The torpedo boats zipped ahead of the fleet in a “V” formation. After a few minutes, one of the torpedo boats came back with a “enemy sighted” flag.

Captain Campbell looked to the signalman, “Davies, order the minesweepers forward.”

“Minesweeps forward Aye.”

“CAPTAIN!” A Boatswain’s Mate lowered his binoculars and turned around, “ENEMY OBSERVATION BALLOON! JUST OVER THE HORIZON. 33 DEGREES.”

“XO! FORE STARBOARD ANTI BALLOON ROCKETS GET ME A FIRING SOLUTION!”

“Firing Solution Aye!” Commander Blair picked up her handset, shouted some orders. Moments later, she looked up at Captain Campbell, “Rocket batteries have solution, Awaiting your command”

“Fore Starboard Rocket Launchers fire five rocket spreads.

“Five Rocket Spreads, Aye.” Commander Blair picked up the handset, “Rocket Batteries S1 through S5, Five Rocket Spread on target.”

Moments later the twenty five rockets streaked towards the balloon. This was quickly followed by a few of the rocket equipped cruisers. The idea was that while they may not be able to shoot down the balloon, they could force it to land and discourage anyone else from trying to take off in a balloon. Not that it would matter once the two fleets collided.

A klaxon went off, Commander Blair shouted, “ENEMY FLEET COMING INTO VIEW! FLAGSHIP AT 5 DEGREES.”

“HELM! TURN FIVE DEGREES STARBOARD,” Captain Campbell turned to Blair, “XO! ORDER NUMBER ONE THROUGH THREE GUNS TO FIRE ON TARGET!,” He flipped his handset to public address, “Multiple Contacts on Horizon, All Defense Guns weapons free.”

The first shells started walking in towards the Indefatigable.

“TORPEDO BOATS SPOTTED 245 DEGREES! THEY’RE SWEEPING AROUND THE FORMATION!”

“THEY’RE HEADED FOR THE CONVOY!”

“THE STEVEN’S POINT IS GOING DOWN!”

Captain Campbell cursed under his breath, “XO! YOU HAVE THE DECK AND CONN! “ This was the first operation where Captain Campbell had to control a fleet. If only they hadn’t decided to give this operation an admiral to take command so he could just focus on the Indefatigable. He yelled to Davies, “SEND THE ANTELOPE AND THE NIGHTINGALE TO INTERCEPT THE ENEMY TORPEDO BOATS!”

“GREEN BAY, ELLEN CARTER, AND PHILLIP MITCHELL ALL GOING DOWN! FITZGERALD, ROGER, AND EDMUN…” The Boatswain’s Mate was interrupted by an explosion on deck that rocked the ship, “NEAR MISS ON TURRET TWO!” He listened to his handset, “DAMAGE CONTROL TEAMS ARE MOVING IN TO… FIRES IN TURRET TWO!”

Commander Blair was shouting into her handset, “DAMCON CONCENTRATE ON THE FIRES! WE CAN’T LET IT REACH THE MAGAZINE!”

“FISH IN THE WATER OFF THE PORT BOW! COMING IT AT A 30 DEGREE ANGLE!”

“DAMCON ON READY FOR TORPEDOES OFF THE PORT BOW,” Commander Blair slammed down her handset and looked to the Helmsman, “HELM! HARD PORT!”

Captain Campbell focused back to the fleet. They had closed to about half a kilometer of the enemy fleet.

Captain Campbell walked onto the bridge towards the Captain’s chair. A Petty Officer shouted out, “Captain on the Bridge!”
Returning their salutes, Captain Campbell looked to Lieutenant Smith, “Mister Smith, I have the deck and conn.”
Lieutenant Smith turned to Ensign Arthur, “Ensign Arthur, pass me the conn.”
Ensign Arthur saluted, “Lieutenant Smith, you have the conn”
Returning the salute, Lieutenant Smith wheeled around to Captain Campbell, “Captain, you have the deck and conn.”
“Thank you Mister Smith and Miss Arthur, you are relieved. You might want to get to your battlestations now,” Captain Campbell sighed slowly. He looked around the bridge and nodded, “Now I’m not one for speeches, so I’ll just get to the point. We’re going into battle. Contact is expected to be thirty minutes out. We’re the lead ship for this, so let’s show those bastards why the Indie is the best goddamn ship in world.” He clicked the switch for the public address and picked up the handset, “This is Captain Andrew Campbell. ACTION STATIONS. ACTION STATIONS. ALL HANDS TO ACTION STATIONS. SET REDCON ONE. ACTION STATIONS. ACTION STATIONS. ALL HANDS TO ACTION STATIONS. SET REDCON ONE. ACTION STATIONS. ACTION STATIONS. ALL HANDS TO ACTION STATIONS. SET REDCON ONE. ACTION STATIONS. ACTION STATIONS. ALL HANDS TO ACTION STATIONS. SET REDCON ONE.”
Captain Campbell pointed at a Petty Officer, “Signalman Davies, raise the flag of war.”
“Raising the flag of war, Aye.”
“Quartermaster Scott, all ahead flank.”
“All ahead flank, aye.”
He turned to Commander Blair, “XO, launch the torpedo boats. Rescue Priority”
“Launch torpedo boats, aye,” Commander Blair switched her comm station to the torpedo boat circuit, “This is Commander Blair. All Torpedo Boats launch. Rescue Priority, I say again, all Torpedo Boats launch. Rescue Priority.”
Captain Campbell picked up his handset and switched to public address, “All Priority One stations report in sequence.”
“Engine Room One ready.”
“Engine Room Two ready.”
“Number One Turret ready.”
“Number Two Turret ready.”
“Number Three Turret ready.”
“Number Four Turret ready.”
“Number Five Turret ready.”
“Fore Torpedoes ready.”
“Aft Torpedoes ready.”
“Starboard Defense ready.”
“Port Defense ready.”
“DamCon command All stations ready.”
“Communications ready.”
He switched to the communications address, “Communications, give me the report on the fleet.”
“All warships ready for combat”
Captain Campbell put down his handset and looked back to Commander Blair, “XO, how are the Boats?”
“All Torpedo Boats launched sir.”
Taking a deep breath, Captain Campbell switched back to Public Address one more time, “Let’s do this.”

Evans scrambled out of the gunpit. He turned back around and helped Rosetta out. The Captain pointed back, “RESCUE STATION! QUICK, THEN BACK TO THE INDIE!”

The boat pitched and Evans rolled to the side. Rosetta grabbed Evans’ shoulder with one hand and with the other grabbed a cleat. She swore something under her breath and helped him up. Keeping a firm grip on his shoulder, she walked him the rest of the way, “I THROW! YOU GRAB!”

She gestured up to the front, the torpedo boat slammed into reverse. The boat slowed and pulled alongside a few soldiers in the water. Rosetta tossed a life ring to one. The soldiers all linked arms and Evans started hauling the line. Rosetta grabbed on behind and helped haul. The first soldier reached up, and Evans knelt down.

The soldier grabbed Evans’ hand. Evans leaned back and dragged the soldier partway out the water until he could make his way out. Evans then switched to the next soldier waiting to be hauled up while Rosetta helped up the third. She waved forward once the soldier got hold. The torpedo boat then slammed forward again. Rosetta led the way to the hatch, helping one of the soldiers while Evans helped along the other two.

There was a whizz that swept past Evans and the soldier on Evans’ left slumped down. He pushed the soldier on his right forward and knelt to the one who was bleeding out on the deck. The puddle of blood on his uniform kept growing. Stomach wound probably. Shit. Evans yanked the knife out of his belt, slipped it under his uniform and cut upwards. There was a large piece of metal sticking out of the soldiers belly. Fuck.

The torpedo boat shook violently as it hit the side of the Indefatigable.

The Indefatigable was the pride of the Ethslin navy. It was the first of Ethslin’s new line of dreadnaughts, commissioned four years before the war began. It had ten thirty centimeter guns, six torpedo tubes, and thirty of eight centimeter guns, like the one on the torpedo boat. It was also bristling with machine guns, capable of sweeping every centimeter of water surrounding the ship. The eight hundred officers and sailors assigned to the ship were the very best and most well connected in the Navy.

For these reasons, it was selected to lead the assault on the Vledscan Coast.

Evans ran forward to the sunken gun pit in the front of the boat. One sailor was attempting to lift the body of another out of the pit. Figuring that it was the right thing to do, Evans knelt down, dragged the body out of the pit, and slid in.

The Sailor in the pit with him stepped behind the gun and leaned towards him so her mouth was over his ear, “Gràçie! I am Rosetta!” She pointed to a small niche in the wall, “Boxes of Bullets! When I need to reload, throw old box on deck and attach new box. You also help me pick targets.”

Evans nodded. He knelt down and grabbed a box. He then picked it up and latched it on. Pulling off the top and tossing it to the side, Evans began the loading the gun itself. He took the end of the belt and put it into the chamber. Rosetta closed it and racked the bolt.

Evans finally looked up and away from the deck of the Torpedo Boat.

The sea was well… a sea of chaos. God that sounds stupid. Evans shook his head to snap out of it. He couldn’t tell what the hell was Vledscan and what was Ethslin. He could barely even see anything with the speed the torpedo boat was twisting and turning and the walls of water being thrown up. Rosetta wheeled the gun to the left and started firing. Evans followed the tracers with his gaze. They were flying towards the deck of a somewhat smaller ship. Though smaller didn’t really mean much. The ship still dwarfed the Torpedo Boat. The tracers collided with an area of the deck that held a small 20 millimeter gun emplacement that was trying to keep up with the Torpedo Boat. There was a puff of smoke from the gun emplacement and the Torpedo Boat rolled to the side. Evans puked into an empty ammo tin.

Rosetta tapped Evans on the shoulder, “JAM!”

Evans helped pop open the top of the machine gun and tried to clear it. Rosetta yanked Evans down right before an explosion hit and shrapnel ripped overhead. A sailor shouted into the pit, “SURVIVORS COMING UP. YOU TWO ON DECK!”