Ark Queen

Location: Hibrass ocean (edge of the controlled region)

“Attention on deck”, the lutentiant called out as Adrian Burk- the youngest Naval Commander in history of Atlantis walked onto the bridge. Those who knew him well, also knew not to fall for his soft blond hair, dense blue eyes and muscular young face. He excelled in all fields of warfare and was a true Atlantean patriot, who could go to any extent if the safety of his homeland or crew were ever threatened. Yet he was still to make a mark- one that would guarantee him a place in the Atlantean Hall of Legends.

His ship, Ark Queen was a masterpiece just as powerful as it was beautiful, built at the docks of Notraade- commissioned just four years ago. Her motto was, ‘Pride of the Navy’. Ark Queen was one of the most advanced pieces of machinery this world had ever seen and could accommodate four-hundred highly trained Atleantean soldiers. The ship had an impressive stock of firepower with two arm launchers, a five-by-five arrangement of vertical launchers and two pairs of box launchers carrying some of the most destructive missiles ever created. There were dozens of torpedoes, hyperpedos, mini-torpedos, a fifteen inch plasma cannon, automated and manual eighty calibre machine guns, and an almost impenetrable close-in weapon system which could defend against missiles as well as spray bullets on close range enemy ships and scare off small boats. The cruiser carried with itself a Multi-role attack shuttle, and three full strike attack helicopters. She had a fully equipped armory and a boat load of other deadly and highly destructive weapons at her disposal. Fitted with the best ranging devices and detectors till date and a blistering maximum speed of sixty knots. The defensive mechanism was just as admirable with torpedo killers, aircraft killer missiles, ship to ship missiles, chaff and the famous newly developed killer X generation multi-role Vulture missile bombarders.

The most valuable asset to the Ark Queen was its ability to carry out stealth attacks with complete precision even in the stormiest weathers. Ark Queen was the only of its kind, Wandoz class submersible battle cruiser that came with eight submersible tanks that could submerge the ship completely under water for an hour and ninety percent for almost eight hours- the special silver paint applied on it- made it virtually impossible to locate using most of the RADARs with a few exceptions- under normal circumstances their enemies never knew what knew what hit them, that was unless commander Adrian decided to put up a show. Adrian knew he was in control of one of the most powerful machines ever created, that could take down ships almost four-five times its size. There were only a handful of other ships that could match the mighty Atlantean battle cruiser and most of them belonged to the Atlantean navy itself at least that was what they thought.

Adrian Burk, saluted the soldiers on the deck.

“Commander Burk”

“Captain Zepherine”, he replied, “I understand that you have been informed about our recent discoveries”.

“Absolutely Commander, it is nothing short of a miracle”.

Adrian nodded grimly, “It shouldn’t have been so easy captain- I have a gut feeling. Something- I don’t know what, but something is wrong”.

Zepherine looked carefully at her commander, like her commander-in-charge she had also made her place in history by being the youngest- second in command. She was known to take swift and effective decisions on the spot and could even take up important decisions in case her commander in charge was not available- she relied heavily on strength and could muster up an impressive display of fire power, both with and without the ship. The two of them together had struck up a lethal partnership since the very first day, “Commander- I understand your reservation but if you look back, it has not been very easy for us to get here. Four years, ever since this ship has been commissioned- we have been hunting down Morret and his pirate fleet. What was once a deadly and feared fleet of forty-three ships has now been reduced to just four ships, by the hands of the mighty Ark Queen”.

“I know Zepherine”, Commander Adrian said, “the only reason Morret had managed to take control of the seas for almost twenty years is- unlike other pirates he is clever. I agree it has not been so easy to get here- but after the showdown two weeks ago, where we sunk three of his ships and annihilated the entire crew. He should have been at the other end of the world by now. Not sprawling barely what? -Twenty-seven miles from us, it is as if he wants us to find him”.

“Maybe he expected us to hunt for him somewhere else- luck does play a role, even in the navy”, Zepherine said softly.

“Morret is many things- but he is not stupid. It is something too big to be a coincidence”, Commander Adrian said.

“That doesn’t change anything captain, we still have to check it out”, Zepherine pointed out.

“Yes- we have to but I want my machine gun and plasma cannons loaded and ready to fire on command. Under no circumstances should we be taken by surprise”.

“Commander”, A lieutenant interrupted, “We have, Tactical Action Officer on-line”, he said, holding the receiver.

“TAO, this is commander Burk, what is it?- over”, Adrian said, holding the receiver.

“Sir”, the other voice said, “ we have something you might want to see- over”.

“I am coming, stay put”, he spoke into the receiver and set it down.

He turned to look at Zepherine, “I will be in the CIC, keep me informed”.

“Absolutely Commander”, Zepherine said.

Commander Adrian walked out of the Bridge, to the lower deck. The door of the Central Information Centre opened and commander Adrian walked in. It was a rectangular room with dull blue lighting- filled with Technicians and soldiers sitting in rows, in blue uniforms wearing headsets, glued to their computers and plasma screens. It was the brain of the ship.

TAO Jake Winkle saw his commander enter, “over here commander”, he called out.

“What is the status of our UAB”, Adrian asked, walking up to him.

“Sir Unmanned Aerial Bomber is locked onto the targets sir, follow me please”.

Adrian nodded at the TAO, and followed him through- to the other end of the room, where a young man was seated in front of a plasma screen with his hand on a joy-stick. He looked up at his senior captains and nodded.

“Tom could you explain to the captain what you just saw”, TAO Jake told the young man.

“Surely sir”, the UAB controller said enthusiastically. He glanced at his commander respectfully and pointed on the screen, Adrian could see the endless ocean on the screen, “this is the view from our UAB- in the centre you can see Morret’s ships”. Adrian squinted at the screen where the boy was pointing, “could you zoom the image”, he said.

“Oh, sorry Commander- absolutely”, the man rolled a few knobs on the desk and slided a few levers- the image zoomed, “So as I was saying- these are Morret’s ships”, he said placing his finger on the screen”.

“-There are only three of them”, Adrian said carefully, his powerful mind began calculating all possibilities, “where is the fourth?”

“Exactly commander- the fourth ship is missing”, the technician said.

“Do we have accurate locations of the ships?”, Adrian asked, looking at the TAO.

“We have them in our Micro Force Field Detector, but accurate positions will be acquired only when the ships enter RADAR range”.

Adrian called another technician, “I want data on all Morret’s ships which we have sunk”, he explained, “match them with the original data- find out which ship is missing”.

“Aye sir”, the soldier saluted and set to work on his screen.

Adrian straightened up, “I want spy RADAR on full power, search the seas, find the fourth ship. It cannot be very far”.

“Sir”, the TAO began, “in case the fourth ship has a military RADAR they will be able to see us too, on their screen”.

“You know what is worse than seeing an enemy ship?”, Adrian asked his TAO.

“No sir”, the TAO replied confused.

“Not seeing one”, Adrian said casually.

“Sir”, the technician called out, “I have matched the data, like you told me- and bham! Sir the fourth ship is a Missile launcher, R-class sir- old Atlantean warship, they must have found it in the scraps. Threat evaluation- five percent sir”.

“I bet that thing is waiting out there”, Adrian said furiously. He looked at his RADAR technician, “Set spy RADAR on full power, find where that ship is- note down the coordinates and shut the RADAR down”.

“Aye sir”, the soldier said, clicking a few buttons, “setting spy RADAR to full power in 3 . . 2 . . 1”, she pulled a few levers on the control board and spoke again in a few seconds, “ spy RADAR active and kicking on full power sir”.

“Good”,

‘Ping’, “Sir we have an accurate location of all four ships”, the RADAR technician called out. “The fourth ship is north-northeast -end of RADAR range sir”, she said.

“Shut down, spy RADAR”, Adrian thundered.

“Shutting down active spy radar- initiating passive mode, aye sir”, the technician responded.

“Do you think they saw us?”

“Don’t know sir”

Adrian’s mind was furiously looking for an explanation, Morret could not have made a mistake- he definitely wanted them to see the missile launcher. But why?

“Commander”, the RADAR technician shrieked, “ships are turning towards us- two of them, the third one is going ahead”.

Adrian paced to the plasma screen, “What is happening”, muttered, for the first time ever- he had no clue what his enemy was upto. What could two fishing boats do against a full powered Wandoz class Battle Cruiser that could take them out from a thousand clicks away? And more importantly what game was Morret playing?

“Sir”, Radar technician said, “ship four is now out of RADAR range, it has moved away- I repeat ship has moved away”.

Adrian shook his head, in frustration, “We found Morret . . .”, he spoke to himself, “out of nowhere . . .then we spotted three of his ships two hundred miles away . . . the fourth ship which is an R-class missile launcher was at the end of our RADAR, waiting for us to see it and then it vanishes as soon as we do. . . but why? What is Morret trying to do?”.

“Sir”, the TAO interrupted his thought process, “if I were Morret, I would be on the fourth ship. Since it is a missile launcher, I would feel safer there”.

Adrian nodded at him, half believing him- but in his four years of experience he had learned quite a few things, “Morret is playing a game”, he said softly.

“Sir”, the RADAR technician interrupted again, “The two ships are changing direction again and coming at us diagonally- as if protecting the missile launcher”.

“Sir, Morret has to be in the missile launcher”, the TAO said quickly.

“No”, Adrian said firmly, “Morret is in that ship”, he said pointing at the screen, “the third fishing boat that is going ahead. He wants us to believe he is in the missile launcher”.

“But sir”, the TAO argued, “no one would take such a big risk”.

“Morret would”, Adrian said, eyeing the TAO, “and looking at you, it seems it is working”.

“Sorry sir”, the TAO said apologetically. Even though Jake was relatively new on the ship, he had heard enough tales of commander Adrian's sharp mind.

“If we go after the third ship . . . what could happen?”Adrian voiced his thoughts, “the missile launcher is out of our RADAR range, so it is practically impossible that they have us in theirs. .”.

“The fishing boats coming at us”, the TAO prompted, “surely Morret knows those fishing boats don’t stand a chance.

“Yes”, Adrian said, “that is it- Morret is using the fishing boats as a bait- which will send our location to the Missile launcher- there is no way they wouldn’t have set up communication between the ships”.

“What does it mean sir?”, the TAO asked.

“It means”, Adrian started, “They know where we are-”.

“-And they can fire as us whenever they want”, the TAO completed.

“Yes”, he said grimly.

“How can we be sure sir?”, the TAO asked.

Adrian glanced at the TAO, and picked up the intercom, “Bridge- this is your captain. Take us to the third boat- use full engine power, now- over”.

“Aye sir- changing course to 1-5-11- over”.

“What do you have in mind sir” the TAO asked, confused.

Adrian faced the TAO, “if Morret is in the third fishing boat- the missile launcher will surely try to prevent us from following it”. Adrian kept glancing at his watch every few seconds- exactly one minute later he picked up the intercom again, “full engine halt”, he commanded.

“Aye sir, full engine halt-over”, the helmsman responded as he pulled down the levers.

“RADAR”, Adrian said, looking at the technician, “what do you see?”.

For a few seconds nothing happened- then all of a sudden the emergency alarm began wailing all over the ship. The RADAR technician had to double check the screen- a look of terror crept up her face, “vampire, vampire, vampire”, she yelled. “Two missiles inbound sir- DogStrike class, fired from the missile launcher- heading straight for us, bearing 1.616972 degrees north and 86.029854 degrees west- forty-five seconds to impact, sir”.

“Set general quarters”, Adrian said- with a tone of urgency in his voice.

The TAO nodded and picked up the microphone- the speakers in the ship boomed to life, “GENERAL QUARTERS, GENERAL QUARTERS- ALL HANDS MAN YOUR BATTLE STATIONS- WE ARE UNDER ATTACK. I REPEAT- GENERAL QUARTERS, GENERAL QUARTERS- ALL HANDS MAN YOUR BATTLE STATIONS- WE ARE UNDER ATTACK, THIS IS NOT A DRILL”.

Technicians bustled around the ship as engineers and controllers took their positions.

“Roll in the Vulture missile bombarders”, Adrian ordered.

“Aye sir”, the missile technician replied as he got working on his device, “Vulture missile bombarders green sir”.

“Kill tracks- release batteries now”, the captain said quickly.

“Aye sir”, the missile technician pressed a few buttons on his device, “batteries release- killer missiles away sir”.

On the front deck two hatches of the vertical launchers popped open and the vulture kill birds blasted into the air.

Adrian took the microphone from his TAO, “ALL HANDS BRACE FOR POSSIBLE IMPACT, I REPEAT ALL HANDS BRACE FOR POSSIBLE IMPACT”, he shouted into the microphone. Even though he and almost every person on the ship knew- the vulture missiles would shoot down the much less advanced missiles from the missile launcher long before they would hit the ship. Yet, ship protocols had to be followed and all the soldiers held onto their desks or anything fixed around them.

There was a soft boom, “target report?”, Adrian enquired.

“The RADAR technician grunted and came back to position, “immediate threat neutralised sir- I repeat inbound hostile missiles have been destroyed”.

“Teren”, Adrian said.

“Yes sir”, one of the technician’s at the other end of the CIC responded enthusiastically.

“Load the fifteen inch”

“Aye, sir loading fifteen inch plasma cannon sir . . .”, the technician replied, “ . . .process complete sir, plasma cannon ready to fire”.

On the front deck, in front of the bridge a huge fifteen inch turret hummed to life.

“Take aim on target Charlie”, Adrian ordered.

“Target set sir”

“Fire”

There was a loud blast as the shot hit one of the two fishing boats, “fire again”, Adrian ordered.

There was another boom, as the fishing boat exploded into flames.

“Sir”, the RADAR technician said urgently, “Target Tiger is turning back- I repeat target Tiger is trying to get away”.

“Where can it go”, Adrian mumbled to himself letting out a soft chuckle and turned to face his crew, “let's show these filthy pirates- the power of the Atlantean navy. Arm the Stingrays- it is time to put up a show”.

“Aye sir”, the missile technician said grinning, “Stingrays loaded and ready to boom, sir”.

“What are you waiting for then? unleash the power”, Adrian ordered.

On the front deck, the two arm launchers whizzed to life and slim stingray missiles stored below the decks climbed up the tubes, into the launcher. There was a soft sound as almost half a dozen missiles generated thrust, and then they fired with mild booms.

“Target report?”, Adrian asked the technician.

“It is a direct hit captain”, the technician responded.

“SONAR, are you picking up anything?”.

A young soldier wearing headsets clutched the ear-pieces tightly to hear, “I am picking up detonations sir”, he said and then spoke again after a few seconds, “so sign of further movements- confirmed-both targets have been completely destroyed, no survivors whatsoever”.

The soldiers around the room hooted and some let out soft yelps in celebration, as two more pirate ships fell against the mighty Ark Queen.

“Our work isn’t done yet”, Adrian said reminding the soldiers, who shuffled back into position. “I want all three attack helicopters in the air”, Adrian ordered, “initiate the process for airstrike- the missile launcher is blinded, but it still has weapons”.

The TAO nodded and repeated the message in the receiver, “yes sir- Hawk, Sting and Blaze are warming up”.

“Good, I want my birds in the air as soon as possible, and keep the drone locked onto the third ship. As a precaution keep the shuttle, the machine-gun rigid inflatable boats and the second drone on standby”, Adrian said, “we hit them where it hurts the most”.

At the end of the ship. A thick metallic hanger door opened upwards and the three dark blue colored, deadly full attack helicopters loaded with missiles, Hawk, Sting and Blaze rolled onto the helipad and took off turn by turn.

“What do we do now commander?”, the TAO asked.

Adrian glanced at him and then picked up the intercom, “Bridge this is your captain, reset course towards the third fishing boat- all engines full flank ahead- over”.

“All engines full ahead, aye”, the helmsman responded.

Adrian put the receiver down, “Reload plasma cannon and ready automated computer controlled machine-guns. I want four gunners on the front deck with manually operated machine guns”, he paused for a while, “Prepare a holding cell- we are going to have a new customer”.

The eleventh generation mighty Atlantean battle cruiser sailed confidently into the open oceans. There was no need to be worried, they had enough weapons to tear down that ship a thousand times, if things went south. It wasn’t as if they were about to stumble onto one of the darkest secrets of the oceans that would change the very way they looked at the world. It was just another pirate ship, and surely they weren’t walking into a meticulously developed trap that could end with all of them dead, or were they?