Deep Sea Chapter 21

21.

The Surface

Lady Jan grinds her teeth when she saw the message that arrived on the pigeon. It was the ancient way of sending messages but one that was proven effective in the times of war. She had seen the telegraph and the newly discovered voice communication but its need to be connected makes it rather cumbersome. It was made more difficult given that the distance covered over the sea surface.

“We have no words from the invasion task group at the island.” Lady Jan was dressed in her military regalia with the decorated ribbons that were pinned on her chest on the left side. Her uniform was in white from the top tunic to the leg fitted pants and matching white shoes and the dark maroon sash tied for the waist belt to resemble that of the naval history uniform of the world, but her headgear was that of her country’s heritage. The headgear was a black velvet cap with a button on the top. Red silk tassels extended down from the finial to cover the hat accompanied by the large peacock feather attached to the back of the hat. At the top of the headgear was the mother of the white pearl.

“Maybe they are late.” Kosovan also dressed in the full regalia but his headgear was the ‘papkha’; the wool hat favored by his people. It has the general appearance of a cylinder with one side open. It’s set upon the head to have the brim touch the temples. It was the standard headgear for the riders of the steppes.

“In a battle, coordination is crucial to success. If one of its parts fail to connect the points, then the whole battle may be lost.” Lady Jan expressed her concern. “I have to assume the worst and prepare for it.”

“Do you have little faith in your leaders?” Kosovan mocked her.

“I do have faith in my leaders, but I have little knowledge of the enemies.” Lady Jan replied. “My leaders could have marched into an empty fort strategy.”

The Lady was referring to the Stratagem of Zhuge Liang; the strategist during the ancient days of the Three Middle Kingdoms. It was a reverse psychology work when the enemies fear to tread into the emptied fortress for fear of being trapped by the hidden enemies.

“They may be lured in by the bait dangled by the hook.” Lady Jan smiled. “And we were the bait.”

“My people stratagem was stealth and speed. Even as bait we could flee before we are hooked.” Kosovan lauds on his own people’s approach to fighting. “The steppes are no different form the blue wide sea.”

“True and admirable of your people’s acts but the task was not the wide sea but an island. Tell me how the horsemen attack the fortress if not on their feet.” Lady Jan corrected the other. “I planned stealth with scouts to check the defenses, and then lay my warriors on the main task. Maybe my intel was faulty.”

The pigeon arrived on the cue at the window sill of the Lady’s chamber. She read the message and threw it away. Kosovan picked up the discarded message.

“Our plan had gone astray.” Lady Jan voiced out in anger. “I will have Lord Henry hung on the high walls of his.”

Kosovan stepped to the charts laid on the table. He began studying them. Lady Jan joined him there.

“Your current fleet size remains about the same than when we sailed.” Kosovan advised her. They had sailed with the first fleet; four large cruiser class and three destroyer class, and ten supporting ships. On the second fleet it was twenty troopships with about two hundred personnel per ship in that fleet and the three submerged ships.

“We have lost two trooper ships load.”  Kosovan continued on. “But we still hold the surprise on them.”

“You are mistaken Kosovan. We also lost the submerged.” The Lady replied. “Sea Dragon One was in the water there. Some of her crews were rescued by the enemy ship. I can only assume that the Sea Dragon One was sunk by them too.”

“Yes a possibility that you cannot evade on.” Kosovan looked hard at her. “But your secret still lies below.”

“Yes my hidden card which I will use soon.” Lady Jan stared at the message. She picked one of the other pigeons from the cages in her chamber. She wrote her message on it and then sent it off.

“First blood to you, Lord Henry but the final drop will be yours.” Lady Jan then proceeded to leave the chamber. She was followed closely by Kosovan. She stepped out to the extended balcony and glimpsed at her fortress by the sea at the port of Bale.

It was a majestic structure built to the height of three hundred feet above the sea level on a piece of land that was covered by the sea on three sides. The road that leads to the fortress was via the narrow strip that joined the island to the mainland. She had acquired the old castle and refurbished it to the tall fortress with the eight towers and two main buildings inside it walls. The two towers facing the sea were built higher to allow of better view on the sea and the nearby town of Bale. The walls were eight feet thick with the battlements spaced out every ten feet. The fortress was built with the shape of the hexagon in its layout while its main entrance was the metal gate that reaches above the height of man by twice his height. The fortress was manned by fifty of her warriors who accompanied her there.

The Depth

Captain Arthur watched from the deck of the Sea King while she was sailed in with the hatches open. Since the handover of the dead warriors, the Sea King had sailed on the sea surface. He was not keen to submerge the ship for fear of hitting at the dead bodies afloat beneath the waves. The ship sailed on until it reached Big Jaws to join with the others. The storm had been reduced to a drizzle and all the fishing ships were back in the port. He counted twelve of them from the twenty to the thirty-five tonnes loads.

A boat took Captain Arthur to the pier. There he met Lord Henry and the others. Shark One and Two have sailed to be nearer to the pier where it docked closer to the fishing trawlers.

“Captain Arthur I am glad to see you. I was concerned about the Sea King.” Lord Henry looked to the ship in the water. Captain Arthur reported on the other submerged ship. He reported on the design.

“So the Lady had have brought their own designs.” Lord Henry sighed. “It was a matter of time I guess.”

“Who is she?” Captain Arthur asked.

“A formidable foe.” Lord Henry replied. It was then the calls went up that there was a dirigible which was on the skies. The machine gun posts had their guns pointed at it. They relaxed their trigger finger when they saw the markings. It was one of theirs. The dirigible hovered at the pier and an officer was seen climbing down the rope ladder. The officer saluted to the Lord and then passed him the message. His Lordship read the message and then called on for the officers.

“Round up the officers. We will meet in the tavern.”

Soon the officers were all assembled there. Lord Henry took to the front to address them.

“Men, this is a message from General Gale. She is your new Commanding Officer of the Army.” Lord Henry looked hard at the assembled men. They were all ex-military and knew that his speech was going to get more interesting.

“We got a war on our seas.” Lord Henry looked at them. “This was the moment I feared most. Our naval fleet is redundant while the enemies have traveled far to stake their claim on our sea.”

“I want our sea back. We will unveil the new fleet.” Lord Henry told his men. They broke up with cheers on that.

“Fleet?” Captain Arthur whispered to the Sergeant Major.

“A fleet indeed.” Sergeant Major smiled. “A ragtag one but we can fight back.”

“Where is that fleet, Sergeant Major?” First Officer Stacy overheard the conversation.

“It’s here my dear. We are the fleet.” Sergeant Major muttered to himself. “God bless our ships.”