Shadows Over the Central Sea

Chapter 2: False Shadows

15/07/1348
00:42 AM

AC-27 ARS President Vaclav H.
Wyvern Class Aircraft Carrier

Somewhere in the Central Sea

Admiral Kaine Karat is a decorated officer of the Avvarian Navy and is highly respected by her staff and peers alike. She was currently sleeping in her cabin aboard the ARS President Vaclav H. (AC-27). Unlike her navy peers, Admiral Karat had the predisposition for sea-sickness that was worse than giving birth to her children.

Her cabin was typical with the Admiral Standard, which is just a fancy name for a room that looks like an office from the Ravdaz Summer Palace. Gold trim, dark oak furniture, velvet bedding, expensive carpet and a massive red oak desk in the far right corner stood in the room.

As soon as the storm passed, she dove under the sheets to enjoy the rest of the night in peace. Her entire body was buried under her blanket, head to tail and everything else. The storm ruined her sleep for way too long and she was ready to catch up on her most enjoyed passtime.

Usually, she didn't dream much, but today, fate smiled upon her and sent a dream of her children playing in a beautiful, sunny field she recognized from her hometown. She sat in the grass along with her husband, watching the fluffy twin duo running through the tall grass.

However, her dream was ruined by a knock on her door. Awoken from her slumber, she sat up in bed and tried to correct the fur on her face to look presentable to whoever was standing beyond the door.

"I'll be right there. Just give me a moment please."

She stood up and quickly put on her deep blue admiral uniform. Quickly running her hands over the most obvious wrinkles to correct them, she began approaching the door.

A petty officer was standing beyond the door. His expression gave no indication of what the matter of her early awakening was. As soon as she made eye contact, the fox gave a brief salute to which she replied in kind and began speaking, "Ma'am, good morning. There is a situation that requires your attention immediately. Please make your way to the flagship briefing room."

"What's the occasion, petty officer?"

"Please follow me, ma'am. I'll explain on the way."

"Will there be coffee?"

"Of course, ma'am."

As soon as the man closed his maw, he spun around and began walking down a hallway.

The hallways on any military ship can be described as utilitarian in nature. Due to the limited space aboard, they are a tight fit for a single file line, which means any two-directional movement requires one party to stop and mush up to a wall. Most of the hallways are also decorated with different pipes, from cold water to power and heat, and numbers for deck and bulkhead numerical designation.

On the way to the briefing, the petty officer described all of the events that transpired after the storm passed. It took the fox the whole walk toward their destination.

Arriving at the briefing room, Admiral Karat dismissed the petty officer and entered. Waiting on her was Vice Admiral Andrew Zarkat-the captain of the ship, Rear Admiral Matheus Valre-Admiral Karat's right-hand-man, and Captain Taska Roalak-chief of flight operations.

Kaine nodded toward the officers and headed toward the coffee machine. She poured herself a cup and took a sip before she spoke toward the room, "What's the situation?"

"Farseer 1-1 spotted a boogie heading our way from the coast of the Arags. Madwolf is on an intercept vector. ETA to visual contact is three minutes, ma'am."

"Thank you captain. How many planes do we have in the air and on stand-by?"

"We've got a pair of F/A-19s and an E-15. Madwolf 2 is on standby with Madwolf 3 and 4. If you believe it is necessary, more units can go on standby in less than thirty minutes."

"That's way too late if anything goes wrong. Get the rest of Madwolf up and set preparedness level to 2."

"Aye, ma'am!"

Both Captain Roalak and Rear Admiral Valre left the room and Kaine took a seat at the, now empty, table. She was tired. Even though she didn't have to deal with much politics unlike the admirals of Arag, she found every move she made more tiring than caring for two young wolf-pups.

"You okay, Kaine? You look tired."

"I just can't wait to get back home again. I can't sleep on the sea. Especially not the Central Sea."

"It's better here than in the escort ships, those go from side to side like a rocking bed from hell."

Kaine laughed. Vice Admiral Andrew Zarkat was a friend she missed on her previous postings. Growing up together and then surviving the Officers Training brings people together. Even though they graduated at the same time, Andrew, unsurprisingly, had more difficulty climbing the ladder than her, because he was a troublemaker at heart.

"I believe it, Andrew. I was on a smaller ship when out east. Thankfully, the seas over there are much calmer than here. I would have retired otherwise."

"Oh come on Kaine, you know just as well as I do that you wouldn't drop this job even if you died. This was your dream, commanding your own fleet."

"Yes it was."

Just outside the bridge superstructure, a maelstrom of activity erupted as six jets prepared for take-off. The dance of deck personnel served its task perfectly. In less than 10 minutes, all six planes were in the air and burning toward Madwolf 1.

Lieutenant Lana Inovva helped the supporting force take off with the same stride she helped the patrol and E-15c. Her tail ruffled by gushing of air after each takeoff.

The rest of the fleet also went into a frenzy. Alarms sung out across the formation, routing emergency crews out of their bunks in an attempt to ease damage control in the case a munition hits the vessel. Streaks of ears, paws and tails could be seen in the hallways of the formation.

In the meantime, Madwolf 1 was approaching high definition radar range. Both pilots wouldn't admit it, but they were scared. This would be the first time since the border conflicts of 13' where forces of the Avvarian Republic and Arag People's Republic engaged each other in open conflict.

The weapon officers sitting behind the pilots kept their eyes on the screen, watching as an unperceivable dot grew to the size of a modern fighter jet radar signature. But, soon enough, both of them realized it was not one enemy they were facing.