Nordskan Sea Flashes
The Nordskan Sea Flashes were a set of three unidentified double flashes in the subarctic waters of the Sea of Nordska on June 3rd, 1983. All three flashes were captured by the Caphirian Satellite Caelo Oculus 4, and the initial two were detected by the Urcean Satellite OPMV-183.
Event
Each double flash was characterized by a bright initial light immediately followed by a longer secondary emanation similar to the effect seen in the special weapons tests of the then-nuclear armed nations. The first flash occurred at 3:10 AM, the second at 3:12 AM, and the third at 4:01 AM, each larger than the last. The initial two flashes were relatively similar in scale, with the third being noticeably larger. The events were consistent with tests for low-yield nuclear warheads. Such a phenomenon is also possible by accident or as a result of meteorite impacts, but the occurrence of at least two recorded by multiple (opposed) sources precludes the possibility of random chance or fabrication.
Caelo Oculus 4 was set in geosynchronous orbit over the area and continued to observe the region throughout the event, transmitting data collected from its triplet of silicon radiometers consistently. Satellite OPMV-183 utilized an early low-definition camera system in addition to other tools, including one radiometer similar to Caelo's, for intelligence gathering and operated in a low orbit, and as a result suffered minor permanent damage to its camera from the flashes. Its other systems remained operational and the satellite was later deserviced in 1987.
Directly following the detection of the second flash, a nearby Navy of Burgundie patrol was rerouted to the site at 12:49 PM and searched the area for vessels; several vessels were detected in the area but the area was sparsely travelled and the response to the event was abnormally slow, leaving the older patrol ship alone for several hours until an Urcean frigate, the (name), joined it. Neither vessel was informed as to the reason for their detours from their previous courses until the day after. Urcean, Burgoignesc, and Fhainnin surface vessels were all operating in the area at the time, and the area is within range for submarines from both Levantia and Crona.
Response
Artic Interdiction Sortie 83 Response
Following intelligence shared on the wires from Urcean intelligence, Navy of Burgundie Borealesc Interdiction Sortie (SIB) 83 was ordered to deviate from its anti-piracy mission in the environs of De Spingat Tapu to investigate the anomalies at 1249 UTC+1. The flagship Hiper Laniidae (Super Shrike), the first of the Laniidae class frigate, took a compliment of 3 avisos turned southwest bearing down on the area of the reported flashes. Having been retrofitted with a radiometer, the aviso Aronchupa, was instructed to lead the convoy. Levantia and Odoneru Treaty Association intelligence, based on the information captured by the Urcean Satellite OPMV-183 guided the SIB 83 detachment within 137 leagues of the closest recorded flash the following day, June 4th, 1983. At 0739 the Aronchupa recorded "radiation levels inconsistent with the current conditions". Flotilla Captain Donatien Alben Toullec Le Guevel ordered his meteorological officer to validate this against the space weather report, his Archivist Commissar to determine if there were any known sinkings in the area of nuclear powered ships or current nuclear weapons known to be missing. The meteorological officer reported no known uncharacteristic solar activity that afternoon. The detachment maintained its distance and began to circumnavigate the reading to attempt to triangulate it. The following day the ships has defined 50 leagues of the northeastern extreme of the reading but there was weather approaching which would require that they retire to Weiss Insel to meet up with the Burgoignesc Borealesc Expeditionary Ship Pol Corbiere, which had additional radiological scanning equipment and the ability to collect samples.
On June 7th SIB 83 rendezvoused with the Pol Cordiere. While docking, one of the Hiper Laniidae's hawsers tore through a rusted cleat, and left adrift fouled her starboard screw. The expedition was halted until port divers could retrieve the line and clear the anchor. Z twist replacement line was not available, as the maritime cordage of record in Fiannria was S twist (they have since come to their senses and joined the civilized world), and so a flight from Burgundie had to be organized. Procuring a new hawser was easy enough, but finding a plane large enough was more difficult. A Martin P6M SeaMaster was seconded from the Royal Air Service but it had to be flown in from Levantx and retrofitted to remove its bombing equipment and make storage capacity. On June 11th the SeaMaster headed north with the hawser. Arriving over Weiss Insel's outer harbor the SeaMaster opened its bomb bay doors and cast the line into the sea. A small fleet of fishing trawlers had been hired to collect the hawser and convey it back to the inner harbor and the Hiper Laniidae. While the harbor master did his best to clear the harbor, the local papers ran a story about the ripples from the dropped line causing some waves at the local yacht club and capsizing a canoer. Captain Le Guevel was quoting as dismissively saying, "What is a boat without sailcloth doing upon the great blue Goddess?".
On June 12, SIB 83 and the Pol Cordiere departed south to continue their investigation. Bad weather further hampered their progress and they did not make their last point of record until June 15th. The storms had driven much of the radiation either down into the sea or up into the atmosphere making accurate readings much harder. SIB 83 mapped a grid for 1000 geographical miles. They found two points of emanation for the radiological readings and had started to map a third when a convoy was attacked off of De Spingat Tapu. SIB returned to Weiss Insel to restock and divest the Pol Cordiere back to the Borealesc Expeditionary Fleet. The findings were submitted to Levantia and Odoneru Treaty Association intelligence to be included in a further investigation. This never materialized.
Accusations
The incident created a brief news stir but was overshadowed by the considerably more public end of Operation Kipling; however, by the time the issue was brought to the League of Nations Security Council in November, no state had the concrete proof (or possibly the desire) to seek a sanctioning. None of the nations seriously considered as potential culprits were signatories to any nonproliferation pact, either, as the suggested (some attempt at a treaty by pacifists in the 50s-60s) had been rendered effectively worthless after the Varshani and Corrumnese programs bore fruit.
The current consensus in Occidental intelligence circles is that one or more states, most likely one/s without existing nuclear arsenals, tested a trifecta of nuclear devices in the Sea of Nordksa. The data recovered from both Caelo Oculus 4 and OPMV-183 suggests that if the flashes were from nuclear detonations, then the yields would have been roughly one, two, and thirty kiloton-yields. Often it is conjectured that this is the result of two conventional fission and one Hydrogen/fusion bomb constructed minimally, although it is also entirely possible for all three to have been fission weapons.
The chief parties typically blamed are Varshan or Faneria, with other accusations laid at the feet of the Cape, Daxia, Caphiria, Kiravia, or even Roseney or minor Cronan states for assisting or benefiting from a collaborative nuclear program. Daxia had had a successful nuclear program since the early 1970s. Faneria did have a nuclear program since 1961, but the initiative was barely funded and heavily compromised by foreign intelligence services, leaving it little more than a placeholder and think tank until 1985. The Cape, at the time, and Roseney both have no known nuclear weapons or power plants; Kiravia had a nuclear program but already openly possessed nuclear weapons and staged its tests with advance warning. Varshan similarly had a nuclear stockpile but was and remains extremely secretive with its tests and research.
The accusations against Faneria are backed largely by the revitalization of the Fhainnin Civil Nuclear Service and the completion of the first nuclear power plant in Faneria in 1987; for its part, the Fhainnin government insists that it has never conducted nuclear weapons tests and that its program is purely peaceful. Faneria purchases a significant proportion of its raw uranium from the Cape, and was at the time emerging from two and a half decades of painful recovery from the Second Great War, leading many to theorize that a nuclear program may have been pursued as a joint effort between the country and its allies, the closest of which all fall outside of the traditional Kiravian/Caphirian/Urcean/Varshani quartet.
Accusations laid against the Cape are largely evidenced by a testimony from a supposed former Cape Defence Force general, claiming the development of weapons was a natural culmination of the nation's then cold war with the Austral Democratic People's Republic. Bold foreign policy moves in the years following the test, combined with the bringing to light of formerly covert ties with Faneria is commonly cited as evidence. The Cape today maintains that it has no military nuclear weapons - although a civilian nuclear program was founded in 1998 after the collapse of the ADPR.