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Coming of the Red Anchor by J2451

TV » Game of Thrones Rated: M, English, Drama & Fantasy, Jon S., Eddard S., OC, Words: 190k+, Favs: 2k+, Follows: 2k+, Published: Apr 5, 2020 Updated: Oct 16, 2022

881Chapter 2: Discussions and Decisions

All right to HBO and GRRM

Coming of the Red Anchor

Discussions and Decisions

283 AC, Mormont Keep, Bear Island

When they arrived at the keep the group partook in the guest right ritual with the bread and salt before Admiral Gardner, his aid and the navigator followed Lady Dacey to the Maester's chambers. Warrington and his aid followed Lady Mormont to her solar to talk more. "Welcome to my solar, take a seat and I'll have something to drink brought up" she said while heading around her desk to face her two guests. As they took their seat James took the moment to look around the room. It was a medium size room, not too large to be wasteful but large enough to sit three guests plus have space for her desk and chair. The wooden walls were a bit spartan, though one wall had the bear sigil on a banner hanging off it while on another wall had a book case, or rather five shelves which had rolled up bits of parchment. They waited for a servant to bring three mugs of what appeared to be ale. "To new friendships" Maege declared which the three drank to. "So tell me my lord, are you married?" The surprising question took the two guests off guard, Warrington coughed and spluttered while George, his aid, also choked on the ale. "Ale bit to strong for you then?" she said with a smirk at their reactions.

"No er I think its fine. I'm sorry but why do you ask? Bit of a blunt way to ask something personal isn't' it?" James managed to reply.

"Bah, we're straight talking up here, no dancing with words like those southerners. Also if you are to stay and want land if you are unmarried they'll want you to marry someone local to ensure loyalty and blood ties."

"I see, well we haven't actually decided who would lead us if we stayed, mostly because we haven't decided if we would. I'm not even sure if I would be chosen to lead. I'm not our senior military officer in charge of the fleet, in fact I was only sent with the fleet to observe. That said I am the only government minister with the fleet but given the circumstances that doesn't give me automatic right to assume control. We will just have to see what happens. On top of that, you will find many will be reluctant to be forced to marry someone, arranged or forced marriages are considered...er well, no one really does it any more not in our countries at least." Maege looked a bit disappointed at that but also intrigued. "Really no arranged marriages? Not even amongst the nobility?"

"Well America has no nobility though it has rich people and influential people. My nation has a nobility officially though it is not as active or powerful as yours. We vote for our leaders thus the views of the nobility are not listened to as much. You could say it is the reverse of here, the people are in charge and the rich have to accept and live within the law, at least in theory, there will always be those who bend or break the rules but that's life."

"I see, you nations are quite strange though yours at least sounds similar."

"We have a monarch, with lords and dukes and barons. The power just rests with elected representatives of the people rather than lords and monarchs deciding everything to their benefit and not the country's. We are a half way house between you and the American system in simple terms."

"Those ships of metal, how do they float surely they should sink? And defences, I see no catapults or ballista?" wondering how they fight.

"They were made in a way to keep them afloat, something about water displacement I believe. As for defences well, lets just say they all have teeth and no one would want to cross them." He said in a hard and confident manner.

Right then, so how many cups can you drink?" She said with an evil smirk. The two men opposite her looked at each other nervously.

Across the keep Admiral Gardner was getting only bad news. The charts and maps provided showed they were in a totally new world. The continent of Westeros was unlike any previously known. Seemingly the size of Canada down through Mexico in terms of terrain but with a culture of medieval Europe or the UK. Essos was like Europe, Africa and Asia combined in terms of culture and possibly landmass too. In short it was all different yet with hints of familiarity. "Thank you maester you have been most helpful. Are you sure there is nothing else to the west and charts of this sunset sea?"

"I'm afraid not Admiral. No one has ever gone west and returned to tell the tale. Most believe it is the edge of the world, perhaps your lands are simply the other side of the Sunset Sea?" Gardner gave a small smile at that.

"No I fear we will have no way back though I thank you for the optimism we might need it. We'll make some copies of these charts then return to our ships. Would it be alright if we stayed in that bay until we decide what to do?"

"I don't think Lady Mormont will mind, if you are to stay we will be allies any way. You seek not food or other resources from us so to allow you to stay sheltered in the bay costs nothing."

"My thanks then, right ensign take pictures we'll load them onto the computers and send it to the fleet. At least we should be able to locate ourselves then." He turned to the maester who was walking to the door, "By the way Maester Alrick, one of my people spotted a large white, possibly icy, object in the distance to the north east of here, what was it?"

"Ah you mean The Wall. Yes it built centuries ago, some say 8000 years ago by Bran the Builder. The stories say he built it after the Last Hero drove back the white walkers out of the north and he then raised the wall out of ice with the aid of magic and giants. He later went on to build Winterfell and Storm's End in the Stormlands before founding House Stark."

"Magic and giants? Surely that's nonsense?" the admiral scoffed.

"Ah and many would agree but how else would one build a wall that high out of ice back then and a wall which has never melted hmm? I will go see what else we might have." With that the man wearing a grey robe with a metal chain toddled off to another part of the small library in Mormont Keep.

"Do you think he's right sir?" asked his aid while the navigator took pictures of the various charts.

"What do you think? Magic and giant, bah load of superstitious rubbish. Probably just had advanced technology or something and the primitives at the time just blindly followed, besides you heard him most don't believe in that any more. You got everything Becker?"

"Aye admiral" came the rely from the young woman as she packed the camera away in her rucksack.

When they met in the courtyard the sun had begun to set. "Admiral, how did your map hunt go?" asked a slightly unsteady minister.

"We got what we wanted, are you alright sir?" the admiral replied, looking at both the minister and his aid he could see them both a bit unsteady and unwell.

"I think, I think...that given time we'll be fine. I must warn...warn...you that their Lady can drink quite a bit of ale and still be fine We only had two before we felt it."

Gardner smirked, "that'll teach ya to drink on the job ha ha."

"Huh? Well technically it was the job. Ugh...Besides we aren't too bad. Seen worse, though I've felt better. So what did you find?" Warrington said slurring slightly.

"We aren't in our world any more. The continents are wrong and positioned incorrectly. We are not getting back anytime soon." He finished with some disappointment. It showed on all their faces, the faint hope they might be wrong had faded.

"Did you...you ask about that ice wall our fighter spotted?" asked Warrington unsteadily.

"Yeah they call it, rather unoriginally, The Wall. Built out of ice some 8000 years ago by the guy who built Winterfell. The tales say it was built with magic and giants" he added with a scoff.

"What a load of, ooh, rubbish. Magic, bah, all showmanship and smoke and mirrors. Bit of technology thrown in to spice it up but not actual magic bah."

"Just what I said."

"Right then, it's probably best you tell the fleet we'll stay the night since its best we don't ride in the dark considering it was our first time riding earlier today."

"Yes minister." replied the admiral.

The following morning after the feast the previous night the group were sitting having breakfast, or breaking your fast as the locals called it. Dacey came up to the group wearing her usual leathers and breeches. "So Minister, do fancy trying your hand at the sword or bow? You'll likely need both if you intend to stay in our land."

"Do we have time admiral? I always enjoyed archery when I was in the cub scouts."

Well we weren't going to leave for another hour so I suppose you have tie for a few shots" he replied cautiously.

"Right to the courtyard them my lady?" Warrington replied rather excitedly.

"This way Minister" she said with a smirk, clearly not expecting much of him.

She led the way outside and over to a small range. The target was a straw man held up by a post.

"Ah, well Ive never actually fired at those targets before. Always had the ringed targets, you know the sort?" he said nervously when he saw what he was to shoot at.

"I know the type. They are used for competitions at tourneys. These are for practising for war. Not playing at it in a tourney. Here's your bow." The bow had some weight to it but was lighter than some he'd tried back home at archery ranges. Holding it in front of himself he picked and arrow from the quiver Dacey held and placed it on the bow, nocking it in place. Standing side on, feet apart, he raised the bow and drew back the arrow. Aiming down the arrow for the chest on the target he let it go. It missed to the left though not by much. Cursing, he pick a second arrow up and repeated the action now getting a feel for the bow and its draw strength. The second shot hit the left arm. His third and fourth shots were much the same, missing or getting lower chest or arm.

"Not bad for a first time. You have the right stance and hold the bow correct, its just a matter of aim to work on. How often have you done archery?" Dacey asked.

"Like once a year and for an hour each time since I was, oh probably eighteen or so." Seeing her confusion he added, "eight and ten."

"Ah, so not often but more than from scratch. Like I said not bad, you'd be of some use in a fight at range or the battlements" she said with a smile. "Now be off to your ships I'm sure your people await you."

"Thanks for the practise and for your aid my lady" James said with what he hoped was a charming smile. His group gathered up their things, mounted their horses again with some trouble, before heading down to the boats.

"Lady Maege, my thanks on behalf of our people for your aid. It has proven an enlightening and comfortable stay" Gardner said.

"Indeed you have our thanks, depending on what we decide we may be in touch soon. So I bid you farewell."

"You are most welcome, you are better visitors than the Iron Born raiders or wildlings we get occasionally" answered Maege. After some shaking of arms the groups parted and the visitors boarded their boats to return to the ships moored in the bay.

Once aboard they got the ship captains and Admiral Cosmo on the radio. "So what did you find out?" the admiral asked bluntly.

Warrington looked to Gardner and nodded. "In short we are not in our world, we may be on another planet or reality entirely. The maps you can see show two large continents which we have never seen before. The language spoke is a kind of old english that is hard initially to follow but you can fairly quickly pick it up, the accents made it harder I think. So in short we are stuck in this backward medieval society with no way home. Unless you all fancy chasing storms and hope it sends us back?" That got a few chuckles to break the mood which was, in a word, depressed.

"It seems then that our worst fears were realised" Cosmo began, "as of now we conserve fuel. Switch off all unnecessary sources of fuel consumption. If we get in a fight, use the guns and but not the missiles unless there's no other choice. How long can our diesel last?"

"If we are conservative and only take short journeys a two years or more maybe. That's without using the fuel we got for various aircraft we have. All but our subs and the George H. W. Bush and the Queen Elizabeth will effectively run out of fuel within a few years maybe less, give or take a bit with their current capacity and usage" spoke up Captain Hammond of the George Bush. At the calls of surprise he spoke again, "I checked our current capacity and spoke with engineers throughout the fleet to get estimates. I would argue that we find a place near to here as a base and only send out the subs for patrol work as they are nuclear or hydro powered. The carriers are both nuclear as you Brits decided to upgrade last year so we go lucky. Assuming we can get some land to base out of."

"On that note Minister you spoke with the lord of the island, what do they have to say?

"Well Admiral, it was Lady Maege Mormont of House Mormont I spoke to, who is the ruler of Bear Island, her house is subservient to a liege lord who rules an area called the North and he is called Eddard Stark. I believe his title is Lord of Winterfell and Warden of the North. Effectively he is in charge of this northern territory. He is in turn subservient to the King who lives in a city called Kings Landing down in the south. Now in regards to gaining possible land to live on Lady Maege said that the north is mostly empty and undeveloped with loads of untouched resources. There is also plenty of coastline along here that we could be granted. She also said that a likely condition would be someone, the person who is in charge of us, our Lord as it were, who would have to marry someone of the north or maybe even another of the seven kingdoms to insure loyalty to The North and the king. Though kingdoms is a misleading name as there is only one king the rest are Lords or Wardens of the other kingdoms from what I am told. I believe the north would be most interested in us as they have no naval military presence this side and are regularly raided by a people called Iron Born who come from the Iron Islands to the south west of our current position. They also, as mentioned, have untapped resources which could prove useful and are far enough removed we are unlikely to be brought into war by our liege lord Lord Stark. The North is mostly inwards looking rather than the south so it is rarely involved in their affairs. This would give us time to adapt to current circumstances and solidify our hold on whatever piece of land we are given and train against the raiders" James concluded.

"I see yes thank you Minister. I think first we must decide are we staying or moving to another area though by the looks of it it would take months to reach Essos which we can ill afford. Thoughts?"

Muttering amongst the various captains took place before one spoke up more clearly. "I would say that it would be best to ask for sanctuary here in the north. If they truly rarely take part in southern adventures and troubles it would give us the time to develop alternate fuel sources, weapons and ships and then train on them. By the time anything might happen we might have had ten years to dig in and build ourselves. Besides if we can still use this fleet if any problems arise. What medieval castle or ship will withstand Tomahawk and Harpoon missiles, 30mm guns or any other missiles and guns we have? That said we should use them sparingly as we won't get more. Perhaps build some catapults and ballista? We should know how to make high powered and accurate ones, certainly better quality than native ones and we can use local materials for it thus endless supply."

There were sounds of agreement coming across the radio as others made their views known.

"Excuse me admirals, captains, but assuming we stay, going by local custom there must be a lord of the house we serve who will in turn pledge our loyalty to the liege lord and thus the king. Now we both come from democratic countries who no longer follow that manner of governance. Do we adapt it, say a leader voted for life or until retires then we vote for a new one. Or do we just have a lord and his family and their children's family and theirs etc. or do we just keep with an elected ruler for 4 or 5 years and have a new vote?" There were grumbles now as clearly no one really wanted to answer it or address it.

"It is a valid question" Admiral Cosmo said with a sigh. "In an ideal world I would advocate for your last option of keep democracy alive." Lots of voices of agreement were heard at that. "However we are military personnel who need hierarchy and a certain formality that lordships like those in Westeros would provide and we are now in a hostile environment that is also medieval in thinking so having one leader in charge could be of benefit. This affects all of us not just captains and admirals, all of us. We'll schedule a vote to be held on the three options, we'll lay out the facts of Westeros as we currently know them to be and see what everyone thinks. Unless everyone here knows what they think and we should just run with that?" he asked questioningly. Silence was heard over the comms, Gardner and Warrington looked nervously at each other while they waited for any answer.

"Under normal circumstances I would vote for the democracy we all live and fight for, however given the situation and the culture here we would not last long under that method" came the voice of one captain, heavy with regret. "I therefore would vote for one of the lordship options." There was a large amount of grumbling from others captains as the idea sank in.

"Aye, I agree though I wish I didn't but our normal way of governance would not work here unless we were a city state and those are only in Essos not here in Westeros and we can't reach there without stretching our fuel supplies to the limit" came another over the radio. After that came a chorus of similar opinions stating that they had no choice but to choose one form of lordship due to military nature of the majority wanting a hierarchy with a commanding officer but also due to the local culture and lack of travel options.

"Captains and admirals, if I may? If we are to go down a lordship route, I would add this so you are aware. The Nights Watch, which man the castles on The Wall, elects their Lord Commander who serves until he dies. We could therefore use a similar system which maintains our democratic history but allows for a singular Lord to run our land and castle and while they might not understand why we chose this method they would know of the method as it is used elsewhere in their lands. This I learnt from our hosts while we were there" informed Warrington. This got some positive sounds from most of the people present.

"Thank you minister, that just might solve our moral dilemma over to be democratic or not. We can always change one way or another at a later time depending on circumstances. So we're agreed then, a lordship based on the popular vote till they die or retire." A chorus of ayes were heard over the radio. "Aye" spoke Gardner, "Yes" answered Warrington.

"Good then I'll nominate Warrington to lead. I'm no governor nor do I like politics, give me a ship or fleet and a target and I'm good but governing territory and administration with the politics included? Let the man who likes that to lead, I'd be willing to follow." This caught many by surprise, even Warrington looked surprised to Gardner's eyes.

"Sir are you sure? Many in the fleet would follow you, even the Brits, as you're the senior ranking officer" questioned the sole female captain.

"Aye that I am Rachel, and I'm sure I would which makes me proud that you'd all vote that way. But we need someone who can work the system, who knows governance and knows when to leave it to the military experts. From what I've heard that's Warrington. Plus in a way he is technically our leader as he is a member of the UK government who is a close ally of the US." That got murmur of agreement though some sounded displeased or uncertain with the choice. "Good then my last act as supreme commander as it were, is to direct you, Warrington, to get us some land to base out of. Preferably coastal and on this this side of the continent. Can you do that?" Cosmo asked.

"Yes Admiral, I'll do my best to get us some good land. If you have any requirements for what sort of coastal area you want or something send them to my aid and I'll look it over. Maybe you or Admiral Gardner could join me in the negotiations as you would know what sort of lands you'd like and their defensive situation. I would perhaps suggest we also look at what we could barter away or sell to earn some local currency as that could allow us to acquire local building materials to build a port and/or repair or build a castle. I'll try to get a pre-existing castle so we only need repair and enhance it."

"Good and yes, Gardner would you mind assisting James with that. The rest of you I want a full inventory of equipment and goods we posses, weapons and ammo included. After that a census of how many men and women we have along with what skills they posses, be it fishing, carpentry or electrical training, anything. If we are staying put we need to focus on what we've got and use it. Alright dismissed, and congratulations Lord Warrington."

"Before we go, just a quick question, what name is our house? I doubt you'll want it as House Warrington correct?"

"Hmm, you raise a fair point. What did you have in mind?" asked Cosmo.

"I was thinking Britanican or something along those lines" Warrington suggested. There were murmurs of agreement from the other captains though not overly enthusiastic.

"I think we'll go with it for now, anything else?"

"A sigil and maybe words are all that's left."

"For words we could use; From the seas, prosperity" suggested Rachel Stephenson, the female captain from before.

"Or strength instead of prosperity as we are a navy" chimed in another. A chorus of agreement for strength after considering that they are a navy so it should reflect that.

"Perhaps our sigil should be a blood red anchor on an ocean or sea background? To reflect that naval tradition" suggested Captain Johnson of the Roosevelt. Again more agreement as it reflected their naval power and the naval history of both nations.

"Thank you gentlemen and lady, for you time, confidence and decisions on our future name, sigil and words. I will try to lead us to the best of my ability and try not to let you down or ruin us. When it comes to naval matters I will always consult with the admirals and on any other military issues along with our marine captains for land based issues or at least I'll try to where possible."

"Very good Lord Warrington or would that be Britanican?"

"Er probably Warrington as Britanican would be our faction, like the Nights Watch. Or at least that's how I will phrase it when asked."

"Right, dismissed everyone" Cosmo concluded.

AN: Second chapter done and hope you enjoy it with how it sets up who they are and how they'll operate. So just to clarify in case people don't follow, they choose to elect a Lord for life who will be Lord then surname of House Britanican. E.g. Lord Warrington of House Britanican. They also skipped having a referendum as all the captains agreed in the debate to the method chosen and the new Lord so decided against a vote as it simplified matters and got the ball running. Plus their first choice went for another person so that helped. Hope I also answered the quires about fuel and weapons in this chapter that many had. In terms of future fuel; I'm considering one of three option, I'd be interested to hear your thoughts:

1. They find a new source of oil/petrol/diesel.

2. They convert them to something else like coal maybe

3. They just give up some ships to move fuel about to save what they've can.

Ps I changed the Roosevelt to the George H W Bush as that is part of the US Atlantic fleet and is nuclear powered thus giving them at least one big ship that can last years. The QE I gave an upgrade to as it is plausible as nearly all carriers in the world are nuclear.

Chapter 901 - 2