A Queen Out of Time

by trekkie0802

Anna Kristiansen is a respected but lonely US Navy captain returning to home port after weeks of NATO war games when she and her crew come across early to mid-19th century ships that appeared out of thin air, and on one of these ships is a queen of a nation that no longer exists, a queen who has been missing for 180 years. ELSANNA. NO POWERS.

6. Ch 6: Target Locked

Aboard the bridge of the USS Republic, Anna, Kristof, and the rest of the crew were still looking out of the window and gawking at the sudden disappearance of the large storm that was tossing around the destroyer like a rag doll just a few seconds ago. Shock and confusion was present in the eyes of every person on the ship. A category 2 hurricane pretty much just appeared and disappeared before their eyes and no one could believe what the hell had just happened.

Suddenly…

"BLOOP… BLOOP… BLOOP… BLOOP… BLOOP…

A shout from one of the radar officers could be heard

'"CAPTAIN! FIVE UNIDENTIFIED VESSELS DETECTED ON RADAR"

Almost immediately, all thoughts about the storm were forgotten as everyone on the bridge suddenly snapped back to reality with the captain quickly asking for more information from said radar officer.

"Ensign! Status of vessels?" yelled the captain

"Yes Captain" responded the sailor. The crewman quickly typed out a few keys on the keyboard at his station and 5 white dots appeared on the screen.

five unknown contacts on OTF radar, IFF of all vessels: unable to determine" reported the crewman. Typing on a few more keys, he gave each of the dots a designation followed by their position relative to the Republic's

target alpha: speed, 6 knots, bearing 193.5 at 12.83 nautical miles.

target bravo: 14 knots, bearing 198.1 at 16.2 nautical miles.

target charlie: 15 knots bearing 190.0 at 16.3 nautical miles.

target delta: 13 knots, bearing 192.1 at 16.1 nautical miles.

target echo: 14 knots, bearing 190.5 at 16.2 nautical miles.

"I'm receiving no transponder signals from any of the vessels nor is there a voyage plan on record ma'am.

Anna held a stoic look on her face while looking at the radar screen. Thank You crewman"

Anna then turned towards lieutenant Sven at the communications station

Then at Commander Kristof.

"Lieutenant Sven hail the ship on all frequencies" said Anna with volume in her voice

"Aye Captain!" Responded Sven

"ATTENTION! UNKNOWN VESSELS, THIS IS THE UNITED STATES NAVAL WARSHIP USS REPUBLIC, IDENTIFY YOURSELF AND ALTER COURSE OR YOU WILL BE SUBJECT TO DEFENSIVE ACTIONS. OVER.

"REPEAT, UNKNOWN VESSELS, THIS IS THE UNITED STATES NAVAL WARSHIP USS REPUBLIC, IDENTIFY YOURSELF AND ALTER COURSE OR YOU WILL BE SUBJECT TO DEFENSIVE ACTIONS. OVER.

After broadcasting for a second time and hearing no response, Ensign Sven swiveled his chair towards Anna.

"No response from any of the unknown ship's captain, and they're still bearing down on our position.

Anna grabbed a set of binoculars and walked towards a window on the starboard side of the bridge, she then turned her head towards her first officer and uttered with utmost focus and professionalism in her voice: "Set General Quarters"

"Aye Captain" replied commander Kristoff.

Kristoff quickly ran towards a console and pressed a button. Suddenly, an alarm could be heard throughout the ship and every sailor aboard the Republic quickly fell back on their training and started sprinting towards their assigned stations.

Commander Kristoff grabbed a mic from a console "General Quarters, General Quarters, All hands to assigned battlestations, this is not a drill. Transit up and forward starboard side, down and aft port side" Kristoff announced into the ship-wide broadcast mic.

Down below, sailors locked and loaded the numerous auto-cannons and machine gun nests positions fixed throughout the sides of the ship; inside, watertight compartments are sealed, heavy doors were shut, hatches closed. Down in the ship magazine, robot cranes hooked on a 5 inch shell and loaded it into the front cannon, meanwhile all missile launchers were brought online and loaded and AEGIS defensive countermeasures were brought online..

On the bridge, Anna was on the phone with the ship's CIC while looking out of the window through her binoculars.

"CIC, this is the Captain, HOW THE HELL DID FIVE SHIPS JUST SLIP RIGHT THROUGH OUR DEFENCES UNDER OUR NOSES?!" Hollered the captain in an angry voice.

"Captain, There was no indication of any vessel approaching Republic on all our radars, including the VLF ma'am." replied a TOA in a calm but respectful tone.

"So what you're saying is that they're either ships with a new type of stealth technology or can teleport from god knows where ? " The captain asked sarcastically while scanning the seas with her binoculars.

"Well… uh… captain... If they were stealth ships ma'am they're definitely not anymore; according to radar these unknown vessels have an unusually large RCS for any vessel with stealth capabilities.

Anna was still trying to find the ships when her binoculars when Lieutenant Sven swiveled his chair 180 degrees to face the captain.

"Captain, I've tried hailing the vessels more than ten times now, no response from any of them and they're still bearing down on our position.

As Lieutenant Sven ended his status report, Kristoff, who was on the phone hanged up and turned towards Anna

"I just got off the phone with CIC, these ships have not responded to any of our warnings and continue to bear down on our position, captain, I recommend taking defensive action. A Harpoon on each of the vessels should take them out

Anna quickly turned towards Kristoff.

"Noted Commander, but I'll have to disagree, these ships have yet to take any aggressive action towards the Republic that warrants us destroying them. We don't want to risk an international incident by accidentally destroying a civilian ship. Remember the time the Navy accidentally shot down an airliner over the Persian Gulf?" responded Anna

Kristoff was obviously not happy with his captain's hesitation.

"Permission to speak freely captain?

Anna frowned and turned towards Kristoff "granted"

"Look captain, your deduction is logical, but if those ships are armed, they could lob missiles at us at any moment from this range. These guys just appeared out of nowhere inside our defence perimeter with no transponders ma'am, there is no voyage record of any of those ships in our database, they ignored all of our warnings, and are STILL bearing down on us; Safety wise captain, I believe it's in our best interest to conduct a preemptive strike before they get any closer.

With a frown still on her face, Anna turned back towards the window deep in thought. "He's right" a voice sounded in her head. According to Navy protocol Anna should've sent those ships to the bottom of the Atlantic by now, but she knew that Harpoon missiles could knock out any unarmoured ship with a single blow and Anna didn't know why, but she had this gut feeling that she shouldn't sink at least one of them. Plus, Anna knew that there was no way she could've ever lived with herself had she intentionally sunk and killed a civilian ship with innocent people.

With a sigh… Anna relented. "Very good commander, target all five unknown vessels, salvo size: five, one RGM-84 per vessel"

Kristoff picked up the phone

"Bridge to CIC, lock target on incoming vessels,RGM-84s, Salvo size: five, one missile per target."

"Aye commander, unknown ships now designated enemy. Targets alpha, bravo, charlie, delta, echo. Speed: 6,14,15,13,14 knots respective. Bearing: 193.5, 198.1, 190, 192.1,190.5 respective. Range: 26.1, 32.8, 33, 32.6, 32.8 thousand yards respective. Target lock, 5 RGM-84s ready for fire, confirmation to fire?"

On the bridge, the then white neutral dots that represented the unknown ships turned into a bright red hue, indicating an enemy vessel. And targeting computers indicate a lock onto the ships with a short beep.

Kristoff looked up from the phone to Anna

"Captain, targets are locked and missiles ready, awaiting confirmation to fire"

With a deep breath Anna looked back at the windows at the direction of the ships then back at Kristoff.

"Lieutenant Sven, Give one last radio warning, let's see if they'll respond "

"Aye captain

UNKNOWN VESSELS, THIS IS THE UNITED STATES NAVAL WARSHIP USS REPUBLIC, YOU HAVE ENTERED OUR DEFENCE PERIMITER, IDENTIFY YOURSELF AND ALTER COURSE OR YOU WILL BE SUBJECT TO IMMEDIATE DEFENSIVE ACTIONS, THIS IS YOUR FINAL WARNING. OVER.

After a short pause, Sven turned his chair back towards the Captain and shook his head,

"No response Captain"

Taking a sigh of defeat Captain Anna Kristiansen faced Commander Bjornman, nodded and uttered…

"Fire"

With a firm nod of acknowledgement, Kristoff placed the phone back on his ear

"Bridge to CIC, we have captain's confirmation for launch"

"CIC to Bridge, confirmed launch.

From her position on the bridge, Anna heard 5 succeeding explosions and loud whizes as the missile's rocket engines are started and roared into life, 5 succeeding bright lights and smoke trails fly high into the atmosphere as the Ship-killing weapons are launched vertically one by one lifting their deadly ordnance off the Arleigh-Burke Class destroyer's missile silos and into the clear blue sky as they make their way to their respective targets.

"BOOOM WHIIIIIISH"

"BOOOM WHIIIIIISH"

"BOOOM WHIIIIIIISH"

"BOOOM WHIIIIIISH"

"BOOOM WHIIIIIISH"

Navy glossary;

TAO (Tactical Action Officer):

CIC (Combat Information Center):

Harpoon: RGM-84 Anti-ship Missile

IFF: Identification; Friend or Foe

General Quarters: State of a ship, "All hands to battlestations"

RCS:Radar Cross Section