Chapter X: So Close - Yet, So Far Away
So apparently Morocco went bankrupt. Why could that be, after all they're really cool people, right?
Oh, right, Spain. El Presidente never understood why Spain loves to take land from the poor, poor Moroccans all the time, but whatever.
El Presidente finds out that the old Admiral of the Mormon Fleet has fallen to natural causes and needs a replacement. He hires Mark Chipman for the job, and actually has a task for him even. Yep, that's right, the Navy of Deseret has a job to do!
Mark Chipman asks, "So, El Presidente, you wanted to see me. What is it you ask?"
El Presidente grinned and pulled out a map. "You are to sail to the coast of Brunei and ... inspect ... their military.
Mark Chipman nods. "Of course, El Presidente. I shall set off at once.
And set off he did, taking the convoy of clipper ships off to the East Indies. El Presidente wished him luck in his travels and went back to shuffling paperwork once in a while. It was a boring time for El Presidente as he waited those arduous months for Mark to return, and so he kept a diary of events to keep his sanity.
July 4th, 1852
Today is our neighbor's Independence Day, and us Mormons were baffled at the Yanks and their mass setting off of fireworks, and binge drinking, and wild gunshots. Regardless, our celebrations seem rather boring. I should make note to make January 2nd of every year a more awesome time for all. 82% of our population is protestant or animist anyway... according to the bureaucrats.
Mark Chipman and his ships arrive off the coast of Brunei, the capital of Brunei. They stay there for a few days. Brunei doesn't seem suspicious of the small convoy of ships off their coast, but Mark and his men catch details of the Bruneian army.
"Army of the Sultan of Brunei"
Mark Chipman estimates the force at 3,000 men and sees no apparent leader to it either. They are armed with very old muskets that probably were around when Napoleon was still rampaging at everyone making fun of his height. He wrote these notes down, rested a few more days and then set sail for home.
Mark was no General but from what he saw, it would be easy for any army from Deseret to come around and kick some Bruneian ass. Once they get an army, anyway.
August 25th, 1852
It's my birthday. And Nobody cared. This sucks.
Anyway, Mark Chipman has yet to return from his voyage, and its been several months now since his departure. I suspect one of three things to be the problem - Either Mark has been consumed by the Bruneians as food, his ships left to rot off shore by the barbarians, he shipwrecked and now is attempting to make a living on a random Pacific Island, also cannibalized, or perhaps Mark was bribed by the Dutch in the area to serve them instead. Whichever case it may be, I will wait no more than another week, afterwards the commisioning of a new navy and admiral is in order. If Mark returns afterwards, he has explaining to do.
Despite El Presidente's best efforts, none of the three were true. Mark Chipman would die just a hundred miles from port, his ship was so battered and beaten from the long journey that a mere skimming the edge of a rock caused the ship to finally sink to the depths of the Pacific. A week would pass but El Presidente was stubborn, so instead of commissioning a new navy right away, he turned taxes down as an experiment.
Maybe this time it'll work. Except its not tariffs, but whatever.
Another week passes, the lower taxes yield no benefits. El Presidente takes this as a sign of yet another failed experiment and turns them back up to maximum again.
Edward Davis, secondary Admiral of the Mormon Fleet, bears news for El Presidente though.
"Sir, Mark Chipman's ship has been found just a hundred miles from San Diego port."
Yea, He sunk somewhere in there. Don't ask me how I know...
El Presidente was silent. Mark was dead - which meant his news about the Bruneians would've not gotten through. But Mark had given his life to Deseret, and died serving the nation and its people. He would award Mark with the Mormon Cross, but first a new fleet was in order.
"Edward Davis, you are now head of the fleet as of now. Feel free to name your convoy as you like, but unlike Mark I have no jobs for you to do, as I fear losing yet another admiral is a great possibility."
Ed wasn't upset about the years of boredom that were about to pass, nor jubilant about his promotion. Fine with El Presidente...
Back to work. El Presidente gets yet another census paper and finds that quite a few Native Americans are near "standing army" stance or whatever William Howard wants to call it.
El Presidente chooses to mitigate the policies and cuts a month from the Mormon's current research project which happens to be Child Soldi- err Idealism.
And Edward Davis reports that his new Mormon Fleet of DOOM is now ready for breaking ass and kicking hearts.
Of course, a new secondary admiral is hired, but he's lame. A Keen Diplomat.
Oh cool, 1% more money.
Now we can muster forth the Mormon Children to go on a Mormon Crusade to Mormonize the East Indies. After we jump from 8 RP per day to 11.5 per day. Quite a nice jump, me likey. Let's start on a new tech, how about Strategic Mobility?
William Howard is pleased with the military progress...
But there is quite a bit more waiting involved in this.
Oh, and John Wallace, a Brilliant Butcher, wants to join our navy. Ed and John welcome him, but El Presidente doesn't like his lack of adrenaline in making his ships move magically faster.