OPENING SHOTS
Forest lay in his bunk, as the tannoy began sounded the eight bells, ending the day's dogs watch. The war was 3 days old, and so far neither side had done too much fighting. Jackson remained in orbit as the brass argued and mused over what their tactics and goals should be. A movement united only by their dislike of central control was finding it hard to agree on much else, while the alliance, who's aims were clear had started the war believing the boarder worlds couldn't possibly field an army, and so were knocked off guard by the sudden emergence of battalion order units in the boarder. Outnumbered and outgunned the federal garrisons on the outer planets and moons had quickly capitulated, leaving the alliance brass completely confounded.
As the last bells died away Forest began to rise from his bunk, he was required on bridge for the start of the first watch. He rubbed his tired eyes, as he pulled on his uniform and walked through the ship to the bridge where he would receive this watch's assignments.
The bridge was a hive of activity, the captain stood in the centre his hands clasped behind his back. Forest approached him and touched his hat, "reporting for duty sir," he said, watching the previous watch ensigns leaving the bridge, either towards the rec-rooms, or down to their bunks. As he'd assumed his watch was once again on the gun deck, his team had quickly asserted themselves as the best aboard the Jackson in reload and firing times, and while they had yet to fire a live shot, the ship seemed more at ease when they were on duty.
Once in the familiar gun deck there was very little to do but wait, drills had been cancelled for the time being so the guns would all be in a position of readiness in the event they were required. Suddenly a loud klaxon sounded throughout the ship, Forest had never heard this before, but he'd been told what it mean. The captain had ordered all hands to stations. The surrounding decks were a flurry of activity as gun teams assembled at their stations, preparing to meet any threat. It was followed by a whistle, signalling that the decks be cleared for action. This meant that action was likely so anything unnecessary be stowed so damage control teams, and replacement hands could move to parts of the ship they were needed. Forest peered out of the small window into the black, and that was all he could see, he wished he knew where, and what the threat was. The huge ship began to move, he could feel the sudden inertia as it shifted a hard turn to the port side, and beginning to edge slowly forwards, creeping into the dark. "LOAD GUNS AND RUN OUT!" the deck leftenant shouted, the deck burst into activity, the high explosive shells were carefully slide into the barrels of the guns, the firing mechanism primed and finally the guns pulled forwards into the airlock, clicking firmly into place.
"GUNS READY" Forest shouted, all over the deck he could hear other guns clicking into position and his fellow ensigns announcing their crews were ready for firing, he smiled a private smile, knowing he'd been ready first. Frantically staring out of the window he tried to find their target, then he saw it, at first he dismissed as stars, but as the ordered block of lights moved slowly forwards he realised it was a ship.
"15 POINTS OFF THE PORT SIDE!' the leftenant finally shouted, confirming what Forest had thought, and providing the other ensigns with the intended target. Running along his division he sighted down the barrel of each gun, trying to find the target through the tiny, reinforced glass window above each barrel, adjusting the declination and angle each gun to bring it to what was hopefully the correct position. "GUNS SIGHTED AND READY" he announced loudly. Again, his was the first station on deck to announce his readiness for action, but the remaining teams were quick to report in.
"ALL GUNS FIRE!" leftenant Blake shouted.
"CLEAR!" Forest yelled to his team, they stepped away from the gun as the ensign pulled the firing cord, the firing pin clicked and the gun erupted with a loud crash, as the barrel flew backwards into the gun room from the heavy recoil. With no time to spare he ran to the next gun, repeating his action, and as he moved from gun to gun his crew followed, reloading and pushing each gun back into its airlock, prepared again to fire. As he reached the end of his station the room was filled with the thick smoke of the propellant. Looking through the window he couldn't make out the small shells against the black of space, but he watched the ship, waiting for the impacts. He saw flashes of light all along the target ship; his heart skipped a beat, smiling as he watched the small explosions on the ship. But as he looked down at his watch his heart sank, his shells shouldn't impact for another 15 seconds, given the estimated range to target. Suddenly, it dawned on him they were firing back.
His eyes scoured the black, somewhere out there a whole broadside shot was hurtling towards his ship. Not long after he saw what he'd hoped, his own shells making contact. A series of huge explosions raked the side of the enemy ship. He couldn't know it from this distance but the ship had been ripped apart, a small alliance corvette was tiny compared to the Jackson, and his shells had ripped a series of holes from bow to stern, the tiny ship began to break up under the massive power of the detonations. But his glory was short lived. Although small, its shots could to a huge amount of damage, and they were still out there somewhere. He didn't have to wait long. A sudden, horrific crash reported the impact of the first shell, the whole ship shook with the power of detonation, through his window he could see the debris thrown into space by the hull breech, seconds later a second crash reported another hit. He couldn't see any evidence of the impact, but he knew it had done some damage.
The tannoy sounded the stand down order, the danger of further attacks had passed. Throughout the ship damage control teams were rushing to the impact zones. Forest and his team remained on the gun deck while the other teams were dismissed by the leftenant of the watch. Forest was still on watch, and would be till 8 bells. The rest of the watch ticked by slowly, the bells gradually sounding every half hour while his team cleaned and oiled their guns after action. Forest was curious, curious to know the extent of the damage to his own ship, but at the same time was beginning to feel a twang of guilt, shells he personally had fired had, most likely, ripped an alliance corvette apart, a crew of several hundred had been killed by his actions. "us of them" he told himself, those words cycling through his brain, the well rehearsed justification of soldiers since the dawn of warfare. Finally, after what seemed to be an eternity the eight bells rang out throughout the ship. Forest dismissed his division, who quickly left the deck. He lingered for a moment, ensuring everything was locked down as it should be, when he was satisfied his work was complete he began the long walk back up to his berth.
No sooner had he entered the room, than a voice over the tannoy announced "pass the word for ensign Forest, Ensign Forest to the captain's quaters please". Wearily he closed his eyes and turned, walking up to the captain's cabin. He knocked on the door and was welcomed by Captain Whitehead. The captain looked stressed, since the attack he'd been busy directing engineers to try and limit the damage of the impacts. "Mr Forest, your deck leftenant told me some very interesting things about you during the action. You behaved in an exemplary manner for a man under fire for the first time" the captain offered his hand to Forest, who quickly took it, firmly shaking Whitehead's hand. He looked past the captain to the small mirror on the far wall, his face was covered in brown soot from the thick propellant smoke which had filled the tiny gun room. "Two impacts down the port side caused huge depressurizations, before we could control it three decks had blown out, its going to take several months to repair." Whitehead said, shaking his head with regret. "I've recommended you for transfer, you've learned incredibly quickly in your short time here, and proved your ability under fire today"
"With respect sir, you accepted my commission; I would be honoured to remain on Jackson"
"While that means a lot to me, your skills and youth could be put to better use on a frigate than a ship of this class. You'll have more chance of action, and promotion aboard a frigate, especially while we lay in for repairs" The captain handed him new commission papers, "you've been accepted to the frigate ISS Ewell, congratulations and good luck" Whitehead smiled, looking across at the young ensign. "Dismissed ensign, your shuttle leaves in two hours"