The tension in Valtheim was palpable, the situation was getting further and further advanced and still no sign of the
Morelander which wasn't a good sign. The Round Table Conference met for their latest session on the Lodja situation, a situation now complicated by events of recent hours. Peter sat looking around the table and at the various screens on the wall, some were maps others were where people were joining the meeting remotely. At present the floor belonged to the Minister for the Diplomatic Office
Cheryl Holmes who was sat about a quarter of the way around the table from Peter "...Therefore given the decree we've moved Emalet Silvermist from the Isle of the Goddess to the embassy in Gaia." Cheryl said
"What's the read on these measures?" Peter asked
"Your Majesty."
Consul Michael Williams said "The measures are understandable, however to some extent this looks like a sledgehammer to crack a nut. It shouldn't change our support for Queen Klara but this has a lot of potential to spin well out of control."
"After the protests the Lodjan police don't really have a lot of credibility."
Richard Chambers, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, said "If the protests continue then this has the potential to get very ugly very quickly."
"And it's at that point that this becomes a real headache." Nettie said "At the moment the protesters are a minority and public opinion is with Klara but if Klara's seen to be overreacting or doing things that cause more harm then it doesn't take much for public support to flip."
"All right." Peter said "Sally?"
"Yes Your Majesty." Sally said "We're expecting samples from the water nomads to arrive in a few hours, we will then run a comparison against the Kaiju virus sample we are based on reports very confident that the samples will match, we recommend a press release as soon as this is confirmed."
"Agreed." Peter said "Supposing they match can we get a visit with General Koslov?"
"We'll try but it's Lodja." Nettie said "And it's a pretty rough time at the moment."
"Good thing we've got someone we can call." Peter said "Get Emalet to do that."
"Ok." Cheryl said
"Peter."
Rion Ayanami said "I want to pull Jack out now before this gets messy." this wasn't unsurprising as Rion had raised the issue at previous meetings "He's a high profile figure and he's leverage. It was one thing when this was contained to Gaia but it's spreading and it could easily happen in Quadaghlo."
"He won't leave without Katyusha." Peter said
"I'll have Mika talk to them." Rion said
"Ok then Admiral Sherman." Peter said "What's the manhunt like?"
"Your Majesty we believe based on our current search operations that the
HDMS Morelander is in the Central Alucard Island Chain."
Vice Admiral Michelle Sherman said, she was the director of strategic naval operations "It's a very good hiding place because there are so many islands to search and the various search instruments can run into trouble."
"What aren't you saying?" Peter asked
"Your Majesty." Michelle said slowly "It's true that the islands are an excellent haystack however there's only one end to this game of hide and seek, the
Morelander will be found. And Leopold isn't stupid enough to believe otherwise, so whatever Leopold intends to do he's in a race against the clock to do it before he's found."
"Can we intensify the search?" Peter asked
"Yes Your Majesty." Michelle said "As you will recall when this started you ordered the
INS Kyogre and ships into the Alucard for the purposes of evacuating should it be necessary, they are in the area now. We've also got the carrier
INS Intrepid as part of that group."
"How'd the
Intrepid get there?" Peter asked
"It was supposed to pick up the Dragonbreath's from the
Kyogre at the end of the trial." Michelle said
"And one going into the Alucard puts them both there." Peter said
"Yes sir." Michelle said "I'd like to send the
Kyogre and an escort to follow the evacuation protocol we'd already put in place and send the
Intrepid towards the centre of the chain while using our existing drone nets to cover north and south. Have a sparrowhawk and fuel up top and lets try and find him before he makes his big move."
"Do it." Peter said
At the Achkaerinese embassy in Gaia
Emalet Silvermist was settling into what was her second office so to speak, she was used to being based out of the Isle of the Goddess but here she was in the embassy for the duration of the current crisis, she was joined by her sister
Zoe, it was going to be difficult to get what she'd been asked to get but Emalet knew how Lodjan society worked it was about did you know anyone who might be able to get you somewhere, knowing this the Achkaerinese government had mainly by virtue of the Emperor's friendship with her designated Alana Tar the then sister of the Queen as the recommended contact for such things and it had over time paid dividends, Emalet could only hope it did this time, she dialed Alana's number and paced around the room while she waited for the girl to pick up.
In Qadaghlo
Mika Schilling stepped into a room where the Andronikashivili family was presently situated the parents Duke Robert and Duchess Svetlana, then Prince Jack's girlfriend Katyusha and her older sister Nikita. "Sir." Mika said addressing Robert "I'm under orders to evacuate Prince Jack, but predictably he's not wanting to leave without your daughter and my guess would be that she won't go without the rest of you. I can't compel you to do anything but I do recommend you let me evacuate all of you rather than risk scenes similar to Rakalin happening here." it was a rather weird situation there was something of an expectation that at some point Jack and Katyusha would marry and Mika really didn't want to be responsible for losing potential in laws of the Azurewind family.
In the Alucard the
INS Intrepid, flagship of the Achkaerinese fleet with her escorts headed towards the islands, as far as the search went from their point of view this was game changer day, they now had more air assets in the area which meant they could cover ground more quickly, it would still take plenty of time but they had at least theoretically increased their odds of finding the
Morelander sooner rather than later. Commanding the
Intrepid was
Admiral Lucas Harper and this was unlike any situation he'd previously been involved in and that was saying something considering his career history. He stepped onto the bridge and walked over to what was called 'the chessboard' an interactive table, or to put it another way the mating of an electronic tablet and a table, presently it displayed a map of the area, standing on the other side of the table was his XO
Commander Carmen Webb.
"Status?" Lucas asked
"Sir." Carmen said "We're approaching the search area from the east, the
Kyogre and
Stardust have peeled off as per orders. The
Rhyth Icerider is situated here." she tapped the table "We're going to rendezvous with them north of the Isle of Tar, that gives us open water to base out of while we search."
"ETA?" Lucas asked
"ETA for rendezvous is seventy two hours." Carmen said "We are however starting search operations sooner than that."
"Naturally." Lucas said
Below decks in the flight briefing room
Wing Commander Lance Ellis had been brought in to give the operations briefing he stood behind a podium on a slightly raised platform, the pilots sat in chairs before him. "All right this is Operation Falcon, our primary objective is locating the
HDMS Morelander. This is a twenty four seven operation, groups as per normal protocol for such operations. There will be a Sparrowhawk and fuel up top. We are not the only ones out here looking for the
Morelander, if you discover the
Morelander you are cleared to engage only if fired upon. Jackpot is bingo call." Lance said "Questions?" he looked around the room, there were none "Good hunting braves."
The senior pilot aboard the
Intrepid was
Squadron Commander Lucy Sherwood, a highly respected figure in the Achkaerinese military she had the callsign 'Hekate' and flew a
Dragonite fighter jet, her wingman was
Lieutenant Harry Kimblin callsign 'Fenrir', it was quite easy to tell that the two of them had been flying together since day one and had deliberately colluded in picking their callsigns. Now came the scramble as the first shift of jets including theirs took off up into the Alucard skies once they leveled off Lucy glanced around and spotted the
Sparrowhawk, she clicked the radio "This is Hekate, you know the drill, Sparrowhawk up top on coordination, two fighter escort at all times, everyone else split into your flights and let's hunt this damn vessel down." she said, she clicked the radio off and banked away Harry following on her wing.