Nuuk in the Nook

[Hereno]

Following the agreement with Druk Yul stipulating the dual ownership of the Bharati research station, a research vessel was dispatched from Saxon docks. Aboard was a crew of approximately 35 people, including a team of eight scientists who would be taking up research where last left off by the Sri Lankan government. An additional team of 15 Saxon soldiers accompanied the researchers on their journey, as there was no security at the former research station and piracy off the West coast of Africa proved a real threat to the safety of the unarmed scientists.

The research vessel, however, was not only destined for Antarctica. Because of budget cuts to civilian research technologies in favor of military technology subsidation, the completely silent vessel would head into the north Atlantic to gather samples of Atlantic sea life such as plankton. After making several trawls down the entirety of the ocean, the ship would then head for its destination by striking a course due east past Africa, where laboratory materials existed for the maritime research time to analyze their data in the controlled environment of the frozen wastes of Antarctica. This research was very important to the government of Saxony, as no research had yet been conducted on the radiation levels of sea creatures after the large-scale nukings that had characterized the turbulent years of Earth.

As they would reach their northernmost destination, however, a transmission from Europe would indicate severe storms moving in from the warmer southern Atlantic, bringing heavy rainfall and inopportune research conditions for the acoustically-silent research vessel. No, instead, the captain had the ship driven north to hopefully escape the storm, and perhaps even find a harbor to dock in to save gasoline and perhaps even lives from the insailable sea.

That night, the watchman scanning the Western coast of Greenland noticed a flare appearing above the old Greenlandic capital city of Nuuk. With a population of just a bit over a dozen thousand persons, it was one of the smallest capitals in the world during its time, and also held the title of northernmost national capital. However, there was no capital or nation here any longer. As the vessel approached the peninsula where the city was located, they saw that the flares they saw were in fact flames coming from a building on the harbor of the city, which was barely visible in the night. The sailors were faced with a dilemma, but ultimately decided to dock as they had planned and to investigate the fire and city itself.

Unfortunately for the inhabitants of Nuuk, the city had all but starved and frozen itself to death after the great modern war, as it was referred to in Saxony. Cut off from the rest of the world, the inhabitants were forced to survive on a diet of fish, which because of depleted stocks, were not nearly enough for everyone. The result was descent into anarchy, ending in a massacre of several hundred persons and leaving the city's population at just over 3,000 persons, who had been divided into three rival gangs; although this was not evident to the researchers or their escort at the time. Perhaps if it was, they would never have stopped and would have instead sought refuge in the Tikalian territory to the south, or even in Iceland or the Atlantic Federation.

A strike team of five soldiers, one-third of the strength of the team itself, went out onto the docks to secure the ship with a rope before heading perhaps two blocks before coming upon the Greenlandic phoenix which had illuminated their way into the fjord. Without warning, a black silhouette appeared in front of the flames which had by then all but devoured the window, calling out in Danish to any would-be saviors. Not understanding and not needing to understand, the men rushed towards the entrance of the building, wanting to save their fellow human. As they came within meters of the door, however, the sound of gunshots rang out from an unknown spot in the darkness and ricocheted off of the pavement, with one bullet grazing the leg of a soldier, who fell and cracked his head on the pavement. The wounded man lost all sense of time, place, or self, as his consciousness puddled on the cold, hard pavement. Shocked and confused, the troop almost abandoned their comrade before turning back, grabbing him roughly, and tumbling inside the burning building.

Training soon kicked in, and the soldiers surveyed their situation in their heads. They were inside a burning building with a dying, useless team member, in an unfamiliar city, pinned down by gunshots from an unknown source. Abandoning the civilian in their minds, the Saxon men did the only thing they could do: they fought back. After zeroing in on the sniper through careful observation, the best marksman of the team managed to put an end to the gunshots either through fear or firepower. Two of the soldiers then went upstairs and found an incapacitated woman who appeared to have been trying to make her way downstairs to her apparent saviors. The team, no longer under attack, then limped back to the research vessel without further incident and called the crew together to hatch a plan.

ooc: 1/7

[Maelstrom Vortex]

The scientists would welcomed.. if and when they arrive, and treated like royalty. The Druk Yul government appreciated having foreign expertise around to bang heads with their own scientists. Their food and lodging was paid and provided including weekend passes to resorts on the coast so they could unwind as they saw fit.

Edited August 27, 2014 by Maelstrom Vortex

[Hereno]

Back on the docks, the lifeless body of the young, wounded private was dropped with as much care as possible onto the barely-visible planks, the trail of blood behind him having since turned into little more than spatter. Soon after, the unconscious woman would wake up and join the crew who had gone onto the ship to alert their comrades to the danger outside. Her jet black hair, contrasting with pale white skin, was almost as dark as the crust of blood around her mouth. Her neck was stippled with a five-o-clock shadow of dried blood, and her clothes were ripped and ragged. The room hushed at the sight of her, with two of the more squeamish scientists jumping in surprise at her entrance. But as she began to speak, no signs of serious injury were evident, and she seemed to be in high spirits.

 

"Thank you, friends, for risking your lives to save mine. I'm terribly sorry for the loss of your friend, and.. and I don't know how I could ever repay you the debt I owe..."

 

She stopped speaking as she noticed the horrified looks on the faces of the Saxons around her, before smiling and beginning to offer an explanation.

 

"Oh, well I suppose you're wondering about my beard, then?" She laughed, morbidly stroking the black crust. "Well, when you're all tied up, there are few other weapons available to you than your good old teeth. Those men, they... they tried to..."

 

Her voice trailed off as her gaze adjusted to a spot on the floor, that by the looks of her, you might assume was hundreds of meters away. She took a reserved posture, positioning her arms over her chest as if to give herself a hug, and turning her side towards the crowd. Finally, one of the men, the captain, had the courage to speak. "Well, there are no other women on this boat, but we have uniforms and you're more than welcome to change into one after using the shower facilities on board. I don't suppose you've been able to contact the authorities, have you?"

 

Her "no" slipped out of her mouth quickly and eagerly, nearly cutting the captain off. She apologized, before explaining that the city had degenerated into a series of zones occupied by three different gangs, which offered protection and leadership to the surviving inhabitants of the city. "There are no police here, not anymore. Not any who would be willing or able to pursue my attackers. There were some officers hired by the Tikalian authorities, or so they said, but they've all since gone."

 

"I'm.. I'm sorry, Miss. What did you say your name was?"

 

"Holly"

 

"Rosenthal, please show her to the shower. After you get yourself cleaned up, we'll have the physician take a look at you and get you all patched up. Alright?"

 

With a quick nod and a thanks, she followed the soldier off to another part of the ship.

 

"Well then. I suppose the first thing we ought to do is contact the Tikalian settlements to the South and see what they can tell us about the situation here." the captain continued.

 

"I'm on it."

 

"Alright, good. The other two of you should go outside and make sure we protect all the evidence we can, while moving the body onto the ship carefully and slowly. The refrigerated room below deck should be good enough..."

 

Clearly stressed and tired, he pressed his fingers against either side of his nose before continuing. "Right. The rest of you soldiers, go back out into the city and see if you can make contact with any authorities you can find, regardless of their legitimacy. We can help to...."

 

He was cut off by an unexpected and rather unusual dissent from below the chain of command. "Listen, captain..." The captain scowled as he turned his head toward the subordinate officer. "It's dangerous out there, and we've already lost a man. I think we ought to stay put and wait to hear back from Tikal before we go rummaging around in the dark based on this woman's testimony. We have no idea who she even is. What if..."

 

"Listen to me, private. There is a time for discussion, and there is a time for action. The time for action is now. There could be more women, children, men, or whatever else who need our help in that city and I will not stand for a !@#$@#$ coward aboard my vessel. Is that understood?"

 

The man clenched his lips together and said nothing.

 

"I said, is that understood, private Schmidt?"

 

"....yes, s-"

 

"Good." The captain returned the favor of interruption. "The ten of you report back here in two hours with what you've found..."

 

"And this time, take a radio with you so we can actually communicate."

Edited August 27, 2014 by Hereno

[Hereno]

"...wait, so what did he call you aga--" She noticed the name tag on his uniform. "Rosenthal, huh? So do you have a first name?"

He drug out a long "Mhmmm..." until he had finished displaying himself in front of a metal door. "In here's the showers. There's clothes already in there and the controls are inside. You'll figure it out."

"I can speak German, yes, but I can't read it at all. Would you mind helping me with the controls before you go? If it's not a bother..."

He looked at her, presumptively. "Listen lady, I've got a wife and kid back at home. I appreciate the offer, but you need to get yourself cleaned up."

She was visibly taken back, clearly not intending the question as a sexual advance, nor expecting it to be taken as such.

"Thanks, !@#$%^&."

"Oh, so you... oh, uh"

His eyes widened as his voice trailed off, and he nervously rubbed the back of his neck, as if to rub the embarrassment off like a bit of dirt. "Yeah, no problem. Come on, I'll show you how to turn it off yourself while we're in there" he bargained, leading the way inside, and not noticing the smirk that came across his acquaintance's face.

After a meter or so of following him, she as-quietly-as-possible shut the door behind her. It made a squeak as it laid to rest in the door frame, prompting the sailor to turn around. "Oh, hey, I thought I told y---" he was cut off by a hand being strapped across his mouth. Her intact, white canines plunged into his neck flesh to the applause of crunching bones, with the blood draining out of his body apparently taking his will to scream with it. Within a few seconds, his body had been sucked dry and lay motionless on the floor, with a few droplets of blood littering the floor around him.

The woman, focused on the task at hand, stepped over her victim's body and headed for the closet across the room with freshly-pressed Saxon naval uniforms stacked on several shelves. A lucky guess, the first outfit she picked seemed to fit just fine, even though it had been tailored to the body type of a man. She stepped over to the sink and washed herself off before leaving the room without so much as even an attempt to hide the body. That wouldn't be necessary. By this time, the away team would have already been moving away from the boat into the city, and the surprise waiting outside to be carried into the freezer would have the rest of the sailors occupied. This hadn't been her first feast of the evening, although it was the first live one.

Listening for footsteps on the metal, she managed to locate the two men heaving the dead weight through the can and began to shadow them through the corridors. She waited for them to be inside the freezer room before sneaking quickly around the corner and sealing them inside before they could make sense of what they were hearing behind them. Their fists pounded out a rhythm on the door, in an eerie harmony with the melody of their screams; creating a symphony of horror as background music to her race to the captain's quarters.

Edited August 29, 2014 by Hereno

[Hereno]

[b][Private (future tense)][/b]

 

"General, communications have been received from Hungary-Slovakia and also the Northlands confirming their intent to uphold our prior economic and military agreements."

 

"Excellent. Anything else to report?"

 

"Yes, certainly. Apparently, prior to the invasion, a research vessel was lost out to sea somewhere around the capital of Nuuk. I think it would be worth investigating to see if we can locate the lost vessel and any of the passengers. Several of our best researchers were on board en route to Antarctica."

 

"Certainly, but not right now. The riots in the harbor have made it impossible for us to get anywhere near the docks, and we can't risk it until they're put down by the military."

 

(OOC: 3/7)

[Hereno]

Listening for footsteps on the metal, she managed to locate the two men heaving the dead weight through the can and began to shadow them through the corridors. She waited for them to be inside the freezer room before sneaking quickly around the corner and sealing them inside before they could make sense of what they were hearing behind them. Their fists pounded out a rhythm on the door, in an eerie harmony with the melody of their screams; creating a symphony of horror as background music to her race to the captain's quarters.

[Private // Top Secret]

Arriving in the captain's quarters, she made no attempt to harm the captain, with her race ending quite abruptly.

"Well, I'm glad to see you again, Holly. That was quite a show you put on out there."

She wasn't used to compliments, and so she put on a bit of an act, even though her own brother knew enough of her to tell the difference.

"When I do a job, I do it right. So where's the cargo?"

Unknown to the rest of the crew, the cargo they were hauling had nothing to do with science whatsoever. In the bowels of the deck was none other than former Doge Hereno d'Bologne, hiding in large crates and subsisting on Saxon standard-issue MREs. Sensing the arrival of his sister and smelling the blood of the passengers running cold, he hoisted himself up and met the pair in the captain's quarters.

"Well, it seems like the storm has passed. I guess we should be on our way."

The boat left shore, the Saxon soldiers already doomed to a fate much worse than death as soon as they started handling the bodies. The worms had already entered their bloodstream and begun reproducing, and in just a few days, the entire island of Greenland would be infected with the vampiric worm. By then, however, the crew would safely be in Borneo, meeting with President Giorgio. Another of the infected.

(OOC: 7 of 7)