IN DEVELOPMENT - "Conflict" by Steve Orr

Conflict
by Steve Orr

"From time immemorial, the purpose of a navy has been to influence, and sometimes decide, issues on land." Edward L. Beach


The long feared, and some said, inevitable, European expansion began the still dark morning hours of April 23, 2103. Citizens of the United Kingdon awoke to discover their islands completely surrounded by the EU navy. Officially, it was described as "military manuevers". Coming as it did on the heels of a two-week EU "house cleaning" where the parliaments of member countries were disbanded, often at gunpoint, the UK and its allies, who had all publicly condemned that powerplay, quickly raised the specter of retaliation, clearly fearing invasion.

Interviewed on CNN, EU Premier Karl Hoffman, speaking from Valkerie House in Berlin (the EU capitol for over 40 years at that point), used the term "war games" to describe the situation. He downplayed the concerns being raised by the UK, saying, "The Atlantic is a very big ocean. We can conduct our manuevers wherever we want. It is simply more cost-effective to do so in the eastern Atlantic." He then refused to accept any more questions on the topic.

WHAT HAPPENED WHEN, Ninth Edition, 2199

The Captain of the vessel was actually a Lieutenant. However, becaue he was in command of the vessel, he was, by naval tradition, Captain of it. It was wholly appropriate for his crew, as well as all who came aboard, to call him Captain and to give him the deference due that position.

It did not, however, change that fact that he did have superiors and had to follow the orders issued to him by those who outranked him.

And therein lay the problem. He had just been given an order with which he had no intention complying.

The proper response one gives to a superior who has issued one an order is "Aye Aye, Sir." Each of the three words had a purpose. The first signified that the recipient of the order had heard and undersrtood it. The second word indicated a willingness to carry it out. The third word was an acknowledgment that the issuer of the order had the right to give it to the recipient.

Lieutenant Gerald "Jerry" Steveson spoke the words automatically, realizing after that he had, at the very least, laid the groundwork for his own courtmartial, and, very possibly, secured the eternal damnation of his immortal soul. The former because he had every intention of disobeying the order, and the latter because he was going to lie to his crew. The latter, to his thinking, was by far the greater sin.

The vessel was not a ship, was in fact far too small to ever be confused with a ship. Officially, it was a not even a boat, but rather "vessel, seagoing, rescue.". Its designation, carefully stencilled on either side of the bow, was SRV-001, and it was the only vessel of its kind.

The Navy wasted nothing. The fact that a technology leap had made the vessel obolete before it could be launched did not keep the Navy from putting her to sea. It simply meant that no others would be constructed. It also meant that no one wanted to serve aboard her. Assignment to SRV-001 came to be viewed as a negative thing by both the rank and file as well as the corps of officers. A Captain or Commander who was assigned to SRV-001 was generally considered to have erred in some way that would prevent their ascention to a "real" ship.