On the frigate, a ship’s length away…340Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtO36oBdFTz
The rain pattered on the deck and stairs, ferociously, but the sea oddly did not grow more or less violent. The clouds may have grown greyer, and the spray became thicker, and hardly anything could be seen that was over a league away. Silhouettes gathered in the dark bridge without a sound, their faces illuminated whenever a turret of a nearby ship that they had passed by fired. All eyes were pinned on the bow as they steadily glided deeper into the Confederate formation. They had not been found out yet. Perhaps it was because the fleet in the distance had kept the Rus busy, but as they approached the flagship, the frigate’s pilot began to shiver from a nervousness that he could not explain.
He felt his breath grow pale, and his back was drenched in cold sweat. His hands were stuck to the wheel of the ship, and he could not still himself as if his entire body suddenly weighed hundreds of pounds with the strength of a twig. He knew not how to break this otherworldly angst.
Arber and Julien could sense his dread and stood beside him, hoping that they would be able to console him with their presence. Their eyes looked back and forth, worrying for his health, feeling that his heart was about to explode when the flash of a signal lamp caught their attention. The signallers sent a coded message from the port side of the flagship, but when the nearing frigate appeared to refuse to respond, they grew more desperate for an answer.
Praying that they could keep up their ruse, the lancer called for the pilot, thinking that he had fainted from the stress. “Lev, what are they saying?” For once, Arber could not assume anything, having no foreknowledge of naval codes.
“The hell should I know?” Lev bursted out in frustration. “I was cleaning turrets for the past two months.” He told him as if he was pinning the blame on them, even if he knew that his task had to be done to have been able to get this far.
Julien held onto his shoulder to calm him down, but it did little to aid their situation. “Either way, we should be able to reach them before their guns can spin around.” He looked up at the corporal and fed him words of encouragement to remind him of the chance that they had created. “Then, we’ll have a fleet in our hands.” More confident than ever, he forced himself to appear hopeful when none other could.
Having never sensed such a burning spirit in Julien, Lev returned his gaze, doing everything he could to calm himself, when the signal lamps suddenly stopped flickering. They leaned over the control panel with their eyes diverted to the flagship once more, but when they peered out of the window, squinting, they could hardly make out anything with the fog and rain that misted every shape. However, they saw that their turrets were still turned to the starboard.
It stirred Lev’s suspicion, and then he finally noticed, on the port side of the ship’s hull, holdings began to appear as shield-like mechanisms began to retract. Out of these chambers, steel barrels were pushed forward, which many did not recognise, but the realisation struck the corporal like a battering ram.
“Fuck…” Lev backed away from the window, slowly bringing his hands away from the wheel. “Out of the bridge, now!” He cried, not knowing whether it was his soul departing from his body that lifted his burden.
The squad thought he was exaggerating, but from his demeanour, he did not seem like he was in his usual mood to joke around. Reeling away from the window, they sprang into retreat, and rushed out of the bridge. The infiltrators hurried downstairs, but their feet could not move any quicker. On deck, the volunteer soldiers flashed a signal lamp at random and waved for their sloop to come to their aid. Remaining beside him were Arber and Julien, who could not have fathomed that a flagship of that age had been equipped to such an extent, reminiscent of warships from centuries ago.
Before his farewell, Lev thought that it would be best to send his enemies his best regards and propelled himself at the controls. He pushed on a lever that transmitted his signal to the gunners of the front turret below deck. The gun creaked and started to spin, but seeing that his comrades had not moved an inch since being warned, he grabbed them by their shoulders and pushed them towards the exit.
Arber was led out of the bridge, leaping down the flight of stairs and onto the upper deck as the timer ticked. The entire squad had already abandoned ship, climbing down the ladder, or were taking a leap of faith onto the sloop when Julien remained in the bridge like a captain waiting to drown with his vessel. While staring at the grand battleship their turret was aimed at, he heard Lev call for him, not knowing why Julien had not moved. His desperate voice eventually jolted the blonde-haired boy out of a state of blankness.
Blaming himself for this foiled plan, Julien sprang into action, and seeing he had finally appeared out of the bridge, Lev hurried down the stairs too, slipping from the rain and crashing into the wall of the tower headfirst, bloodying his face. As he made his retreat, Julien turned back to see what had frightened his comrade, but he wished he had not.
There were dozens of cannons lining the port side of the flagship, shining like a chain of a majestic silver necklace when they opened fire. At such short range, the volley pummelled the frigate like maces on flesh, denting the hull with a few shells ricocheting. Some drilled into the frigate at her weakest points and broke into the cabins below, collapsing the bridge before the tower was torn apart from an explosion. Glass rained, and the boy’s eardrums had almost been ruptured. He was the only one who remained on deck when sailors rushed out of their would-be coffins with heavy wounds and lungs filled with black smoke. They spotted the lone infiltrator and armed themselves, hoping to take revenge when a shell landed on them, reducing their bodies to atoms.
His eyes were in disbelief, his body stabbed by shards and shrapnel, and his heart was the only thing that kept his body fighting for survival. The fire raged behind him, he was drenched in rain as he stepped over the rail, but the sloop was already too far for him to leap onto. Hesitating with his arms wrapped around the railings, he looked back when the frigate’s turret opened fire on the flagship. His comrades were yelling at him to jump, but his indecision seemed fated. The frigate began to sink, and its crew trapped behind its locked doors clamoured for mercy when a shell landed at the foot of the stairs. The blast seared his back, and the force of impact propelled him into the air before he plunged into the cold waters of the strait.340Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡW3a5oAoSth
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