Doctor Solace opens his eyes and stretches his arms. He doesn't remember what exaclty happened, except passing out. For how long, he does not remember, but it must be a very long time, cause the storm has now cleared. It appears that the sea is now peaceful and calm. No waves, no strong winds, no lightnings, nothing. Just the sun, illuminating the ocean. He must have slept throughout the entire storm without realizing it. Judging by the damage on his hull, it appears that he's only suffered a few broken windows and some scratches, but nothing serious. Well, it's probably thanks to sheer luck that he made it out alive, even if he had passed out. Normally, even a hospital ship like him would have been consumed by that storm. Well, at least he made it out.
After getting up, he looks around, only to discover that he's wearing his yellow hazmat suit, his goggles and surgical mask. That's strange. As far as he can remember, ships don't have human forms. Yet here he is, walking around his own ship in complete human form. He can move wherever he want, he can touch, he can feel. That's both creepy and amazing. He doesn't know how he's supposed to react to that. This is way too sudden for him. What's most confusing is how he got the human form. Despite his multiple theories, he cannot explain this phenomenon.
Before he can think of anything though, a whistle goes off and the laser guidance systems automatically turn on. That's even more weird. As far as he can remember, the targeting systems can only be activated manually by him. They never had the ability to turn on by themselves. Something must be wrong with his computer, otherwise he wouldn't be facing such problems. A few hours ago his computer was working just fine, so what's going on now? Could it have gone haywire or something. It's possible, but it hwent through maintenance before he left the harbor, and they didn't find anything wrong with it. To make matters worse, it seems that his computer software is not compatible with the laser guidance systems. This means he has to fight without a targeting system and switch to heat seeking and thermal seeking. This by no means makes it any easier, as he is forced to switch to heat seeking and thermal seeking, which is much less effective against enemy countermeasures. The other option is to activate his radar jammer, but that is still on experimental levels, so it's not guaranteed it'll work 100 percent. For now, he will have to defend himself with what he's got at his disposal, he'll fix the rest later.
He runs to the bridge where the computer is attempting to analyze the threat. The targets are identified as twenty modern stealth jets of unknown type. That's weird. As far as he remembers, the Austronesian air force does not have any stealth fighters. Even the navy doesn't have any aircraft in its arsenal, except for a few helicopters and drones, and even they are not stealthy. The only air force using stealth jets in Oceania, is the Royal Australian Air Force, and they are still experimental. Normally, the computer would be able to identify them in no time, but it appears that the type is identified as 'unknown'. Whatever the case is, he cannot take any risks. He needs to keep his defense systems on at all times. If he comes under attack, he needs to be ready to repell the enemy missiles and torpedoes. He might be a hospital ship, but he does need to defend himself, as long as he doesn't brake any rules of engagement.
After 15 more minutes, the jets manage to get close enough for Doctor Solace to have a look. The aircraft seem to resemble the Iranian Qaher 313 stealth fighters, but there's something off with their design seems much more boxy and more detailed, and their speed is much lower than the original Qaher jet. And their missiles seem to have a rather pointy warhead, which is far outdated by modern design standards. Somebody must have taken the design and modified it so that nobody would notice. Well, Doctor Solace definitely noticed that though, but that's not the problem. The real problem is whether his defense systems will be effective or not. Well, he'll just have to wait and see.
As soon as as the jets get into range, the RIM missile batteries turn towards the direction of the aircraft, locking on and waiting for them to fire. The missile batteries are programmed not to fire unless the enemy fires upon the vessel, thus following the rules of engagement. Even if the somebody attempted to push the launch button before the enemy fired, the computer still wouldn't comply with the command. Overriding the system is impossible, so everything is done automatically. The computer will simply analyze the threat and wait.
Just then, two jets fire six missiles at Doctor Solace, all of which are immediately intercepted and destroyed by the RIM batteries and the CIWS systems. After braking off their attack, two more jets fire four of their missiles at the vessel, this time a few meters closer. Those too are intercepted by the defense systems of Doctor Solace. It looks like even the best of the best of weapons are no match for this advanced hospital ship. He might be lightly armed, but it looks like his fighting capabilities are beyond what he first anticipated. Sure he did expect his weapons to be effective, but he never expected them to be that good. To be honest, he never tried his weapons in combat before, so he didn't know what to expect. But to be able to intercept ten missiles, all at once, is the most impressive thing he's ever done so far.
After failing to hit Doctor Solace, five more jets get into attack formation and fire all their missiles at once, this time from diefferent directions. They probably think that if they attack from all sides, the ship won't have enough time to intercept them all at once. Unfortunately, their expectations are short lived as all missiles are once again intercepted and destroyed before they manage to hit. The vessel is completely unscathed, it didn't even get scratched from the shrapnel of the missiles. Well, there's no point in turning a blind eye anymore. They attacked him so he has every right to fight back now. He won't be violating any rules.
Not wasting time, he locks on to the five first jets and fires five RIM-116 missiles, all of which manage to hit their targets, blasting the enemy jets from the sky and sending them crashing down to the sea in flames. This time, it appears that he has really pissed off the remaining jets as they all seem eager to finish him off once and for all. Maybe he shouldn't have fired at the five aircraft. Maybe intercepting their missiles was enough. On the other hand, he had to defend himself, otherwise he would have been definitely blasted out of the water into millions of pieces, so his actions can be justified in some way.
After reloading, he locks on to six more fighter jets and fires six more missiles, once again successfully shooting them all down at once. This however, still not seems to be enough as the remaining jets are still bearing down on him at their maximum speed and attempting to strafe him. Well, this time he's also had enough. If they can't leave him alone, he'll have to take drastic measures. They fired first, so there's no reason for him to hold back any longer. If they want to play with him, so be it. He'll just have to change the rules.
As soon as the jets fly extremely close to him, he fires his flares, causing the aircraft to perform evasive maneuvers and crash into each other. It looks like his susrprise tactic was more than efficient. Not only he managed to shoot most of them down without firing his weapons, he also managed to cause confusion among the squadron. Now the remaining jets have broken off their attack are heading straight for home. It would seem that he won fair and square. They fired first, he intercepted their weapons and he then fired back, so it can be considered a self defense.
Whoever attempted to attack him has just commited a serious war crime. Attacking a hospital ship despite the fact that is was waving a red cross flag is a very serious offence and punishable by the rules of war. They disrespected his neutrality and attempted to blast him out of the water. Somebody will have to answer for this. If he knew who attacked him, he would be glad to get his hand on those pilots and teach them a lesson.
He's not out of the woods yet though. His computer has just picked up another contact 12 nautical miles west of his current position. This time, it appears to be some sort of transport vessel, but the description is not clear. His computer is still attempting to reboot and restore its systems so the analysis is not very accurate. Judging by the results though, it appears as if the ship is in distress. Come to think of it, during the battle, Doctor Solace did receive a mayday call but he couldn't decrypt it. The code sent to him is outdated and hasn't been used since the 1960s. Could this be a diversion? It's a possibility, but it's also very unlikely since he did pick up the vessel on his radar.
Not wasting time, he picks up his CB radio and contacts the helicopter on his hangar.
-'Samaritan one to Eurocopter. Prepare to take off for Search And Rescue operation', he says in a calm voice tone. Just then, a male electronic voice comes through the radio.
-'Copy that Samaritan One. Preparing for take off'. This was completely unexpected. Of all things, this is yet another one he never thought was possible. For the helicopter to have its own voice and will, it's absurd and insane. He thought it would just obey every command like a voice activated computer in a Tesla sedan. Yet, the impossible just turned into possible. At least he'll have somebody to talk to here.
In a few minutes, after being refueled and inspected, the helicopter is airborne. Normally, the safest way would be for him to go there and verify the situation himself, but if this is a diversion, he could be exposed to a greater danger. For that reason, he'll send his helicopter as a scout to verify and report. Since it can fly at a very high altitude, it can remain invisible and will not be spotted by anybody if it flies in a safe distance. That too will be risky, but it's worth it.
Little does he know, this ship is no regular vessel. It is a vessel which is very outdated by modern standards. A vessel which wrote history in all of the oceans and seas 80 years ago. A vessel which managed to lead the allies to victory.
The adventures of Doctor Solace are about to take a very unexpected turn.
(And that's all for today's chapter. Let me know what you think in the comments below. Also be sure to check out and subscribe to my Youtube and Dailymotion channels. Until then, see you next time. Remember, your opinion is always important).