Blackwatch: Proving Grounds

[Mr. Moshypocrite McSlowbro]

Seated quietly with his legs dangling over the edge of the dock, he had just been watching as ships and the people on them went about their day’s respective tasks. As expected of a place as expansive as B-1, the port was constantly buzzing with activity. More often than not, any vessel docked here was unloading something or other and bringing it up the hill to what he figured was a storehouse. But there were cases of the opposite happening. In those instances, the laborers were generally followed by a veritable wave of white uniforms. Going off on patrol, maybe? Or whatever it was they did. Another group of men had the ever important job of scrubbing barnacles off of the hull of any ship presenting with them. Boring, yes, but it had to be done. In significant enough numbers the creatures would increase water resistance across the bow, effectively reducing a ship’s top speed. Worse, they could pull apart the outer coating and let rot into the frame. More than once they had to send an otherwise fine looking boat to the salvage yard due to damage done by the little critters.

Shaking his head, Ruo put the thought out of mind. It’d been a good while now since he had worked at the yard back home. Would probably be an even longer while before he got the chance to again. The truth of that made him a little sad. He liked working with his hands, fixing things and whatnot. Unfortunately, he had done more breaking than fixing as of late. Because of that, he had been trying to keep his hands to himself for the duration of his trip. Not only did he dislike breaking things, but at this point he could not afford to fix much of anything he broke. That was the second reason that he had decided to stay here and twiddle his thumbs rather than try to explore the fortress behind him, even though he had very much wanted to do just that. No, he would wait patiently. If he stood perfectly still, then he could not possibly get into any trouble.

No more than a few seconds after that thought had crossed his mind someone had started yelling at him.

“Ah!” The sound made him leap out of his skin, surprise causing him to fumble the elderly snail he had been palming idly. He managed to catch hold of it just before dropping it into the murky deep, which to someone like him meant it would have been lost forever. After breathing a sigh of relief, he wheeled around to find the source of the startling noise. What he saw glaring back at him was a small red haired woman with eyes that looked like she was but a hair’s breadth away from hitting someone. Besides her fierce countenance, the white garb clearly identified her as a Marine. A quick glance over his shoulder confirmed that he was indeed the only person in the general direction the lady was yelling. Which did not make a lick of sense. What would a Marine want with him? Still baffled by that question, he pointed a large finger towards himself and began to ask. “Me?”

However the words never had a chance to leave his lips. She was already a step ahead of him. "Yeah you! You're big enough, come help us with this large crate. Hey, I'm talking to you!"

There was a certain steel in her voice that made him immediately straighten his posture as if he was being reprimanded. It carried the sort of undertone he remembered hear his Pops use when one of them had been slacking off in the middle of a job. There was only one answer this officer wanted to hear, and in all honesty he was not a brave enough man to say anything else.

“Uhh. Yes M’am!” The words were accompanied by an awkward salute, the sort you might expect from one who had never done the gesture seriously before this very instant. Stashing the Den Den Mushi away into his pack Ruo hopped up to his feet with all the grace one might expect from him, and rushed over to the cargo she had indicated. In a practiced motion, the (former?) dockworker slipped his fingers beneath the crate and the pallet it sat on, and hefted up against his chest. From the clanging it made, whatever it contained was large and made of metal. It could have been considered an impressive feat that he lifted it so easily, given that it might have taken a handful of normal men to carry otherwise. But he had been carrying heavy cases back and forth like this since he was little. Plus, well. Even as the shortest sibling in his family, he still stood at eleven or so feet and with shoulders wider than some were tall. If something this size didn’t come easily to him, he wouldn’t be able to stand under his own weight!

Falling in behind the authoritative marine, he followed obediently despite not having the slightest idea where they were going or why. There was a black-haired man next to her, standing a few heads taller, but he wasn’t wearing a uniform so he assumed the guy had been pulled in to help just as he had. Tiny-angry-woman had a voice like a whip! She was definitely a captain, the Bangira thought to himself, if she can boss everyone around like that. It was the only thing that made sense.


Off in the distance he heard a sound that could best be described as a mix between a thunderstorm and blender full of rocks, except magnified to the sort of volume that you felt rather than heard. And for what seemed like the umpteenth time in the past few months, Ruo wondered what exactly he was getting into.

[Lord Bromosalino]

"I must send me apologies for not being present sir, but I had to finish up launch procedures."
Captain Saifer merely waved his hand as if he was shooing away a fly, clearly unconcerned about the actual ‘presence’ of the young Seaman Recruit. After all, he had given her one day, no half a day at best, to recover from her mistakes and reassemble and arm the rocket. No small task, but how would she fair under the pressure? Out there, as the much older Captain understood, there were hardly any second chances. “I’ll assume you are finishing preparations elsewhere. But do go on, you have our full attention.”

No sooner than he had spoken, the Den Den Mushi before them began barking orders, the clear and unmistakable accent of the scientist making it hard to keep up with at times. Very much like the own checklist that Lieutenant Amyot was conducting outside, so too was Somerset checking her own list off with the aide of the two twins that the officers of the ‘Blackwatch’ had met just moments prior. "Inter-cooler valve. Master magneto switch. Pressure gauges. Gimbal. Turbine control. Tail and rudder control. Altimeter." Nothing that was being spouted made much sense to Saifer. Sure he understood them, but after hearing tail and rudder control, he was left in a state of bewilderment. What would a rocket need to do with tail and rudder control? Did it mean that this was a rocket that Somerset could somehow control? If so, well, the implications were pretty amazing. Junior Lieutenant Rogers himself, who had been busy scribbling everything that was transpiring into a written format that he could dissect later, looked up momentarily before resuming the frantic note taking.

With the prelaunch check done, the strange twins handed a pair of binoculars to their audience, themselves setting up a telescope, to which they would (presumably) be tracking the rocket. "Sir...while this pressurizes, I suppose I should explain meself. Yesterday you ordered me to fully arm a rocket, and I had planned just that. But once I finished the plans I threw them into the fire. I know I may have mislead you on what me intentions were, but today I need to make em' clear. The whole reason I got into the Navy was to create a new type of propulsion system that could make travel easier and safer, I never intended to make weapons." Well then, just what kind of a show was about to commence then? A new form of travel? Surely the quirky little upstart couldn’t have pulled something like that overnight. Could she?

"Don' misunderstand Capin', I ain't no pacifist, I'll do what needs to be done to protect meself and others, but I cannie be your weapon developer. If I'm makin' somethin', it's first intention won' be to kill. If you cannie except that, then I only ask that you watch this test, and If you still don' wan't nothin' to do with it...then consider this my resignation from the Marines."

Well then, she could. But at this point, what she had planned no longer seemed matter to Saifer. There was a certain zeal that he hadn’t seen in quite some time. Passion, that was what had been lacking in so many Marines. A little chuckle was audible from the Captain, probably missed by the seriousness in Seaman Recruit Somerset’s voice. Saifer had already made her a part of the ‘Blackwatch’. The outcome of this demonstration now had little effect on that decision. The world could always use more passionate people. Binocular in hand and now casually leaning over the window sill of the large tower that they were in, Saifer smiled for the first time in a few weeks. Amyot’s going to hate me for bringing her aboard, was the only thought that Isaac could think of. But, for the same reason that Saifer had taken Caroline aboard, she sure seemed passionate, and that was all that mattered at the end of the day. ”Pressurizing should be complete Somerstet.” So, it began.

In the following moments that ensued, and as tension rose in the most noticeable of ways, the silence of the B1 Marine base of a fairly calm and quiet morning was shattered. Though that would be the first of things to shatter. Seconds later, windows and any other glass object in the room burst, as if struck by a hammer. The ceiling and walls shook and even the mighty ‘Black Guard’ that was harbored below them rocked dangerously as ripples formed in the sea. Screaming back and forth, the twins and Somerset were gauging their progress, Junior Lieutenant Rogers’ pen moving at a furious rate across the yellow notepad. The powerful ‘Hellhound’ dove under a table, his heightened hearing absorbing much more of the thundering sound than any of his human companions would. And yet, as the tower shook from its pointed top down to its sturdy foundations, Captain Saifer had not moved from his position; his legs still crossed behind him, leaned onto the open window sill, elbows propped up, and binocular peering into the sky.

“GREAT ACCELERATION! SHE'S OFF TO THE HIGHLANDS LADS!"
And within seconds, Isaac could see the cause of the commotion. With strained eyes, a lean, elongated rocket looking shape could be seen climbing into the sky at a rate faster than the rising sun could. There was no mistake about it, Somerset was in that thing!

“Sometimes risks have to be taken, huh?” came the murmured voice as he continued to keep his eyes fixated on the demonstration. ”Imagine that thing as a rocket on the ‘Black Guard’, truly terrifying huh Cap?” ”Yeah, but you heard the recruit. Still, that kind of firepower could come in handy. But anyway, what do you think Rogers?” “Thing’s got potential for sure, Cap. But if you saw what I did yesterday, I can’t help but worrying about the landing.” Roger’s had a worried look on his face, and it was hard to say if Saifer had one as well. The binoculars were in the way, and Saifer had always been a hard man to predict. However, if one were to look closely, they would notice that his jawline seemed tenser than usual, clenched in anticipation of what was coming next.
All looked good though, until the descent (as Rogers feared).

”ACK! I’VE LOST CONTROL!” A small and nearly inaudible thud was heard as Rogers turned sharply and was headed for the door, coming up with some way to which he could help the situation. “Wait, Rogers! You can’t do anything and you know it. Let’s see what she’ll do next. After all, preparation is everything.”, a concept that Isaac not only took to heart but lived by. After a few heart pounding moments, mostly on the side of the twins and Somerset as they screamed at each other about pulling some tab, the rocket had straightened out and the parachutes that they trio had installed during the construction phase had finally been released. However, the strange craft was now coming towards the very tower they were watching from! A quick and hurried shuffling of feet, and three people dove into the open hallway to avoid being collateral damage. Oddly enough, Saifer simply moved to the table that his partner was still sitting under, crossed his legs and arms, and simply shut his eyes (to avoid dust and other kind of debris) as the rocket and its pilot crashed into the room. “Is everyone alright?”

---

“Yes sir, I understand the gravity of the situation. Yes. Mhm, yes. No sir, I commissioned the demonstration. Well, we are of equal rank are we not? No Captain Rogers, that won’t be necessary. Yes, yes. I don’t think that would be wise, and I know you don’t either. She’s brilliant. Granted she’s extreme and over the top, but she is brilliant in her own way. Sir? No, no, no, no. You know as well as I do what the consequences are if you follow through with that. Dammit Rogers, just sign the bloody transfer paper and I’ll take her out of your hair! Are you forgetting Vice-Admiral Dalmatian’s orders? I thought not. And make it quick, the ‘Black Guard’ is scheduled to leave in ten minutes. Yes sir. Yes. Yes, Saifer out.”

In the following mess that had followed, Captain Saifer had little to say on the demonstration itself. Rather, he muttered something about not being a scientist or engineer and that’s why he had brought Junior Lieutenant Roger’s alongside him. All he did say was that Somerset should immediately return to her quarters and begin packing her belongings and head to the Vice-Admiral’s office to await further orders. The following Den Den Mushi call was made from Saifer’s own office aboard the ‘Black Guard’. The amount of red tape, procedure, and general bull that Saifer had to go through to explain the situation was enough to drive any man mad. But it was done, and Somerset would be coming aboard within the next few moments.

Picking up a different and much larger Den Den Mushi, Captain Saifer now spoke to his crew, thanks to the multiple snail-like creatures/devices that were implemented in every section of the massive Marine vessel; and with each word, the echo could be heard as it bounced from living quarters, to kitchen, and off of the not-so glimmering walls of the B1 North Blue Marine base. “Captain Saifer speaking. Prepare to make way. Countdown till departure, ten minutes. That is all.” The sound, which was coming through the open door of Saifer’s cabin, of crates, boots, and the occasional order signaled the frantic state of the loading crew as they hurried to finish preparations as they checked once more to make sure every piece of equipment and every case was aboard. One crate remained, and it was a large one at that. A marine with a clipboard hurried over to the large man that Amyot had called upon to help them, and tapped him on the shoulder with his pen.

Hey buddy! Can you help me with this? This is the last crate and it needs to get over to the doctor’s ward immediately to be stored properly.