Classified: Message to Greater Pacifica

[Uberstein]

"To whom it may concern,

We have recently come across some rather alarming documents from the Uberstein Empire era while reviewing some of our older files. Thankfully they kept such filing extremely redundant, and despite the folder being incredibly delicate and damaged in nature, it's data was intact enough to state a location. It reviles the location of one of the Ubersteinian Cobalt Gun locations. As you may know, one of these facilities was destroyed on Jan Mayan after it fired it's payload, but sources state that one other facility may exist, on the Snare islands. We believe, as the last nation following a semi-Ubersteinian philosophy, that it is our duty to destroy these remaining facilities and dispose of their radioactive munitions with haste to ensure they do not fall into the hands of terrorist organizations or cause an environmental hazard. We ask your permission to do so, and would love if your nation sent observers and possibly workers to help us do so, though we will cover the full costs of removing the facility."

Edited May 22, 2010 by BaronUberstein

[iamthey]

[quote name='BaronUberstein' date='22 May 2010 - 09:05 PM' timestamp='1274558740' post='2308304']
"To whom it may concern,

We have recently come across some rather alarming documents from the Uberstein Empire era while reviewing some of our older files. Thankfully they kept such filing extremely redundant, and despite the folder being incredibly delicate and damaged in nature, it's data was intact enough to state a location. It reviles the location of one of the Ubersteinian Cobalt Gun locations. As you may know, one of these facilities was destroyed on Jan Mayan after it fired it's payload, but sources state that one other facility may exist, on the Snare islands. We believe, as the last nation following a semi-Ubersteinian philosophy, that it is our duty to destroy these remaining facilities and dispose of their radioactive munitions with haste to ensure they do not fall into the hands of terrorist organizations or cause an environmental hazard. We ask your permission to do so, and would love if your nation sent observers and possibly workers to help us do so, though we will cover the full costs of removing the facility."
[/quote]

"Immediate scans by our strategic satellites have revealed the location and installation you speak of. Finland is welcome to send its clean up crews and we will send our own to assist as well as to secure the area."

[Uberstein]

[quote name='iamthey' date='22 May 2010 - 10:31 PM' timestamp='1274592699' post='2308849']
"Immediate scans by our strategic satellites have revealed the location and installation you speak of. Finland is welcome to send its clean up crews and we will send our own to assist as well as to secure the area."
[/quote]
"Crew will be dispatched immediately."

A medium-sized cargo ship left Helsinki for the Strands, carrying cleanup crews and storage for the radioactive materials. A Republican Guard demolition team was also present to ensure the destruction of the facility. When it arrived several weeks later, Greater Pacifica was allowed to do a full review of the ship and it's cargo. There were several crates of C4 plastic explosive, radiation suits, iodine pills, two small electric bulldozers, and the other tools needed for the job.

[iamthey]

[quote name='BaronUberstein' date='23 May 2010 - 06:51 AM' timestamp='1274593875' post='2308871']
"Crew will be dispatched immediately."

A medium-sized cargo ship left Helsinki for the Strands, carrying cleanup crews and storage for the radioactive materials. A Republican Guard demolition team was also present to ensure the destruction of the facility. When it arrived several weeks later, Greater Pacifica was allowed to do a full review of the ship and it's cargo. There were several crates of C4 plastic explosive, radiation suits, iodine pills, two small electric bulldozers, and the other tools needed for the job.
[/quote]

*SiC*

Having caught word of the project the Pacifican crown prince, Michael Atrevier, had dispatched members of his Seraphim guard to the site. The small contingent arrived on site a few weeks before the Finnish ships pulled into harbor. Once at the facility they proceeded to survey it, as well as toured the abandoned site. Suspecting radiation contamination due to the facility's likely decrepit state, the team wore full Level Six Personnel Tactical Protection Gear. Inside their sensory cortex, implants recorded and streamed data back to exo-cortices stored in a bunker beneath the General Directory. The data was itself analyzed with the quantum computing systems controlled by the Seraphim by the artificial neural networks that managed them. From there projections and specific engineering specs were developed.

When they arrived at the control room the team was somewhat surprised to find not standard computers but what looked like a cross between an antiquated punch card machine, and an advanced personal computer. Not sure what to make of it they seized one of the computers and then searched the facility eventually finding a massive room full of filing cabinets. Calling in an additional technical team they seized the computer and the filing cabinets filled with associated punch cards. These would be taken back to the wellington labs for analysis.

*Private to Finland*

A company of Royal Pacifican Army soldiers was dispatched to the site to secure the area and ensure that internal and external subversives would not be able to tamper or exploit the facility. While it was pointed out in one now obscure meeting that the facility had probably been lying dormant for over sixty years without any form of guard or protection at all, such a detraction was of no concern to officials involved now. In addition to the guard, a team from the Pacifican Interior Ministry's Department of Energy Office of Nuclear Management was dispatched to assist with the clean up and coordinate with the Finnish team. When the Finnish arrived they were greeted by one of the Office's sub-directors in charge of nuclear disposal. After a brief press conference which was kept purposely vague, the team and their equipment were escorted to the site, and the project was approved to begin.

Edited May 23, 2010 by iamthey

[Uberstein]

The first step was the open up the ammunition vaults. To combat the fact that these vaults were filled with hundreds of thin plastic-shelled artillery shells filled with radioactive Cobalt-60, one of the electric mini-dozers was lined with as much lead as they could layer around the driver compartment without crippling the speed too much. A grabber-claw was installed, essentially [url="http://www.cat.com/cmms/17136124?x=7"]Industrial Grapple Buckets[/url] but with padding zip-tied on to prevent crushing the shells. Nobody was allowed to work longer than 30 minutes in the vaults, meaning work was slow. The extracted shells were quickly moved into a lead-lined shipping container.

Meanwhile, the demolition team got to work on the actual guns. The compressed air tanks were first depressurized (if they had any pressure left), and then removed. They would be transported back to be melted down and recycled. The actual gun barrels, breeches, and other systems were fastened too securely into the concrete to be removed, and C4 packets were dropped down the barrels from above, connected on an electric cable at set distances to ensure total destruction of the V3-style compressed air guns. Detonation, however, would not be done until the vaults were empty, to prevent structural damage and failure while the cobalt was still inside the facility. Files from the administrative offices, despite their rotted and dilapidated state, were removed to be transported back to Helsinki for further investigation. Computer data could only be retrieved in the form of punch cards, as was the Ubersteinian security standard, though extensive reverse engineering of Ubersteinian computers could lead to the ability to decode the archaic data storage system. The computer systems would seem like an insane mix of old punch card technology and the computers of the late 1990's. Finnish forces, finding the punch cards missing, would request that they be returned, where they could be decoded by maintained punch card readers. Chances are they were simply communication logs and day-to-day military workings, and all information that did not concern Finnish national security (aka 99.9%) would be shared.

The other defenses on the island, such as the now dysfunctional: radar towers, naval guns, ASM stations, flak batteries, SAM sites, and Infrared detection sites, were scheduled to be destroyed after the main facility, though Greater Pacifica, since they own the islands, are to stop the destruction of these defenses if they wished to renovate them. While most of the concrete was worn away by the salty, wet air, and much of the metal rusted over, with enough work and lots of money, it could probably be turned into a fortified position again.

Edited May 23, 2010 by BaronUberstein