Chapter 1: An International Joint Adventure

July 12, 1990

“The problem is Cartoom,” Mr. Lauro Soun said.

He was the Secretary of Commerce from the country of Filop. It was one of the more important positions in Filop. The economy of the country revolved around the export of exotic woods. He worked closely with the Secretary of the Interior who was charged with making sure that the source of exotic woods would never run out and the Secretary of Defense who was charged with keeping the country secure and trade routes open.

Mr. Lauro Soun had features that were a cross of those of an Island States native and a Chen. The combination wasn’t particularly attractive, and he probably wouldn’t have reached his position except for his high intelligence and political savvy. He was an extremely brilliant man.

Pen Hopo studied the people seated around the conference table. There were a dozen representatives from an equal number of countries along with the heads of four major shipping companies. They all looked worried. She knew what the problem was, but wanted them to state it.

“What exactly is the problem?” she asked.

“Pirates,” Mr. Rolf Landvic said.

He was the owner of the Osslonova Shipping Company, based out of the country of Osslonova. It was the second largest shipping company in the world. It was the second largest only because of the original Osslonova Royal Proclamation by King Rolvsson that no ship flying its flag was to be involved with the arms trade.

When the great wave of expansion swept across the continent of Besland, Osslonova, like all countries, immediately charged forth with its fleet to grab as much land as it could. It quickly discovered that it couldn’t compete militarily with Port, Ingle, Franka, Espa, Itan, and Romal. It managed to grab Redland and Norga, but only because Port, its neighbor to the south, was busy grabbing everything else in the neighborhood. Every time it set a flag down on another island, one of the big guys would come along and push them off.

At the same time, countries like Port, Ingle, Franka, Espa, and Romal were engaging in naval wars in nearly every part of the world. They had conquered new territory full of riches, that had to be defended at great cost. However, they weren’t able to get any of the goods home without having to run past a host of navies. More goods ended up at the bottom of the ocean than at home.

King Rolvsson realized the difficulty other nations were having in getting goods home was an opportunity for his country to take a part in the expansion. He took two steps to take advantage of this opportunity. He sent out letters to the heads of state of every country on the continent of Besland announcing that, henceforth, Osslonova was a neutral county uninterested in expansion on any new or undiscovered lands. He also proclaimed that no ship flying the nation’s flag would transport arms.

Businesses in other countries immediately saw the implications of these two proclamations. As a neutral country in which ships were banned from transporting arms, there was no reason for anyone’s navy to stop, board, search, and seize or sink an Osslonovian ship. This meant that goods could flow from source to destination without impediment. Many people, particularly those of Osslonova, considered King Rolvsson to be the most brilliant man of his century.

The net result was that nearly every sailor in Osslonova ended up with a ship transporting goods from newly discovered lands back to Besland, despite the fact that their home port was closed half of the year due to ice. A small country with a desolate land and climate that wouldn’t support more than a hundred thousand people now had a fleet of thousands of ships carrying goods to every part of the world. It, on a per capita basis, quickly became one of the wealthiest countries in the world.

When the age of iron ships was born, the island of Redland, which Port had ignored and left to Osslonova, turned out to have rich deposits of iron, hence the red color of the land. Osslonova turned that island into a shipbuilding mecca. Nearly every modern ocean going vessel that wasn’t of military use was produced at a Redland shipyard.

The Landvic family went about organizing the great fleet, and ultimately transformed themselves into the owners of the second largest shipping company in the world. Only a handful of its ships ever sailed into the home port. It would also be the shipping most affected by pirates.

Pen Hopo asked, “What about the Cartoom pirates?

“Cartoom is in a position where it can control the Ringland sea and the Long Jump Channel that connects the Ringland Sea to the Ocean. Essentially, countries from Imra all of the way to Kale can’t get goods to the east without having to sail through waters now controlled by the Cartoom Pirates.”

“What about your Navies?”

“Our Navy is not positioned to protect vessels at sea,” Mr. Lorenzo DiMarco said.

He was the Secretary of the Navy for Coli. It was basically a poor country whose navy, limited in terms of resources, was primarily focused on coastal activities rather than open sea. It exported enough raw materials to cover the imports of food. It didn’t have the most stable government in the region, so regime change was always a concern.

“We don’t have the resources to protect ships as far away as the Long Jump Channel,” said Mr. Obin Osei.

He was the Secretary of the Navy for Immani. It was a well equipped Navy supported by a relatively stable, although somewhat repressive government. It was relatively distant from the Long Jump Channel and it would be a stretch of its capabilities to extend its ships that far from home port.

Pen Hopo turned to one of the men at the table and asked, “What about your Navy, Admiral Kwong?”

Admiral Kwong, a man of obvious Chen descent, blushed from embarrassment. At one time, the Navy of Cartoom had been one of the strongest in the region for exactly the same reason that piracy was not a problem. It had been well positioned to be the gatekeeper of the Long Jump Channel along with Filop. It was now a quarter of the size it had been a decade earlier. It was unable to control the waters around the country.

Twenty years earlier, a president of Cartoom came up with the idea of rebuilding and modernizing the infrastructure of the entire country. Although it was a rich country and the cost could have been spread out over decades, the President of the time wanted it done now, not two decades from now. As a result, he borrowed money from a number of countries to fund his grand project.

The country discovered later that they couldn’t cover the payment schedule. The next president was faced with a terrible decision of either declaring bankruptcy or finding the money from some other source. History had shown that a country that declared bankruptcy often required a century or more to recover economically, so he ruled out that option almost immediately. There were two other sources of income: nationalizing companies or selling off government owned assets. Nationalizing businesses was economic suicide.

Cartoom, as a short term solution, started selling off its Navy. From an economic and political perspective, it was a brilliant decision. Businesses were relatively unaffected by the decision. Citizens weren’t hit with a huge tax increase. Ships, even older vessels, had value and could bring in money. A reduction in the size of the Navy also significantly reduced an annual expense, thus freeing up more money for use in repaying the loans. Unfortunately, the cuts went too deep.

Selling off the Navy worked to cover the debt in the short term, but it wasn’t a long term solution. For something of a longer nature, Cartoom leased two islands, one to Chen and one to Amra, for use as military bases. Neither base had become operational at this point, but the lease payments were covering the debt quite well.

Cartoom was now in the process of rebuilding its Navy. Unlike the previous president, this one was approaching the problem with a long term vision in mind. Admiral Kwong was the chief architect of the new Navy, but the fact that he was needed for that role embarrassed him.

Admiral Kwong answered, “As you know, our Navy is a fraction of the size it should be. Your people at Jade Force bought a number of our ships. We can’t even patrol our own waters, much less protect the Long Jump Channel.”

Jade Force had purchased a troop transport, three antique landing craft, a small destroyer, two small patrol craft, and a single submarine from Cartoom. The troop transport and landing craft were in use, but the rest basically were for occasional use in training and maintenance exercises. There just weren’t enough Jade Warriors to fully staff the destroyer or the submarine. The two patrol craft were used in training and to patrol the waters alongside the Jade Academy property.

“What about your navy, Mr. Soun?”

“Filop always relied upon Cartoom to keep the Channel clear. The majority of our military budget goes to the Army and the Air Force. We’ve increased appropriations to the Navy, but it is too little and too late to be of much help in the short term,” Mr. Soun answered.

“What about attacking the pirates at their bases of operation?” she asked.

Sounding frustrated, Admiral Kwong answered, “Legally, we can’t. The crimes are taking place in international waters. We can’t arrest someone because we suspect they are a pirate. We have to catch them in the act of piracy. It actually requires another country to catch them in the act and pursue them to shore before we can act using land forces.”

“Would you act?” she asked pointedly.

“By international law, we have to support the effort to catch the pirates. Unfortunately, there is a difference between supporting and acting effectively. There are just too many ports where the pirates can flee to for us to act effectively except by pure luck. We never developed that large of an Army,” Admiral Kwong said.

“What is it that you want Jade Force to do?” Pen Hopo asked.

Mr. Soun said, “We want you to take command of a fleet comprised of a single ship from each of our countries and eliminate the pirate problem. Each nation has compiled a list of assets it is willing to risk. It will be up to you to choose from those lists, and put together the fleet you will use to eliminate the pirates.”

Pen Hopo was surprised. She had accepted the invitation to this meeting more out of curiosity than an expectation of getting a contract. She knew the problem all of these countries faced was that of Cartoom pirates. A solution to that required a Navy, so Jade Force wasn’t really an appropriate choice. After all, Jade Force only had a pretend Navy at the moment. The ships it had were for training and not actual use in sea battles. When so many countries and companies all request a meeting like this, it was only rational to accept the invitation. She didn’t expect them to put military assets under the command of Jade Force.