Chapter 3 – Uncharted Territory

RonTheBlackCat

Sooo... it turns out that I know a lot of information about the military (vehicles, guns, etc.) but I don't know anything about how it functions. I tried searching up how the US Navy organized its fleets and I ended up reading an unclassified Pentagon report about creating a 355 ship Navy. Well, I tried my best... better just go off of what I think.

Colored Quotes:         

The green represents the native language (Basically all native languages are this color even if they are different)            

The black represents English

As always info about the vehicles are posted in the footnotes

1300 August 22nd, 2019 CE

Washington DC, United States of America

It has been a little over a month since the United States had been transported to this world. People are still getting used to it but they have remained relatively calm and no major incidents have occurred so far. Problems with resources were being solved. The Strategic Petroleum Reserve was used for a short time while oil companies ramped up production. It was a good thing that the Strategic Petroleum reserve had 713.5 million barrels of oil. President Ronnie Hayes, Secretary of State Katerina Clifford, Secretary of Defense Cralson Roberts, and Secretary of Energy Coby Elliot had been talking for a while in the Oval Office.

“Mr. President, according to our experts, the Northern Frontier is a treasure trove of resources! My department and the experts believe that the region is rich with oil and a variety of metals. It’s perfectly untouched land with a number of resources that are beyond our wildest dreams!”

“That's pretty good news, Coby. The negative impact we will experience in being transported to this world just lessened by tenfold. However, we still have to worry about those phoenix birds attacking.”

The President sighed. Cralson decided to interject.

“Uhhh...well, Mr. President. I believe that our military might be able to push back these phoenixes. Although they come in large groups, they can’t launch a massive assault on us.”

“And why is that?”

“That's because it seems like these birds are separated into something like tribes. They seem to attack and destroy other tribes.”

“Well, that sounds even better. Once we push the birds far enough, we can start exploring and extracting some of the resources that the Northern Frontier can offer us. I feel like I’m Thomas Jefferson. Ha. With that out of the way, let’s talk about something more complicated. Cralson, your report on the satellite images?”

“What satellite images?”

“Oh for god sakes Cralson! The images of possible civilizations on this planet.”

“Uh… oh yeah… Mr. President, through our satellite images of this planet, we were able to find civilization. However, we are unsure whether or not they are human civilization or some other possible being. Adjutant, the satellite images.”

Cralson's adjutant hands him a suitcase. Cralson opens it up and displays the satellite images on the table.

“Okay, as you can see here Mr.President, we have found multiple cities scattered throughout this world. This means that there are intelligent beings in this world. From our observation, all the continents are quite populated. One thing we noticed about them was how different the technology level was between them.”

“What do you mean by different?”

“Well, here's an image of a city on a continent that is about 6,000 or so miles south of us. As you can see, they have medieval castles and seemingly medieval cities. However, if you look at the coast of this continent, there seems to be a large amount of something that looks like World War 1 era coastal guns. In addition, if you look at this continent that is about 6,000 miles southwest of us, they seem to be in the World War 1 era.”

“What is with this disparity?”

“Well, we believe that the more developed nations might be safeguarding their technological advancements from spreading to the less developed nations. It's like how Great Britain during the Industrial Revolution tried to prevent their technology from spreading. However, in this world, it seems that the developed nations have been more successful.”

The President considered things and directed a question at the Secretary of State.

“Hmmm...So how are we supposed to approach these nations?”

“Well, Mr.President… we aren’t quite sure. Heck, we aren’t even sure if they are human. For all we know, they could be intelligent insects. I’m pretty sure that if we try to approach them, we will be fired upon. There seem to be a lot of hostile states. As you can see by the coastal guns of the continents south of us. In addition, if you look at the continent that has World War 1 era technology, you can clearly see a massive no man’s land that cuts it in half. It seems to be more militarized than the Korean DMZ.”

The President looked over the satellite images.

“Do you think it's a better idea to let them approach us? I highly doubt they have noticed us yet seeing that no one seemed to live on this continent because of those phoenixes.”

“As of right now, I believe that it’s for the best that we try to establish communications with the continent south to us seeing that they are the closest and are less of a threat. The only issue is that the fortifications on its coast is like the French Maginot Line from World War 2 except for with much more forts and no weak spots. We aren’t sure if our ships will be fired upon if they try to get close.”

“Might as well prepare Katerina. I want a couple of ships to depart within a week. I will give you whatever ships that you seem fit to try and meet with these people.”

“Understood, Mr.President.”

0500 (Early Hour), Quiet 71st, 195 AE

1000 August 10th, 2019 CE

Port of Stelsoll, Kingdom of Albea, Soane Continent

It was Early Hour at the Port of Stelsoll, men were loading up a metal ship that was sitting in the port. Chief Mate Henry Rolfe was running to his Captain

“Captain Raoul, what’s happening? Why are we departing so quickly? We just came back from the Septentrio Magus Imperium yesterday.”

“We got orders from the Magusians through the magraph. One of their Great Magus felt a disturbance on Formido.”

The questioning sailor who was running toward the captain stopped.

“The Formidon continent?”

“Yes. What else? There’s no other location by that name”

Henry was visible with fear.

“Sir! Why do we have to go there? None of us are going to survive if we get near Formido! Haven’t you heard of those horrifying tales of giant birds devouring men and sinking ships?!”

“Orders are orders. The only reason that the Magusians even allowed me to buy this beauty was that I agreed to pay a high sum, keep the technology secret, and follow their orders when they needed us.”

The sailor sighed at his captain.

“Sir. Couldn’t we have just bought an armed Soane merchant ship? Why do we have to buy an armed merchant ship built by the Magusians.”

“It’s obvious. Soane ships are copied from 145 AE designs of Magusian ships that the Magusians gave to the League. This ship was built by the Magusians in 180 AE. There are massive differences. Look at its beauty and majesticness. No other Soane owns a ship this advanced.”

The captain started rambling about the greatness of his ship.

“Uhh… Captain?”

“Aaanyways, don’t worry about it. We have guns around the ship to protect us. At most this is just a 30-day roundtrip. We only need to take a look at Formido and then return. We don’t even need to land.”

1000 August 26th, 2019 CE

Washington DC, United States of America

After the United States was transported to this new world, the Navy decided to reorganize itself and split its ships into 7 fleets that surrounded the United States and the Northern Frontier. Just a few hours ago, a ship was detected by the US First Fleet. The First Fleet patrolled the ocean from Maine to the tip of Florida. The ship was detected miles off the tip of Florida. Through satellite imagery, the ship was identified as a late 18th/early 19th-century steamship. The President was once again in the Situation Room with his Cabinet.

“People, this will be a very important event in US history. Our first contact with people of another world. Although it isn’t under our terms as we wanted it to be, we still have to meet them. We don’t know if they will be hostile. We don’t know anything. From our satellite images, we can only deduce that they may be inferior to us in technology. However, that might not be the case. We can’t just base their capabilities on how they seem.”

Meanwhile, the USS George Washington1Nimitz-class aircraft carrier  https://www.military.com/equipment/nimitz-class-aircraft-carrier  https://www.navy.mil/navydata/fact_display.asp?cid=4200&tid=200&ct=4 and its Carrier Strike Group were currently heading towards the steamship.

0500 (Early Hour), Quiet 87th, 195 AE

1000 August 26th, 2019 CE

About 40 Miles Off the Coast of Florida

Captain Raoul was looking through a spyglass. One of the older and veteran sailors came up to him.

“Hey, Captain. What ya looking at? There's nutting out there. It all acalm.”

The Captain looked at the bearded sailor.

“Doesn’t it seem weird?”

“What ya mean seem weird?”

“Usually at this point, we should be able to spot some of those giant birds in the distance but I see none.”

“Well Captain, we may be lucky.”

“Maybe… maybe.”

The captain went back into the ship after looking for awhile. At this time most of the sailors were relaxing and talking. None of them noticed the ships that were approaching them from the distance.

1009 August 26th, 2019 CE

“Rear Admiral, we have visual on the steamship.”

Rear Admiral (Lower Half) Kennedy looked towards the steamship that they were approaching. He was the commander of the Carrier Strike Group that consisted of the Nimitz-class nuclear aircraft carrier that he was on, a Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser2 https://www.military.com/equipment/ticonderoga-class-cruiser-cg https://www.navy.mil/navydata/fact_display.asp?cid=4200&tid=800&ct=4, two Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer3 https://www.military.com/equipment/ddg-51-arleigh-burke-class-destroyer https://www.navy.mil/navydata/fact_display.asp?cid=4200&tid=900&ct=4, a Virginia-class nuclear attack submarine4https://www.military.com/equipment/virginia-class-attack-submarine-ssn https://www.navy.mil/navydata/fact_display.asp?cid=4100&tid=100&ct=4, and a supply ship. Rear Admiral Kennedy thought that the addition of the submarine was overkill. In reality, they probably only needed the aircraft carrier, destroyers, and the cruiser. Although it was only a single steamship, the higher-ups were being very cautious.

0507 (Early Hour), Quiet 87th, 195 AE

1015 August 26th, 2019 CE

“Captain! There is a big group of ships that are currently approaching us!”

The crew of the steamship started to take notice and ask questions.

“Why are there ships so close to Formido?”

“Are those Mach Imperium ships?”

Some started to feel uncomfortable

“Turn back! If those are Machian warships, we are done for!”

A clear and strong voice was heard. It was the Captain.

“Everyone! Get back to your stations! You are sailors of the Kingdom of Albea, a part of the League of Soan. Have some pride and bravery.”

A short silence followed. Then Chief Mate Henry Rolfe spoke up.

“Sir, those could be Machian warships.”

“Chief Mate. Have some sense, what would a group of Machian warships be doing so far away from their home? The Machians should still be tied up in a stalemate and uneasy peace with the Magusians. They won’t send any ships to Formido if they don’t have to. I get the feeling this related to disturbance that the Great Magus felt. We will close in on those ships.”

The Captain looked towards the ships.

“Also Chief Mate Rolfe, tell the magraph operator to send a message to the Magusians. Tell the Magusians that we have discovered ships of unknown origins near the continent of Formido.”

The crew felt apprehensive but didn’t ask any further questions. As the Captain said, they were sailors of their kingdom and the glorious league. Their apprehension grew as they got closer to the ships. The ships looked massive, especially the one in the middle. Their apprehension lessened a bit when they noticed that 3 of the ships had only what seemed to be a singular gun on each of them. The unidentified ships seemed to be a few poorly armed ships protecting a massive merchant ship. On the other hand, although their ship had 8 guns placed around it and the unidentified warships were poorly armed, they were still outnumbered three to one when it came to fighting-capable ship numbers.

1016 August 26th, 2019 CE

Rear Admiral (Lower Half) Kennedy looked through his binoculars. Captain Jones, who was the commander of the USS George Washington, was looking too.

“Rear Admiral, it seems like they noticed us. How should we proceed?”

“I suppose we could try to get closer or we could send an RHIB5 https://www.military.com/equipment/rigid-hull-inflatable-boat https://www.navy.mil/navydata/fact_display.asp?cid=4200&tid=2200&ct=4.”

“Sir, I’m against the getting closer idea, they might open fire on us if we get closer. I suggest we send an RHIB so they feel less threatened.”

RonTheBlackCat

The steamship is something like this

USS George Washington Carrier Strike Group