Today was starting to become a very eventful day for Captain Jarrett Weiss, respected and beloved commander of the “Sol Maris” [Redacted] navy aircraft carrier. Starting off, Rear Admiral Lauren Mercia had arrived on his ship and declared that it would be her flag ship for the upcoming N.A.N.O. (Naval Alliance of the Northern Ocean) exercises. Each year the nation of The Chuck and [Redacted] had joint naval exercises to improve relationships and share military training. Each nation usually brought one Carrier Strike Group consisting of one Aircraft Carrier (CV), one Carrier Air Wing (CVW), two Cruisers (CA), one Destroyer Squadron (DESRON), four frigates (FF), two Fast Attack Submarines (SS), and two Supply Ships (AOE/AOR).
As soon as Admiral Mercia was situated on the bridge a message came in from Captain Nathaniel Halsey, commander of the C.N.S. Zephyr. "Captain Weiss, bureaucratic issues has delayed the The Chuck Navy (T.C.N.) Task Force from reaching your position until tomorrow. Once we arrive, the N.A.N.O. exercises can commence. Hold your position, we'll see you soon. Captain Halsey signing off." Admiral Mercia looked at Jarrett and humphed at the news about the delay. After a moment she turned to him and had a determined look in her eyes. She spoke up and said, "Alright, those Chuckian sea cows have beaten us in these war games the past 3 years in a row. This time we are going to win this. Make sure all ships are battle ready and that we have a radar lock on their position at all times. Tomorrow morning when they arrive I want the fleet to be in position to stage a mock ambush on them." Turning towards the crew on the bridge Captain Weiss didn't even have to speak an order before they shouted "Aye aye, ma'am!" and rushed to relay the word to the rest of the ships in their taskforce.
While men and women scrambled about preparing their warships for the mock ambush, one officer was staring intently at a radar display screen. Without taking his eyes off of it, the officer spoke up, "Captain Weiss, I am tracking 8 large bogies heading towards our island. They appear to be moving extremely fast at 5 KM/s and they are 2000KM high, should we call this in to command?" Weiss and Admiral Mercia both moved simultaneously to look at the screen. As the three officers watched, each unidentified object splintered into dozens of smaller objects. Without a moment of hesitation, Admiral Mercia shouted at one of the radio operators "Warn Command, they have a first strike incoming!" While Mercia was shouting at the radio operator, Captain Weiss kept watching the screen and saw one "small" group of projectiles splinter off from the main cluster and divert towards them. Turning towards another officer on the bridge, he shouted at her to sound the general alarm and to raise the other ships on the horn and alert them to the incoming nuclear device.
Five minutes ago the decks of the ships in the fleet were bustling with personnel but now only the sailors who operated the defense systems were on deck. Everyone else was ordered inside the ships to protect them from a potential nuclear blast if the point defense systems were unable to shoot down the incoming nuclear warheads in time. As the men and women of the fleet waited, Captain Weiss contacted Captain Halsey and the T.C.N. task force that was steaming towards them, "Captain Halsey, we have unidentified bogies heading towards our nation and ourselves. We believe these to be nuclear warheads of a first strike from one of our enemies. Please sail to our current position with utmost haste, we will be in dire need of help if we survive this attack. God speed and God bless, Captain Weiss, signing off." As soon as he was done with his transmission, Captain Weiss heard the steady stream of radio chatter from command abruptly stop. Suddenly Admiral Mercia, himself, and those on the bridge were blinded and back-lit as the horizon towards home flashed multiple times with the intensity of staring directly at the sun. At that moment everyone in the [Redacted] fleet knew, they were now members of an endangered culture and group of people.
As they stared dumbfound at the mushroom clouds rising slowly on the horizon, Admiral Mercia snapped out of her haze when she realized that they were vulnerable on the bridge of the Sol Maris. The aircraft carrier had an armored hull and able to withstand everything short of a direct hit from a nuclear device but the tower was not armored. Quickly they secured some important documents and ordered everyone to evacuate the tower. As everyone turned to evacuate the tower, the point defense systems opened up. As missile trails, flak bursts, and medium AA tracers lit up the sky, three 200 kiloton warheads made it through. One detonated on impact while two of the warheads didn't detonate until a minute or two later when they had hit and sunk a ways into the ocean. As the first bomb detonated, every sailor who was on the decks of their ships operating the defense weapons were vaporized and the only remains of them were the black carbon shadows imprinted on the hulls of their ships. From the force of the surface detonation, many ship hulls buckled and the two unarmored AOEs sunk with all deckhands lost. Immediately after the crews of the remaining ships had collected themselves, the two submerged warheads detonated.
In hindsight it would have been better had the two submerged warheads detonated on the surface. In much the same way that a torpedo works, the two nuclear warheads detonating momentarily created a large pressure cavity beneath much of the fleet. This caused multiple ships to sink when their hulls ruptured under their own weight no longer being supported by water. In total, one cruiser, one destroyer, two frigates, and one submarine were lost with a majority of their crews. Some however were able to escape to the water before their ships sunk. Unfortunately, the two detonated warheads had caused the water to boil and so those who thought they were jumping to safety suffered horrible second degree burns to most of their bodies.
As the sailors on the "Sol Maris" and other ships opened the hatches, they got a first hand look at the damage wrought on the fleet. The ships that were still floating were either alight or listing heavily to a side or both. Many above deck structures such as the towers and radar arrays of the ships were either gone or severely damaged by the blast wave. As Captain Weiss climbed out of a hatch and helped Admiral Mercia up, he noticed that she was gripping a bloody section of her uniform on her right side. When she saw him looking at her in worry, she forced a smile and said "I'll be fine, tend to the others before me." Suddenly she keeled forward and coughed up a large glob of blood. As a couple sailors helped get her on her back, Captain Weiss realized that she had taken a large shard of broken glass to the right lung and wasn't going to be with them for much longer. As she laid dying, Admiral Mercia looked at Captain Weiss and the sailors around her and said "You all have done me proud, you have served with bravery and I want all of you to continue to serve gallantly to exact vengeance on all those who have wronged [Redacted] and us. Now go and help those who are in the water and on the other ships." With that, Admiral Mercia breathed her final breath and passed.
As the sailors helped their brethren out of the sea, Captain Weiss withheld his own emotions and stoically assisted in helping tend to the wounded even though they didn't have adequate facilities on any of the ships to assist them. Since so many sailors were injured, they were forced to put the injured on the exposed deck of the "Sol Maris" which resulted to many of them being exposed to residual radiation from the blast. The only thing the surviving members of the [Redacted] navy could do was wait and hope that the T.C.N. task force was able to reach them in time.
30 years ago - 1:00 P.M. November 24 -150 miles/241.4 kilometers off the northwest coast of The Chuck and 240 miles/386.2 kilometers off the northeast coast of [Redacted]
Captain Nathaniel Halsey aboard the T.C.N. Zephyr was cursing under his breath as his fleet sped towards the last known location of his N.A.N.O. allies after receiving word that their country had been hit in a preemptive nuclear strike and that their Task Force was in trouble of potentially being hit. Had it not been for some ****ing peace loving hippies who had surrounded his carrier with small craft then he would have been there able to support his N.A.N.O. allies. As he cursed, a bright flash suddenly appeared directly ahead on the horizon. With a sense of horror, the sailors in the Chuckian Naval Taskforce watched as a mushroom cloud formed over where their allies had been just a moment ago. As they watched in shock as the mushroom cloud lazily reached for the heavens, a radio squawked out a command ordering all naval ships back to port in case The Chuck was about to be struck next. Captain Halsey tried to adamantly refuse and tried arguing that there might be survivors but the pleas fell on the deaf ears of the bastards back at Command. With a heavy heart he ordered his ships to turn around and to sail back to Charle's Rock to defend it from attack. However, no more nuclear weapons would be used that day.
30 years ago - 3:00 P.M. November 25 – 300 miles/482.8 kilometers off the northwest coast of The Chuck and 90 miles/144.8 kilometers off the northeast coast of [Redacted]
Captain Weiss couldn't hold in his emotions any longer. It had been more then 24 hours since he had requested that they receive aid from the T.C.N. Had The Chuck planned on assisting their allies then their ships should have been here by now. But now the radioactive fallout was falling out of the sky upon the wounded on the deck exposing the badly burned and blistered sailors to the horrors of radiation poisoning. With tears streaming down his face, Captain Weiss ordered groups of his sailors to don protective suits and go topside and put all the wounded sailors out of their misery before dumping them overboard. As he watched from the blasted out remains of the tower, he remembered Admiral Mercia's words from the previous day about exacting vengeance against those had wronged them and swore an oath to pursue Captain Halsey and inflict the same kind of pain that he was experiencing at that moment with losing his commander, nation, and friends.
2 weeks ago - Office of Commerce and Shipping, The Chuck
Commissioner Nathaniel Halsey sat fuming in his chair while he read reports about the pirate attacks in
recent months. For the past 4 months cargo ships have been attacked by a mysterious force. Every time the ships were able to get out an emergency radio transmission but when scout aircraft reached the last known location, no survivors and no signs of the ships were ever found. Just 3 hours earlier today a convoy was attacked with the loss of 3 oil tankers (O.T.), 2 Destroyer Escorts (D.E.), and 5 Fast Attack Craft (F.A.C.). Total tonnage lost was 4.5 million barrels of oil valued at 271,350,000 NSD. A squadron of amphibious S.T.O.V.L. multi-role aircraft had been dispatched to search for survivors and signs of the ships but no one had high hopes. As Nathaniel Halsey waited for word from the search aircraft he sat and mulled over the ways to combat this menace. Suddenly a pager went off on the table. Without looking at it, he knew that it was President Walter Sobchak summoning him to the War Room for his report and suggestions on how to combat the piracy problem. Quickly he grabbed a stack of blank contracts and a tablet off his desk and walked out the door.
Down in the war room President Sobchak had a scowl on his face when Halsey entered. "HALSEY! As of this attack this morning these ****ING pirates have cost The Chuck well over 10 Billion Red Necks! This isn't a game of 10-pin bowling Halsey! What are you going to do to combat these squirrely little bastards?" Halsey looked at President Sobchak and pulled out a piece of weathered looking contract paper and handed it to him as he spoke, "Sir, we have calculated that if we keep losing cargo and warships at this rate then we will be without a fleet in 8 months. What I am about to say is off any record book as of the moment but if you give my office clearance then we will be able to proceed legally. After the attack two weeks ago, I contacted a private military company (P.M.C.) out of The Selkie, you know, the same country where Silverport Dockyards LTD. is located. The P.M.C. I contacted was the Bristeach Company. This company signed this Letter of Marque and Reprisal and they have a contingent of personnel and ships on the way. If we were to start issuing these to other firms and companies like them then we could grant private civilians or contractors the legal right to hunt down these pirates and protect our shipping. If they defeat or capture any of these pirate forces then they are able to legally keep the captured spoils once they clear it with our Admiralty Court. This way we prevent the lose of our warships while still maintaining the ability to protect oceanic commerce and possible eliminate this pirate threat. On top of that, we could offer a bounty per pirate brought in which could help us pinpoint where they are headquartered out of as additional incentive to capture these scoundrels alive." Walter Sobchak looked down at the Letter of Marque and Reprisal and then looked at Halsey with a large shit-eating grin. "Do it."
Participant Nations and Company Name
-The Selkie - Bristeach Company
-Polish Prussian Commonwealth - Marinebrigade(Marinebrigade Erhardt,IV. Torpedobootgeschwarder)
-Shackley - Order of the Black Flag
-Terre Australes - Kameraadschap van van Haerincksdorp
-Dwipantara - Laksamana Dewi Sri
Random Number Generator Factors
1-100 Random Number Generator
Escorting Mission
Spins:
1. Whether you are attacked or not. Number of escorted ships will determine range (Escort vessels do not count towards likely hood of attack).
a. 1-2 escorted ships 1/10 odds of being attacked (1-10 = attacked, 11-100 = safe)
b. 3-5 escorted ships 1/5 odds of being attacked (1-20 = attacked, 21-100 = safe)
c. 6-10 escorted ships 2/5 odds of being attacked (1-40 = attacked, 41-100 = safe)
d. 11+ escorted ships 4/5 odds of being attacked (1-80 = attacked, 81-100 = safe)
2. If attacked, the next spin will determine the size of attacking force.
a. 1-40 1 to 4 small skiffs/patrols/fasts attack craft and maybe a small mothership (WW2 Era destroyer escort or smaller).
b. 41-60: 1 mothership (Corvette), 5-10 small boats, and 1 reconnaissance plane/helicopter (increases chances of second attack).
c. 61-75: 1 Frigate, 1 Corvette, 12 small boats, and 1 attack plane/helicopter.
d. 76-90: 1 Cruiser, 2 Frigates, 2 Corvettes, 16 small boats and 3 attack planes/helicopters.
e. 91-98: 2 Cruisers, 3 Frigates, 1 Submarine, 2 dozen small boats, and 5 attack planes/helicopters.
f. 99-100: Full enemy fleet including command ship.
I will continue to update this and balance it if it becomes a problem.
Thread Rules
1. This is an open thread but to join you must go to viewtopic.php?f=6&t=454209 and fill out a Letter of Marque and Reprisal request. Please try and RP it over there as I will RP a response through here.
2. The pirates are part of my RP duties. If you want to RP as a pirate, please telegram me so we can discuss the possibility.
3. I will use a random number generator to determine different events and factors of the roleplay. These include:
-If you encounter pirates when you are escorting ships or searching for pirates
-size of the pirate force that you encounter (includes effectiveness of their attack)
-amount of riches and materials plundered from said pirates.
-Small chance to find the pirate's base (won't be implemented until I can finish writing the story for that part.
-I may remove or add RNG factors as the story progresses. I will try and inform all participants when I do.
-amount of materials plundered by the pirates if they are successful.
4. If the pirates are able to successfully plunder cargo ships, they will use the cash to expand the number of ships they have (If they are pirates I am RPing).
5. No Godmodding nor Metagaming allowed.
-Can't use a satellite to figure out where the pirate base is. But GPS guided munitions are allowed.
-Can't send in a whole navy. You can bring in aircraft carriers but only 1 allowed per participant. If the RNG is bad, there is a very real possibility that your carrier could be sunk.
-If you successfully attack the pirates and capture loot, you can use it to bring more friendly ships into the RP.
-My say is final as the OP.
6. The technology of this world is any technology from around WW2 to Modern times. However, if you for some reason want to use older tech, I won't stop you. Just be informed that the newer tech you use, the more likely it is that you'll walk away alive and kicking.
7. If you have any questions about this RP or how to participate in it, please don't hesitate to shoot me a telegram. This is my first RP in a long time and my first one on Nation States, I appreciate constructive criticism to improve the experience for all involved!
8. If you join this RP while a convoy or another action is in progress, you must wait until it is over until you can join the next one.
9. Rules are susceptible to change at any time. I will work on staying on top of it and contacting participants if this is an issue.
10. Be polite, be professional, and expect to kill some of those you meet.
11. Have fun!
Decoders and Cipher Crackers
Shackley - Both freaking ciphers >.<
This RP was a project made with a lot of assistance from other members of the NationStates community and I would like to thank The Selkie, USG Security Corporation, A m e n r i a, and Terre Australes for all of their great input and criticism!
