MrCellophane

Fate/Factitious Paradigm

Bridge, HMS 'Dreadnought', 3nms from Miyama Harbor

@Paradox Witch@Argonaut

Continuing to maintain her perch on the bridge and peering on the landward horizon through her binoculars, Strategist felt a slight smile tug at the corner of her lips as, in the sea below, her assigned Marine detachment 'lowering away' and rowing towards the harbor's entrance. One boat had managed to make it to shore - having launched early while the others were being loaded and tossed about in 'Dreadnought's' wake - and its passengers were even now hauling themselves and their weapons out onto the berth and directing their assault towards the nearest occupied dock.

"It's quite beautiful, isn't it?" she wistfully remarked aloud.

A confused Captain Reginald turned from consulting his copy of the navigation charts. "Ma'am?"

Lowering her binoculars, Strategist inclined her head to her captain and remarked, "Our boys going ashore. A shame the Admiralty didn't think of reactivating the Royal Marines as a dedicated unit proper - they'd have been of greater help. Ah well, I suppose who we have right now - under the heading of the 'Royal Navy Division' - will have to suffice."

"They are, technically speaking, still Marines, ma'am." Reginald added. "Even if they have a different tag to their shoulders."

"Quite." Strategist nodded. "Well, now that we're on station, I want us moving at six to 10 knots per our patrol pattern. But don't stray us too far - I doubt Servants can walk on water before we can blink, but I'm not going to take that chance."

"Yes, ma'am. Erm, should I have Miss Carly-Beth brought up to the bridge to observe this operation? I think her odd little 'peculiarity' would be of assistance."

Strategist shook her head. "No." She quickly rethought. "Wait, yes, definitely. It wouldn't afford us to keep her in the dark on anything and everything; we'll need her input."

As the Captain dispatched an Ensign to locate and bring Carly-Beth "with the Admiral's compliments", and as more of the ship's launch boats arrived at the docks, spotters and signal lamp operators set to work broadcasting a series of signal flashes towards any ship in dock or trying to leave:

CIVILIAN SHIPS, CIVILIAN SHIPS, THIS IS A MILITARY OPERATION. REMAIN IN PORT OR ON PRE-AUTHORISED COURSE UNTIL OPERATION'S COMPLETION - YOU WILL NOT BE HARMED. ANY ACTIVE RESISTANCE BY YOU OR I.J.N. FLEET ELEMENTS WILL BE RESPONDED TO IN KIND.

REPEAT: CIVILIAN SHIPS, THIS IS ...

Fate/Factitious Paradigm

-ignore-

Fate/Factitious Paradigm

"Dreadnought", 9nm from Harbour

@Paradox Witch@Argonaut

Lowering her binoculars once the smog from the detonations of high explosive warheads cleared, Strategist felt a grim satisfaction pass through her veins - colder then the wind which blew across the bridge and chilled her through her uniform jacket. Her first action - both as a Heroic Spirit and for her war-machine, and already, they've racked up their first success of this War.

Or did they? A glimmer from the coastline caught her eyes and, as she snatched her binoculars once again, she inhaled sharply as the dying World Tree's baleful glare shot towards her ship.

"HELM, HARD TO PO-" The order was barely out of her lips before - unknown to her - Carly's newest addition to her mask collection intervened. For a split second she saw a speck dart towards the oncoming beam, then her world turned, briefly, bright crimson; she, the other deck officers and anyone else external of the ship's citadel were forced to shield their eyes. When their arms and hands were lowered, the detonation - like both the World Tree and their unknown savior - was gone.

Strategist sighed with audible relief, thanking the Lord and whatever other powers-that-be in this war that 'Dreadnought' had not succumbed to the death throes of that relic. Even so, she knew that time for her and whatever plans she laid had now been considerably shortened. If she and her ship were to operate with impunity, then the planned-for seizure of Miyama's Harbor and any ships it contained would have to be moved up from this evening to right now.

"Marines!" she yelled over the side, catching the attention of her ship's company. "Change of plans!" A gloved fist punched the air as she ordered, "We! Move! NOW!"

A torrent of cheers broke out on the gun-deck as Strategist briefly withdrew to pass down new orders to her officers. "Bring our ship in within three nautical miles of the coastline, by the harbour. Once we are in position, we will disembark any Marine not assigned to gun duty and carry out our assault on the harbor as planned. Captain Reginald," she turned to the ships' commander. "As soon as we are unloaded, I want a continuing patrol and firing arc maintained along the harbor. Any ship that attempts to escape or arrive is to be warned off; all military craft will be ordered to heave-to and prepare to be boarded. No quarter will be given to any enemy Servant who attempt to stymie the landing."

She widened her audience slightly, adding to the others, "I want this one done by-the-numbers, with no civilian casualties if we can avoid it. We're part of a Holy Grail War, not the next Tsushima! I expect you all to carry out your duties effectively and in line with the Articles of War. Is that clear?"

A chorus of replies answered affirmatively and Strategist allowed herself a brief smile; she knew that they would not let her down.

"Very well," she concluded as, behind and below her, the ship's Marines made final preparations to their launches and to their equipment. "Then let's get it done."

Fate/Factitious Paradigm

Strategist

HMS 'Dreadnought', 13 nm from Harbour

@Paradox Witch

Strategist nodded when Carly brought up the issue of any blockade. "Under the Articles of War, I wouldn't even dream of doing such a thing. And you're right, Master - this place needs to get back on its feet; we best not make it worse."

She paced the deck for a few moments, running the numbers through her head, before adding, "If your 'scout' could find a way of transmitting information to my ship - maybe the old fashioned Morse could do - I can then have my captain act on any warnings your ... erm, 'companion' forwards. For now, though, I better concentrate on planning the raid on the harbor. If we can secure it for ourselves, that'd arguably be the best option, but even getting a few docked vessels of significant tonnage will be enough."

At Carly's second point, Strategist's expression soured. "If ... that is what you believe best, Master, though I must respectfully disagree. For the moment, I'll ascede to working with that rat-thing's master if it'll keep the peace and us out from underneath the guns of another. But we can't go this war alone, especially not so early to the point where we'd be cut down by others if they also detect our presence out here. We may be the ruling power on the waves for now, but we are just one ship, and I need not remind you that practically any other Servant could easily butcher me in close quarters."

She let out a frustrated breath through her nostrils. "I'll keep your wishes in mind for now, Master. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a firing plan to draft up and a Marine operation to put in place for tonight."

As she strode along the deck, making her way to one of the hatches that led into the superstructure, Strategist yelled up to an Ensign peering over the side of the bridge that surmounted the towering fore tower and wheelhouse. "Ensign, pass order to wheelhouse: proceed to bearing 290, speed at one-quarter!"

"Aye-aye, ma'am!"

"I'm not finished!" Strategist held up a gloved hand to stop the eager junior officer in his tracks. "Pass orders to the ship's Naval Company and officers: they are to meet me in the chartroom in the next twenty minutes!"

The lad saluted and departed. Below Strategist's boots, telegraphs rang, crewmen attended to their orders and the steam turbines powering her ship whined. A slight vertigo passed through Strategist's spine as 'Dreadnought' began to slowly bank and make her way shoreward, as the Servant disappeared through a hatch in the 'citadel' and began to make her way down a deck.

Fate/Factitious Paradigm

Strategist
Main Deck - HMS 'Dreadnought', At Sea near Miyama Harbour

@Paradox Witch

Strategist kept sternly silent as Carly-Beth and Piper's rat-contraption consulted together over the Servant's proposal. A part of her was inwardly surprised that this here-to unknown Servant had been able to gauge so much about her in less then a day, yet neither of them had even met before. If Piper had spies or some kind of familiar that was keeping tabs on them, then the Servant inwardly feared that key information about her, her Master and this ship is now already compromised. She will need to begin to take contingency steps to prevent another such security breach from happening again, starting with swatting down any spy-familiar she or her Master spotted.

She kept her eyes on Rat Face and the now-dispatched mask of Carley's as the pair disembarked, mindful of the trio of her ship's 76mm swivel guns that their crews trained on them until they were out of sight. The phantasmal Admiral cleared her throat once their passengers were out of earshot and added sardonically, "Not too sorry to see that Caster's puppet gone, Master. I was almost afraid that those rats would decide to start getting into every nook and cranny here and begin to break things."

She let out a breath. "Still, given that Caster's proposal and the fact we now know we've been spied on, we'll need to accelerate our plans. I've a couple of ideas already of how we can do so." The Strategist, starting to become 'geed up' to the looming prospect of involvement within this conflict, didn't even bother waiting for Carly's yay or nay, launching right into her summarisation.

"Firstly, I've consulted with my officers early this morning and we are in accord that we'll need to take control of the area's key harbor. Not only can we use this as a launching point for any operation, but it can also allow us to commandeer any ship entering or berthed there; I can then 'repurpose' each and every one into either armed Q-Ships or possibly even new warships that can match the power of this one." She stamped her right boot against the deck of 'Dreadnought' once to emphasise her point.

"Secondly, I think it'd be best if we attempted to make overtures to each of the three founding magus families and other organisations in this area. While I think our Hamelin Piper's offer is tempting, it wouldn't behoove us well if we've stabbed in the back, or if we find ourselves on the wrong side of the war. Gaining at least one of the major families' backing - or even an alliance of mutual aid - would be of significant benefit with us." She clicked her tongue. "The issue is: which of the three would be appropriate for us to make overtures towards - the Makiri, the Tohsaka - who are, if I recall, the 'owners' of this area of Imperial Japan - or the von Eizenberns?"

Drawing on what information she had gained from the Throne of Heroes, Strategist quietly mulled to herself on the latter question.

At a glance, the Eizenbern family would make the most sense to Strategist, with a millennium's worth of magical experience, their status as one of the three families that drove the creation of the Holy Grail War system and rumors of their capabilities. That said, Strategist's instinctive mistrust of any family that may have even tenuous links to the hostile Imperial Germany rankled with her; even if the von Eizenberns had forsook all allegiances to their homeland, how could she trust them without her prejudices getting in the way?

The Tohsaka family, with their status as the Second Owners of this patch of Imperial Japan, came up second. While the second arm in the Triad of Founding Families and - officially - the Family responsible for overseeing that the War was conducted 'properly', they was still a relative unknown. Little had been heard of them yet within the War and Strategist did not have a full appraisal, seen from her 'own time', as to what this family of Magi might ultimately become. Still, having the backing of the Second Owners could be beneficial and could allow them to operate in Japan with slightly less restrictions.

Finally, if the Tohsaka were unknowns, then the Makiri family completely eluded Strategist's thoughts. The third arm of the Founding Triad had been relatively secretive and, outside of rumors regarding their speculative specializations (some of which ranged from unusual to unpleasant) and mutterings of an unknown 'decline', nothing about them seemed to cross Strategist's mind. The Makiri were, in a word, a complete enigma. Still, if one gets backed into that corner ...

She shook her head to clear her thoughts, inclining her chin to her Master as she patiently waited for her input.

Fate/Factitious Paradigm

A Proposal from The Devil?

Strategist, Miyama Harbor

@Argonaut @Seirei No Hai @Paradox Witch

After her early morning briefing with her officers, Strategist had taken a short recon of the harbor area in her immaterial form, both to save on Mana and to avoid being spotted. To the Servant, knowing her abilities and what she did best, this was prime real estate to her. While her mighty 'Dreadnought' can see off conventional ships and - at distance - any potential threat, she knew she'd need additional ships to add to her might. She had noted as such to CTN Bacon during the meeting, who also noted that the harbor could serve as a limited foothold for land forays, a resupply area (if it came to that) and, if necessary, a possible area to launch a blockade of Miyama.

For now, Strategist had been focusing her thoughts of trying to draw up a coherent plan and timetable. That is, until she 'overheard' her Master note an incoming craft, followed shortly by the pinging of a stream of 'dits' and 'dahs' - a Morse code signal from 'Dreadnought':

URGENT. UNIDENTIFIED SHIP SIGHTED; CLOSING ON OUR POSITION. LATITUDE XXXXX BY LONGITUDE XXXX.

NO SIGN OF HOSTILE INTENT - YET. WILL STAND READY TO ENGAGE, IF NEEDED.

END.

That did it; Strategist's present stream of thought had been derailed. Fuming and filing her scratched together plans for later elaboration, Strategist dematerialised and raced back to her ship, hoping that the new arrival would not be an imminent threat.

Day 3 would simply be far too soon for both her and her Master to be cast out, or otherwise be destroyed, now...

---

Main Deck, HMS 'Dreadnought'

Arriving onto the main deck of her battleship, Strategist was pleased to note that her crew had not been idle. 'Dreadnought's' main and swivel guns were trained where the unknown contact had been sighted, while the ship's compliment of Marines were, even now, holding at gunpoint-

What on Earth was that thing?!

Strategist materialised, her Webley sidearm out and held at her side as the rat-thing - seemingly made from a mass of chittering rats and mice - 'spoke', relaying its master's message to her:

"Greetings, little girl" Rat face spoke without warning. "forgive my intrusion, but I've been watching you err....*cough* I mean me and my master have been observing you and has taken interest in what you do and would like to personally meet you, all expense paid of course under my master's generosity." The shadowy figure offered.

"We can always use an ally on the sea, allow me to disclose my real name, in signs of good trust, My name is Pied Piper, Caster class," Rat-face said and takes a curtsy.

Strategist frowned at the rat-thing's proposal, while a few of the armsmen twitched, their rifles gripped tighter.

"Servant Strategist, of His Britannic Majesty's Royal Navy." she replied, extending the same courtesy but still keeping her real name and identity secure. Even if the Servant's 'courier' had been able to sight anything of particular note about the Servant or the deck of the beast of iron they stood on, Strategist had no intention of divulging anything of use to this Servant or their Master. Not until any form of trust has been proven.

After all, as the old maxim went: 'Knowledge is power; guard it well'. And in a conflict like the Holy Grail War, where one slip of a clue, or a divulgence of a name, could literally mean the difference between life and death, Strategist had no intention of allowing anyone to take her by surprise or off-guard.

"Stand your weapons down, men!" she gruffly ordered the crewmen, which they (reluctantly) complied with, despite the dirty glaes they gave the 'courier'. Holstering her sidearm, Strategist's yellow eyes bore into Rat Face's absent sockets.

"Tell your master that I would be open to discussions on a ... potential agreement, should my Master agree." she replied, her boot heels clicking as she paced the wooden deck. "But understand that I must impose key conditions on this, for the safety of my crew and my Master. First, that if any meeting is agreed to, that all parties are to arrive disarmed. No weapons, no magic, no tricks. Second, that it would be my Master who will convey the location for any such meeting at a mutually-agreed on time."

She paused, rounding on her heels and gritting her jaw slightly, to make the following point clear, as she concluded, "And last, that if I or my Master so much as smell any hint of perfidy or deception on your part, I will crater the ground you stand on and the surrounding five miles until you and your Master are ashes on the wind."

She arched an eyebrow to Rat Face. "I will, of course, invite further input from my Master on your proposal, but will these conditions be satisfactory? Or do you, Multicoloured Piper of Hamelin, desire to seek aid elsewhere?"

Fate/Factitious Paradigm

Strategist
With Carly-Beth and Mary
HMS 'Dreadnought' - 13nm from Miyama Shoreline

@Paradox Witch

It had taken several minutes for the small launch to be brought in alongside the massive battleship's hull and in the meantime, Strategist had borne witness to both the sight of a 'world' falling to earth, then - just as quickly - a sudden, seemingly out-of-nowhere storm finally extinguish the black and red flames. The Servant let out an audible sigh of relief as she began to climb up the rope ladder that had been thrown down for her, Carly and Mary to ascend; it seemed that, for tonight, the worst was over for this city.

When the Servant's pony-tailed head and uniformed torso popped over the side of the railing-surmounted mid-ship turret deck, the trilling of a pair of boatswain's pipes could be heard as a hundred shoe-shod feet of the ship's officers and crew slammed to attention. Strategist grunted as she hauled herself up onto the deck, saluting the officers' side-party as she stepped to one side to allow the others enough room to ascend the ladder safely.

"Permission to come aboard, Captain Bacon?" Strategist inquired to one of the peaked cap-wearing officers, his shoulders sporting the rank slides of a Captain of the Royal Navy, as Strategist greeted him with a crisp salute.

"Granted, ma'am." CTN Reginald Bacon replied, barely hiding the slight smile he bore as he returned his superior officer's courtesy. "Welcome aboard."

Strategist nodded in thanks, lowering her hand. "My associates here will need billeting, preferably somewhere across from my cabin. See if arrangements can be made."

"Of course, ma'am. Shall I have our ship weigh anchor?"

"Not until we know what we're up against, Captain. The distance between us and the shoreline should be enough for now." Strategist turned to the leading Lieutenant at the side party. "Mr Dawson, please forward my compliments to the remainder of the ship's company and inform the officers that I will be expecting a briefing with them in the officer's mess, within the next two hours." She nodded to the assembly. "Thank you, gentlemen; that will be all. Dismissed."

As the side parties were dismissed and the crew returned to their stations, Strategist leaned against the side railing and put her hands in her trouser pockets, relaxing a little. So far, things were going like clockwork - just how she liked it.

Fate/Factitious Paradigm

Strategist
Landing Pier, Eastern Harbor

@Paradox Witch

Strategist shook her head at her Master's annoyed remark. "I'd merely thought it'd be best if you knew out the gate." she added, deliberately avoiding chipping in an apology despite her remorseful tone. "However, I'll take further care in adjusting such 'exchanges' in future."

"Well! Anyway, that helps a lot, actually. I was going to set up a workshop, but workshop creation isn't really my thing, and lucky us, we're still right by the water! Love it when a plan comes together. So, how about you summon that boat of yours and we hop on it, get a lil' bit of water distance between us and the docks, yeah?"

Strategist leaned a hand on her uniform's beltline as she added, "Well, we'd likely need a landing ground where we can access the mainland, as well as to scavenge for supplies and whatever resources we can obtain that we couldn't get from town -"

'Assuming said town survives by morning!' she sullenly reflected.

"But yes, I believe that discretion will be the better part of valor for tonight." Strategist concluded, her ponytail 'twitching' slightly in the breeze. At that, the Servant began to retrace her steps back across the gang-plank and back onto the deck of the small motor boat they had disembarked from earlier, listening to her Master as the Servant began to prepare the boat for departure. She screwed her face up slightly at the mention of her Master's companion's preference for dried oregano. "I'm sure my quartermaster can provide her with some of the genuine stuff in the place of the oregano; no need to deceive her further."

'Speaking of...' she observed when a ten year-old girl and a horribly-disfigured mask both showed up. Judging from the former's age and her question to her Master, this had to have been Mary, while the latter- What on God's great Earth is that ... thing?!

Snapping out of it, Strategist closed the hatch containing the small boat's primitive coal-fired engine and cleared her throat when Carly urged her to depart. "Yes, I think it's well past time we left. However, we'll need to get out into the open ocean first, and I'd rather not do anything that can be easily observable; too many possible eyes at this time of morning, for all I know."

She beckoned the trio on-board. "So, if we are all done bickering, we'll get going."

---

13 Nautical Miles Later ...

It would be 13 nautical miles of navigating the small steam ship out to sea - thirteen nautical miles of Strategist having to internally hold her proverbial lunch in as her ship pitched about in the Japanese Sea's waves - before she would finally bring her ship to a slower speed.

"This will do nicely." she added to Carly. She lifted up what appeared to be a gas lantern with a shutter on its front to her shoulder height, before she took a hold of the shutter mechanism, aimed it out towards what appeared to be empty water and began to rapidly open and close it. To someone completely unfamiliar with what the Strategist was doing, the actions would have seemed utterly nonsensical.

That is, until a pinprick of light could be observed responding in kind. Out of the darkness, a mountain of steel and iron began to slowly take form in the pre-dawn gloom ...

Fate/Factitious Paradigm

Strategist
Harbor - East Side of Miyama

@Paradox Witch

Strategist nodded quietly at both Carly's initial glee that the pair would get along well ('We'll see soon enough,' the Admiral of the Fleet mulled to herself), then to her Master's request to establish a mental 'uplink'. Clearing her head while the flames on the distant horizon licked higher into the night sky, she stepped up to and stopped a pace before the girl, yellow irises glaring down as the Strategist reached out to Carly and took the Magus' wrist with a gloved hand. Bands of energy briefly 'jumped' between the newly-established 'connection', flooding Carly's mind with a battering of jumbled memories.

"The Royal Navy should be the most powerful in the world, Prime Minister. We depend on it for trade protection, defending our Empire and its Dominions, and enforcing the rule of law. But all we have left are rusting hulks and designs that will quickly go out-of-date if we do not adapt; who will know when our Trafalgur will come for us, if we are unprepared?"

"Mr Fisher, will you kindly stop shaking your fist so close to my face?"

Eventually, a clear series of memory-flashes could finally be made out: a young Midshipman sitting arms-crossed aboard the deck of a small ironclad, sullenly looking towards the 'camera'. A proud Captain, clad in a formal, epauletted jacket and bedecked with a bar of medals, posing before the cameras at rest in his seat, while a journalist eagerly asked the officer questions. A world-weary Admiral of the Fleet staring down at a newspaper, its headline obscure but the front page's image clear enough to make out the body of a finely-dressed, blood-splattered man and woman being dragged out from a bullet-riddled automobile.

Against the background of these premonitions flashed a series of blueprints that - if Carly was able to catch glimpses of them - outlined a series of ship designs; unfamiliar names like "HMS Invincible", "HMS Renown", "HMS Queen Mary", "HMS Orion" and, perhaps most glaring of all to a Master was the name scrawled at the bottom of one particular blueprint: "HMS Dreadnought".

"Tensions between the Empire and Imperial Germany are running high. If we do not increase our production of warships and turnout of qualified crews and officers, the Kaiser will take his chances with the Royal Navy - his ambitions and reign will depend on it. He'll have to widen the canal at Kiel to get his new warships out into the North Sea and to confront us. Make no mistake, my Lords of the Admiralty: war within Europe will come by October of 1914."

The image shifted, 'tearing' at the edges as though a camera's film-roll was disintegrating, before a more frightful series of images flashed through Carly's mind. A steady line of steel warships, gun turrets belching smoke and fire against the backdrop of a smog-covered setting sun. A darkened deck lit by flames and fire, incinerating young seamen in the flash-flame's path as they helplessly tried to scramble through a hatchway. Ships violently detonating in choppy seas and men cast into open oceans, floundering for help that, all too often, never came or came too late to save all of them.

"We have no choice, Winston; it's everything or nothing. If we commit everything, the Empire might survive, thanks to the bulwark of ships and men we will gain. If we commit nothing, we stand to risk losing everything - Empire, allies, resources and men, women and children. Which will it be?"

Abruptly, Strategist yanked her hand back from the Magus, severing the link between them as she gasped for breath. It appeared that the experience had worn at the Servant, but was it due to the strain of the effort that had been needed, or something else?

Fate/Factitious Paradigm

Strategist "Jacky"
Servant to Carley-Beth
Miyama Harbor

@Paradox Witch

Between the bickering mask on one end and the newly-involved, child-like Master on the other, neither of them would have noticed - or cared - about the newest arrival to grace the War's presence until a curt clearing of the throat cut in a pace or two from the now-docked boat.

"Jacky" lowered a gloved, cupped fist to her side, scrutinizing both mask and Master alike. "Well, this is a new record for me." the Strategist finally added with a slight smirk on her pale face, her hand resting on the pommel of her cutlass. "Barely five seconds coming ashore and already I'm seeing a Magus arguing with a mask, a mask being animate to begin with, and the battleground and residence of this new Holy Grail War is already going up in smoke."

The Servant shuffled about on the gangway to face the glowing fire in the distance. "I suspect you'd want to go through the motions of confirming who's who and all the nauseating regurgitation called 'ritual' which practically every other Magus would go through at this point," Her brow furrowed. "But I doubt either you or I would have much time for that. Just tell me what needs to be done, or is intended, and I will do my utmost to carry it out."