Gascogne's Tale: Chapter 2
Prologue: Gascogne's last stand, part 2
"You will take out as many Siren ships as you can" The base commander told me.
"...Gascogne is concerned…" I tried to ask why my orders were so simple, while everyone else's were so much more comprehensive. Did the base commander have no faith in me? I was just a battleship, maybe that was the reason. However, I failed to get my question through my lips.
"And that is everything that I have to go over, now everyone to their battle stations." The commander ordered us all.
Unable to articulate my views I turned to the Head Bulin, at the very least I would need some Bulins to do damage control on my vessel.
"No, my Bulins are better stationed on land," the Head Bulin somehow knew what I was going to ask before I asked it. And yet she was unwilling to help me... She is right though, I am just a battleship. Her Bulins would make more of a difference on land then they would on a relic like me.
I simply nodded to the Head Bulin, before turning away and leaving the command room. I was on my own, and I would have to fight off what must be a Siren landing force. If I were to do this, then I would need to get to my vessel. I quickly broke out into a sprint and made a B-line for the docks where my vessel was harbored. I passed many dozens of men moving equipment, and dozens more taking the time to pray to our God. Every so often when I passed a man they would look at me and become less panicked. Perhaps a few of them even believed that my appearance was their prayers being answered. I had heard that many humans believed us Kasen to be demi-gods, seeing as we were living manifestations of humanity's belief, their views were logically founded.
I jumped onto the docks as I started my vessel's engines. Vile black smoke emerged from my funnels as I broke every rule to start my boilers faster. I continued to sprint as my boilers came to life, the vile black smoke changed to a more regular white. My AA guns had already been warmed up by taking pot shots at distant aircraft. Though the currently long distance had made my AA fire ineffective at best. Approaching the side of my vessel I noticed that the docks were completely empty, this was expected. Most of the dock workers would normally attend to the Kasen's vessels, and with my vessel being the only one left, it would be better if the dock workers were assigned to other base defenses.
A simple Jump got me to the deck of my vessel. My boilers active, I started engaged my propellers at full speed and pulled out of the harbor as fast as I could. Sea water sprayed as a mist from the formerly calm ocean over my deck. I quickly began the journey from my aft deck to the bridge. The Siren aircraft made their way closer to me and the base, my AA fire became more accurate. A squad of five Siren attack craft broke off and made their way directly to me. In less than a minute they had entered a strafing run as I was still making my way to the bridge. The aircraft came in close, my AA firing on all cylinders to take down the incoming attackers. Of the five aircraft approaching me, one of them suddenly burst into flames, having being pierced one too many time by my 37mm AA shells.
The aircraft began their attack run, their alien weapons roared to life releasing a torrent of super heated plasma blasts over my vessel. An ineffective attack, my shield had been designed to resist Siren weapons with ease, but could be easily be overloaded by conventional munitions. However, that was not the only weapons they had. The aircraft made a sudden climb, they were going to dive bomb me. It was now that I made it to my bridge. I took this opportunity to concentrate my fire on the Siren aircraft. One of the Siren planes burst into flames before detonating entirely, and a second plane simply fell out of the sky as one of its wings was blown off. The two remaining aircraft reached the apex of their arc, angling down as they begun their dive. A glowing orb of yellow siren energy formed on the base of each of the planes, this was their payload. A large ball of plasma simply dropped on their target to melt through the hull before detonating. Much like a conventional AP bomb, only these are a lot more dangerous to crews.
I fired all my AA guns at them causing another of the planes to burst into flames. But it was already too late, both of the planes released their payload. However, only the untouched aircraft pulled away. The other was unable to pull up and was following behind the payload it released. One of the large plasma balls impacted me astern causing minimal damage to my shield as this is what it was designed to resist. However, the falling corpse of the other Siren aircraft impacted me before its payload, impacting me midship, causing the aircraft to shatter and bend into an unrecognizable shape. My shield momentarily overloaded as the aircraft was far from the siren plasma it was designed to resist. My shield flickered off for a few unlucky seconds, when the late aircraft's payload impacted me proper. It wasn't a critical hit. Impacting one of my 6-inch gun turrets, boring inside the gun before detonating. The gun was annihilated as the super heated gas pushed outwards. It hurt, like a sharp burning pain in an invisible part of my body. Then the super heated plasma penetrated into the gun's magazine, boiling off some of the water that the ammo was held under. The hallways and passages around the destroyed gun had been scorched by the Siren bomb. But it had accomplished little else. Whilst the loss of one of my 6-inch gun turrets is unfortunate, it is hardly a crippling blow.
I resumed my standard AA fire patterns as the vanguard of the siren fleet entered my effective engagement range. Suddenly my entire world was filled with color, what were once black siren drone ships now had stripes of orange energy flowing through them. I turn my rudder as far as I could get a firing line for all 8 of my 15-inch guns in both my main turrets. I felt relieved, this is what I was meant for, and I had the initiative. My Precision Salvo Protocols came to life, I could feel and see everything between me and the destroyers spearheading the Siren vanguard. The winds were calm, but I still needed to take them into account. I could feel that some of the shells loaded in my guns had microscopic imperfections, I adjusted the height of my barrels accordingly.
A deafening crack rang out from my main guns as the all fired in a chorus of pinpoint thunder. I had aimed each of my two main turrets at a different leading destroyer, with the arcs of my shells reflecting this decision. Soon enough the shots landed true, one of the destroyers was hit in the magazine. Its plasma charges detonating in a large plume of energized plasma, annihilating the drone outright. The other destroyer was pierced twice by my salvo. One of the shots hitting the bridge, the other hitting the engine room. The drone quickly burst into an unnatural blue flame and began to drift as it lost its engine power, then being knocked about by the waves the first drone's detonation had created.
The rest of the vanguard increased their speed to engage me. I fired more salvos from my main guns as they approached me, with every salvo causing damage to the Siren drones. I sunk two of the cruisers and another of the destroyers before they got into range and began to pelt me with their alien artillery. As they got in range, so did my secondary batteries, supplementing the firepower I could bring against them. But this was far from good news, as I was certain that the Siren vanguard would use their torpedoes on me if they got close enough.
I saw massive salvo of Siren shells go over my ship, the Siren battleships had gotten in range of the base and were shelling it. However, the majority of their shells had gone wide, with only a few impacting the base proper. "Gasconge, this is the base commander, do you read, over" the base commander contacted me over the radio, "this is Gascogne, loud and clear, over" I replied.
"I am changing your orders, over" he stated.
"Receiving, over"
"Your priority is to destroy the Siren battleships, over"
"Orders understood commander, over"
"Additionally, can you provide a status report, over"
"Gascogne has sunk 5 Siren vessels at the expense of a 6-inch gun mount, over"
"Any additional information on Siren fleet composition, over"
"Siren vessels number as follows: 7 destroyers, 4 cruisers, 3 battleships, 1 carrier, over." I waited for what felt like ages before I decided to speak next. I don't know why I felt like this, but I needed to know that what they were doing with Wisdom Cubes of my fellow Kasen. "Additionally, what is the status of the Wisdom Cubes I surrendered Pierre, over" I knew this wasn't something I should ask, as if I am captured then I may reveal where my allies are to the Sirens. I was certain that my request for information would be dismissed.
"The Wisdom Cubes Joffre, and of all the other Kasen on base are in Pierre's care. He is currently going to an undisclosed location with Jean-Paul and his commandos to keep the Cubes out of Siren hands until they can be retrieved by friendly forces, over" The base commander paused before speaking again, "Once you fend off this Siren fleet I'll get a patrol boat out so you can come to shore and join them, over"
I paused for a second, there was a chance for me to make it out alive, I thought to myself. Then I responded, "Understood, over and out"
But I had new orders to follow, so I pivoted my main guns away from the Siren vanguard and turned them on the enemy battleships. I fired my first salvo on the battleships not to long after that, all eight of my AP shells hitting their mark dead on. Two of the shells hit at low angles and merely ricocheted off into the sea. Of the six other shells, one of them hit the tower and detonated inside. Another two shells hit the forward most gun of the ship, breaking the massive siren weapon into chunks of shrapnel. Another two shells hit the deck and penetrated. With the last shell hitting the battleship's armor belt, causing no noticeable damage.
All the Siren battleships turned their guns to me before they all fired a salvo together. My shields held for this salvo, but I was certain they couldn't take another hit like that. I fired one of my main guns at the wounded battleship, the four shells finding their way through my enemy's armor before the radiant orange energy that ran along the ship went out. My other main gun was aimed at another of the battleships, however, in my haste I failed to properly activate my Precision Salvo Protocols before I fired. Only one of the shells hit the massive Siren vessel, hitting the conning tower and penetrating deeper inside.
The destroyers were getting closer, and soon they were coming in for an attack run. I aimed my remaining 6-inch guns at the destroyers to sink as many as possible. Aiming at the lead of the pack I fired all my secondaries at it simultaneously, the amount of shells fired were overkill, as the volume of fire shredded the destroyer before it quickly sunk. I split my guns into two firing zones, and targeted a destroyer and a cruiser with half of my secondaries each. Firing this salvo caused the bridge of the cruiser to be torn clean off whilst a blue fire spread across the ship in its place. The destroyer began to list heavily as it was penetrated below the waterline in various places. Some more blue Siren flames broke out of the destroyer's deck before its orange glow went out, and the wounded cruiser soon followed.
But it was too late, my hydro-acoustic sonar detected multiple torpedoes in the water as the remaining of the Siren vanguard broke off from their attack run. I immediately began evasive maneuvers trying my best to dodge and weave my way through sea of enemy torpedoes. Then a second volley from the Siren battleships rang out, impacting my vessel and fully overloading my shields. I watched the hydro-acoustic sonar as I dodged torpedo after torpedo. But I was unable to dodge them forever and one of the Siren torpedoes hit me amidship, ripping a massive hole in the port side of my vessel causing me to begin flooding. I then closed all the bulk heads and made my way to observe the true extent of the damage. Even as I sprinted to the deck to look over the side of my vessel I could feel it beginning to list ever so slightly.
I sook looked over the port side my deck to observe the damage. It was extensive, I would only be able to remain afloat for half an hour at most like this... However, whist I was sinking, every other component of my ship was functional. But without any crew damage control was off the table for me. But what could I do by myself that could prevent sinking, and then it occurred to me.
Turning my vessel toward the lighthouse, I knew that the water around it was deceptively shallow. While this was a problem for normal naval operations, beaching was the only means I had to continue fighting against the Sirens as long as I could. Going full steam ahead I plowed my way towards the lighthouse firing at the opposing Sirens all the while. Until eventually everything came to grinding halt as I beached myself in the shallows of the lighthouse, my bridge now causing a shadow to be cast every time the light past by me. I took a deep breathe, and began to prepare myself. If I wished to survive I would need to right out this storm until its conclusion.
