The Secret War of the North Pacific

12: The Phony Distress

The Claim of the Russian Navy Ship was a huge success. It was the perfect tool for revenge on the Destruction of Carmen Hall, and the loss of 2,300 soldiers. General White called all Sergeants back to Fort Joybeam (Now the Primary Fort) for discussion. White had the 200 Sergeants sit it the 20 rows of seats. It was more of a seminar than a meeting, but it had similar purposes.

"With the claim of this Russian Navy ship," White started, holding a sketch of the ship, "we enhance the ability to Get Russian goods scarce or non-existent in Our Homeland. My decision, is shocking. First, due to the works of Clancy Green, were able to get a musket ball sample from the ones that took down Carmen Hall." White picked it up- It looked like a cut watermelon. "The layers are simple: A very, very, very thin layer of diamond from Egypt, A large layer of lead, like musket balls all over the planet. This empty spot here, has traces of methane, the increase speed and decrease wind resistance. And this here, is a ball of fresh porcelain. While usually fragile, it is preserved inside the ball 12 hours after finding, and is preserved in ice on the navy ships. It is  approximately 3.75 Pounds for one ball. for comparison, courtesy of our small fundraising firm in Fairbanks, our best musket balls from Britain, the Agile Corrode, costs only 1.25 Pounds. However, Big Diomede island is selling a pack of 1000 for 3,250 Pounds- about 500 pounds down cost. Two of these lots will fulfill the operation. Next, is a newly released Russian distress  device. It's a bugle made of a Russian deer's horn. As shown in training, the SOS in Russian, through a bugle, is one regular blow, one high-pitched blow, one low-pitched blow, and one regular blow. When they released these, it changed. Lieutenant John Wilson has gotten a rule book for Russian military regulations as of last year. The new one, created when this was released, is two regular blows, one deep-pitched blow, and another regular blow- It just meant "retreat" in the last code. These bugles cost only 10 pence, but are extremely rare and found just in a trade route between Russia, The Netherlands, and France. How ever, our captured ship was once used in a trade of ivory to France, so we can request another ivory trade for the bugles. And our plan- Fort Soviet #XCVI (96) is to the Soviets what Carmen Hall was to us. These muskets balls can take down two places in the fort: The gate, of the back wall. We get in, ambush the soldiers 'till they're killed, and use the distress bugles. We'll set a controlled fire so Russians from a Fort 1 mile away- Regis #CDL (450) will see us, think we're the soldiers of Russia, come and we'll ambush until they destroy the fort themselves in battle. It'll get of the soldiers of two forts, destroy they're most important fort, and get revenge on Carmen Hall. It just might work."  

His audience sat in silence.

All the trades were made within the next twenty days. It was settled. They Marched to Soviet XCVI. The soldiers were posted at opposite sides of the fort. General White raised his musket. 

"OPEN FIRE!" He yelled. 

The Colonels that were with him held the bugles. They made their own command for "Commence Operation," which was one, long, semi-high pitched blow. The soldiers put their muskets at the ready. And one fired. Then another. Then two more. Soon the whole army was firing. They got in the fort. The forty Russian soldiers at the fort were shot instantly. One Canadian actually took some of the blood of a dead Russian and painted a Canadian Leaf (On the Flag) on his cheek. Then Sergeant Torren Jays lit the match. He threw it on a broken beam of the gate, and it caught fire. All the soldiers got away, and the Colonels set out the fake distress.

TOOT! TOOT! Tooot! TOOT!

TOOT! TOOT! Tooot! TOOT!

After an  hour of fake distress, all the soldiers exhausted, when the nearby Russians came. They fired. Blood went everywhere. They were all dying. The fire raged on. Almost none of the Russian soldiers survived that battle. Then a Canadian accidentally shot the fire, and it exploded. All soldiers, Russian and Canadian, were forced to retreat, into three snowstorm raging outside. By the time they were secured, 30 Canadian soldiers had a body temperature of 80 degrees fahrenheit. (Keep in mind a regular temperature would be around 97 degrees.) 

It was declared a Canadian victory. The battle. They had advanced resources. One of the those would be useful next. But every advantage has its weakness...