[i][h3]1875[/h3][/i]
[i][h3]East of the Alveta Peninsula, 87 Nautical Miles From Mainland. [/h3][/i]

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A sunless day was an unpleasant day for any Nekatala. Grey, looming clouds blotted out its warming caress from the earth. Though the rain was as important a part of life and a gift of the sun itself, it sat ill with any of them to be parted from it for long. Sunless days brought with them ill omens, and at sea the poor fortune of such inauspicious weather was greater still. The heavy, roiling sea slammed against the iron hulls of the warships patrolling the shipping lanes of Nekatalan. It was, at least, comforting to sail in such a formidable vessel against unfriendly waters and callous skies. And, certainly, Priestess-Captain Anata had every confidence that whatever the weather or the northerners might throw her way, her ship would triumph.

Tension with their [i]neighbors[/i] to the north had resulted in a doubling of naval patrols and the ordering of a new class of fast armored cruisers. Among the first warships constructed in the new, cutting-edge dockyards of Ketalis the [i]Irket[/i] class was a formidable addition to the proud navy of Nekatalan. The [i]Irket[/i] herself, lead ship of the class, headed the small squadron accompanied by her sister ship [Auvetis].  Six 203mm main guns made up her heaviest armament, alongside the numerous smaller 100mm and 60mm secondary and tertiary armaments. A heavy armored belt and deck protected her most vital components from enemy fire, and torpedo compartments ensured protection from torpedo boat attack. The vessels were, technically, en-route back to Ketalis to link up with escort vessels and begin regular patrols. Boiler troubles had forced the warships to abandon their initial escorts while the armored cruisers steamed ahead. Without torpedo boat escort Anata had hoped this expedition would be an uneventful one. Not a particularly daring captain, she was regarded by most as a levelheaded woman, slow to anger and near-impossible to rouse to arms. There had been some controversy over her assignment to a class of warship designed for aggressive defense of Nekatalani territorial waters. In a heated military environment where many admirals expressed their desire to sink or board with prejudice any warship of the Dual Monarchy found within their waters, Anata’s appointment had been an attempt at a counterbalance, a calming influence that might help avert open war against yet another enemy.

And yet as her luck would have it, today was not to be an uneventful one. Augmented eyes peered out through the gloom, across cresting waves and the white froth of a churning sea as the ship’s lookouts kept a stern watch. Thanks to the natural manarite within their bodies, the lookouts’ eyes had been modified to see further than any unaltered being could hope to see, and, aided by binoculars, see they did. Racing through the waves was what was unmistakably a foreign, hostile warship intruding upon Nekatalani waters. The lookouts called out their findings and, after a moment’s hesitation, Anata had ordered the readying of a warning flare. If it could be helped the intruder would be [i]escorted[/i] out of Nekatalani waters without a shot fired. Her crew watched her with bated breath, Nekatala, Kedireshi, Natulocan and Wamagona aboriginals, all waited on her orders. If precedent was anything to go by, the warship was Conquerdian, testing the mettle of the Nekatalani navy yet again - though it was too far yet to determine for certain, the enemy sailing without flag.

Again, the lookout shouted out to her with more news. Now the hostile ship had nearly rammed a Nekatalani cargo hauler, and moments later, a distress signal went up as three flares shot into the sky. The lookouts indicated the potential of souls overboard. The tension in the room mounted, weighing heavy like a great stone upon the shoulders of Anata. At length she gave the order to the crews of the [i]Irket[/i] and the [i]Auvetis[/i] to plot an intercept course with the foreign warship and to ready all battle stations. The signal lamp operator relayed her orders to the [i]Auvetis[/i] to steam to the enemy’s flank at full speed and cut off possible escape south while the [i]Irket[/i] accosted her from the north. 

Aboard the two vessels a flurry of activity ensued as their crews raced to battle stations. Armor-piercing shells were loaded into the guns with practiced ease as the well drilled crews prepared for a possible battle. Firefighting teams readied themselves as medics braced for the worst. Like the [i]Komet[/i], the [i]Irket[/i] class had never befored experienced actual combat, however many of its crew were comprised of veteran sailors who had experienced heavy fighting in the Canal War a decade prior. Though this vessel was a new one, the sea was an old friend to many aboard, and protected by thick walls of steel and heavy guns they feared nothing. Many still remembered fighting against Scalrinn cruisers within wooden-hulled, black powder warships of the age of sail. How far technology had progressed in the past ten years! 

The [i]Irket[/i] charted its course on a direct intercept with the [i]Komet[/i], Anata straining to see the enemy ship even as her lookouts fed her a constant stream of information. At her order, the [i]Irket[/i] turned her guns towards the enemy ship, though no order to fire was given. A speaker stood by a large megaphone and, after a moment’s pause for the nearby crew to cover their ears, bellowed out a challenge through augmented lungs towards the Conquerdian vessel. Her voice, enhanced by the manarite within her body, carried on for miles in the chosen direction. Signal flares were sent up by the [i]Irket[/i], and subsequently, by the [i]Auvetis[/i] - red warning flares that signalled the Nekatalani warships had seen their quarry. A moment later, the message arrived to its intended target.

[i][b]”Enemy warship. You are trespassing within the territorial waters of the Divine Imperium of Great Nekatalan, and have been identified in aggressive action therein. Signal your surrender now and you will be safely escorted and your lives spared, the sun and heaven as my witness. Resist and be fired upon. You have sixty seconds to comply.”[/b][/i] 

Anata had hoped it would not come to this. She had hoped that, even if she had had the misfortune of finding a Conquerdian vessel, it could be peacefully escorted out. But to nearly ram a civilian vessel within their own waters, after so much previous provocation - she knew there was no recourse left but to issue a challenge. A challenge, she hoped, that would not come to bloodshed.[hr]
[i]“A good Navy is not a provocation to war. It is the surest guaranty of peace.”[/i]
-President Theodore Roosevelt[hr]
[@Dusty]