The destroyer
Ugarov had reached the tip of the Alucard islands just as the sun began to bleed its light above the horizon. The other three ships the Kaitaine Navy had sent were spread across the horizon just barely visible to each other with the naked eye. It was Admiral Gregor who had the first call out. "Sir, we've what we believe is a Water Nomad vessel some 10km off the starboard bow." A young officer informed him with a snappy salute.
"Excellent" the Admiral said. "Please go and inform Mr. Maxwell." The young officer snapped another salute before heading off down two floors and knocking on a cabin door.
"Mr.Maxwell, the Admiral told me to tell you we have a Water Nomad contact." the officer spoke through the door which opened just a crack.
"Thank you.....erm....Shokovich isn't it?" The officer nodded, "Please inform the Admiral I shall be there momentarily." and with that the door shut again as Shokovich retraced his steps back up to see the Admiral and pass on the news. Just two minutes later a man wearing a black blazer with pale blue shirt, still tying his red and blue angular striped tie, appeared on the bridge. "Good morning Admiral." He greeted the ships commander as he folded his collar back down and checked for the length of the tie. " May I confirm we are in international waters?"
"We are...." The Admiral inspected the charts, "by my reckoning just about 10km outside the Bakkermayan EEZ. We're planning on cutting through to this point." He pointed to a point almost equidistant between Lodja and Bakkermayan islands. "We believe that will put us in a position to support the others who will spread themselves North to South through the island chain, we'll be the pivot so to speak." Maxwell nodded as the plan was put out.
"Very good, please have your Special Ops group fish those Nomads out before they get out of international water." Maxwell headed over to the wall mounted hot water dispenser, wiped a mug with a napkin and proceeded to make himself a coffee all the time the Admiral was ensuring that Maxwell's orders were being carried out. By the time the suited gentleman had added milk, two sugars and given it a stir he could see the black clad commandos zooming off in a RHIB. "Impressive response time." Maxwell mused as he watched them intercept the Water Nomads.
Ten minutes later the ramshackle wooden boat with an ancient motor was tied alongside the Destoyer and its two families of inhabitants were sat on the deck their hands on their heads. Maxwell had the interpreter they'd brought with them roused from their slumber and briefed the Nomads. It was simple, they were shown several images of those that had been kidnapped and then shown images of a new shiny wooden sailing boat, a trade was being offered information for a new boat. The Water Nomads babbled away to the interpreter as Maxwell stood on watching the hive of activity that happened on a Destroyers deck. "They say they had no idea about any kidnapping and have never heard of this FPAO. They told me their tribes had kind of split into a few different factions, some frienldy to others, some believing the others have sold out. "
"Civil War stuff?" Maxwell asked causing a flurry of words from the interpretor and the Nomads.
"No." The interpretor responded, "Just mistrust and a few arguements when groups bump into each other but nothing close to that."
"Shame" Maxwell could have used that to his advantage. Just then a yell came from one of the Commando's who was searching the boat and quickly a box on a pulley had the item up on deck where the Commando Major handed it to Maxwell who in turn having inspected it handed it to the interpreter. There was a silence as the man read it before asking the people from the boat about it. "I thought they were not a literate people?"
"Its becoming more common for them to know some words." The interpretor was scanning down the sheet, "Its a list of different islands. The heading says the Dominion of the Ocean. Its another of the factions. These islands are the ones they are claiming."
"Admiral" Maxwell yelled. "Find these people somewhere to stay onboard. We're going to the nearest of these islands. I'd like to meet someone from this Dominion." He smiled helping one of the Water Nomad children to his feet and reached into his jacket pocket removing a chocolate bar. "Take good care of them" he added as he handed the child the bar and ruffled their hair. "Lets see if we can't sew some dissent." It took them around six hours of sailing to reach the first of the islands on the list and then it was just a matter of finding who was in charge of this Dominion. Maxwell had the interpreter man the ships radio and turned the tannoy system on broadcasting to see if they could locate them.