The North Atlantic Ocean
The seas were quiet like always. Such conditions allowed for the British merchant ships to move freely. Captain Henry was tasked with escorting 14 trade ships with his 3 small warships. He wasn't concerned about the ships, their enemy had no navy to speak of. The polish navy was no more then 30 ships, most of which were converted trade ships. The Berkians had their Viking long ships, no true warships.
His flagship HMS Ingham was armed with 40 cannons, her two sister ships HMS Gleaves and HMS Bury were only armed with 30 cannons. The trade ships varied some had 20 guns while others only had 4. It was still early in the morning and pretty dark out, most of the crews were sleeping or just waking up.
Out in the dark lie six ships, all but two sported the Berkian banner. The order from Grand Admiral Fishlegs was simple, destroy the convoy. The SS Night, led by Captain Dagur, was armed with 50 cannons alone. Her two sister ships Dark and Shadow were armed with 40 cannons each. Fury was smaller, only sporting 30 cannons. The two Swedish vessels SS Viborg and Gustavus were both armed with 40 guns.
Dagur knew that he had to move fast. If he attacked in the dark we would catch them off guard and unprepared. The six ships lined up their shots, Night in front aiming at the front warship and Fury in the back aiming at the rear guard. The early morning sky was lit up as a massive volley of cannons fired. The shells hit the ships hard tearing holes in their wooden hulls.
Henry was shocked, from out of nowhere these ships attacked.
"Everyone, battle stations!"
The crew got moving quickly, trying to get to their guns. The Berkian ships continued to fire, the guns raining hell on the British. An explosion rocked the ocean and the dark morning was once again lit up. A cannon ball from Fury had went through the HMS Bury and hit her powder magazine, causing the gunpowder to ignite. Henry was in shock, the enemy had surprised him.
"Fire, fire back!"
His ship began to fire, soon to be followed by Gleaves and a few of the trade ships. They did little damage as the Berkian ships were moving faster then they were. Gustavus made a hard turn left and got its right starboard aimed at a trade ship. It fired a tore holes all over the ship. Night fired a volley at a trade ship. The iron shells hit again, two of the shots hit water first, then hit the hull. The crew at the bottom of the trade ship began to panic, the ship began to take on water.
Shadow had moved in front of Night and fired at Ingham, the ship took a beating. Some of the crew on the deck were knocked off the ship from the impact. By now 3 trade ships were taking on water, the damage done was too much for the hulls to take. The crews of the ship began to abandon the vessels.
Dagur smiled as he saw the crews of the ships jump.
"Signal Fury, tell them to capture those sailors."
"Yes sir."
Henry was sweating, his ships were being sunk, one after another.
"Through up a white-" he was cut off by the sound of an explosion.
He ran over to the side of the ship and looked over the deck. One of the trade ships carrying weapons had exploded.
"Put up white flag, we are surrendering."
"Yes sir."
On board Night Dagur was happy. The British flag ship had surrendered, which was followed by the other ships.
"Board the ships, capture them."
Night docked up next to Ingham, the crew jumped aboard the ship capturing everyone. Dagur captured 12 ships, 70,000 muskets, 3 months worth of rations, 60 cannons, 14,000 troops, and 2,000 sailors. Fury sunk two ships, Night, Shadow, and Gustavus had sunk one ship each. The wolfpack struck for the first time. Gustavus and Viborg would escort the captured ships back to Berk to unload their cargo and prisoners while Dagur remained at sea.
100 miles off the coast of Scotland 4 hours later
Captain Tay was patrolling the sea with his ship HMS Lancaster. He was looking for the convoy of ships that was supposed to arrive 2 hours ago. Many things could have happened, Later departure time, storms forcing them to take a longer route, or just low wind speeds.
"Any sign of them?"
"No sir."
"Keep looking, they have a lot of supplies to keep the war effort going."
"Yes sir."
Then Tay saw some ships appear on the horizon.
"I see them, full sail."
The 60 gun ship began to move towards the ships, expecting to be met with the union jack. He sailed the ship in between two of the incoming ships hoping to talk with the captain. Once he was fully between the two ships he yelled for their captain. He was met with cannon fire.
It was quick and simple, 40 guns shot at the ship. Fires began to erupt on the Lancaster, causing the crew to panic. Men began to yell the ship was taking on water.
"Jump!"
The men began to jump out of the ship. Captain Tay stayed on so he could make sure as many men could jump out as possible. He walked back into his cabin and smashed the glass in his window. Tay took a good look at the names of the ships, Night and Fury.
"Sir all the men from below deck have jumped."
"Ok thank you."
Tay ran over to the side of the ship and jumped off the boat. He climbed aboard the only rowboat that survived the attack.
"Hurry we must gather the navy, we must bring these two ships down."
The Rhine River
The French and British army had made winter camp on the Rhine a few weeks ago. Their intention was to hold the river and prevent the Berkian army from crossing. The recent death of King William demoralized the troops but they still held the river. The French army was ready to protect their homeland by any means necessary.
Across the river was the Polish army who had left Berlin the previous week. Hiccup had asked King Jan if he would hold there to make it look like they were planning to attack the enemy camp. Hiccup was in the southern areas of the Rhine with his army, which had grown in size. Sweden had sent more troops as well as Berk itself which had another five tribes join. Hiccup had an army of 100,000 men, most of which were the best troops in the world.
The dragon scouts had been busy, looking up and down the river to find the best point to cross. Finding a good spot to cross was hard, the river was wide and the best crossing spots were in a neutral country. Savoy remained out of the war, one of the few member states of the HRE not wanting to get involved. However, they were willing to make a quick buck. They offered the Berkian army military access if they promised to protect them if France attacked. Hiccup gladly accepted the offer. On April the tenth, the Berkian army entered savoy.
As the army marched people from across the country came to see them. Women threw flowers at them, the men offered handshakes and food, and the children marched alongside the troops. As the King and his staff rode by, people by the dozens wished the young man well. Astrid smiled, watching Hiccup take in all the praise. The town of Basel welcomed them as they rested for a bit.
Getting off his horse, Hiccup made his way over to a tavern with his staff. Once they were inside, they were welcomed by the townspeople offering drinks and food. For once they were able to relax and enjoy themselves.
By the afternoon the army was well rested and began to march again. They left the town and marched north west, towards Paris. Days passed as Hiccup marched, he knew sooner or later the French would find out about his movements. The fortress city of Belfort was taken without a shot fired. His dragon riders still reported no movements from the British or French armies.
"Astrid send out the Hakkapeliitta, have them burn a village."
"Understood."
She gave the signal and 400 riders left for a nearby town. The attack on the town was quick. Making sure the townspeople were out of all the buildings, they burned it down. The black smoke was visible for miles. Hiccup held his position waiting for the dragon riders to report any movement.
Astrid was sitting at her desk when Gustav handed her a note. She nodded and made her way over to Hiccup's office. When she reached his office in the town hall, he was leaning over a map of France.
"Anything?'
"No, there is no major army within 50 miles of here."
"I don't understand, I have taken a fortified town, burned a village and those damn French bastards don't move. Hand me my pencil."
"Here you go" she said, handing him the quill.
"I think we should move further into the country. However, we should try and fully secure the Rhine. We will need King Jan to get his troops across. I think we will attack from the south and do our best to cut them off from retreat."
"Then we secure that bridge which would allow Jan across."
"Exactly."
Hiccup leaned back up and walked to where Astrid was. She had walked to the terrace and leaned over it's railing watching the flames from the burning town illuminate the night sky.
"I'm sure Paris will fall" she said.
"I agree, but when though?"
"I give it at least a year. The French are stubborn and I'm sure the British won't give easily."
"Agreed."
"Oh, I forgot to tell you. King William has died."
"When?"
"March, died from age. His daughter replaced him as king. General Montgomery has taken over the British forces in France."
"How did you find this out?"
"Sneaky, brought me a paper from the paper in Paris."
"That little dragon flew all the way to Paris, just to steal a piece of paper?"
"Yes."
"Ok then."
Astrid took a good look at Hiccup. He had begun to grow the beard out and with said beard growing, made him look older. Hiccup put an arm around her and she leaned her head against his chest.
Glasgow, Scotland
Tay ran over the Naval headquarters in the city. Glasgow had became an important port in the British empire when they had annexed scotland. Since then, the town had become home to 34 warships and another 6 ships were under construction. Once Tay reached the headquarters he ran to the Admiral's office.
"No, there is no need. The Berkians have no navy and the Polish don't have seaworthy ships" said admiral Fremantle.
"Are you sure sir?"
"I am positive. We don't need to guard the trade ships as much."
Tay busted through the door at that moment, out of breath.
"Captain Tay, what is the meaning of this. Open my door any harder and you'll break it."
"I'm sorry sir but I have urgent news."
"Well then you can tell me over some tea. John, could you fetch us some tea."
"Yes sir" said the young boy.
"Well now what do you have to report."
"Sir-."
"First off, did you find the trade convoy."
"No sir but I have a feeling that they were attacked."
"By pirates?"
"No, the Berkians."
"Impossible, they don't have any ships that can fight ours."
"They do, my Lancaster was sunk by two ships."
Fremantle was shocked, he knew Tay wasn't one to run his ship aground or lose a fight to just some pirates.
"Did you see the names of the ships?"
"I did, Night and Fury."
"I will spread the word. There is a bounty on those two ships. 1,000 pounds if you have proof that you sunk them."
"Shall I gather a fleet?"
"Yes. I will send a letter to London. If the Berkians are building warships that can destroy ours, we need to stop them from building them."
"Understood, I shall leave right away."
"Good luck and fair seas, Captain."
Tay nodded and saluted then left Fremantle's office. Tay made his way back to the port and went to go find the harbormaster.
"Harold, send a message to all the captains, we are going to destroy the Berkian fleet."
"Yes sir."
Berk
While Hiccup was away on campaign Fishlegs was watching over the Capital. He watched over trade and diplomatic affairs. Not only that, he was also in charge of the navy. Using what money the new kingdom had, he built warships that could go against the British. The pride of that new navy was Night, she was the largest ship in the navy. In his mind, smaller ships that could be armed to the teeth were the way to go.
Berk's naval power continued to grow because they were building ships. Currently they had 20 seaworthy ships, he planned to get that number to 80 by then end of the year. With the territory of Sweden and Finland came the vast amount of resources and plenty of ports to build ships in as well as tons of both wood and iron. The ports of kingdom were filled with empty hulls, over 100 ships were now under construction.
Fishlegs knew that this wouldn't be enough to fight the royal navy which had ship estimates in the 400s. He was looking over charts and other documents when Mulch walked in.
"I've gone through the treasury and have counted all of your coin" he said.
"And?"
"We have 6,000 pieces of gold and we have over 45,000 silver pieces as well."
"Do we have any debts to pay."
"No."
"Good, put what we can to ships. I promised Hiccup a navy and I will make sure we have a navy."
"You're the boss" Mulch said as he made his way out of the office.
"Oh, Gustavus and Viborg is back."
"Just those two. Are they damaged?"
"No, they are fine."
"Then where are the other ships I gave Dagur."
"Still out at sea."
"Still out at sea. Why is Dagur out at sea with 4 ships."
"Because someone had to bring back the captured ships."
Fishlegs' frown turned into a smile.
"Well then, get all the captured cargo off the ships and put all the prisoners in the prison."
"Yes sir."
Aboard Night
The crew of Berk's flagship were celebrating the victories they had. In two battles Dagur had done the unthinkable, engage the royal navy. There was plenty of gold being sent to Berk as well as supplies to keep the war effort going.
"A fine capturing if I do say so myself captain."
"Indeed my friend but think of the riches my brother will reward us for doing so good. I'm sure once he takes Paris, he'll pay us handsomely."
"The king, he is your brother?"
"No, not by blood but I still call him brother."
"Captain, I see 3 ships bearing the Union Jack. They are trade ships sir."
Dagur took out his telescope and saw the 3 ships. He smiled, the thought of the plunder gave him joy.
"Friends, signal the rest of us. The Wolfpack strikes again."
The crew let out a cheer and the four ships began to ascend on the unsuspecting trade ships.
The Wolfpack has become a threat now to British ships. Also I'm glad I can fit Dagur into the story now. I think he would be a great captain for the navy since he was the chief of the Berserkers at the time the story began. I also wanted naval combat to make an appearance, it adds another story to war. Will the French army react to Hiccup and his army or will the French and British troops continue to hold the Rhine? - Dilloncoll