NationStates Jolt Archive

The sun was just cresting the horizon as the wave crashed over the bow of the Crimson Morning. On the schooner's deck, crewmen scrambled to avoid the freezing spray. High above in the bucket at the top of the mast, the lookout cried out.

"Whale ho! Port bow, two hundred yards!"

The crew immediately went to work preparing for the hunt as the ship listed heavily to starboard as the ship made a hard turn towards it's prey. The heavy winds that had driven the wave into the bow now worked in the schooner's favor, propelling the vessel towards the whale at a good thirteen knots.

"Man the harpoons!" shouted one of the deckhands.

"Kill it with fire" came a sarcastic reply from below deck.

"Disregard that, I suck cocks!" came another cry from below.


Harpoons flew from deck mounted launchers as the whale came into range. Several implanted themselves deep into the hapless mammal's flesh amid cries of "Shoop da woop!" and "Boom! Headshot!". Several minutes of bloody battle ensued before the whale's energy was depleted and the blubbery bounty was dragged onto the ship.

The Imperial Whaler Breaking Dawn, a commercial schooner under the decree to hunt whales by the Imperator himself, rode at top speed through the heavy swells. She had been tracking a whale for three days, getting off a successful hit with its harpoon before the cable snapped, allowing the whale to escape their clutches temporarily.

"Ship sighted! 150 yards off the bow!" A lookout yelled down to the storm-battered deck below. "She ain't flying our colors, boys!"

"What colors are they flying?" Captain Wilhelm yelled through the raging gale.

"Shanderan! She's flying goddamn Shanderan colors!"

"Goddamnit," Wilhelm said as he waved over his First Mate. "Get the crew topside, and see if Billy still has that repeating rifle of his!" The First Mate dove through an open hatch, shutting it behind him as the ship closed to within hailing distance of the Shanderan schooner.

"What the fuck do you bastards think you're doing?!" Wilheim yelled as the Breaking Dawn got close to the Crimson Morning. "Thats our fucking whale!"

"Not anymore it isn't!" shouted one of the Shanderan deckhands in response. "I didn't see your fucking names on it anyway, so piss off, ya butthurt Islanders!"

The Shanderan crew began pulling the harpoons from thier prize as one of the men gutted the whale with a huge blade that was more sword than knife. Blood and innards spilled onto the deck and over the side of the ship in a cascade of red. The Islanders quickly figured out that the Shanderan ship's name didn't refer to the color of the sky.

"Billy, hand me your firearm!" Captain Wilhelm yelled over the waves, taking the firearm into his hands. Despite the rolling sea, he would try to fire a warning shot over the Shanderan schooner to try and get the point across that they weren't leaving without the carcass. The rifle was loaded and ready to fire when he got a hold of it, and now came the aiming. The deck rolled down, then back up, then down again... steady... steady...

The gun fired too late as the Breaking Dawn rolled down from the crest of the wave, the bullet firing towards the Shanderan schooner rather than over it. "Fuck!"

The bullet tore through the loudmouthed Bryn Shanderan's chest with a sickening thud. The crewman fell to his knees, his eyes wide in shock. As the other crewmen turned to see what the problem was, he coughed up a spray of blood and fell forward onto the deck, his own blood mixing with that of the whale's as it flowed over the side.

"Holy shit, those seaweed eating chucklefucks just killed Johnny!" shouted a bewildered crewmember.

"Get your weapons and man the swivelguns and harpoons! It's time to make the Islanders pay!" announced the schooner's first mate. The crew stopped processing the whale and scrambled below deck to retrieve their weapons. On the deck, a small gun crew quickly loaded the small cannon secured to the gunwale with a swivel mount. As they finished ramming the shot, they swung the gun towards the Breaking Dawn. After hastily aiming, they fired the gun with a loud report and a cloud of white smoke.

The smoke had not yet cleared when the crew returned to the deck, armed to the teeth. As soon as they could scramble to the gunwale, they began to open fire.

Splinters and pieces of metal flew everywhere as the Shanderans returned fire. Two crewmen were immediately cut down with gunfire, while three others were hit severely with large wooden pieces. Captain Wilheim ducked behind the main mast, returning fire while trying desperately to avoid getting hit. "Steer us out of here!"

"Can't! The damn wheel is exposed!"

"Get that damn wheel turned away from them or we're all fucking dead!"

A crewman ran to the wheel, reaching the wheel and turning it before he was hit with three bullets to the gut. He gurgled loudly before hitting the deck, but in his fall locked the wheel into a turn away from the Shanderan whaling vessel.

The Bryn Shanderan whaler turned to follow as the crew and swivel guns continued to fire. Harpoons shot across the gap between the two vessels, effectively nailing one unlucky Islander to the mast. Several shots from the Islanders wounded Shanderan crewmembers, though only one was killed. Headshots are funny that way.

The dead crewman at the wheel turning the ship and bringing it back around for another pass gave the crew of the Breaking Dawn enough time to bring up several 'bomb lance' harpoons from below decks and load one into their main swivel gun. "Don't fire until you see the whites of their eyes!" Captain Wilheim yelled out. More guns were brought up from below as well, including revolvers and a shotgun. The Breaking Dawn came about and began to cross the T of the Crimson Morning.

"By Jupiter, they're gonna ram us!" A crewman shouted over the roar of the wind.

"HOLD FIRM!" Wilheim yelled as that crewman got hit by a bullet between the eyes. "NOW! LET THOSE FUCKERS HAVE IT!" The swivel gun was manned by the First Mate, a capable whaler by the name of Alfred Upham. He jumped to the gun as soon as the order to fire was given, as to give the Shanderans little time to cut him down, and fired the bomb lance towards the first mast he could see. Cutting the legs out from under the Crimson Morning might give them the opportunity to give the final blow and sail back to port, as badly damaged as the Breaking Dawn was becoming.

Gunfire and cannon fire continued to fill the gap between the two schooners as the Shanderan helmsman took aim. Ropes snapped and the bowsprit broke with a sickening crunch as the Crimson Morning's bow slammed into the Breaking Dawn. The Shanderan crewmen stormed across the short gap between the now entangled ships and attacked the islanders with their firearms and the huge carving blades that were already wet with the blood from the whale.

"Kill them all!" yelled one of the Shanderan lieutenants as he hopped onto the Islander ship and cut down an enemy gunmen. "Grant no quarter! They'll pay for their piracy with their lives!"

As the Shanderan Lieutenant gave off his "take no quarter" speech, an Islander whaler emerged from below decks with a bottle of potato moonshine brewed below decks... with a lit wick coming out of the top. The whaler threw the bottle onto the deck of the Shanderan ship, setting her ablaze. The high winds of the storm, despite the rain, were kicking the flames up ever higher as the Islanders and Shanderans fought on the deck of the Breaking Dawn.

The fire spread quickly, engulfing the broken bowsprit and the attached sails and rigging, taking several unfortunate crewmembers with it. Acting quickly, the Bryn Shanderans cut the burning material from the ship as fast as they could and pushed it into the sea. At the same time, the captain ordered them to push away from the Islander vessel and try to escape and repair the damage. Unfortunately, the haste resulted in several crewmembers being left behind to be cut down by the Islanders as they fought to the death.

"We've defeated them, and with only a loss of half our crew!" Captain Wilheim said as he lifted his repeating rifle to cheer.

"Captain! We're flooding!" A crewman yelled as he popped up from the decks below.

"How bad is it?" Wilheim yelled over the crashing waves and howling wind.

"Once the water gets too high, the ship will be finished in no time!"

"Shit... Everyone below decks! I'll man the wheel!" With Wilheim at the wheel, the ship turned back towards the port city of Asherton, some 200 kilometers away. The crew worked to keep the water level steady, despite the massive damage done by the Shanderan ship.

The Crimson Morning limped back to port in the storm, her sails mostly destroyed by the flames and holes burned through the deck. Most of the crew was dead, and the whale had been lost to the fire and waves. Even more crewmen lost their lives in the rough seas, and the waves crashing over the damaged bow waterlogged the hull. By the time she reached the safe, calmer waters of Svartalfhiem Bay, she was barely afloat. Shortly after docking, the bilge pumps failed and the schooner sank beneath the tidal swells. Fortunately, the remaining crew was safe.

As soon as the ruined schooner sank, the remaining crew rushed to the local naval outpost to file a complaint against the Islander raiders.

"This is an outrage!" shouted Rear Admiral Godwin. "These attacks on our fishing vessels are completely unacceptable! We must teach these Islander dogs what it means to attack the Eternal Kingdom with brutal force. I'm going to deploy the battleships Nessus and Excelsior to enforce our Bitch Queen given right to harvest the bounties of Her kingdom."

The next morning, the two battleships, a cruiser squadron, and two destroyer squadrons departed the bay and headed through the storm, far into the Sea of Kings.

The Breaking Dawn couldn't even make it back to port. Within sight of their native lands, the bilge pumps could no longer keep up with the flooding. Attempts to seal the hole were in vain, and the ship only have an hour's worth of floating ahead of her. Captain Wilheim fired a signal flare, which was seen by the passenger ship Respite. Before the Respite could fully arrive on scene, the survivors of the Breaking Dawn jumped overboard as their ship gave up the ghost.

The Respite returned the survivors to Asherton, where Wilheim boarded a ship for Freeport... the Imperial Capital. Within a matter of hours, the entire incident was logged with the Admiralty and with Imperator John Haven himself. Within days, newspapers were headlined with tales of Shanderan poaching on the high seas and songs were written chronicling the plight of the Breaking Dawn and her brave crew.

One battleship, a cruiser squadron, one destroyer squadron, and a submarine squadron fueled up with kelp-based fuel left Asherton shortly after the decision was made by the Imperator to stop these poachers from encroaching on Islander resources in the Gulf of Kings. The Island States never tolerated criminals before, and would not start doing so now... regardless who whom their bosses were.

As the Bryn Shanderan task force plowed through the heavy seas, the now former crew of the late Crimson Morning told their stories to the media, emphasizing how the Islanders fired the first shot and killed one of the whalers without the slightest provocation. Telegraphs spread the story of the Islander piracy to every corner of Bryn Shander and beyond, leading to large anti-Islander demonstrations in all of the nation's major cities. In the capital, a pair of Islander businessmen were dragged from a trolley and beaten to death and burned in the street after they made the mistake of taking a line that went past the royal palace and the huge crowd of demonstrators that had gathered outside the walls that surrounded it. Clearly, the people were furious with the Islanders.

In the Sea of Kings, the battleship Excelsior sailed in the lead of the Bryn Shanderan naval formation. Behind her was the older Bryn Shander class battleship Nessus. Flanking the battleships was one of the four ship destroyer squadrons, while the other destroyer squadron and the three ship cruiser squadron formed a long search line in an attempt to spot the Islanders and any friendly shipping quickly.

Off in the distance, barely visible in the fog, was the Bryn Shanderan fishing boat Bitch Queen's Bounty.

The destroyer Swift Justice was pulled alongside the Bitch Queen's Bounty, checking to see if she had taken on any whales potentially tagged by Islander vessels.

"You gentlemen find anything yet?" Captain Pierce called down.

"Nothing yet!" An officer replied from the deck of the Bitch Queen's Bounty. "No Islander harpoon tips, no Islander supplies... nothing showing that they've messed with any of our ships."

"Keep looking! If we can't find anything, we'll just detain them anyway!" A crewman ran up to the Captain as fast as he could, despite the heaving deck.

"Captain, we have multiple Shanderan ships closing on us!" The crewman yelled out as he pointed off the port bow. Captain Pierce took out his spyglass and surveyed the horizon. Sure enough, he saw a few battleships and some destroyers.

"Signal the fleet with a white flare!" Captain Pierce told the crewman. "Move your ass!" Within seconds, a white flare shot off into the sky, gathering the attention of the battleship Jupiter and her cruiser and destroyer escorts. Meanwhile, the submarines kept a close eye on the Shanderan ships as they approached, keeping tabs on the movement of those ships but holding their fire... the time for the Submersa Nave fleet to make themselves known was close, but for now they would watch and wait.

"Captain, the lookout is reporting that there's an Islander destroyer harrassing one of our fishing boats. Your orders?"

"Send them to Umberlee's throne room."

"Aye, Sir!"

--

On the bridge of the Swift Justice, Captain Pierce watched the Bryn Shanderan battleships warily through a pair of binoculars.

"Prepare to withdraw. Set course two seven zero and give me twenty eight knots."

"Captain, the boarding party has been fully recovered. We're ready to leave."

Pierce glanced at the deck, watching his ship move alongside the Shanderan fishing boat. As a rope was cast overboard, he noticed a flash from one of the Shanderan battleships.

"Captain, what was that?" asked one of the bridge crewmen.

"...OH SHI-"

The bridge became a world that knew only fire and shrapnel in a fraction of a second as one of the Excelsior's 12" shells impacted the destroyer's hull just aft of the bridge and exploded in the boiler room. The small Islander warship was immediately reduced to a rain of burning chunks of steel.

--

"Critical hit, Captain! It's super effective! The Islander ship is gone."

"A one hit wonder. It's no wonder that they've resorted to piracy to support their nations if their warships are that fragile. Signal the fleet to prepare for combat. I don't think that the ship was alone."

Indeed, the Swift Justice was not alone. The Battleship Jupiter saw the explosion of the small destroyer off in the distance.

"The Shanderans be damned!" Vice Admiral Stark called out as he watched from the bridge. "Signal battle stations throughout the fleet." The Jupiter raised her signal flags and radioed the message with its newly installed (and highly temperamental) radiotelegraph machine. The cruisers and destroyers also had radiotelegraph machines, but their machines had been tinkered with for better performance by their radio operators.

Crewmen loaded the guns of the ships and closed the watertight doors. The Jupiter accelerated to 18 knots and proceeded slightly starboard of the burning Swift Justice. Following her were the armored cruisers Freeport, Asherton, and Baltic, along with their accompanying destroyers. As soon as the battleship was in range of her quarry, she would try to send it to the bottom and teach those Shanderan bastards a lesson they would not soon forget.

Fortunately, the Bryn Shanderan ships were also equipped with radios, and they also managed to intercept the basic premise of the Islander message.

"We're not alone, Captain. They've got a fleet out here, and they're not happy that you fragged their pirate." called the Excelsior's radio operator from the small radio closet in the back of the bridge.

"I thought as much. Order battlestations across the task force! Give the order to fire at will!" exclaimed Captain Roberts with a firey passion. He lived for battle, and this was sure to become one for the history books.

"Enemy battleship dead ahead, mark three four five." came the report from the lookout high above on the mast as Roberts and his bridge crew retreated to the thickly armored conning tower. "Hard starboard on the rudder, give me full speed. Order the fleet to do the same." calmly commanded the captain. The ship listed heavily to port as it swung starboard. Excelsior's two twin 12" gun turrets trained to port and took aim at the Islander battleship as the Bryn Shanderan flagship returned to a neutral list and straightened out her rudders, her broadside of casemated guns and main turrets facing the enemy.

When the order was given to the turrets to fire, they sounded off immediately with four blinding fireballs and deafening reports. The Bryn Shanderan gunners were excellently trained and their guns had better range than the Islanders', and the plan was to exploit that fact.

The first Shanderan salvo landed in front of the Jupiter, alerting the crew that combat was at hand. "Close the gap between us and the Shanderan fleet!" Vice Admiral Stark ordered. "We need to close the gap so we can bring our forward twelve-inch guns to bear... and maybe the six-inch guns as well!" The battleship turned straight at the Excelsior, her gunners sighting in the Shanderan battleship continuously as the distance closed. The next salvo crashed into the midsection of the ship, blasting off the observation tower and toppling over the front two smokestacks, as well as hitting the starboard fuel bunker. Smoke began to pour from the spot where the two smokestacks had been and fire alarms began ringing out as two more shells crashed close by.

"Engine room is reporting damage to the starboard fuel bunkers! They're reporting seawater mixing with the fuel!" A crewman reported.

"Tell the engine room to salvage what fuel they can and seal off the bunker." Vice Admiral Stark ordered. "Tell the gunners to fire at will once we are within range!"

"Aye sir!"

The next salvo struck the rear armor of the ship, tearing holes into it and causing more internal fires. Stark began to believe that the Jupiter might not survive long enough to open fire.

"We're in weapons range!" A gunner yelled out from his position as he kept bringing the gun into alignment as best he could.

"Open fire!" The forward gun officer ordered. The Jupiter fired her two forward twelve-inch guns at its Shanderan counterpart and began reloading for a second volley. The Jupiter also began to zig-zag to try and shake off the Shanderan salvos. However, in Stark's mind... ramming the closest Shanderan battleship would at least try and achieve a one-for-one loss in terms of battleships.

The Bryn Shanderan guns and gunners were far superior to their Islander counterparts, and so the Jupiter's salvos fell well short of Excelsior and Nessus. Even if they were comparitively poorly trained and outgunned, the Islanders did have balls, and that earned them the respect of the Shanderans. Unfortunately, balls don't often save ships. As Jupiter closed on the Bryn Shanderan battleships, the Bryn Shanderan guns began scoring more and more hits, completely wrecking her upper workings and turning much of the superstructure into a funeral pyre for the Islanders trapped inside. Unfortunately, the Islander gunnery also became more accurate, and a pair of shells impacted Excelsior's hull just forward of the aft turret, destroying two casemated guns in the process.

"Damage report!" ordered Roberts immediately after the impact rocked the ship.

"Fire on the gun deck. We've lost two six inch guns and at least a dozen men. We'll know more when the fires are out, Captain."

Several more shells impacted the Bryn Shanderan flagship, taking out a mast and setting fire to the forecastle, causing the loss of an anchor.

"Admiral, we're ablaze! Call for us to abandon ship!"

"We can't abandon ship!" Stark yelled as he grabbed the lieutenant commander and slapped him across the face. "We must ensure that we critically damage the Shanderan battleship! Give the engines all the power they can muster!" As soon as the order was given, the bridge was struck with a thunderous explosion. A twelve-inch shell found its mark, killing the bridge crew and freezing the control mechanisms. What men were left were now directionless, some maintaining their positions on the guns, others scrambling for the lifeboats. The twelve-inch guns let off one of the last few salvos as the boats began being lowered into the water, the engines finally giving out after all of the damage sustained to them and the fuel bunkers feeding them.

The cruisers, in the meantime, kept closing with the enemy, intent on further damaging the wounded Excelsior, as well as taking shots at the armored and protected cruisers guarding the battleships.

Excelsior continued to burn as the blazing Islander battleship slowed to a gentle stop. Her guns continued to pound the ill fated Jupiter for several minutes before the flames or one of the Shanderan shells found a magazine and left a small mushroom cloud and a sea filled with burning oil and debris where the battleship once floated. If there was time after the battle was over, Excelsior and Nessus would try to pick up any survivors. Unfortunately, there was still the rest of the Islander fleet to deal with.

"Get me more water pressure!" shouted one of the damage control team members on the gun deck. Jupiter's shell had done heavy damage to the area, and fires still raged, most likely fed by the powder bags that were being loaded into the guns at the time. More importantly, there were shells on the deck that had yet to be loaded into the guns when the shells impacted. If they cooked off, the damage would be even greater.

"You're getting all the pressure we've got!" came a strained response from one of the other damage control men. The ship rocked as the 12" guns sounded off again, this time aiming at an Islander armored cruiser. The Nessus' guns replied in kind. Off in the distance, the armored cruisers Vulpes, Arctos, and Lupus sounded off as well.

"Well, you'd better find more because it's getting pretty hot up here. I think the flames found another bag!" cried the first damage control men. "If we don't put these flames out quickly the shells will cook off, so hurry the hell u-"

It was then that the damage control team's fears were met and the shells that were going to be loaded into the damaged guns finally cooked off, gutting the deck and tearing a large hole in the side of the ship. Flames covered the main deck above, destroying several of the smaller 3" guns and killing dozens of men in the process. Thick black smoke poured into the sky as the flames spread, blinding the lookouts and the crew of the closely following Nessus.

The Jupiter sank beneath the waves after enduring too much damage, her guns firing off one final time before slipping below in one last show of defiance. The armored cruiser Asherton took a 12-inch shell below her waterline and capsized, and the last remaining Commanding Officer made the final call from the Baltic as the Asherton rolled over.

"Signal the other ships to fall back and lay down a smoke screen," Rear Admiral Gorman ordered. "We've been bloodied badly, and we won't be doing the fleet any good by dying out here." The armored cruisers and destroyers began injecting fuel oil into their smoke stacks, creating a thick smoke that obscured the cruisers as they turned around and retreated at top speed. Before the Freeport could be completely concealed, her superstructure was hit by a six-inch shell and she caught fire, but the damage was superficial for the most part.

As for the submarines, they now began to turn their attention to the stricken Shanderan battleship. Two submarines were in position to launch attacks... the SN-03 and the SN-06, but the SN-06 was within torpedo range and had the Excelsior's broadside facing her, while the SN-03 had a good view of the battleship's stern.

"Prepare to fire tubes one and two!" Captain Jackson ordered as he lined up the battleship for a quick strike. "Fire!" The two fish left their tubes and ran hot, straight and normal towards their target. "Down periscope, take us down to five-zero meters. Make your course two-seven-zero and make your speed nine knots."

"Aye captain, changing course and speed."

"The gun deck and main deck are both engulfed in flames! We've lost more than a hundred men and a quarter of the secondary guns!" reported the chief petty officer in charge of the damage control teams.

"Turn the rudder hard to starboard and let the Bitch Queen help!" ordered the captain. The battleship listed heavily to port as she turned and the heavy seas washed over the deck, drowning the flames and washing several crewmen out to sea to meet the same fate. At the same time, the Islander torpedoes impacted the ship, the heavy list and high waves leading to them ending up well above the hull's waterline where they were supposed to hit. Unfortunately, the Islander torpedoes were less than reliable, and both failed to detonate. One followed the waves into the massive hole in the gun deck and lodged itself between the deck and a twisted piece of the wall. The other flew out of the waves and skittered through the open door and into the bridge where it skidded to a stop, its propeller still spinning with a wet heater powered fury.

"Holy shit, did you see that!?" cried the helmsman from inside the armored conning tower as he watched the torpedo through the small, thick windows.

--

"Torpedo in the water!" yelled the lookout on the armored cruiser Lupus. The cruiser turned hard to port in an attempt to avoid the fish that was speeding towards it. Unfortunately, the attempt was in vain, and the torpedo impacted the stern solidly, exploding and damaging the rudder and both of the screws. "Where the fuck did it come from? There aren't any torpedo boats anywhere around here!" questioned the ship's captain.

The cruiser's guns fired at a nearby Islander cruiser again as the second torpedo was spotted. "Another fish incoming!" was the only warning before the bow was hit as well. Even if the engineers could get the screws turning again, the crippled armored cruiser would be sailing at a crawl with such heavy damage to the bow.

SN-02 had fired her bow torpedoes for a successful attack against the Lupus and was now swinging around to fire from her stern tubes.

"Score two hits on the Lupus!" Captain Ptolemy called out to the fanfare of his crew. His first mate looked through the periscope next.

"Its not the Lupus," Commander House asked. Captain Ptolemy looked through the periscope again.

"It is the Lupus you senile idiot. Bring us around for an aft shot with both torpedoes and lets sink that cruiser."

"Its still not the Lupus," House said as he turned his attention back to keeping tabs on the firing solution. As soon as the submarine had made a proper 180 turn, the SN-02 fired her two stern tubes and darted away at flank speed.


Meanwhile, the Islander cruisers were racing away at flank speed, attempting to outrun the Shanderan cruisers that were maintaining pursuit. Six-inch shells landed all around the cruisers, several peppering the superstructure while others landing harmlessly in the ocean.

"Admiral, we won't be able to take this kind of firepower for very long!" A Lieutenant noted as a shell struck the rearmost smokestack of the Baltic, the smokestack falling into the ocean and smoke bellowing out of the remains.

"Lieutenant, our cruisers can't repel firepower of that magnitude!" Gorman noted. "Continue zig-zagging and if they get too close, repel them with torpedo fire. Get the destroyers on the line and order them to draw fire away from us!"

"Aye sir!"

The six inch shells, however, were the least of the Islanders' worry. The flames aboard the Excelsior were extinguished and the battleships were still targeting the Islander cruisers. Lupus had taken another two hits from the submarine's torpedoes, but both were duds. She wasn't going anywhere any time soon, but her guns still worked just fine and flooding wasn't critical yet. The Shanderan armored cruisers continued to fire their eight inch main batteries as well as the six inch secondary guns, while the destroyers moved in for a torpedo attack.

The cruisers were firing with their rear guns while attempting to dodge the fire from the Shanderan cruisers and destroyers. The cruisers and destroyers prepared their own torpedoes for the Shanderan destroyers. One cruiser broke off with three destroyers while the other cruiser broke off with the last three destroyers, the Freeport heading off to port while the Baltic headed starboard. The plan was to either split the Shanderan forces up or to cause the unified Shanderan force to follow one group, either while the non-followed group got away or circled around for an attack run.

In the meantime, the damage to both cruisers began to take its toll as smoke billowed from their damaged superstructures and from holes in the armor belt. Further damage would probably cripple the cruisers, at which point the destroyers would be forced to make a run for it, rather than face overwhelming odds against the cruisers.

In the next few minutes, several shells and another torpedo found Lupus, and the armored cruiser rolled over and sank, taking most of her 726 men with her. Half of the Bryn Shanderan destroyer force met the same fate, as well as one of the protected cruisers that was flagshipping the second squadron. The whole time, Shanderan ordinance was also finding Islander ships, hopefully evening up the score.

The Baltic had turned to port and was now paying dearly. Her engines were destroyed, she listed heavily and was threatening to sink after all of the firepower poured into her, as were two of the destroyers escorting her (while the third destroyer was now fleeing west). The Freeport continued to dart southeast, eventually turning west towards port, her three destroyers following in varying states of damage. It was a sad day indeed for the Imperial Fleet.

"The enemy cruiser is dead in the water, but she's still firing. The enemy destroyers and the remaining cruiser are fleeing to the southwest. It looks like they're running home with their tails between their legs, Admiral." reported the seaman assigned to run information between the lookout and the bridge.

"That's excellent news. Have the radio room order the Vulpes to finish off the cruiser and issue an order to all ships in the area to pick up survivors. replied the Admiral.

The armored cruiser moved in and unleashed a number of torpedoes into the ill fated Islander cruiser. Several were duds, but two were successful and encouraged the Baltic to roll over and sink with a pair of explosions and large splashes.

The Shanderan vessels all swarmed over the patches of burning oil that pockmarked the sea where ships has sunk. The fastest ships rushed to the sites of the Shanderan losses, the Lupus in particular, but few survivors were found. There had simply not been enough warning from the mysteriously appearing torpedoes to enable the crews to evacuate in significant numbers. At the sites of the Islander sinkings, there were far more survivors, and the crews were taken abord the Shanderan vessels. They were now PoWs, but they were still alive.

The slow sinking of the Baltic allowed her non-essential crew to abandon ship while the gunners fought valiantly against time and superior firepower. After the ship began to sink, the gunners finally fled their posts, jumping into the water to escape the sinking wreck. All in all, 350 crew were safe in the water by the time the ship sank beneath the waves (safe being figurative, seeing as the seas were alight with burning kelp-fuel).

The stricken destroyers had not faired as well as the Baltic, sinking within minutes after taking their punishing blows. A dozen crew here, two officers and a bottle of vodka there, it was hit or miss compared to how many men had actually been aboard those ships.

In the meantime, the Freeport was now beginning to disappear from sight. While the men were disheartened at that sight, at least they knew the Freeport would come back to avenge her fallen brethren. All they could do now was drink vodka and hope the Shanderan crews would spare their lives.

As for the submarines, they now headed back to base in preparation for the next phase of hostilities. What that phase was no one but the Admiralty knew. However, the basic premise of undersea attacking looked extremely feasible (as well as well worth the money spent on the project). It would certainly be evaluated as a potential way to win the conflict without the kind of losses sustained by the capital ships in this prelude to the inevitable war.

The Shanderan crews did indeed spare the lives of their Islander foes, but the conditions that the Islanders were to endure during the journey back to Bryn Shander would be less than pleasant. In the Shanderan fleet, only the battleship Nessus had escaped the engagement unscathed. Each of the cruisers and destroyers had taken several hits, and the battleship Excelsior had recieved heavy damage. Meanwhile, the seas were rough and cold, and water found its way into the holds that the Islanders were interned in quite easily.

When the fleet arrived back in port, Captain Roberts immediately briefed Rear Admiral Godwin. It didn't take long for the Rear Admiral's report to reach the capital. While the Islander crewmen were being processed and placed in prison camps, the Bryn Shanderan parliament was reading the report and voting to go to war. With an almost unanimous vote, a declaration of war was drafted and passed on to the prime minister, who signed it and presented it to the King.

Within a few days of the declaration of war, the majority of the Shanderan fleet was mobilized at Muspelheim. With them were troop ships and landing craft. The plan was to sail southwest and land on the northernmost of the enemy islands and secure them so to allow the fleet to resupply and engage the enemy without sailing all the way across the Sea of Kings.