To get you dear readers back on track, this chapter begins with the repeat of a few paragraphs ntil going on with the storyline
Escort „Altdorf" , 300 Kilometers from Saratosa
The ship vibrated under Henrik Gerber`s feet as her diesel engines tried to gain the best possible speed from the small warship. By now he had donned flash gloves and mask, a steel helmet and a kapok vest that combined lifesaving with stopping splinters and miserable sweating. Everybody around him was clad the same and small talk was absent. He had stepped out from the confines of the bridge to have a personal look and match the radar plot with real life. As radar had shown he could see two groups of ships. One groups was made up from eight galleys, low to the water which made their way mostly towards his ship. The other group was composed of several galleons that made their way to the Araby shore, using a favorable wind that had appeared some 20 minutes ago. His binoculars were good enough to show the pirates in clear detail, their gaudy clothes, the varied assortment of arms and their victims.
Even without the more somber clothes the way they held their heads and looked at the pirates marked them as the crews of the captured ships.
"What do you make of it Hans?"
"Galleys are pirates, they left prize crews on the merchantmen."
"Jup, that`s how I see this as well. Let`s see if they stop and desist if we call them, otherwise this is going to be bloody."
"So do we sink the pirates and go for the merchantmen?"
"A bit difficult before they open…" Boom"-so much for that. Tell Lieutenant Schneider he may open fire on all galleys, closest ones first."
"Aye Captain."
The forecastle of the closest galleys birthed red flames inside ugly black-brown clouds. Most of the shots dropped harmlessly into the water a hundred meters or more from "Altdorf", a few managed to skip over the waves to gain extra range and one even reached the Imperial warship. Having lost most of its energy it simply bounced off a bow that was reinforced for a bit of icebreaking. By that time Gerber had stepped inside the bridge and addressed the Navigator.
"Pier, new course 090, I want some distance from these assholes."
"Yes Sir, new course 090. Helmsman, steer for new course."
The twin 105`s mounted forward hammered the bridge with their muzzle blasts before course could be changed and their projectiles sped for their targets. They needed less than a second and hit the foremost galley squarely in the bow. One shell converted the forecastle into an ugly mass of splinters, blood and gore while the second tore into the bow, ripping a hole through which a man might have stepped. The galleys hard-working rowers forced the ship forward and the sea entered that hole as quickly as it would go. When "Altdorf" maneuvered hard to starboard the next salvo went wide, one shot ditching into the sea while the other grazed the deck until it exploded at the collapsed main mast, clearing the deck of human life. It did not make any difference to the few survivors who were dragged into their watery grave by the ship.
Adalbert von Schneider waited until Altdorf had settled on her new course before reopening fire. This time the aft turret could bear on the targets as well and all four guns went to work. The galleys were lightly built from birch and fir as every kilogram of more sturdy woods would have prevented them from being efficiently rowed. The ships flexed considerably when they encountered anything but a millpond sea and lasted only a few years. The weapons that assailed them now had been scavenged from Leopard 1 tanks and had been built to kill the toughest vehicles humanity had devised for surface travel. The High Explosive rounds detonated whenever they found something substantial, be it mast, spar, cannon or equipment. When they did they threw out a shockwave that assaulted everybody in its vicinity like baseball bats that hit every square centimeter of their bodies at once and by razor sharp fragments that flew faster than the speed of sound.
They were not incendiary by design but the sheer violence the spawned nearly always caused something to burn sooner or later and the crew that could have extinguished the nascent inferno was either dead, wounded or shocked insensible. Both turrets shifted their aim after firing a dozen rounds into each ship and this part of the battle ended.
Altdorf`s "Kriegstagebuch", the log, would note that the action lasted for less than four minutes and that it left all eight galleys burning or sinking.
There was few to no cheering in the Imperial warship, the sailors who could see the pirate ships were stunned themselves by the carnage they had wrought. The ships they saw were not so different from the ones they had crewed so few years before and they were gone like nothing. This did not feel like a grand victory, this left a taste like ashes in their mouths. It would not last.
"Hans, mark the Galleons as "Target 1 through 9" according to distance. We will have to recapture them before they can haul the crews to god know there. Set course to Target 1 and assemble the boarding crew. Let`s hope these assholes strike their colors and not put up a fight."
"Aye Sir. Sir-we might have a small problem with these Marienburgers."
"What problem 1O?"
"I have been in one a couple of times Sir and they have no solid subdivisions below deck sir, just a lot of canvass walls. If we have to go down there and hunt thepirates between the crew this will be a big problem. We never received frangible ammo and we have nearly no tear gas grenades."
"I see-how very wonderful. Any suggestions?"
"Yes Sir, the old way, we give them the cold steel."
"Gets better by the minute."
"Not so bad Sir, we are used to it and the prize crews will be small. I think we can keep losses to a minimum. Anything else and we will be worse on the poor fraggers in there than the bloody pirates."
Silence
Henrik Gerbers shoulders sagged and he exhaled audibly. He had to decide between unpalatable choices. That was his job and nobody would take it from him. In the end there was only one course of action that was possible and honorable.
"Make it so 1O and Sigmar protect you."
"Bring us close Captain, we will do the rest."
"Pier, bring us a hundred meters starboard of Target 1."
"Yes Sir."
Altdorf changed course again while Hans Oels assembled his assault party on the deck behind the Bridge. Henrik could hear him while he tried to keep an eye on everything.
"I know you all go Mannan`s temple whenever you are in harbor, and all of you give a small donation to the fund that buys back the sailors that these Araby pirates take as slaves. Good thing I say. Now I suggest that we all make a very big donation to that cause and we will pay with this."
Gerber saw the sword that Oels had received upon graduation rise and he heard the men cheer. Oh god, these fools were looking forward to this.
He used the ship`s loudspeakers to get the pirates to give up, he had one of the Araby speakers of the crew to attempt the same and while he did not understand the language too well the gestures that accompanied the replies were universal enough.
Henrik Gerber stepped back into "Altdorf`s" bridge. What they were about to do was difficult and dangerous to boot, better it was done right. The Marienburg Galleon closed with every moment and as long as she could maneuver his crew could not board.
"Pier, take down the coxwains."
A bit of quietly spoken orders on the bridge and some shouting on the deck arranged Altdorf`s main fire pump to send a deluge on the huge steering wheel that dominated the Galleon`s quarter deck. The sailors were ripped from their feet and hung on anything solid for dear life. The steering wheel turned by its own when the forces pushing on the rudder went unchecked. The great sailship turned sharply, yards and sails started to flap and hugged their masts. The galleon slowed considerably and while the water cannon was in action nobody could right that.
"Helm, take us to her stern."
"To the stern, aye Sir."
Altdorf`s coxwain had learned his trade when he had to work with oars, sails and a wheel that was connected to the rudder by ropes. He now had what he considered limitless power, a rudder machine that worked for him and a bow thruster. He thought the maneuver was nearly too easy.
He brought his ship`s bow right next to the Galleon`s stern where no yards protruded to swipe Altdorf`s superstructure. Engaging the bow thruster at the right moment allowed the steel hull to push against the galleon`s wooden side. Boat hooks engaged the sail ship and secured the ships for the moments needed for the boarders to cross the railing. There was a shot from one of the hatches that went wild and a small group of pirates that ran towards the Imperial soldiers. None of them came closer to them than five meters, nobody had any scruples to use firearms as long as the sightlines were so clear.
Henrik Gerber watches as his team surrounded two hatches watched them pull them up and disappear into the holds below. This was the hard part, this was the part where he could do nothing and had to wait for his people to live or die on his orders. He waited, he pointedly walked over to van Meert to check on the position of the other ships, he walked back to the window that still showed the same picture. He phoned up doctor Koch who told him that yes, the small hospital was as ready as it was going to be and went back to the window. He looked around the bridge, checked his impulse to bite somebody`s face off and walked back to the window. And for a wonder the first sailors emerged from the hatches again.
Henrik barely avoided to rip the handle from the wireless operator`s hands and waited the few seconds more.
"Sir, Lieutenant Oels reports no dead and three wounded, only one serious. He states that he needs more orderlies for civilian wounded."
"My compliments to Lieutenant Oels, job well done. Are there any prisoners?"
"No prisoners Sir."
"Uh."
Altdorf resumed her place at the galleon`s side and his sailors carried several wounded while some other needed help with simple walking. Henrik found himself face-to-face with a haggard-looking Marienburger who stated that the crew`s survivors could bring the ship to Saratosa without too many problems.
Altdorf could not loiter, there were more pirates who tried to escape. It did not take long for the escort to close the gap with the next sailship. This time the pirates manning the steering wheel tried to ram. A ship powered by the winds is rarely a match for one powered by diesel and this was not the day this was not the day for the exception. This crew died when the ship`s lonely sniper rifle worked at less than 50 meters.
Altdorf`s captain found it marginally easier to watch his men bard a ship that held a few very bad apples among a lot of very vulnerable ones. Maybe it was the little experience gained in the last op or Oels was actually faster this time, but his crew emerged from the hatch before Gerber became really nervous. All was well and the medics helped the few wounded over the rail. Hans Oels made a point to be the last. His right forearm would probably heal in time but certainly not in the half hour Altdorf would need to chase the next ship.
Henrik Gerber had a problem. This was not Star Treck where the captain and the first officer leaves the ship at the same time. "Altdorf" was not "Victory" and he would not board a ship while having no command of his own like a latter-day Nelson. He would send either van Meert or that ensign. He was looking for the highest ranking survivor among the captured ship`s crew when he came face to face with the girl. The girl of 12 years or so with the beautiful eyes that looked from the purple circles of hematoma, eyes that were focused on something a thousand miles away and blood running down her legs.
That was the moment when he sent for his sword.
Altdorf, South Sea
The ship`s deck rose and fell against Henrik Gerber`s feet with the swell of the sea, a bit of spray added salt to the boarding party`s smell, there was the thrumming of the diesel, the creaking of wood and the seagull`s cries. The captain felt everything with a near-painful intensity and his heart`s drum rivalled the sounds from outside his head. His vision was impaired as one eye was currently covered by a patch and if he dropped into the water he would drown as he had exchanged his kapok vest with something sturdier. He was a veteran, he had fought during the Storm of Chaos, Altdorf and Middenheim. For the very first time there was no steel armor around him, no cannon to kill and no artillery to back him up. His sweaty palm gripped a swords handle like it had so many times in the sale and this time it was for real. He would close with his enemies to an arm`s length and he would live and die by his speed and strength. He was the product of a highly developed civilisation, commanded his nation`s most potent battleship and was about to fight with a piece of steel that happened to have two sharp edges and a point. He would laugh if it would not make the wrong impression and he had a boarding party to lead.
"Hiding down there are no seamen, not your kind. Down there are murderers, rapists and cowards. They think themselves the wolves of the sea and they are about to meet the shepherd. Keep together, protect each other and we will come out of this all right. Altdorf, with me."
The cheers that answered were more like wolves' howls than anything an animal minder might shout but the meaning was clear.
He was the first to leap the chasm between the two ships and managed to stay upright. His men made the jump as well and the quickly fanned out securing the deck. Behind Gerber two shots cracked and a scream rose from the Quarterdeck from somebody unseen but apart from that there was no resistance. The Captain watched as two small parties separated to guard the companion hatches at the quarterdeck and the forecastle, they were the only ones with firearms. He walked to the grating that closed the hatches that led to the deck below. The grating allowed air and light into the berths below. He did his best to see something through the square holes in the grating at his feet but the darkness revealed nothing. He turned around to command the party to get ready just to see his burly coxswain to stab his cutlass at his face. It barely missed him by the time his brain deciphered the "attention" from several throats. There was a meaty sound and a gurgling behind his back and when he turned he found a swarthy man trying to breathe through a throat blocked by a blade. He was mostly hidden by the tarp that covered the boat stowed on the main deck but the arm and the hand that just dropped a long dagger were easily visible.
Gerber wordlessly saluted and then got his party going. Several sailors used boat hooks to rip back the gratings and powerful flashlight revealed the deck below. There were glimpses of scurrying men who fled the light and several bodies who probably would never move again. Henrik gestured to the first men who dropped below and formed a circle before dropping below himself. He took the second to rip the eyepatch off and the darkness around him immediately became less. The flashlights provided circles of brightness but they had few things to reflect off so that most of the room around him was still murky. The eye he had so far protected from the bright sunlight was able to see at least something there, his other one was full of green spots. Around him was the aftermath of a massacre. Bodies were strewn on the floor, blood as often seeping from below them as not. Clothes and other personal belongings were strewn on the floor that also held the shards of bottles and puddles of wine or beer. One of the darkest spots suddenly birthed a few bodies, bodies who screamed in hate and fear, bodies that lunged for his men. Their weapons were parried by the closest sailors while other lunged forward to pierce unprotected necks and torsos. The smell of blood became more intense and mixed with a latrine`s odour when death made the attackers void themselves There were a few gurgles and the only pirate not mortally wounded screamed for a second before the handle of a cutlass connected with his skull. More bodies rose, but this time not in attack and Henrik belatedly shouted the same as a couple of his men.
"Get down and stay down, get down and stay down, we`ll sort you later. Get down and stay down…"
It took the Galleon`s crew a few seconds but Reiksspiel was the common language of Imperials and what Marienburgers there still there. The berth did not hold any other surprises and Gerber had time to look around. There was a solid door towards the back that probably guarded the Officer`s quarters, that was easily guarded for the time being. Towards the bow only a dirty wall of sailcloth barred view and way and a dark rectangle in the middle dared them to pass. A couple of gestures divided the party into two, approaching the "door" from both sides. Gerber had two sailors between him and the passageway when his hip touched the tarpaulin. There was a ripping sound and something punched his armored side. A blade slid off the tough vest and while he tried to catch balance and breath the canvas was ripped of its holders to reveal the pirate`s prize crew. Pandemonium reigned when his men were attacked from a side they had not foreseen. Two went down immediately and dropped their flashlight which rolled along the floor providing a flickering illumination into chaos. The formation that had protected his men so well so far shattered like glass dropped on granite and individuals grappled with each other. Henrik was confused for a moment, aghast at the unexpected assault and could not think for any command to shout for a moment. That was when his other training set in, the one not depending on much intellectual thought and analysis.
His upright sword met the one that his opponent wanted to meet his head and deflected it. He moved past the attacker while his gloved hand gripped the first third of the sword while the other gripped the not sharpened part past the handle. Hooking the handle behind his opponents neck he turned him forward and down, converting his forward momentum into a fast fall to the deck. A fast downwards stab went through the attacker`s back and his foot went on the torso with more force than planned when something stabbed his back without going through the metal plate. His hands guided the blade past his body into whomever was behind him and the deep grunt that filled his ears told him of a hit.
He had barely extracted the blade to meet the next pirate. Reversing was not an option, so the heavy pommel smashed a nose flat against a face. A second thrust was better planned and had all the power of a huge, well trained man behind it. It removed every tooth that the pirate still had left and concussed him into unconsciousness. Turning towards the other fights and getting the ship`s solid wall behind him allowed Henrik to grab his sword as he was taught. There were still more of his men than the attackers but on this side of the former passageway they were disorganized and driven off, those on the other side hard pressed. Time to do something about it.
Henrik Gerber had learned sword fighting in the Lichtenauer School, the very original German school of fencing. It was about fighting with the longsword, the messer and about grappling. In many ways it was very German, very low on flourishes and fanciful parrying and long on the most direct way of attack. And that was what he was doing right now. Screaming at the top of his lungs, easily twice the weight of most pirates, covered in blood and the mien of a madman he frightened his opponents into a moment of shock. His longsword pushed the long dagger in his way aside easily and the swords point slid into the chest of the pirate without further ado. Pulling the blade back brought him into the right position for a nasty stroke parallel to the deck. A blade forged by the Dawi a long time ago held an edge that removed an arm and bit deeply into the side of the enemy. The last one was so close already that Gerber had to grab the blade with his other hand again. The blade should have gone into the torso, was deflected by some armor and went into the lower jaw to end up somewhere in the brain pan.
And then it was over. There had been two more pirates, but these had presented their backs to his boarding party when they wanted to attack him, not the cleverest idea. He stood before his crew, all speechless for a moment before the idiots started to cheer. They had lost at least two men due to his bumbling into an ambush and they cheered.
"Shut up you bleeders, we have a ship to secure. Get the corpsman here stat and you two stop the bleeding on him."
They did it, for sure. They also grinned like mad when they saw him.
The next hour brought another kind of horror when they closed with the next galleon. Altdorf was still a couple of miles off when the lookouts spotted the thin column of smoke that rose from the ship and they had closed only half of the remaining distance when the galleon was covered in hungry flames from bow to stern. Even in modern ships made from steel and with well-deigned firefighting equipment a fire was any crew`s nightmare. On a wooden ship powered by canvas and sealed with pitch where firefighting was done with water from buckets it was past that. On a ship with half of the crew dead, the rest detained and a small prize crew it was unsalvageable. And like most seafarers of the Warhammer World the ones on the galleon could not swim. The very few survivors could not say what had caused the conflagration but there were too many reasons and only one nasty outcome.
The sun was already setting when the five remaining galleons came into "Altdorf`s" range. Henrik Gerber had to slow his ship down as they had entered the litorals and the maps were notoriously unreliable. Putting the escort on a sandbar would not do at all and so he had to slow to a speed where his sonar would provide timely warning. "Altdorf" was negotiating a channel marked with primitive buoys on both sides and saw the nearest galleon pass a couple of galleys which held their course directly to the Imperial ship. They manoeuvred to block the ship`s way and a colorfully-clad figure raised a bullhorn.
"Ahoi Imperial ship. State your purpose."
Henrik Gerber had the advantage of a set of loudspeakers which was a good thing. When the adrenaline had left him after the fight every little injury and every bruise had made itself felt. The long hours since going to action stations had taken their toll and he felt tired, exhausted and old. Having to shout into a bullhorn was asking too much.
"This is his Emperor`s warship Altdorf, Captain Gerber. Who am I addressing?"
"I am Grand Admiral Tarek al Hiram al Jamal al Yasin al Enes Halabi in the service of Sultan Mehmet IV, the magnanimous, the beautiful, the awesome of Kaman Sala. Captain Gerber, what is your purpose here."
"Captain al Halabi, we are in hot pursuit of these galleons which have been captured by pirates."
"Did these so-called pirates attack you or Imperial ships Captain Gerber?"
"No but their fleet did."
"Well, Captain, these did not and these are not warships. Sultan Mehmet, the magnanimous, the beautiful, the awesome allows all merchantmen to enter his harbour, but all warships of other nations must not enter the harbour or the three mile zone. Captain Gerber please remove your magnificent vessel from Sultan Mehmet`s waters."
"Captain al Halabi, you allow pirates and murderers to get away and civilians to be kidnapped."
"So you allege Captain Gerber. Rest assured that the Sultan Mehmet IV, the magnanimous, the beautiful, the awesome will investigate your claim. We will report the results of this investigation to the proper Imperial authorities in due course. And now please withdraw Captain Gerber."
And that was what Henrik Gerber did. He had standing orders to combat pirates whenever and wherever he found them, he had no orders to start wars with neutral states. The frustration provided enough adrenaline that he could dictate a report in terse navalese that was sent to headquarters in Altdorf before he went to sleep. If he had not been so exhausted, he would not have been able to sleep at all. He had seen it or heard about it happening on Earth several times. Pirates who captured ships, kidnapped and killed and managed to flee into the territorial waters of a state who was shielding them due to corruption or incompetence. Nothing could be done if the ruling cleptocrats were not sufficiently bribed so they forgot their promises to the pirates and whatever happened some bad guys won.
He was barely up and presentable again when the answer from headquarters arrived. It had a signature he had not seen in his orders before and they left no doubt that his new employer handled thing very differently from what he was used to. It was a good thing that he was no longer the old Henrik Gerber as well.
Close to Kaman Sala, South Sea
The ships had several masts that would usually hoist lanteen sails that allowed the ships to sail well against the wind. Currently the ails were stowed and the masts were down as the small fleet was rowing into combat. They navigated the channel that led from Kaman Sala`s harbour under oars and made a decent clip. Several muzzle-loading guns were pointing towards "Altdorf" and hundreds of sunburned faces were visible under white turbans. Scimitars, spears and swords were displayed and curses were shouted at the imperial ship. They were what went for Kaman Sala`s naval might and they were about to attack a lone middling-sized escort.
Henrik Gerber watched the approaching foe through his binoculars for a while not and the hands that gripped them were white-knuckled. Here was a fleet of a city that harboured pirates, that traded their stolen goods and bought their prisoners as slaves. They were the ones who sheltered the kind who raped children and bashed in their skulls when they were not compliant enough and they sailed before four 105 mm cannon in wooden ships. His orders meant that he had to give them fair warning and that was what he was going to do. Whether he would do so in the way the Emperor had in mind was another question.
"Sir, enemy has passed the 1000-meter line."
"Very well Ensign My compliments to Lieutenant von Schneider, he is to fire the warning "shot" as per his orders."
Henrik Gerber listened to the chatter that was the passing of his orders, saw the drums close to the bow move by a few degrees and then his view disappeared in a wall of smoke. Ten rockets clawed to the air on trails of white smoke and dropped into the sea roughly a hundred meters before the approaching warships. They made comparatively small splashes when they dropped into the water. The depth charges took a few second to sink to the shallow bottom and exploded spectacularly when they finally hit the bottom,. Water sprouts rose higher than the ships mast and the wind drove the spray right over the ships.
The chorus of disdain and aggression that had emerged from the ships stopped for a moment and then changed tune considerably. The rowers in the foremost ships lost their rhythm and the oars entangled themselves. Both craft lost speed quickly and the next one nearly and the next one nearly collided with them.
Altdorf`s forward turret tracked the slapstick-like manoeuvres before the Imperial warship with an unspoken threat that seemed to work quite well. When Sultan Mehmet`s ships had found their pace again they turned around and made for Kaman Sala at a better speed than they had managed before. There were a few members of Altdorf`s bridge crew who swore that they had seen Captain Gerber smile.
Henrik Gerber awoke a few hours later from something he could not place. Looking up he saw the compass needle below the lamp above his bed. Neither the indicated course nor the deeper rumble of Altdorf`s diesels fitted the regular patrol pattern that she followed ever since she had started the blockade.
He was about to let it slide, he needed to project his confidence in the bridge`s crew, decided that he still wanted to know and slipped into his uniform. He was on the bridge a minute later and stretched laboriously.
"Couldn`t sleep Sir?"
"Not really Hans, not my night. Got any of that chocolate in the pot?"
"No Sir but I`ll get some for you."
"That would be great. Anything happening?"
"We are currently pursuing a radar contact at 110 degree six miles Sir. Seems somebody wants to run the blockade and hugs the coast. Might be a fishing boat as well but we wanted to make sure first before we take any action."
"Don`t get too close to the coast Hans, we have no decent maps."
"No worry Sir. We`ll identify the ship with infrared at two clicks or so and we`ll send a boat if it makes sense."
"Make it so Hans."
Henrik Gerber stepped into the dark area immediately before the bridge`s windows, letting Hans Oels do his job. There was few chatter on the bridge and what voices could be heard were about depth-sounder measurements, relative positions, courses and speeds. Henrik mentally nodded when his first officer slowed the ship the closer they came to the shore. Sonar was a mighty tool but certainly not foolproof.
"Sir, I`ve got a pic. Interested?"
"Yes, sure."
The green-on-black picture gave an outline of a ship of racy lines, long, with a low freeboard and lots of lanteen sails. This was a fast ship, not necessarily one made for war but fast for sure.
"That`s no fisherman Sir."
"Not in this life. So what are you going to do about it?"
"Send a boat, that thing is too close to shore to take "Altdorf" in."
"Sounds good to me."
Henrik Gerber`s ship came to a stop when the davids lowered her pinnace into the water. She was small but a heavy machine gun and a dedicated boarding party made sure she would be noticed. Her diesel roared to life and she sped towards a ship they knew few things about. "Altdorf`s" captain watched the boat approach the sailship, watched the use of a powerful searchlight and a loudspeaker to get the ship`s attention. It took a short salvo from the machine gun through a sail to get them to comply and even so the ships crew needed their sweet time to heave to.
The wireless crackled a minute later and while Gerber understood most of the message decorum made it necessary to wait for the ensign to approach him and report.
"Lieutenant von Meert sends his compliments Sir and asks you to come to the ship. He reports a problem."
"Did the Lieutenant state the nature of the problem Ensign?"
"Sorry, no Sir. But if I am allowed he seemed very dismayed Sir."
"Then I`ll better get to him. Hans, you have the ship."
"I have the ship Sir."
Henrik mused about the nature of the problem while his boat crossed the mile between the two ships. His nose gave him an idea when a gust of wind sent the smell his way and while even the first whiff made his nose cringe it became considerably worse in short order.
The men that helped him aboard were white faced with anger and disgust and the reason for that became all too clear when he was led down below. He passed a burly individual who nursed a broken nose while two sailors guarded him. Pointing their shotguns at the man was certainly not how they had been trained but the wicked-looking whip that laid by the man`s side reinforced Gerber`s suspicion of what his men had found so he let it slide.
When he was down the small ladder the sight took his breath away. He had heard about such things, he had expected to find exactly this and seeing it was ten times worse than what he had anticipated.
The room before him was low, 1.20 meters height at the most. It might have been 14 times 7 meters and it was chock-full of chained slaves. They had to sit between each other`s legs in their own filth as space was so low. They were mostly naked and even his flash-light revealed lesions, sores and more.
The worst was the faces which were a mirror for hopelessness, despair pain and fear. The few which still had the energy cringed when their eyes were assaulted by the light they had not seen for quite a while.
"Secure the ship and bring it alongside "Altdorf". If any of these miserable excuses for excrement who call themselves the crew tell them you`ll put them in here. If they persist do it."
"Yes Sir."
Henrik Gerber had been pretty sure he knew what busy was and found a new level of that. The slave ship had held more than 300 men and women, all of them malnourished, all of them dehydrated and most of them sick. There were slaves all over his ship and everybody not desperately needed to run the ship did whatever he could do to save lives. They failed in nearly a dozen cases and succeeded in 300.
They had a visit by an angel, not one of their beliefs but one of the airships that dispensed medical aid wherever Reiksbund ships might travel. The DgzRS zeppelin took off the worst cases and the others were at any place that was roughly human-sized.
"Altdorf`s" captain was so busy that it took him two full days before he could interview the slave ship`s captain, a task that needed all of his willpower to keep him from ripping that worthy`s face off.
"I protest the illegal seizure of my ship Captain Gerber, the laws of your Reiksbund do not apply here. What my men do is legal and established custom in these lands and who are you to say different."
"Captain el Hakim, you are obviously right, I cannot and will not charge you and your men with any crime. What I can do is classify you and your men as medical casualties in need of aid."
"So?"
"So we will put you and yours in the hangar usually occupied by our ship`s Griffon. It is the best accommodation we can currently offer and you would have to share it with about a hundred of your former slaves who certainly have no issue with you keeping up the local customs. We will reissue your weapon when you leave the ship of course, but only after Dr. Koch has given you a clean bill of health in a week or so."
The slaver`s swarthy face became remarkably pale.
"You...you cannot do this."
"Captain, I have been on your ship and I have seen. Oh yes, I can and I will, unless you prove your good health by cooperating with me-right now."
"I will do this for the sake of my crew then."
"Of course you will captain. First off, have you been to Kaman Sala before and are you familiar with the harbour`s defences."
"Yes Captain Gerber I am. Look at this picture please, there is only this channel into the harbour suitable for ships of you size, these two are only for fishing boats and the like. Here is the harbour`s battery, mostly bronze guns and one very old piece, still shoots stone balls but of nearly 100 kilogram."
"Can this battery cover the inside of the bay?"
"Yes, yes. The Sultan wants to make sure he paid in full before any ship leaves." Here are the barracks of the harbour guard and this is the way for the Sultan`s fastness."
"How about depth."
"Even at spring tide there is always 6 meters of water, most of the time more. At this point there are some sandbanks that move."
"Very forthcoming Captain. So, where are the slaves from, where you you going to bring them and what were you about to do."
"I got them at Doualas in the Southlands. We bought them off the local warlord, one N`Darma. They have a war going on down there for some time and we buy the prisoners of war for years now. They`d kill and eat them otherwise, I swear. They are bound for the markets in Kaman Sala. We buy silk and spices there and bring it to Tilea where we buy the weapons and the knick-knacks they love in the Southlands."
"Nice little business you have going there."
"Yes it is isn`t it. Many men make their riches that way."
"What was going to happen to the slaves that we found in your hold?"
"The men are strong and used to heat. They would work in the mines or the condensation tunnels they have for getting water out there. The women and children will work in the homes of the wealthy if they are not too beautiful."
"And you do this how long?"
"Oh the "Feroz" and me make this trip for ten seasons now, very good business."
"Captain el Hakim from what I hear you have sold children in brothels, is that right?"
"Err..."
"Right or wrong Captain?"
"I suppose so, I do not do use them myself I swear."
"Captain, only sick men sell children as slaves to brothels I am afraid."
"You cannot do this, you promised…."
"I keep all promises I make to humans Captain el Hakim, you have removed yourself from that category ten years ago."
"Altdorf`s" crew was remarkably good in keeping the crew alive until they were taken off the warship by an armed merchantman a few days later. A few dings here and a few scratches there were simply bound to happen weren`t they?
At the same time than the former slaves left the ship supplies were brought, munitions, fuel and the post that the men anticipated so much. Henrik was better fed and more relaxed than he had been during the last two weeks when he sat down with his officers for a dinner.
"Captain, may I ask a question?"
"Shoot Hans"
"What are we going to do now? How long will we be here before something breaks?"
"I do not know Hans. I have no idea how soon this blockade will take to change the Sultan`s mind about harbouring pirates and trading slaves. Might take a while."
"Nothing we can do to speed things up. Crew hates to sit on their hands while these swine enjoy their date wine and yesteryears slaves."
"I can understand you very well Hans, but what else can we do? Shell the city from here will kill too many slaves and other civilians."
"Enter the harbour and sink their fleet there might get their attention."
"Enter a channel that has not been properly dredged for years, is no longer marked and go by these big ass cannon they have in that fortress by the harbour`s entrance? I would need very good reasons to do so."
"And how about a cutting-out operation?"
"And how do you do that without taking Altdorf into that harbour."
"Well, me and the lads have been thinking about that Sir..."
