Next morning, Phong Nguyen was still sitting on the ground thinking over his discovery of the night before when the trucks arrived. He hurried over, he had to speak with the platoon commander and make some quick changes to the script. That took a few minutes, by which time the villagers had assembled around them. Nervous and apprehensive but defiant. They'd defended their village hadn't they? And nobody could object to that could they? The Army Lieutenant got out of his truck and looked at the dead bodies. “What Happened?”
The Headman explained, now the accusations of the night before had become facts. At this point, the original script had called for the officer to break into a furious tirade lashing the villagers for taking the law into their own hands. Now, that had gone. Instead, he shook his head sadly and remarked how difficult it must have been for them to raise their hands against guests. But, the safety and security of the village had to come first and they'd had no choice. But now, the friends of these evil persons would be coming to take revenge. That brought them back to the script. Perhaps the Army could help. Would these be useful to you?
In the back of the trucks were crates, containing new Russian-made AK-47 rifles. The long war with Germany and the German warlords had made Russian infantry weapons the envy of the world - and the country's leading foreign currency earner. Most countries vastly preferred the AK-47 to the American M-l. The Lieutenant took one from its crate and gave it to the Headman. Phong Nguyen turned to the villagers.
“The Army has given us these fine rifles to help us protect our homes, our families, all that is ours. Who will join the Tahan Pran now?”
The first three to step forward were Ai and Nao and Lin. Women? Why not? There were women in the Regular Army and women had been some of the best soldiers in the Viet Minh. Besides, after last night's display of knife-work he was not going to upset Lin - and anyway, he liked her Chicken Pad Thai.
Come to think of it, she really was a very fine woman; she would make a good wife for a Viet Minh Senior Political Cadre. But, better yet, the men in the village were not going to stand back and let the women fight for them. They were already stepping forward, at this rate, the Tahan Pran would triple in size and their new automatic rifles would give them many times greater firepower yet.
The Army lieutenant was asking the Village Headman for permission to stay for a day or two so that his men could teach the villagers how to look after their new rifles. Meanwhile Phong Nguyen went over to Lin and started to show her how to use her new AK-47. As he did so, she nestled a little closer to him. The village women looked at each other significantly. The Vietnamese orphan they had taken in had gained much prestige and respect today, Lin had made herself a good catch.
Captain's Cabin, INS Rana, Melbourne Naval Base, Australia
It had been a hard cruise. Rana and her sister ship Rajput were brand new, fresh from the shipyard and carried a clutch of new systems, both Indian and imported. Integrating them had been a problem, getting some to work at all had been a worse one. Captain Kanali Dahm had written a scathing report on some of the dockyard work that had been done. It had been skimped, some of the welding was far sub-standard, and he had boiler problems. The good news was that his four twin 4.5 inch guns had worked perfectly and what firepower that gave him. 40 rounds per minute per barrel for 320 rounds per minute total. His torpedoes might be old but they were trusted and reliable. Other navies may have defective torpedoes but he could trust his.
Anchored across the way from the two destroyers was the flagship of the squadron, the battlecruiser INS Hood. During the destroyer's gunnery practice, she'd let fly with her main battery of 15 inch guns. Now that was firepower, accurate too. Captain Dahm had seen the big shells fall in a tight pattern around the selected target. He knew what would happen now that they had reached Melbourne and opened up for public visits tomorrow. There would be a line of people waiting to visit “The Mighty 'Oody stretching far beyond the dockyard gates but his destroyer would be deserted.
This was good, because the only people who would be coming on board were his professional colleagues from the Australian Navy. And, of course, the members of the Naval Mafia who would come along to photograph his antennas. His crew had already been hard at work, applying a spot of strongers to his upperworks and hogging out the messdecks. He wanted his new command looking shipshape before his peers - and the naval press.
Mind you, port visits could be embarrassing sometimes. He'd been a sprog on the Old Renown when she visited London a few years back. Traditionally navies that traced their ancestry back to the Royal Navy had in common that the best hospitality onboard ship could be found in the Chief Stoker's Mess – but entry was by invitation only and a rare privilege. A minor British politician called Healey had been found hammering on the entry hatch to the CSM at 0300 demanding free beer. Avoiding a diplomatic incident there had taken deft footwork. Kanalt Dahm had heard later that the same politician had attempted the same trick on an American ship and tried to force an entry into The Goat Locker - rumor had it that a Senior Chief had accused him of being a Democrat and thrown him over the side as a result.
That was another thing; he had to get the Ship's Poisoner to give the crew the usual lecture on how not to catch unspeakable diseases while on a run ashore. Not that they'd listen of course, this was a training cruise and the ships were full of cadets and trainees. That might explain some of the systems problems they'd had of course. A Jimmy Green and a new piece of electronics were a marriage made in hell. Come to think of it, that raised another problem. As always on a port visit, he had a pile of invitations for the crew.
There was something strange about them. “For parties of up to ten seamen at a time to visit the our brewery, sample our products and play the staff at cricket,” Then there was this one. “To crew of INS Rana. Beach party, barbeque and a friendly game of cricket.” And “Six Indian Sailors invited to piano recital and listen to the cricket”. Was the entire Australian nation insanely devoted to cricket, did factory workers pour out from their machine shops on breaks to practice their batting and bowling? Even that didn't explain this one “Madame Sophie's House of Sin, visit us for an evening of strict discipline and cricket.” Captain Dahm shook his head. Fortunately his Jimmy had arrived.
“Cricket, Number One? Is the entire Australian nation insanely devoted to cricket? We don't have enough sports equipment on board for a tenth of these invitations.”
“Don't worry sir. The Harbormaster here believes that we are the ones who are all insanely devoted to cricket so he adds an invitation for cricket to every welcome message we get before he sends them over. The Yank cruiser out there got the same invitations with 'baseball invitations' added. Who knows what French ships get. Perhaps it is better not to ask. Sir, that didn't sound right?”
There had been a dull thump, faint here in Dahm's cuddy but distinct nonetheless. There was a crash as the Sparker dived in. Captains differed in their approach but Dahm's was that if the message was urgent enough for a Sparker to risk a tongue-lashing, it was urgent enough to dispense with the formality of a knock. Almost simultaneously the “away tire and rescue parties” was sounding. “Sir, emergency sir, there had been an explosion on the Hood:'
“Not her magazines?” The moment anybody mentioned a battlecruiser and explosion in the same phrase, people's minds went immediately to the magazines.
“No Sir at the Admiral's reception. No word on what happened but Hood is requesting all available assistance to handle casualties. Rana and Rajput are to go to full battle stations immediately and close down. Sir, messages come from Captain Ladone, no word from Admiral Singh. He asks you to attend him immediately once you have secured your ship.”