Admiral Lucas Harper was not in the best of moods as his ship, the outgoing flagship of the Achkaerinese Navy, the
INS Intrepid cruised into the centre of the Kyne. After the ships deployment to Phuebra it had been scheduled for a voyage home for decommissioning but then this had happened so now the ships final hurrah was this tricky little situation, they weren't the only Achkaerinese ships in the area either two
Riviere Class destroyers the
INS Ninetales and the
INS Riviere as well as the
INS Saix were deployed closer to a
designated area while two
Valtheim Class frigates the
INS Mossflower and the
INS Valor were the escort for the
Intrepid.
"Admiral." Lucas's XO, Commander Cooper said "We're estimating to be on station within seventy two hours."
"Good." Lucas said, that would put them on the edge of the designated area "Have Captain Sherwood begin flight operations, 'Kestrel' mission profile."
"Aye sir." Cooper said
In Valtheim the Emperor of Achkaerin
Peter Azurewind was sat in one of the most common type of briefings he'd had in recent years, but also the one type of briefing he hated - a military one. Here he was sat at the round table in the Marble Palace with the appropriate people sat around with him, on his feet in front of the large screen at the far end of the room from Peter was
Admiral Joseph Stapleton, the director of naval operations, the screen displayed a map of the Kyne.
"The simple truth Your Majesty is that this is a situation spiralling right out of control, we have two reasonably strong forces engaging each other in the Kyne, we've seen a strike against Royal Seleucid's chemical weapons capability, a strike against an Iwi oil rig and now an incident with an Iwi nuclear submarine." Stapleton said "We have designated an area that incorporates several major shipping routes and have advised all civilian shipping to avoid it. Our carrier in the area the
Intrepid will be on station within seventy two hours at that point our other ships in the region will rendezvous with them and assume a monitoring posture. Aircraft will be flying a 'Kestrel' profile."
"Remind what that is Admiral." Peter said
"Surveillance and recon." Stapleton said "No engagement unless engaged first."
"Celine?" Peter asked looking at his defence advisor
Celine Tyler"We're talking about two nations with proud military's that have decent punch and two nations that have a significant history with each other." Celine said "It's going to get messy."
"Nettie?" Peter asked now turning to his foreign affairs advisor
Nettie Taylor"Diplomatically it's already a dark shade of grey." Nettie said "The Iwi asked the CMA to do something, the CMA did half of it and then the Iwi went before the second report came in. However both the report from Bretonnia and the report from Achkaerin's MDI are conclusive, the chances are that the weaponized plague originated in Royal Seleucid but that doesn't mean Royal Seleucid's government is responsible, this could be a rogue faction within the state and we can't rule out the possibility of a by chance weaponization by a group of unrelated terrorists."
"Answer me this Nettie." Peter said "Do you think these 143 Iwi crew are going to get a fair trial?"
"Considering the background to the current situation and that the Iwi's crusade to get justice for war crimes has at times violated international laws such as the Fair Seas Concordat my gut says that's unlikely, though I hope I'm wrong." Nettie said
"What do you want us to do Your Majesty?" Stapleton asked, almost leaning on the table
Peter drummed his fingers against the table as he thought through his decision what to do? This was one very tricky situation.
"Deploy the
Hope, Quasar, Iona Azurewind, Amazon and the
Orichalcos to the area" Peter said, that was essentially four support craft all unarmed and one combat ship "Nothing beyond that deployment wise unless this goes really bad. Monitor the situation and protect civilian shipping, keep a close eye especially on ships flying the Seleucid and Iwi flags. East Moreland have got their ships on the way to be ready just in case Akakois fancies taking a run at the Celtic Protectorate, I want that borne in mind as well. Meanwhile we'll take the diplomatic approach, summon the Seleucid ambassador."