Deep Seas Chapter 28

28..

The Surface

The bombardment started on the trenches of the enemies with the exchange of artillery fires on both sides. Lord Henry has decided to hold his army back until they have softened the resistance at the borders of Bale. The flying squadron of four Caldrons was flying escort for the dirigibles to the front lines.

“Henri, keep an eye for those renegades.” Wing Commander Pierre issued the warning. “I don’t want to be hassled by them anymore. We agreed that the Sopwith will fight their own.”

True to his words the two renegades Sopwith appeared out of the sky. They were firing at the four Caldron.

“Merci, I will not be shot down today” Wing Commander Pierre smiled. He dove his flying box down and then veered starboard. He was going in low and the two Sopwith was on the tail.

“Coming fore in seconds.” Wing Commander Pierre spoke to himself. It was then the twin Sopwith suddenly broke formation. From their port side were the other six Sopwith belonging to General Gale.

“Renegades on your point.” Wing Commander Thames was in joy. He disliked the ones that were trained by his men were fighting for the other side. He signaled the others to pen in those two renegade Sopwith. He wanted them downed but not out. He wanted to see the pilots.

The Sopwith was a single-seat fighter design that was in the final design modification. The Sopwith was flown by a few selected squadrons on testing after the war. He cursed that the best will betrayed their land. He saw one of the renegade Sopwith in his sight and pulled the trigger on the twin machine guns. He gave it a wide fire to attract their attention. He wanted them to surrender. 

“The heck, I will surrender.” Pilot Brett Ramsey pulled at the stick to pull the Sopwith up. He looked to the other pilot Ned in the other Sopwith. They had joined the other side to fight for General Clarke. The other pilot was young and was seen pulling to land on the clearing.

“Ned, you bastard. You will never make it as a pilot.” Ramsey veered to starboard and then leveled up to meet the Sopwith on his tail. “You bastards were trained by me.”

Wing Commander Thames saw the renegade Sopwith climbing up to meet him. He saw the markings on the Sopwith.

“Damn you, Ramsey. You bloody idiot.” Thames fired his guns at the oncoming renegade Sopwith. He knew Ramsey as one of the core trainers. He signaled the others to veer off. That was his duel. He turned to starboard and then dive. He was parallel to the other Sopwith and saw Ramsey in the cockpit. The other saw him.

“Thames you fool. Do you want a duel? You got one.” Ramsey veered to the far side and then lined up to do direct flight heading towards Thames. His double guns were blazing at the Thames’ Sopwith.

“Show me your worth, your darned box.” Ramsey kept his flight path with the guns blazing. The other Sopwith had turned and was firing at him. The bullets were tearing into the wings. He veered the plane to swing in random movement but the bullets soon found his propellers. The engine was cranking due to the heavy pressure of the intense movements and then stalled propellers.

“Give me your …” Ramsey stopped when he heard the engine cranked one last time. He heard that noise before. It was his maiden crash on the Sopwith.

“No!” The renegade Sopwith engine spluttered and then silenced. The flying craft stopped climbing and soon it was falling. The falling effect was giving Ramsey the feel of an earlier crash where he broke both his legs. He recovered to fly again but that second time, he was unsure he will survive. He screamed out loud but the stalled Sopwith was just a dropping coffin then.

Thames saw the renegade Sopwith dropped and there was nothing he could do. He took to the skies while watching his mate go down. They were not issued any safety gear for such tasks. He said his prayer and then closed his eyes.

It was the last thing he wished to see.

The revolving cannon shots tore into the wings of the Sopwith and the cockpit. It came from above. Thames looked up from his bloodied chest and saw a new threat.

It was a huge dirigible but it was different from the ones he had seen before. The dirigible was assembled from the supplies ships that arrived at Bale. It was one of the models that were brought there.

That one was in the shape of the dragon. It was not any dragon but the far eastern motif. It measured over eight hundred feet and with a diameter of between fifty to a hundred and fifty feet. She was built with the six hundred and eighteen frames that formed the eight main rings and hundred and forty longitudinal girders that span the length. There was a double triangular keel at the bottom of the stern. The dirigible covering sheet was layers of fish and glutinous rice mixture. Each adjoining sheet was triple stitched for its tautness and withstand the cold air.

Its red and yellow head was the biggest with the flaring flames while its elongated body was shaded green with the four clawed legs and the tail was shaded in green with the yellowfins. The differences were there were small compartments build into the dragon where the guns were located. There were the two front compartments in the head with the revolving cannons. At the belly of the dragon was the main compartment with the engines and four main six-pounders. It also housed the four revolving cannons; two at the aft and stern. To the rear of the dragon were two more compartments with the single revolving cannon. It also held a bombing bay where it dripped the explosives.

“Mon dieu we are blessed with the Mother of All.” Wing Commander Pierre smiled. He always favored a good fight. He signaled the other Caldron to the dirigible.

Kosovan in the dirigible was looking at the Caldron. He had prepared for the attack. The original specification of the dirigible did not include in the dozen Vickers machine guns he had prepared in the main compartment. He had commanded the gunners to hold their fire until they could see the pilots. The gunners did just that and guns tore into the climbing four Caldron.

Wing Commander Pierre threw his Caldron to portside while the bullets riddled the wings but he misjudged the damages. The Caldron did not respond to the stick and went in the other direction. Pierre looked to the rear rudder and saw it was damaged. He adjusted for the damaged rudder but it was not responding. He was getting too near the dirigible. He looked down from the height of his seat and reckoned he was past the safety height. He tried to move the stick again but his efforts did not payback. He was shot by the revolving cannons.

“Damn their thick hides.” Commander Pierre cursed out.

The other Sopwith piloted by one other Commander was named Stephen Horn, had climbed to reach the top of the dirigible. The climb was steep and soon the Sopwith had reached its zenith in height. The engines creaked on loud and Command Horn leveled off above the dirigible. The machines' guns were blazing from the dirigible at the other Sopwith.

Commander Horn picked up on the indicator of his fuel gauge. His tanks were getting low from the climb and he had to turn back. He saw the other Sopwith were under intense. Suddenly the Sopwith with Commander Horn stalled. He had to ditch it or crashed with it.

Kosovan smiled when the fire projectiles were launched from the compartment below the dirigible balloon. It was a fashioned explosive that was attached to the fireworks. It was a crude form of weapon but it was effective when launched by the trained men. They have released the fireworks like arrows on a bow, and when the fuse was triggered, it will pick up speed. When on impact, the firework fire will ignite the tubes of explosives. It was also dangerous to have the explosives there.

It was what Commander Horn turned the dirigible into a flaming bomb. He leveled the Sopwith to crash into the balloon. It exploded on impact and brought the whole dirigible to become a flaming dragon before it exploded.

The Depth

Captain Arthur had the Sea King surfaced so the crew could signal the other ships near Devan. Neptune and Nemo have not replied to their signals. He could only assume that the ships have been destroyed. He’s the only choice then was to hunt the ships responsibly. They were out at sea and there were no scouts on the coasts that could see that far. He had signaled Lord Henry on the new development but the other was busy with the new threat of a huge flying dragon.

“The airplanes blew up the first one. Now we have a second one bombarding the armored vehicles. They have scattered the armored and the artilleries were lost to the bombardment.”

The war was getting its tide turned around.

“Captain Arthur, a message from Lord Henry. Galen had assembled a new fleet. He is coming over to join you soon outside of Bale. We are to sail there.” Captain Arthur frowned at the message. It may mean more deaths and loss of ships unless he could even the odds of success. He was not being an egoist but he knew inside him from his years of involvement in wars that the big threat out there had to be subdued. It was his task to hunt the cruisers or the destroyers. He was unaware of the Mother Dragon. 

“Yes, Sea King and myself.” Captain Arthur muttered to himself. “We shall do it.”

“Pardon me, Captain. Did you give any instructions?” The new First Officer Kenneth asked. The Captain shook his head. He then told him to dive the Sea King.

“Set sail for Bale. We will hit them there and then lured their ships back.” Captain Arthur gave the order.

At a distance away the Mother Dragon was saving on its engine usage by being towed on the rear of the cruiser. She was with the smaller fleet of cruisers and three destroyers.

On the Mother Dragon, Senior Captain Cheng Ha was pondering over the charts. He was trying to think where could enemy ships be at if any still existed. He had sunk their submerged and the other Senior Captain had also done destroyed the other two. They have lost one dirigible and the other was over Bale doing the battle.

“How many are there?” Captain Cheng Ha pondered where was the Sea King. He had not met the infernal one named the Sea King.

 “Damn!” Senior Captain Cheng Ha slammed his fist on the charts. “Where are you?”

 The Senior Captain knew they could be sailing for days and yet not meet. He needed bait to lure the enemy. He looked at the charts. The three destroyers on the surface named the Salmon, Pike, and Snapper could be the bait. The cruiser named the Pelican was under the command of Captain Tong. He will get them to attack Big and Small Jaws. The Senior Captain Cheng Ha then snapped his fingers. He knew the plan to drive the Sea King to meet his Mother Dragon. He motioned to his aide.

“Signal Senior Captain Tong Hung to follow these signals.” Senior Captain Cheng Ha was specific with his signals. The fleet then detoured towards the enemy lair while he sailed back towards Bale.

At that moment, Lieutenant Galen took his fleet of ships to sea. He had fashioned up the twenty ships with the cannons from the walls alongside with the machine guns. He also brought along the heavy tow fishing nettings. And the deck below was filled with explosives. He had thought of using it like depth charges. He thought he had everything on him but he was misguided.

“Damn the seas.” Lieutenant Galen stood on the rails with his face to the wind. He disliked sailing for his feet and was made for solid land. He held the bible in his right hand while his left hand was over his nose.

“Not your cuppa of tea, Pastor.” Sailor Leary smiled. He knew the Pastor for his fighting and oratorical skills but seafaring may not be his. “I am sure God did not create all of us to be perfect even though he made us from his image.”

“No, he sneered at me.” Lieutenant Galen sneered back. “He disliked me for taking my life to war again.”

“Tell him we don’t like it either but the war came to us and we have to defend ourselves.” Sailor Leary replied. “It’s called retribution in some manner.”

“Well, tell him….” The Lieutenant had leaned over the rails before he could complete his statement. It was then he thought he saw a dark shadow beneath the waves. It was a long shadow and huge. He shuddered at the thought that he may have seen a sea predator spoke by the others but never seen by himself. He was not a seafarer and his last journey on the sea was below deck with a hangover. It was a good way to use the wine he intended for his mass but then again God had told him that there were other uses for it. 

“You looked as if you had seen a ghost, Pastor.” Sailor Leary jeered at him. “Out here in the sea, we are surrounded by spirits. There are the sirens, the dead sailors….”

“Leary, if you think you could scare me with your tales I can assure you I have more of mine which will make your soul cringed in fear.” With that Lieutenant, Galen walked off the deck to his allocated personal chamber. There he slumped himself on the seat and flushed himself with the good reading of his book of faith. He was a soldier and he had sins that needed his redemption. Their spirits haunt him daily and more than any sea predators could do to him.

Unseen by the ships, the serpent had shadowed the fleet from the seabed. It knew that the killer of its mate was these ships. It will exert its vengeance on them. It held no remorse for the killing for it was dying. Its days will be over and then its bones will be just its reminder on the sea bed. It held no faith but only in its feed and size to intimidate the others. Even the serpent cannot escape faith of defeat by the death of old age.