Cap Mandrake
Posts: 23184
Joined: 11/15/2002 From: Southern California Status: offline
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*************Aboard HMS Warspite, 19:20, Feb. 6, 1943************ Adm. Somerville: <sips a cup of coffee..then promplty spits it into his cup> Bloody Hell! Who is the bloody great fool who put vanilla in my God damned coffee? This is an English warship not some damn Seine River tourist cruise. <not really expecting an answer, he picks up the PA microphone> Men, this is Admiral Somerville. Tonight we embark on the most perilous phase of our mission, perhaps the most important mission this ship has ever seen. Intelligence indicates the enemy has reinforced his airfields at Moulemein, Tavoy, Victoria Point, Sabang, Bangkok and even Georgetown. He knows the importance of this mission. The little yellow bastards will try to hit us hard but it will be our job to take out the Jap bombers at Moulmein and destroy his shore defences. We shall have some Royal Navy Seafires overhead but you can rest assured we will be a prime target. All I ask is that you do the tasks for which you have been trained to your utmost and we shall prevail. <pauses> Men, I have asked Captain Father Emmanoulides, of SEAC, 13th Ecclesiastical Rapid Reaction Battalion to say a few words...and I have asked him to pray for bad weather...Father? Fr. Emmanoulides: <fumbles with mic> Is this on? <the phrase reverberates off of every horizontal surface of the ship for several seconds. The Father takes this as an affirmative answer> Thank you Admiral. Let us pray. Lord, we ask you to bless our mission. We ask you to bless this great ship and all who serve on her. We especially ask that you bless those working below the waterline so that if we experience flooding and have to shut the watertight doors, if that happens dear Lord, we would then ask that they be rendered insensible by the concussion or perhaps go quietly with smoke inhalation rather than to be trapped in rising water with no exit, clawing and scrambled like rodents .........<several members of the crew on the bridge begin to look a bit uncomfortable..the Admiral loses his smile as well>....we also ask, Dear Lord, for the saftey of the poor bastards in the powder magazine, especially after what happened to HMS <the Admiral steps up abruptly and covers the mic..he speaks quielty in the Father's ear, shaking his head. After a brief pause the Father continues> Dear Lord we ask that you give us the foulest weather that you can imagine so that the enemy might be grounded and not be albe to strike us on our holy mission to liberate your children of Thailand and Burma. We ask you Father that the weather be so rough that even the most experienced sailors will <Admiral steps up and grabs the mic> Adm. Somerville: AMEN!
< Message edited by Cap Mandrake -- 7/22/2008 11:47:32 PM >
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