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dogobar-blog · 6 years ago
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The Exiles at Sea
Hey! This is a fanfic based on @wirelessshiba​‘s mercenary girls! This one is a prelude to the foundation of A.I.M. I may have taken too many creative liberties but I hope you enjoy it. I’m currently working on a follow up that introduces Leah and Gabby and explores how CLAW came into power. I’d like to eventually write stories for all the mousenaries so please stay tuned!
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Ela sipped on a mug of dark coffee as she stared out at the black sea. Official regulations prohibited food and drink inside the bridge, but these days rules were more akin to suggestions for the crew of The Supernova. After all, she reasoned, a rebel organization couldn't survive long without bending the rules from time to time. Her task for today however, was to oversee an operation that would lean more on the illegal side, even in the old world order. As the commander of the last remaining cruiser in the original U.S. Pacific Fleet, it was her duty to protect the nuclear powered aircraft carrier known as The Heart's Content. She was her one and only companion in this vast ocean they'd been stranded in since the CLAW takeover. And she was in desperate need of fuel. Her 25 years of expected service had lasted 40 with only minimal maintenance and a partial refueling.
Docking and bribing workers to look the other way may have worked last decade when The Supernova had to restock her own fuel rods, but security and surveillance had since been beefed up in ports around the globe. Their supply chain was restricted and getting close to land was a death sentence, so the only option now was to resort to piracy on the high seas.
The starry sky transitioned into a solid dark blue, much like the color of Ela's uniform, and the sun began to peek over the horizon. She warmed her hands on the side of her mug as she watched for ships. The icebreaker they were targeting should come into visual range any moment now. Maybe it was just the cold, but Ela had a bad feeling about this mission. Her reflection in the window scowled back at her as she went over everything that could go wrong for the hundredth time. She was confident in her soldiers' ability to carry out the operation, but she couldn't shake the feeling there was some detail she'd missed that could jeopardize the whole thing. They weren't being followed, the target was confirmed to be unarmed, and the simulations went well... What, then?
"Zvezda spotted at one o'clock."
Ela's thoughts were interrupted by the voice of the navigator to her left. Sure enough, the red and black hull was just barely visible in the distance.
"Right on time. Lower speed and maintain course."
The mouse sat in her commander chair, eyes locked on the atomic icebreaker. It was one of the few civilian ships to use the same fuel that powered her fleet's turbines.
"This better be worth it," she thought to herself. It had taken over a year to set everything up just for this moment.
Two helicopters passed overhead on the starboard side. Ela grabbed a radio and hailed one of the pilots.
"This is Ela Novabay from The Supernova. You're early."
There was a pause before she received a response.
"We were eager to get this over with."
Typical pilot wisecrack. If only they could see Ela's expression, they'd know how serious she was.
"...Roger that. Let the troops know I'll be watching over them. Oh and no casualties."
"Affirmative, ma'am."
That was the only part from the briefing she felt the need to repeat. Thievery, they could get away with. But murder? It would spark an international incident and have the whole world gunning for them. Everyone involved in this mission knew their own lives were expendable but under no circumstances were any civilians allowed to die.
Ela sat back as the choppers circled around to the back of The Zvezda and tried to match its speed. Ropes carrying the handpicked operatives descended onto the deck. They were to first secure the ship by capturing the 62 crew on board, then make space for one of the helicopters to land and offload the engineers in charge of extracting and transporting the fuel. Before long, a flare shot into the sky and a voice with a thick Russian accent came through the radio.
"This is the civilian vessel Zvezda! We are currently under attack! Armed hostiles have boarded the ship! Please send help immediately!"
Ela smiled. She loved when things went according to plan. She picked up the radio and sent a low power transmission.
"The is Ela Novabay, commander of The Supernova. We recommend you surrender and comply with the demands of your invaders. Over."
The Russian voice responded, much angrier this time.
"You've got to be kidding!"
The navigator next to Ela couldn't help but giggle at their predicament. The commander allowed herself to relax a little, knowing the mission was proceeding smoothly and that they would be long gone before a rescue ship arrived.
Suddenly there was a commotion coming from the radio. Grunting, sounds of a struggle, and finally a gunshot. Ela immediately sat back up and pushed the transmit button.
"Alpha team, come in! What the hell is going on?"
It took several minutes for a response to come through.
"Alpha Two here. We had a situation but it's clear now."
"What kind of situation?" Ela asked through gritted teeth.
"The captain was carrying a pistol, ma'am. He shot at Alpha One but her vest negated the damage. We've captured the bridge and confiscated all known weapons."
Ela sighed.
"Roger that. Be more careful."
"Yes, ma'am."
The radios were silent for a while, giving Ela a chance to regain her composure.
"Just a minor mishap. Nothing to worry about," she thought to herself.
When the strike teams finished their work, Bravo reported in.
"Bravo One here. The crew has successfully been subdued. We've loaded them onto the lifeboats and sent them on their way."
"No casualties?"
"No casualties."
"Good. Commence the next phase. The Heart's Content will be there shortly."
The carrier had been lagging behind due to limited power but it had caught up to The Supernova by this point. The bridge could see some of its inhabitants waving to them as they passed by. Ela gave a casual salute before going back to watching one of the helicopters land on The Zvezda.
"Bravo Three reporting. Engineers are on board. Escorting them to the reactor now."
"Roger. Proceed as planned."
There were several difficulties in transplanting nuclear fuel from one ship to another, as they had learned during practice trials moving fuel rods from The Supernova to The Heart's Content. For one thing, there is no "off switch" for radioactive material. Normal procedure is to store spent fuel underwater for a decade before it was cool enough for transport, but the engineering team had no such luxury. Special extraction tools and containers had to be procured, which came at a great cost. Ultimately a deal was worked out which involved trading the last of their fighter jets, much to the dismay of the pilots. The Heart's Content had been selling its aircraft in exchange for food and supplies for years and now it was down to a handful of helicopters.
"All this for five years worth of fuel, tops," Ela muttered to herself.
The carrier pulled up beside The Zvezda while the engineers tinkered with the reactor. They had a bit of trouble thanks to the unfamiliar Soviet design but it was nothing they couldn't figure out. In relatively short order they managed to shut it down, cut it open, and begin transferring the rods into concrete containers to be airlifted out by helicopters. The deck of The Heart's Content was kept free of all non-essential personnel during this time for safety. Ela watched intently as the first fuel rods were carried over and carefully lowered into their new home through a hole on the deck. Typically, a ship like this would be taken apart in sections at a dry dock for a refueling and complex overhaul that could take over 36 months to complete, but Ela's comrades were under a strict time limit. A few hours was all they could afford, and accidents were most prone when workers were being rushed.
Without warning, an explosion rocked The Zvezda. A cloud of smoke came rising from the deck, obscuring the vision of the helicopter pilot who was directly above as he lifted a batch of fuel.
"Engineering team, report!"
"A fire broke out on deck! I don't know what- Hey wait, don't move that yet! It's not secure!" a panicked voice said over the radio, muffled by others' shouts and noise from the choppers.
A nightmare unfolded before Ela's eyes as flames shot into the air and a helicopter dropped an open canister of fuel rods onto the deck as it pulled away. Everything that happened after that was a blur. Those involved would rather not remember it anyway.
**********
A month after the botched refueling operation, Ela Novabay announced that The Heart’s Content had sunk in the resulting chaos. In the wake of failing their duty to protect the supercarrier, the crew of The Supernova finally surrendered to CLAW after 23 continuous years of unauthorized naval activity. The last bastion of freedom left in the world had been snuffed out. If ever there was a time for an organized resistance to rise up from the ashes and take on the tyrannical superpower, it would be now.
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