January 1st, 2000
1740 Hours
South of the Aleutian Islands
As the day began to enter its final stage, the sun began to sink away, casting its glow over the cold waters of the northern Pacific. The winter season cast a chilling Arctic breeze across the long, freezing ocean. Despite the month, the waters were rather calm today, with visibility being unimpaired by weather and the waters sitting relatively idle, compared to their later months. Only the unnatural, man-made object churning its way through created a disturbance, breaking the peace hanging over the area.
The U.S.S. Spruance, the lead ship of the destroyer class of the same name, was getting to be an old lady. Launched back in 1973, the sturdy old ‘tin can’, as destroyers were nicknamed, was nearing the end of her lifespan. Having spent most of her life in the Atlantic, she was transferred to the Pacific fleet early in the previous year to serve out the last of her long service. Despite her 27 years of service to the Navy, she was simply too old, and was unlikely to hold her own should she come under concentrated attack by a more modern unit.
The same applied to the rest of the Spruance class. With the newer ships coming out with more advanced weapons systems, the older destroyers were rapidly becoming obsolete. Even when a few were selected to receive upgrades and extend their lifespans, the leader included, it was only a delaying move. It was only a matter of time before they were all decommissioned and scrapped, but this mission of exploration would be a suitable way to top off the boat's career.
“It’ll be a nice spot in the history books,” the destroyer’s Captain commented to his subordinate next to him, as the two stood on the bridge, “‘The U.S.S. Spruance: first ship to discover a new land, and meet new life.’ Doesn’t that sound interesting, Commander Blake?”
“That would be nice, Captain, but there is the chance we won’t meet any new life,” the Commander replied, “Nor do we know if we are the first ship. Ships from pretty much everywhere are converging. So it’s possible we won’t be the first.”
Captain Keith sighed a bit in disappointment. The first piece was implausible at best, considering how big they hypothesized the landmass to be.
“You really need to drown my hopes that quickly?”
“No sir, just stating the facts,” Blake replied.
“I know the facts,” the Captain stated. “I just want to dream a bit. This is a big day for us, for everyone.”
“Sorry, sir,” Blake apologized. “But I’d be a little more concerned with how anyone is still here. With something of that size hitting us… we should have been wiped out before we knew what was going on.”
“You’ve got a point, Commander, but I don’t exactly have the answer for it.”
“I know sir; I’m just saying we should take that into account.”
“We are taking that into account,” the Captain replied in an annoyed tone. “That’s why we’re going there, to try and find out.”
Blake did not seem to have much of a response to this, and kept quiet following his agreement of ‘yes sir’. He was not content at all with that answer, but he knew he was not going to find it in the Captain. He kept his discomfort to himself, allowing the Captain to return to his own interests.
Standing on the Spruance’s bridge, Keith watched the horizon in anticipation, as he had done for the past few hours. He had grown up reading in awe about the brave explorers like Columbus and Magellan; it was what made him take an interest to the seas. Though he never thought that he would actually become an explorer like they had, journeying to discover new lands. Perhaps history would remember him as that, if anything; he would certainly enjoy such a reputation.
But if this was to be the New World, what did it hold for him to discover? What kind of plants and animals and other resources would it hold? And most importantly, what were the native inhabitants of the land, and how would they receive him? All these thoughts and possibilities kept his mind busy with thinking and planning for most of the journey.
'I’ll find out soon enough what you hold for me,' he thought, looking at the horizon, 'and I bet I’ll blow your mind clear out of its skull with what I have to show you.'
Another thought entered his head after that: what other units were in the area that command knew about? He had been told to expect all kinds of contacts, as each branch was scrambling what they had to investigate, but what about foreign vessels? What about civilian shipping? The prior planning showed none along the route, but that may have changed over the past several hours they had been away. It would be best to find out.
“Commander!” he called suddenly.
“Yes sir?” Blake responded, jumping a tad.
“Get me an up-to-date report on all vessels and aircraft in our area of operations; we need to know who else is out here.”
“Aye, sir.”
Blake turned around and moved across the bridge and out of the room as the Captain turned back to stare in anticipation at the ocean. There should not be any kind of civilian shipping in the area, as much of it had been restricted and the Navy had sent out a message warning others not to get close, but it was important to check. No doubt some wild-eyed adventurer would be going regardless, one that did not have the protection of a destroyer. His concentrated stare only lasted about a minute more before it was interrupted, this time by another crew member.
“Captain, surface contact, bearing two-zero-two, right ahead of us,” one of the radar operators reported over the radio from his position inside the ship’s Command and Control center. “Moderate size, but unable to identify yet.”
Keith quickly shuffled over to the radio to respond. He was becoming impatient with the waiting, and a little anxious, too. But how could he not be, considering what was going to happen? In only a matter of time before they would be entering a real first contact scenario. That only happened once.
“Copy, that’s great to hear! Anything else you can tell me?” he asked, betraying his excitement.
“Not picking up any radar, or any kind of sensor onboard,” the radar man continued.
“Is it moving?” the Captain continued, trying to gather the details.
“Yes sir, they’re moving in our direction. Speed is ten knots.”
“Keep watching; let me know if they do anything odd,” Keith ordered.
“Aye sir,” the radar man replied, closing the radio continuing to focus on the dot on his screen.
The Captain stood up from his lean over the radio and stretched a bit before noticing Blake had returned from the CIC. He must have also noticed the contact, as he looked to be more on-edge than when he left. Still, he kept his composure, giving a greeting and salute and waiting for Keith’s response.
“Commander, do you have the update yet?”
“Yes sir, right here” he confirmed.
“Well, what does it say? What are we dealing with?”
“Command reports no known civilian aircraft or shipping in the area. A submarine was in the area earlier, an Ohio that was already out on deployment, but it hasn’t reported back yet. They want us to… keep a lookout for them, just in case,” Blake said with a touch of worry in the last piece. “Units from other nations are likely operating in the area, but it is unknown if any are really there. No one has reported anything yet. ”
The Captain walked over to look over the report himself. If ships from the navies of other nations were in the area, then things could become a bit more complicated, depending on whom it was. That also meant the contact that was on the radar could be a vessel from another navy, as much as from the new land. But if the CIC had reported correctly, and the contact had no sensors, it was unlikely to be a modern warship.
“Sir, do we have any orders concerning how we should react to… new life?” Blake asked.
“Non-violent, for now,” the Captain answered, deciding on the most sensible choice. “Of course that could change if they start acting aggressive. And we need to report back as soon as contact is made. Other than that, nothing particular. We use our own judgment.”
“How do you think they will act?” the Commander wondered, a bit jittery over the ideas of what could go wrong when contact was made.
“Peacefully, I think. They’ve got no reason to attack us,” Keith responded optimistically.
“And what if they do?”
Keith stopped for a minute, trying to think of an appropriate answer, but could not find one.
“Well… I’m not sure. Fight back I suppose,” he said simply. “We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it, if we come to it.”
Blake shook his head a bit in a mixture of worry and disappointment, as Keith returned his attention to the horizon.
“I’m sorry sir, but I think you’re rushing into this a bit… haphazardly,” he claimed, attempting to remain respectful to his superior.
“I’ll note your worrying, Commander, but I’m afraid that I don’t see why such a thing is bothering you,” the Captain replied, focusing again on the water. “Unless you’ve been watching a bunch of alien invasion films lately.”
“There’s a fifty-fifty chance we could be sailing into a battle.”
“A fifty-fifty chance? Based on what, Commander?” Keith asked with a critical tone, turning back to him. “You worry too much about the improbable; we’ve had no indication that there has been any kind of hostile action towards the United States. Besides, we can’t just stop because of the chance of a fight. That’s what this ship was built for.”
“I understand that sir, but I still believe-”
The conversation was interrupted as one of the lookouts on the bridge excitedly reported a finding.
“Ship sighted, sir! Directly ahead!”
The Captain immediately broke off the conversation and ran over to the watcher’s position on the bridge. He tried looking in the direction he stated with his own set of binoculars, but only saw the dot coming closer and not much more. The lookout was using a much more powerful pair, and could see much farther compared to regular ones.
“Can you identify the nationality and make?” Keith asked.
“I can’t see any recognizable symbols or flags, sir. But, it does appear to be a sail ship of some kind,” the lookout replied.
“Alright, keep watching it,” the Captain ordered before turning to the man behind the ship’s wheel. “Helm, keep this course and speed.”
Before he could reply, and before Keith could give any further orders, the radar operator spoke up with another report of his own.
“Two more surface contacts, Captain. They’re a ways behind the first one, but they’re closing in quick.”
Again, the Keith had to shuffle over to another side of the bridge, where he felt he should just stay at, but could not help trying to catch a glimpse of the ship to find out something else about it. If it was wooden, then it had to be from some other world; no modern navy used wooden vessels anymore. And if civilians had stayed clear, as ordered, there was no other possibility.
“Can either be identified?” Keith asked, wondering if they were similar and possible allies to the first.
“Only one of them,” the man reported back. “The farthest is confirmed to be a ship of the People’s Liberation Army Navy.”
Keith’s eyebrows went up and his eyes opened wide, surprised by the new arrival.
“The Chinese? The hell are they doing this far out?” he replied.
“Not sure, sir. We’re trying to contact them now.”
That did worry Keith a bit. Was there some reason specific reason the Chinese had come out this far? Had they already made contact with the newcomers and investigated their world? And if so, what did they tell them, and what did they share? That one inclusion added a whole new pile of questions and problems that needed to be solved.
“Get working on it and get back to me if you find anything,” the Captain ordered, leaving the radio before the sailor on the other end could respond.
“Lookout, anything new?” Keith asked, before noticing the wooden ship had moved closer to the Spruance.
“Plenty sir. The vessel does seemed to be armed; looks like some type of frigate,” he reported, still observing the ship through his binoculars. “You might want to take a look at the crew, sir.”
Once again, Keith pressed his own set of binoculars up against his eyes and was given a much different sight than before. The crew of the frigate did not look even remotely human. Many of them looked more like small horses, or dogs even, and each seemed to be a different color, with the tone ranging anywhere from very bright to dim and dark. By the way they moved about, they seemed to be rather intelligent, of course they would have to be in order build and operate such a large ship.
“I’ll be damned,” he said to himself before chuckling a bit at the seemingly impossible. “Have they tried to contact us yet?”
“Yes sir. Looks like they’re using flag signals,” the lookout confirmed. “I think they’re just spelling out ‘Hello’ right now. They're waiting for our response.”
“And we need to respond,” Keith stated quickly before turning again to his Commander. “Blake, get a man down there with flags and respond immediately!”
“What should we tell them?” he replied, asking the obvious.
“Just say ‘hello’ back and take it from there,” Keith ordered immediately. "And make sure he doesn't say anything dumb."
“Aye, Captain.”
As soon as Blake had left, his spot was taken by Lieutenant Commander Bailey, the head of the ship's fire control team based in the CIC.
"Evening, Sir," he said with a salute, gaining the Captain's attention.
Keith returned it quickly, allowing his subordinate to relax. Bailey’s timing irritated him a bit, though he did not show it. He wanted nothing more than to examine the alien vessel thoroughly, and keep track of what was happening on the deck; partially to ensure things went smoothly, and partially to indulge in his curiosity. Regardless, he had to deal with what Bailey had first.
“Sir, I wanted to come up to see how things are coming, and to ask for instructions,” the Lieutenant Commander said, getting straight to the point. “Is there any kind of procedure you would like me to follow? Do you want me to set up a fire plan?”
The Captain was taken aback by the question. He saw no need to, and tried to think of a quick response to emphasize this. However, he could not, and had to admit in the back of his head that fighting was a possibility. But it was still a very small one, one he did not wish to build on. And his prior discussion with Commander Blake sapped most of his will to debate his reasoning.
“Do you think that will be necessary?” he queried, wanting Bailey’s view on the situation.
“I’m not too sure, sir. I hope it won’t, but we should be safe,” he stated. “But it’s up to you, sir. So what do you want me to do?”
“I don’t think the actual contact is going to see any bloodshed, so don’t worry about that,” Keith decided, not fully sure on his decision. “But… be prepared for things. Make sure your team runs smoothly, and everything operates as it should.”
“Aye, sir,” he responded, heading off the bridge back to his post.
With that, Keith was finally able indulge in his curiosity and began examining the frigate with his binoculars. He noticed that, every now and then, one of the horses would show some extra feature, either a set of wings or what looked to be a horn on their head. At first, Keith wanted to guess they were some kind of evolution from the horses on Earth, but the inclusion of what seemed to be pegasi and unicorns added another element to the mix, at least if they did the same things the fairy tales said they could do.
The ship itself did not look to different from an old human sail ship. It was interesting to see that their technological level seemed to be rather behind, but on a seemingly parallel course with humanity’s. The ship’s armament consisted of cannons, but he did not see a single firearm amongst the crew, mostly just swords or spears. They must be close, if they had the gunpowder to use cannons; maybe they just had not thought of it yet.
“Captain, I’ve got an invitation from the ship’s crew,” Blake said, breaking his concentration.
Keith jumped a bit, as he had not noticed the sailor return to the bridge, but quickly regained his composure.
“They’re asking to meet us, including our Captain, and are willing to come aboard our vessel if we accept their invitation,” he reported.
“Is that all, Commander?”
“Yes sir, that’s all they’ve told us for now.”
“Alright, tell them the there’s no need; we’ll be heading over to theirs,” Keith replied confidently before looking over to another sailor and giving an order. “Get a RHIB and a guard team ready to go.”
“You’re going over there!?” Blake said, a bit shocked by this move.
“Yes I am, Commander, now go signal the other ship,” Keith ordered.
Blake continued to stare at Keith for a time, shocked.
“Sir, this seems like a terrible idea. We don’t know what could-”
“Christ, enough,” Keith groaned, turning to another sailor. “Swanson, go down there and tell the Seaman with the flags to respond with my message that we’re going to pay them a visit.”
“Aye sir,” the sailor said, walking off the bridge as Blake watched in concern.
“At the very least we could-”
Before Blake could finish, the lookout on the bridge called out again, this time a bit more urgent.
“Two new vessels; one’s another frigate coming from the same direction as the first, and it looks like the crew is different from the first,” he reported quickly. “The Chinese vessel is also in visual range to starboard.”
“Aggressive moves from either?” Keith asked first.
“Not that I can tell sir. The frigate seems to be moving in our direction, but the Chinese are keeping their distance. I don’t think they want to get involved.” the man answered, turning his gaze from one to the other before settling on the Chinese ship. “PLAN vessel identified as Luda class destroyer.”
“Any type specifics?”
“I can make out the pennant number… One-Six-Six.”
“Has anyone made contact with them yet?” Keith asked. “Anyone?”
“Aye, Sir!” another sailor replied after a period of silence. “We’re in radio contact now. They say they’re just on patrol. They’ve made contact with the vessel closer to them apparently. That’s all we’ve got for now.”
It was odd that the Chinese destroyer had not been spotted and reported ahead of time. More than likely their mission was the same as the Spruance, to explore the new land. Perhaps it had already been in the area before the continent fell, and was just moving there because it was closest. That made the most sense, as any Chinese ships would have probably ran into it sooner than the Spruance; from what they knew already, the Luda would have had to sail around the continent to get to where it was now if it had come from China.
“Sir, destroyer number One-Six-Six is named the Zhuhai; she’s one of the newer types to come out in the last decade. More advanced than the original makes,” another man answered from the other side of the bridge.
“Sir… I believe the other vessel is a different nationality than the first,” the lookout said. “It’s a frigate, but the crew is different.”
“How so?” Keith asked.
“You… may want to see for yourself, sir,” the lookout said, offering his more powerful binoculars to the Captain.
Keith took them and looked out towards the vessel. He could tell how easily the lookout had noticed the difference in nationality, and in the crew. As he said, the sailors on the new ship were quite different, as none of them looked even remotely like horses. It was an odd sort of race that he had never seen before, nor anything quite like it. He had trouble describing it, but it looked as though God had taken a lion and merged it with a hawk. It was very bizarre sight.
“It’s an entirely different race from the first,” Keith said in a state of awe. “What are those things?”
“I think they’re called Griffons, sir,” the lookout said. “They’re supposed to be fictional, though; I only heard about them in stories like the Greek myths. I didn’t think you’d believe me.”
“I don't see much of a choice since I'm staring right at them,” Keith replied in a mumble, studying the other frigate.
“Sir, should I cancel the meeting?” Blake interrupted, staring at the Griffon-run vessel over the Captain’s shoulder.
Keith turned away from the window and began to move across the bridge.
“I don’t see why we should,” he retorted. “We’ve got no beef with any of these new aliens, and they have none with us. They shouldn’t do anything.”
Blake continued to stare at the Captain, his anxiety growing ever so steadily.
“I need to get going; there’s a meeting to attend,” Keith continued. “Commander, you’ve got the bridge while I’m away. Just keep everything in working order until I get back.”
“What about our Rules of Engagement?”
The Captain figured that Blake would ask such a thing from the way he had been acting, but he kept it simple, hoping he had more common sense than to do anything too foolish, and that nothing would go wrong during the contact.
“Nothing specific for right now Commander, just the basics,” Keith replied putting emphasis on the last three words. “Don’t shoot anything. If the Spruance comes under attack then you can return fire; but only at the aggressor.”
“Is that it, sir? We haven’t even contacted this new frigate and their race yet. What if they’re hostile?” Blake asked, continuing to think of the worst possible outcomes he could create in his mind.
“Then we’ll find out soon enough, and I trust the Spruance can take care of a wooden frigate without any trouble,” Keith responded. “Like I said before, just keep everything in order until I get back. Keep in contact with that Chinese vessel and ask them what they’ve seen so far; they may be able to help us a bit. But under no circumstances are you allowed to shoot at that new frigate in anger, understood?”
Blake stood there for a while, dumbfounded, before he finally replied.
“Yes… sir.”
“Good. You have the bridge, Commander; take care of the ship,” Keith ordered.
With that, the Captain stepped off the bridge and made his way down to the deck, where the RHIB and a team of guards were waiting. That left Blake to deal with the Spruance and what little had to be done. A quick check with the radio confirmed that there was little new information from the Chinese. The lookout reported the Zhuhai was sitting comfortably where she was, not doing anything suspicious, sailing along relatively close to the Griffon frigate as it continued to close with the horse frigate.
Blake continued focus mainly on the new boat run by Griffons. The appearance of a Chinese boat could be written off as coincidence, but something about the other new vessel struck him as odd. Something just was not right about the way it acted, trying to close the distance so hurriedly with the frigate run by the horses. To him, that was an aggressive move.
“Commander?”
Blake recognized the voice as belonging to the fire control officer.
“Lieutenant Commander Bailey, is there something wrong?” he asked, not bothering to turn and recognize him.
“No sir; just came to report to the Captain on some repairs and get some updates. Do you know where he is?”
“He left to attend a meeting with our new friends,” Blake replied, using the term lightly. “I’ve been left in charge until then.”
“That’s a good sign,” Bailey commented. “Maybe things will turn out better than expected. Assuming the negotiation doesn’t turn sour.”
“Maybe,” Blake repeated, thinking of other situations. “Until then, I’m keeping things alert.”
“Speaking of which, did the Captain have any orders for the R.O.E.?” Bailey asked, remembering his job on the vessel.
“We can only return fire if fired upon; nothing else,” Blake answered in an uneasy tone. “But like I said, we need to be attentive, or else things could get bad.”
Something about that did not settle well with Bailey. There was a feeling of distrust hanging with the last part of Blake’s statement. Yet at the same time, the actual choice seemed more like a move of caution, rather than one of paranoia. It worried him, but not enough to actually speak against it directly; instead, he chose an indirect version of asking why.
“Sir, you mind if I ask you something a little personal?”
“Go ahead, Commander,” Blake agreed.
“Have you ever been in a combat situation?”
Blake took his time to put his response together before answering.
“You’re curious about my decision?” he guessed correctly, continuing on before Bailey could answer. “No, Lieutenant Commander, I haven’t. But I have heard many a story from my Army friends of them waiting to be fired upon, and the first shot taking someone out. Some of those guys weren’t the same; they felt like they could’ve done something. I don’t want to be in that position.”
“Ah… I see,” Bailey lied, not knowing where to go after the Commander saw through his question. “Thank you, sir.”
“And I assume you haven’t either?”
It took a few seconds before Bailey realized he was talking about experience, an answer he assumed was obvious.
“No, sir, I haven’t seen any. I just want to be thorough in case we do, so we don’t screw up.”
“Sounds like we’re on the same page then.”
Bailey begged to differ; he did not enjoy such a comparison. It was true that he was attempting to prepare for the worst, but he could do so without turning into the aggressor himself, as Blake seemed to be doing. There had to be a limit to such things, one that, he felt, the Commander was walking the edge of.
“So, let’s act on that to make sure we don’t screw up,” the higher ranked sailor enigmatically ordered.
“I’m sorry, sir?”
“Lieutenant Commander, sound battlestations,” Blake instructed the third-in-command, not looking away from the Griffons.
“What? Commander, Captain Keith ordered you not to-”
“I know what he ordered, Bailey! This is just a precaution,” Blake shot back, still keeping to himself. “The Captain told me not to shoot first, and I don’t plan to. I’m just being careful. Now go!”
The Lieutenant Commander, and most on the bridge, looked at Blake for a bit before returning to their jobs as Bailey ordered the crew to their battlestations and returned to the C.I.C. Blake did not count this as disobeying an order; no order was given stay at this alert level. And if either of those new aliens tried anything, he would be ready for them. This was the right thing to do; he just knew it had to be.
'Why are the Chinese here?' he thought. 'What do they have that’s this far out?'
The logical part of his brain tried to say it was only a coincidence, but evidence seemed to pile up against that. Why had they appeared close to the Griffon ship? That pointed to some kind of secret alliance; though it seemed a bit ridiculous, it could not be impossible. Why had they not come up in the previous report on activity in the area? Had they just been missed?
“Have we gotten anything else from the Chinese destroyer?”
“Yes Commander, just now they were asking about our RHIB. They said they made contact with the Griffon vessel earlier. They’re a step ahead ‘cause they already sent a party to it.”
“Have they? Alright, thank you.”
Blake went back to watching the water. He noticed the tiny RHIB speeding across the water towards the first frigate. He quickly checked on the other two boats, both of which were doing the same thing they had been doing. Nothing seemed to be changing at all; perhaps he was going a bit too far with such wild accusations.
As he sat there watching everything unfold slowly, he could not remove the thoughts from his mind, which continued to enhance his anxiety. There had been no reports of the Chinese destroyer in the area beforehand. Had they really just been missed? What were they doing all the way out here? Their apparent previous contact with the Griffons only exacerbated his worries.
His eyes focused on the Griffon frigate, which had made a sharp turn to the Spruance’s port. Almost as soon as they were parallel with the horse’s frigate, tiny puffs of white smoke began to pop up along the width of the Griffon frigate, signaling that they had opened fire; from the direction it was facing, they seemed to be targeting the horses. Many of the cannonballs splashed into the water, but at least two hit the first frigate, sending shattered wood into the air and ocean.
'They’re shooting at the ship the Captain’s going to!' he thought to himself.
The RHIB stopped and sat in the water for a moment as the second salvo sailed out from the Griffon’s guns. A few more cannonballs hit their target this time, and a few more flew past. One of these came down hard in the water, unnervingly close to the Captain’s boat. The impact rocked the RHIB, and the water spout shot up high over them. Other than being thoroughly soaked from the seawater, none were injured; it was the final push Blake needed.
'That’s close enough for me! One of them could hit his RHIB, and I sure as hell won’t let that happen!'
“Enemy vessel firing on the RHIB! Target that frigate!” Blake shouted into his radio, speaking to the CIC room. “Prepare to fire Harpoons!”
On the other end, Bailey, who had been keeping track of the situation through the room’s displays and computers, was stunned by this. Not so much that they would have to start shooting, but at the order of using the Harpoons. Their deck gun was within range, and could easily deal with a wooden frigate; using missiles seemed like a waste. To add to that was the problem of not directly targeting the Captain or the Spruance.
“Sir, does that count as being fired upon?” the weapons operator near him questioned.
“I’m not sure, but that’s not the only problem,” Bailey replied, instead choosing to question the Commander through the radio. “Sir, why do you want us to fire missiles? Our guns can easily deal with-”
“We’ve only got one gun, and it’s going to take a few shells to kill that thing, the gun rounds will pass right through the wood! A missile won't! Have it detonate on contact!” Blake angrily interrupted, not happy about the minor interrogation. “I’d rather waste ammo than waste time; if we waste time, we risk losing the Captain.”
“But if our shots are accurate it may cease-”
“I am not risking this! I want that thing dead! Not crippled; blown out of the water!” Blake yelled as more shots were heard, and splashes were seen. “Damn it, they’re shooting at the Captain! Bailey, you fire that missile now! Before he gets killed!”
“Damn it Blake did you forget the Chinese have men on that ship!?” Bailey shouted. “Do you want to get them killed to!?”
“That’s their problem! We’re not aiming at them, but that ship is aiming at the Captain! I’m not sacrificing the Captain for them! I’m not you hear me!? Shoot before the RHIB gets hit! Damn it do it before I throw you overboard!”
Not wishing to argue any longer, and guessing there was no ground for a moral refusal, the Lieutenant Commander agreed.
“Yes sir,” he complied in a somber, somewhat irritated voice, before turning to one of the men of his team, seated at his computer. “Fire one!”
“A-aye sir! Weapon away!” the operator stuttered, a bit unsure of the situation himself but not enough to stop him.
Even as the RHIB, only being about halfway to the horse’s frigate, turned back towards its home, a Harpoon anti-ship missile flew out of the destroyer’s launcher. There was a roar as the rockets ignited and shot the missile out over the sea, towards its target, leaving a cloud of smoke and an eerie calm. It was at this time one of the lookouts announced the Chinese vessel was moving at a faster speed, and closing on the Griffon frigate. Blake looked over and noticed the Zhuhai racing across the water towards the Griffon vessel.
“Moving to help your new friend?” Blake whispered to himself. “Too late. Don’t try anything.”
The Harpoon had moved close to its target by now. Flying over the sea, the missile shrieked in and crashed onto the targeted warship, near the stern. This was followed shortly by a large explosion that ripped the back of the ship clean off, while the bow almost immediately began to rise into the air as the ship began to sink.
“Enemy frigate destroyed,” the C.I.C. reported.
The Zhuhai continued to move closer, presumably to rescue survivors. Blake felt relieved at this point. The fighting had stopped, and they had killed the aggressor without any problem. No doubt he would be in some trouble, but the Griffons had shot first. And they had put the Captain in a dangerous spot. That should be enough to justify a response.
The same feeling was not shared by everyone in the C.I.C., particularly Bailey. The Chinese were not hostile, and they had just sunk a ship that had their sailors on it. That ship may have been putting the Captain’s ship in danger, but the Americans had still killed some of their men. Everything had starter out well and looked like it would end well, and one decision from Blake had turned the situation into a nightmare.
“Commander, the Chinese are asking why you fired on the frigate,” the radio operator announced.
“Tell them the Griffons were putting our Captain in danger, so we acted accordingly. Tell them we will cease fire.”
“Yes… Sir.”
“Commander!”
Blake turned to see Bailey, who had run up from the CIC to meet with him.
“Well done, Lieutenant Commander.”
“Well done!? Blake we just blew up a ship with Chinese sailors on it! We could have killed them!”
“Better theirs than ours.”
“No one had to die at all! You’re going to start a fight between us!”
“I-I didn’t want to lose our men!”
“You’ll start a war!”
“Blake!”
The Commander turned fearfully to see the Captain, back from his short boat ride, standing at the doorway to the bridge, his uniform drenched. Before Blake could speak a word in defense, Keith charged across the bridge right into him. Grabbing Blake by his uniform, Keith threw him against one of the bridge consoles, pinning him there.
“What the fuck did you do!?” Keith snarled, shaking him as he did so. “Why did you shoot at them!?”
“They were… they shot first… they almost hit you!” Blake babbled, unable to gain a good grasp of his speech.
“You sank a ship of an unknown race! Why did you interfere like that!? First contact with them and you kill them!? Why the hell did you do that!?” Keith went on, getting angry as the crew on the bridge watched. “What is wrong with you, you son of a bitch!?”
“I didn’t… I… there can’t be… it can’t happen.”
“Captain Keith,” the Lieutenant Commander spoke up.
“What?” Keith interrupted angrily, obviously not happy with Bailey either.
“I’m afraid it’s more complicated than that,” he explained, not losing his composure as his higher-up had. “The Chinese had apparently made contact with the Griffons beforehand and sent some men to the frigate. They were still on board when the ship was sunk. We think they’ve been killed.”
Despite still being angry, Keith was bewildered by this. Destroying an alien vessel during first contact was bad enough in itself, but killing members of the Chinese Navy, even unintentionally, was overwhelming. Beyond starting a war with a new species from an unknown nation, they could start a war with China, as well.
“You bastard!” Keith growled, staring at Blake in his fury.
“No! It couldn’t have happened! It didn’t happen!” Blake cried, squirming on the ground.
“I think he’s starting to lose it,” Bailey observed.
“I don’t care if he is! He’s not getting out of this without a court martial!” Keith replied. “Bailey, get someone to lock this idiot up!”
“Aye, Captain,” he complied, calling for a pair of the ship’s Marine guards.
Keith tried to calm down, and looked back at the water. The Zhuhai had reached the area where the Griffon frigate and had come to a stop as it plucked survivors from the ocean. There was a general grim feeling among the American destroyer that none of those survivors would be the Chinese that had been onboard.
'Where the hell do we go from here?' Keith wondered.
Might wanna change that...
4704106
Oh Christ. Yea, easily the most embarrassing typo I've ever done.
Thanks.
4704106
Smoke breaks are taken at the most inopportune times...
Good chapter. What kind of dunce would fire missiles in an environment packed to the brim with friendly and neutral targets, including a U.S. vessel? He couldn't have used the 5in or the 25 mike-mike? Damn squids.
4704140
Well, like I've said before; Word seems to recognize some errors and sees others as being on purpose. And I'm fairly confident I've never written that word at any point, no did I ever save it to the dictionary. So... I don't really know. But thank God Machinist found it early on.
And involving the firing problem. Well... I can't honestly say that even the military is pure of screw-ups, but this does go deeper than just a guy going crazy, as do a few things in this story. But I can't spoil it, for obvious reasons.
4704155
I wasn't saying you were off taking a smoke break, I was remarking on the word. It's slang in British English for cigarettes, so essentially the captain was telling him to go smoke. It... wasn't really that funny, and less so now I had to explain it.
I kind of figured there'd be a bit more to be said about Commander "Trigger Itch" Blake, so I'm eagerly awaiting that.
4704174
Huh, that is British slang, isn't it? I forgot about that...
..... I can't make a joke.
4704208
Fixed, thanks.
I'm making an unusual amount of typos on this one...
ok, Looks like things went FUBAR, great chapter
he done goofed
... ? Unlikely. You 've omitted a lot of the regulation of the navy. In reality, the commander wouldn't put so little trust on the captain orders. And he jeep repeating " that are hostile? Those are hostile?" that made me angry, and he dont have the autority to give orders to other ships without the captain consent
A real captain would be mad to him before all that mess
4704652
Well, sorry; there's a few protocols I'm not familiar with, but at least some can be accounted for.
It was stated to the Commander that the Captain said they could return fire, if fired upon. Though it didn't really count as being fired upon, ordinance landing near the RHIB can be technically counted as fired upon, at least in the commanders eyes, thus justifying a response.
In terms of the sub, the commander never really gave an order, he just made a request whilst failing to properly inform it's captain of the situation, and allow him to use his judgment. The sub's captain did not have to listen, but they have no idea of what's happened in the past 24 hours in being under the surface and out of contact the entire time; he did not have to take the advice, but he was not sure of what was happening at the time with other naval vessels in possible danger, so he followed what he thought was a reliable source of information, while sadly it wasn't.
In terms of the rest of what you said, I'm afraid I can't answer from how jumbled it is. I'm not trying to say you're stupid or something for bad grammar, but the way you word it is confusing me to the point where I can only answer parts of your problems. If you can explain what the other concerns are, I could possibly provide an explanation for them.
Why would you shoot 4 anti-ship MISSILES at a wooden frigate, that close to allied ships!?! I feel that a more sensible approach would be to fire a single missile first, wait until it hits, then fire more if the need arises. And why wait for the order to stop the rest of the missiles to hit? And - UHG!
Good story, still. I like how you are combining other nations as elements in the story. Many other authors forget there is more than just America in the world (THE ONLY FREEDOM), and the way you added China into the story made this feel much more realistic. I don't believe China will be very happy that America fired upon them... and that's the understatement of the year.
I hope to see this situation de-escalate a bit. The tensness is fraying my nerves and is literally making me cold sweat.
-Powers
also, if you need help with Chinese, I can help :)
4704948
Here's the interesting point; I actually like you and (some) others getting upset over obvious screw-ups from they're illogicalness because it gives the story some more realism; not so much in the way of that's how the military should react, but how there's always that one guy that, in the wrong place and time, can throw all that planning and training out the window. It gives a story more complexity, as rather then just disliking the antagonist, you're disliking someone who should be on the good side. Though it may get some people upset, that does make them think more, and that in turn makes the story more desirable to continue on, as it's not as clear-cut as the usual. Just figured that would be a fascinating writer's tactic to bring up.
But, Chinese is something I could use a bit of, though in a different way than military. Can you translate any?
What and not a single crew member mentioned that their missiles were not aimed at the Chinese ship? That is important information! There could be something seriously wrong with their targeting computers! What happens next time when the Spraunce or some other ship of the same class fires their anti-ship missiles and they target a friendly ship instead?
Why did the first missile just not hit the Griffon ship, and why did the last two suddenly decide to hit the Chinese?
4705730
If you mean strictly in terms of tech rather than someone on board arguing the commander's innocence, then it's a basic idea that everyone, at the moment, is too shocked at first. Of course they do find out, and it is mentioned a few chapters away. Technical things like that and the comms being horribly inconsistent is to be the center of that, but it's not as simple as maintenance. I'm afraid I can't explain what yet, as it is one of the other points later on in the story, but don't forget about it, either. Some 'errors' are there for a reason.
4705937
The first Harpoon hit and killed the frigate, wiping it off the radar. The remaining three targeted the Chinese ship, since it was nearby. Now as to why it did it: the official statement will be that it was a technological foul, but it's not. Like I said before, unfortunately, I can't tell what actually happened, as it would spoil things.
I am sorry if things in this chapter seem a bit... off, or up in the air, but most of the mess-ups were done for a specific reason. It is an odd chapter, I'll admit, but it's also the divergence event that sets up the timeline for this story, so something had to go wrong to set things in motion; I just figured this'd be the most interesting way.
4706330 Well until I get more evidence I am inclined to say that there is something wrong with the software used in our weaponry, or that the "magic" ponies use somehow screw with our technology.
I'm questioning the use of missiles on a wooden frigate. The 5 inch probably would've been better. Not to mention that a missile going supersonic might just plow through a wooden ship.
That happened.
4706437
Well, you should; it's not logical. But, it was ordered by an illogical-thinking officer. Like I said, some of the errors and missteps in this chapter are on purpose.
4704984
I'm honored you devoted a post to a single reply to me :D
I'm not angry at this... incident happening. Its a good way of getting the story to move, plus with more heartstopping actions and retarded protagonists, it makes it all the more exciting. As ever, looking foward to what happens next.
Feel free to PM me with any Chinese translations you may want to use in your story to me, and I can help, or something, :)
-Powers
Oh, and oh man! You really did catch me off guard with using China instead of Russia as the other 'superpower'. Not many people acknowledge the greater state XD
I personally would have gone with gunfire. It's quicker to respond and fits with escalation of force - they fired their cannons, I'm firing mine.
And I think you meant an SSBN
4706437 The Harpoon isn't supersonic.
What a waste of ammunition and lives...but that's war for ya.
Silver out!
4706768
... Herp derp thinking of SM-2s. Nonetheless, I'm still not sure how effective it would be against a wooden ship.
4706768
N? What's the acronym for it? I thought the M stood for 'missile', is N 'nuclear'?
4707060 The B stands for Ballistic Missile. N stands for nuclear
4707065
Yea, and SSBM leads to Super Smash Bros: Melee...
That's not quite the same thing, is it?
4706330 Okay, thanks.
You know, there are tons of intelligent peoples on CIC, and they would've deactivate the missile and even if they failed in deactivating, missile itself won't explode even if it directly ran through chinese vessel since we are not using any impact fuze on any missiles or torpedos.
And meeting foreign species directly, without any quarantine suits? And even without permission of Washington? And captain of the ship itself going to (potential) enemy's military vessel? You are too rushing your story, and using so many coincidence to let event happen.
4709106
As I said before, most of the missteps, even the technological ones, were done on purpose for reasons that can not be explained for the story's sake, and not so much the technology or crew's fault.
When it comes to those meetings, it's hard to really say anything is this or that because, as a friend told me, a lot of protocol for these types of situations don't exist. Washington really did order them there, as in the previous chapter that units from many places were being sent to investigate and work as the situation demanded; but it wasn't immediately thought to be aliens, so that area was unspecified.
And the idea of meeting a 'potential enemy' is a tad ludicrous. Albeit it did go bad as I wrote it, the actual odds of making first contact with an alien species, especially one like this, and the being what one would define as 'enemy' in terms of a rival nation, or opening fire on them, is rather low. Unless the Navy has a history of making contact with an extraterrestrial life and being fired upon immediately, there's no real reason to declare them even a potential enemy, as they hold absolutely nothing against each-other as of that first meting.
I'll admit I didn't think of any kind of Quarantine suit, though; I've actually never seen that been used before. That was a good catch indeed. Very nice.
And lets say about political impact after this event happened- Chinese vessel sunk, USA's submarine sunk - But war is not going to happen. USA's missile launch was not intended for attacking Chinese vessel, and Chinese got their revenge by sinking US submarine. In may 1987, USS Stark (Oliver Hazard Perry Class Frigate) was hit by Exocet anti ship missile by Iraq air force mistaken them as Iran navy. 37 sailors were killed, but US didn't took as act of war since it was mistake.
This is horrible! Not the story, just the fact that a USA naval destroyer shot a Chinese shit which in turn sunk a submarine. I think something is messing with the electronics where the Chinese ship is, which is why no one could contact the Chinese or the sub, once it got closer to the Chinese, as well as the missile lock on screwing up. Really do feel sorry for the luteniant Commander.
shit just hit the fan....
4715349
You feel sorry for the LC?! He violated direct orders, almost certainly violated whatever ROE were in effect, and killed hundreds of people including members of an alien species he knew nothing about. Hanging's too good for him.
This story's credibility has been shot all to hell. I give you one chapter to turn it around, but my suspension of disbelief snapped like a dry twig when the destroyer fired a few million dollars worth of ordinance at a technological throwback well in range of its own 5-inch cannons.
Edited after cooling down a bit: I do not approve of the portrayal of chain of command, or lack of technical and social safeguards in this chapter.
PS: Also it might be that, even this all makes sure in the grand plot the portrayal and timing of the events seems off, specially considering the I DO NOT APPROVE THE PORTRAYAL OF THE CHAIN OF COMMAND, OR LACK OF TECHNOLOGICAL AND SOCIAL SAFEGUARDS IN THIS CHAPTER part.
Idiot knew the computers were having issues and yet he still used them when a simple shell shot wouldve sufficed. Now look at what hes done, disgraceful.
I hope this turns out to be ordinary system glitches, foreign hacking (an actual concern about the causes of real-life U.S. navy ship glitches right now), or intentional jamming of some sort rather than the effects of undirected magic.
I've always felt that the whole "magic is detrimental to advanced technology in the same way as a high radiation environment, yet doesn't cause radiation poisoning in muggles" idea that Harry Potter introduced to the popular culture was Another Example of Rowling Not Thinking Through The Implications of Spur Of The Moment Ideas™.
...but then it wouldn't surprise me. It wouldn't be the first idea I've seen in this fic that comes across as "author didn't think this through enough".
Ugh. The only way this makes sense is if there's mind magic at play... I hate mind magic. It's the favourite crutch of godawful authors an even very good authors have trouble using it effectively. (And, in this case, I just find it irritating and something that drops the perceived quality of the story. I'm not sure how much longer I'll keep on reading.)
OK, this has become so irritating and contrived that I had trouble even reading to the end of the chapter.
(And the story started out so well too.)
And another first contact story goes down the tubes due to contrived co-incidences.
Why couldn't 'Widening the Lens' have continued? There was a military first contact story with teeth that actually made sense.
And this one started out well too.
The old 'have an unstable officer in a critical position lose it and start a war' trope was used in Babylon 5, but at least there it was a single problem, and things like that can happen. But all the mysterious and convenient electrical outages and malfunctions as well? It smacks of action by some third party trying to forment a war, but no third party could have predicted these particular circumstances to set it up. Therefore it's just lazy writing to create a conflict.
"Sir, we can't contact the Chinese Destroyer on radio!"
"Then break out a very lamp and start signalling."
9092911
Sorry you didn't like it. Though that did make me realize the problem I couldn't find before. Not so much lazy writing as the opposite, I was making it too complex a situation in my mind for what was going to happen. Maybe it can be fixed now.
Well, I think this is a bit ridiculous. First of all, someone has said that, USA's missile launch was not intended for attacking Chinese vessel, and Chinese got their revenge by sinking US submarine. Even though this may be an excuse to declare war for 1930 ’s Japan, it is not for China. Twenty years ago, China was far less powerful than the United States in any respect,Now it is the same。 If this happens, I think our leaders will try to resolve the incident peacefully as much as possible.E...I just point it out, this is your story, your world。。。。。 If China and Nazi Germany are the same in this story, I wo n’t be surprised....
10182090
You are a buffoon if you think the Chinese military is actually strong. Their ships are completely inferior and their soldiers under-equipped. And don't even get me started on the Air Force. The people's Liberation Army Air Force is absolutely not worth talking about, they're losing a fight to India right now dude
10320488
I'm offended. You've insulted my country
China may have a strong military, but in the end would be easily crushed by the United States and it's friends overseas.
Fuck the CCP, me and the boys hate the CCP.
11463362
Yeah they’re no good, thanks for the read too.
The commander was 90% in the right here.
First the captain was dismissive about ROE, essentially leaving it up to interpretation and then he gets mad when fire is opened his second responds in kind.
The battle stations was extremely sensible, you're dealing with a hostile naval power and two unknowns, you want to absolutely avoid being caught with your pants down even if you don't intend to open fire first.
Also the decision to head over to the pony vessel was dumb on multiple levels. They already offered to come aboard your ship, the place where you're in control and are safe, why not take it? And from a political perspective it also shows strength having the other party come over to you.
Only the choice of instantly using a missile is debatable. You know the Chinese are there so you do not want to provoke them. A few shots from the main cannon would have the griffons think twice already, that kind of escalation really didn't look necessary.