The smell of burnt gunpowder and cracked wood seemed to seep out of the Maiden's very core. The deck was a mess; pieces of railing and canvas sail were scattered everywhere. A stray round had blown away half the crow's nest, leaving Leon frowning at the loss of his favorite haunt. Thankfully, her armor had kept her hull mostly intact, although there were massive dents in several of the plates.
"Maddy?" Viccy said. There was no answer, although the boom of the cannons below firing another broadside meant the AI had to be online. The trio moved deeper into the ship, heading towards the control room that housed Maddy's systems.
Viccy's stomach churned a bit as he opened the door. The AI hated it when anyone except Ollie entered. Fortunately, the handle didn't turn scorching hot or hit him with a painful shock.
"You three took your time getting here," Maddy said through the built-in speaker on the control panel.
"It took three minutes..." Viccy said.
"That's about 170 seconds too long," Maddy said.
Arguing with the AI probably wasn't in Viccy's best interest at the moment. She was even more stubborn than Selda if that was possible. "What's the damage?"
"They managed to put a round through the transmitter in the crow's nest and the onboard comms are busted," Maddy said. "I can't lower the sails without them being torn to shreds, so I'm having to rely on the secondary propulsion system, which burns through Spicygas like crazy. I have ten minutes left tops. And two of the starboard cannons are out."
"Any good news?" Priscilla said, grimacing.
"Yes actually. You're here now," Maddy said. "Now get out there and do something about those cruisers. Their main guns will sink me eventually and I'm sure that's something we all want to avoid..."
"Why are they even here?" Priscilla puzzled out loud. "Protocol is to avoid direct confrontation and protect civilian assets. What's changed?"
"I'm sure we can figure that out another time," Maddy said. "Preferably when I'm not getting shot at with nine-inch cannonballs..."
The trio was thrown off their feet as the ship tilted dangerously; Viccy managed to ram his face into the control panel and push several of the buttons. Water began to pour from the fire sprinklers in the ceiling as the entire ship vibrated, and he slipped in a puddle as he tried to stand up. The sound of "Happy Birthday to Priscilla" blared through the speaker.
Maddy sighed as she shut off all of the systems Viccy had turned on. "What the hell was that?" he asked as he got to his feet – he did it a lot more carefully this time.
"A nine-inch cannonball..." Maddy said. "If this room wasn't soundproof, all of your eardrums would have ruptured."
"What are you smirking at?" Leon asked Priscilla. The young woman had been grinning goofily since the moment she had stood back up.
"The little fuzzball remembered my birthday was next week," she said.
"Wait... What?" Viccy said.
"GET OUT OF HERE AND DO SOMETHING USEFUL!" Maddy yelled.
"So what's the plan?" Viccy said.
"We get in there and kick their asses," Leon said.
"I don't think that qualifies as a plan..." Viccy said.
"There's not much else we can do," Priscilla said. "Just drop us off on a ship and we'll ride it out from there. Two of those idiots from back in that bar are on another cruiser as we speak, so they should handle that one. You're going to stay up here and do your whole pyromaniac shtick, but be careful. You're still not 100%."
Viccy flew low over the water towards the nearest cruiser. It was an impressive thing. It had to be at least 80 meters long, and it sported several lighter guns in the lower deck.
The real threat, however, came from the two massive 108lber main guns mounted on turrets up top. They fired a round capable of downing a giant. As if the cannons weren't bad enough, a number of marines swarmed over the deck like ants, taking aim and firing at him as he approached. The sound of more and more bullets whizzing past set him on edge. A lucky hit managed to catch him on the cheek, throwing his head to the side as it sparked off.
"You guys alright?!" he asked.
"DIVE!" Priscilla yelled. Viccy reacted immediately, closing his wings and sending them plummeting towards the water. A round from the cruiser's main guns whizzed over them, the draft causing Viccy to lose control for a moment. The shot struck its intended target, another pirate ship, and knocked off its figurehead along with a massive chunk of its bow.
"We're coming in hot!" he yelled. Adrenaline was beginning to kick in, and he could barely feel the twinge in his chest from all the exertion. The dragon inside him was stirring, its natural love of battle becoming apparent as he began to grin. The bullets barely stung, and his vision of the world around him became sharper. He could see every detail on the Marines faces as he closed in. He relished in their shock. Basked in their fear...
Viccy snapped out of his trance. A red mist that he hadn't even noticed was there disappeared from his vision. He was a little disturbed by what had been going on in his mind, but he would have to deal with that later. They were upon the ship.
"You ready?" he said.
"Not really..." Leon said.
"Too bad," Viccy said as he dropped them. Honestly, he misjudged the distance a bit, but he did have bullets whizzing past him and the sound of a battle over his shoulder, so he felt like he should be forgiven.
Newly transferred Private First Class Suki of the Marine Cruiser URS Reverence had many regrets in his life. Somewhere along the line, he had gone from a young and naive recruit eager to do his part for the new order, to the bitter ball of living resentment that he was now. He blamed Owen of course. Everything had started going wrong the moment he had been assigned to the man.
Now, as he saw the two people that had been haunting his nightmares for the past several weeks hurdling noisily towards him - the white-haired death, in particular, was screaming unspeakable things at the top of her lungs - he resolved that if he somehow survived until tomorrow, he would change. He would become a man that the young Suki from years past would be proud to know.
He was at peace when leather soled boots entered his field of vision. He was still at peace when his head collided with the deck, flinging wooden splinters in every direction. He was unconscious when Leon and Priscilla got to their feet, nursing their various bruises.
"I'm gonna fucking kill him..." Priscilla growled as she rubbed her behind.
"Not if I get to him first..." Leon said, flexing his back and flinching at the audible pops. His eyebrow rose as he noticed the body he was standing on, and he stepped off, poking it with his toe to see if it was still alive. "Jeez. I think we knocked a few of this guy's teeth out."
The marines around them were finally breaking out of their shock.
"Hold it!" one of them yelled, pointing his rifle at them. From then until the day that he was an old man, the marine would wonder what exactly had happened in that instant.
Leon's golden revolver was back in its holster before the marine's limp form even hit the floor.
Priscilla already had several bodies at her feet. Caduceus gleamed as its spine struck marine after marine. She was as fast and agile as a cat. Her movements as she danced between her enemies, ducked under bullets, and effortlessly redirected cutlass strokes were bewitching. Leon would have thought it was beautiful. If it wasn't for the trademark maniacal grin on her face...
The entire ship shook as the main guns fired another salvo, and Leon remembered why they were there in the first place. Those guns needed to be silenced. The question was how?
Being a self-proclaimed man of action, he didn't have to think about it for very long. He rushed straight towards the nearest turret, making sure to punch a few marines in the face along the way. He began stretching out his shoulders and rubbed his hands together in preparation. A few of the marines around him realized what he was about to do and went wide-eyed.
"You can't be serious..." one of them said. "That turret weighs over three tons."
Leon grinned as he placed both of his hands on the barrel and pulled. The marine's eyes grew wider and wider as the sound of straining steel and rivets popping began to reverberate throughout the ship. In the backs of their minds, they knew that they should probably be attempting to stop him, but every single one of them could only stand frozen like a troop of sea-roaches caught with the lights turned on.
Leon's face grew red from the exertion. Sweat beaded on his brow. His legs screamed out in protest from the strain. Nevertheless, he plowed on, and as the final rivet popped and the gun came free from the deck, he whooped triumphantly. His celebration didn't last long.
"I need to work out more," He thought as his knees buckled. He wouldn't have it in him to do the same for the other gun. So what could he do?
As always, the answer came to him almost instinctively. He threw the turret in his hands at its pair. The Marines eyes followed its progress through the air. The ship shook as iron struck iron; the impact forced the turret to spin out of control.
The auto-loader chose this exact moment to finish its task, and the gun fired. The marines jaws dropped as the cannonball tore through both of the ship's masts, carving out half of the first floor of the command tower as it went.
One of the masts teetered comically before dropping straight onto the offending turret, crushing it instantly. Leon's jaw dropped almost as low as the Marine's did at the display of dumb luck.
"Nice job, Blondie!" Priscilla yelled.
"Er. Yeah..." Leon said.
At this point, most of the marines on board the ship were under varying degrees of unconsciousness. Their ship was dead in the water.
The second cruiser was still in operation, although judging by the spreading fires on board, they wouldn't last much longer.
The last cruiser hadn't fired a shot in minutes, and wouldn't be doing so anytime soon as most of the crew had thrown themselves overboard. Every single one of their faces was a mask of terror as they paddled away from the ship. The ones that could swim anyways...
The four pirate ships that remained were making quick work of smaller destroyers, which were in a full rout. The battle was effectively won.
The marines that remained were sandwiched between someone that had managed to take down the majority of a veteran crew and someone that had crippled a massive warship in the span of 10 seconds. As the demons began to advance on them, they dropped their weapons to the ground. Not one of them displayed any form of panic, however.
"Now that's more like it," Priscilla said. "Where's the CO?" Her sword was raised in their direction; none of them thought it looked very friendly. One marine pointed tentatively towards the command tower.
"I'll check it out," Leon said. He moved two steps before the sound of cracking wood reached him. The tower teetered precariously, too damaged to support its own weight. It collapsed all at once in a spectacular puff of dust and wooden debris.
Priscilla turned back to the marines, her face twisted into an annoyed scowl. "Ok... Where's the XO?"
"That's me," one of them said. A marine stepped forward. A large man with a steady gaze and an even steadier voice.
"Name?" Priscilla said.
"Lieutenant Commander Braves," he said.
"Well, then Braves. In the uh... absence of your Captain, you and I are going to have a little chat."
deviantart(.com)/art/The-Cruiser-670998435
Short chapter. But I have an excuse. A little game called Mass Effect Andromeda released on Tuesday (Great game btw. Screw the naysayers. I'll enjoy what I want to enjoy godammit), and I've been kind of caught up in it. It's addictive as all out.
I realize that I'm probably using a few technical terms here and there that some of you don't know, which may prompt me to write a glossary in the future if it gets too crazy. It probably won't.
That is all. Til next Friday.
