Chapter 3
I don't know how long I had been out or where I was. coughing up half the ocean was currently my only concern, the salt burned my throat and my body ached, my hands felt the cold metal of a ships deck.
"Where the hell am I." Wiping my eyes, I tried to take in my surroundings. I was on the bow of a small ship, looking behind me a large turret stood there. It was nothing like the cannon's cargo ships had, this was something more akin to the arrays of turrets lining ports, the two barrels pointed straight forward as if daring anything to challenge them.
I remembered my time at school. ships hadn't been given these types of weapons for over a hundred years. There wasn't much of a point to them, unlike a land installation that could withstand attack for a long time I had witnessed first-hand how quickly a ship could be destroyed.
Looking closer my inner mechanic made me realise something, I noticed there wasn't any rust anywhere or anything that would indicate it's age. It looked brand new, Even a ship that had been freshly launched would have small amounts of rust around rivets from its time in port.
"Who in the word would make a new ship like this." I got up and looked past the turret, down the ship I could see another turret behind this one. It was sitting higher up on top of a superstructure that went back and formed something resembling a bridge.
Further down, the deck dropped lower, a smokestack jutted up behind the bridge, a small amount of smoke poured out.
As I looked further the ship had two torpedo launchers before the deck went back up and another turret stood there. All over the ship was small calibre machine guns attached to railings and a large grouping of machine guns amidships.
This wasn't a cargo ship nor was it any fishing vessel. This was a ship designed with one purpose in mind. War.
Someone must have spotted me in the ocean and pulled me aboard. But there was nobody around and I had been on the bow, not in any form of med bay or cabin. "Hello is anyone there?" I called out but nobody answered.
"Strange." I began to walk down the deck; I could feel my heartrate increase as thoughts of ghost ships came to mind. I tried to calm myself, the ship looked abandoned but it couldn't be, the smoke coming from the smokestack meant it had fuel and someone had to of pulled me out of the ocean. The last thing I remembered was sinking as my body gave out.
Something was missing. "The cube." I spun round looking at where I had awoken, apart from a small puddle there wasn't anything else. Checking over my pockets didn't help either, my stomach sank, it was probably at the bottom of the ocean by now.
"Dam, maybe Someone on the ship has it." I hoped that was the case, I began to walk down the deck. I had a growing sense I was being watched.
A hatch slowly opened in front of me, strangely there wasn't an arm pushing it open.
What was even more strange was a few seconds later was the small girl that walked out.
"Uh, hello." Her Bright pink hair and deep green eyes stood out the most. Why was a girl like this on a warship?
"H, hello mister." Her accent was definitely a deep English. She began to fidget nervously, bringing her eyes to match mine only to look straight down at the floor again.
I crouched down a bit trying to bring myself to her level, she stood just below my chest, if I had to put an age to her, I'd guess late teens. "This is a very nice ship; would you mind telling me what it is and where I could find your captain.
She perked up with my first comment, a blush formed on her cheeks. "This is Hms Javelin." Her face fell a bit. "I don't have a captain anymore."
A frown began to form on her face. "I don't have any crew anymore. It's just me now."
How could a ship be out at sea without a crew, let alone a young girl being the only soul onboard.
I was about to question her even more but stopped myself as I looked at her face, whatever had happened weighed on her heavily. "Well don't worry you've got me. I can help us get back to land, do you know where you're from."
"Clydebank, that's where I'm from."
"You don't sound Scottish, where are your parents from?"
She looked at me confused. "I didn't really have any, unless you count the admiralty I guess." Her head tilted to the side; some hair moved revealing a small crown on the side of her head.
Looking at her properly everything about her outfit was strange, what looked like a hood with big ears was wrapped around her neck, a thin white shirt that should have been freezing her out in the ocean. That was to say nothing of her skirt that definitely too short. Finally thin black socks rose partially up her legs out from some blue wellingtons.
This was definitely not what someone on a ship would be wearing. "I don't think I got your name, mines James what about you?"
"I already told you, it's Javelin. What were you doing out in the middle of the ocean?" Surprisingly her mood had already begun to change back to curiosity.
"You're named after the ship?"
"Well, no, not technically." She looked at her hands. "I am the ship. I only just got this body."
"What?" Is all I could say.
She taped the hull. "Yep, this ship is me. I don't really understand it myself; it was never like this before. being able to see is amazing, so is talking." She was back to smiling, now looking over everything she could.
"I don't understand, you're supposed to be the ship? To what extent exactly." My mind was jumping round trying to find logic in her words.
Her smile grew even more. "To this extent." Bringing her hand up she pointed out to sea. Suddenly all the turrets, guns, torpedo launchers and searchlights turned to face where she was pointing. Where I couldn't see the inside of the turrets, the smaller items however were moving without anyone there.
"Now to starboard." She swung her body around, the turrets and everything once again followed before she turned back to me and the ship went back to its resting positions.
"That's, but that's impossible, how did you move everything."
She giggled, it sounded familiar. "I just told you, I am the ship, moving everything like that is easy.
The reality of the situation was starting to set in, or I was just too exhausted to care "right fine, but where did you come from. Not where you were built but why are you in the middle of the ocean."
She shrugged. "I don't know myself, all I can remember was sinking, then I was alone for a long time, then I just woke up here.
"You were sunk and came back. How did that happen?"
She looked out to sea for a moment, I wondered if I had touched a sensitive subject. "Well, I don't know exactly, I was just a normal ship without a body or anything. I think we were out preforming escorts in the North Sea and came under attack, we went straight at the sirens to give the convoy time to escape, I don't think any of my crew survived."
"Oh, I'm sorry for asking."
She wiped a tear from her eye before looking back at me "it's ok, just my first-time experiencing emotions, it's hard to control them."
A breeze blew through, the cold going straight through my damp clothes, looking at her I couldn't tell how she wasn't freezing in such little clothing. "Are you not cold dressed like that? It's the middle of April, the Windchill can get to you quickly out here."
She moved her hands around feeling her arms and face. "Not really, the water is a little cool on my hull but this body feels nice and warm see." She grabbed one of my hands and placed it on her cheek.
I was about to move my hand back but I noticed she was right, she was warm, really warm.
"You on the other hand." Her other hand came up and grabbed the same hand. "Are freezing, not to mention absolutely drenched. Why didn't you say something, come my boiler room is warm, you can dry yourself there."
Before I could protest, she turned dragging me along. The hatch once again opened on its own as she led me inside.
I looked around at everything as we headed down into the ship, she gave me a description of every room we passed. From ammo stowage to navigation. In contrast to my old ship where everything was in a constant state of repair, here it all looked relatively new.
We walked through another hatch her hand still dragging me along, as we stepped through the lights down the corridor flickered on. "So, you can control everything on this ship then?"
"I don't fully know yet, haven't had a chance to fully try everything out, need to perform some proper sea trials and ranging exercises to see my full capabilities." We walked into a room, the heat was welcoming and made me realise how cold I had gotten. "Here just get those wet clothes off and warm yourself up."
I removed my coat, sweatshirt, boots and socks placing them on a large pipe. Before sitting myself down on the floor.
"You're not going to remove them?" She said while standing over me, from this angle it was obvious she didn't have much self-awareness. I moved my head back.
"I'd rather not, at least with you in here." I fully leaned back, feeling the heat warm me up.
"Why not, it would speed up the process, what's it got to do with me." She knelt down placing her knees on the floor and leaning towards me.
"Because you're a woman."
She looked confused for a moment. "What's that got to do with it, I don't." She stopped. "Oh." Her face went a deep red as her eyes widened, she leant back.
She spoke fast as she experienced embarrassment for the first time "Oh, no I didn't mean that, I just wanted to help you warm up, it's ok anyway I'm not a girl I'm a ship, I don't see anything like that. I mean, I don't think I do" she buried her face in her hands.
I chuckled, leaning back I closed my eyes. "Don't worry about it. Thanks for this, I'm already feeling better."
She seemed to calm down and shuffled over to lean her back against the wall beside of me. After a while she spoke "so what are you planning on doing now?"
That was something I had been trying not to think about. Now I had calmed down the weight of the situation had begun to grow. "Don't really know, when I make it back to the mainland, I will probably report my ship as lost then figure out my plan from there, what about you?"
"I've never decided anything for myself before." She brought her knees up to her chest. "Guess I should report to the admiralty and follow their orders. I am technically still one of their ships after all."
I knew she said she was sunk but to mention the admiralty then it must have been long ago. "Uh, Javelin I don't know how to say this but the Royal Navy doesn't exist anymore, not for over a hundred years now I think."
"What, but how. I know the sirens were a problem but I couldn't see that happening, What about the rest of the fleet?"
"Sorry, I don't know much of what happened, nobody really does. Apparently, there was a big battle and we lost, after that the seas became mostly lost to us. as for the ships I don't really know." I answered, there wasn't much to say, it was well known that we lost but details about it were hard to come across.
"Oh." She brought her knees closer to herself.
I put a hand on her shoulder. I realised I had probably just made her feel very alone. "Don't worry I'm sure if you came back then there's bound to be more ships about."
She leaned into my arm. "Yeah, I'm sure it will be fine." Her head moved and a bit of her hair fell onto my hand. Looking at it I could see the pink went right up to the roots.
I had seen this before. The flash of colour that moved in the corner of my eye that had led me to the cube.
It suddenly clicked in my head. "Javelin, do you know anything about a blue cube. Would have been about as big as my palm." I put my other hand out to show the rough size it would have been.
"No can't say I do, is it important." She begun to sit up.
"I think that might be where you came from, I had grabbed it from my ship as it went down. I'd had been drawn to it, and I think I saw you once moving around the lower deck." The more I spoke the more it begun to make sense to me.
"I don't remember much before waking up on my bridge, just the darkness, I sometimes tried to reach out, so I guess that might have been me."
Standing up I begun to open the pocket in my coat. "There was this scientist, he said the cubes were more than just a source of energy, maybe this is what he meant. "
I grabbed the notebook, it felt damp. Javelin had stood up as well.
I nearly slammed my head against the wall when I opened it, instead I just cursed.
"What is it, something wrong?" She couldn't see from her height but when I opened it, I was greeted by a black mess of ink on ruined paper.
"The pocket got wet, it was an old coat so water soaked through, making this thing" I put it on a pipe. "Useless."
"Oh, was there anything important in it?" She picked it up and carefully opened it.
I leaned against a pipe and begun to rummage through the rest of my coat. "Don't know, never got the chance to read it, but if you did come from a cube then we might be in luck"
"Why?" She put the book back.
"Well, the owners name was Martin Walsh, he worked for the university of London studying the cubes. Apparently, several have been found, so If you came from one then."
"Maybe other ships might come from them!" she finished.
"That's what I'm guessing, unfortunately a fair few have been lost in transit but two were sent ahead of our ship and the university has two already there." I finished going through my coat, mostly everything in the pockets were either useless of damaged from the water, the small amount of money in my pocket had gotten wet only leaving the coins.
Fortunately, the captain's pendant was fine. I put it back trying to hold back the lump in my throat. The more I began to relax the more the loss of my ship begun to weigh on my mind.
"How were they lost?" She asked.
"Don't know the full details but apparently the ships transporting them got lost in fog and all that was found was wreckage, looks like the sirens were drawn to the cubes. that's why you were sent separately." I began to put my clothes back on. The shoes were still damp as were the arms on the coat and sweater. "Paid a lot of money to charter our ship, even enough to convince my captain to set off alone, hopefully the other ships didn't suffer the same fate.
"What happened?" Her voice cracked a bit, she probably knew.
"Got lost in fog. Sirens came and destroyed everything, as far as I can tell were the only survivors."
"I'm sorry. If they were attracted to the cube then it's my fault isn't it." She was looking towards the floor.
I crouched down and put a hand on her shoulder, I tried to put on a reassuring smile. "It's ok, we all knew the risks, and don't blame yourself for something you didn't have any control over."
"It just seems that everyone around me ends up dead, maybe I'm an unlucky ship." I rubbed her shoulder before moving to grab her hand lightly.
"Well, I'm not dead yet and I don't plan on dying for the time being. Now enough about that, I've never been on a warship before would you mind giving me a tour." I guessed trying to change the subject would be best for us both, the time for mourning and self-pity could come later.
Her mood changed slightly as she begun to lead me round the ship. I wasn't lying when I said I hadn't been on a warship before and it definitely was an interesting experience, unlike cargo ships, space was used to its maximum efficiency. All around were small hammocks hung from the roof and walls. Javelin said they were for the lower ranks and proper beds and some cabins could be found.
The ammunition stores were similar. Large drums called depth charges were squared away where they could be easily moved to the deck, boxes containing ammo for the smaller guns were dotted around as well.
When we got to the lower decks I was where the main munitions were stored. Hundreds of shells lined racks next to small elevator tubes, the metal in the room was thick, designed to prevent incoming fire from hitting the shell and detonating them.
The oil in the fuel tanks looked practically full, the engine giving off a small hum is it slowly turned over on its lowest setting, all the machinery looked to be in a relatively good working order.
We finally made it to the bridge, it was different from the Endurance, instead of wide-open windows there was only a few portholes to see out of. "The best view is up top; it's exposed to the elements but it's easy to see everything." Her mood had gotten better, she was back to smiling and jumping around.
I looked over the controls, it was mostly similar to what I'd used before though there was definitely a difference in the condition of them.
"So can you sense everything the sensors pick up?" I was looking over the radar returns along with several other pieces of equipment I'd never seen before.
"Yep, I'm fitted with the best air radar you could fit on a hull this size, along with a modern sonar and hydrophone. I don't have the fancy fire control that the bigger ships have got but my rangefinders can make do." As she was speaking the displays changed, cycling through different ranges and frequency's, dials and levers all moved on their own.
She'd been opening every door without even touching them but it was still hard to believe she was able to control the ship on her own.
"So far, the ocean sounds quiet, the air radar isn't picking up anything and as for the radio just a few signals that are a bit too far for me to understand." It was a small relief to know that all this time she was able to see what was around us.
"Any idea where we are roughly, would be best to move closer to land." After my ship drifting and getting lost in fog to who knows how much we moved today we could have gotten all the way out into the Atlantic by now.
"Well, I could guess with the sun and the time, but the best way would be the stars, as long as you had the date."
I looked over the navigation equipment. "Could you give me where we are now by using the sun."
She walked up to one of the portholes, going up onto her tip toes and looking out. "Not really, the weather is heavily overcast so visibility is low. and there's a slow breeze pushing a weather system in. Strange I know were not near any landmass so it's incredibly rare to see this much fog rolling in."
A cold chill ran over me as she said fog. Without saying a word, I left the bridge and went up to the viewing platform.
Javelin walked up beside me. "What is it?"
I looked as hard as I could but its distance was too far for me to pick out any details. Maybe javelin could. "You said you had radar, by any chance if you can tell if there's anything in the fog.
"Uh my radar is best against objects in the air but I can't try." She shut her eyes, I looked as her pupils moved behind her eyelids, without opening them she spoke. "I think there's something in there. Three, no four distinct returns at a range of roughly five miles away."
I looked down at the cannons mounted on the deck, while they were bigger than the ones on the endurance. "What sort of range can your canons reach?"
She opened her eyes. "Main armament can reach just over nine and a half miles; torpedoes can go for about four and a half. The anti-air varies. Tough at these ranges the accuracy isn't the best." She was beaming. Obviously very proud of the weaponry she had available.
She may be armed but it can take an entire port filled with weaponry just to sink a few sirens. "What about speed, how fast can you get us."
"Now that is something I was made for. I can sustain about thirty-four knots, thirty-six at a push." If to prove her point the ships engine came to like a big cloud of smoke came out of the smokestack and the ship began to move.
"Unfortunately, the radar returns are small, if those siren ships are destroyers than they can chase us down, not to mention their weaponry far outmatches mine." The cannons on the deck began to turn facing the fog cloud. It was still a distance away but the gap was closing.
I tried to look through my binoculars but being in the ocean had gotten salt on the lenses. "Well, I don't know much about naval warfare, but if we can't run." I swallowed "then all we can do is fight and pray luck is on our side."
Javelin seemed excited. "Aye aye, weapons at the ready, full steam ahead."
The ship began to turn facing towards the fog. As if knowing it no longer has the element of surprise it began to dissipate, four black ships appeared.
"I will be in an effective range in roughly two minutes. Torpedoes in five. What's our plan of attack?" She spoke less like the young woman I'd spent the day with and more like a hardened veteran, the fact she was asking me for orders was unnerving at best.
I tied to think of what we could do, dragging up memories of books I'd read about the naval battles of old. "Head to the port side of their formation, use the ship at the side as a shield from the other three."
The javelin turned living up with the ship to the right of the sirens.
"I'm in range, want me to fire at the closest ship." She looked dead straight at the ship. Her body standing perfectly straight even with the rocking of the ship at these speeds.
"Do it." As soon as the words left my lips a thunderclap rang out as four barrels fired, the ship shuddered from the recoil.
I watched the shells fly through the air, their trajectory leading them directly to one of the siren ships. I expected the siren ship to flash blue as their shields flared on the impact. But it only did when the first shell hit, the other three seemed to break through impacting directly into the hull and exploding.
Fire raged on the deck of the siren; the front cannon was destroyed. What had Usually taken dozens of shells and countless lives as been done with only four. I looked at javelin. Hope began to swell within me, not just for surviving today, but that with the cube's humanity might finally be able to reclaim the oceans.
I was broken from my amazement as more explosions filled the air. This time not from the javelin. "Sirens are returning fire, prepare for evasive manoeuvres."
I was nearly thrown to the floor as javelin turned the ship violently.
Water was thrown up as several shells splashed down just shy of the ship. Javelin corrected herself and continued advancing on the sirens. Her cannons fired again, this time only two shells hit their mark. The damage destroyed another cannon as fire began to consume the ship.
"I lost a lot of speed dodging those shells, I probably can only do that a few more times." She still stood there in the centre of the deck, while her face looked focused, I could see one of her hands was shaking.
"Just get us in line and keep firing. We'll get through this." I brought myself up beside her. I grabbed her hand trying to calm her.
Her cannons fired several more times as we approached, the front ship had become a burning wreck now and javelin shifted fire towards the second closest ship. they returned fire as we came closer, each time the ship violently turned to avoid the incoming shells. We had lost a lot of speed and had barely begun to gain it again as the next volley of shells rained down
I watched frozen as a shell came down directly at the bridge. Just as it was about to impact, the air shone blue and the shell detonated harmlessly in the air. Several other shells did the same as I realised javelin had the same type of shielding the sirens had.
"That was amazing javelin, how many times can you do that?" I turned to look at her, sweat was dripping down her face.
Between heavy breaths she spoke. "Didn't know I could. But I don't think I can do that again for a while." She put her other hand on the railing supporting herself. "The rear two ships shouldn't be able to fire at us for a while, but eventually there going to spread out." She cleared her throat and stood upright again. "Your orders, captain."
I looked at her. "Captain?"
She nodded before firing another volley at the closest siren, the burning wreckage was begging to capsize, her shells ensured no weapons were still operating. "Every ship needs a captain. We'll sort that out later, just tell me what to do."
"Right." I looked out towards the sirens, drawing a mental line through their formation. "Swing us out alongside the second ship, and pass by it giving it a full broadside, then fire at the third while sending torpedoes at the fourth." It wasn't the most well thought out plan but hopefully using the ships to block one another would minimise their number advantage.
"Aye, preparing a full broadside." Her turrets swung into their ready position as the ship sailed past the sinking ship exposing the second. As soon as the ship was clear the cannons opened fire, unlike earlier the distance was minimal, the shells went directly into the siren.
Even before the smoke could clear javelin fired again, and then again. A continuous stream of shells came from her guns with only a few seconds between them. As we got closer the smaller guns opened up. Lines of tracer rounds streamed from the ship hitting the sirens smaller calibre cannons ensuring they couldn't fire. My ears were rigging from the constant noise.
Soon the second ship had become a flaming wreck.
Without a second's respite javelin began to turn, training her guns on the third ship preparing a broadside as she moved past its bow.
Unfortunately, the siren fired first, three shells flew towards us, the first caught in her shield but javelin cried out in pain as the other two hit their mark.
Her body seemed to be pushed by an invisible force as they impacted, my hand holding hers was the only thing stopping her from hitting the floor.
I looked at where the shells had hit, one had gone behind us and hit amidships, the other had gone directly into the front turret engulfing it in a fireball.
"Javelin are you ok?" I looked back at her; Bruises had appeared along her arm while blood was coming from her nose. Some of her clothes had been blackened with soot.
She coughed, wiping away the blood "A Turret is down, the other shell hit above the waterline." She rose back to her feet. Pointing her arm out towards the siren the remaining two cannons fired.
The shells hit their mark; javelin pulled on my hand while she fired again. "One of the torpedo launchers is too damaged to fire the drive for the other launcher is jammed, I can't move it." The siren Infront of us was nearly crippled, though the one behind would be ready when we moved clear. I didn't know how much javelin could take.
I let go of her hand and put mine on her shoulder, "just keep us moving and firing I will do what I can."
She looked at me with fear in her eyes, clenching her fist she nodded and took a deep breath. "Ok I will get us lined up and set the fuse, move it ninety degrees and stand clear. Keep your head down and stay away from the edge."
I began to turn but was stopped as a hand grabbed my coat. "Please be careful I don't want to be alone again."
"It's ok no matter what I'll get back, I promise." She let go and I immediately began running down the deck. Several more shells were exchanged, the siren was joining the other two but not before hitting the smokestack.
I continued moving as I felt the ship begin to slow, no idea if it was on purpose or due to engine damage. When I got to the torpedo mount, I saw a massive gash in the deck.
The shell had pierced the deck and exploded, opening a hole into the middle decks. I carefully climbed over the hole to the massive mechanism that was used to rotate the launcher. While it hadn't been hit directly, small chunks of shrapnel had flown into it tearing wires and jamming it.
one was stuck in the gear mechanism completely preventing it from moving, I began trying to dislodge the metal in the gears as the ship took another hit, this time on the bow.
The resulting jolt had finally moved the metal at the expense of cutting into my hand. Throwing it on the floor and clutching my hand in my chest I began to turn the valve as quickly as possible.
Slowly it moved, I allowed myself to look out at the last siren ship, we were clearly in the open now and it had its cannons aimed straight towards us. Javelin fired again hitting its deck.
By some stroke of luck, it delayed its return fire, the valve on my hand stopped suddenly as it locked in. The sound of steam escaping reached my ears and the small propellers at the back of the torpedoes began to spin.
Suddenly they fired, a blast of air hit me as they flew out of their tubes and cleared the ship in succession and splashed into the water, small wakes could be seen as they went directly towards the siren.
Looking at it I almost thought the torpedoes wouldn't be necessary as two large gaps had appeared along its waterline, I tried looking closer but four large columns of water shot up in front of it soon followed by a fireball that destroyed the ship.
I was about to relax but movement in the water stopped me, I looked as hard as I could trying to tell what it was.
Several small streams of water could be seen heading towards us. The siren had fired torpedo's as well. Running over to an intercom as couldn't get to the bridge in time praying javelin could hear me. "Javelin incoming torpedoes to starboard, move now."
I got not verbal reply, instead a massive burst of smoke came from the damaged smokestack and the ship began to turn hard into them.
The deck sloped as we turned, grabbing onto a wall to stop myself sliding I watched the torpedo's come closer. The bow slipped through the middle of them but the ship turned more as Javelin tried to get the rear clear.
Watching as one passed below me, it's black shape just below the surface, holding on as hard as I could it finally passed and cleared the stern by a few feet, The ship eventually straightened out and the deck was flat again.
Exhausted I sank down onto the deck, catching my breath I felt the ship begin to slow down. we'd done it, I gave myself a moment to think of my crew, that was probably the four ships that destroyed the endurance and massacred her crew.
"Well, I got even I guess." It felt hollow, my ship was still gone and I'd mostly just watched as javelin did all the work.
I was brought out of my self-pity as I noticed the vibration from engine had gone completely and the ship was now dead in the water. "Javelin." I shot up finding the energy to rush back to the bridge.