[Day 2 - Late Afternoon] Captain's Navigation Training

[Bayushi Hoshi]

Since everyone was getting down to work without another word, Hoshi followed suite with her fellow students and tried her best (29, two raises).

[Isawa Junpei]

Trying his hand at charting and navigation, in spite of his complete lack of experience. Then again, he'd read more than his fair share in the libraries of Kyuden Isawa and he'd seen a fair share of maps. Though none were nautical maps, he figured maybe he could wing it by applying a bit of common sense.

(Sailing(Navigation/Intelligence)

[Usagi Zenko]

Zenko sat attempting to puzzle out the chart and the size of the area of wreckage. Hmm..its most likely that the wreck will continue to spread out as times go on. So the size of the area of driftwood and wreckage will continue to expand as time and the waves continue to work at it. As well, at some point much of the wood will become waterlogged and sink, won't it? So...knowing that its more buoyant because of the salt water and made of wood designed to resist becoming water logged, what does the map tell me of the speed of the ocean's currents, the current size of the wreckage, where it likely came from and what size the wreckage was likely to have been the day before?

It took a fair amount of time before Zenko started working on the wax tablet. He may have over thought the scenario, as it appears he's using the tablet to work out where the wreckage was the day previous, instead of where its going, in order to later work out where its going...

[Yoritomo Uminushi]

"Well done Akodo-sans. I expect nothing less from the Lion," he compliments with that easy charm. He moves around to study the other student's work. The Mantis pauses by Nobuyoshi and taps at the man's tablet before pointing back to the map, "Almost got it, Nobuyoshi-san. Here's a hint, the closer together the lines, the stronger the currents... but otherwise a good estimate."

Uminushi actually smiles at the group as he makes his way back around the table, "Well the good news is that most of you know how to decipher a map. Bad news is that I don't have much planned besides showing you just that. So, I'll open the table for questions."

[Asahina Narumi]

After waiting for some time without a response outside the map room she goes to find out if there is anything to be had in the galley. She had heard talking and then silence and so she assumed they were well into the lesson and she had missed it.

[Usagi Zenko]

Zenko nods in thought. "Uhm...what do these symbols mean?" he points at the map and a number of symbols.

[Bayushi Hoshi]

Hoshi formed a frown under her mask when the table was open. The wreckage might be an ugly topic to bring up but seeing as they just did a casual lesson with the wreckage being the centre piece... "Is there a protocol when it comes to both navigating and other duties when wreckage is found? " She brought up.

[Yoritomo Uminushi]

"These, refer to the direction they flow," he taps one set before moving to a different set, "While these refer to how quickly."

Uminushi cocks his head towards the young Scorpion woman and nods, "A good question. First, you don't push your ship through the main wreckage. You're more likely to damage your ship than find anything of interest. Second, you send out a skiff to investigate, as we did this afternoon. If there are survivors, you try to pick them up for questioning... otherwise, you look for clues regarding the ship's identity and any information about their assailants."

[Bayushi Hoshi]

Hoshi breathed quietly out, "In the situation what cause the wreckage was recent, are there any changes or formations in consideration when it comes to plotting navigation captain?"

[Yoritomo Uminushi]

"That, young Bayushi, is a question of tactics rather than navigation," he points out with a dry chuckle, "But let us entertain this discussion for a moment."

Uminushi reaches for a box of miniatures, "Alright, who wants to tell me what we have in our little fleet?"

[Bayushi Nobuyoshi]

"In the fourth flotilla? Training Ship, Half Moon, Captain Yoritomo Uminushi, Training Ship, Orochi's Wake, Captain Daidoji Kiriyo, Supply Ship, Sea's Bounty, Captain Kasuga Ngury, Battle Ship, Rampant Ray, Captain Yoritomo Soyoko." Nobuyoshi offers.

[Usagi Zenko]

"Uhm..." he nods at the captain's explanations of the symbols, then goes back over his work for a bit.

[Yoritomo Uminushi]

"Very good Nobuyoshi-san," he sets out the ships as they're named and glances around the table, "Alright, you have the hypothetical situation... what do you think should be done?"

[Bayushi Nobuyoshi]

Nobuyoshi ponders the situation as posed by Hoshi, his interest apparently piqued by the Captain's question.

"It depends on what you wish to achieve, and where you think the threat is now. If the threat is long gone or you wished to simply inform others of what happened, you'd put the Sea's Bounty in the middle, with the Half Moon and Orochi's Wake on her port and starboard, and the Rampant Ray on her aft. If you wanted to give chase, it'd be the same position, except the Rampant Ray would be ahead of the Sea's Bounty.

Nobuyoshi taps on his mask distractedly.

"If you thought the threat was close at hand, you could try sending the Half Moon and Orochi's Wake just out of sight, and have them try to either push or pull the threat towards the Rampant Ray."

[Akodo Jishaku]

Jishaku looks to the Captain to see if he wanted the input of others or just the Scorpion for the moment.

[Yoritomo Uminushi]

"Go ahead, Jishaku-san," he tells the young Lion, "The questions was directed at all of you. Feel free to speak your piece and discuss."

[Akodo Jishaku]

The young Lion nods. "Assuming the wreckage is recent we should be able to work out the approximate location at which the engagement took place, based upon subsequent weather and our knowledge of the currents. If we find survivors then we have an additional level of knowledge regarding the assailants that should be put to maximum use." He looks at the maps and the ships. "For example, at the moment we should be prepared for an encounter with an as-yet unknown enemy. Bayushi-san's original defensive formations makes sense in this case. However I would advise against attempting to lure an unknown enemy back towards our main combat vessels when we don't know what sort of force we are facing. Changing winds or currents, or a more maneuvrable enemy than expected, might cause us to lose a portion of our force uneccessarily. So for the moment we maintain a defensive posture, and plan an appropriate strategy for our approach to the Coral Islands, assuming that is still our goal. Ideally, if we are to face this threat, it will be in a place of our choosing. Until that becomes a possibility we should hold to a strong defence."

[Yoritomo Uminushi]

Uminushi makes no comment regarding either's suggestions, gaze cutting back to Nobuyoshi as he arches a brow. He waits for the Scorpion to respond as he rubs his chin.

[Bayushi Nobuyoshi]

Defensive positions until you gather more information? Like from his beloved wife you murderous son of a.... Nobuyoshi's thoughts about the Lion interrupted by the prompting from the Captain.

"More information is always nice to have, Akodo-san." Nobuyoshi conceeds. "In fact, if said unknown enemy would be kind enough to give us a manifest of his ships, his book of his tactics, and the weather forecast for the next couple days, along with a map filled with good ambush points, that would be excellent."

"More realistically, we're the lucky first ones to stumble upon upon these wrecks, given that they're still relatively together. It's not even terribly unlikely that the enemy is still relatively close by. Given our current position, we're probably the only friendly vessels around. So we can turn back around and report that something sank a bunch of ships, and might be sailing against anything on the Empire's coast, and we didn't investigate. Or we can try to find out what sank these ships, and if they're a threat to the Empire.

Nobuyoshi shrugs.

"If it's a threat to the Empire, and we could stop it right now at the cost of the whole flotilla, that would be a more than acceptable price. If it's something that we cannot handle, anything that we could learn that would help the Empire would be worth every ship save the last one we sent to warn the Empire."

[Yoritomo Uminushi]

"Note, Nobuyoshi-san, that we are in foreign waters," came the mild addition. No reprimands for the Scorpion's sarcasm. No defense for the Lion. Uminushi simply watches for now to see how each man would handle himself.