16th December 1840 0200hrs

It had been a few hours since Elsa had decided to retreat into her reinforced quarters, and in that time the mood onboard the ship had changed dramatically. She could feel the tension on the ship rise exponentially with every passing second. As much as she knew that there was nothing she could do but step aside and let her soldiers do their jobs, Elsa felt completely helpless and couldn't help but let a sense of fear and dread manifest within her. She started to imagine scenarios in her head while pacing around the dimly lit room.

"What if the ship sinks?" She ponders. "What if I'm captured? what would these people do to me?"

Suddenly, the sound of knuckles making contact with her door could be heard

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK

Elsa opened the door, and an obviously stressed, but calm Captain Oaken stepped inside, closed the door, and sat across the queen on the couch

"Good evening your Majesty" he greeted

"Hello captain" Replied the queen. "Can I have a status update on our pursuers please?"

"Of course, Ma'am, we haven't managed to gain much information on our pursuers since we've last spoken, we couldn't find any flags on any of the ships, but what we can deduce based on markings on the ships is that they we're all at some point registered in the Southern Isles.

"The Southern Isles" Repeated Elsa with vitriol in her voice.

The Kingdom of the Southern Isles was a small country of about a hundred and fifty thousand people, it was a little smaller than Arendelle, and was located about 100 miles to dit's South-East. Like Arendelle, the Southern Isles faced the same lack of economic and political potential due to it's geographical isolation, and like Arendelle, The Southern Isles have also been trying to overcome those barriers. However, unlike Elsa, who preferred more peaceful means of expanding her kingdom's influence through trade and diplomacy (despite her lack of success as of the moment); the Southern Isles had always preferred to use any means possible to gain more prominence in the European Theatre, and that meant through expanding into the sovereign territories of neighboring nations.

The rulers of the Southern Isles weren't dumb (much to Elsa's dismay), they knew that trying to expand into the lands of major powers like Sweden, Norway, and God forbid: The British Empire would be suicide for the Southern Isles. So what they've been trying to do instead is a campaign of subterfuge with a goal to destabilize and push the insignificant smaller nations around them to the brink of collapse before sweeping in as the "hero who brings stability and peace"; annexing those nations as part of the Kingdom of the Southern Isles in the process, all under the noses of the major powers.

Elsa herself had fallen for the Southern isles "peacemaker" propaganda a few years back, but she grew increasingly suspicious of their practices ever since the mysterious death the Duke of Weselton, a small, mostly agricultural duchy of about 20,000 people to the east. Something just didn't line up with the Duke's death…according the autopsy report (which was also suspiciously commissioned by the Embassy of the Southern Isles), the man died of "food poisoning" after a private banquet with representatives of the Southern Isles at his residence. Normally, Elsa would've dismissed his death in their presence as a mere unfortunate coincidence, but the swiftness and enthusiasm of the Southern Isles' government's response by assigning a "consultant" as a "guide to the new ruler" immediately raised red flags… and as she feared, the new Duke of Weselton made the decision to abdicate, and invite the Southern Isles to annex their territories a year later, his reasoning being that: "Weseltonians will live much better prosperous, industrialized lives under the Kingdom of the Southern Isles" But Elsa had a feeling that the move was less than voluntary on the new Duke's part.

Elsa knew very well that Arendelle is in the Southern Isles' wish list for expansion and she had prepared herself accordingly, but she had never imagined that they would actually be as bold as to directly go after her at sea.

"Captain Oaken" said Elsa.

"Yes your Majesty?" Oaken replied

"I think I may know the Identity of our pursuers and their intentions. You said the ships were not flagged, but all of them were registered in the Southern Isles, is that correct? "

" Affirmative, Your Majesty"

"Captain, as you may know, the Southern Isles hasn't always played by the rules when it comes to expanding their territory as observed by their annexation of the Duchy of Weselton with the mysterious death of the Duke" explained the queen with an emphasis on mysterious.

The captain nodded with confirmation

"Your Majesty?" Interrupted the captain. "are you saying that those ships pursuing us are of the government of the Southern Isles, and that they're here to assassinate you? "

Elsa shook her head. "No, I don't think their government would be dumb enough to directly send their own ships after us, they needed something more discreet, meaining its more likely that our pursuers are mercenaries or privateers that were paid off by the Southern Isles government."

And Since I have no heir, If they kill me, then Arendelle will be leader-less, which will create a power vacuum, inevitably leading to infighting and chaos, at which time the Southern Isles will once again step in as the one bringing peace and stability in Arendelle, most likely create some sort of puppet state, before directly annexing Arendelle as part of their territory"

I know this seems far fetched captain-" defended Elsa

No, it makes perfect sense your Majesty. The captain agreed. "With that information ma'am, I think I may have a time frame for their attack"

"Oh?"

"Yes, Ma'am, if those ships are of the Southern Isles and their intentions truly are to assassinate you, your Majesty, then it is likely that they will attack during the storm and claim that your ship went down under the waves as an act of God, not only that, but as their ships are of a clipper design, the high winds of the oncoming storm would grant them a significant boost in speed, giving them an extra tactical advantage" deduced the captain

Elsa thought about it for a few seconds before making her own deductions "yes captain, that is logical… anyways, we know their motives, and we have a possible time of attack…" The queens voice trailed off, not knowing what to say or do next.

Knowing the odds and how they were so impossibly stacked against them, Elsa may not have shown it in her voice, but by this point, she was absolutely terrified at what may be about to transpire and was near despair.

"Right now your Majesty, I have ordered all crew to battle stations, ordered full sail, and changed our course towards English territorial waters. Hopefully, we'll come across a ship or two of the British Royal Navy on patrol to even out the odds" explained the captain. "It's a long shot your Majesty, but right now it's our best chance at survival. I just hope we'll find the Royal navy before the storm-"

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOM! BOOOOM! SPLASH!

Just as the captain said those words, loud explosions and something hitting the water could be heard.

"Stay here your Majesty" The captain ordered before running outside.

The moment that captain Oaken had been fearing was here, the four pursuing ships had set full sail and were now bearing on the royal yacht, guns blazing.

BOOOOM! BOOM! SPLASH ! BOOOM! BOOM! CRASH!

The crew were now at battle stations loading up the cannons with shells, and getting ready to return fire.

BOOOM! CRAAASH!

The Royal yacht had taken a direct hit on the bow just above the water line, the cannon shell penetrated the wooden hull, and had caused a fire to start within the ship, damage control crews quickly down towards to fire to contain it's spread

The Royal yacht of Arendelle may have been damaged and on fire, but she was definitely not out for the count.

"EVASIVE MANEUVERS! HARD TO PORT! BROADSIDE TO BEARING!" yelled the captain.

The Royal Yacht made a zig zag maneuver, dodging shells and bullets before turning 90 degrees; with broadside guns facing the enemy ships.

"PORT LONG RANGE CANNONS! FOCUS ON THE CLOSEST SHIP! FIRE!"

12 individual explosions could be heard as the cannons aboard the royal yacht shot a volley at the nearest ship, with one of the shells scoring a direct hit, penetrating it's hull, but despite the damage, all four ships were still bearing down on the royal yacht.

"PORT LONG RANGE CANNONS RELOAD!, PORT MEDIUM RANGE CANNONS! FIRE!"

Another 12 explosions, as another volley was fired at the closest ship and all shots missed.

"HARD TO STARBOARD !, SET FULL SAIL, RELOAD PORT GUNS, STARBOARD GUNS AT THE READY " commanded the captain

The crew quickly did as they were told as the ship slowly turned right to aim it's starboard guns at the enemy ships, all while distant explosions of the enemy cannons sounding, and with bullets and shells whizzing by their heads, most of which missed and harmlessly hit the ocean.

Suddenly, BOOOOOOOOOM !

Another explosion, Deck crews were thrown off their feet as a shockwave knocked them into the nearest solid object as the royal yacht took another direct hit on the stern poop deck near the steering wheel, killing the man at the wheel immediately and reducing the steering wheel to pieces of broken wood and splinters

The Royal Yacht had lost rudder control and was now stuck in a starboard turn.

All while the battle is going on, Queen Elsa was huddled in a corner in her steel reinforced room, safe from the shockwaves and shrapnel. She was sobbing with tears rolling down her cheeks as she realized that these might very well be her final moments on earth.

"PLEASE PLEASE. OH GOD PLEASE I Don't Wanna die, I don't wanna die!" Thought Elsa in her head.

While the battle was raging on, with explosions sounding, shells and bullets flying, and people yelling, the sea had grown much rougher, the waves were now as high as 20 feet and winds, ever increasing in speed were now bearing down on the combating ships under the overcast night sky. The crews on both sides however, were too preoccupied with shooting at their enemy to be concerned.

Suddenly, A light blue fog seemingly appeared out of nowhere and slowly enveloped the royal yacht and her combatants.

Despite the menacing look of the fog, By now the people aboard the royal yacht and the ships she was duelling were either too focused on doing nothing but their jobs to keep the fight going, or too distracted by the fighting to take notice. Despite the obvious large cloud enveloping them, All that was on the crews minds were evade... reload...aim… fire...evade… reload… aim… fire… evade… reload… aim…fire…

The crews on all ships continued their unawreness of the light blue fog until the vapors from it entered their lungs, suddenly, the people aboard all of the ships found themselves unable to breathe, they all desperately kept trying to gasp for oxygen but to no avail, and one by one, everyone fell unconscious, until there was no one left.

The guns went silent.