The Calm before the Storm
Aboard the cruise ship S.S. Hermosa
"This certainly is a fine vessel, Captain Ramirez." said an F-15 pilot to the captain of the newly launched Sorian cruise liner at dinner.
"That means a lot coming from you, Captain Storm. But even without that comment, it is true that this ship is state of the art, especially with it being built by that nanotechnology breakthrough the Akarians developed." the ship captain bowed to Captain Jonathan Storm of the Sorian Air Force the best he could sitting down at a dinner table. Captain Storm and his squadron are revered as heroes in Sora for being vital in the rescue of the country's princess: Sora, during the Sora-Akarian war. Due to the squadron's quick thinking and top of the line training, along with an Akarian defect, Tom Shilsky, they quickly and effectively extracted the princess from the Akarian P.O.W. camp.
It had been four months since the end of the war, and two months following the heated conflict, Akaria, who became Sora's ally after the war, made a breakthrough in their already highly advanced nanotechnology and shared it with their new friends. This new nanotechnology could construct almost anything in a matter of minutes or even seconds. The nano-machines used in the technology could even attach to an older technology and turn it into an easily collapsible box of data that would unfurl into the acquired object in seconds when thrown, no matter how big it was. With this new technology, both Sora and Akaria's cities and transport industries exploded in size and revenue, and the two countries became the most modernized, wealthiest nations in the world.
Of course the militaries utilized the nanotechnology as well, and thousands of tanks and planes and hundreds of warships rolled off assembly lines. Ammunition was never a problem, because special nano-machines under the wings of planes and in the barrels of tanks and warships rebuilt a missile or shell almost instantaneously when fired. With unbeatable economies and armies with near limitless equipment, the status of Sora and Akaria increased to that of world superpowers.
The first cruise ship to be made by the nanotechnology set sail five years after the technology's debut. On this ship's maiden voyage is where we join Captain Jonathan Storm, Captain Rai Okami, Lieutenant Bea Archer, freshly promoted Lieutenant Tom Shilsky, and Princess Sora. Following an extravagant dinner, Captain Ramirez and his honored guests toured the deck. The full moon glowed brightly against the Hermosa's shiny teak wood deck, and contrasted excellently against the ship's snow white hull.
"Gosh, I didn't know lobster could taste so good!" said Lieutenant Bea Archer. She patted her belly, which had inflated slightly due to the amount of food she ate.
"We will serve only the finest for anyone who boards this ship." Captain Ramirez smiled.
"It's no surprise we can afford it." Lieutenant Tom Shilsky pointed out. This humored the group, and they shared a laugh, followed by an awkward silence. Captain Jonathan Storm broke the tension.
"So, Tom, where're the wife and baby? You just left them back on land?"
"No, of course not," Tom defended himself, "Marcela thought it would be bad for the baby to be on such a crowded ship so early in his life." Jonathan snickered.
"Ah that's no excuse. Luna and Bella have been plenty of places, and our third isn't even born yet, and he's here with us." Jonathan moved over to Princess Sora, his wife, and rubbed her stomach, which nurtured a developing child.
"Well he doesn't really have a choice, Storm. He's got quite the stubborn mother, doesn't he?" Tom smirked. Princess Sora looked very proud of herself. She had "convinced" her husband to let her come on the cruise with him even though she was pregnant. After more conversation and banter, most of the group turned in for the night. Only Jonathan and Sora remained on deck.
"Captain Storm, even you have curfew on this ship. Get some rest. Same goes for you, milady." said Captain Ramirez. He certainly called loud enough, but Jonathan and Sora seemed rather intent on something over the horizon. Noticing this, Captain Ramirez looked to where the two were staring. Two lights, no more than 10 or 20 meters apart, flickered over the sea, seeming to part—or get closer, as Jonathan, Sora, and the captain stared.
"Looks like a couple deep sea night fishers using lanterns to find their way around their boats. It's nothing to worry about." Ramirez assured them. As if not even hearing him, Jonathan instructed Sora to retrieve the night vision binoculars he had brought with them. She returned in a short moment. Jonathan peered at the strange lights, put down the binoculars, and calmly turned towards the captain. Fear graced his eyes.
"Captain?" asked Jonathan.
"Storm?" the captain replied.
"How well can this ship take, say, missile fire?" Tensing up, Ramirez answered,
"Uh, some gunfire and a couple anti-ship missiles won't sink it. Dare I ask why?"
"Well, two sidewinders just divorced with their F-16s. They're about to marry us, whether we like it or not."
The impact of the first sidewinder shattered a good chunk of the deck, and the explosion rocked the ship. Jonathan, Sora, and Captain Ramirez were thrown down, and barely had time to get up before the second missile shook the hull further down the cruise liner. Of course, by now the Hermosa was in total chaos, with other passengers on the ship running this way and that, some screaming in pain and crying for their loved ones, and some passengers diving over the edge into the midnight blue abyss. Luckily, amid all the panic, Rai, Bea, and Tom found each other and found their way to Captain Storm and the others.
"What the hell just happened!?" yelled Rai. A nearby fire seemed to ignite her already fierce eyes in the night.
"Was it an explosion in the kitchen or the engine room?" asked Bea, her eyes wide with fear. Tom had an ear to the sky.
"Are those jet engines? All the way out here?" he said. Wincing from the pain of being knocked back twice, Jonathan explained.
"They were F-16s. Two of them just fired missiles on this ship. I don't know where they came from, but Sora and I spotted them approaching a minute or two before impact." Although slightly hurt, Jonathan stood up and rushed over to his wife, who was dazed on her knees about ten feet away.
"Are you ok, hun?" he asked.
"Yes. Both of us are alright." the princess replied. Jonathan looked confused at first as to why she said "both of us", but then he remembered she was two months pregnant with the future duke of Sora.
Suddenly, there was a loud creak below deck. The Hermosa listed slightly.
"Are we going down?" asked Bea.
"No, sidewinders aren't strong enough to bring this tough of a ship down." said Captain Ramirez, who had just righted himself from the shock of the attack. The unknown F-16s roared away.
"They're not leaving," said Jonathan, "It looks like they're going to come around again to finish the job." Reaching into his pocket, Jonathan pulled out a small cube with the national four-pointed star of Sora on one face.
"You really brought that with you?" Tom asked, noticing the cube.
"Yeah, didn't you bring yours?" Jonathan returned the question.
"Well, yes—you know how I never part with her, but I didn't expect you to as well. I thought this was a vacation for you." said Tom.
"It is," replied Jonathan. The F-16s' engines were becoming audible again; they were returning. "But when they sky calls, you know a storm is on its way." Jonathan looked at Tom, and then at Rai, who had also produced a cube of her own. Bea was taking hers out when Rai stopped her.
"Oh, no you don't, Bea. You don't notice that gash in your arm?" Rai pointed to a large wound in Lieutenant Archer's left shoulder.
"To be honest, no, I didn't. Now that you mention it though, this thing hurts like hell. Some shrapnel must have hit me and I didn't notice. With all this distraction it's easy for your body not to alert you to something like that." she said.
"Well get back to our room, if it's still there, and get the first-aid kit out of it to take care of that wound." ordered Captain Okami.
"Can't I do anything to help?" asked Bea.
"Once you patch up your arm, organize some of the passengers that are still on the boat to help douse these fires. Tell them you're part of the air force; they'll fell safer with a calm authority figure around. After that, get to the bridge and tune into our radio frequency. Contact the nearest Sorian or Akarian naval or air base and request help. We'll tell you from the sky if anything is up." said Rai.
"Good plan." said Jonathan, surprised that she had thought of it so fast.
"Shut up. You could have done the same, now let's go." ordered Rai.
Nodding to each other, Jonathan, Rai, and Tom threw their cubes over the side of the Hermosa. Before the cubes hit the water, they began to float in mid-air, and then un-fold. From the cell phone sized cubes emerged Captain Storm's F-15E Strike Eagle, Captain Okami's Tornado, and Lieutenant Shilsky's F-22A Raptor. The planes turned on, and automatically angled their thrusters so that they floated above the water. Right before Captains Storm and Okami, and Lieutenant Shilsky jumped into the cockpits of their planes, a fourth cube flew over the balcony and deployed into an F-18F Super Hornet. Jonathan turned around to see Princess Sora ready to board it.
"Where do you think you're going?" he demanded.
"With you, of course!" she replied. Jonathan shook his head.
"Sora, it's one thing to go on a cruise while pregnant, but you certainly can't dogfight!" said Storm.
"I can and I will. You'll need my help." the princess argued. The sound of the F-16s was getting closer.
"Look, Sora. If you go down we'll lose our princess and our future duke. We can't let that happen. Besides, there are only two planes. The rest of us can take care of them." Jonathan explained.
"What if I'm on the boat and enemy reinforcements come?" Sora smiled. Jonathan's eyes widened in fantasy for a split second, and then narrowed at Sora.
"You know one of the reasons I married you was the way you could spark my imagination like that." he said.
"I love you, too." Sora replied. The four pilots hopped into their planes, pushed the throttle fully forward, and rocketed into the sky.
"All systems are in check. Weapons armed. Let's do this, guys!" said Jonathan, getting excited about flying as he usually does. In a few minutes, the attacking F-16s became visible.
"This is Captain Jonathan Storm of the Sorian Air Force. State your origin and purpose of attack. Failure to do so will result in you and your fighters being shot down." There was silence over the radio for a moment. Then a crackly signal came in over the airwaves.
"Ah, --ptain Storm, -- is an h-nor to meet –ou. My –ngman and I will enjo- bringing the finest of the S--ian Air Force to the waters." The voice of the pilot was odd. Certainly foreign; it wasn't a Sorian or Akarian accent. Each 'r' seemed to roll and the pilot's 'i's sounded like the long 'e' sound. It was remarkably similar to the way the Estovakians would communicate with the Emmerians.
"Obviously you've never fought a Sorian in the air." Rai began, "I don't know what you've heard, but you've made one hell of a mistake if you think we're easy. Can we kill them yet, Captain Storm?"
"You don't need permission from me, Rai. You're a captain, too, y'know." said Jonathan.
"Aw, come on. For old times' sake?" Rai teased.
"Fine, if you say so, Rai. Sorian Air Force… ENGAGE!"