Mystery.

LONDON

The American embassy in Nine Elms had contacted Admiral Eileen Avarro and the caller had been the naval attache himself. The car pulled up and the ensign greeted her at city airport in the heart of London. The Admiral had been sent from the states to take over command of SNMG1(Standing NATO Maritime Group 1) and she thought this would be a pep talk. The car pulled out of the arrivals and headed not to Nine Elms but she was told they were going to Admiralty House for a briefing from the first sea lord and she knew she had to be on her best behaviour. She was a firebrand and had little time for political appointee's but she knew that the sea lord had cut his teeth in the ranks. He had risen to command all types of ships from patrol boats to aircraft carriers so his position had been earned. The car arrived and Eileen was shown to the briefing room when she entered she saw lots of politicians including her own Ambassador.

"Welcome Admiral Avarro sorry for all this intrigue. It would seem we have a problem and as you have been slated to take over the SNMG this concerns you. I will turn the rest of the briefing over to the first sea lord" continued the defence secretary. The sea lord stood and the screen lit up showing an image of the SNMG under power. "Admiral at 14.30 yesterday the SNMG made a routine check message stating she was proceeding along the coast of Greenland. Since then there has been no contact from the group. NATO has also failed to make contact with the group and its silence is a mystery. They are several scenarios one being that the group has gone rogue and another that the group was attacked and neutralised. Your mission is to find out what has happened to the SNMG. Your orders are in the file along with the ships in the SNMG and arrangements have been made to transport you to Holy Loch. Good luck Admiral."

Holy Loch

Captain Bhanoa read the signal again before showing it to her first officer. "Seems we are going to be having a guest This Guest will brief us when she arrives. The base commander is sending a car to the Oban airport for her." Commander Grater smiled and said she get the crew ready and handed the Captain the ready-for-sea report, Harinder read through the report and saw that all the store had been loaded and stowed and armaments also load and stored. Unison was ready for sea and now all they had to do was wait for their guest to arrive. She headed to the control room and looked around as the crew prepared systems and the navigator checked charts and tides. Cmdr Grator checked with the shipyard master and arranged for the tug that would pull them onto the harbour. The guard room called and said that their guest had passed the main gate so Harinder headed up to the gangplank awaiting the arrival of their guest.

The car pulled up at the bottom of the gangplank and the ensign open the door for the admiral to get out. A rating had already taken the suitcase from the boot of the car and followed Eileen aboard HMS Unison. Eileen asked the OOD for permission to board which was given and then she approached Harinder who saluted the Admiral who returned the salute then they shook hands. "Welcome aboard HMS Unison Admiral" Eileen smiled warmly and thanked Harinder then they went down into the control room and onto Harinders cabin. "Captain I cannot discuss our orders as I have not seen them yet. They are not to be opened until we clear the breakwater." Harinder nodded that she understood and picked up her cabin phone and ordered Cmdr Grator to take the Unison to sea. Various klaxons sounded and preparations were made as the moorings were slackened and the tug connected until the moorings were finally slipped and the Unison was pulled and pushed into the harbour and then her engines started and she headed for the open sea.