Post by Capt. Mackenzie Wagner, RN on Mar 16, 2017 13:12:06 GMT -5
Leading the way outside through HMS Liverpool's maze of passageways, , Wagner paused for a moment at one of the ship's innumerable intercoms and pressed down on the ship-wide button. "All hands, this is the Captain speaking. We'll be sailing into Honolulu momentarily; excepting Operations, Bridge and Flight Deck personnel, all ship's hands will muster and man the rails." As the ship's company proceeded to head outside as well, Wagner opted not to change into either her Number 1 or Number 2 dress uniform, opting instead to remain in her Number 3 tropical service uniform; given the ship's imminent arrival in Oahu, there was no reason to do so...it doesn't mean we'll act like savages, she mused, taking up her position along the rails, for we're members of Her Majesty's Royal navy and we'll bloody well act like it.
Although it was dark outside, she could make out in the distance the silhouettes of the USS Missouri - almost invisible but lurking out there as a sentinel - the USS Arizona memorial, a reminder of the costs of war - and just ahead of Arizona, the USS Port Royal - another sentinel in the night. Watching as they passed by reminded Wagner of the Wales-Repulse Memorial outside of Her Majesty's Naval Base Stamford in Singapore Harbor, a remembrance of the lives lost aboard the battleship HMS Prince of Wales and the battlecruiser HMS Repulse, lost in battle not soon after Pearl Harbor in the Western Pacific. Above, she could faintly make out the running lights of multiple helicopters - the Americans with their arsenal, her ship's own two Westland Lynx helicopters and, by her estimate, at least one Russian helicopter. Its' getting to be like a major queue outside of Anfield on match days, Wagner thought.
Hearing the Corporal's message about their arrival aboard Missouri, Wagner nodded and said, "If you'll have your helicopter land on the flight deck, we'll be there to board in a few minutes." As they parted ways momentarily, she stepped back onto the bridge and gave orders to call away the ship's aerial cutter for departure - another way for her to say, "I need the ship's second-in-command and a small team of Royal Marines to meet me on the Flight Deck." Leaving the bridge, it only took her a few minutes to reach the Flight Deck, where waiting for her was the ship's 2IC and a four-person Royal Marine contingent; like her, the 2IC was also dressed in a Number 3 tropical service uniform, while the Royal Marines were dressed in their service working uniforms - green Lovat-color uniforms with beret perched on top of their heads, L82s at the ready. Watching the Blackhawk landing on the flight deck, Wagner motioned over towards it and said, "Alright, let's go, lads," and proceeded to board, making sure everyone was aboard before signaling to the crew chief that they were ready to go.....
...10 minutes later.....
Rushing over to the Blackhawk, they climbed on board and strapped themselves in. Rescue-1 began to rise into the air again as Rescue-2 lowered to the flight deck to pick up Commander Wagner and her escort team. Lindsay's Blackhawk would wait until Wagner's Blackhawk was up in the air with the Good commander was in it. The two choppers would turn towards the direction of where Reaper Squad and King Cobra Squad were hovering over the parking lot. Spacing apart from each other, the two Blackhawks lowered to the parking lot and unloaded the two teams. The pilots turned off the engines to conserve fuel. Stepping out, she could see the Russian's clear as day as the sun was starting to raise up in the east of the Pacific Ocean...
Stepping off the second Blackhawk, Commander Wagner could see that everyone else had arrived and that they were the last to show up; walking over to join the others, Wagner stood back, her eyes sharp as flint, as Corporal Blackthorn spoke to the Russians assembled before them.... "Admiral Churkin, it's a pleasure to finally meet you sir. I'm Corporal Lindsay Blackthorn. Leader of Fort Shafter. If you want, we can do the meeting here or on board the Missouri's Officer's Dinning Room." Raising a hand, she extended it towards the Churkin to see if he would shake her hand.
Although it was dark outside, she could make out in the distance the silhouettes of the USS Missouri - almost invisible but lurking out there as a sentinel - the USS Arizona memorial, a reminder of the costs of war - and just ahead of Arizona, the USS Port Royal - another sentinel in the night. Watching as they passed by reminded Wagner of the Wales-Repulse Memorial outside of Her Majesty's Naval Base Stamford in Singapore Harbor, a remembrance of the lives lost aboard the battleship HMS Prince of Wales and the battlecruiser HMS Repulse, lost in battle not soon after Pearl Harbor in the Western Pacific. Above, she could faintly make out the running lights of multiple helicopters - the Americans with their arsenal, her ship's own two Westland Lynx helicopters and, by her estimate, at least one Russian helicopter. Its' getting to be like a major queue outside of Anfield on match days, Wagner thought.
Hearing the Corporal's message about their arrival aboard Missouri, Wagner nodded and said, "If you'll have your helicopter land on the flight deck, we'll be there to board in a few minutes." As they parted ways momentarily, she stepped back onto the bridge and gave orders to call away the ship's aerial cutter for departure - another way for her to say, "I need the ship's second-in-command and a small team of Royal Marines to meet me on the Flight Deck." Leaving the bridge, it only took her a few minutes to reach the Flight Deck, where waiting for her was the ship's 2IC and a four-person Royal Marine contingent; like her, the 2IC was also dressed in a Number 3 tropical service uniform, while the Royal Marines were dressed in their service working uniforms - green Lovat-color uniforms with beret perched on top of their heads, L82s at the ready. Watching the Blackhawk landing on the flight deck, Wagner motioned over towards it and said, "Alright, let's go, lads," and proceeded to board, making sure everyone was aboard before signaling to the crew chief that they were ready to go.....
...10 minutes later.....
Rushing over to the Blackhawk, they climbed on board and strapped themselves in. Rescue-1 began to rise into the air again as Rescue-2 lowered to the flight deck to pick up Commander Wagner and her escort team. Lindsay's Blackhawk would wait until Wagner's Blackhawk was up in the air with the Good commander was in it. The two choppers would turn towards the direction of where Reaper Squad and King Cobra Squad were hovering over the parking lot. Spacing apart from each other, the two Blackhawks lowered to the parking lot and unloaded the two teams. The pilots turned off the engines to conserve fuel. Stepping out, she could see the Russian's clear as day as the sun was starting to raise up in the east of the Pacific Ocean...
Stepping off the second Blackhawk, Commander Wagner could see that everyone else had arrived and that they were the last to show up; walking over to join the others, Wagner stood back, her eyes sharp as flint, as Corporal Blackthorn spoke to the Russians assembled before them.... "Admiral Churkin, it's a pleasure to finally meet you sir. I'm Corporal Lindsay Blackthorn. Leader of Fort Shafter. If you want, we can do the meeting here or on board the Missouri's Officer's Dinning Room." Raising a hand, she extended it towards the Churkin to see if he would shake her hand.