This battle had become an all out brawl.

The Blue Baroness pirate fleet may have heavily out numbered us more than 2 to 1, but me and Golden Hind clearly had the better ships. Hind herself was smashing through the bulk of the pirate forces, each frigate lasting less than a minute once inside the range of her cannons, metal balls bounced and ricocheted off her hull without so much as a dent or splinter. Her own weaponry tearing apart her opponents with ease. The mass produced frigates with her also did well, keeping the enemy war sloops away from Hind with their superior firepower.

I meanwhile was doing...OK by comparison. I managed to pull off my flanking attack as most of the pirates turned to engage Hind, firing the Ballista's bow chasers into the nearest pirate frigate. It had its stern facing me, and had no stern chasers to return fire with; making it easy prey. I ordered my mass produced war sloops to rush towards another frigate, attempting to get their cannons into position to run interference.

I guess I managed to get a lucky hit, since on my forth shot, a massive explosion suddenly blasted apart the first pirate frigate, making me instinctively duck as flaming debris and shrapnel start to rain down on the sea. Must have hit a gunpowder barrel or something. Once I'm certain the worst of the debris had cleared, I turned my attention to the second frigate, while it was distracted by the sloops, I unleashed a barrage from the Ballista's port cannons.

A couple shots missed the ship, but most found their mark, breaking through the hull and smashing some of their cannons, even from several hundred feet away I could hear the shouts of shock and frustration from the pirate crew, now more vulnerable to the harassment from my war sloops. I decided to let the MP ships finish off the second frigate and looked for a new target.

That was when I realised the Man O' War flagship was heading straight for me from off my starboard bow. I could feel the warmth drain from my cheeks as I saw four sets of triple barrelled bow chasers emerge from gun-ports on the ship's bow. With no way to evade it in time, I decided to stand my ground and turn the Ballista's starboard cannons to bear. Just before the Man O' War's cannons could fully zone me in, I fired a salvo.

It didn't do much to the Man O' War's annoyingly thick armour. Most of my attack just bounced off its reinforced bow, one cannonball did find purchase inside one of the gun-ports, breaking one of the bow chaser guns in the process, and I hear a far off cry of pain as its crew are obviously injured. The other guns just respond with a barrage of their own, raking the Ballista's side with heavy firepower.

I yelped as the sheer volume of cannonballs pummel my poor ship, almost knocking me off my feet with how much the Ballista's hull shook from the pounding. I wasted no time willing the ship's rigging to plug any hull breaches, cringing at just how many holes I could tell were punched into my frigate's side.

"Damn it, I need to get away from this Man O' War fast! The Ballista can't take another attack like that!" I thought frantically. I quickly glanced around my surroundings, the MP war sloops had just finished taking down the frigate I ordered them to fight, using my new power, I ordered them to rush between me and the Man O' War, screening me from more attacks as I scrambled to re-group.

Looking over towards Hind, I realised she'd basically already won her part of the battle, simply mopping up any stragglers. I quickly threw up a flag to signal I needed help with the Man O' War, since my sloops wouldn't be able to protect me for long. Fortunately I could see Hind on her deck giving me a thumbs up, her hull turned towards me, breaking away from her frigates.

I looked back a the Man O' War, willing my cannons to reload, I decided to aim higher and loaded chained cannonballs this time. My plan being to immobilise the the Man O' War for Hind to finish off, and hopefully escape its second barrage. I take my chance and fire another salvo, the results are instant; I shred the massive ship's sails and main mast, leaving it a sitting duck. Unfortunately while I had been preparing this, the Man O' War's guns has completely shredded my war sloops, leaving the battered Ballista alone.

I willed my sails to fully deploy, hoping to get away before I'm attacked again. But unfortunately I don't quite make it. I hear the roar of cannons firing from the Man O' War, before I'm hit from behind by an explosion of wood splinters and timber. I feel a bump on my head, and then a shooting pain through my side as I fall. I crane my head up to see Hind unleashing hell on that Man O' War, my vision fades as I watch it finally explode, before blacking out.

Later on

I groan as I feel pain in my right side. Blinking my stinging eyes, I look around, and while my vision is a little blurry from tears of pain, I realise I was in the captain's quarters on Hind's hull. I cry out as I feel something shift painfully around in my side. I finally look towards it, and I see Hind is attempting to render first aid. She sees me coming around and smiles briefly, before turning her attention back to my wounds.

It looked pretty bad, three large bloody cuts carved deep in my skin, one was half way up my side, one was just above my hip, and the last was in between the other two, I almost thought it was just one big wound at first. As my vision cleared up, I could see a jagged piece of wood sticking out of me from the top wound, I instinctively moved to pull it out, but Hind slapped my hand away.

"Leave it Ken, its snagged on an artery." Hind told me seriously, not a hint of her normally flirtatious tone. I felt my blood run cold hearing that.

"I...am I bleeding out?!" I exclaimed, terrified I could die. Hind just shushed me soothingly, gently brushing my hair.

"No of course not darling, your healing factor has already fixed the worst of your injury, but I need your help with this last one." Hind explained.

"Help? How?" I wondered, the kansen then brought over a tray of surgical tools and handed me what looked like two pairs of forceps.

"I need an extra pair of hands to hold the wound open while I extract this last piece, my tentacles aren't dextrous enough, and if I do it wrong I could sever the artery." Oh god...I felt my breath catch in my throat at her words. Will I actually die if she screws this up? Holy shit...it took a not so small amount of willpower to keep myself from hyperventilating. Hind took my shaking hand in hers, caressing it as she attempted to calm me.

"Ken, I know you're scared, I am too, but we can do this, please help me save you." She almost pleaded to me. I shuddered in pain as the oversized splinter shifted slightly, I took a deep breath to deal with the discomfort before nodding.

"Fine...just get it over with." I tell her. Hind carefully rolls me onto my side to put the wound facing up. She then passes me a piece of cloth which I then bite down on to prepare for whatever pain comes my way. I feel tentacles wrap around my torso and legs, likely to secure me from reflexive spasms.

"OK...when I tell you to, I want you to pull this wound open as wide as you can manage, I need as much room as you can give me to dislodge this thing." Hind instructed. I nodded in understanding, putting the forceps in position, wincing as I dug both tools into the wound. "Its going to be OK Ken, it'll hurt like hell but you can do this, ready?" I just nodded again, bracing myself.

"Go!"

Gritting my teeth on the cloth in my mouth, I literally pulled open my own body for Hind to operate on, muffled screams erupted from my plugged mouth as I was plunged into sheer agony. I was so glad Hind's tentacles were holding me still, since I tried to wriggle ALOT as she pulled on that wood. Pushing through the pain, I kept my nerve, and held onto the forceps holding the wound open. I couldn't actually see what Hind was doing, but I could certainly FEEL it.

"You're doing great Ken, just another minute, its almost out" Hind shouted to me over my muted screams. I could feel my face getting very hot as writhed in utter torment, tears streaming down my face as I felt my insides shifting. But finally, I could feel something be pulled from me, and the pain died down.

"GOT IT!" Hind yelled, letting me go and taking away the forceps. With nothing obstructing the wound any more, it felt significantly less painful, it still ached like hell, but far more manageable. Hind showed me the wood that had been lodged in me, three separate pieces of broken ship, each roughly the size of an adult's middle finger, soaked in blood.

"Damn...how long...was I out?" I asked, catching my breath from the surgery. Once Hind had bandaged me up, she allowed me to sit up, but then she had an annoyed look on her face, and suddenly...

She slapped me!

I held my now stinging cheek in utter shock, about to call her out for that, but then she pointed at me aggressively. "I told you, NOT to engage that Man O' War!" She scolded. "Your healing factor kept you alive this time, but you're not invincible!" She added, pointing to the side wound she just dressed. She sounded furious, but behind the anger, it was clear she was on the verge of tears. I just felt guilty as opposed to scared like I used to.

"I'm sorry! I didn't realise how close it was to me! I thought it went to fight you!" I tried to point out, but she wasn't having any of it.

"You need to be more careful! I already thought you died when I first saw you knocked out and covered in blood, I almost lost you just now since I thought I nicked your artery!" She was still shouting at me, but her voice was breaking. "I... I love you too much to lose you Ken...please don't leave me alone, after the Commander left me, I...I...I can't bear...being alone..."

Hind trailed off, shoving her face in her hands as she bawled her eyes out. I wished I had the pain from the surgery back to replace the guilt I felt, it was overwhelmingly heavy. All this time I thought she just wanted my body, its so strange to think that Hind really does genuinely love me. I look down, feeling depressed as I reply.

"I'm so sorry Hind...not just for this, but for...well everything." She sniffled a little, looking up at me with puffy eyes as I keep speaking. "Look I know I've screwed up today...but I didn't mean to hurt you like this, ever since we made this pact I haven't exactly been that nice to you, yeah you have your annoying and scary moments, but those are massively overshadowed by how amazingly kind you are, I'm just ashamed it took me almost dying to see that...I know my mother would be ashamed of me for treating you like I have been."

I finished by gently rubbing the core that connected me to the Ballista; a small, gold-plated sphere that was fixed to a belt around my waist. Hind must have clocked me touching it and put 2 and 2 together.

"The Ballista...it used to be your mother's ship didn't it?" She asked, I nodded, and she kept speaking. "Why did you tell your dad you bought it? He doesn't know?" I sighed, guess it was time to explain.

"Mum was one of the pioneers of Core Technology, She and Dad split up because he argued against it, saying it was too dangerous, personally I think he just hated the idea of anyone being able to sail a larger ship solo, too arrogant to admit Core Technology would render conventional sailing ships obsolete." I explained. I gestured out a porthole to where I imaged my ship was anchored.

"The Ballista was Mum's last project before she passed away from an illness, I found out from a co-worker of hers that she wanted me to have it if anything happened to her, she made sure it was legally mine before Dad could get a hold of it. He'd likely just strip it down for parts just to spite her, so I told him I bought it from her successor so he can't do anything to legally take it from me." I continued.

Hind looked away for a moment, looking crestfallen as I finished speaking. "Ken...The Ballista is barely floating...if we run into more enemies its likely she'll be sunk." She told me ominously. That statement snapped me to attention. I bolted out the bed before Hind could stop me, wincing as my wounded body screamed at me to slow down, but it was essential for me to see what happened to my ship.

"Please don't be too bad, please don't be too bad...oh god please don't be too bad." I thought as I scrambled as fast as I could out of Hind's hull, the kansen herself chased after me, calling out for me to slow down since I was hurt, but I didn't listen, I NEEDED to see what happened after I passed out. As practically threw the hatch open to clamber onto the deck, I looked around for my ship; well...I did find her.

The Ballista was almost a wreck, the aft mast was snapped, dropping its sails into the sea, the gun deck was half gone thanks to a massive hull breach that was thankfully a few feet above the waterline, but most of the cannons on the starboard side had either been knocked overboard or smashed, cannonball holes dotted across the entire hull, through one of the holes I could see my bedroom was ripped apart, a cannonball must have hit it directly. Seeing all this damage brought me to my knees, I could feel tears welling up in my eyes at the sight of it.

I heard Hind come up behind me, putting a hand on my shoulder. "She's still sea-worthy, and I can patch up most of the smaller holes and replace any lost equipment with parts from my MP ships, but that breach will need a port's facilities to fix." Hind explained gently. "The pirates basically focused her when they realised they couldn't damage me properly, I did what I could to protect her, but I'm not infallible; I'm sorry I couldn't do more Ken." She added in a sombre tone. "Lets get her to a port and we can try this again in a few days." I shake my head, earning a confused look from her.

"We can't there's no time, in a few days Vickers will be actively hunting you, and his ships are more powerful than the Blue Baroness's ships. We can't risk him getting to Shipwreck Point before us, or we'll be caught between him and Echo fleet, even with the Ballista at full strength we can't beat that." I explain, depressed that the Ballista is heavily damaged.

"Ken, the Ballista can't fight like this and you're still hurt!" Hind retorted. "We need to wait until you're both fully recovered before-"

"That won't work!" I interrupted. She managed to settle down and let me speak, but frowned at me as I did so. "Hopefully Vickers hasn't worked out we're working together yet, if we go to a port now, we'll just attract attention, if I run into a navy ship with the Ballista looking like this, they'll help me, and I can tell them it was Echo fleet."

Hind didn't look convinced, she was looking less and less sure as I spoke. "As long as you stay submerged and out of sight, it should work. Maybe they'll even convince Vickers to shift his focus from you."

"Ken that's too risky, I don't want to put you in danger again, Vickers is too single minded to care about Echo fleet, we're going to a port to get your ship fixed up and that's final! I'll signal Mary Celeste that she'll need to wait a while longer." She argued, she turned to walk away but I kept shouting after her.

"Hind! Shipwreck Point is less than a day away, if we hurry we can make it there before Vickers is ready to intercept us, besides everyday we delay, Echo fleet is getting stronger, if we wait around for the Ballista's repairs, we'll be completely outclassed by the time we get there." I retort desperately. She stops walking away, clenching her fists as what I say seems to be getting through to her. "For all we know this could be our only chance to stop them! Hind please!"

We both stood silent for a minute, her back still turned to me, clearly she was conflicted about weather to listen to me or not. But she eventually turned around, looking very angry, she opened her mouth to speak, but before she could say anything, her anger almost instantly deflated, becoming a look of shock.

"Ken...behind you..."

Confused at her sudden mood swing I turned around to see what she was looking at; and my heart sank.

Looking like a long chain of golden shapes, A MASSIVE royal navy fleet practically covered the horizon, it looked like they'd only just appeared there or we'd have already seen them sooner. Even from this huge distance I could tell one of the ships closer to the centre of the formation was the Dawn-breaker, Lord Vickers' flagship, a super Man O' War that made the one I fought earlier look like a pussycat.

I took out my telescope and took a closer look at it. And I notice the flash of another telescope on the enormous warship, I adjusted the zoom and focused on the man using the scope to confirm my fears. Yep...I watched as Lord Vickers himself put down his telescope with what looked like a bemused expression. He definitely saw us.

"Looks like we don't have a choice now, we need to get moving." I quickly tell Hind.

"What about the Ballista? It can't outrun that fleet in its current condition." She pointed out. I looked over my ship, thinking of a way I can save her, anything. But anything I thought of would take too long to implement. With a heavy heart I turned back to Hind.

"Scuttle it."

She looked at me appalled. "What?!"

"You heard me, sink it, she'll just slow us down and I don't want Vickers to have her." I told her again. Hind whimpered a little, tears welling up in her eyes. "Ken...your mother...its all you have left of her...I..."

Annoyed at her hesitation, I summoned a water tentacle from my back, jumped into the air and with a scream of rage, pain and frustration, I slammed the tentacle straight through the Ballista's hull, cutting the whole thing in half, I cried out as landed back on Hind's hull, realising I accidentally re-opened the wound on my side in my exertion, Hind came running over to me, helping me sit down on the floor.

"I'm OK...she can't be claimed by anyone else now." I horsely tell her, gritting my teeth as pain washed through me from my injury.

"Ken...I'm so sorry about this..." Hind replied hugging me, I hugged her back as I watched my former ship sink beneath the waves, I expected to feel guilty, grief, angry, but no...none of that...I just felt relieved for some reason, maybe because I didn't need to worry about it any more, it wasn't going to be captured and it won't suffer any more. She's at peace...like my mother.

"Its OK, its just a ship, not a kansen like you, I'll rebuild her one day, besides..." I then tapped the core I was still wearing. "...I still have this piece of it." Hind still looked sad for me, but nodded as she helped me to my feet, being careful not to put pressure on my injury.

"I've already set course for Shipwreck Point. It'll be close, but we should make it before Vickers will catch us, I hope Mary has found a storm..." Hind told me, still watching the fleet heading towards us.

"Me too." I replied, heading back to bed to recover, still feeling bad about what just happened, and about upsetting Hind. Before I could get below, Hind stopped me with a hand on my shoulder, I turned to face her, the both of us must have felt like crap right now, we could both feel it.

"I'm sorry about your ship Ken, if I hadn't been so over-confident we could have-"

"No its my own fault, your plan was a solid one, I'M the one who screwed it up by getting too close to that Man O' War. Please don't feel like you're at fault here, I'm going back to bed." I tell her. I hear her sigh before turning back to whatever she was doing. As I get back to my bed, the reality of my situation suddenly hits me like a cannonball to the head.

The Ballista...my home...is gone...everything I had, my independence, my pride, its all at the bottom of the sea now. I instantly felt a huge wave of sadness and regret at scuttling my own ship. Not wanting Hind to hear or see me cry, I shove my face into the pillow and bawl my eyes out, grieving my ship...my mother's ship.

"Mum...I'm so sorry!"