Making odds

[Jacobus Loki]

The KMV was abuzz with scuttlebutt and speculation. Who were the going to go to war for today?

The Petty Officer who made book in stores was giving 20-1 on bolting and going over to Antica, and even odds if that happened on a mutiny.

Askenatza was 12-1, Nelaga was 8-1. Going over to Elwynn was 5-1 (their Lord did have a connection to Elwynn). Babkha got 13-1.

4-1 was on going pirate and seizing a small island of their own. 3-1 was on Lord Jake going goofy and attempting to seize the throne.

Again.

By the time the announcement came over, a great deal of currency was in the hands of the bookies.

"NOW HERE THIS! NOW HERE THIS!"

Lord Jake loudly cleared his throat.

"ALL BETS ARE OFF. WE SERVE THE DUTCH AND KAISER B'CAW!"

[Jacobus Loki]

Lord Jake had cleaned his Yardistani admiral's uniform, and replace all the insignia with Kildarian emblems,"Captain, go to 87% on the reactor. Set course for Gong Li."

"Aye, Sir. You mean we are not going to shell the Laqis into compliance?"

"One does not bombard one's brothers, except with fired fish. There is a new day dawning for Shireroth, and I'm sure the Laqis and the Elwynnese will be part of it. If Elwynn needs subduing, the Ice Ships are loyal. The Laqis are good sorts, and this will blow over. The main danger lies elsewhere. We are going to show the flag at every Kildarian island from here to Melangia. The King of the Mala'anje will walk the streets of Sakatra and break bread with his cousins."

Several junior officers discretely rolled their eyes.

"And this time we go with friends......" Jake pointed up to where three shocking pink dirigibles floated above the KMV.

"......and off Gong Li, we rendezvous with an old friend", he ended mysteriously.

The P.O. in stores started making odds again.

[Jonas]

Can't add much more then:

[Jonas]

Oh, before I forget:


During the trip a song began to play out of nowhere. The crew of the ship didn't need any explanation: it was the great Lumina herself who made a song audible that symbolised the common feelings of the Kildari.
Perhaps the crew imagined it. Perhaps the song came out of there heart. But they finally felt a proud feeling for a nation that seemed to have been lost.

[Jacobus Loki]

The music soothed many, but the bridge crew remained tense. Coffee consumption was high, and the Captain and the Admiral were heavy into something called raktajino .

Night was on them, but one could barely notice as the ship was ablaze with lights and other electromagnetic radiation. One of the monitors of the microwave bands called out, "Capital ship, bearing 265, speed 24 knots."

"At ease!" The quasi-Admiral was on the bridge again.

"My friends are here. We will have a ceremony at dawn."

[Jacobus Loki]

The Captain and the XO of the Kaiser Mors V joined the captains of the airships Imperator, Cognito, and Lac Glacei on the deck of the mystery ship.

She was a ship of approx 300 meters in length, with a large flat area of deck. Lord Jake was capering around like a calf in the spring.

Across the deck came a short stout figure in a plain white uniform. His hat, sea blue and plumed, made up in its intricate design for the simplicity of his tunic.

Jake broke into a grin and the two men grabbed each other in a bear hug.

"Still with the hats, eh?"

"If you've got it, flaunt it."

Turning to the contingent of the task force, Jake opened his arms wide.

"Gentlemen, I present to you Vincent Montjoy, the commander of this vessel."

[Jacobus Loki]

The officer's began a tour of the vessel, lead by Mountjoy.

"This is an Enterprise-class atomic powered aircraft carrier, built from original blueprints, and then upgraded with DSSI technology. It also has limited NETT backup power, with electrostatic protection, and a compliment of Balgurd-class cruise missiles."

"What is the name?" Asked Capitian Antares of the Cognito.

"The vessel is currently unnamed. I'll give you to Jake for that."

"Then let us go to the bow. I want to tell everyone at once."

They didn't take long to climb to the bow of the ship, where ship-wide audio/video was complimented by cameras from the Kildari all-news network.

Dusting off his braid, the now ebullient Lord Jake jumped in front of the camera.

"Officers and sailors, my fellow Kildarians and Shirithians! I present this vessel in service to the nation. A few minutes ago, I was asked what the name of this ship was."

"At this minute, it formally has none. Our history provides many examples that would serve. However the current crises that we find ourselves surrounded with requires us remember where we come from, and where we are destined."

He turned to Mountjoy."I see you have assembled the crew on the flight deck. Please lead them in the Oath of Allegiance to Kildare."

Slowly at first, the mostly Yardistani crew repeated after their captain,

"I, Vincent Montjoy, being sound in mind and pure in heart, do swear my allegiance to House Kildare in front of the Seanad and (many deities were mentioned). I do swear the following:
- I swear allegiance to the Imperial Republic of Shireroth, for Kildarians shall always be Shirithian.
- I swear allegiance to House Kildare, my brothers and sisters in the sacred trust of governing Kildare, for a Kildarian is always loyal to ones noble peers.
- I swear allegiance to the Dutch of House Kildare, to follow him when he leads wisely, and advise him when he has clouded judgement, for even Dutches are not gods.
- I swear to always protect the inhabitants of Kildare and seek their wellbeing, for it is for their purpose that House Kildare serves.
- I swear to uphold the noble traditions of Kildare, in history, war, magic and economics, because a Kildarian should always conduct oneself as befits a Kildarian.
- I swear to uphold the Apollonian Doctrine, and help restore official control of all Shirithian holdings on Apollonia to House Kildare by any means necessary save:
* secession from Shireroth
* the damnation of our eternal souls
* those sins that History cannot absolve us from
for the leaders and inhabitants of Kildare share the bond of history which transcends all lesser ties.
- I swear to protect the Time Crystals and keep the binding, for that is the duty of the Kildarian nobillity.
- I swear to never stay the Time Revisionists from their sacred duty, for history must be upheld.

I shall do all that I have sworn for as long as I shall remain in House Kildare; and may Sakat be generous when he records my mighty deeds."

Hats flew into the air, and cheers could be heard from all the vessels of the task force.

[Jacobus Loki]

"And now for the naming of this vessel!" the Admiral's voice seemed to grow in clarity as he continued.

"As she serves Shireroth, Kildare, and Freedom, her name should reflect this. Freedom is often seen as light, a light that illuminates and drives back the darkness of evil and oppression. Lady Lumina is light. We must also be able to defend ourselves when adversaries become enemies and come to take our land or our freedom from us, so we must be able to stop and repulse enemies with irresistible force.

The strongest natural light is lightning, which can come from the skies without warning and bring devastation in less than the blink of an eye! Therefore, " he took a Jeroboam of champagne from a waiting officer and tied it to a lanyard, "I name this ship the Lumina's Lightning!"

He swung the bottle off of the bow, which smashed resolutely against the side of the ship.

"Captains, set a course for the Raynor Isles! I want to have breakfast in Libertopia!"

(ed. for typo)

[Jonas]

A great name choice! You will surely have the support of the Gods!

[Jacobus Loki]

(Bows)

[Harvey Steffke]

["I name this ship the Lumina's Lighniting!"

The crew mumbles. "Did he say Lighniting? What the heck is a Lighniting?" one asked. "Kind of awkward..." another murmured.

[Jacobus Loki]

(thanks, before that became nailed down)

Orders from the bridge came quickly to run all of Jake's pronouncements through spellcheck. 10 liters of extra paint followed shortly thereafter.

[Jonas]

Like I said: Lumina is with Jake's fleet and watching towards them from the Kildarian cliffs!

[Aurangzeb Khan]

Forty Nautical Miles Due West of Tymaria City

05:34 local time – Dawn

+++Jahandar Class Cruisers the al-Manar, Georgetown & Tulion II (5,730pts total) proceeding on a north-westerly heading towards the Raynor Isles+++

Rustam Billal the XO of the al-Manar rubbed his eyes groggily as the first rays of the sun harrowed the harsh and martial silhouette of the three ex-service Babkhan cruisers. “Dawn is upon us Sahib. What flag shall we raise today?”

Nodding slightly as he roused himself from a half-dosing reverie, Rakesh Ibrahim, the balding, bearded and plump commanding officer of that same vessel, cast aside – reluctantly – thoughts of cavorting harem girls in order to ponder the question. It was an unusually loaded one for the three ships, over which he exercised an uncertain command as the elected commodore – elected by virtue of his predecessor mysteriously pitching overboard in the middle of the night – were as it happened presently between contracts.

With the effective mothballing of the Imperial Babkhan Navy its surviving vessels had scattered to the four winds. Some, abandoned in port, had been picked over by the engineers of Ashkenatza and Antica; a few had even been brought back into service by them. Others, the majority, had fled towards the calmer waters off the isles of Socotra, away from the epidemic of piracy in the Dyre Straits which reach both its zenith and its terminus in the Mahoz Insurgency at the beginning of the year.

Others like the al-Manar had slipped their moorings and gone into private ownership by certain self-ordained mechanisms of doubtful legitimacy. The capital costs of running a warship are by no means inconsiderable but the work was there to be had for the undiscerning, and Rakesh’s predecessor had been the most undiscerning of a very choice bunch of characters. Cruising regularly between Cape Rackham and Bushehr the Babkhan warships had, as independent contractors, undertaken commissions from both the Old Man of the Mountain and the Naval Planners of the Yabotinsky Fortress to sink the vessels of their respective opponents. This in effect granted them a liberal licence to blast out of the water pretty much everything they encountered, whilst carefully avoiding the capital ships of those powers with a less indulgent attitude towards piracy. But when a ship has been blasted to kindling who can say with any degree of certainty what has gone on before hand or whether indeed the cargo hold has been stripped clean of any viable plunder.

Now however they were between contracts, which effectively made them free-lance.

“Run up the flag of Gotzborg – that should confuse whoever we encounter for at least a good half-hour.”

“Bale, Agha Sahib – it shall be done.”

Belowing some dreadful curses into the intercom Rustam relayed the instructions of his commander, who had at that moment taken to scratching his crotch in a manner that caused even some of the seasoned hands on the bridge to turn away in evident disgust.

But even his hand was stilled when comms relayed an encrypted message from the Ops Room to the Bridge. It was an old IBN code and the XO studying it at his panel decrypted it within a few minutes with the help of an old cipher wheel and some doodling on a note pad.

And then he smiled.

“Excellent news Sahib! The Khan of Vijayanagara offers to wire fifty-four million shekels to an account of our choosing in return for carrying out a contract.”

Rakesh smiled wolfishly, as was the want of his race when confronted with opportunities for avarice.

“And what is the nature of this generous contract?”

“Oh it is but a trifle. We are to sink the Kaiser Mors V.”

Rakesh’s chubby malevolent face seemingly lost its form as he tugged at his beard and dissolved into peals of uproarious laughter.

“By Zurvan! What a prospect it is to at last be given a chance to slaughter infidels of some worth. Babkha Zindabad!”

“Babkha Zindabad!” replied the XO with some gusto. It was a cry that was taken up by all those standing on the bridge and in no time at all it reverberated throughout the ship.

[Jacobus Loki]

"You intercepted WHAT!" Captain Montjoy dropped his teacup into the saucer. Nearly spilled some. 'Twould be a pity to send this jacket to the cleaners before tomorrow.

"Sir, I said I have a coded - an old code - message inviting pirates to come and sink the KMV."

The Captain cocked an eye.

"Pirates."

"That's right, sir."

"Then wake up the bloody pirate that commandeered my quarters, pour some raktajino down his throat. We need our own pirate functioning."

"Your mean....?"

"Yes, the bloody fool in the admirals uniform. Look alive, man!"

"Aye, sir!"

"Then double the CAP over the KMV. Get the dirigibles headed to co-ordinate Alpha. Alert the missile batteries at Biotopia and Libertopia. Try to get through to MoMA, who whoever is bloody well in charge in Shirekeep. And wake up Capitian Whoosis on the KMV. It's hsi bloody ship that they are planning on sinking, not mine!"

"And, Sir?" the commander looked hopeful.

"Err, yes, turn on the NETT units, 3/4 gain. AND TURN OFF ALL OF THE EXTERIOR LIGHTS ON the BLASTED FLEET!"

[Jacobus Loki]

"Bloody fool in the Admiral's uniform, eh?" The admiral seemed in possession of his faculties, although his hair was mussed.

Captain Montjoy didn't pause for a minute. "Read this. I'm in your navy for twelve hours, and now we've got pirates on bloody cruisers."

"Where does it say "cruisers"?"

"On this recon photo."

"Oh, but those are Gotzborg flags. Old, threadbare Gotzborg fla............oh."

"Lieutenant, give me my gray case, please." The lieutenant obliged.

Jake opened the case and remove an aged satphone. He spun the crank on the side.

"Sadie? Jake. Fine. Oh, the party was great. Sadie--Sadie listen to me. Can you contact Agent W? Uhuh. Agent X? Until Thursday. Agent Y? Great. Yeah, Plan A to Agent Y. OK. Yeah. Uhuh. Later."

"Vince, I've got a special job for you........."

[Jacobus Loki]

Captain Montjoy was not comfortable at all in his flight suit. No hat, no gloves, and tea that tasted of rust. He didn't believe in talking to pirates, he believed in sinking them, before they sank you, preferably.

But flying to his doom in a museum piece of a heli that could double as his coffin, that made sense. 'I should have tried harder for my great-uncle's throne instead of listening to that demagogue', he thought to himself. 'Come to Shireroth, you can make a name for yourself.'

Bah. Fortune sunk (bad choice of words) into a ship the size of a small town. And now flying off with a message from a man he couldn't decide if he admired, loathed, or wanted to have committed to an asylum.

"Signal coming through from the al-Manar, Sir." The ensign at the radio looked ill.

"Out with it man!"

"It sounds like......"

Montjoy nearly broke a blood vessel in his forehead.

"Like laughter, sir.......and not the pleasant kind. I stood in the same auditorium as Malarbor once, sir."

"And?"

"It sounds sort of like that............"

[Jacobus Loki]

Nothing had been heard from Montjoy for sometime. That was not a major concern, for his mission was delicate and would take time. Or he was dead. Hoped he wasn't dead. Really. after re-inforcing Montjoy's orders, the Admiral had left Commander Yitzhak O'Keefe in charge of the Lightning, and returned to the KMV.

"Send to the fleet. Set course for Station Chatham, Plan Ikol Seven, best possible speed."

[Jacobus Loki]

The Chatham outpost had provided a band and a welcoming buffet, but only the Shirithian and Kildari Anthems were played, and the officers of the KMV stuffed their pockets with the local olives, and had one ouzo each.

Lord Jake remembered delivering a patriotic message, for once he didn't talk too long. The longest, and most dangerous (diplomatically) stretch of the trip lay before them.

A message (of sorts) had come through from Montjoy. Not much could be made out, but it sounded like a drunken revel. At least he was alive. The hangover might kill him later, though.

Jake smiled.

"Send to the fleet. Keep as close as possible to the center of all channels. Avoid even the appearance of entering anyone's territorial waters. Best possible speed to Sakatra."

"Oh, and tell Commander O'Keefe to ready my plane. I'm going on ahead. I've family to meet."

[Jacobus Loki]

How many trips had he made in this plane, for how many years? His own memory boggled at the thought.

The fresh Kildari color scheme made it look almost new. The twin Pratt and Whitney engines still carried some of the load, but enhancements made by DSSI technicians (when? Ye gods!) and some tricks he'd added in Maraguo helped improve performance considerably.

But the sound of the R-2000 engines still put him in a meditative state.

He thought he'd begun the trip to show the flag, and to let the Melangians (and the people of Gong Li, the Raynors and the Norfolkians) know that Kildare and Shireroth still cared. Now he was flying into a diplomatic coleslaw.

He slept.

(See Melangia)