Deep Sea Chapter 19

19.

The Surface

Captain Wah Loong had his men from the Dragon Rifles Company spread out on the short beach line while he sent out the scouts. He could hear nothing but the incessant rain that was pounding his ears. He waved his left hand to send the men forward. Their mission was Big Jaws. He was to attack from the flank. While he made his way forward he heard the sound of the cannon shots. It was at a distance but it reminded his of his experience with the warriors back home. He was a senior officer of the artillery units.  During his training then, the artillery instructor told them to be proud of the gunpowder for its origin was from his land. He had seen how the explosive material brought down the thick walls. His task was to breach the wall with the gunpowder. The gunpowder was in the powder keg and will signal for the other ships to sail in.

It was a simple plan.

Captain Wah Loong disliked simple plans. He amended on them to ensure success. He split his men into three groups. They were to attack in three areas; the port area the walls and the village. The last was his task while the other two were assigned to the aides. 

When he reached the edge of the village he saw the place was deserted of any movement. It was also then he heard the cannons have stopped. He looked to the walls on the ridges covering the bay. He could not make out the area well with the rain soaking the view. He looked back at his own company of men; all sixty of them armed with rifles. They were all carrying the Gewehr Model 88 with the five bullets clip. The rifle with the length of fifty inches was equipped with the bayonet knife. Each man carried five clips with loose cartridges in the backpack. It was a good feeling to know that the foreigners will die from their own creation.

“Move in.” Captain Wah Loong told the aide that was in his company. The sixty men spread out onto the cobbled stoned path leading to the houses. The clicked their rifle and leveled it with the bayonet pointed out. The riflemen were dressed in the blue tunic and matching loose pants tucked into the cloth laced over the skin and dark leather shoes. Their headwear was the Asian conical hat made from the bamboo strips.

Suddenly the riflemen were shaken by the sight of dark scruff looking creatures that ran in between their legs. Some of them jumped in fright while others used their bayonets to stab at the creatures. All it needed then was the fool to overreact. The shot was heard by all the riflemen, who in turn took to firing at the dark corners. It was chaotic than with more blind shootings until the Captain called out for a halt on the shooting. It was all over for their surprise incursion. The shooting also triggered the other companies to shoot at the walls and soon at the port area.

“Stop the firing! There is no….” Captain Wah Loong's command was cut short when he saw the machine-gun posts on the rooftops opened fire. It was a trap and they were led into it. The machine guns took down half his company before from the dark corners came out the enemies with guns blazing.

“Charge!” The defenders were led by Pastor Galen with his trusted Webley firing away soon after the firing. Captain Wah Loong swung his rifle to deflect the swinging fish hook on the pike aimed at his chest. He turned his body to deliver a sidekick at the other before moving in with the stock of the rifle on the head. He dropped his attacker but his rifle was made redundant by the earlier impact. He saw the breech was damaged by the pike. He turned to retreat and saw the enemy. It was the Pastor.

“Looks like we have a stand-off.” Pastor Galen discarded the emptied Webley. Captain Wah Loong did the same to his rifle. He then removed his hat and flexed his muscle before he took the fighting stance favored by the Tiger Fighting Style exponents.  The style was adopted from the creature's vicious ripping and tearing techniques with the hands gnarled like the creature’s claws.

Captain Wah Loong went on the aggressive move by the close swing of his right fingers at the Pastor. He followed through with the left fingers aimed at the other torso. Pastor Galen stepped back to avoid both blows. The Pastor was a fifth-generation ‘dornalaiocht’ exponent (Irish knuckle and fist boxing.) He stood there with his right arm leveled at the shoulder while his left fist was tucked tightly to his chest.

The other took on more aggressive swings at the Pastor who kept on sidestepping or retreating. The Pastor paddy once told him, your fist must stand independent of your upper limbs in the moves, but when you punched they are to lend force to your fist.

Pastor Galen did just that. He saw the opening and punched out with his right fist at the other while his right foot stepped forward to lend weight to the momentum. He aimed at the left shoulder joint and caused the man there to scream out in pain.  He then moved in for the collar grip to throw the man onto his back. He left leg cut in between the other legs and hooked it at the heels. He pulled back and the other went down. It would have worked but the other had lashed out with a body twist to kick at the Pastor in the face. Both men went down in pain.

Captain Wah Loong stood up first and glared at the other. He rushed at the fallen opponent to pounce on the Pastor but the other had his legs leveled up to push the other over the top.

Captain Wah Loong landed on his back but was soon turning to face the Pastor. He was crouched face down on his four limbs and looked as if he was ready to attack. He came out with his right leg swinging low aimed at the Pastor. The other had seen it coming and stepped back while his right leg kicked at the shin of the swinging opponent leg. The kick stopped the other and Pastor Galen went in with the hard stomp on the injured shin. Captain Wah Loong had then slapped his right fingers in the gnarled grip at the Pastor’s leg. His fingers grabbed the leg and pulled away to the right. It was the Pastor’s turn to scream out in pain when the fingers scratched his flesh.

The Pastor pulled away while his hands soothed the injured leg. The Captain had then rushed in with his vicious fingers but he was stopped by the bullet at his chest. He fell down onto his knees before the second bullet hit him in the face.

“No….” Pastor Galen pushed himself up and rushed over to the dead Captain. He was later met up by the man who shot the Captain.

“Sorry, Pastor. He was dangerous.” Pastor Galen looked to the man who shot his opponent. He rubbed his hand past his hair and then shook his head.

“It’s not your fault, Peter. God had his uncanny way of intervening in my affairs.”

The Depth

Captain Liao stared at the other ship through his viewer. Despite the low light, you could see that it was bigger than his ship. It was the lights from the ship that lit it up. They shone like small suns in the dark skies; reflecting the sea depths with the fishes offering the distraction. The serpents were gone and so were the predators which had followed the trail of blood.

“Captain, do we …” His crew asked of him but the Captain waved the person to be silent. He kept his stare on the ship. He was trying to study her as if a man might do on another lady. It was then his ship spat out the whale skin cover over the leak on the bridge. The crew rushed to stop the spurting water before it turned any larger. It did not distract the Captain who was still taken in by the other ship. He envied the Captain on that ship; it was like when he watched the other captains take the other sister ships out. They sailed past his with their arrogant smile and throwing those sarcastic remarks. Like him, his own ship was getting old and its days were almost over.

On the Sea King Captain Arthur looked out from the glass window. His powerful lights from the ship shone on the hundred over feet ship. She was not as refined as his but he wondered about the works that were done on it. It looked like a ship hull without the mast and yet it was not sailing on the surface. He wondered how it was conceptualizing and by whom. He stopped his thoughts. It was not him to glorified the inventions of others with his own patriotic longing, but then he looked at the other ship he was overjoyed.  It was an achievement and well suited to be his rival.

Or enemy.

Captain Liao broke his focus on the other ship. He turned to the crews who were busy with the repairs. More leakages were spotted and the work was non-stopping. His love was dying. He turned to look at the other ship again. It was tempting but his love must not be yield to another. 

“Turn thirty degrees to starboard.” Captain Liao spoke out. “Ready the harpoons.”

“Captain, we cannot fight it.” Senior Sailor Wang called out. “We need to flee.”

Captain Liao ignored the sailor and focused on the viewer. He turned it to follow the other ship. He knew that if the other ship countermove it will mean certain consequences to his ship.

“Captain the other ship is moving.” Boatswain I Conlay called out. “Shall we counter move?”

“No! Keep her idle.” Captain Arthur called out. He looked to the aft gunners. “Ready all harpoons.”

Captain Arthur saw the other ship moved. It was hurt by the look of it. It was slowly moving but Captain Arthur knew his ships. The other ship was turning broadside towards his aft. He knew its intention. He had no choice.

“Fire on my command.”

Across the short distance, Captain Liao also gave the same command.

Then it was the act of daring.

“Captain Liao, I protest to this…” Senior Sailor Wang raised his voice at the captain. Captain Liao looked to the elderly man. He could read the others’ eyes. It was fear and not bravery.

“Captain Liao, you cannot do this.” The elderly man asked. “They don’t deserve it.”

The elderly man had read his mind. They all looked at him. It was understood. They do not want to die needlessly.

“I am sorry.” Captain Liao smiled. He then reached for the lever to turn off the lights. It went dark outside except for the other ship’s lights.

“All guns ready for firing. We are going to spear her.” Captain Liao gave the order.

Captain Arthur saw the light went off. It was an unusual move. It was what he feared more. He knew then he had to do it.

“Fire the harpoons.” Six of the eight mini three-footer harpoons on the aft shot out. At that distance it slammed into the hull of Sea Dragon One. It broke past the metal piece and the shaved itself way into the wood. Its end protruded out inside the hull and caused a break which the seawater found a lower pressure point to surge in. The force of the water forced the gap in the hole to be enlarged.

“Flooding!” Senior Sailor Wang called out. He knew that the ship was not going to be saved. They were too deep into the water.

“Captain we need to abandon the ship.” Senior Sailor Wang looked to the Captain but the other was not listening. The Captain was leaning onto the viewer with the water levels rising. He was saying goodbye to the ship. He had given up on the voyage. They are so in love with their ship and when they knew it was decayed they will go down with it. It’s their love for each other.

“Captain Liao we must leave. You can’t do much for her.” Senior Sailor Wang called out to the Captain but he was jostled aside by the fleeing sailors. They were reaching for the airbags in the upper compartment while trying to open the hatches. They forgotten at the depth, the pressure of the outside hull was pressing hard against it. It soon leveled up once the pressure of the inner hull compensated with the flooding. The hatch slowly gave way and then the water swallowed the interior. The sailors crawled out and swam for the surface. Like all air-breathing creatures the fear of drowning was an evitable fear. The second was to be eaten alive. That was when the sea predators arrived.

“Mother of God!” Captain Arthur called out when he saw the sailors swam out. He also has seen the sharks had come to feed. He knew that he was not able to do anything.

“Get us out, Boatswain I.”

In the other ship Captain Liao saw the approaching predator. It was so clear from the viewer's glass. It was a large twenty footer shark. It was headed for the viewer. Its jaw bit into the extended pole and the turned its body to wrangle it off. During the turn, its heavy body slammed the side of the ship and caused another major leak. The water spurting in there was given momentum by the shark constant slamming on the hull as it wrestled with the metal piece in its jaw. The constant hammering finally broke through the hull side and water surged in pails of it. Captain Liao rushed over to block the water from pouring in but the shill hull was already weakened. It gave way to more leaks and then began sliding into the canyon depths. The depth pressure soon took over and the remaining crews struggled to stay afloat. Some gave up and drowned in the water. 

Only Captain Liao fought harder to save his love but he was soon overcome by the depth pressure.