Anna heard 5 succeeding explosions and loud whizes as the missile's rocket engines are started and roar 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"
Standing in the middle of the bridge, Captain Anna Kristiansen had a really bad feeling in her stomach "something definitely isn't right about this" she thought. By this point the missiles' fuel-chugging rocket engines have cut-off and they were now utilizing their small onboard turbojets as they hugged the sea as they made their way towards their target
Meanwhile, lieutenant Olaf had his eyes glued to his screen. "98 seconds to impact on target Alpha"
Suddenly, while staring out the windows in the general direction of the enemy ships, Anna was momentarily blinded by a bright light that was shone into the bridge and into her eyes coming from the direction of the mysterious ships. Taking into account that it was the afternoon and the sun was on the other side of the ship, Anna deduced that the only way that glare could've hit her face from the opposite side of where the sun was is if it was redirected by some sort of reflective device or mirror... " Ok, something definitely isn't right" thought Anna out loud.
"93 seconds to impact"
Another glare of light was momentarily shone into the bridge; crossing her arms with a frown on her face, the captain was initially bewildered at the strange shining of sunlight coming from the vessels, but then after a few seconds... she had a brainwave, quickly recalling a nautical history course she took back at the Academy... that she regrettably didn't really pay attention in… Anna recalled from this course that during the age of sail and early steamship era before the advent of radio, ships in distress would use a combination of mirrors and reflective devices to shine sunlight at any potential rescuers to signal their distress alongside other signals like flying their flag upside down and flying a sail's jib backwards.
Suddenly, panic awashed the captain as she quickly started to make deductions in her head: "What if the reason these ships haven't been responding to our radio calls is because they can't? What If I'm about the destroy ships full of innocent people " she frantically thought
If those ships were in distress and unable to communicate, Anna needed a way to identify them in detail, binoculars allowed her to see the basic outline of the closest ship, which she noticed had quite a lot of sails and masts. "perhaps one of those historical replica sail ships" she thought.
"85 seconds to impact"
Anna turned towards the center of the bridge, facing commander Kristoff who was watching the missiles progress towards the target "Commander" started the captain in a stoic voice. Kristoff turned his attention away from the screen and towards Anna
"Captain?" said Kristoff confusedly.
"Commander,I have a really bad feeling that we shouldn't blow up those ships. So I want clear and detailed visual on the targets and I need options"
"78 seconds"
Confused about the reason why Anna wanted to do such a thing apparent in his voice, Kristoff responded.
"Yes Captain, well uhh… they're too far off in the horizon for shipboard cameras to see in detail, and satellite cameras won't be of much help either, But I guess a reconnaissance UAV could allow you to see the targets if you want to captain.
"65 seconds"
"We have a ScanEagle fueled and standing by a launch catapult right?" Asked Anna
"Yes captain" The commander replied
"Alright,I want the drone in the air and camera pointed at target alpha. Now"
"Aye captain" the first officer responded dutifully
"55 seconds"
Kristoff marched towards a console and picked up a phone
"Bride to hangar, this is commander Bjornman, the captain wants eyes on target alpha, we need a ScanEagle in the air… NOW "
In the destroyer's helicopter hangar, two teams of sailors quickly rolled two pieces of equipment onto the helipad. A Boeing Institu ScanEagle Unmanned Aerial Drone, and a mobile hydraulic catapult to launch said UAV. one man loaded the catapult and prepped it for launch while two other men placed it onto the catapult.
40 Seconds
With a loud droning sound, the UAV's engines came of life
"WHIIIIIIIIRLLLL"
One of the sailors then pressed a button on the catapult, releasing the drone and launching it from 0 to 60 miles per hour and into the air in seconds, and within a few feet of the launch point.
30 seconds to impact
The drone was now 300 feet over the sea and it's camera started to broadcast a clear detailed image of the closest ship bearing down on them onto a screen in the bridge. And what Anna, Kristoff, Olaf, Sven, and the rest of the bridge crew saw shocked them.
20 seconds to impact
They ordered the drone to focus on target alpha as the other ships were still too far away to see in sufficient detail even with the advanced drone cameraAnna looked up at the feed on the viewscreen. , on it she was a sailing ship, and not just any sailing ship, a heavily damaged sailing ship littered with holes indicative of battle damage. But the thing that intrigued and alarmed Anna the most was the familiar large flag it was flying on the heavily damaged ship.
20 years ago- June, 2000
7 year old Anna had just moved into a new apartment with her mother when she found a new job that required her to move across the state, was looking through the boxes and opened a really old looking wooden chest, in this chest was a really old picture of a woman of in her late 20s to early 30s standing in front of an old galleon-like sailing ship, a few medals and pins, a golden pocket watch, sextant, and a faded rectangular purple and green piece of cloth with a golden flower etched in the middle.
"Mama?" Said a young Anna while running towards her with the picture on hand.
"Mama, Mama, who's thiiis?" she asked in a curious voice.
Iduna took the framed picture out of the little girls hand and wiped the dust of the picture with her hand.
"Well I'll be…I haven't seen since when I was a little girl" Iduna responded with a smile on her face
Turning her attention from the picture towards Anna, Iduna sat cross-legged on the floor and started to explain with excitement on her face.
Well Anna… this woman right here, she said pointing to the redhead in the picture. "This is our ancestor from a veeery long time ago , your great-great-great-aunt to be exact"
"Ant-sest-whaat? That's a very big word Mama And that's a lot of greats " said young Anna with a giggle.
Iduna giggled herself, then proceeded to explain further to her young daughter.
"She's your grandma's grandma's grandma. Iduna tried to explain.
"That's a lot of granma hehe… did you know her?"
"No darling, but… I heard many great stories about her"
Little Anna shrieked with excitement. "Oooh stories, can you tell me one ?"
After rummaging through the box and finding the purple and green cloth, she smiled and told Anna to sit down next to her while laying out the cloth on the hardwood floor and placing the picture of the redheaded woman, and a world map that she found on top of it.
"Long ago, on a small island as far north as you can go, there was a kingdom called Arendelle ruled by the most beautiful queen the lands have ever seen. She was young, kind, and ruled fairly. The people of Arendelle adored her. One of those people was a poor young woman…who lived in the streets..."
Little Anna gasped with tears in her eyes "oh that poor thing… NO ONE should ever have to live in the streets, will she be ok ?"
Iduna gave her a small hug "It's ok Anna, for one cold dark evening, while she was begging in the streets, She found herself about to be attacked by a very bad man.
Anna gasped again "OH NOOOO"
"BUT, before they could touch her, another person, this time, a woman in a dark hood came up behind him and fought the bad man, punching him in the face, and knocking him out. The hooded woman in her pity for the poor woman led her off the streets and towards the safety of the castle, where she revealed herself to be the beautiful and fair queen of Arendelle. Then...
Anna shrieked out loud again "OOh OOH, SHE KISSED HER AND THEY GOT MARRIED AND LIVED HAPPILY EVER AFTEERRR.
Iduna burst out laughing "No little one, BUT… the queen in her kindness and pity, gave the poor woman food and shelter before giving her an escape from poverty by granting entry into her Navy Academy.
Anna was a little confused by this point but was still listening intently as Iduna continued her story.
"As the poor woman graduated from the Naval academy of Arendelle and began serving aboard the queen's fleet, but despite her busy schedule, she and the queen stayed the best of friends, spending as much time together as they could, growing Closer… and closer… every day. The two were practically inseparable according to some.
It wasn't long before they became best friends, and the poor woman found herself falling in love with the queen."
Anna shrieked in excitement again.
But by this point Iduna's tone had become more somber and a frown was now visible on her face. "But, before she could confess to her love, the queen left the shores of Arendelle for a short trip, but never returned… "
"WHAAAAT" Anna screamed. "What happened to the queen? What happened to the poor woman? Where's the happy ending ?"
Iduna gave Little Anna a sad smile "Anna, not all stories have a happy ending and bad things happen" She then held both of Anna's hands in her own. "But remember Anna, when bad things do happen, no matter how bad it gets or bad things hit you. Always, and I mean ALWAYS get back up and fight for what YOU believe in by doing the next right thing. Do you understand Anna?
"Yes mama… but did the poor woman also stand back up when her queen left, she must've felt so sad to lose the one she loves"
" The poor woman grieved her love for years, she never found another, and continued to serve Arendelle's Navy for the rest of her life, she became the first woman captain in Arendelle's history and ferociously fought away any bad people who dares disturb the peace in her love's kingdom" Iduna concluded her story there as her memory of the part of the story after the queen's disappearance is kinda fuzzy since she hasn't heard it in decades.
Iduna pointed at the blue and green flag with a golden flower. "This my little snowflake, is the flag of the Arendelle, the kingdom of the fair queen that disappeared.
"Mama" Little Anna asked.
"Yes My little snowflake?"
"What were the names of the beautiful queen and the poor woman?"
Their names my little snowflake, were Queen Elsa of Arendelle, and Anna "
Anna looked up at her mom incredulously "wait a minute… that's MY name"
"yes it is my love, I named you after our ancestor because I knew that you will also become a very brave and strong woman when you are older Iduna ended with a smile. Now, come on Anna it's already 11, let's get you to bed. "
Little Anna said "Alright mama" with a yawn before walking off to her bedroom, talking one last glance at the purple and green flag with the golden flower
PRESENT DAY
"10 seconds to impact"
Captain Anna Kristiansen looked back at the screen displaying the drone's camera feed and saw the purple and green flag of Arendelle, except the golden flower was flying upside down.
Realization hit Anna like a freight train. "Shining of light at other ships, hull littered with holes consistent with battle damage, and flying a flag upside down? SHIT these guys were calling for help, AND WE'RE ABOUT TO BLOW THEM UP" she thought in her head.
"4"
Anna sprinted towards a console and grabbed the phone for making ship-wide announcements, the phone with a direct line to CIC and yelled into both of them
"3"
"THIS IS CAPTAIN ANDERSON TO CIC"
"2"
"ABORT MISSILES, REPEAT: ABORT MISSILES, DISENGAGE TARGETS"
"1"
Down in the CIC the TAO heard the panicked yell of the captain, and without any hesitation slammed her fist on the key to disengage the harpoon missiles by detonating their warheads before they reached their target.
Up on the bridge, Anna started yelling orders
"Lieutenant Olaf, What's the status of the missiles?"
"Self'-destruct order of all missiles were successful captain, All targets: unharmed… although I can imagine target alpha would feel quite a shockwave as the missile exploded only 300 meters away from them"
Anna breathed a sigh of relief before getting back into a stoic captain voice
Alright then , Helm, set course for the unknown vessels, Lieutenant Olaf, designate them as friendly, and have medical teams at the ready.
"Aye Captain" They replied at the same time.