NationStates Jolt Archive

This is an introductory story for the Royal Kingdom of the Bautizan Islands, as you can guess by the title. Because of how I set up the story behind the Kingdom (refer to the NSWiki entry for further details) it didn't seem to fit with just jumping into any of the currently-running plots. The short summary of this plot is that a fishing-rights confrontation brews up between the Kingdom and another nation or two.

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Royal Colonial Navy Ship Fort Thunder (DDG-27)
Military Sound, King's Island, Royal Kingdom of the Bautizan Islands

"Now hear this, now hear this. Rig the special sea and anchor detail. I say again, rig the special sea and anchor detail," the loudspeakers blared shipwide. The unexpected announcement silenced the early-morning conversations in the galley, cut through the noise of the machines turning in the ship's laundry, even managed to overrun the racket being caused by someone's workout music in the hastily-thrown-together makeshift gym in the hangar. It was common knowledge that the ship wasn't supposed to set out on patrol for another nine days.

From bow-to-stern personnel fell, rolled, or were shaken in their racks. A handful of the fortunate ones were already up, hurrying forward in their cold-weather gear as soon as the call went out. Several of the more unfortunate were already on watch in exposed positions, armed sentries or performing basic maintenance work in the frigid Arctic air. Once more, Military Sound was embattled by winds that chilled to the bone, turning the waters into whitecap-tipped stormy seas, while the dark clouds scudded across the sky.

It was perhaps apt that the navigable channel once known as King's Cove had been renamed Military Sound on the charts, for it was here that the Home Fleet of the Royal Colonial Navy was based. Anyone on watch on the bridge wings could have, and did, see that there were three battleships and a mighty carrier at anchor in a line stretching out into the deeper waters of the sound. Cruisers and destroyers were rafted alongside each other, still more docked pierside in the extensive sprawling dockyards that lay to one side of the sound. A patrol boat on harbor defense had rumbled by about a half-hour before, escorting a small inter-island tanker on its way out to the military forts on the islands that jealously guarded the approaches.

"Engine room reports ready to answer bells sir. Ten knots available at your command, three hours for full speed." The commander gave a nod to the talker standing at the aft starboard corner of the bridge, then glanced at the helmsman before settling back into his chair. "Make revolutions for one knot."

The man pushed forward slightly on the engine control, until it read the desired speed on a digital display, while the actual speed still read zero. "Make revolutions for one knot, aye sir."

"Sea detail reports anchor vertical," the talker was saying as the port bridge wing door opened, allowing the captain to enter. The XO raised an eyebrow at his superior, who took a moment to look over the instrumentation to see what he'd missed. Apparently not much, he concluded as he turned to the questioning look on his subordinate's face. "The fishery patrol ship's off station and coming back in with a broke shaft. We're heading out to relieve her."

Cole Island Military Outpost
115NM WSW of Military Sound, King's Island

Cole Island was remote, remote that is even by the standards of the Kingdom, and almost as barren as the Home Islands. Not a single tree could be found anywhere on its 6-square-mile surface, and the only vertical thing was a single tall communications mast that arose from the underground bunker complex, linking the facility with the world at large. The first and foremost mission of the outpost was to provide indications and warnings of a potential invasion of the Kingdom, but during the peace it was the premier facility that watched and monitored over some of the most extensive and prosperous fishing grounds in the North Atlantic.

There was an impressive array of tools at its disposal to complete this peacetime mission. A helicopter, right now down for maintenance but normally held ready-to-fly from its underground hangar. The cameras on the island and on the several other deserted islands scattered throughout this part of the fishing grounds. The fishery patrol ship, an old beat-up hand-me-down frigate that dated from the 1960s, which was unfortunately limping its way back to King's Island for emergency repairs. A pair of UAVs that could fly off from the unpaved runway on the north side of the island. And the satellites that were overhead like clockwork, but normally tasked with more important things than watching and counting fishing boats.

One of the operators on the main watchfloor, who had until now been sitting at his radar screen and reading a magazine, lowered it a little when the soft notes of an alert ping reached his ears. Distracted from thoughts of what he'd like to do to the model in the foldout at the center of the publication, he leaned forward a little more when he spotted the flashing icon at one edge of the screen. As he'd been trained to do, he interrogated the new contact briefly with the tools that were readily at-hand, namely a database of known fishing ships and the declared roster of inbound fishing and commercial vessels. Finding nothing, he pressed a button on the intercom panel at the edge of his desk.

"..... Sir, this is Petty Officer Calverston on the master radar. I've got an unidentified contact on the southeast edge of the fishing grounds, estimate range forty-seven miles ....."

OOC: Bump.

As far as any Kewenic corporation had been concerned, this sector of water was relatively untravelled, the Kewenic lands had easy enough access to international waters from there main shores, and never saw fit really, send any sorts of navel activity towards other seas, with most significant commercial activities taking place to the wide beyond.

That was, till someone realised that those waters had a large amount of fish, now it wasn’t a gold rush, and it wasn’t a major discovery no one really cared much, except a small fishing company named, rather appropriately “Ka-boom Catchers”, as far as boats would be concerned the fishing boats that entered the unknown waters of the Royal Colonial(not sure if this is ur name >.>), could of done double time as a military warship, Kewen gun laws were lax, and for good reason the Kewen had no police, only a military, and for centuries it was both the job of the armed people in conjunction with close air support from the air force and the peoples court to keep the lands in order.

As it blindly sailed into someone’s territorial waters, fishing nets, and various other regularities one would find on a fishing vessel, were deployed and the small sleek vessel began to fish.

”Ey! Joe, whars that han grenade?” A obviously drunken fisherman slurred, as he reached into a crate besides him.
”In the box next to you sir.” Contrary to his captain, the second in command was sober, which was odd to say the least.

Reaching into the box, and giving a grunt of satisfaction he pulled the pin, and lobbed it over his shoulder, landing in the ocean with a soft phonk It exploded shortly after, and a small assortment of fish awkwardly flew through the air, and landed about the deck in various stages of fishlike shell shock or death.

Cole Island Military Outpost
115NM WSW of Military Sound, King's Island

The watch officer leaned over the console for a bit and examined the faint radar return that was echoing back at them. It winked faintly on the display as the unseen eye of the radar swept around and around in never-ending circles. And unlike the periodic ghosts that appeared, whether they be birds, waves, or cloud formations, this one was solid and unmoving. Finally the officer straightened himself up, tugging down his jacket from where it had rode up.

"Right. Well it isn't a ghost, whatever it is," he mused with a thoughtful look. "Communications, start hailing the ship on standard frequencies. Flight, get a bird aloft. And someone file a damned contact report with the Admiralty." He barked the last, striding away from the console and back across the floor to his watch desk. Behind him the man on the communications desk was leaning on a microphone key.

"Unidentified vessel four-seven miles southwest of Cole Island, this is the Cole Island Military Outpost of the Royal Kingdom of the Bautizan Islands. You are in restricted waters. Return to international seas immediately." The signal went out loud and clear on the airwaves, piping away from the mast in the middle of the island, mounted over the underground bunker that distorted the earth where it lay. At the north end of the island a petty officer in a cold-as-hell hangar was acknowledging the orders barked at him over the bad phone line. No sooner had he hung it up than he twirled a finger in the air and the flight crew sprung to work on the UAV lurking in a corner.

Imperial Destroyer Aegis, waters off King Island

Commander Georgos Meterios of His Imperial Majesty's Ship Aegis (OOC: modified Province-class (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Province-class_destroyer) destroyer) was thoroughly bored. Yeah, sure, the new ASW weaponry he was testing was spiffy, but he wanted action. He wanted to be assigned to Admiral Banton's heavy taskforce, or to any of the many other parts of the Fleet that actually saw battle. Failing that, an assignment to the Home Fleet, with ready access to the glittering social life of Constantinopolis Secundus, would do just fine.

But here he was, off an uninhabited island. Testing super-secret ASW weapons, and not getting his name mentioned in dispatches.

His sensor officer's voice broke into his sour thoughts. "Skipper, we have a contact from the Egg." The Egg was the name jokingly given to the Aegis' onboard NHI-NH90 helicopter, because of its ability to launch Penguin ASMs at unfriendly targets. It suited the crew's sense of humour to have the penguins come out of an egg, answering the age-old question in a unique fashion.

"What is it, Shannon?" Meterios' voice was curious, but not overly concerned. There weren't many nations that would dare the Emperor's wrath by attacking one of his ships, and even if this was a merchantman, it was a break from the tedium.

"Dunno, Skip. It's not a design I've ever seen before. Should I have Shawn hail them?"

"No. I'll speak - have the Egg relay me."

"You're live, Skip. In 3...2...1..."

The Commander's voice went out across the airwaves toward the unknown vessel.

"Unknown vessel, this is Commander Georgos Meterios, Imperial New Chalcedonian Navy, Commanding Officer of His Imperial Majesty's Ship Aegis. Please state your identity and intentions."

OOC: Yes, the "unknown ship" is the Fort Thunder. Respond as appropriate.

Royal Colonial Navy Ship Fort Thunder (http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r67/S_Baxter2064/RCN/DDG.gif) (DDG-27)
7NM WSW of King's Island

The price of solitude: nobody knows the Kingdom's out here, Captain MacGuire thought to himself with a frown as he contemplated the unexpected hail and query. So much for an easy patrol. He looked out through the forward bridge windows through the beating wipers, the spray from the wavetops picking up as the winds increased. "Operations, rig the ship for sea conditions. Radio, standard hail and query. Do we know where they are?" he added, peering out into the storm as if he could see the ship.

"No sir." The captain gave a grunt at this. "Very well. Advised them they're approaching the twelve nautical-mile limit. And get me the Admiralty."

The ship's loudspeakers whined to life again as the ship slammed into another wave, large froths of water coursing up and over the foredeck before sluicing off the ship in sheets and rivers. "Now hear this, now hear this, secure and rig for heavy seas. Lash down all ammunition, personal items, hatches, aircraft, and other equipment. Master-at-arms, rig a special detail midships to secure the ship's launches. Now hear this."

"Vessel Aegis, vessel Aegis," the officer-of-the-deck said into a handheld microphone a moment after the loudspeakers had shut off, "this is Royal Colonial Navy destroyer two-seven, outbound from King's Island on routine fishery patrol. Be advised you are approaching the twelve nautical mile territorial limit of the Royal Kingdom of the Bautizan Islands. Request to know your intentions at this time."

The Captain, sobered up somewhat by the repeated sounds of underwater high explosives, and that of a naggy 2IC, meant he was well awake and fine when he recived the message from this so called "Royal Kingdom of the Bautizan Islands"

Shrugging, he grabbed a thin looking officer and told him what to reply back to these.. Bautizan.

"Attention so called Royal Kingdom of Bautizan, This is international waters, no legitimate governing body of this area has come to light before, what reason should we have to belive your claims, that you are indeed a nation? and not a roaming band of brigans." Sighing somewhat, the weedy officer went back to his previous duties, making sure noone made off with the artillery shells.

Naval War College, New Haven
"and that, Ladies and gentlemen is the totality of the ASDNs Naval forces along with their Commanders and Captains. I do expect you too have all of these fully memorized by the quiz next week. Any questions?" Asked a sever looking professor speaking in front of fatigue clad group of students. "No?" Her voice echoed through the hall. "Very well then, have a nice day."

As the class filed out a number of students came to the front desk.

"M'am," Asked one. "What about the dark ships? My father works for Cyberforce and he claims that we've got intel -"

"Now Vanessa," Replied the Proffesor. "Trust me when I say that there is no such thing as a dark ship. Any further questiosn pertaining to-"

"But m'am. He claims they got the power to match one of our battleCruisers and that they use sophisticated-"

"Vanessa!" Cut in the prof. sternly. "That's enough! There are no Dark ships now get going to your next class! Now midshipman or I'll be forced to write you up!

"Aye Aye M'am," She Replied

ASDN "Laverna", A dark ship
"Every Dratted time," Mutter captain Warik under his breath. "Could we just once have a regular mission that goes exactly as planned??"

"But sir, Where's the fun in that?" Replied Lieutenant Valesque "I mean if you wanted to just drive a boat you coulda joined the merchant Marine."

"Point, Diane. Still just once would be kind of nice. Ok com, what do we have?"

"Looks like a rather interesting situation sir." Replied Sargent Rico, The marine who ran the communications division of the ship. "We've got a previously unknown nation Claiming control of this part of international waters. Looks like the Kewen aren't exactly happy to hear about it either sir."

"Fine Sargent. Continue to monitor communications and ignore the first couple of calls they make to us. I want em to think we're just a run down Merchie not worth a second look"

"Aye sir! Replied the Sargent and turned to his "board""

"Weaps?" Said the captain as he turned to the other side of the room. "Make Damn sure were ready at a moments notice though. I want full active and passive weapons and defenses ready If we need them. Have Us go to general Quarters but make sure the men Have something in the way of food. i don't foresee any complications but if they happen I'd rather be ready for it."

"Aye sir!" Replied Chief McIntosh in a heavy Scottish Brogue. "On it sir!"

Cole Island Military Outpost
115NM WSW of Military Sound, King's Island

The UAV finally got stubbornly airborne from the north runway, lifting off into the teeth of the oncoming gale as its wings wobbled and the little craft was flung about between pockets of turbulence. Below it the ground and the white-capped seas quickly vanished behind the rain that was pelting down, masking everything from view. After a few minutes to gain altitude it turned towards the radar contact and accelerated.

Behind it, located underground on the watch floor, Petty Officer Calverston was muttering under his breath about the impertinence of foreigners. "Sorry little s---. Who the f--- does he think he is?" There were scattered murmurs of assent and agreement from around the room. The watch officer pretended not to hear a word of it all, but privately he was in complete agreement as he remained on the hotlink. Long ago an undersea cable had been laid between Cole Island and the Admiralty HQ on King's Island, but its normal use was for daily communications.

"... Yes ... Yes sir ... I quite agree sir," the officer was saying on the red phone. "Understood sir ... investigate the ship and see what she's doing in these waters, yes sir. Can we expect to receive a replacement for the fishery ... ship already en route? Very good sir. We'll keep the boat under surveillance ... Out here ..." He put down the phone on its cradle and thought for a moment before activating the microphone on his desk.

"This is the Cole Island Military Outpost to unknown vessel at range four-seven miles from this facility. Request you identify yourselves and your intentions. Over."

Petty Officer Calverston frowned at his display as the officer was speaking from his desk. Next to him another of his fellow noncommissioned officers leaned over, in time to see Calverston tap at his screen and adjust a few controls. "That's odd ..."

"What?"

"I just had a contact here. Right here," he said with additional emphasis, tapping a particular section. "Had it for three or four sweeps and then lost it."

"A ghost?"

"Maybe." Dammit, Calverston thought to himself, ships coming this far north in the middle of the winter was almost unheard of. The storms had always been the Kingdom's barrier and isolation from the outside world, except when it was convenient for the Kingdom's interests. But now two ships had found their way to within the economic zone, and in the teeth of a gale. How many more would come? Was there another ship out there? He briefly contemplated reporting it to the watch officer but decided against it for now. Probably just the storm that was coming on something fierce.

Cole Island Military Outpost
115NM WSW of Military Sound, King's Island

The UAV finally got stubbornly airborne from the north runway, lifting off into the teeth of the oncoming gale as its wings wobbled and the little craft was flung about between pockets of turbulence. Below it the ground and the white-capped seas quickly vanished behind the rain that was pelting down, masking everything from view. After a few minutes to gain altitude it turned towards the radar contact and accelerated.

Behind it, located underground on the watch floor, Petty Officer Calverston was muttering under his breath about the impertinence of foreigners. "Sorry little s---. Who the f--- does he think he is?" There were scattered murmurs of assent and agreement from around the room. The watch officer pretended not to hear a word of it all, but privately he was in complete agreement as he remained on the hotlink. Long ago an undersea cable had been laid between Cole Island and the Admiralty HQ on King's Island, but its normal use was for daily communications.

"... Yes ... Yes sir ... I quite agree sir," the officer was saying on the red phone. "Understood sir ... investigate the ship and see what she's doing in these waters, yes sir. Can we expect to receive a replacement for the fishery ... ship already en route? Very good sir. We'll keep the boat under surveillance ... Out here ..." He put down the phone on its cradle and thought for a moment before activating the microphone on his desk.

"This is the Cole Island Military Outpost to unknown vessel at range four-seven miles from this facility. Request you identify yourselves and your intentions. Over."

Petty Officer Calverston frowned at his display as the officer was speaking from his desk. Next to him another of his fellow noncommissioned officers leaned over, in time to see Calverston tap at his screen and adjust a few controls. "That's odd ..."

"What?"

"I just had a contact here. Right here," he said with additional emphasis, tapping a particular section. "Had it for three or four sweeps and then lost it."

"A ghost?"

"Maybe." Dammit, Calverston thought to himself, ships coming this far north in the middle of the winter was almost unheard of. The storms had always been the Kingdom's barrier and isolation from the outside world, except when it was convenient for the Kingdom's interests. But now two ships had found their way to within the economic zone, and in the teeth of a gale. How many more would come? Was there another ship out there? He briefly contemplated reporting it to the watch officer but decided against it for now. Probably just the storm that was coming on something fierce.
OOC: Is the Ghost ship mine? Or are you hailing mine?

OOC: Is the Ghost ship mine? Or are you hailing mine?

OOC: The "ghost ship" is yours, but I'm not hailing it yet. Don't worry. I'll locate your ship in the next post or two. :D

Royal Colonial Navy Ship Fort Thunder (DDG-27)
7NM WSW of King's Island

Captain Meterios wasted no time in responding.

"Fort Thunder, be advised that our intentions are peaceful. We do not intend to intrude upon your claimed territorial waters. However, due to the sensitive nature of certain tests we are carrying out, I must request that your vessel maintain a 15-mile clearance from my own. We will make every effort to wrap these tests up as soon as possible, and the Empire apologises in advacne for any incovenience this may cause. Over."

OOC: The "ghost ship" is yours, but I'm not hailing it yet. Don't worry. I'll locate your ship in the next post or two. :D
ooc:Sweet sounds good :D

Royal Colonial Navy Ship Fort Thunder (DDG-27)
7NM WSW of King's Island

"Bridge, radio room. Copying message traffic now from the Admiralty. Runner standing by to bring directly to the bridge," the speakers crackled over the captain's head. It had been almost twenty minutes since the last communication from the Aegis, and the ship had been waiting since then for direction from a higher authority. No doubt someone was in a panic at finding out an unknown ship had crept so close to the Home Islands without being detected.

"Copy that." The captain hung the microphone back on its clip above his head, giving it a good solid thump with the palm of his hand to make sure it wouldn't fall off and clip him in its fall. It had happened once before, much to his regret and chagrin. It wasn't going to happen again.

"Sir, lookouts report nothing," the executive officer said from the back of the bridge, wet from head-to-toe after being caught by a spray of water on the port bridge wing. He shook out his damp cover and tried to bat some water out of his hair, succeeding in only spraying the now-irritated quartermaster with it. The man shot the second-in-command a look bordering on mutinous before returning to supervising the helmsman, who was fighting the ship with every wave. The captain took another look outside, in time to see the number-one gun mount engulfed by a wave, before reaching his decision. "Activate the main and navigation radars, full power. I want to know where the Aegis is exactly."

Over the bridge, two radar sets began to sweep in circles, powering up after more than fourteen hours without use. The lower-mounted one was the standard-issue commercial navigation radar, a cheap enough component bought and imported to the islands from a Japanese manufacturer. But the higher one was a military-grade surface-search and target-acquisition radar for the midships-mounted antiship cruise missiles, more powerful and with a longer range than its commercial counterpart. Right now the canisters it fed information to were closed, sealed against the stormy elements outside, but the difference would be noticeable on any's ECM gear.

The runner arrived on the bridge a moment later, having been liberally battered against the bulkheads on his way up from radio. He withdrew a clipboard from inside his jacket, and handed it to the CO, who read it for a moment before frowning. Finally he leaned over to pass it to the XO, and reached up to unclip the microphone from its overhead spot.

"Vessel Aegis, vessel Aegis, this is Royal Colonial Navy destroyer two-seven. Request clarification on nature of tests you intend to conduct."

Imperial Destroyer Aegis, waters off King Island.

A strident buzzing broke the near-silence on the Aegis' bridge.

"They've gone to full power on sensors! What's the call, Skipper?"

"Full stealth mode! I don't want them to know where we are until we determine their intentions."

"Aye, Sir!"

Moments later, the Fort Thunder's transmission was received, and Captain Meterios responded even as his electronic warfare equipment began obfuscating his ship's radar return. Whilst the odds of the Colonial destroyer spotting the Aegis via radar were now effectively nil, there was still the issue of helicopters: specifically, the Egg, now shedding altitude as fast as it could, and any helicopters that the Bautizarn ship might have access to, as no amount of EW spiffiness could prevent direct visual observation.

"Fort Thunder, be advised that our tests are of a sensor system, and that the technology is currently proprietary to the Empire. Again, my orders are clear: we are not permitted to allow anyone to observe the tests, which is why our orders specified an apparently-deserted island chain as the testing-grounds. Once again, the Empire apologises for the mistake, and will be prepared to pay suitable compensation upon an application from the Kingdom's representatives."

200 miles north, northwest of Kings Island

The flying boat roared through the air, her three powerful turbo props pulling the gunship through the air. She was now 320 miles off course and she was still being threatened by the ever increasing size of the gale.

That's when it happened. The number two engine suddenly began to sputter and flames began to shoot out of her port engine nacelle.

Senior Lieutenant Tim Rogers looked out of the cockpit and swore. He shut down the number two engine and hit the extinquisher. "Number two engine on fire...out.."

As the engine stopped moving he could feel the wheel become more sluggish in his hand as the power assist hydraulics dropped off.

Junior Lieutenant Billings began to do a check list. "We've lost power assist hydraulics...we can't maintain this speed, and we've lost the number two generator. We can either drop the doppler or the main radar..."

"Doppler..."

"With this gale on our tail..."

"Acknowledged...."

"Sir we have a problem, apparently we've sprung a leak somwhere above the number two fuel line above the cut out valve...we're loosing fuel on tank C."

"See if you can route it to tanks A and B...but what is our range going to be?"

"We've down to 230 knots and flying with a leaking fuel system...we're not going to make it, Bingo in 800 or so..."

"Alright...your going to have to do that transfer manually..."

He bent up the mike..."Sparks...we've lost an engine and some fuel. We need to put down cause I can't keep her up in these winds without getting that engine up and running again."

There is a speck on the digital chart with an apparent rough landing feild on it. South South West about 210 miles...owner unknown.

"well we either ditch her in the water in the middle of a gale or in the lee of that island and hope the locals don't mind some unexpected guests."

All Channels In Clear
This is Alpha Ringo Nate Seven Seven Eight Golf declaring an in flight emergency....I have had an engine failure and can not maintain altitude and control under current weather conditions...

I repeat this is Alpha Ringo Nate Seven Seven Eight Golf declaring an in flight emergency and I will be making an emergency landing at coordinates (Kings Island)

ESRC Code 778C
This is Gunship Alcona 778: Have suffered engine fire in number three. Have lost hydraulic power assist. Winds have reached Gale Force. Unable to make landing site...will make emergency landing at coordinates (Kings Island)
Please advise on what nation...
Broadcasting in the clear...

200 miles north, northwest of Kings Island

The flying boat roared through the air, her three powerful turbo props pulling the gunship through the air. She was now 320 miles off course and she was still being threatened by the ever increasing size of the gale.

That's when it happened. The number two engine suddenly began to sputter and flames began to shoot out of her port engine nacelle.

Senior Lieutenant Tim Rogers looked out of the cockpit and swore. He shut down the number two engine and hit the extinquisher. "Number two engine on fire...out.."

As the engine stopped moving he could feel the wheel become more sluggish in his hand as the power assist hydraulics dropped off.

Junior Lieutenant Billings began to do a check list. "We've lost power assist hydraulics...we can't maintain this speed, and we've lost the number two generator. We can either drop the doppler or the main radar..."

"Doppler..."

"With this gale on our tail..."

"Acknowledged...."

"Sir we have a problem, apparently we've sprung a leak somwhere above the number two fuel line above the cut out valve...we're loosing fuel on tank C."

"See if you can route it to tanks A and B...but what is our range going to be?"

"We've down to 230 knots and flying with a leaking fuel system...we're not going to make it, Bingo in 800 or so..."

"Alright...your going to have to do that transfer manually..."

He bent up the mike..."Sparks...we've lost an engine and some fuel. We need to put down cause I can't keep her up in these winds without getting that engine up and running again."

There is a speck on the digital chart with an apparent rough landing feild on it. South South West about 210 miles...owner unknown.

"well we either ditch her in the water in the middle of a gale or in the lee of that island and hope the locals don't mind some unexpected guests."

All Channels In Clear
This is Alpha Ringo Nate Seven Seven Eight Golf declaring an in flight emergency....I have had an engine failure and can not maintain altitude and control under current weather conditions...

I repeat this is Alpha Ringo Nate Seven Seven Eight Golf declaring an in flight emergency and I will be making an emergency landing at coordinates (Kings Island)

ESRC Code 778C
This is Gunship Alcona 778: Have suffered engine fire in number three. Have lost hydraulic power assist. Winds have reached Gale Force. Unable to make landing site...will make emergency landing at coordinates (Kings Island)
Please advise on what nation...
Broadcasting in the clear...
ASDN Laverna
"Sir, Intercept! Sir, its important!" Yelled Rico over the Storm. it was worsening but the Laverna only looked like a merchant from the waterline up. Under the water, stabilizers Were steadying the ship and in the very nice crew quarters and even nicer guest rooms the effects were hardly noticeable.

"What is it Sarge?" Asked Warik.

"Sir, We've got a plane going into the drink nearby. A gunship to be exact. From the minimal passive RADAR we're using it looks like a flying boat but there's no way It'll ride out this storm. " Replied Sargent Rico. "Sir what do we do?"

"Aw hell," Replied Warik. "GIve them ten minutes, If theres no movement by then we'll pick em up. Con?"

"Aye Sir?"

"Get us moving that way at near full possible speed for a merchie. Keep up appearances if possible and get one of the Marine Squads down here now and have the guest Quarters prep'd immediately."

"Aye aye sir, on it!" Replied Rico.

He turned to Master-Sargent Kent, Commander of the marine contingent and then

"Get one of the Light Attack Boats Ready And have the squad prep for resucue. Make sure they look somewhat normal-ish and have the boat go over the side." Said Warick

"Not a problem Sir," Said the Master-Sargent.

The Dark ship moved relatively quickly for a tramp freighter towards the site in which the landing was occurring. It would arrive within five minutes of the boat touching down on the water.

"This is the Cole Island Military Outpost to unknown vessel at range four-seven miles from this facility. Request you identify yourselves and your intentions. Over."

The Captain, grumbled quite loudly and obscenely when this reply came through. He didnt like it, not one bit.

The very loud and aduiable squeak of a wheelie chair was heard, and a rather skimpy looking man.. or tomboyish girl, manned what appeared to be a almost military grade scanning equipment.

"El Capitana, theres be fishes ahead!" The man/girl thing said, in a heabily spanish accent, as he/she swung around in the chair, and manned the screens again "There also be, a eye in the sky, it aint ours..".

"For the last time, cadet Mayfire, its Captain" The second in command said, cutting off his captain.
"Shut yer mouth wallops, and get back on the radio and shut them squakers up."

Nodding drealily, he grabbed the radio, and sent a reply.

"Once again, You do not have any authority in order to claim this information, this is legal fishing in international waters, so you can getfo with your requests, and if your UAV comes near our ship, ill shoot it down and give it to my brother as a presant capcice? good."

<bump>

OOC: Waitting for King Island response

OOC: Waitting for King Island response

OOC: may not happen . . .be warned

Alpha Ringo Nate Seven Seven Eight Golf

Was slowly descending towards the water with a heading fairly close to approaching the single isle on the screen.

Lieutenant Tim Rogers looked down at the radar screen and winced. "What do you think Billings?"

"We have three or four contacts at the moment. One is obviously either a small aircraft or a UAV. Hull informed us that their might be a helo on this speck or one or two Geek specials. I'm thinking based on the speed it's a Geek Special, a helo would have tried to get more altitude unless it is a SAR."

Billings pointed to the fastest moving dot with a red outline and a small set of numbers indicating speed and distance.

"What about the local traffic?"

"One fast moving buck here, Bravo, likely a tin can or frig...local I would say. They seem to be also headed with the Geek towards Alpha. Alpha isn't all that happy about it."

"Sparks anything new?"

<Alpha is squawking about the Geek Special and threatening to shoot it down, so its armed. It also said something about international fishing rights so who knows what the hell is up there. Bravo seems to be focused on Delta.>

"And Delta is"

"Another Nasty of some sort. I'd say a cruiser or such...with a f*** load of jamming. If the seas were any lighter we wouldn't even get such a sniff.

"Why in hell have we got more local traffic than downtown Torrhall on a Saturday night?"

<Skipper...This is guns...>

The Lieutenant blinked for a moment, Gun control was likely just not enjoying the ride, but one didn't piss off one's Gun captain without due cause. "What is it Guns?"

<I've been sweeping the sea with the new MFTR back here...anyone else seen the ghost?>

"Huh?"

<There is a Merchie out there who's signature is all wrong. Hell, she barely has a fricken signature.>

"Billings"

"Sir the only Merchie's with a return our radar can't see is a whaleback. And any whalebacks I know are in the Fleet."

"So we've got what..."

"A mystery of some sort."

<A mystery heading in our direction Sir,>

"Great, the one safe place to land has more bogies than a Borgart retrospective...and one has a decided intrest in us."

Roger's pondered for a moment, he had about fifteen before he could swing into the lee line of the island and make an attempt to land.

He picked up the radio again, "Sparks...see if you can raise up our freind..."

Broadcast on standard Commerical Shipping Frequencies

Unidentified Vessel at coordinates (zz,xx) this is Alpha Ringo Nate Seven Seven Eight Golf please identify yourselves.

@A&H: Cool, but I'm confused. Who is whom? Is the Aegis contact Delta? She's a big destroyer, so that makes sense. Bravo woud therefore be the Fort Thunder, but I can't figure out who is whom of Alpha or Charlie.

And hte "dark merchantman" is the non-radar returning merchie.

Am I right in all this?

@A&H: Cool, but I'm confused. Who is whom? Is the Aegis contact Delta? She's a big destroyer, so that makes sense. Bravo woud therefore be the Fort Thunder, but I can't figure out who is whom of Alpha or Charlie.

And hte "dark merchantman" is the non-radar returning merchie.

Am I right in all this?
OOC: the Dark Merchie is me :). looks like his RADAR is a little more sophisticated than your average customs radar lmfao.

IC:
ASD Laverna
"Sir we may have a problem. We're getting some really weird backlash from that airborne RADAR. They may have a RADAR system that can somehow bypass our disguise. We haven't run into one before, usually we hold up really well even against our own AWACS but its possible. Oh hell-" Said Rico as he turned to Warik. "Their trying to get a hold of us. What do we do?"

"Shit." Said Warik. "We're blown. Ok hold reply for two minutes then send back a typical merchie response. Use our "Rose" personna. Prep anti-air and Anti-ship weapons but hold off on anything that'll show as of now and make damn sure we get to that crash site."

"Aye sir!" Replied the Sargent. "Sending now"

Message

This is the Merchant mariner "Rose" we picked up your distress call and are moving for pickup once you ditch. Good luck and god speed on your landing.

OOC:
Bogie List
Alpha-Overly armed fishing boat
Bravo-Thunder (local tin can)
Charlie-UAV ('referred to as Geek Special')
Delta-Aegis class DD although I am assuming she is a cruiser.
Echo-'Dark Ship' (Although she's a Q ship K class in ARN nomenclature)

Alpha Romeo Nate ARN - Alconian Royal Navy she ain't your local customs craft at all. And last time I knew most nations were not deploying AC-130s into customs work.

IC:

<Sir,?> Sparks blurted over the com <They claim they are the Rose on an intercept course to pick us up>

The Lieutenant paused for a second in thought, "They didn't identify their home port did they?"

<No>

f*** popped into his brain. "Alright chances that Merchie down their is really a Merchie?"

<With a bloody radar return that looks more like a Clarcain Special than a tub of floating scrap steel, She looks like a merchie through the optics back here...>
The voice of wisdom of a Master Chief came over the com.

"Pirate?"

<Only if state supported>

"Billings?"

"Sir, your call but she looks like a duck but squawks like a Klatchian Croc."

Tim looked down at the controls. It might be the end of his carrer but there really wasn't any other choice. "Sparks" I need to send out a coded message, everyone else prepare for emergency crash landing in hostile waters...strip all Confidential and higher..."

ESRC Code 778C-Encryption Class A

This is ARN 778 Believe contact with Q-ship, ghost radar return even after optical identification and radio contact. Vessel identifies self as Rose, no nation, no port. Have assumed crash landing in Hostile waters.
Please Advise

As the craft began to bank around in the wind to essentially line up directly into the wind right towards Kings Island, the rear cargo hatch opened and items began to spill out into the sea.

The gunners pulled their electronic sights and battle-tops went falling down into the ocean. The Master Sargent flipped two metal toggals and the main battle comp and the auxiliary counter-measures comp popped out of their cubbyholes to be tossed out.

Just before sparks pulled her encryption computer a message, poor in signal came in. After a moment she realized it was a visual only message for the skipper and set it on to his personal reader.

ESRC Code 778C-Encryption Class A
***COMMAND EYES ONLY****
ARN 778 This is ARN Manobrier, Commodore Branson orders full Hostile waters procedure excluding scuttling until rescue by hostile force. Rerouting to intercept. Repeat rerouting to intercept.

****
As the Lieutenant read the message he sighed. "Sparks, dump the com, no reply" He and Billings focused on the immediate job ahead, landing this puppy in the heaving waters of the sea.

OOC: She's a Province-class destroyer, modified. Large for her rate, but no cruiser.

IC:

Imperial destroyer Aegis, near King Island.

Captain Meterios listened to the playback of the transmission with a thoughtful expression.

"Shannon, put me on live."

"Aye, Sir."

"Vessel Alpha Ringo Nate Seven Seven Eight Golf, this is His Imperial Majesty's Ship Aegis. What have you spotted, and can we help? Fort Thunder, please be advised that we are almost finished picking up our sensor equipment, and are responding to an apparent contact on the part of a third party. Aegis over."

OOC:
Bogie List
Alpha-Overly armed fishing boat
Bravo-Thunder (local tin can)
Charlie-UAV ('referred to as Geek Special')
Delta-Aegis class DD although I am assuming she is a cruiser.
Echo-'Dark Ship' (Although she's a Q ship K class in ARN nomenclature)

Alpha Romeo Nate ARN - Alconian Royal Navy she ain't your local customs craft at all. And last time I knew most nations were not deploying AC-130s into customs work.

IC:

<Sir,?> Sparks blurted over the com <They claim they are the Rose on an intercept course to pick us up>

The Lieutenant paused for a second in thought, "They didn't identify their home port did they?"

<No>

f*** popped into his brain. "Alright chances that Merchie down their is really a Merchie?"

<With a bloody radar return that looks more like a Clarcain Special than a tub of floating scrap steel, She looks like a merchie through the optics back here...>
The voice of wisdom of a Master Chief came over the com.

"Pirate?"

<Only if state supported>

"Billings?"

"Sir, your call but she looks like a duck but squawks like a Klatchian Croc."

Tim looked down at the controls. It might be the end of his carrer but there really wasn't any other choice. "Sparks" I need to send out a coded message, everyone else prepare for emergency crash landing in hostile waters...strip all Confidential and higher..."

ESRC Code 778C-Encryption Class A

This is ARN 778 Believe contact with Q-ship, ghost radar return even after optical identification and radio contact. Vessel identifies self as Rose, no nation, no port. Have assumed crash landing in Hostile waters.
Please Advise

As the craft began to bank around in the wind to essentially line up directly into the wind right towards Kings Island, the rear cargo hatch opened and items began to spill out into the sea.

The gunners pulled their electronic sights and battle-tops went falling down into the ocean. The Master Sargent flipped two metal toggals and the main battle comp and the auxiliary counter-measures comp popped out of their cubbyholes to be tossed out.

Just before sparks pulled her encryption computer a message, poor in signal came in. After a moment she realized it was a visual only message for the skipper and set it on to his personal reader.

ESRC Code 778C-Encryption Class A
***COMMAND EYES ONLY****
ARN 778 This is ARN Manobrier, Commodore Branson orders full Hostile waters procedure excluding scuttling until rescue by hostile force. Rerouting to intercept. Repeat rerouting to intercept.

****
As the Lieutenant read the message he sighed. "Sparks, dump the com, no reply" He and Billings focused on the immediate job ahead, landing this puppy in the heaving waters of the sea.
ASD "Laverna"
"Sir, 'nother problem. We picked up two separate transmitions. We're working on cracking them now but sir, it seems likely that its a distress call and it has a reply from somewhere else." Said Sargent Rico.

"Aw hell," said Warik. "This is gonna get finicky as hell. Alright, so much for our Merchie appearance. Ditch that pretense immediately, I wanna go fully silent turn off everything heightening our radar signature to merchie levels."

"Sir," Said Valesque. "They're landing now. We still on route to pick em up?"

"ya Diane," Said Warik, "We pretty much have to now. Launch the pinance and prepare the welcoming committee. Coms try to get a vector on that second message. We have to hand em off eventually. Oh and clean out the ship, there should be anything identifying us as ASD'ian, I mean even the crew is incredibly multinational but make sure any traces of ASD'ian identity is gone."

"Already done sir, We've swept twice since we got the distress call and the second sweep picked up exactly nothing." Replied Valesque.

"Great." Said Captain Warik. "Alright lets make with the creation of massive diplomatic issues"

OOC: She's a Province-class destroyer, modified. Large for her rate, but no cruiser.

IC:

Imperial destroyer Aegis, near King Island.

Captain Meterios listened to the playback of the transmission with a thoughtful expression.

"Shannon, put me on live."

"Aye, Sir."

"Vessel Alpha Ringo Nate Seven Seven Eight Golf, this is His Imperial Majesty's Ship Aegis. What have you spotted, and can we help? Fort Thunder, please be advised that we are almost finished picking up our sensor equipment, and are responding to an apparent contact on the part of a third party. Aegis over."
OOC: its an AC-130 (an aircraft) not a ship and how would u know they spotted anything????

OOC: Because your unit broadcast over commercial frequencies toward something that the Aegis couldn't see - which made Capt. Meterios suspicious.



Broadcast on standard Commerical Shipping Frequencies

Unidentified Vessel at coordinates (zz,xx) this is Alpha Ringo Nate Seven Seven Eight Golf please identify yourselves.

OOC: Because your unit broadcast over commercial frequencies toward something that the Aegis couldn't see - which made Capt. Meterios suspicious.

OOC: ahhhh right


This is the "Rose" out of the American Privateer.

OOC: No, she isn't an AC-130 just that is the closest analog. In reality she looks like a DO 24 but with a square body and three turbo prop engines similar to the AC-130. But about the right size.

Merchant shipping, unless they happen to be say fleet auxiliaries, tend not to operate radio's on military channels.

The crash

The flying boat dropped to the water. Her two good engines pulsating at full throttle and spinning the rain back off of themselves. The hull hit the tops of the first waves and spray went flying as the boat began to drop even faster into the water. The long, narrow nose began to do its intended job and cut into the sea sending spray out as the rest of the heavy aircraft dropped into the sea and slow. She bounced a few more times, but it was a sudden cross wind that caused the problems.

The blast of wind came at an odd direction, just a momentary burst of wind and water that hit the aircraft at the exact wrong moment. Hell the pilot would have seen it coming if he hadn't dropped the Doppler. The pilot caught the craft from tipping but over compensated, dipping the windward wing down. The wind caught it, and the pilot swore as it dropped even farther. It was the port wing without an engine, so he couldn't use power to pull himself forward and gain some counter acting lift.

The plane wing smacked into a second, then a third wave slowing itself down faster than the powered sides. The pilot tried desperately to pull out but the craft's wing finally caught too much water, literally flinging the craft off course like a roller coaster on a hairpin curve.

The pilot cut the engines in a bit to stop the plane from cartwheeling and succeeded, but now the plane bounced around like a pin ball of the waves as she didn't have the force to push through them. In the end, the long noise dug deep into a wave trough, and the gunship acted like she had just smacked into a concrete wall. She went almost completely vertical. The wind caught the tail and pushed her back down into the water.

The flying boat came back up and looked the worse for wear. The starboard engine had obviously broken partially free from her mounts because it was drooping, as though it hung in the cowling by a few bent screws. The nose looked it had gone three rounds with mike Tyson, smashed on the end and bent down by the pressure of the water over the front. The forward auto turret was gone, apparently smashed out of its ring by the force of the water. And she was slowly sinking towards the nose, having likely sprung several serious leaks in the hard stop.

Master Chief Dorn looked up from his seat and saw red. The emergency/fighting lights were on which meant that the engines had been shut down. He smacked the release on his harness and stood. The deck was pitching, not forward to aft, but starboard to port and she was listing forward. He turned to Mike Oltep, the gunnery assistant. Mike was still a touch wet behind the ears and looked disoriented.

"Get the gun deck moving...now!" drop the gate and get the raft into the water, looks like we took a hit on that landing.

The seaman was attempting to get out of his harness. The Chief smacked his latch, pulled the kid to his feet, smacked his gunny pack into his arms and pushed him aft. Mike pushed through the bulkhead door that separated the EW from the gun deck while the Chief strode forward.

The galley looked like a tornado hit it. All of the aft bulkhead lockers had broken free dropping their contents across the deck. The Chief jumped onto the ladder up to the flight deck. First up was Ensign Anne Nola, she had taken a nasty hit when the radio broke free and fell on her. But she was moving, and had gotten the wayward electronics off of her. She turned now to look at the rest of the cockpit. Billings was moving, but hunched over the Skipper.

The Chief stepped froward into the cramped space and looked down. The skipper looked dead. There was bleeding across his scalp where something heavy had smashed through the windscreen and then smacked into him. Billings looked up, "Alive, but I can't rouse him. Help me get him out of here."

The two men pulled their skipper from his seat and pulled him aft. The five member gun crew had dropped the after cargo hatch and were waiting with the life raft inflated. Two moved froward to help the Chief and the Lieutenant to take him onto the raft while Mate Connyers grabbed the med kit and also entered to tend to the skipper's wounds.

The Chief turned to Billings. "Sir, recommend I, Placek and Oltep push the raft out."

Billings nodded and watched as the others piled into the raft. A moment later, the yellow raft and cover appeared hitting the sea while the three men were pulled back into the raft, their flight suits keeping out the sea water a bit. The chief took one of the small paddles and pushed them further off as the gunship began to do a re-enactment of the titanic slowly rising, tail first into the air as it began to slip beneath the heavy waves.

OOC: No, she isn't an AC-130 just that is the closest analog. In reality she looks like a DO 24 but with a square body and three turbo prop engines similar to the AC-130. But about the right size.

Merchant shipping, unless they happen to be say fleet auxiliaries, tend not to operate radio's on military channels.

The crash

The flying boat dropped to the water. Her two good engines pulsating at full throttle and spinning the rain back off of themselves. The hull hit the tops of the first waves and spray went flying as the boat began to drop even faster into the water. The long, narrow nose began to do its intended job and cut into the sea sending spray out as the rest of the heavy aircraft dropped into the sea and slow. She bounced a few more times, but it was a sudden cross wind that caused the problems.

The blast of wind came at an odd direction, just a momentary burst of wind and water that hit the aircraft at the exact wrong moment. Hell the pilot would have seen it coming if he hadn't dropped the Doppler. The pilot caught the craft from tipping but over compensated, dipping the windward wing down. The wind caught it, and the pilot swore as it dropped even farther. It was the port wing without an engine, so he couldn't use power to pull himself forward and gain some counter acting lift.

The plane wing smacked into a second, then a third wave slowing itself down faster than the powered sides. The pilot tried desperately to pull out but the craft's wing finally caught too much water, literally flinging the craft off course like a roller coaster on a hairpin curve.

The pilot cut the engines in a bit to stop the plane from cartwheeling and succeeded, but now the plane bounced around like a pin ball of the waves as she didn't have the force to push through them. In the end, the long noise dug deep into a wave trough, and the gunship acted like she had just smacked into a concrete wall. She went almost completely vertical. The wind caught the tail and pushed her back down into the water.

The flying boat came back up and looked the worse for wear. The starboard engine had obviously broken partially free from her mounts because it was drooping, as though it hung in the cowling by a few bent screws. The nose looked it had gone three rounds with mike Tyson, smashed on the end and bent down by the pressure of the water over the front. The forward auto turret was gone, apparently smashed out of its ring by the force of the water. And she was slowly sinking towards the nose, having likely sprung several serious leaks in the hard stop.

Master Chief Dorn looked up from his seat and saw red. The emergency/fighting lights were on which meant that the engines had been shut down. He smacked the release on his harness and stood. The deck was pitching, not forward to aft, but starboard to port and she was listing forward. He turned to Mike Oltep, the gunnery assistant. Mike was still a touch wet behind the ears and looked disoriented.

"Get the gun deck moving...now!" drop the gate and get the raft into the water, looks like we took a hit on that landing.

The seaman was attempting to get out of his harness. The Chief smacked his latch, pulled the kid to his feet, smacked his gunny pack into his arms and pushed him aft. Mike pushed through the bulkhead door that separated the EW from the gun deck while the Chief strode forward.

The galley looked like a tornado hit it. All of the aft bulkhead lockers had broken free dropping their contents across the deck. The Chief jumped onto the ladder up to the flight deck. First up was Ensign Anne Nola, she had taken a nasty hit when the radio broke free and fell on her. But she was moving, and had gotten the wayward electronics off of her. She turned now to look at the rest of the cockpit. Billings was moving, but hunched over the Skipper.

The Chief stepped froward into the cramped space and looked down. The skipper looked dead. There was bleeding across his scalp where something heavy had smashed through the windscreen and then smacked into him. Billings looked up, "Alive, but I can't rouse him. Help me get him out of here."

The two men pulled their skipper from his seat and pulled him aft. The five member gun crew had dropped the after cargo hatch and were waiting with the life raft inflated. Two moved froward to help the Chief and the Lieutenant to take him onto the raft while Mate Connyers grabbed the med kit and also entered to tend to the skipper's wounds.

The Chief turned to Billings. "Sir, recommend I, Placek and Oltep push the raft out."

Billings nodded and watched as the others piled into the raft. A moment later, the yellow raft and cover appeared hitting the sea while the three men were pulled back into the raft, their flight suits keeping out the sea water a bit. The chief took one of the small paddles and pushed them further off as the gunship began to do a re-enactment of the titanic slowly rising, tail first into the air as it began to slip beneath the heavy waves.
The ASD Laverna
With the long rescue boat launched, there was nothing those aboard the Laverna could do but watch as the Plane began to sink below the waves. On the bridge, Warik stared hard at the Radar screen, hoping that this wasn't going to turn into an all out naval battle between the Laverna and the Imperial forces.
In some ways it would have been easier just to let them drown. Thought Warik to himself But no, I couldn't do that even if I knew it was going to lead to a battle or worse. Oh well.

The rescue attempt
The single cutter and its 20 man, Marine armed crew had been launched prior to the landing and were in a good position to watch the crash landing.. Unfortunately the emphasis there was on crash and Private James', A relatively new recruit, mouth dropped as the plane took a severe beating.

"Move! NOW!" Yelled Master-Sargent Kent and the boat leaped forward through the seas to the point at which the Plane had come to rest.

"Sir? will anyone have actually survived that sir?" Asked James.

"Three things private," Replied Kent without turning. "First people are remarkably resilient and military designers are usually pretty good at throwing together sturdy air craft. Second, We we're given orders and when you get an order you OBEY IT regardless of how pointless that may seem and last soldier, I work for a living."

"Aye sarge sorry, Sarge." Replied the chastened private as the Cutter drew near.

"Alright, We've got a life raft disembarking. its only got about seven people in it." Said Kent as he peered through the storm. "Eagle get over here!"

"Yah kent?" Said the Sargent, one of the ASDs top ten ranked snipers.

"There anyone on that plane?"

"No sarge looks like they got off alright."

"Alright then Pull alongside that raft. Marines, Stand by to receive wounded."

The LAB proceeded to do just that. Pulling up alongside the raft, a Pair of marines Unfurled ladders down the side then hopped into the rolling life raft.
"hello!" Yelled Kent, the first marine onto the raft. He paused and looked at the scene noting the injured captain and that some of the others bore wounds as well. "We're here to help! If you can get yourself onto the boat do it now. We'll get the wounded up. Move now!" He made a circular motion with one hand and two further marines hopped into the raft along with a stretcher. On the LAB, five marines were there to help people over the side while a further five remained armed and ready just in case. The last five marines were handling the ship, for the moment while the medic hopped into the raft behind the second pair of Marines.

ooc: shouldnt we wait for the owner of this here thread to make anotehr post?

ooc: shouldnt we wait for the owner of this here thread to make anotehr post?

OOC: wait someone owns this threa-- O . . .right!

I, also, have been wondering about this. I shall TG his NS account.

*Bump?*

*I had posted but it apparently vanished in the ether of the jolt forums will reconstruct when I figure out why I keep losing my network connection every twenty seconds or so...*

*I had posted but it apparently vanished in the ether of the jolt forums will reconstruct when I figure out why I keep losing my network connection every twenty seconds or so...*

OOC: ahhh fair enough :) I look forward to it

Billings and the chief watched with narrowed eyes as the launch cut through the rough waves. "Looks like our mysterious friends don't want to loose us." The Chief stated with a snarl, his hand was on the standard 45 strapped to his thigh outside his flight suit.

"Agreed, but lets not be too hasty in starting a fire fight."

The Chief looked up and nodded. As the craft approached you could feel some of the personal actually becoming more acute of this unknown people.

As the launch bounced up to the side of the inflated raft and two ladders rolled down, the distinctive click of a round being holstered was made out by the Chief. He turned to look into the Ensign's eyes. "Steady now...." He was interupted by a member of the launch crew stating he was here to help.

Most of the flight crew and gun crew transferred over with their bags. The raft had been built to hold the flight crew plus fourty armed marines so their was enough room to throw most everyone's gear in it. All were dressed in the same khaki flight suits with the aircraft patch over the left front pocket. On the pocket was a sheild patch with two crossed sword and propeller blade behind the outline of a tramp steamer. The shoulder carried the flag of the United Duchies, A red Griffin and Green Wyvern rampant to a golden sun on a field of bright blue. Below that was a circular patch of a large white bear with wings holding what looked like a chain gun.

Billings watched the first Marine signal his cohorts with a standard signal and smiled ruefully on the inside. Well this boy has been trained, and so have his cohorts...the only question is are we going to disappear?

Finally the medic and Lieutenant Billings transferred over after the skipper. They dropped onto the deck of the launch with the same wary eyed glances at the Marines as the rest of the Navy crew had been doing.

Billings paused for a second and looked about for who was in command. It wasn't quite obvious to him at the moment.

Billings and the chief watched with narrowed eyes as the launch cut through the rough waves. "Looks like our mysterious friends don't want to loose us." The Chief stated with a snarl, his hand was on the standard 45 strapped to his thigh outside his flight suit.

"Agreed, but lets not be too hasty in starting a fire fight."

The Chief looked up and nodded. As the craft approached you could feel some of the personal actually becoming more acute of this unknown people.

As the launch bounced up to the side of the inflated raft and two ladders rolled down, the distinctive click of a round being holstered was made out by the Chief. He turned to look into the Ensign's eyes. "Steady now...." He was interupted by a member of the launch crew stating he was here to help.

Most of the flight crew and gun crew transferred over with their bags. The raft had been built to hold the flight crew plus fourty armed marines so their was enough room to throw most everyone's gear in it. All were dressed in the same khaki flight suits with the aircraft patch over the left front pocket. On the pocket was a sheild patch with two crossed sword and propeller blade behind the outline of a tramp steamer. The shoulder carried the flag of the United Duchies, A red Griffin and Green Wyvern rampant to a golden sun on a field of bright blue. Below that was a circular patch of a large white bear with wings holding what looked like a chain gun.

Billings watched the first Marine signal his cohorts with a standard signal and smiled ruefully on the inside. Well this boy has been trained, and so have his cohorts...the only question is are we going to disappear?

Finally the medic and Lieutenant Billings transferred over after the skipper. They dropped onto the deck of the launch with the same wary eyed glances at the Marines as the rest of the Navy crew had been doing.

Billings paused for a second and looked about for who was in command. It wasn't quite obvious to him at the moment.
Kent and the medic we're the last two to pile on board along with the wounded. Second later two shots rang out from the bow of the Light Attack Boat and the raft began sinking. The launch sped away toward the ASDN Dark Ship. As the medic began work on the wounded with the help of two of the other marines, Kent walked over to the chief.
At least I think that's the chief he thought to himself. It has been a while since I read up on rank tabs.

"Hello there" He said to the, perhaps chief. "My name is Master-Sargent Kent though I hope you'll excuse me if I don't reveal exactly who I work for. Are you the leader of your people?" he held out his hand towards the chief and waited for his next move. On the deck of the attack boat a squad of marines still had weapons trained in the general location of the people they had just taken on board.

OOC: Normally I would pick random character but we'll say you got Dorn.
And what damn poor Marines have you got who can't recognize stripes??

IC: He had chosen the eldest man there which had been Dorn. The fact that the Alconian stripe system varied slightly from traditional chevron pattern for Enlisted Personnel in the first place. Things got even more complicated because as Gun Captain aboard the plane. Dorn was considered a Warrant Officer and had the single dark verticle stripe on his shoulder to indicate such.

Dorn's hard eyes focused on the hand for a moment and then he shook it with a firm grip while giving a small head bow. "Master Chief Petty Officer Dorn Alconian Royal Navy at your service. My skipper is the one knocked cold, so command is with Lieutenant Billings. He nodded towards one of the young men in conference with a young lady with a small blue circle located over her vertical bar.

The Lieutenant took notice and walked over, keeping his eye on the Marines as he did so. "Sir, this is Master-Sargent Kent of somebodies Marines, Master-Sargent this is Lieutenant J.G. Billings Co-pilot of our former ride."

The Lieutenant repeated Dorn's shaking of the hand with a small head bow. "Sargent..." Billings began, "....do you mind getting your boys and girls to drop to the readiness level a notch. I doubt either one of us wants to start a pissing contest in this s*** storm and from here on out were stuck with our respective commands having to go on an unexpected blind date. I doubt my government is going to have a fit about the situation. So we have zero reason to initiate anything."

Of course when my command informs you that we know you have a Q-ship program your command is going to go scape goat hunting. Chief Dorn thought quietly to himself.

OOC: Normally I would pick random character but we'll say you got Dorn.
And what damn poor Marines have you got who can't recognize stripes??

IC: He had chosen the eldest man there which had been Dorn. The fact that the Alconian stripe system varied slightly from traditional chevron pattern for Enlisted Personnel in the first place. Things got even more complicated because as Gun Captain aboard the plane. Dorn was considered a Warrant Officer and had the single dark verticle stripe on his shoulder to indicate such.

Dorn's hard eyes focused on the hand for a moment and then he shook it with a firm grip while giving a small head bow. "Master Chief Petty Officer Dorn Alconian Royal Navy at your service. My skipper is the one knocked cold, so command is with Lieutenant Billings. He nodded towards one of the young men in conference with a young lady with a small blue circle located over her vertical bar.

The Lieutenant took notice and walked over, keeping his eye on the Marines as he did so. "Sir, this is Master-Sargent Kent of somebodies Marines, Master-Sargent this is Lieutenant J.G. Billings Co-pilot of our former ride."

The Lieutenant repeated Dorn's shaking of the hand with a small head bow. "Sargent..." Billings began, "....do you mind getting your boys and girls to drop to the readiness level a notch. I doubt either one of us wants to start a pissing contest in this s*** storm and from here on out were stuck with our respective commands having to go on an unexpected blind date. I doubt my government is going to have a fit about the situation. So we have zero reason to initiate anything."

Of course when my command informs you that we know you have a Q-ship program your command is going to go scape goat hunting. Chief Dorn thought quietly to himself.
OOC: lmao well its not MY strip system lol so the fact that my 'rine guessed even close isn't bad, right? lol :)

IC:
"Agreed lieutenant," Said Kent with another small gesture. As the troopers lowered their weapons and relaxed he grinned slightly sheepishly and turned back to the lieutenant "Sorry about that I just worried that some of your people might be a little, um, worried a bout being kidnapped off of your plane, despite the fact that it was from a soon to be sunk raft."

As he finished speaking, The Laverna loomed in the storm, the LAB pulled alongside and a smallish section of the bow appeared to open up as hoists were lowered to the boat. From the section of the hull a walkway dropped and marines on the lab secured it.On the far side, A person wearing non-descript Digi-cam with TAP'ian standard captains stripes, appeared at the other end with a "welcome squad" and the group of five people stood at attention as the marines began boarding.

"Sirs," Said the Master Sargent, "Please have your people board the ship." The medic along with marines carrying the wounded on stretchers had already moved halfway across the walkway into the ship.

OOC: Captain stripes...my poor Lt is looking for bars or a birdie...

Billings swallowed slightly at the word 'kidnap'. God I hope the Admiral is on his way, or I may never get to see Lucy again.

Dorn almost replied the standard phrase, "I work for a living don't give me no Sirs.." but decided against it. He gave a cursory glance to the hidden boarding deck and then gazed along the Laverna's side trying to guage her size and what armaments she might be hiding.

Billings looked over at Dorn. "Bring up the rear Chief..."
"Aye Aye Sir..."

Billings and the rest of the group moved up the gangway, Billings at the front.
Alright which one of these wankers in charge of the deck party? His eyes looked across the group of five. Hmm, damn it...alright just give them a salute and hope their in that little cluster.

As Billings stepped onto the deck he turn to face the group and saluted. "Permission to come aboard." You tend to find three hundred years of tradition hard to ignore.

OOC: Captain stripes...my poor Lt is looking for bars or a birdie...

Billings swallowed slightly at the word 'kidnap'. God I hope the Admiral is on his way, or I may never get to see Lucy again.

Dorn almost replied the standard phrase, "I work for a living don't give me no Sirs.." but decided against it. He gave a cursory glance to the hidden boarding deck and then gazed along the Laverna's side trying to guage her size and what armaments she might be hiding.

Billings looked over at Dorn. "Bring up the rear Chief..."
"Aye Aye Sir..."

Billings and the rest of the group moved up the gangway, Billings at the front.
Alright which one of these wankers in charge of the deck party? His eyes looked across the group of five. Hmm, damn it...alright just give them a salute and hope their in that little cluster.

As Billings stepped onto the deck he turn to face the group and saluted. "Permission to come aboard." You tend to find three hundred years of tradition hard to ignore.

"Permission granted lieutenant" Replied the captain with a smile, he had looked over foreign ranking systems much more recently. "Welcome aboard the Laverna."

The inside of the ship was a world apart. It was warm, and despite the rough weather outside both relatively quiet and not rolling much at all in the seas. a look around the corridor showed a fighting ship but one of comfort. As the marines piled in all but the captain and his 5 man guard went off to duty stations.

The captain gestured to the crew.
"I'm sorry about the rather . . .abrupt rescue there but I was really hoping to keep up our little deception. looks like that wasn't in the cards but non the less you'll have to excuse me if I don't exactly give away all of our secrets."

The captain turned to the Chief. "Chief," He said. "I'd like to have a word with your lieutenant about exactly what we're going to do. We have Quarters prepared for your crew If you wouldn't mind working that out with the Sargent here?"

Sargent Barrett stepped forward and nodded slightly to the chief. She then gestured to the assembled group. "if you'll just follow me chief?"

The captain then turned to the lieutenant "and if you'll follow me? Oh and I'm going to have to ask that your troops give up there weapons now. I'd prefer to avoid any accidents aboard ship."

"Oh and I'm going to have to ask that your troops give up there weapons now. I'd prefer to avoid any accidents aboard ship."

All of the eyes of the Alconian crew fell on Lieutenant Billings at that statement. Billings swallowed hard as he considered his reply. But Chief Dorn distracted him, "Lieutenant permission to speak."

Billings looked at the Chief and nodded ascent. "Might I remind you of Article 100 of the Royal Naval Charter, 'No man is to surrender his weapon to an unknown...'" Dorn cleverly stopped at the word Foe. But he continued, "I might also suggest Sir that we place all of our side arms in the care of Petty Officer Mutka who is a Deputy Armsman."

Billings almost scoweled not following the Chief. First Mutka wasn't an Deputy anything and all Deputy Armsmen tended to be in household staff, not on His Grace's gunship. But then he realized why and nodded. Turning to the Captain he gave a small bow. "I am forced to ask for your indulgence, as you have not yet identified who's flag you serve, my own Articles forbid me from surrendering anything other than my personal arms. But I can transfer them to the Deputy Armsman which would prevent any accidents from occuring, obviously one of your marines could supervise him to prevent anything unwanted from occuring."

Billings smiled slightly, hoping that the foreign Captain would realize that his people might actually be more dangerous if they were anxious becuase they did not have access to their weapons. Especially the Ensign...she was from the Kandi which was premire in having the most paranoid of Klatchians.

"Oh and I'm going to have to ask that your troops give up there weapons now. I'd prefer to avoid any accidents aboard ship."

All of the eyes of the Alconian crew fell on Lieutenant Billings at that statement. Billings swallowed hard as he considered his reply. But Chief Dorn distracted him, "Lieutenant permission to speak."

Billings looked at the Chief and nodded ascent. "Might I remind you of Article 100 of the Royal Naval Charter, 'No man is to surrender his weapon to an unknown...'" Dorn cleverly stopped at the word Foe. But he continued, "I might also suggest Sir that we place all of our side arms in the care of Petty Officer Mutka who is a Deputy Armsman."

Billings almost scoweled not following the Chief. First Mutka wasn't an Deputy anything and all Deputy Armsmen tended to be in household staff, not on His Grace's gunship. But then he realized why and nodded. Turning to the Captain he gave a small bow. "I am forced to ask for your indulgence, as you have not yet identified who's flag you serve, my own Articles forbid me from surrendering anything other than my personal arms. But I can transfer them to the Deputy Armsman which would prevent any accidents from occuring, obviously one of your marines could supervise him to prevent anything unwanted from occuring."

Billings smiled slightly, hoping that the foreign Captain would realize that his people might actually be more dangerous if they were anxious becuase they did not have access to their weapons. Especially the Ensign...she was from the Kandi which was premire in having the most paranoid of Klatchians.

"There's no need for supervision Lieutenant if, that is, you will give me your word that you will not attempt to take over my ship by force." Said Warik while smiling slightly. " I can have a room with some weapons maintenance equipment set aside if you would like? Though i am hoping to drop you off with your own navel units before too long."

He grinned at some of the looks both his own crew and the foreigners were giving him.

"What? You didn't think we were going to hold you indefinably did you? This is a rescue operation not a prisoner taking one." He smiled again. "Sargent? Escort these men to their quarters. Oh one thing, you will be restricted to the Aft section of the ship as there are certain, delicate, materials on board." As the Sargent gestured the guests to follow her, Warik looked at the lieutenant and the Chief " now we need to talk."

"There's no need for supervision Lieutenant if, that is, you will give me your word that you will not attempt to take over my ship by force." Said Warik while smiling slightly. " I can have a room with some weapons maintenance equipment set aside if you would like? Though i am hoping to drop you off with your own navel units before too long."

He grinned at some of the looks both his own crew and the foreigners were giving him.

"What? You didn't think we were going to hold you indefinably did you? This is a rescue operation not a prisoner taking one." He smiled again. "Sargent? Escort these men to their quarters. Oh one thing, you will be restricted to the Aft section of the ship as there are certain, delicate, materials on board." As the Sargent gestured the guests to follow her, Warik looked at the lieutenant and the Chief " now we need to talk."

Billings let out a breath. "Alright, everyone turn their side arms over to the Petty Officer...." Those Alconians were were concious began to had over their arms to the man who looked a bit wryly at his new collection.
"Dorn please supervise the crew in our quarters. Remember we are guests Dorn and keep ourselves acting as such."
"Aye Aye sir."
"Ensign..."
The pretty Ensign looked out from the bandage across her forehead. "I want you to keep watch over the skipper in sick bay." Having a friendly face if he wakes up will make things easier all around."

Billings finally turned to Warik. "You have my word that no man or women under my command will attempt to hijack your vessel and I am now at your disposal."

Billings let out a breath. "Alright, everyone turn their side arms over to the Petty Officer...." Those Alconians were were concious began to had over their arms to the man who looked a bit wryly at his new collection.
"Dorn please supervise the crew in our quarters. Remember we are guests Dorn and keep ourselves acting as such."
"Aye Aye sir."
"Ensign..."
The pretty Ensign looked out from the bandage across her forehead. "I want you to keep watch over the skipper in sick bay." Having a friendly face if he wakes up will make things easier all around."

Billings finally turned to Warik. "You have my word that no man or women under my command will attempt to hijack your vessel and I am now at your disposal."

"My thanks Lieutenant." Replied Warik. My medical staff will give your wounded all possible care but I have no objection to the Ensign sitting in on that."

Warik Was finding the entire situation slightly hilarious. Aboard and ASD'ian Dark Ship that officially did not exist, he was not only hosting foreigners he was also showing them essentially all of the ASD's top-line medical equipment and fully planning on letting them go.

"The Admiral's gonna have a fit when I tell him." Warik muttered under his breath then to the lieutenant, "Sir, if you would care to join me in the VIP meeting room so we can discuss how exactly to resolve this situation." he gestured down a different corridor from the one down which the lieutenants unwounded were heading.

Guest Quarters
The Sargent leading the foreigners opened up a door and said, here we are. The door had opened onto a large and comfortable common area with couches, chairs, tables and electronic entertainment equipment. Nothing in the room could be used to contact anyone outside the ship and the room was a Faraday cage (though that was not visible), making signaling in or out almost impossible. The Living room led into a medium sized corridor off which multiple doors could be seen.

"The doors through the living room there lead to rooms, there are more than enough for all of you but I'll leave how you divy up those rooms to you." Said the Sargent as she gestured. "The kitchen is the first door on the right though we will be preparing meals should you wish to join the crew. Bathrooms are on suite and there is a small but well equipped gym at the end of the hall. Its that last door there. Do you have any questions?"

Ships Hospital
Captain Leroy, the ships medic and a highly certified MD was looking over the patients.

"It looks like they'll be ok." He said to his staff. "Keep them under close supervision and make sure you get 'em to rehydrate and feed them properly. I want stard tests done on all of them, just in case and CT the captains head but if all that comes back normal then just keep 'em under observation. Understood?"

"Aye sir!" Replied the staff and then proceeded to do just that. As they did, the captain was wandering from patient to patient both making his presence felt and making sure he was aware of the situation of every patient under his care.

IC: The Alconians looked at the room with the air of a group not quite sure if they were being saved or being led to the slaughter.

Chief Dorn turned to the sargent. "Well we're all feel'n we have been dumped in Officer country so don't mind the stares. What time is mess?"

*******
The alconian pilot was obviously in bad shape, unconscious with a serious head wound the possibility of serious internal head damage was quite possible.

*******
Billings nodded and followed Warik into what he assumed was the captain's ready room or something similar. "Well Sir, I think on behalf of His Grace you will have our thanks for saving his subject's lives. Most likely the United Duchies will not make a fuss about your vessel. We do not have any problems with naval Q ships."

The Lieutenant paused again realizing a more detailed explanation was needed, "We do have one of the largest fleets of them in the world, so being upset that someone else has one would be a bit of a spoilsport."

OOC: Yup, lots of Q ships...usually used to deposit special forces places or just to spread through a convoy to make the enemy more wary. However, I've been out so long that I may not have the largest anymore.

IC: The Alconians looked at the room with the air of a group not quite sure if they were being saved or being led to the slaughter.

Chief Dorn turned to the sargent. "Well we're all feel'n we have been dumped in Officer country so don't mind the stares. What time is mess?"

*******
The alconian pilot was obviously in bad shape, unconscious with a serious head wound the possibility of serious internal head damage was quite possible.

*******
Billings nodded and followed Warik into what he assumed was the captain's ready room or something similar. "Well Sir, I think on behalf of His Grace you will have our thanks for saving his subject's lives. Most likely the United Duchies will not make a fuss about your vessel. We do not have any problems with naval Q ships."

The Lieutenant paused again realizing a more detailed explanation was needed, "We do have one of the largest fleets of them in the world, so being upset that someone else has one would be a bit of a spoilsport."

OOC: Yup, lots of Q ships...usually used to deposit special forces places or just to spread through a convoy to make the enemy more wary. However, I've been out so long that I may not have the largest anymore.
ooc: yep I use em for the same purpose.

IC:
VIP Quarters
"Eighteen Hundred Hours Chief," Replied the Sargent. " A couple of marines will come down and lead you to the mess should you wish." She looked around at the uncertain Aviators. " Please, make yourselves at home." She grinned, the first time she'd smiled since beginning to escort the foreigners. " Trust me when I say we're not gonna hurt you."

Ship's Hospital
"Aw hell," Muttered the Doctor, As he looked at the results of the CT scan.
"Looks like some swelling in this area corpsman." He Said as he turned to the Female Corporal acting as his second. "Prep. the OR and the captain both. It doesn't look to serious but I want to make damn sure he makes it off this ships alive and on both feet."
Around the hospital the other patients were being patched up. No issues had been found with any of their health though two were wearing splints. All of them would be in the Hospital overnight after which they'd be released to the VIP quarters assuming they were still on the ship at that point.

Captain's Ready Room
"Well that's a weight off my shoulders lieutenant." Replied the Captain smiling slightly. "unfortunately we do have certain problems. The first is that there aren't any of your ships in the immediate area so your people are going to have to be on board for at least three days at our tops speed which we are, at the moment, making. That's relatively easy there's plenty of food its comfortable and your people will be well taken care of. The other issues are somewhat less simple. The second is that, my Admiral will kill me if I give up the identity of this ship. That means I can't get too close in this for a rendezvous. Lastly I really don't want to have your friends fire on my ship as soon as i inform them and finally there's the little matter of secrecy concerning this ship. At the moment my best thought is that we'll continue the Charade of being the "rose" out of TAP and drop you off under that pretense. That would require your co-operation though including during the drop off phase. Would that be ok with you?"

The Chief looked down at his watch. "Er, what time is that Greenwich Sargent? We're on Thunderbay time so 1600 on my watch went by an hour ago or so..."

The rest of the crew just looked back at her. Apparently saying trust me ment very little to the rather paranoid Alconians. Of course, they were from the Klatch.

****
"Ah I am afraid Captain, the cat is out of the bag. We transmitted our suspicions of your nature before we went down." Billings paused for a moment, "In fact, I'm afraid that I'm not the one who needs to play ball sir. If we got through to our anti-piracy taskforce, which I am almost certain we did, you have to get my admiral to play ball." He paused for a moment, "But I'm sure if you had let us drown out there, the 'rose' here would be tagged as a 'pirate' and listed as such in our registry to be 'interrogated or destroyed'. " Billings gave a wry grin, "Damned if you do, damned if you don't sir."

The Chief looked down at his watch. "Er, what time is that Greenwich Sargent? We're on Thunderbay time so 1600 on my watch went by an hour ago or so..."

The rest of the crew just looked back at her. Apparently saying trust me ment very little to the rather paranoid Alconians. Of course, they were from the Klatch.

****
"Ah I am afraid Captain, the cat is out of the bag. We transmitted our suspicions of your nature before we went down." Billings paused for a moment, "In fact, I'm afraid that I'm not the one who needs to play ball sir. If we got through to our anti-piracy taskforce, which I am almost certain we did, you have to get my admiral to play ball." He paused for a moment, "But I'm sure if you had let us drown out there, the 'rose' here would be tagged as a 'pirate' and listed as such in our registry to be 'interrogated or destroyed'. " Billings gave a wry grin, "Damned if you do, damned if you don't sir."
VIP Rooms
"ahh sorry chief," Replied the Sargent. " By my watch it is currently 1521 hours. So dinner will be served in 2 hours 39 minutes."

She turned to the door. "Sorry chief if that's all I have to be getting back to my duties?"

Captain's Ready room
"Well there are issues with that too." Said the Captain, Face going grim. "I'm afraid I can't allow for the possibility of this ship or any members of my crew being captured and by that i do mean that i will put this ship and her crew to the oceans floor before I allow your people to capture her."

He paced slightly. "If my morals allowed for it I could just kill you and your crew dump your bodies and run for it. Fortunatly, for you, that's not an option so here are the others that i can see. One, we take our chances that your people will not attempt to capture our ship and deliver you to that naval unit of yours. Two, we drop you off here with a distress beacon and supplies for a few days. Unfortunately the storm has gotten worse and there are other units out there so that would be tantamount to killing you and your people. Also, your captain would not survive the voyage. Three, we contact your vessel at a standoff range and Have a contingent from that vessel crossover. For the moment I'm a fan of three. Any thoughts lieutenant?"

VIP Rooms
The Chief shook his head, "just make sure my Ensign knows how to get back here otherwise we're fine."

Ready Room

Billings swallowed hard, "Sir, you could do any and all of those things. But first, we have no reason to capture this vessel. The United Duchies has enough enemies as it is to start capturing legitimate men-of-war operating incognito." He stopped speaking for a moment gathering his thoughts "Your talking to an O-2 sir and you want me to stop an admiral from making things worse. Might I suggest a phone call on a civilian sat phone sir? I am sure the commanding Admiral of Taskforce Charlie One will be more than happy to discuss our return with the civilian captain of the Rose."

VIP Rooms
"Aye sir, will so" Replied the Sargent as she left the room.

Ready Room
"I understand you would not wish to capture this boat Lieutenant," Said Warik, "But my government could not acknowledge the existence of this boat and your intel. community might find it somewhat . . .interesting. None the less I will do as you proposed and call Up your admiral once we get within a range that would be reasonable for a civi pick up your admiral's ship on Civilian tech sonar."

OOC: flipped my Lt and my Chief there...

IC:

Lt Billings scrunched up his mouth at the last statement made by the captain his mind pondering the last word.
Sonar?...civilian sonar for surface ship detection...He sounds like a bloody boomer...

Billings eyes opened in surprise My god they are boomers, boomers with a fricken Q ship? What, the thing dives underwater? Would explain a hell of a lot...like why they try to act like a frik whole in the water sitting on the surface...but they don't know basic common sense when being a normal Q ship.

Billings opened his mouth again, shut it again for a moment before resuming the conversation. "Sir, I was attempting to suggest a policy where the Rose acted like any ordinary fast merchie. In this situation, say a merchant vessel's crew rescuing a downed air crew in a storm, they would likely call the nearest base or operations office to get said air crew off their boat as soon as possible." Billings held up his hand, "One it offers you the appearance of being just like any other merchant vessel to any of the other naval vessels in the area..." a finger went up, "Two it rather forces my Admiral to send out a flying boat or rotodyene to pick us up rather than send say a destroyer..." a second finger pointed up. "Third it nips any tales my intelligence officers on the Admirals staff may be whispering into his ear about the terrors awaiting his airmen aboard this vessel."

He lowered the hand, and looked at the Captian hoping he conveyed the sensibility of his course of action.

"Which is why I suggest you call the taskforce's operations office with a civilian sat phone and ask when the hell this blasted flyboys are going to be removed from your ship before they cause any more delays in meeting your schedule."

In the back of Billings mind was the phrase Look like a merchie, talk like a merchie, act like a merchie...and 9 times out of ten everyone will assume your a merchie. And merchie's don't wander about noticing warships with sonar damn it.

OOC: flipped my Lt and my Chief there...

IC:

Lt Billings scrunched up his mouth at the last statement made by the captain his mind pondering the last word.
Sonar?...civilian sonar for surface ship detection...He sounds like a bloody boomer...

Billings eyes opened in surprise My god they are boomers, boomers with a fricken Q ship? What, the thing dives underwater? Would explain a hell of a lot...like why they try to act like a frik whole in the water sitting on the surface...but they don't know basic common sense when being a normal Q ship.

Billings opened his mouth again, shut it again for a moment before resuming the conversation. "Sir, I was attempting to suggest a policy where the Rose acted like any ordinary fast merchie. In this situation, say a merchant vessel's crew rescuing a downed air crew in a storm, they would likely call the nearest base or operations office to get said air crew off their boat as soon as possible." Billings held up his hand, "One it offers you the appearance of being just like any other merchant vessel to any of the other naval vessels in the area..." a finger went up, "Two it rather forces my Admiral to send out a flying boat or rotodyene to pick us up rather than send say a destroyer..." a second finger pointed up. "Third it nips any tales my intelligence officers on the Admirals staff may be whispering into his ear about the terrors awaiting his airmen aboard this vessel."

He lowered the hand, and looked at the Captian hoping he conveyed the sensibility of his course of action.

"Which is why I suggest you call the taskforce's operations office with a civilian sat phone and ask when the hell this blasted flyboys are going to be removed from your ship before they cause any more delays in meeting your schedule."

In the back of Billings mind was the phrase Look like a merchie, talk like a merchie, act like a merchie...and 9 times out of ten everyone will assume your a merchie. And merchie's don't wander about noticing warships with sonar damn it.
OOC: Shit sorry.

IC:

"That sounds reasonable lieutenant." Replied the captain, noticing as the lieutenant seemed to pause and recognize something wrong with the captains thought process.

Damn He thought to himself Still thinking like a boomer captain

"Would you care to join me on the bridge while I make the call?"

OOC: Shit sorry.

IC:

"That sounds reasonable lieutenant." Replied the captain, noticing as the lieutenant seemed to pause and recognize something wrong with the captains thought process.

Damn He thought to himself Still thinking like a boomer captain

"Would you care to join me on the bridge while I make the call?"

Billings nodded, "I'm sure that they would prefer me to be at hand for this conversation sir. Just to keep everyone on the same page."

The United Duchies had long ago learned that people, especially Vaadians, tended to go off half cocked sometimes without some type of intervention by persons there to go No since most people did not live in the Klatch and so didn't think like Klatchians.

Which of course was a good thing, otherwise the world would have turned into a dust cloud sometime around WWI if they did.

"Right this way then lieutenant." Said Warik as he left the Wardroom into the corridor outside. Beckoning impatiently he turned for the bridge with the lieutenant in tow.

Five minutes later, The Bridge
"Comm" Said Warik "Call up the nearest Ship belonging to our guests and tell them that we've rescued some of their people from a downed plane and that we wanna know when we will be able to get them the hell off out ship"

He looked at the lieutenant and muttered under his breath "time to roll the dice . . .again."

"Aye sir!" Replied the Comm officer.

ARN Keira

The destroyer was pushing south through the heavy rolling seas. The comms officer picked up the message.

"Sir...we have contact from a merch'e who claims to have our lost guship crew."

"That is a Code Alpha...send it on to the flag."

"Aye...Aye Sir..."

A few moments passed then the sound of a far older woman could be heard.

"Please hold...Ah what is your name Captian?"

"Thank You"

"Captain, This is Rear Admiral Bearcoff of the Alconian Royal Navy, and I have Captain Nelson here with me. Now then, I hear you've rescued some of my aircrew."

ARN Keira

The destroyer was pushing south through the heavy rolling seas. The comms officer picked up the message.

"Sir...we have contact from a merch'e who claims to have our lost guship crew."

"That is a Code Alpha...send it on to the flag."

"Aye...Aye Sir..."

A few moments passed then the sound of a far older woman could be heard.

"Please hold...Ah what is your name Captian?"

"Thank You"

"Captain, This is Rear Admiral Bearcoff of the Alconian Royal Navy, and I have Captain Nelson here with me. Now then, I hear you've rescued some of my aircrew."

"Aye Sir." Replied the captain. "And they're literally eating into my profit margins so it would be muchly appreciated if youd get them off o my hands."

As he spoke, throughout the ship FAS operative waited, in silence, and hoped that all would go well.

"Ah, well my boys and girls do seem to eat a good deal. I'll send over a leg of lamb to help ease the burden on your bottom line. Now then do you mind letting me speak to their watch officer? Captain Nelson needs to chew him out for loosing a rather expensive aircraft."