What should I work on next?

28 December 2008

Christmas Eve

24 December …

   The RTS Santa Fe and the newly commissioned RTS Hammerhead landed today, and not an hour too soon. The men seemed to all stop work at once to catch a glimpse of the gunship as it sported its speed and maneuverability flying a four mile perimeter before the Santa Fe landed. The RTS Hammerhead is sleek in design and reminds me of a seagoing brig. It is 110 ft in length and sports 12 breechloading rifled cannon. The captain of the ship is Lieutenant Randolph Roderick and the senior enlisted is Chief Drexel; the crew complement is actually forty enlisted and two officers. What a wonderful Christmas gift it is, and we will all have the chance to take a stroll on board the new ethership.

   The RTS Santa Fe brought us gifts from the Republic: mail, rations, supplies, another company of black legs, four more cooks and one more mountain howitzer with crew. With the new company, the 3rd Battalion now is up to 245 men with two gun crews. Mr. Griggs will no longer be alone as the junior officer in the mess as Sub-altern Fredrick Pummel RA reported for duty with the 3rd Battalion. Mr. Pummel's name should be familiar to anyone in the Republic, as he is the youngest son of Major General Pummel. We did not receive any more Marines, but the Santa Fe now has a crew complement of one platoon.

   We also received a gasbag and a huge wooden propeller to attach to the motor whaleboat; seems as though we are going to use it for both water and air travel. The new dirigible motor whale boat is a smart option since it has a power source and if we need to make an emergency landing on the water we will be safer (unless it is beyond the reef). The trip to Camp Trafalgar will also be considerably shorter as we will be above the rainforest. I will assign Sergeant Garcia with the conversion of the craft.

   Tomorrow is Christmas and we will have the day off. It will be nice to get the latest word and the further developments of the Hun's Imperialism. Off to the mess for some ale and tales of adventure.
[Editor's Note: The RTS Hammerhead was the first of the Shark-class of aether gunships produced by the Republic of Texas. The other members of this class of ship were named the Mako, Blacktip, and Tigershark.]

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