Valkyrie Point
"Navigator, set a course for Valkyrie point, we need to be there in two hours."
"Aye, aye."
"Adjen Freyja Donsquall would like a word, Kon."
"Let me get to CIC, call up acting adjen Comma and put it on screen."
"Acting adjen Comma on the bridge, salute the flag officer!"
"Ease up, I'm not worth saluting before coffee, what's this Kon, talk to me!"
"I don't know, acting adjen Comma, Adjen Dontsquall didn't share his thinking with me."
"On screen1"
"EMS Ambulon, this is Valkyrie point, EMS Ambulon, this is Valkyrie point, do you copy?"
"We copy, Adjen Dontsquall, acting Adjen Maelle Comma attending to orders."
"Acting adjen? They sent us a college student again?"
"Ahem, Adjen Dontsquall, this is Telbun Tadros Dandelion, I am Kon for Cadet Cruise 546, do you advise a hostile situation, over?"
"Hostile? no, just the usual, what, they sent you?"
"I am Tadros Dandelion, Ryder Templum, Telbun of her imperial Majesty's Armed Forces, I am the one who decides who gets sent where!" He thundered. "What lazy lout of a landlubber is messing up with my cadet cruise?"
"Apologies, cousin, Antimony Dontsquall nee Dandelion here, why are you escorting cadets?"
"I am escorting these cadets and teaching some of them how to be sailors, and watching the rest teach them, as is my duty, as instructed by Meihomei herself! What the hell are you playing at, cousin?"
"Err, we got scanned by some Tsou earlier, cousin, you're in a wooden ship!, They... got about a hundred knots to your twenty!"
"Thirty! But yeah, we ain't outrunning speedboats on a sail without the very best of winds cousin, you got suggestions?"
"Come around on zero-one-one, cousin, straight north, let out beacon blind their electronics a bit for you."
"Adjen Dontsquall, have they been probing our coverage?" Asked Maelle, who had been quiet until then.
"I believe so."
"Kon, what cheese-with-holes have you been taking us into?"
Tadros actually blushed. He'd have bristled at a reprimand from an actual Adjen, like the one one on land, but he couldn't fault the cadet, certainly more junior, but... on the other hand, her jibe cut, and cut deep, the more so because she was right, and aboard ship, and remonstrating him for the orders he was responsible for enforcing, taking a cadet cruise out of land observation coverage, in close enough to a demilitarized zone as to be a concern. He'd have bristled at a NESSUN calling him out the way she did. But an acting Adjen, six grades below a Nessun? And being right? If he wasn't acting on direct orders of the sovereign, he'd probably have quivered a little... "Zim, guide me." He... hadn't said that so heartfully in years, the last time... Well she was OF-10 Nessuna-Honour of Meihomei's Imperial Kagome Navy now. He had nightmares of her finding fault with him again, but truthfully, they worked so well together he was basically her XO more than the officer who had that position.
"We are going to need a surprise, and Adjen Dontsquall? It'd be best if you pretended you hadn't seen us..."
"Aye, aye, acting adjen Comma.
"What kind of surprise are you going to need, Zim?"
"The surprise that goes boom, but not on their decks, we ain't going to restart that war again on my watch, but reminding them it's a DEMILITARIZED zone because we agree it'[s a good thing? I'm totally for that notion."
"We have guns, Zim, and blackpowder ammonition ain't worried no armoured warship in some time."
"But?"
"But, and this is important, someone decided to add tracer markers to our ammo's cores long ago, we designate as a target anything we splatter.
"And we have friends here?"
"Let me ask my colleagues who wear daggers instead of spears."
"Remind me again whose duty we serve today, Kon?"
"We are here today by order of Meihomei, and if any of them answer busy, they'll explain to her whose orders they thought were more important than hers, not to me."
"Did you just tell me they're getting court-martialed over this, but using fancy words?"
"Of course not, if some of them were on a mission for Meihomei already, those would never be courtmartialed..."
"And the rest?"
"The rest? I am the Telbun, my authority comes from Meihomei, I appoint the chiefs of staffs of each fleet, each ground base, each wing. If they deny me, so help them, the Elements themselves would answer for denying me in the pursuit of my duty!"
"Thanks Kon, you make a cadet feel wanted."
The whole deck just saluted, and both Maelle and Tadros realized then, their conversation had more of an audience than they had realized, so involved were they in the planning. Both startled, and blushed, from so many eyes on them. "Give me tactical, Ansforth."
"Zim, we have these two Tsou ragamuffins, one on three, one on nine.
"And they're probing out our coverage, but then running away?"
"Aye, aye. None of them stay close, it's like they know the kitchen's hot."
"And they're Tsou Silkrunner class?"
"Aye, distinct turbine signature, nothing else runs that fast, 120bpm."
"Too clean, too regular, a real turbine gets wedges over its lifetime, those are noisemakers. The real Silkrunners are further out, back in the DMZ, waiting for us to pounce."
"So what should we do?"
"Show them we can target those noisemakers anytime we want, we got Slammers here, Telbun?"
"No, oh no, we don't got slammers, those got retired, not good enough anymore."
"You going to tell me, Valkyrie Point, capping Valkryie Bay, the reef that protects both Megamisama Drydock and Kimagure Elevated Docks, is without antiship capability? And NO ONE thought this was a bad idea?"
"Oh I didn't say that Adjen, but I can't tell you what replaced them, you're not cleared for that."
"My ship is about to be blown if i tell them to hit too close, tell em again I'm not cleared, I dare you."
"Err, they're BETTER than Slammers, call them Case Pink, anything within a hundred meters better be submersible."
"Ok, so 200, 1,1, and 200, -1,1, gotcha."
"That's wise, Adjen, 100 yards still got a ship wet, to say the least."
"And Valkyrie point has got at least two, or is that classified as well?"
"I'm not at liberty to release more than two, right now, Zim."
"Oh, so whatever they are, those ships are too small to warrant more than one apiece? interesting."
"I don't know what you mean Zim." Dammit, she had sussed out how big of a target they were expected to take out with just a few words, from HIM! Whoever she reported to as an Adjen wouldn't be her commanding officer for long, heck, he'd probably take orders so soon after giving her some, that flag officer would probably need counseling from whiplash.
"What's so special about Valkyrie Point, Kon?"
"What?"
"Don't insult me, you don't leave experimental weapons on an island in the middle of nowhere."
"These islanders are the closest base to the DMZ, natural lookout point for anything we want here."
"But too small an island to carry planes, tell me, do I look stupid?"
"Ahem?"
"Whoever thought this had to have backing all the way to Meihomei, or at least Sirius Technologies, just from those signatures..."
"You can read those?"
"Aye, am I supposed to be technology-ignorant like the other flags?"
"No, of course not! But... well, Zim, if you were, I'd not feel like I underestimated someone I spent an hour praising, and if you do forgive me for saying so, that's a novel sensation for me."
"Not used to praising flags?"
"Last flag I praised remotely close to how I praised you, is an OF-10. Last flag I praised besides that one is the Supreme Commander of the Kagomine Navy, I do NOT give praise lightly."
"What about Kons, you give them praise?"
"When they beat me over the head with competence, snatch it from my very teeth with the help of a crafty raptor and run away where a whole crew can sing their praise and I can't beat them into keeping quiet about it, maybe!"
"Good one!"
"As per your original question, this very quiet, very peaceful island is located in a lee of a few currents, it's nice and peaceful, we test our ships here, the ones too big not to be noticed anyways."
"And why are we here?"
"Forgive me?"
"Ambulon is too small to need this discretion."
"Ambulon is quiet, it's the crews we test here, passing the Point is a good test for crews, if they don't have someone like you at the helm."
"Someone like me?"
"You live to trouble me, don't you?"
"How's that?"
"Last time I saw a commander reading a sextant, she was a navigator first. Last time I knew someone who could spell every single sailor on a watch, I asked for lessons!"
"Am I supposed to be insulted?"
"Of course not! An Adjen compared to the Nessun-Honour shushes and says thank you very much, and that's a full Adjen, not a Cadet breveted up!"
"Do you mind me being here, Kon?"
"Zim, I'm perturbed by how competent you are for a cadet,"
"Does this stop our mission?"
"No, of course not! If anything, I'd not try this with a cadet crew, but we don't have time to get you all replaced."
"So what are our options?"
"We should be heading back to base."
"Meritant-Kon-Telbun Tadros Dandelion!"
"Aye, Zim?"
"At what time officers in Meihomei's Navy started deciding that innocent civilians on shore exposed to Shou Raiders were acceptable losses?"
"At no time in the past, Zim!" He stiffened, painfully. Damn, that chit of a girl was calling him to task, for choosing to call her life and that of the other cadets, than of randon, faceless civilians, and she was right! His emotions were in turmoil, when was the last time he had been so off-center? Oh, he was under orders to keep her safe, but he was under orders not to let her know this! Arggh, it was so frustrating, she was meant to be a cadet, a kid, not this officer that was spitting his boot laces after eating off one of his foot for being found wanting!
"Kon?"
"Aye Zim?"
"Are those really civilians, or are some of them secret border guards or something?"
"They are civilians, leavened with some border guards on irregular intervals, Zim. I suspect the border guards are off duty now, and that makes me wonder how we've been penerated."
"Do we have liberty to investigate that now, Kon?"
"Zim-no-Zim!" He was snapping back one-liners! How did she get that from him? This instand obedience, this shut-up and give me what I need almost knee-jerk reaction?
"Then we'll focus on what we are at liberty to do. Do we have specific orders from Meihomei on what to do in this situation?"
"Meihomei expects us to do our duty, but nothing specific, Zim."
"Leave us, I want the bridge for me and Meritant-Kon Dandelion."
He had to resist the impulse to look down at his shoes, mortified, she had used most of his title, but not all of it, and the peremptory tone she used. He was over a head taller than her, four times her age, and outmassed her by at least 80 kilos, yet he felt like a little kid called out to the principal's office. "Zim!"
"Kon, talk to me, I've only been in simulated combat, obviously, you have been there and done that."
"I have, Zim, you're doing fine, being careful. We don't have to pretend we were never here, although this would help my mission of protecting you cadets."
"Is that why you're here?"
He prevaricated. "Well, in a certain point of view. I have more experience than most, and can teach many, but I also have the ability to resist most pressure, important to protect the cream of our cadets, if something like this happens."
"What pressure are we under here?"
"Any FlyForce Eagle worth his salt wants us staying here, maybe painting targets, while he sends Case Pinks and his other new classified toys that would smash those Tsou Silkrunners to smithereens, provided they entered our territorial waters."
"Would you know this officer?"
"Hmm, come to think of it, he'll have to explain why I spoke with young Adjen Dontsquall. Probably his very presence is classified, and the base with him. But Valkyrie Point Naval base is perfectly public, and is the reason the DMZ is set up the way it is, it's no secret to our Shou friends."
"Can we reach him? Surely you can break classification somehow?"
"What?"
"A higher level code perhaps, known only to higher flag officers? Or to people you've signed into their jobs, which... I recall, is everyone running a base."
Gulp. "And what should I tell them?"
"Maybe create them a cover, and a cover story, that lets me talk to them? So I don't have to have Ambulon, ship of the line, hanging here in the wind with no friends."
"Zim-Zim-Zim."
"Ambulon to Engineering School, Emerald code, identify."
"Ambulon, this is FFOR-06 Medjen Sanderson, XKGJH1817ASD."
"Eight-Pointed Star Sanderson, attention to Meihomei's orders!"
"Zim-Zim-Zim-Telbun-Zim!"
"Kon Sanderson, I've got NFOF-06 Acting-Medjen Maëlle Comma commanding Ambulon.
"Bit overranked to command Ambulon, isn't she?"
"Ambulon's still the best ship, sailor-for-sailor, in this entire fleet!"
"And her a short fleet command to do it?"
"She's no more an acting Medjen than you are, but she is in command of this action, and requesting your assistance, Zim."
"Acknowledged, Meritant-Kon Dandelion, I reckon whatever horse product caused this situation, this meets your exacting standards of honour and duty and I better toe the line."
"You have a flawed understanding of the situation, Kon Sanderson." Maelle interjected. "The worse case scenario for this action lands un in a shooting war with the Tsou."
"Aye, Zim. How may I help."
"I've no official knowledge of things that may be aimed at the tracers my blackpowder guns can shoot. But I'm thinking if I can identify targets for something off the horizon, something you have official knowledge of, and are under orders to unleash should Kagomine territory be threatened. Do we have an understanding?"
"I would, except, my recon air is showing the enemy withdrawing as if they'd seen Ambulon as a threat and hightailing at high speed."
"Are you throwing horse produce my way, Zim?"
"No, I wouldn't dare with the orders we're both complying with, Zim!"
"Then, how long should we stay here, to keep Kagomei safe, Zim?"
"If you hold station another hour, they'll be out of their range of weapons and our Border Guards are expected back to reinforce the base at the Point."
"Only an hour, and I get acting Border Guard for this ship?"
"You would, except Ambulon's got that with her first Merit, you get it for your crew though, which is still impressive."
"Understood, we will remain at station, as advised."
She was acting up to a Medjen! No, she was acting correctly to a Medjen, as if she was the fighting ship asking for base support of a fellow Navy Officer. How did she do it? There are ten-year career flag officers who stumbled on protocol without jumping up five levels... And she was barely out of the academy, the paint on those stripes on her shoulders hadn't finished drying yet! He didn't usually need a good stiff drink, but he felt he needed one now.
"Kon, are all officers on this cadet crew accounted for?"
"Aye aye, Meihomei, I return those students of your academy to their Tracimei."
"Any noteworthy news?"
"I would speak with you in private, Meihomei, about one of these officers."
"One did not meet expectations?"
"One grabbed expectations, mauled it like a Slashbeast mauls a nice innocent Ewe, sliced the skin off it to make a buckskin vest, saw something else that caught its eye, pounced on it, sat on it until we came to investigate, then left, laughing, saying 'my work here is done'."
"Oh, would this officer warrant a promotion within my fleet?"
"I'll give you a full report, and let you make your own mind, but I would be shocked if she and some of those officers don't earn many stripes."
"I look forward to reading it."
"I am Tracimei Jeltran Kormick, attention to orders, I will read!"
"Zim-Zim-Zim!"
"Acting NFOF-03 Adjen Maelle Comma"
Gulp. They didn't usually call out acting officers like this... Maelle thought.
"It is Meihomei's observation that you are incorrectly frocked, NFOF-04 Scorpion Maelle Adjen, please find correct dress."
What? But she hadn't had time to get her flag drawn yet, on behalf of being probationary, you get a few weeks for that then...
"Scorpion?" He repeated, obviously, she was out of it. He had been too... This had gone too fast...
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