Norsemen!

Sigrun had been in the mountains for several weeks now and had seen nothing of the Greeks or anyone else for that matter other than his own troops. They had dug in with good defensive positions should the Greeks try to break out of Italy and he read that they had surrendered in Spain with the Russians heading to Greece its self. His planes did not have the range to find the Russians that far east but he kept them flying just to keep watch anyway. It had become boring but, he thought, that was better than battle so he tried to settle in comfortably.

“Sir! Message from the rear.” A runner handed him a sheet of paper.

‘Sigrun: If your lines are solid relinquish command to one of your subordinates and return to the State house for further orders.’

Well, he thought, that IS a surprise and a delightful one at that. He gave command to his second in charge then packed what little he had with him and started down the mountain in an empty truck that just brought supplies to them and was on it’s way back. He was thinking of what he might do first when he gets home.

“Now that the war is coming to an end, what will you do Jackson?” Skipper asked as he sat with a cup of coffee and a sandwich.

“I don’t know, may be just stay in the army I guess.” He said sitting down.

Nothing had been happening for several weeks so the State house was only sparsely full with senior officers and their aids. The map had noting move on it for weeks with all units staying in place around Italy. The new Northern army was reportedly to have done well in battle and were staying put with Oswald and Gerhold split up into two sections along the southern part of Italy. Their commanders were still not completely in charge of any movement, that was left up to Oswald and Gerhard.

But these new provinces were proving to be very expensive to help rebuild. They first had to be trained in the use of modern machinery, then the machinery had to be built but a trade had to be established and that had been accomplished, but! They had no vehicles to move anything with! It was starting from the bottom and working up again, Skipper thought. Even sending their extra vehicles up there to help move things back down here proved to be inefficient and not enough of the raw materials were getting through in time.

Lieutenant Vox had been in a large convoy of supply ships with orders to guard them as they went around Spain and through the Straights of Gibraltar to bring troops, equipment and supplies to forces around Italy (the rail roads did not go that far). He and three other ships were escorts and they had seen nothing of Greek ships since they had passed through the Straight. However, when they got near Barcelona, they saw several strange looking ships that were not identified. Their flag was not recognized either as they drew closer.....it was a dark blue cross on a white field and their ships looked larger than his but not as large as the Greek dreadnought.

He got word on the radio from his flag ship to have the crew stand by for general quarters. He announced this on the loud speaker giving the crew a tense feeling, as if they did not know if they were friend or enemy. There were four of them and they turned towards them in line.

“This is not good,” Vox thought as he looked through his binoculars, remembering how he had attacked the Greek ship.

“Stand by all sections,” he said, still looking at them with his binoculars.

“NS Espen this is NS Gorm. Stand by for nautical flags!”

The Gorm was putting up signal flags so they would not be over heard on the radio. Vox went out to the deck to watch the flags go up on the Gorm.

“Stand by all guns. Possible enemy.”

“Who are they, skipper?” His second in command asked standing next to him.

“Possibly Russian.” He said as he leaned forward still looking through his binoculars.

“I don’t see anyone on deck!” He dropped the glasses looking at the young Lieutenant.

“OH GEESH!” the lieutenant said.

“SOUND GENERAL QUARTERS!” He yelled then ran back into the pilot house.

The klaxon sounded loudly as the crew scrambled to their battle stations, putting on their steel pots, then waited.

“Hold fire unless they fire first!” He told the deck office and it was repeated.

“Hold fire unless they fire first!”

“If they fire first, I hope we have a chance to return fire!” He said to know one as he watched them through his binoculars.

The Ships drew closer, less than one thousand yards when they turned to his starboard, showing all four ships in line, ready to fire a broad side.

“Hold onto something!” He yelled then grabbed the railing with one hand.

The strange ships fired one shot which went over the bow of his ship to land harmlessly in the water.

“What in hell was that about?” His second in command asked.

“I think they don’t want us to go any further.”

“But our port of entry is Marseilles!”

“Yes, I know.” He turned and scribbled a message then handed it to the radio operator. “Send this as a flash message.”

‘NS Espen....do we proceed?’ It said.

Only a few seconds later a message was returned.

‘Proceed to destination.’ Cam the reply.

“All hands stand by to return fire if we are attacked.” He announced.

“Sir!” The junior officer asked. “Should we launch our planes?”

Vox turned to him surprised.

“Why, didn’t I think of that. YES! Launch Seaplanes!” He said, mad at himself for not thinking of it first. He first had to slow his ship, but that made him fall a bit behind the rest of the convoy and an easy target. These planes would make up for it, however and he could always catch up.

The pilots with their rear gunners, scrambled to the planes as the cranes began to set them into the water. Once in the water they were released by the cranes and started their engines. When they returned he would have to come to a complete halt to pick them up. In the mean time, he would use his ship as cover so the Russians could not see them as thy took off.

He heard the roar of the engines as the two took to the air towards his rear, climbed, then came around towards the four ships. He could hear a strange sound coming from the Russian ships, as if a goose were being strangled, then he saw the crews running for the deck machine guns. He watched through his binoculars as they manned the guns.

“OK....what are you going to do now?” He said under his breath still watching them.

He was bale to catch up to the convoy in only a few minuets when he saw the NS Gorm cross over in front of the lead cargo ship to his side, facing the Russian. They too had launched their planes so now they had four in the air and each one had one five hundred pound bomb.

The Russian ships turned away from them and headed towards Corsica, then made another turn north at an angle to them but still able to fire a broadside if they wanted to.

He heard a loud boom, the flash came from the NS Gorm as it fire one shot across the bow of the lead Russian ship. They continued on a north, north east course, away from them.

Sigrun had left his army in command of a great warrior named Birger, who had been with this army from the start, survived many battles and rose to the rank of General. He had been told to hold this position and keep any Greeks from escaping Italy. He, personally, over saw the building of fortifications through out the mountains for every battalion so he knew they were dug in tight.

Just as the sun was coming up he got a report from a unit near Liechtenstein that they had received small arms fire from the east. Glancing at his map he saw that was his extreme left flank and no one else was there, or there was not supposed to be anyone there at any rate. He radioed back for them to identify the target.

‘Target identified as platoon sized unit. Not Greek.’

Not Greek? He sent word for them to find out who, exactly, they were. He knew it would be several hours or may be a day before he got word back on that information, but. In only a few minuets he got another radio message from them.

‘Russians!’

How did they find out so fast? They must of went after them after they opened fire. But Russians? WHY?

Skipper was sitting at the table in the State house where he nearly lived now but was having a good meal for the first time in days when a radio operator yelled out.

“In coming message!”

He walked slowly over to read the message.

’Russian incursion into the Alps. Our troops were fired upon. Prisoners taken near Liechtenstein.'

"What is going on NOW?" He said out loud.