Devils Own ( A Steam Punk and Mystic Tale ) 3.3

3.3

Stryker’ First Mate took command when the Captain was killed on the first bombardment. Captain Ian Skyes was on the upper deck when the machine gunners laid their fire on the Stryker. The deck was littered with wounded and dead, while sections of it were damaged by the barrage of explosions. The stern section of the upper deck was without a wall and it opened to the lower deck with a gaping hole. Some of the riggings on the hull to the balloons had come undone and were flogging the side of the hull.

“The deck is yours, Captain Zachary.” Third Mate Tomas stepped up to the upper deck. “Second Mate was wounded. Chest was hit. He is in the Infirmary.”

Tomas dressed in the battledress of the blue and white shades. He had on a parka due to the winds and held the megaphone to direct his crews. On his waist was his pistol with six ammo clip and the naval sword worn on the left. The sword was two feet in length curved at the end and the hilt was a gold film coated on a solid cupped guard. He raised his megaphone and gave his first order.

“Fire the cannons on portside.” The twelve cannons already primed by the gunners, pulled the lever that will fire up the propellant. The propellant hurled the three pounder projectiles at nearly two thousand feet per second took a split second to reach the destroyer helm. Six of the cannons shots had hit the helm with its broadside. The three projectiles exploded on impact and ripped off section of the helm deck.  The crews stationed there were killed or thrown overboard. With that damage, the steering at the upper deck was affected and the ship was off to its portside.

“Full to port. We are going in for another round.” Tomas shouted out. The sailors at the engine room pushed the engine levers up and moved the flaps. The Stryker sailed to order but she was targeted by the frigate that was shadowing the destroyer at five hundred feet above. It dived down to shield the destroyer. During the dive, the frigate turned to starboard and released its cannon fire. The eight cannons hit into one of the two balloons of the Stryker and soon caused a massive explosion. The explosion ripped both balloons, and the wave hit at the diving frigate which was on impact collision course. More rigging came undone and fell off.

“Balloons on fire!” The alert went out. It was a sign to abandon the ship.

“Abandon ship!” Captain Tomas gave the command. He knew that with the balloons damaged, they were going to crash. The crews had their issued out jump-chutes which will allowed them to land safely onto the ground below.

While the crews donned the chutes, some were still at their station. They were still operating the cannons in view of the firing it once more.

“Loader, close the breech.” Gunner Liston told his crew member. “I will get that bastard before we go down.”

Loader Micheal slammed the breech lock before rushing to the cannon next to it. The loader there had left the position with the gunner trying to do the task. He did the same for the second cannon and nodded to the gunner there.

“Thanks, Micheal.” Gunner Stein nodded to the loader. He was a retired gunner but his desire to fight made him volunteer for the smuggler’ trade. He then looked to gunner Liston who was checking the coordinates for the shot.

“Hey Liston. Screw the coordinates. Just shoot the damn gun.” Stein shouted out while he leaned over to get one last check on the cannon. The ship was tilting then and some of the unsecured items were rolling with the tilt.

“Damn you, Stein. I am checking for the damned armory.” Liston replied while he continued on his search. He steadied himself for the shot while the ship continued tilting. He then turned to the loader and told him to leave.

“Leave, you young fool.” Liston shouted to the loader, who was younger than the two older gunners. “You still got a life ahead of you.”

Loader Micheal ignored the gunner while he was loading the third cannon. He then looked out the port hole and shouted.

“It’s the destroyer again. It’s too frigging near.”

Gunner Liston looked over and shouted out.

“Stein, we got her on our broadside.” Liston then pulled the lever to fire the cannon, while Stein did the same. The two ships were less than a hundred feet across, and the impact of the two cannon shots hit it on broadside. Micheal does not want to be left out, also fire the third cannon. The three shots on impact tore through the lower deck and crashed the supporting ribs of the hull. It also cracked the hull opened and the destroyer ship started breaking into pieces.

On the Stryker, Liston grabbed his chute but he did not see the projectile that came loose of its mooring. The projectile sailed across the deck and hit the supporting beam. It exploded and the fire spread to the other projectiles.

“Fire in the hold!” Liston shouted in his dying voice while he was laid back on the deck caused by the explosion. The subsequent explosion took off his ability to speak again. The Stryker joined the same fate as the destroyer.

On the deck of the Queen’ S, Captain Borak had seen better days in his battles. His ship was in near wreck after a series of broadside battle with the dreadnaught. The Queen’ S had taken down one frigate before it was hit by the dreadnaught in the stern. Captain Borak had lost his Third Mate then, but he had commanded the crews to steer away. His ship was smaller and had the speed to turn. During the next few rounds, the Queen’ S had her cannons bruising the Destroyer on its hit and runs, but the fire power of the Destroyer have their own turns too.

“Derek, are the explosives primed?” Captain Borak asked his Second Mate. He had placed a series of explosives at the lower deck of the stern near the steam engines. “Then get the frigging order off.”

“Abandon ship!” The command was given to all. Captain Borak took over the steer and sailed towards the destroyer.

He had come in from the port side of the destroyer. The destroyer cannons roared but the Queen’ S kept on coming. The narrow target posed to be harder to hit but there were some major damages. At distance of over four hundred feet, one of the shots hit the helm and blew section of it off. Captain Borak was thrown to the middle deck and was wounded in several places. He staggered up and ran to the stern. There was another steer there installed by him for such emergencies. He steered the ship to starboard with the port side hull being aligned parallel to the destroyer. The cannons from the destroyer was presented with a wider target, and the lashing was given on the Queen’ S hull. She survived that barrage, but the captain was not pulling out from the steer. He had the ship continued in it turning till the stern was aimed at the destroyer. The cannons from the destroyer tore into the stern, but the explosives were already primed for detonation. The Queen’ S stern slammed into the destroyer’ hull and caused a major explosion. The explosion broke the ship hull into sections and it went down like a rock.

The Berserker was unlike the others, although it had the same complement of twelve cannons. It had also a set of six howitzers that was position on the upper deck. More to it, it had a bigger steam engine which allowed it to have short burst of speed but due to the engine design, it was only for a short distance before it needed cooling down or it will explode. Like the name the ship, Captain Claus Schneider was an unpredictable person. He had run the gauntlet on the frigates, and came out winning after sinking two of the numbers.