Shorefall: A landing is a success if you survive

Moderator: [Jingdao] Guanchang

Post Reply
User avatar
Captain Poldark
Posts: 71
Joined: Sun Aug 16, 2015 9:02 pm

Shorefall: A landing is a success if you survive

Post by Captain Poldark »

The two escorting Holländer FZW 'raaf' fighter jets peeled away, one to the left and the other to the right as the seaplane 'D-CATO' approached the vast island of Gong from almost directly due east, cruising at a height of 1,500ft. Then turning gently towards the south-west it began a shallow descent that took it over the rugged shoreline and then the lush verdant foliage of steep terraced hillsides of a peninsular that jutted out into the Sea of Raynor. As the plane flew overhead, with a rattle and a clank audible above the thrumming roar of three prop-driven engines, the final auxiliary fuel tank emptied and was promptly jettisoned by the pilot seeking to conserve a favorable fuel to weight ratio on its final approach. The canister, about twice the length of a full-grown man arced and spun wildly upon release before plunging earthwards on its inertial trajectory. Somewhere, on a hilltop under the seaplanes flightpath, a wild goat munching on hyacinths with customary relish found itself startled and not a little concussed not long afterwards.

The seaplane eased up on its descent as it crossed the peninsular and continued onwards back out onto the ocean, with the coast of Gong to its starboard side. The two raaf fighters rejoined it, one above and behind with the other behind and below, both ideally placed to monitor the seaplane and ensure it continued to follow its approved path.

The crossed the shoreline once again passing over the southern promontory of the island as below on its port side the formal grid pattern and brutalist architecture of a city forged under the Wohnungsaußendekorationenversorgungsgesetz blossomed into view.

Passing back out to sea the seaplane now banked sharply to port to bring it round to fly in a south-easterly direction in parallel with the gentler sandy shores of a long open coastline with a bay nestling in a rocky outcrop at the far end. Slowly and gracefully it began its descent at first but then the starboard engine gave out and came to a spluttering stop, the propellers still turning only fitfully through the force of the air passing over the blades, then the pistons of the in-line engine above the fuselage came to a juddering halt and finally a trail of wispy-white smoke began to spout from the remaining port side engine as it strained under the weight of carrying the forward momentum of the entire aircraft alone. The aircraft began to list slightly to the right, the pilots frantically trying to keep the plane on an even keel.

The seaplane finally splashed into the waves with all the grace of a dead trout tossed back into the water. The starboard wing dipped perilously deep into the sea but before the seaplane could overturn a sharp bow-wave caught the plane knocking it upwards as it crested and permitted the stricken craft to right itself.

Not long afterwards, with the promptness of born of years of practice and a studied keenness to not be on board when bailing proved to be futile, an inflated yellow dingy was thrown-overboard and three men clambered out of a hatch in the upper fuselage and slid cautiously into it. Two of the men were seen to be paddling energetically with a pair of oars that seemed somehow inadequate to the task whilst the third appeared to be having a slightly less strenuous time supervising the activity.

As the dingy approached the nearest vessel to arrive on the scene, the third man picked up loudhailer that seemed a little to large for the cramped dingy they were in and called out
'Ahoy there! Is this Arvidsborg? Also, any chance of a tow for the little bird over there?' He said pointing towards the seaplane which once again seemed to be listing rather heavily in the water.
Walter Poldark
Captain-General of the Maritime Free Republic [Jingdao]
Reputable Licensed Trader

User avatar
Raz
The Mikado, as played on catgut strings
Posts: 4263
Joined: Tue Sep 24, 2013 5:00 pm

Re: Shorefall: A landing is a success if you survive

Post by Raz »

A pilot boat rushed towards the scene. The head pilot shook his head.

"Judging by your unordered behaviour, I assume you are the foreign guests we were told to expect. Or you could be Apollonian, but we don't get many Apollonian guests."

The pilot thought for a moment.

"We will need to restore order first."

Ignoring the three men on the inflatable boat, the pilot boat steered towards the seaplane, which was inspected.

"Could be narcotics..." on of the lower ranked pilots said. "We have strict orders to ignore any information in that direction!" the head pilot warned. "It's a nice way of travelling" the lower ranked pilot said, trying to change the subject to small talk. "Hardly, you could fly anywhere! Who would want so much freedom, so many mistakes that can be made!" the head pilot warned again. "My mistake!" the lower ranked pilot said with honest regret.

As the pilots had taken control of the seaplane and were towing it to the seaport, a cutter from the Grand Imperial Navy had approached the dinghy. The captain of the cutter spoke to the leader of the three men.

"Zhu, welcome to Jingdao. May the Heavenly Light find use in you. Master Jing is waiting in the harbour office."

User avatar
Captain Poldark
Posts: 71
Joined: Sun Aug 16, 2015 9:02 pm

Re: Shorefall: A landing is a success if you survive

Post by Captain Poldark »

The habits of the denizens of Gong were something that required patience and tact to adjust to, as Captain Poldark had discovered whilst attempting to light a a cigarette when one of the reception party awaiting him at the harbor office had promptly, but with profuse apologies, emptied a bucket of sand over his head. Another pair of functionaries had arrived with a broom and a dustpan and officiously busied themselves with sweeping up sand, crumpled cigarette, dropped lighter and the remaining shreds of the Captain's wounded dignity. The Captain of the Cutter which had brought him into harbor lent in to brush some grains of sand from Poldark's dark mop of hair and his shoulders. Clearly the local emphasis was on preserving order (huīfù zhìxù, repeated many, many, times between sweeps of the broom, by way of an explanation) - niceties, if any, could follow later.

Rather than bristle with a wounded indignation that he was in no position to rectify he decided to try and move matters along with the reception committee in the harbor office waiting-room.

'Is there any chance I will be meeting your Master Jing soon?' He inquired of the captain who had kindly dusted him down a moment earlier. 'I'd quite like to make whatever obeisance it is your lot require and get on with showing the merchandise before your customs men move from not inquiring to not sampling the goods.'

In response the captain simply glared at him. Rather abruptly chastened, Walter amended his request to 'Perhaps a cup of tea instead? If it's not too much inconvenience.'

'Ha, Zhu.' Without interrupting his glare, the captain clapped his hands and the two men who had been tidying up after the regrettable incident with the sand bucket scuttled off into another room.
Walter Poldark
Captain-General of the Maritime Free Republic [Jingdao]
Reputable Licensed Trader

User avatar
Raz
The Mikado, as played on catgut strings
Posts: 4263
Joined: Tue Sep 24, 2013 5:00 pm

Re: Shorefall: A landing is a success if you survive

Post by Raz »

Secretary Jing Xing III entered the room, greeting all attendees with a short "ha" before taking seat.

"Mr Poldark?" he asked, "Please take a seat. I have a document here, signed by His Divine Majesty. If we could go over it. Your seaplane is being repaired as we speak."

"Servant, bring us some tea!"
A Memorandum of Understanding Giving Rise to a Contract between the Maritime Free Republic and the Holy Grand Empire of Jingdao

On the occasion that His Divine Majesty Mordechai, Emperor of Jingdao, and His Excellency Walter Poldark, Captain-General of the Maritime Free Republic, having met and assured each other of the soundness and validity of their respective credentials, the Maritime Free Republic and Jingdao, hereafter referred to as the Parties, agree to contract as follows:

1. That for the duration of this agreement, the Parties will not hinder or harm each others vessels, crews and captains, operating on the seas and oceans of Micras, nor will the Parties trespass into each others territorial waters and territory.

2. That for the duration of this agreement, the ships of the Maritime Free Republic shall be allowed to make use of the seaports of the Holy Grand Empire of Jingdao, in order to bring any goods they carry on the market, paying a tariff of 10% of the value of the goods to the Jingdaoese customs service.

3. That for the duration of this agreement, in order to establish the value of the goods, the customs service of the Holy Grand Empire may inspect the goods, but may not inquire to their origin, nor may the captain and crew of the ships of the Maritime Free Republic inform the Jingdaoese customs service of this.

4. That for the duration of this agreement, the crews and captains of the ships of the Maritime Free Republic may seek refuge from third parties in the seaports of the Holy Grand Empire, on the condition that they bring the goods they carry on board onto the market of that seaport, according to the stipulations of Article 3 of this memorandum and that they leave within fourteen days.

5. The Holy Grand Empire of Jingdao shall not share information on the where-abouts or the departure date of crews, captains and ships of the Maritime Free Republic located in their territorial waters or seaports with third parties.

6. That this agreement will come to an end, seven days after one of the Parties has informed the other party of their intention to end this agreement.

Image
"If you could sign it, we will then follow your ratification process of... spitting and shaking hands?"

User avatar
Captain Poldark
Posts: 71
Joined: Sun Aug 16, 2015 9:02 pm

Re: Shorefall: A landing is a success if you survive

Post by Captain Poldark »

'Eminently acceptable my dear Secretary' declared Poldark with a roar of delight. 'I will happily affix my signature to this contract that demonstrates our understanding and accord'.
A Memorandum of Understanding Giving Rise to a Contract between the Maritime Free Republic and the Holy Grand Empire of Jingdao

On the occasion that His Divine Majesty Mordechai, Emperor of Jingdao, and His Excellency Walter Poldark, Captain-General of the Maritime Free Republic, having met and assured each other of the soundness and validity of their respective credentials, the Maritime Free Republic and Jingdao, hereafter referred to as the Parties, agree to contract as follows:

1. That for the duration of this agreement, the Parties will not hinder or harm each others vessels, crews and captains, operating on the seas and oceans of Micras, nor will the Parties trespass into each others territorial waters and territory.

2. That for the duration of this agreement, the ships of the Maritime Free Republic shall be allowed to make use of the seaports of the Holy Grand Empire of Jingdao, in order to bring any goods they carry on the market, paying a tariff of 10% of the value of the goods to the Jingdaoese customs service.

3. That for the duration of this agreement, in order to establish the value of the goods, the customs service of the Holy Grand Empire may inspect the goods, but may not inquire to their origin, nor may the captain and crew of the ships of the Maritime Free Republic inform the Jingdaoese customs service of this.

4. That for the duration of this agreement, the crews and captains of the ships of the Maritime Free Republic may seek refuge from third parties in the seaports of the Holy Grand Empire, on the condition that they bring the goods they carry on board onto the market of that seaport, according to the stipulations of Article 3 of this memorandum and that they leave within fourteen days.

5. The Holy Grand Empire of Jingdao shall not share information on the where-abouts or the departure date of crews, captains and ships of the Maritime Free Republic located in their territorial waters or seaports with third parties.

6. That this agreement will come to an end, seven days after one of the Parties has informed the other party of their intention to end this agreement.

Image


Walter Poldark
Captain-General
'Now to spit and shake upon it.' At which point Poldark hacked up a mucus soaked lump of phlegm and spat it into the palm of his hairy right hand, where it landed with a satisfactory splat. 'But before we do. Do you happen to have ever heard of a Gulf of Finland or of Riga?
frigga in riga.png
frigga in riga.png (16.48 KiB) Viewed 3326 times
Apparently the Storish, amongst various other recent histrionics, are resolved to barricade themselves indoors for the duration - in so doing they appear to suggest that these two locations of some especial significance. Perhaps something of interest to the trade into whose origins we do not enquire?' Poldark concluded with a wolfish leer.
Walter Poldark
Captain-General of the Maritime Free Republic [Jingdao]
Reputable Licensed Trader

User avatar
Raz
The Mikado, as played on catgut strings
Posts: 4263
Joined: Tue Sep 24, 2013 5:00 pm

Re: Shorefall: A landing is a success if you survive

Post by Raz »

Hmmm, worrisome. The Gulf of Riga and the Gulf of Finland are very close to our territorial waters of Jingdao-Sweden... We might have to send Ric himself to maintain the peace in these waters. We have sent him on a training mission in Greenland to perfect his mad skills with the fillet knife, a few vikings will be no problem for him.

Post Reply

Return to “Gong”