Bridge, Glory Hunter, At Sea Far West of Esthirant
Captain Nicolo Karlin of the wooden kraken hunter ship, Glory Hunter, eyed the anemometer crystal gauge as it frequently updated its displayed numbers in face of the breeze that cooled the sailors on deck. Thus far, the winds were sufficient for the sails that propelled the ship, which meant he didn't have to activate the expensive wind rings submerged beneath the waves for magical propulsion.
Back at home, he owned the smaller cousins of the wind rings that performed their original purpose of creating wind to cool down the room. For millennia the wind rings had simply done so for the wealthy until some fellow accidentally dropped one into the water when it was active and discovered that the device also created water currents. By magically pulling the water, the wind rings also propelled the ship that they were solidly attached to. Thus far the most annoying thing about them was that the heavy rings had to be hoisted above the water to replace the wind gems at their centre whenever they got used up.
"Captain, we've spotted a kraken trailing the bait!"
Nicolo turned his attention away from the gauges to look through the window behind him. Kraken were notoriously aggressive creatures that loved to attack any decently large object that travelled on the surface of the water, so hunters had taken advantage of this tendency. The bait had the shape of two small ship hulls attached deckwise like a giant mollusc, and it bobbed up and down with the waves as it towed behind Glory.
He turned towards the helmsman. "Keep her steady."
"Aye aye, Captain."
Nicolo ran out the door and then up the right side stairs up to the upper deck on top of the bridge. The gunners were adjusting the lightning gun and ensured it was pointed at the water just ahead of the bait.
"First Mate, how close is it?"
There was a moment as the first mate read the flashing signal lamp from the spotter's nest above.
"About 1 km, Captain."
"Furl the sails to two-thirds!"
"Aye aye," chanted the riggers.
The ship slowed down, and the captain gave the order to ready the sails to be fully furled. Soon enough, there was a slash of water as the kraken came up to attempt to swallow the bait whole.
"Strike her down!"
There was about a full second as the lightning gun first activated a light gem to direct a high power beam at the partially visible main body of the beast. Then the lightning gem launched a large bolt of lightning that travelled along the beam and near-instantly shocked the kraken with a loud deep crack a split-second later. The kraken's limbs spasmed for a moment before lying nearly motionless around the bait, and a second lightning strike ensured the kill and the sails were fully furled before harpoons were launched from charge guns into its flesh.
The captain sighed in satisfaction as he felt the cool air around the barrel of the lightning gun, a sign of the immense expenditure of mana. The thick ropes of the harpoons were reeled in slightly to confirm the harpoons were secure. Now the Glory could tow the kraken back to port with yet another catch.
"Spotter's signalling something Captain," said the first mate.
The captain turned around in surprise. He barely read out the first few letters of Pao code before a curious whistling sound filled the air. It was soft but incessant at first, then gradually became louder and louder. He abandoned reading the message to his first mate to look for the source and then saw something grey literally buzz overhead with tremendous speed.
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The Big Ones
FanfictionFor years, the United States of America has dominated the skies with SAC's nuclear-armed bombers and fighters since the nuclear annihilation of Germany in WW2 in the event known as The Big One. Now suddenly transported to a New World during the earl...
