"Vicomtesse Coralie" - Damballa class ASW Destroyer
Gholgoth/Greater Dienstad Deep-Ocean Border Zone
6,000 Km NE of Ghantish Territorial Waters
Local Time: 0700 Hours
Having taken on fresh supplies in Skyan Argyz, a formation of seventeen Marquesan combat ships began charting an unprecedented course, traveling southwest away from stormy Gholgoth and into the warmer water of the northeastern-most region of Greater Dienstad. These ships constituted a vanguard, the first ships authorized to sail for the newly-founded Marquesan-Arvolken Regency, a mostly-profit military and strategic venture designed to create a strategic foothold in the tropical waters of Western Dienstad; an economic haven with a military heart. To that end, engineering units had been sent from the Îles Marquises on slower-moving landing ships, but it was considered unthinkable that such a venture might occur without space for planning meetings to take place, or absolute command of the freshly-purchased land and sea. While eyebrows raised at the authorization of an entire "Black Sails" Lance for this mission, the ample space aboard the Abraxas class Fast Battlecruiser "Séraphine" for command and control was deemed indispensable, and 10th Lance's traditional standby position in the waters southwest of Milograd made the unit a natural choice to take the lead in penetrating Dienstadi waters for the first time in modern history.
V. Coralie protected the forward edge of the fleet, riding a kilometer in advance of the next ship in line, the Shora class cruiser Baron Alban. These ships and their crews had seemingly grown accustomed to the pounding of legendarily choppy Gothic oceans; they were making excellent headway and excellent time on the glass-smooth morning seas, which were empty of other traffic this far east. The fleet was moving due south, intending to execute a westward turn to refuel and resupply in Themis, and to reach Arvolken home waters to resupply via the Lamonian Sea before heading on to the Regency. Trailing Coralie were sixteen other ships; seven Damballa destroyers took up positions in a wide ring around the heavier ships, the ships at the rear slowing down to drag their passive sonar arrays from time to time before accelerating to catch up with the fleet. Closer in from the outer ring of destroyers, at most points ten kilometers from ship to ship, four Shora class cruisers took up cardinal points. At the core of the fleet stood the Prosperine class fleet oiler Achille trailing behind three nuclear arsenal ships, and the Abraxas class Séraphine taking the point position for the heavy inner group. Looming in the center of all, wide and low to the water, the Naga class Heavy Strike Cruiser Damien le Roi, accompanied by Galeru class Fast Strike Cruisers La Tarasque and Loup-Garou cut deep bow waves, slicing through the breathless calm of Dienstad's eastern edge.
Aboard Vicomtesse Coralie, change-of-the-watch was just taking place, with Capitan Henri Blanchet drinking his hot tea on the starboard side breezeway on the side of the bridge. Looking forward over the ship's pencil-thin bow dominated first by the Minerva CADS turret just forward and below, but then by the dual-127mm Janus gun turret at the forecastle, their muzzles still covered with red-colored Gothic Storm covers which keep salt spray out of the barrels in the worst of storms.
"Bonjour, Mon Capitan. Tartine au miel?"
"Oui, Caporal. Merci."
A tall black-haired Caporal wasted no time in bringing his commanding officer a white bone china plate from the galley with two fragrant, freshly-made and still hot sweet rolls, torn open and glazed in a butter-and-honey mixture, still molten in the cool sea breeze. Capitan Blanchet set down his cherry-red teacup and took the plate with one hand, his eyes scanning the horizon.
"Will there be anything else, Capitan?"
"Non, tu as pensé à tout! Looks clear, no? Anything to report?"
"Non, Capitan. Soundings give us four thousand meters depth beneath the keel, Damien le Roi indicates clear weather as far south as her radar will show."
"Ça sonne bien!" Capitan Blanchet said just before taking a bite of one of the rolls, a brief expression of ecstacy crossing an otherwise typically taciturn face, framed in fine salt-and-pepper hair and a thick beard on a square jaw, set around two wide hazel eyes.
"Capitan, we have no contacts on sonar, neither has anyone else. Would you like to launch a helicopter?"
"Oui, spin up our Corax, give the sortie to Sergent Challis, I believe he is on Alert duty this morning."
"Oui, Capitan. Anything else?"
"Have Challis proceed a hundred kilometers south of our position, we are certain to run into a McNernian patrol ship or aircraft sooner or later, I would rather it be on our terms, and even better, I would rather us keep our distance. Send an Arvolken-encoded signal on the ULF transmitter, let them know we have crossed at grid square Echo Six Seven, approximately oh-three-hundred hours. Signal Séraphine, let them know we are launching a scouting flight."
"Oui, Capitan. If you need anything else, I will be just inside this door."
"Très bien, merci."
So far, so good. Blanchard took another bite of his roll.
Gholgoth/Greater Dienstad Deep-Ocean Border Zone
6,000 Km NE of Ghantish Territorial Waters
Local Time: 0700 Hours
Having taken on fresh supplies in Skyan Argyz, a formation of seventeen Marquesan combat ships began charting an unprecedented course, traveling southwest away from stormy Gholgoth and into the warmer water of the northeastern-most region of Greater Dienstad. These ships constituted a vanguard, the first ships authorized to sail for the newly-founded Marquesan-Arvolken Regency, a mostly-profit military and strategic venture designed to create a strategic foothold in the tropical waters of Western Dienstad; an economic haven with a military heart. To that end, engineering units had been sent from the Îles Marquises on slower-moving landing ships, but it was considered unthinkable that such a venture might occur without space for planning meetings to take place, or absolute command of the freshly-purchased land and sea. While eyebrows raised at the authorization of an entire "Black Sails" Lance for this mission, the ample space aboard the Abraxas class Fast Battlecruiser "Séraphine" for command and control was deemed indispensable, and 10th Lance's traditional standby position in the waters southwest of Milograd made the unit a natural choice to take the lead in penetrating Dienstadi waters for the first time in modern history.
V. Coralie protected the forward edge of the fleet, riding a kilometer in advance of the next ship in line, the Shora class cruiser Baron Alban. These ships and their crews had seemingly grown accustomed to the pounding of legendarily choppy Gothic oceans; they were making excellent headway and excellent time on the glass-smooth morning seas, which were empty of other traffic this far east. The fleet was moving due south, intending to execute a westward turn to refuel and resupply in Themis, and to reach Arvolken home waters to resupply via the Lamonian Sea before heading on to the Regency. Trailing Coralie were sixteen other ships; seven Damballa destroyers took up positions in a wide ring around the heavier ships, the ships at the rear slowing down to drag their passive sonar arrays from time to time before accelerating to catch up with the fleet. Closer in from the outer ring of destroyers, at most points ten kilometers from ship to ship, four Shora class cruisers took up cardinal points. At the core of the fleet stood the Prosperine class fleet oiler Achille trailing behind three nuclear arsenal ships, and the Abraxas class Séraphine taking the point position for the heavy inner group. Looming in the center of all, wide and low to the water, the Naga class Heavy Strike Cruiser Damien le Roi, accompanied by Galeru class Fast Strike Cruisers La Tarasque and Loup-Garou cut deep bow waves, slicing through the breathless calm of Dienstad's eastern edge.
Aboard Vicomtesse Coralie, change-of-the-watch was just taking place, with Capitan Henri Blanchet drinking his hot tea on the starboard side breezeway on the side of the bridge. Looking forward over the ship's pencil-thin bow dominated first by the Minerva CADS turret just forward and below, but then by the dual-127mm Janus gun turret at the forecastle, their muzzles still covered with red-colored Gothic Storm covers which keep salt spray out of the barrels in the worst of storms.
"Bonjour, Mon Capitan. Tartine au miel?"
"Oui, Caporal. Merci."
A tall black-haired Caporal wasted no time in bringing his commanding officer a white bone china plate from the galley with two fragrant, freshly-made and still hot sweet rolls, torn open and glazed in a butter-and-honey mixture, still molten in the cool sea breeze. Capitan Blanchet set down his cherry-red teacup and took the plate with one hand, his eyes scanning the horizon.
"Will there be anything else, Capitan?"
"Non, tu as pensé à tout! Looks clear, no? Anything to report?"
"Non, Capitan. Soundings give us four thousand meters depth beneath the keel, Damien le Roi indicates clear weather as far south as her radar will show."
"Ça sonne bien!" Capitan Blanchet said just before taking a bite of one of the rolls, a brief expression of ecstacy crossing an otherwise typically taciturn face, framed in fine salt-and-pepper hair and a thick beard on a square jaw, set around two wide hazel eyes.
"Capitan, we have no contacts on sonar, neither has anyone else. Would you like to launch a helicopter?"
"Oui, spin up our Corax, give the sortie to Sergent Challis, I believe he is on Alert duty this morning."
"Oui, Capitan. Anything else?"
"Have Challis proceed a hundred kilometers south of our position, we are certain to run into a McNernian patrol ship or aircraft sooner or later, I would rather it be on our terms, and even better, I would rather us keep our distance. Send an Arvolken-encoded signal on the ULF transmitter, let them know we have crossed at grid square Echo Six Seven, approximately oh-three-hundred hours. Signal Séraphine, let them know we are launching a scouting flight."
"Oui, Capitan. If you need anything else, I will be just inside this door."
"Très bien, merci."
So far, so good. Blanchard took another bite of his roll.
