"I'll be needing some ships..."

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The Duke hurried down the corridor carved out of rock. It was murder dressed in full YAC attire (or at least what he imagined what full YAC attire would be - something that looked like it belonged on the cover of Sgt Peppers). "Now," Benkern said to himself, "Am I meant to turn left here or right? I know I have to go straight on after that..." Unfortunately this seemingly endless maze of caverns was the only entrance to the M-SUMSSI (Mar Sara Undersea Mining and Seafloor Searching Initiative) HQ. The guard that had given him these directions would certainly regret not abandoning his post to lead his Duke through this ridiculous subterranean labyrinth, thought Benkern, or at the very least regret not giving half-decent directions. At times like these the ability to give good directions was very useful. And it was because of times like these that he was down here.

After a good quarter of an hour of retracing steps, making lucky guesses and when all else fails always bearing left, Benkern finally espied the dull silver door that he recognised from that ancient sketch. As it turned out this underground complex had been first designed hundreds of (ASC) years ago by one of the elder Dukes of Yardistan for the purpose of building the great Yardistani Navy. The idea was ingenious but simple: rather than take the time and money to build a Navy, a much more expensive and time-consuming project was undertaken to provide the Duchy with any ships of war whenever necessary. A system of tunnels was built into the hard rock of Mar Sara, at the bottom of which was an undersea harbour for unterseeboots and some boat-resconstruction laboratories. The submarines would find ships sunk by war or bad weather conditions and then drag them back to the harbour. The M-SUMSSI employees would then set about repairing the ships and renaming them very cleverly (e.g. adding a "II" to the end of their original name) so their original owners would be unable to reclaim them. A YAC official would then come along to annex all the ships officially and the Navy of Yardistan would set sail for honour and glory!... thing is, no one had been back from M-SUMSSI HQ in about 150 years. People had been sent down, sure - a morse code receiver on the surface was told whenever a new technician, sub operator or General Office Worker was needed due to the death of one of the employees, but they kept working until... uh... anyway.

After sliding his ID badge over the scanner a few times, the ancient technology reluctantly creaked and the door slowly slid open before Benkern. He surveyed the office before him. A receptionist was clearly hiding behind his desk. "Uh... I *can* see you, you know." The receptionist stood up glumly and said, "Hullo my Duke. How can the M-SUMSSI be of service to Yardistan today?" "There's a war. I'll be needing some ships..." The receptionist nodded and pressed a green button on his desk. A section of wall slid away and a PR woman came out of the hole. "Hello! I'm Amanda, I'll Be Your Guide To The M-SUMSSI HeadQuarters Today." "Uh, no, I don't want a guided tour. Just show me where my ships are at." "Of Course, Sir. Follow Me!" Amanda did a 180 on the spot and Benkern followed her to the main reconstruction harbour.

He found himself on a catwalk overlooking the harbour, in which were about a dozen ships, most of them looking nearly complete. A grey-haired science technician stereotype in a white coat shook the Duke's hand and said, "Welcome! We've got some fine ships rearing to go. About 150 year's worth of junk. We've got some great stuff - ranging from some nice newish Battleships to... well... follow me, I want you to see the pride of our collection." Benkern followed the technician into a separate area where all the ships were noticeably older but shinier. "What... what the hell is that?!" exclaimed Benkern, pointing in the direction of a huge, black ship with curved sides. "That's it!" said the technician with glee. "Found it quite a way up North. Looks like it might have been able to fly once. Some kind of anti-gravity technology. But there's... an issue." "An issue?" "Yes. This particular branch of anti-gravitational technology makes absolutely no sense. In any case we've modified it slightly, so now the Omen II is seaworthy." "Anything that looks more like an actual naval vessel?" "Yeah, there's this one we found due East of Matbaa City. We've redubbed it the Foxy Blur. Judging from the design we reckon it sunk in the year 2979." "Interesting. Now here is a document that may interest you." The Duke pulled a thing sheet of paper from his pocket and put in before the eyes of the scientist. "Hmm... Order of... Annexation? Does this mean what I think it means...?"

Benkern looked around and nodded slowly before saying, "Yeah, this'll do. Now, hit the big red button." The technician's head whipped around, his face full of terror. "Th-the big red one?" "Yeah, the big red one." "Ye-yes sir..." The technician used his left hand to cover his left ear while he, his eyes clamped shut, pressed the button with his right. All of a sudden the ground began to shake. A great tremor was felt throughout the facility and on the surface above. Suddenly the floor beneath the ships in the harbour began to slide away. One by one they fell into the sea, and were instantly carried at a blistering speed to the surface by an artificial current. On the water's surface, a deafening roar was heard as the waters of Mar Sara gave birth to the Navy of Yardistan.

Back in the M-SUMSSI HQ, Benkern, having heard the great sound come to an end, smiled and patted the technician on the shoulder. "Not all of these ships will return. Get back to your post, and find me more ships!" The technician saluted and said, "YESSIR! But don't forget this." A sheet of paper was expelled from an ancient printer and was forced into the Duke's hand. "It's a detailed list of the ships we've been restoring for you." Benkern nodded and turned to begin the long trip back to the surface. I've really got to install an express elevator in this place, he thought to himself.

That list is coming shortly.

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Code: Select all

Original Ships:
S.S. Inevitably Destructive In All Circumstances (Battleship)
YMS Kaiser Mors V ("Iowa"-class battleship)

Newly annexed ships:
YMS Omen II (Omen-Class Grav Ship modified for naval warfare)
YMS Foxy Blur (Killcruiser)
YMS Vanguard XI (Vanguard-Class Destroyer)
YMS Vanguard XII (Vanguard-Class Destroyer)
YMS Bangkirn (Benkern 45 Destroyer)
YMS Binkang (Benkern 45 Destroyer)

[Jacobus Loki]

Yardistan, the Gem of the Ocean.......

[Jess]

except Absentia

[Andreas the Wise]

You have an Omen Gravship? Awesome ...

May I suggest to the SDC that Mar Sara's proximity to the area in question would facilitate the easy deployment of many land troops?