who had taken cover now. One man looked up to fire, and managed to get a hit with his shotgun on the FAV to the side of the lorry. Even as its driver slumped, a round fired from the soldiers left behind blasted through the back of his neck, frothy blood spurting from the ruptured artery as the man tried to hold in the surge of red fluid. In a few seconds though he had collapsed, the blood slowly slowing as it formed a large pool around him.

The two FAVs attempting to stop the rampaged lorry failed, and were thrown aside as the multi-ton monster accelerated down the road. The men by now had started to get aboard their vehicles, and were coming after them. Another missile rushed past, hitting a roadsign and showering the area with shards of metal.

Now however, the crates atop the lorry were thrown off along with the body, causing the FAVs to veer off the road as they avoided the boxes filled with vegetables. Two managed to break through, and follow them. Fire was exchanged, the long bursts of rounds coming form both sides. Another mafia man was hit, the heavy rounds used ripping a massive hole in his chest and despositing fleshy chunks and shards of bone around the back of the lorry.

The co-driver leant from the side of the lorry, holding a long tube with a small laser marker on it. The missile was fired, and behind them one of the FAVs exploded as the missile hit it, showering burning fuel, metal and flesh over the men in the vehicle next to it. The vehicle swerved, hitting a power line on the side of the road. The line collapsed with a shower of blue sparks, and everything was finally quiet.

In the distance, the 5 railguns could be heard, repetitively shaking the ground. They had little time now, and the third man crammed into the cabin could see that the radiation levels were rising ever higher. They only had hours before the device went critical, and dumping it here...

"Tell base the weapon has become too dangerous: we're gonna ship it onto an Ekranoplan and dump it at sea. Then we're getting outta here."

The military officer leaned over and whispered in Alex's ear. Alex's face was unchanging, until he spoke. "We have orbital weapons systems positioned in the upper atmosphere over your territories. These will be in the exosphere, over international waters in half an hour, on the condition that the airships are removed from our borders. From there, I propose a progressive stand-down of arms until DEFCON 4, or wherever your government feels comfortable."

"I guess that will be in order."

The diplomats nodded.

"If there isn't anything further to discuss, I think we will be leaving."

_____________________________

The crate was hurried onto the Ekranoplan quickly: it was beginning to glow eerily again, even through the welded doors. The temperature inside was also rising now. It was easy to hear the geiger counter crackling inside.

The crew piled up as many empty crates as they could around it, to try and contain the radiation and stop it killing them, before the Ekranoplan was readied to take off.

Suddenly, at the end of the pier, there was gunfire that shredded a vehicle before an Apache Longbow flew overhead, guns blazing. As the exploding shells reached the water, a missile flew from nearby, blowing the helicopter out of the sky.

The ekranoplan lurched into the water, before turning and roaring off out away from the colony.

As privately owned salvage ships from the WTI and ETA raced to the wrecked cargo ship, the crew of the WTI cargo ship rested below decks of the ETA cargo ship. The WTI ship arrived ahead of the ETA ship though, as they mobilized as soon as the EPIRB went off. Both salvage ships had hired private "security guards" to help prevent another band of pirates, or the same pirates, from coming back and starting the process all over again.

OOC: Apologies about the delay.

IC:

"I'm sorry that we could not have met under better circumstances. Hopefully we will be able to initiate diplomatic relations in the future." Alex rose to escort the diplomats from the room.


________________________

"Christ in Heaven, look at that radio signature."

The analysts looked at the screen over the room. The representative from Coldwater Labs stared at the screen. "Judging by the rate of radioactive decay, the gun runners who worked on it before damaged the casing, or else there would not be much of that island left." He turned to face the room. "The theories behind this device originate in String Theory. The implications of this are..."

"These are ops people. Tell them what they need to know."

"Well, the important thing is that if its bleeding this much radiation, the detonation mechanism is completely destroyed. If the device is dropped in the ocean, it might just be cooled to a non-critical point, in which case the internal structure will collapse. The remaining structure will be a weak alpha-emitter for a few years."

"And if they don't drop it?"

"The selling point of the device, apart from the theoretical tonnage had it been appropriately assembled, is the radioactive flash. The theory behind this is deeply embedded in quantum mechanics and differential geometry, but the short of it is that there will be a flash of radiation and energy. Back of the envelope calculations dictate that it should be fatal within 10 Km with maximum dissipation after that. Thyroid concerns beyond that range that can be treated with iodine pills. Taking Compton Scattering into consideration, depending on how far away the ekranoplan gets away, the electromagnetic pulse may reach the shores of New Alfegos."

"I'll be forwarding this to the Alfegos Military Command immediately." An officer darted to the comms office.

On the opposite side of the room, several officers stood in front of a monitor that showed a topographical outline of the Alfegos territories, along with Siapian the orbital paths that Siapian satellites and weapons systems. "Harbinger 3 and 4 passing through ionosphere. Will be re-entering orbit in three minutes with a path to Space Station 1 for maintenance. Harbinger 5 is now over international waters and will be re-entering orbit in ten minutes.

The Ekranoplan roared off as one of the railguns, now given the position's co-ordinates, fired a shot nearly vertical towards the quayside. As the Ekranoplan reached hover speed, and began to float on a cushion of air a few metres above the sea surface, 20 tungsten bolts hit the quayside in a spectacular fashion. Each bolt was 160cm long and 5cm in diameter, with a sharp point and a massive amount of kinetic energy.

Behind the ekranoplan, there were screams as concrete shattered, boxes splintered and vehicles were ripped into pieces by the suddenly molten metal melting as it hit the vehicles. The heat was enough to set off a pallet of fuel canisters on the quayside, igniting highly-compressed hydrogen.

Out of the bay and coming over low orange buoys that marked the positions of seafloor oil pumping stations, the crew of the Ekranoplan glimpsed a massive shockwave that destroyed the rest of the pier, throwing away the mangled bodies and destroyed goods.

__________________________________

"Shit! That's what this is all about?"

"And we have to get it into the water as soon as possible to try and cool it and stop it going bang?"

"Big time bang you mean? Yes, that's what we need to do ASAP. Send out four Gull-type Ekranoplans from the harbour, and get them to sink that Ekranoplan in deep enough water."

The four military Ekranoplans, each filled with tens of missile tubes along their lengths and with four ugly remote-controlled HMGs protruding from the roof and underside, set off from the military docks a few kilometres further north, and began to try and locate the fast-moving target amongst a sea of projectiles aimed at the mercenary fleet coming towards New Alfegos.

______________________

A harsh alarm sounded along the coast of New Alfegos, followed by the loud warning foghorns that blared out a message to all ships in the territorial waters and to all people up to 10km inland: an alert to invasion. The oil refineries died down to a quiet background hum as the oil wells were locked down, and defences were set up around the terminals and factories to defend from any enemy air threat.
In buildings, electrical items were turned off, and government issue WMD safety packs issued to all colonists were quickly unearthed. Valuable goods were surrounded in fine mesh to protect them from any EMP weapons, before the civilians ran to take cover in the deep, deep concrete bunkers up to 250m under the ground, following old mine shafts and natural faults in the rock.
Along the coast, the military companies moved to their designated areas, ready to intercept a shore landing or to provide extra heavy fire on any boats that strayed too close.

The casual observer would easily have noticed that all the soldiers were wearing WMD warfare suits, with full-face gasmasks and gas-proof outer clothes on, with the medics carrying red medical kits in addition to the normal green-coloured kits. All they had been told was that there was a risk of a radiation/EMP weapon detonating offshore and causing massive damage to the colonial systems, on top of the confirmed threat of an inbound mercenary invasion.

As the competing salvage ships started to pull up smaller pieces of the cargo ship's hull, one thing became apparent. There were charges placed both inside and outside the hull. Radio traffic between the salvage ships grew, as both ships were noticing the same thing. A call was put in to the ASoGM Navy, as was standard procedure for these companies when salvaging, in order to request naval protection. This request was due to the fact that the salvage ships now had to worry about 2 different sets of pirates.

Meanwhile, the ETA cargo ship and the WTI cargo ship crew reached port in the ASoGM. The WTI crew quickly went to the authorities and gave statements as to what they'd witnessed. The ASoGM Navy couldn't send out any ships without pulling them off some other duty, though.

Mercenary Fleet

The saltwater washing against the gash on DeCell's forehead, causing enough pain to rouse him. He choked on the seawater, but was able to grab onto a floating barrel.

"Commander!"

He looked at the mercenary who called his name. He was one of a bunch who were trying to inflate a dinghy. "Sir! Coastal bombardment! You were thrown from the deck!"

"What the hell?"

"Sir! The invasion fleet is fucked backside! Someone gave away our position. The remaining captains have told their groups to pull out. We need to get away

"We...we get the weapon?"

The soldiers looked at him. "Sir! We didn't even make visual contact. They just started firing on us."

DeCell grabbed his bleeding forehead and vomited before losing his grip on the barrel.

The AUM ekranoplan sped up considerably when the crew noticed the two military Ekranoplans bearing down on them.
"What do they want? I'm fed up of being shot at!"
"It doesn't seem that they want anything. They are keeping behind us, but they haven't attacked. If they had, they would have done it out of visual range."
"Just get us moving faster. When we're over really deep water, we can dump it."
"I think we should dump it now."
"What, 8km from New Alfegos?"
"Yes, because the container's beginning to melt!"

Indeed, part of the container was glowing, with holes starting to appear.

"DUMP IT!"

The crate rolled out the side of the ekranoplan, followed by the contaminated boxes. There was a cloud of steam as the crate hit the water, followed by the eerie underwater glow of Cherenkov radiation that slowly disappeared.

When the military Ekranoplans, noticed this, one of them opened fire with its machinegun, destroying the engines on one side. The AUM Ekranoplan slowed to a halt as it tried to stop going in a circle, and the military moved to board the ekranoplan, 16 Black Guard soldiers boarding via a short ramp extended across the wingtips of the two ekranoplans.

_______________________________

The Aero-group moving over where the mercenary fleet had been were surprised at the carnage: those railguns they had installed obviously worked. They began to descend as they were told by command that the mercenaries were retreating from the colonial waters. They were told to pursue any surviving vessels to the edge of territorial waters. Which meant at least half an hour of destruction yet.

The two Aerocruisers became beautiful giants, surrounded by tongues of flame and wraps of smoke as they began launching medium-range Anti-shipping missiles of the aptly named "Sinker" series, as the railguns began to fire at a further range, using a wider spread of stakes to get as much of the fleet as possible. Though these shore-mounted railguns had a range of 250km, their rate of fire and overheating tendencies made up for that massive advantage.

__________________________________

"Radio Siap that the weapon has been dumped in the sea at these precise co-ordinates, and that we wish for instructions on how to proceed and whether it still is likely to pose a threat as they mentioned."

Coldwater Labs

"Run the model again." The director of weapons development stared at the computer.

The computer screen showed a split screen, with a theoretical sinking of the device towards the ocean floor on the one side, and the other showed a model of how the device was breaking down. "Sir, it seems that whoever was working on the weapon damaged the dampening system. The decay of the device is consistent with what we think would happen if they were to try and attach an exploding-bridgewire detonator, which would make sense, since they probably mistook the core of the bomb for a plutonium pit. We think that their wiring must have been exceptionally bad, because the trigger may have fired sometime during the handling of the weapon. Whatever off-the-shelf explosives they attached to the center apparently did not detonate, but instead caught fire, which began burning away the remainder of the dampening system, which would explain the radiation signature. Had the detonation mechanism we are currently designing, the temperature elevation would have instantaneous, creating the desired effect..."


The computer model showed the device losing temperature. "What should be happening now is that the components that would be plasma during a standard decomposition will remain gases while the casing on the containers burns off, eventually liberating the gas into the ocean and eliminating the threat."

The military comms officer standing beside him turned, "So, its safe?"

"It is safe in the sense that the radioactive 'flash' we predicted is now, assuming the models are correct, about as likely as immaculate conception. Moving outside of the immediate, the tritium gas and the alpha-emitting core will have noticeable effects on the environment."

"What should I send to the Alfegos Command?"

"Tell them that they need to give it a few hours for the core to decompose into its harmless state, and inform them of the potential environmental effects. Also, let them know we have staff standing by to assist in the removal of the device and other contaminated substances."

"Indeed. So we can stand down?"
"Alright. Send a recovery team to the area to try and recover the remains of the device, and stop high levels of contamination."

_____________________________

Environmental Ministry

"Right, so we can assume that the currents in the area will do what the model predicts?"
"Yes. It will be washed out deep into the sea. But, it hopefully will be contained."

_____________________________

There was little resistance as the marines boarded the ekranoplan, with all the AUM personnel and hired hands surrendering as the marines yelled out orders.
However, the door to the bridge remained sealed as the marines tried to batter it down. Finally, one of the marines with a shotgun fired off a lock-shattering round into the door, allowing it to be kicked open.

They entered to see the pilot with his finger on a large red button, next to a very large opened box of C4 explosive, with wires sprouting out.

"Too late guys. Better luck next time."

As the marines opened fire, the smiling pilot hit the button and set off the 50kg of explosives, completely destroying the ekranoplan and blasting holes in the sides of the other two ekranoplans. As the wreckage began to sink, leaving bodies and boxes floating on the surface, a much more feeble explosion from the magazines of the two military ekranoplans sending up a cloud of bubbles.

Esmund

Alex walked slowly back from the meeting to the Council chambers, pausing to light a cigarette on the walkway connecting the two buildings. The weather had been nice, which meant the more meandering, open air walkway was open to foot traffic. The tense discussions from before only heightened his appreciation of the city. While taking a drag on his cigarette, he did his best to force the sound of the opening doors and footsteps out of his mind. "Mr. Connor."

A squad of soldiers stood behind him, with their rifles at their shoulders, in a line facing him. "Alex, I'm sure you realize the meeting you conducted with those diplomats was illegal under the Lombard Acts. You grossly overstepped your position as the speaker for The Council of Ten. Ordering the Harbinger system out of position eliminated our first strike potential."

Alex looked over his shoulder. "Mr. Larkin, with all due respect, you are an opportunistic bag of snakeshit. Do you get off to the prospect of breathing strontium-90?"

"Alex, we were poised to crush their advance. The Council of Ten had decided that we would strike first, and we would have made an example of them. You have publicly humiliated The Community, and The Council has decided to remove you from the position of Speaker. You will be detained, while we determine whether to press charges of treason."

The sergeant stepped forward, "Alexander Anselm Connor, you are under arrest, anything you say can and will be used against you in a Judiciary Hearing..."

Alex bit his tongue as the soldiers led him onto a helicopter and Larkin suppressed a grin as he walked into the Council Chambers.

_____________________________

Alfegos Command,

There has been a slight change in the leadership of The Community. The Council of Ten has decided that it would be best to follow the diplomatic course established by former Speaker Alex Connor. We intend to cooperate for the time being.

~Quinn Colin Larkin
Acting Speaker

_____________________________

Worldwide Transport Incorporated,

The Community has succesfully identified the the people who destroyed your ship. They were eco-terrorists from The Community of Siap. Unfortunately, all members perished during an attempt to bring them into custody. The Council has seen fit to offer your corporation $100 million as compensation for the damages inflicted by these criminals.

~Quinn Colin Larkin
Acting Speaker

"They've made quite a good job of covering their trail."
"I suppose it compensates for the attack on an Alfegosian airship. I'm sorry, but a man has to have his principles."
"I do understand, sir. Now, if we recover this weapon, what are we going to do?"
"Reverse engineer it. See what the hell they were doing making a radioactive warhead like that."
"Alright."

_________________________________

Salvage Ship A-SS 07

There was a roar as the powerful engines on the rear of the ship began to drag up the object on the seabed, the powerful magnet of the grabbing arm attached by divers who had also sent to the surface any objects scattered around the crate by gas balloon.
On deck, a large concrete casket was waiting to take the objects, handled at distance by men with long claw-like graspers in full-body protective suits, while behind lead shields other men rested, waiting for the dangerous material to be loaded up, before it was put below decks and they could help with the dragging up of the remains of the Ekranoplans, to see what exactly had been going on.