NB New Direction - 22. NB ND Chapter 22

About twenty minutes later, while the stewards were showing the guests to their cabins, the twins had already dissapeared to get up to some sort of mischief, and I headed up to the bridge, and moments after arriving, we heard over the radio – “This is the Australian Defence Force on Deepdale Island, all approaching naval vessels be warned that we will defend this Australian Territorial Island, stop and turn around, do not approach this island, if you do breach the 200 kilometre sea boundary, it will be regarded as an invasion, and we will defend our boundaries” we heard.

There was a period of silence, before the message was repeated, followed by a response, “This is the USS Turtle Cove, from Diago Garcia, we understand your message, and we are coming to assist with defending your Island, we understand the island is part of the Australian Territory, and we will remain outside the boundary till assistance is required, over”.

A few moments later another voice came onto the radio, “This is the Navy of the Peoples Republic of China, we do not recognise your claim of the island as Australian Territory, and we have sent a statement to the United Nations, claiming the island as part of China’s Outer Territories”, almost straight after, came another voice, “This is the Navy of the Republic of France, we will be the first to arrive at the island, and will be claiming the Island as a Territory of Mauritius”.

The Australian defence officer repeated the warning, twice more before everything went quiet. “I do not like the sound of this, Annette was right to be concerned about another Falklands type war happening” I said to no one in particular, just as the phone rang, and the first officer held it out to me. “Sir it is for you, the Australian Minister of Defence” James informed me, as I stepped forward to take the call.

“Hello this Deepdale Island’s Administrator – Huon Devonport speaking” I said, “Hello young man, we heard that radio conversation just now, and we would like to get your point of view before any more action is taken, what is your current location?” the caller said to me. “Ma’am, we have evacuated the island of all civilians, only one member of my staff remains on the island, a former Naval Lt Commander, I have instructed him to follow all commands of the Submarine Commander, but I have also informed the Commander, that Lt Commander Robertson, is in charge of the island in my absence” I said in reply.

“I see, now I beleive that you have two submarines near the island at the moment, and some SAS soldiers dropping in shortly, plus a supply ship will be close by, how important is it to you to keep this island in Australian Territory?” the Minister asked me, “Ma’am, I think that it is very important, considering that it is the nearest outer island, to mainland Australia, we are even closer than the Cocos Keeling and Christmas Islands.

If Deepdale Island was to be claimed by another country, it would put the security of Australia into very high risk” I replied. “Ok, you have convinced me, now just to let you know, the commanding officer of Fleetbase West has already despatched another two more Naval vessels for your area, an amphibious assault ship, and a Anzac class frigate, that are approximately 36 hours away, which will be about 12 hours after the French Navy have arrived, and two hours after the Chinese arrive.

I believe you know of the surprise plans that have been set up on the island, and hopefully they will be able to keep any intruders off the island till the extra ships arrive, we will do our very best to keep your island in Australia’s hands, and if we do, we may have to sit down and discuss some plans for future defence on the island, bye for now Mr Devonport” the Minister said and the call ended.

“Well, that was very interesting, Captain, can I adjust that earlier request, and ask that we only sail for 4 hours instead of 12, I have this feeling that we may need to return alot quicker than planned” I said. “Yes sir, that is not a problem, as we have calm seas for the next three days, depending on what that cyclone does” the captain replied. There was a short buzzing sound and the first officer picked up the phone, and after listening to a message he hung up.

“That was the chief Steward, wanting to inform you that dinner is being served in the executive dining room” James announced to me, “Good, I am hungry, any officers not on duty are welcome to join us” I said as I headed towards the door. I decided not to say anything during dinner, but I could see that Sebastian was wanting to find out what I was doing up on the bridge for so long. Straight after dinner, Kyle, Sebastian and I headed for Bridge, where we knew it was secure enough to talk, and I informed them both of what I had heard on the radio, and gave a rundown of the telepone converstion with Canberra, and that I had altered the request for travelling to just four hours from the island, instead of twelve.

“Sir I had a call from the Sub Commander, while you were at dinner, he was wanting to talk to one of you, mainly to inform you that a whole company of SAS soldiers had arrived on the island, not two platoons, as originally planned,ready to defend it” the first officer informed us, and I thanked him for the message.

“What do you think we should do?” I asked Sebastian, “I think we stay at your plan of stopping after 4 hours,and wait to see what happens when the ships arrive” Sebastian replied, and I nodded my head in agreement, before we headed down to the storm lounge, where the boys were playing a video game. That night, I didn’t sleep very well, even when I felt the ship come to a slow stop, and the engines were shut off, leaving just the power generator operating, which caused alot less vibration on the ship. When I eventually woke up, it was to the sound of my door opening and the twins bursting in.

“Boys, get out of there, leave Huon alone so he can get up” I heard Sebastian shout, and the boys retreated out of the room, and I soon heard cartoons coming from the television in the lounge. “Turn that television down, it is way too loud” I heard Sebastian shout, this time in Italian, and moments later the sound was reduced, jsut as my door opened and Kyle stuck his head in, “Good morning sunshine, it is a beautiful day outside” Kyle said beforoe dissapearing again.

After a quick shower to wake up properly, I dressed neatly and headed down to the executive dining room for some breakfast, where all the other guests were gathered. “How come we have stopped, and how far away are we from the island?” Chris Roland asked, as we approached and sat down.

“We decided to stay fairly close, just to monitor things, and we are 4 hours due east of the island” Sebastian replied, as cooked breakfasts arrived, and we began to eat. After breakfast, we all retreated down to the Beach lounge, and I had asked the steward to ask the captain to update us regularly if anything happens on the island.

About half an hour later over the PA system we heard the sound of gunfire which scared us at first, “This is the Commander of HMAS Avon calling MV Southern Explorer, over” we heard, and I jumped up out of the chair and raced to the phone, ‘This is Huon, connect me to the HMAS Avon” I said as soon as it was answered.

“HMAS Avon, this is Southern Explorer, Huon speaking, over” and the voice echoed as it came back over the PA system, which was switched off, soon after to stop any feedback, “Mr Davenport, I just wanted to inform you that the French had crossed the 200 kilometre sea boundary, two hours ago and we have sent rocket across their bows as a warning, over” came a quick reply, “Very good, thanks for the update, over” I answered.

“Sir, the French have turned around and they cross over the sea boundary, and are now just sitting there, over” the Commander replied. “What about the others from the north? Over” I asked, “Sir, they are about to cross the sea boundary in a few minutes, and they don’t appear to be slowing down. The Americans are now situated just out of the sea boundary, but to the east north east of the island.

They are still are still offering assistance, but we have asked them to remain on standby for now, over” the Comander replied, “Ok, thankyou and keep up the good work, Southern Ocean out” I said before hanging up the phone, and the speaker came back on again, but a little quieter this time.

“HMAS Avon to Southern Explorer, we are keeping an open mic for you so you can monitor the situation, over and out” the Commander said, and shortly afterwards, we heard the sound of two large sounds, which I presumed was missiles being launched. This was followed by the sound of two very loud bangs, followed by two more distant bangs.

“The Chinese sent a missle to the island in retaliation to the warning shot, which hit the island, just East of the hamlet, and the French have sent a missle in the direction of the Chinese, which hit one of the ships, with minimal damage to their main deck” the Commander informed us, as we heard a variety of conversations happening all at one, some of it sounding like it was coming from the other sub, and the land forces.

We have two soldiers injured by the missle strike, no one killed, now the Chinese are sending 2 helicopters towards the island” came the report, and we all waited in silence, as we listened to the broadcst of the conflict as it is happening. A few minutes later anohter report came over the radio. “I count at least twenty men repelling out of each Chinese chopper onto the island, near the lighthouse, a French Chopper is approaching from the other direction.

We will be seen by them if we stay in the bays, I am ordering that we set off out to sea, we will be heading towards the Chinese, the other Sub is heading towards the French” we heard, before there was alot of rapid gun fire, which lasted for ever, and when it finally stopped, the next report came in.

“The Chinese landing party of 52, has been captured, five of them are killed and 19 injured, we have 14 injured but no deaths, the French have seen the gun fight, and also seen the two submarines, they have turned their choppers back to their ship” the report said, and I dashed up to the Bridge, to speak to the Captain, and moments later I was in radio contact with the HMAS Avon again.

“Commander, we have on this ship, a small hospital and two doctors onboard, do you require us for medical assistance, over” I said over the radio, “Mr Davenport, that would be much appreciated, do you also have any facilities for detention of prisoners, over” the Commander asked, as I faced the Captain and gave him the nodded to head back towards the island. “We will see what we can do to accommodate your request, do you have body bags for the deceased, over” I replied.

“Straight towards the island please Captain, but no closer than 10 nautical miles please” I asked the Captain, who responded by giving the order to turn around and head back to Deepdale Island. “Yes, we have body bags, what do you want us to do with them, over” came the reply from the HMAS Avon, and I looked over to Sebastian, who had just walked in and heard the last few conversations.

Sebastian stepped closer and I handed him the phone, “Commander, this is Sebastian Wagner, the island has no cold storage big enough, so I suggest that you photograph each Chinese deceased, bag them and contact the Chinese to arrange for their collection, maybe use the patrol boat as a delivery vessel, and ask the Americans to provide cover.

I also recommend that the Americans take custody of the remaining uninjured captured Chinese, be sure to photograph them all, before handing them over, and don’t tell the Chinese or the Americans about any of the photographs, we will take care of the injured Australian and Chinese soldiers, and we will sed our chopper to collect them from the island helipad” Sebastian replied.

“Very good sir, how long until you arrive?” the Commander asked, “Approximately 3 ½ hours, we will stay 10 nautical mile east of the island for safety reasons, over and out” Sebastian replied, before he replaced the phone, and picked up the internal phone, and pressed intercom, Dr Sanderson and Dr Jai Chakma Patwary, Reverend Davies and Michelle Andrews to B Deck immediately please” Sebastian said before putting the second phone down.

Sebastian and I headed down to B Deck, to wait for the arrival of the medic, two doctors and Annette to arrive, with Rev being the first. “Annette, in your time as an Army reservist, were your duties solely as a chaplain?” I asked, “No actually, I was a paramedic, but I haven’t done any of that in quite some time” Annette replied, as the other three arrived, and Sebastian led them into what use to be the administration of the company, and was now jsut a big empty room, with bathroom, walk in wardrobe and study.

“We are about to become a hospital ship, as we have 14 Australian and 29 foreign soldiers that have been injured in that gunfight that we were listening too, the captain is sailing us to within 10 nautical miles of Deepdale Island, I don’t want to get any closer for now, we will use the helicopter to ferry the injured to the ship.

I suggest that we make this into a surgery theatre, as it is alot bigger than the ships hospital, Jai, did we manage to bring any supplies from the islands medical centre? Sebastian stated, “Yes sir nearly all of it, including surgical equipment, and supplies, it is all in the storage hanger I think” Dr Jai replied.

“Reverend Davies and Ms Andrews here are both experienced paramedics, to they will be able to assist you, Huon will round up some stewards to assist with getting this room sterilised, and all the equipment send up to you, while Iorganise setting up a recovery hospital somewhere” Sebastian added, and he set off out of the room.

I gave the four medical staff the door code, so they can enter and leave the room unhindered, before we discussed what was needed for he surgery theatre, including two stainless steel operating tables and lots of bright lights. The tables came from the crew’s mess hall on A Deck, and the ships engineer, soon had them secured to the floor, the bathroom would become the scrub room, and the ships hospital would be used as the sterilisation room, as it is on the same level and not too far away.

The executive dining room opposite would be used as a hospital, as it can be secured easily,and the dining table could be split into two peices, and stored away, to make room for hospital beds.