I loved writing this chapter as much as I hated it. I hope you will see what I mean. I hope you enjoy. Reviews as always is appreciated.-Anbraxis
Chapter 3 Into the Hearts of Men
An ensign turned in his station and called out, "Sir! We have a ship on radar!"
Rear Admiral Robinson replied, "Give me details Ensign!"
"We have a frigate sized ship, no two of them, moving close to us about 10 miles out, northwest of us. From their current speed I would guess it will take about 40 minutes for them to reach us sir." Called out the ensign.
The rear admiral pondered on this for a while. He needed to contact them. He still did not meet the other side of this situation. They might know something that the ones in the city might not. It was too much of a risk not to go. Too much force might provoke them to attack, while too little force will make them seem non-threatening. Well even the smallest ship in their convoy could sink those two ships easily, but they didn't know that. After thinking it over he said, "Relay instructions for the USS. Quincy to meet them 5 miles out from us. Raise a flag of truce and hold fire until attacked."
He knew the USS. Quincy had enough firepower to knock 20 of those ships out easily. With eight 5" guns, 8 torpedo tubes, 2 depth charge launchers, four 20mm anti aircraft guns and other smaller guns it was a formidable destroyer. He also was a friend of the captain of the Quincy, Commander Cunningham, however he worried his easy going attitude might get him in trouble. He climbed up to the observation deck needing some fresh air after being cooped up for so long.
As Rear Admiral Robinson stepped into the fresh air he tasted, saw and listened to the ocean he loved so much. He put his hands on the railings and looked out into the horizon and saw the USS Quincy steaming away from them. He had a bad feeling about this. He disregarded the feelings but they still stayed bothering him to no ends. He sighed and looked to the horizon, as if hoping to find the answers there.
---
Commander Cunningham was confident, a stark contrast to the feeling that the rear admiral had. His destroyer could take anything those primitive ships could throw at it. He was getting cocky, a bad thing for a captain to feel when he is about to engage an unknown force.
The ship cut through the ocean at maximum speed at 39 knots. The ships were in plain view. That only bolstered the captain's and the sailor's confidence, making them sloppy. The sailors played cards at their stations and some even had the audacity to go back to their quarters on duty. They didn't take them seriously. Why would they? They could sink one of those ships with a single volley of 5" shells.
The unknown nationality ships approached, with no indication that they were going to flee. The distance between the three ships slowly closed the gap between them. They raised a white flag of truce and the sailors, for the most part, stopped goofing off so much. The commander was feeling some tension now, but not much.
He called for the ship to slow down as they got closer and eventually it completely stopped. The other ships continued coming until they were on ether side of the USS. Quincy. The captain immediately saw something wrong here but he held his breath hoping it was nothing to worry about and he was being paranoid. Then the two ships opened fire with ballistae on the Quincy.
The first volley of ballistae cut down the men on deck impaling them or taking out an arm. Adding to the havoc arrows hit them bouncing off the metal deck harmlessly or finding targets of soft flesh. Screams filled the deck below of dying and wounded men. The commander visibly paled and yelled "Open fire! NOW DAMN IT!" While the commander yelled for the marine detachment on board to get on deck several grappling hooks latched onto the railings of the ships from both sides.
The 5" guns finally opened fire blowing apart one, but most of the men on deck, including the 20mm gunners and .50 cal. Gunners, were dead. The turrets slowly traversed as the boarding party of about 70 got on board the Quincy. They were armed with mostly swords and they rushed into the open doors and screams could be heard from inside the ship echoing off of the metal walls. The 5" gun fired on the other ship causing it to split into many pieces and sink.
A flustered marine with a wound across his arm that was bleeding quite profusely and with soot covered hair ran in the bulkhead door yelling "Sir! They wont die! We shot them but they keep on coming, laughing! We will try to take them out sir but I don't think we will manage. Last I saw we only had 15 men left." And he started out the door again but he stopped and added, "I'll try to take as many of those bastards as I can sir."
Most of the bridge crew now was silent, grim, and morose. Commander Cunningham addressed them, "I failed you. Try to get to the life boats. Call for all the men that are still alive to abandon ship. You all have 10 minutes until I call for the USS South Dakota to blow this ship."
The crew ran out grabbing their weapons if they had them. A warrant officer stopped at the door and asked "You will be following us, right sir?
The commander smiled and replied "I'll be right behind you."
After he was gone he closed the bulkhead door and locked it. He called over the intercom "All remaining crew members abandon ship, I repeat abandon ship."
He knew it was a lost cause the marines were surely wiped out and now most of the crew were probably being slaughtered. He saw some of the crew enter the lifeboats and escape from the ship. Someone started banging on the steel door. He ignored it and sat down. After a while no men came out from the doors. He waited for a couple more minutes as he watched the lifeboats get away from the ship. He took off his, crumpled it up in his hand, and threw it to the ground.
He had caused this, he was the one to blame, he was the one that had killed dozens if not hundreds of those poor boys. Some of them no more then 17. Silent tears dropped to the ground.
He called on the intercom one last time his voice echoing though the mostly empty ship "Men I failed you. I am calling for Rear Admiral Robinson to give us one last huzzah. I did not deserve this chance to serve with you. I hope you are all happy in the afterlife. You all deserve it."
He realized the radio was calling for him and he answered it.
---
What the hell was going on? First the ships get much too close to the Quincy then they open fire! He saw the Quincy send one of the ships to the bottom of the ocean but the other ship managed to send a boarding party before meeting a similar fate to its companion. Now the Quincy was not responding to his repeated calls. Rear Admiral Robinson was worried indeed.
"Sir it looks like they are abandoning ship!" Called a sailor outside with a binocular.
He stepped outside and took a binocular and saw that the sailor was right! They were abandoning ship!
He had already sent several ships to assist the Quincy at the first sign on trouble. Now some of the ships began recovering the lifeboats.
A sailor inside said "Sir Commander Cunningham is calling for you."
He walked in and took the headset. And said, "Kyle you idiot why are you still in the ship?! Why weren't you in the lifeboats? And What the he-"
Kyle Cunningham cut him off, "Look John before you say anything more I can't live knowing I killed that many men because of my stupidity. If you try to clear the ship you might lose more men then you save."
"Don't give me that shit! Stop being a dumb ass and ju-"
"John just stop. You know I'm right. I'm not worth a single one of those boy's life. Just as a last request, as a friend John, take me out with a bang."
Rear Admiral Robinson knew he was right, he knew that fighting inside the ship was likely to blow the ship up anyway. He knew that it was dangerous, outright dumb to launch a full scale rescue mission.
He made up his mind and he called into the radio, "I'll see you in hell, Kyle Cunningham."
He called to the bridge crew, "Get all the ships I sent out to recovering the lifeboats and pull back. Then fire on the Quincy. It is full of enemy troops and it is too dangerous to attempt a rescue mission."
There was a chorus of "Yes sir"s and they got to work their faces showing the anger they held. He knew one good thing had come out of this, an army with a reason to fight.
The 16" guns got into place and fired sending 9 shells streaking toward the USS Quincy. The rear admiral watched two of the shells hit on target engulfing the ship in fire. As the smoke cleared they all saw the bow of the ship sinking below the icy waves. Debris floated on the surface were some oil caught on fire. Amazingly against all odds floating on top of the water was the cap of a United States Navy commander.
An unauthorized, but appreciated bugler started playing taps in this dark hour, matching most of the crew's emotions. Many men had resolute faces, while some wept. No man stopped him and no man spoke. The melancholy notes echoed over the calm sea, into the sky, and into the hearts of men.
As the last notes played out Rear Admiral Robinson took off his cap in respect, and wept.
Taps-A song played at millitary funerals and the call for the end of the day.
T_T