As the pirates got closer, the Tinaye Navy Fleet Eral flagship Carly rose the standard of battle. It seems that fleet commander Eral had deemed that battle with the approaching pirates was inevitable. With that, the order to prepare for battle was issued aboard the Odette . Bells were rung like there was no tomorrow as petty officers barked at their subordinates to hurry. Every sailor aboard ran as if their lives depended on it (although it did).
“C'mon, you lot! “Fold the sails!”
“Aye aye!!!”
At the boatswain's orders, the sailors gathered around all the masts. Folding the sails in battle ensured that no sudden gusts would throw the ship off course, but it was also so that the triple ballista could launch its projectiles without impediment and protect the sails from catching on fire from enemy flame arrows.
“Deploy all ears! Steady as she goes!”
Instead of the sails, the ship will have to depend on its oars. Down in the oars room, the slaves began to row the oars.
Up on the top deck, sand was scattered to prevent slippage. Marines armed with bows began climbing up the shrouds to get to their positions atop the masts where they could rain down arrows on enemy personnel. Meanwhile, the trio Tokushima, Edajima, and Chan were also up on the deck working on the capstan.
“Things sure are getting heated up, huh, sir?”
“W-Why do I also have to be an accessory to this fight?! I'm just a journalist, I can't fight for shit!”
Chan lashes out.
“There's no helping it, Mr. Chan. If this ship sinks, we go down with it, so we ought to set aside our opinions for now and do everything we can to live through it!”
Just then, the junior boatswain came upon them and scolded them.
“You three! Enough blabberin' and put your backs into it! Push! Push!!!”
The trio put their all into turning the bulky capstan, which was being used to pull the drawstrings on the triple ballista mounted on the Odette 's bow. Once the massive arms on the ballista were fixed in place, the trio were handed weapons.
“Huh, this sword has seen a lot of use. I wonder if they even managed to maintain it…” Tokushima wondered.
“The blade looks awfully chipped. If Tinaye can't supply its newly-built ships with newly-fashioned arms, then that speaks volumes of its situation…” Edajima replied.
The swords the two were given were so rusted out it was doubtful they had been carefully maintained. Meanwhile, Chan was handed a cudgel that was embedded with spikes all over. It might be worth mentioning that the natives called this weapon a “ correpoli vartek .”
“These black stains… Are these?… No…”
“A cudgel for you, huh, Mr. Chan? Can't say it doesn't suit you…”
Tokushima commented, imagining that a spiked club was fitting for someone who talks without regard to their surroundings.
“Boss! We can finally see 'em navy bastards! They're headed straight for us, line open! “They took the fuckin' bait!”
“Well, I'll be! “Prepare for battle, lads!”
McKinnon was one of the Seven Pirate Chiefs who have descended upon Tinaye. His group consists of ten ships, all captured warships and equipped merchant ships—pair of course for a cesspool of ruffians such as them. However, they're more than enough to be considered a fleet and have used their numbers to attack merchants, steal their cargo, and enslave their crews.
However, once they see a bonafide warship, they usually turn and run. After all, a pirate's job is to steal, not fight. Of course, if the prize was treasure, they'd fight for it, but they were not soldiers and thus had no reason to fight for the sake of it. That's why whenever they see a warship in the distance, the reasonable—if not, correct—course of action for pirates would be to turn and flee.
Hence McKinnon's hesitation when one of the other pirate chiefs, Drake, asked him to take on a navy fleet. Why would the hell he bother to pick a fight—actively, mind you—with a fully-armed navy fleet, which has neither gold nor jewels to steal? However, when Drake put forth compensation in the form of a mountain of silver coins and information that the Tinayan Princess Primera was to be married off to the Schilaff ducal family, his opinion changed. As the head of a pirate clan, he not only has to manage and pay his followers but he has to find funds to service and maintain his aging and rapidly delapidating ships. Drake handing him a handful of silver coins as a deposit was more than enough to get him to agree.
Of course, being able to capture the princess was a big deal too. By taking prisoner the Tinayan Doge's daughter, he could expect to be handed a handsome sum for her release. Still, as long as this was a job issued and paid for by a client, the client reserved the right to the ransom. But in agreements like this there's usually an extra reward for getting the job done, which would be distributed to the people who got their hands dirty—in this case, these would be McKinnon and his ruffians. They have to keep them on board, after all.
Despite the monetary compensation, the one they were up against was still a navy fleet; there was no way in hell they'd win by just charging right into them. To achieve victory, they must come at them with a larger force, but if they do that the other side will just simply not fight and flee; on the other hand, if they come at them with a smaller force, they will undoubtedly lose. That's why they must engineer a situation where they must make the enemy believe they have a chance to win while still maintaining the advantage.
“The navy ships are getting close!”
“A'ight! Let's give 'em a show, 'ey? All ships, hard to starboard! Show 'em our asses!”
The three pirate ships turned around right in front of the Tinayan warships, drawing a massive U on the ocean. This was the first stage of their battle plan, one which they tirelessly drilled over and over.
The topman screamed out.
“All pirate ships are turning tail! They're running away!”
“What?!”
Captain Curaçao turned toward the flagship Carly . He saw it flying signal flags ordering all ships to increase speed.
Vice Captain Ottmeyer added.
“Careful, Captain! The pirates are now turning around right after challenging us! “They must have some sort of trick up their sleeve!”
“But the fleet commander seems like he doesn't give a shit about that! What do you think they're up to?!”
But the one who answered his question wasn't Ottmeyer.
“Message from Odette, captain! Two more groups of ships approaching from both the west and south! “They each have three ships!”
A cadet officer cried out. It now all made sense. First, the three ships from the east, and now there were six more from the south and west. Fleet Eral was now surrounded by a total of nine pirate ships.
“So that's how it is… Is that it, huh?!”
Against an equal number of pirate ships their victory was assured, but the story's different against a force thrice their number. In all aspects, they must be thinking of retreat, but the fleet commander seemed to think otherwise.
“Orders from the flagship! We're to increase speed! Seems like the commander really wants to take them on!”
“Couldn't their guardian protectors also see the other ships?!”
“Maybe the commander believes we can take them all on in detail!”
“Oh, for goodness's—!!! “That's what we ought to do before we get surrounded!!!”
The Odette 's oarsmen rowed faster as per the orders of the fleet commander. They were rowing so fast that the oars were hitting the water before the splashes from the previous action could fall back into the sea. The slaves must be expanding so much of their energy into rowing. Consequently, the increased speed meant that they were now closing the distance with the fleeing pirates.
Fleet Eral was made up of Tinaye's latest and most advanced warships, so their newly-built hulls allowed them to easily catch up to the pirates. Then, an officer on watch at the bow cried out.
“The pirates are turning around again, captain! They're now headed our way!”
“Huh?!”
Chasing after the pirates at full speed, the ships of Fleet Eral had no time to slow down. With the pirates now facing them, they closed the distance in no time.
“They're within range of our ballista, captain!”
“Fuck! There's no other choice, is there?!”
Curaçao shouted.
“The bombing begins!”
At the chief of the artillery's orders, red-hot rocks were lifted from cauldrons on the deck and loaded onto the triple ballista.
“Launch!!!”
All three rocks were launched into the air. Not long after, massive splashes erupted from the ocean around the pirate ships. Of the three rocks launched, one of them grazed a pirate ship's bow.
“Miss, miss, near-miss! 20 to the right, 10 to the back! Ready the next volleyball!”
Once again, the capstan was needed to prime the ballista's massive swing arms. Tokushima, Edajima, and Chan pushed on the capstan with all their might.
Just as they were pushing, Tokushima cried out.
“Sir, Mr. Chan! We've got an incoming attack! Get down!”
“Huh?! The fuck do you mean by 'get down'?!”
“Like this!”
Tokushima pushed Chan down onto the deck. Almost immediately after, a rock hurled by the pirates landed on the Odette 's deck. With a loud crash, the rock smashed onto the strong wooden planks, but more than a dozen unfortunate sailors who were prepared for boarding actions were caught in its path. The sailors were blown off in multiple directions like chess pieces thrown across the room. Splinters scattered like snow, falling down on Tokushima was atop Chan. Dark red started to run through the sand-sprinkled deck as officers started to issue new orders.
“Fire! Quick! Put it out!”
The red-hot rock hurled by the pirates snagged some dry ropes as it hit the deck, setting them alight.
“Sprinkle more sand on the deck!”
“Get the wounded to the surgeon!”
The sailors once more sprinkled sand onto the now blood-ridden deck while others wrapped the red-hot rock in wood before throwing it out to sea, after which they put out the embers with water.
“What the fuck are you doing?! “You got sand in my fucking mouth!”
Wiggling himself free from under Tokushima, Chan lashed out at him. Tokushima simply pointed to where they used to stand in reply.
“Well, the spot we were on was worse.”
Where they used to stand lay the corpse of a beastman sailor who was in the direct path of the rock. Even “corpse” was a rather inaccurate term; all that Chan saw was a whole bloody mess of something wearing sailor's clothing.
“Oh god…”
“See? When someone says get down, you get down, okay?”
Tokushima himself was covered in blood splatter and flakes of wood that had fallen on him. Yet there he was, still beaming, leaving Chan scrambling for a thankful response.
Vice Captain Ottmeyer screamed out.
“Brace for impact! “We're comin' at 'em face on!”
Sailors on the deck turned toward the bow. Having worried themselves with cleaning up the mess from the direct hit, they had forgotten they were about to crash into another ship. There, not too far away, was a pirate ship with pirates on the deck. Seeing them prepared for battle lit up the flames of duty in their hearts. In mere moments, they will engage them in close combat.
Right at that moment, however, Captain Curaçao shouted from the poop deck.
“Rudder to starboard!”
“Captain?!”
The navigator clarified its order.
“I said rudder to starboard, dammit! Pull all portside oars!”
Curaçao's orders were transmitted to the rudder and oar rooms. All the slaves who manned the portside oars simultaneously pulled their oars back inside while the helmsman pulled on the rudder, turning the ship toward the right.
At the moment of impact, both ships' port broadsides slammed into one another. Despite the speed and timing of the order, there were some slaves who didn't manage to pull their oars inside in time. The force of the impact not only destroyed their still deployed oars but also threw them off from their benches, and since they were all chained together it turned into a chain reaction. That was what happened aboard the Odette , so one can only imagine the chaos inside the pirate ship's oars room. For all they know all the slaves on the portside must have been wiped out.
Both the Fleet Eral flagship Carly and the Magenta rammed their bows onto the opposite pirate ships' bows. The ships' wooden fames creaked and groaned from the impact as splinters flew in all directions, and like a pair of bulls with their horns up against each other they were dead in the water. Almost immediately after, archers from both sides began raining down arrows on the other ship as marines and sailors on the deck raced toward the pirates with swords drawn. The sound of hundreds of steel blades ringing as they clashed echoed all throughout.
“Deploy all oars, full speed ahead!”
Only the Odette was different; Having turned at the last second, the ship scraped her port broadside against the pirate ship's. Once they were clear, the portside oars were put back into the water and they were now advancing out into the sea at speed.
“C-Captain?! What are you doing?! “Do you mean to run away from the battle?!”
The pirate ships got further and further behind them as Ottmeyer insisted they turn back and fight. A three-on-three fight was fair, but since their side had superior ships and training they were poised to win and the fleet commander's strategy of defeat in detail should have worked. But Curaçao wouldn't relent.
“Our duty is not to win the fight; we're here to send off Princess Primera to Schilaff. “We also have orders from the Decemviri to prioritize that above all else, so I'm merely abiding by that.”
He waved the red letter in Ottmeyer's face.
“B-But what about our comrades?!”
He pointed to the battle raging behind them.
There were fierce close quarters fighting on the decks of the Carly and the Magenta , and now the pirate ship that they were supposed to fight was about to join in the battle. For now, they have a one-ship advantage, but later on, six more pirate ships will catch up to them. A two-on-nine battle, even with state-of-the-art ships, was a lost one. If they go back now and equalize the odds, even temporarily, they could all still escape.
However, Curaçao ordered them to maintain their course.
Sailors and marines aboard the Odette could only watch their comrades fight in silence. By the time smoke started to rise from the Carly and the Magenta , they were already so far away that the scene of battle started to sink beneath the horizon.
“Skilled sailor, Deda ha Russo!”
“Apprentice sailor, Matt mawa Watt!”
As the captain read out the names of their killed in action, a slipway was raised, plunging the bodies, wrapped in the national flag of Tinaye, into the ocean. To the side, the ship's guardian protector, Odette, also the ship's shrine maiden, was reading a memorial address out loud.
“O exalted Emroy, goddess of war, please welcome the souls of our fallen brothers. O Apliu, goddess of the ocean, and the goddesses Eulo, Zevullah, Notos, and Vorey, hear our prayers and bless our fallen brothers' souls with fair winds, wherever they may be.”
While the solemn rites were being held, Chan, who was among the line of sailors formed on the deck, couldn't help but scoff.
“So they let them die without even giving them so much as medical treatment and then they toss their bodies out to sea… What a shitty fate, right?”
The sailors were indeed given treatment according to this world's standards of medical care, although from Chan's perspective, they may as well have not done anything. They just amputated their broken limbs and then left them without giving them any transfusion of sorts. They weren't even given any medicine, so it was only natural for Chan to see it that way. Had they been brought to a place with modern medical facilities, these poor souls who were now being dumped into the sea may have been saved.
What Chan was trying to say is that they ought to challenge this and make the people responsible take accountability. He brought up how they should never have tried to fight a useless battle in the first place and instead tried to reason with the pirates.
Edajima, who was right next to him, whispered in reply.
“Please keep those feelings of yours to yourself. “You might end up saying something we'll all regret.”
“Why won't you say anything? Isn't it better if you did?”
“What I'm saying is that our priority is not to stand out, or else we lose all hope for escape. By not challenging the captain, we were able to escape the fight with our lives. “We may not be so lucky next time, so please keep that in mind.”
It all suddenly came back to Chan. Edajima was right: in the first place, they were already being watched, so aggravating the situation further would just ensure they didn't escape.
After the rites were over, the sailors promptly got to work cleaning the sand and blood off the deck and dumping them into the sea. They then went to work to fix everything that was broken in the battle, which took them days of unending work, but sure enough, the traces of the battle disappeared from the Odette altogether. Two days later, they were forcibly ordered to return to “regular” life. Despite that, the battle had minute yet undeniable consequences on their day-to-day life.
Back at the galley, Tokushima was cleaning the cooking utensils when the shift bell range four times in bursts of two.
“Eight chimes. “Guess I have to go.”
Dropping his current work, Tokushima went to the belongings chest crammed into one of the galley's corners and started packing his stuff into a duffle bag—there was his blanket for warmth, a raincoat for when the weather turns bad, and so on.
“Oi, why are you getting your shit? Are you gonna escape? What about me?!”
Chan saw him and asked.
“No, I'm not. “I was just assigned to watchman duty, half of the time.”
“They made a galley boy like you the watchman?”
“The shift's opened up thanks to that last battle, so they told me I gotta help fill them up.”
Due to the many crew who were wounded and killed in the last battle, there was not enough manpower to keep the ship running, meaning that even landlubbers such as they were assigned to the task of the watchman. There was also the fact that out of the three, Tokushima and Edajima were the most reliable picks, so they were assigned to a post that didn't need any special training. Other posts where they were assigned to was flooding control, which was activated only in emergencies.
As Tokushima packed away, Edajima reminded him.
“I'm the one filling up for the other half. Oh yeah, Tokushima, don't forget to bring that with you, got it?”
“What are you… Ahh, that . “Roger.”
Tokushima took his marine VHF radio from the chest and tossed it into his duffle bag. The other workers in the gallery, not knowing what the weird box thing was nor what it was for, simply ignored their conversation.
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