Disputed Sea - 8. Disp Ch 8

For the next week, a lot of things happened quickly. The Chinese government had sent a fleet of warships south to the 15^th Parallel, where they attempted to fire rockets and torpedoes towards the Spratley Islands, but with the net in place, plus the Poseidon subs as backup, all rockets and torpedoes failing to get through the net. This resulted in the Chinese government once again making a formal complaint to the United Nations, which was ignored, and because of that heavy travel and trade sanctions were announced by China.

In Australia, in the news, it was announced that China has ordered staff from all but one Australian Embassies, to leave China’s territories within 24 hours, and as a result of this, the Australian Government put travel bans on several prominent government and business people, who travel to Australia regularly. A few days later this escalated to more threats from the Chinese government, with a total ban on trade with Australia, the Philippines, Malaysia, Vietnam and Indonesia.

The following day that this was announced, there was a large explosion at our Lee Point Hotel, which happened in the late morning, and as soon as we found out about it, we called the hotel, to find out if everyone was ok. “Kipling here, and Joshua is with me, can you please inform us what damage and injuries there are?’ I asked as soon as the call was answered. “Mr Ashburton and Mr Alliston, thankfully no one was killed, as we have been preparing for a major conference with the whole hotel booked out, with arrivals due tomorrow, and the last of the guests left shortly before 9.30 am, so there was just staff onsite.

So far, we have 14 staff on their to the hospital, with nothing too serious, I have been told, but the hotel is a complete disaster, as the bomb or whatever it was that exploded, has totally destroyed the engineering department, so we have not power generator, plus no waste disposal pump and water supply pumps operational. We are currently working with your new hotel to have the guests transferred too there,” came the reply.

“Thank goodness there were no fatalities, we will assist with the transfer of guests to this hotel at Cullen Bay, and while the authorities are checking the place out, have all perishables transferred over to this hotel then have that hotel shut down, with 24-hour security in place,” Joshua said to the manager. “Very good sir, I will have it done,” was the response before the call ended.

“What now?” I asked Joshua after a bit of silence, “We, get the hell out of here,” Joshua replied, as the door opened and Xander and Langley came rushing in, “We have just heard about the explosion, I have called my flight crew and told them to prepare for departure as soon as we get there. Where do you want to go to?” Xander asked Joshua and me, and I looked at Joshua who shrugged his shoulders.

“Leave it to me, and we will soon be well away from here, just pack everything you have as quickly as you can, a car will be here in fifteen minutes,” Xander announced as he headed for the door while dialling a number on his phone, and Langley dashing to catch up. “Yes, hello Sebastian, this is an emergency, where is…” we heard him say before they disappeared out of the suite.

Joshua and I quickly packed up everything, with a lot of our stuff already packed, as we hadn’t had a chance to do anything with the relocating to the second hotel, and when done, we exited our suite just moments after Langley and Xander, “Right it is all organised, we are flying directly to Exmouth, where one of the family yachts is currently berthed, and from there we will be out at sea,” Xander said to us as we headed for the service elevator.

When it arrived, Jack stepped out, and seeing all of our luggage, he looked shocked. “Thank you for all of your service Jack, due to an incident at the other hotel we are getting the hell out of here, take care and look after yourself,” Joshua said as we stepped into the elevator. “Actually. My Dad suggested that I travel with you, where ever that may be, as he felt that you may need my assistance, and my bags are packed and waiting downstairs,” Jack replied. The four of us looked at each other, all of us a little surprised by this news.

“It’s your company, so I guess it is your decision,” I said to Joshua, who frowned and then chuckled. “Actually. That is not quite correct, Alliston Investments only owns 50% of the Cullen Bay Hotel, while the other half is owned by the newly formed Ashburton Investments Company, which is you… So I suggest that you take the lead on this one,” Joshua said to me, and I stood there in total shock at this announcement.

Chuckles for Langley caught my attention, “Believe me, you will be caught out on lots of surprises, just as Xander has done with me, you just have to take it all in and get used to your new responsibilities,” Langley said to me, as Xander nodded his head in agreement, and I saw Joshua smiling broadly, which made me groan. “Ok, Jack, you can join us, but at the moment I have no idea where the hell we are going, and I am guessing we will know once we are in the air and away from prying ears,” I said to our new Butler.

“Do you have a passport at all Jack?” Xander asked our butler, “Yes sir, I was instructed by my Dad to bring it just in case we need to travel to unknown locations,” Jack replied, and Xander and Langly laughed, “That is exactly what the case is at the moment, but it won’t be long before we do know, just hang on and enjoy the wild adventure,” Langley said to Jack.

As soon as we arrived at Darwin Airport, we were driven to the Private terminal, where an executive jet was waiting for us, and we quickly climbed onboard, and our luggage was quickly loaded into the storage bay, and less than five minutes later, we were in the air. “Wow, that must have been the fastest departure of an aircraft ever,” Jack commented, as we continued to steadily climb and began to turn westwards.

“Ok, I can now tell you that we are heading for Learmonth Airport, just out of Exmouth in Western Australia’s Pilbara region, where one of the family yachts is currently berthed,” Xander announced to all of us. “I felt I already knew the answer, but I asked anyway. “Which one? The biggest one you have?” I asked Xander, who smiled and chuckled, “Yes my friend, it is the biggest one of the lot, the Southern Explorer.

“The Captain has just completed a cruise up the West Coast from Fremantle, and he has cancelled all future cruises, to be available immediately for our use,” Langley added. “I look forward to this, I have heard so much about the Southern Explorer,” I commented. “That is good to hear, and now that you have Jack with you, and we will have Xavier, there will be no problems with looking after us on this trip to the unknown,” Xander said.

“I guess we won’t know where that will be until we are onboard and well out to sea?” Joshua asked, “That is correct, at the moment, only Xander, myself and the senior crew of the yacht know where we are heading,” Langley said to us, “Oh! I may have a good idea, of where we may be heading. If it includes a supply stop on the far south coast of the African Continent,” I said to Xander and Langley, who just laughed and said no more on the matter.

Just over three hours later, we arrived at Learmonth Airport, which is located approximately 35 kilometres due south of the town of Exmouth, and as we came into land, we spotted a large yacht anchored in the Exmouth Gulf, about five kilometres from shore. “There she is, wow, it is a lot bigger than I expected,” I commented as we spotted the yacht,

“Yes, indeed she is big. She has a total of eight decks, which include a helipad and hanger, a cinema, spa and sauna, an indoor basketball court, ten guest suites, 12 guest cabins, and four executive cabins. She can travel for months on end before having to restock with supplies and fuel, and she can handle any kind of weather that mother nature can throw at her,” Langley said to us.

Once all of our luggage was collected and loaded into a trailer attached to a minibus, we climbed in and were transported to a small jetty just four kilometres north of the terminal, where two boats were waiting for us at the jetty, with four men in ships uniform and one young man in a formal suit stood on the jetty for our arrival. “Welcome back sir, we are ready to go, and we managed to restock with plentiful supplies,” the young man said to Xander.

“Thank you, Xavier. Have you arranged for Mr Ashburton and Mr Alliston to be in the suite on the same level as Lang and I?” Xander responded, “Yes sir, all has been prepared, and also accommodations for Mr Jack too,” Xavier said as he looked Jack up and down and smiled, and I was barely able to stop laughing at what I just saw, and Joshua was also smiling and gave me a little nudge, and I just nodded my head to let him know that I too saw Jack being checked out by Xavier.

About ten minutes later, the short boat ride ended as we arrived at the aft of the large yacht, where there is a good-sized swim deck and steps leading up to the main deck, as a team of crew arrived and started to get all of our luggage onboard. “Welcome aboard the Wagner family Superyacht, Southern Explorer. Follow me gentlemen and we will go directly to your suite on D Deck, and Xavier will get Jack settled into his cabin on C Deck below,” Xander announced to us, as he lead the way forward on the sundeck, and into an open living space that was huge.