Unknown Frieghter Sunk by Karshkovian Air Command: 141 dead

[Karshkovia]

(Video of the sinking)
((OOC: This is an OPEN RP thread. Feel free to add to it if you wish!))

Karshkovia State News Network

"... a small number of radical students protest in front of the Presidential Palace today turned violent today by throwing rocks and firebombs at the Police and Presidential Guard. On orders directly from the President, the police and Presidential Guard were to allow the protest to take place and only used non-lethal means to break up the protest if they became violent. Students were met with tear gas, water cannons and finally a 'sound cannon' newly imported from an allied nation. Four protesters were injured by falls or physically assaulting police. One police officer was injured by a thrown rock. Student leaders vowed to continue to put pressure on the government for new Presidential elections and moves towards a peaceful reunification with Russia."

The images of street violence dissolved back into a close up of the anchorwoman in Zostar.

"In other news, Prime Minister Valentina Borofsky called a press conference an hour ago announcing that the Karshkovian Air Command had sunk a ship that fired upon and killed several Karshkovian Coastal Defense Force Inspectors during a routine inspection."

The image of the anchorwoman cut away to a new image of a large freighter at sea.

"Last night the Rawal Kah, a 150m long 4200 tonne ocean freighter, entered territorial Karshkovian waters without permission, bound for port in Volograd. The Karshkovian Coastal Defense Force was alerted by coastal radar stations that an unknown ship was approaching the Karshkovian city of Volograd. It was not listed for arrival and had ignored all requests to identify itself."

An image of a Coastal Defense patrol ship flashed on the screen.

"The Coastal Defense Patrol ship Kunsan was able to stop the freighter after repeated requests by radio, amplified audio, and finally a warning shot fired across its bow. Inspectors bordered the Rawal Kah and began by questioning the captain while other inspectors searched the ship for contraband. It is reported that the ship's hold was stacked with shipping containers filled with packaged heroin and cocaine with an estimated weight of over 1.5 metric tons. Some packaged drugs were taken back to the Kunsan for evidence. The Karshkovian Government then ordered the Rawal Kah, under escort from naval warships, into Volograd's ports. The crew took up arms and killed five inspectors, then tried to escape into international waters."

A video is now shown of a black and white IR camera, obviously military in nature, of a large white ship on a black ocean. White streaks flow up from the ship towards the camera, which then tilts and pulls away from the ship

"Military helicopters filled with Karshkovian marines were deployed by Karshkovia's flag ship Karshenko, an Udaloy-II Class Guided Missile Destroyer, to take control of the ship and its crew. The helicopters encountered light anti-aircraft fire from the ship and were forced to maintain their distance."

A new video clip shows military aircraft taking off from a coastal runway, then cuts to video of the aircraft in flight.

"With the ship's repeated attempts to shot down Karshkovian helicopters, the Karshkovian Air Command launched two MiG-23BNs which were armed with 57 mm rocket pods, 500 kg free falling bombs, and Kh-23 radio-guided missiles.

Ten hours after being boarded, the Karshkovian Navy issued it's final warning to the drug ladened ship, demanding it stop to be boarded which was ignored. The Karshkovian Air Command authorized the use of weapons and the MiG-23s released their fugasnaya aviatsionnaya bomba-500 to sink the ship."

Video of the attack and destruction of the ship was now shown.

"The FAB-500s hit the ship as shown, however it continued to slowly drift towards international waters, and the Karshkovian Navy Command authorized the Karshenko to fire an SS-N-22 anti-ship missile into the illegal drug ship. The 320kg warhead exploded in the engine room of the Rawal Kah stopping the ship. It sank inside Karshkovian waters five minutes later. No survivors were found though naval ships remained in the area for two hours after the sinking. The ship's registry retrieved during the inspection reveled it had a crew of 136, however the captain of the Rawal Kah had struck the flag of the ship and destroyed all documents pertaining to which government the ship was registered to."

The video switched back to the anchorwoman at the news desk.

"In a later statement, President Vladimir Radchenko emphatically stated that the ship had trespassed into Karshkovian waters, was holding over 1.5 tons of illegal drugs destined for sale in Karshkovia, had attacked and killed five Coastal Defense Inspectors, fired on Karshkovian Naval aircraft and refused to give way to Naval ships. He considered the orders given by his military commanders to be fully within their rights and duties, and had acted appropriately."

A clip from the President's press conference.

"Karshkovia is sending a clear message to the international drug trafficking community on how we will deal with those trying to subvert our national laws. We do not distribute or sell our state-grown marijuana to any nation where it is illegal and we expect the same curtsy in return. Any attempt to bring illegal drugs into our nation will result in a repeat of today's events. If drug laden ships enter Karshkovian waters, they will be sunk."

The screen switched back to the reporter

"This is the second time in six months that the Karshkovian military has sunk a ship that was confirmed to have large amounts of drugs bound for Karshkovia, and the third time this year overall"

[Karshkovia]

"Today, the men and women of the Kunsan and the Karshenko were all awarded combat-action ribbons for the performance of their duties dealing with international drug traffickers."

"Commander Ivanova, the air-warfare co-ordinator on the Karshenko, won the Karshkovian Navy's Commendation Medal for "heroic achievement," noting her "ability to maintain her poise and confidence under fire" that enabled her to "quickly and precisely co-ordinate the air-strike and firing of the ship-to-ship SS-N-22 missile."

"The Karshkovian Cross of Merit, a military decoration of the Karshkovian armed forces that is awarded for exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding services and achievements, was awarded to both Commander Ivanova and Admiral Pulitz along with Captain Dimitri "Lev" Andropov and First Lieutenant Matryonan Bazhukov, the pilots which attacked the Rawal Kah."

"Captain Andropov stated that he prayed for the souls of the men whom died on the Rawal Kah, but would not hesitate to carry out the same commands to destroy a ship carrying drugs. He felt proud that he played a part in keeping the Karshkovian people 'a little safer'"

"Memorial services were held today to honor the fallen men and women of the Kunsan who were murdered by the crew of the Rawal Kah during an inspection of the ship. All were posthumously awarded the Bronze Cross. President Radchenko and Prime Minister Borofsky both attended the memorial services and personally awarded the medals to those men and women previously mentioned"

[DJ_Enduro]

(OOC: I can't think of a good response to this as of yet, but I'm going to watch the thread. It's nice to see someone else around here with literary prowess the rival my own. Check my threads. Semi-IC: Perhaps alliances could be formed. OOC: Also, my region is recruiting RPers. Pass protected, send me a telegram if interested.)

[Karshkovia]

(OOC: I can't think of a good response to this as of yet, but I'm going to watch the thread. It's nice to see someone else around here with literary prowess the rival my own. Check my threads. Semi-IC: Perhaps alliances could be formed. OOC: Also, my region is recruiting RPers. Pass protected, send me a telegram if interested.)

((OOC: thank you for the complements. I would be very interested in alliances, but for now I am happy with Sapientia. Would be fun to RP with you some time!))

[Karshkovia]

((reserved))

[Karshkovia]

"After last week's attack on the Rawal Kah, a 150m long 4200 tonne ocean freighter, which entered territorial Karshkovian waters without permission ladened with illegal narcotics, there has been no claim made as yet to the nation which registered or haAd owned the freighter. No nation has stepped forward to claim ownership or express outrage at the attack.

"Prime Minister Borofsky has stated that she believes either the nation who owned the freighter knew it has been caught supplying narcotics to nations where those narcotics are illegal, or has decided to take the loss of 136 of it's citizens quietly. Because there has been no outrage, it seems more likely that the nation the ship was registered to and owned by knew of it's illegal activity."

"In a separate statement, President Radchenko made the comment that he hopes this sends a message to those who would bringing illegal narcotics into the Karshkovia. He also stated that on the other hand, the ships do make great target practice for the Karshovian Navy and Air Force."

[Orbath]

Official Government Message

We would like to congratulate you on your restraint in dealing with something that was obviously a threat to your security and the well being of your people. Your restraint and logical thinking kept the situation from becoming an international outrage. We have, on several occasions, intercepted cargo ships carrying drugs, though thankfully it has never escalated to this extreme. We offer our condolences to the families of the victims killed and we offer the option to coordinate with our Anti Terrorism Task Force (ATTF), so we may both work together to eliminate these threats.


OOC: Any interest in a joint operation in boarding a cargo ship?

[Tolvan]

OOC: Since I still have battle group near your waters from your intro thread I need to say something.

90 knots from Karshkovian waters

The attack on the freighter was observed silently by a E-2F Hawkeve AWACS flying off the Tolvanic light carrier TCS Furies. A report was put together by the battle group's Intel shop and forwarded back to command. For now no direct action would be taken, but in light of the aggressiveness of the Karshkovian response to the freighter an intensified CAP was ordered to make sure no thing got too close to the Tolvanic ships.

A pair of F/A-39 Enforcer multi-role fighters were launched from the Furies to join the other four planes already flying a CAP over the battle group. While the other fighters were tasked with screening ship's and making sure nobody get too close to the AWACS these two had another mission.

The two planes flew under radio silence to a predetermined point less than ten knots from the last none location of a Karshkovian vessel. Once there the fighters powered up there RADARs and radiated at full power for a total of 45 seconds. Once they were sure anyone in the area knew they were there, they turned and headed back to the battle group to join the patrolling CAP.

OOC: If you want to go ahead with the diplomatic talks we discussed in the other thread, TG me and we'll work out the details.

[Karshkovia]

Official Communiqué
Office of the Prime Minister
Republic of Karshkovia

Karshkovia thanks you for your words of support and kindness for the families of the fallen officers. President Radchenko has accepted your offer to coordinate with your Anti Terrorism Task Force (ATTF), to help eliminate these threats to our nations.

OOC: I'm game to boarding a cargo ship

[Karshkovia]

OOC: Since I still have battle group near your waters from your intro thread I need to say something.

90 knots from Kashkovian waters

The attack on the freighter was observed silently by a E-2F Hawkeve AWACS flying off the Tolvanic light carrier TCS Furies. A report was put together by the battle group's Intel shop and forwarded back to command. For now no direct action would be taken, but in light of the aggressiveness of the Kashkovian response to the freighter an intensified CAP was ordered to make sure no thing got too close to the Tolvanic ships.

A pair of F/A-39 Enforcer multi-role fighters were launched from the Furies to join the other four planes already flying a CAP over the battle group. While the other fighters were tasked with screening ship's and making sure nobody get too close to the AWACS these two had another mission.

The two planes flew under radio silence to a predetermined point less than ten knots from the last none location of a Kashkovian vessel. Once there the fighters powered up there RADARs and radiated at full power for a total of 45 seconds. Once they were sure anyone in the area knew they were there, they turned and headed back to the battle group to join the patrolling CAP.

OOC: If you want to go ahead with the diplomatic talks we discussed in the other thread, TG me and we'll work out the details.

OOC: Yes certianly! I will be working on that post today. What I wanted to do was get my cultural wiki page up so you may have something to refer to in your response RP. Should have it up by tonight at the latest. Sorry I thought I had telegrammed you and I may not have. I apologize as I am very interested in working with you. I love the RP style.

[Mokastana]

OOC: Im claiming the Freighter if you dont mind

Montana Inc. HQ, Bogota, El Sur, Mokastana

"Shit hes, back. If he finds out what happened we are fucked."

Outside the Large Office building of downtown Bogotá three limos pulled up to the front entrance. From the farthest back one came out Antonio Montana, the dangerous and currently on bail CEO of Montana Inc. While he had been held on Mokan Island for possible treason a prison riot had led to his kidnapping. However he was recovered after his own security forces found him and killed the terrorist responsible. In doing so his lawyer managed to argue his safety was something that the government could not handle, but his own security forces could. After two weeks he had gotten bail set at 14 million, and he was free.

Now to see what happened in the last month...

[Karshkovia]

((ooc: I don't mind at all! Feel free to take the storyline and run with it.))

[Orbath]

In a few days that followed the cargo ship sinking, ATTF agents prepared for a secretive mission that would have them working hand in hand with Karshkovian officials. The mission had to be secretive. Public support for a mission like this just wouldn't happen. There wasn't a drug problem in Orbath, nor a smuggling problem. On top of that, due to other recently failing operations, public support for anything remotely foreign was at an all time low. So why then would the Orbathian government be interested in assisting a nation they hadn't even heard of prior to this? It could have been because there was a very small chance that the cargo ship was manned by an Orbathian terrorist group. If that wasn't the case, there was still the problem of the cargo ships that had been intercepted in Orbathian waters, that agents still knew nothing about.

The agents had been briefed and kitted out. They were a combination of an intelligence force and a paramilitary group, thus they carried a mixture of equipment ranging from acoustic listening devices to hand grenades. Each agent bore the black assault uniform that ATTF agents commonly wore when carrying out a raid.

The helicopter carrying them cut through the dark, starless night sky. It flew low, it's rotors down wash tossing around an already choppy sea. It was common for soldiers to discuss a mission prior to arrival but the agents had already done so on the ground. There was an odd aura about the cabin, a mixture of fear and power.

The helicopter appeared over a landing pad and hovered, before dropping down, bumping onto the pavement. The rotors began to slow and the team, 9 men and 3 women, hopped out onto the ground. One stepped forward, to greet whomever been sent. He pulled his ski mask back, revealing a stone cold emotionless face...

[Mokastana]

Antonio Montana flipped off the TV that had shown the Karshkovia News broadcast where it showed one of his freighters, complete with the installed Phalanx guns, as it had apperently tried to shoot down military helicopters. When he saw the freighter explode and saw the losses on the table in front of him he had reached a level of pissed off that made him look passive.

"So overall, what was the net loss on this adventure, and can it be traced back to us in any way?"

"No sir, the ship was registered to another nation, Skimire or something like that."

"Something like that? I want facts DAMMIT!"

"Skismire, sir, and no it cannot be traced to us. The captain is believed to have destroyed all evidence."

"well its nice to know someone has a brain around here. So once again what are the losses."

"upwards half a billion dollars if you include potential sales, the cost of refitting the freighter with Phalanxes, the cost of the frieghter, and crew."

"SO what is the NET loss?"

"200 million dollars sir"

"Now who authorized this mission?"

The table of men sat quiet. All of them knew Montana, he was a great man as long as you did you job and did it well. and if not, as long as you managed to clean up after yourself and learn from it you were good. However the number of mistakes in this one were nearly impossible to forgive. Then slowly one man in the back stood up.

"i..it was..s.ss.me sir"

"Ahh for a second there i didnt think you had the cojones to admit that. Now stand in front of that wall in the back."

"W..w.what sir"

"Don't question me, just do it. I'm not going to kill you or anything like that."

The man did as he was told, standing in front of a wall reinforced with concrete and steel. Then Montana pulled out his new silver .45 ACP Specail edition JagD pistol and aimed in down the long oak table at the man, the guy on the other end had already moved.

"You said you weren't going to kill ME!!!"

BOOM!

the man fell fell over as the bullet tore through his kneecap and the gore and blood spattered all around behind him. He screamed a series of profanities and Montana slowly walked around the table and looked at the bloody mess now on his meeting room floor. He looked at the table and then back at the body.

"Your still alive arent you? Now heres the deal. You will clean this room up, pick your bones and flesh of my oak. Scrub it down. Then you can get medical treatment. As for now the most i can give you is a sautering iron to keep you from bleeding anymore. Jose! get him an iron to burn his wounds."

He got up and looked back at the table.

"Now how shall we clean up this one?"

[Orbath]

OOC: Bump