First Light of a New Age

Chapter 7: Disturbance In The Seas

Austronesian Empire, Imperial Majapahit, Nusantara, Near A Dry Dock In Nusantara.

2000, 1, 1st Week, January

Alarms were blaring throughout the ship as the sailors were engaged in general quarters. Sailors were frantically running towards left and right, hoping to arrive sooner to their intended location and assigned posts. Throughout the ship were filled with hue of red from the alarms, not only that noise that the alarms were making were almost deafening. 

"Hard to starboard!" The Captain yelled out at the rest of the crew.

In his command, the ship pivoted sharply to the right in a forceful tone as the waves crashed over the hull of the ship. Deep below the ocean lurks a shadow that could well be the cause of the end of the ship. However, the shadow seemed to bid it's time for the perfect opportunity.

"Captain! They’re all around us!" called the sonar operator.

"Should we proceed to attack the thing below us, Captain?" the armaments officer asked.

The captain shook his head firmly, "No! We don’t fully grasp the situation yet. We should wait for further orders from the high command. Besides, we are already near the dry dock of Nusantara of the Imperial Majapahit! We should seek refugees there for the meantime. In these kinds of storms, an enemy attack is highly unlikely! Not only that, the storm could disrupt our radars and sonar systems, so we should take it with a grain of salt!"

"Aye, aye, Captain," the sailor acknowledged with a nod.

The ship swiftly maneuvered throughout the Makassar strait while simultaneously avoiding a fatal crash with the waves. As it neared the dry dock of Nusantara, the ship reduced its speed to ensure a safe approach.

As the ship slowed down, the shadow lurking beneath the sea found the perfect opportunity and approached closer. The shadow got near and near to the ship, and soon the ship's alarms blared once again.

"Captain! Something is surfacing beneath us, and it is moving too fast for our comfort!" a crew member shouted in a panicked voice.

The captain quickly thought of a countermeasure as many thoughts raced through his mind for any possible responses, but he quickly snapped back to the immediate situation and issued an urgent command.

"Hard left, Rudder!" 

The ship veered left with force under the captain's command, just as the shadow surfaced abruptly and lunged upward before crashing back down into the waves. The impact sent waves crashing against the ship's hull as it narrowly avoided being overturned into the depths of the seas.

"What is that!? Did anybody see what the hell was that!?!" The Captain asked his crew, stunned by the sudden sight

The man next to him shook his head, "Negative sir."

"That is a danger to our seas. Prepare the depth charges! Whatever it is, it is not normal, and we should get rid of it!"

"Aye, aye, captain!" the sailors responded in unison.

After a few moments of maneuvering and the occasional surfacing of the creature that was lurking below the ocean. The depth charges were finally deployed and were fired below. When the depth charges exploded, a deafening roar resounded throughout the seas.

"What the hell..." The captain muttered, shaken by the deafening sound.

The sailors and the captain were at a loss for words as to what they had just heard after the thunderous explosion. Was it not an enemy submarine or a new kind of warship? Was it an animal they killed? Why would an ocean creature attack a ship, let alone a warship, or a ship in definition? Such an event had never been recorded in history.

Their expectation would fall short as the carcass of the creature surfaces under the night sky of a catastrophic level of storm. It baffled them as to what they were seeing, even though the storm was partially blocking their view, one thing is for sure, and is that the creature is humongous.

"What could that be, Captain?" a crew member asked, astonished.

The captain shook his head, "I honestly don't know. This is the first time I see that kind of creature in the ocean. We must report this to high command, but first, we need to salvage this ship as it is scratched all over it and some of the rooms are flooded. We've also sustained some casualties."

The creature in question was a humongous creature with an unusual mustache-like feature on its face and a large row of menacing teeth. It resembled a scaled snake with a few small limbs. The bizarre sight left the crew in shock and confusion.

Unfortunately, as the ship made its way toward the dry dock, they would soon encounter another problem.

"Captain! Multiple bogies inbound!" a crew member alerted.

"Prepare the air defense systems! We're going to shoot them down! It seemed like nothing normal was happening all around us!"

"Aye, aye captain!"

The crew quickly put the air defense systems on high alert as the bogies approached. Soon after, the bogies were insightful and what they saw baffled them again. The air defense systems were activated and were fired on the incoming bogies.

The bogie in question were revealed to be bizarre creatures. According to the witnesses, they had large wings with both limbs resembling both arms and legs, flying through the sky. They certainly look menacing, however they did nothing to the air defense systems s it was simultaneously fired towards the flying creatures.

Blinding, thunderous explosions lit up the sky as the creatures dispersed. Unfortunately, the air defense systems were underwhelming as the flying creatures had strength in numbers.

"Shit! Activate the anti-aircraft guns and have the sailors man the machine guns to fire on those weird things!" the Captain ordered.

"Aye, aye, Captain!" the sailor responded, nodding and hurrying to carry out the command.

As the flying creatures drew closer to the warship, flashes of light filled the air as the sound of gunfire echoed across the ocean. However, despite the ship's defense efforts, some creatures managed to breach the line and attacked the sailors.

"Ahhh! Help me!"

Cries of terror erupted from the deck as sailors fought against the creatures. Several were being dragged and lifted into the air, though some were saved by their crewmates who managed to kill the creatures.

The warship sustained significant damage, but the worst loss was the heavy casualties. One sailor, pulled into the sky by the creatures, met a gruesome fate as two of them fought over him, ultimately tearing him apart.

A few moments had passed to which the warship had sustained some damages, however, they sustained heavy casualties such as one being pulled into the sky by the creatures just like the first one, however, unlike the first one, he was met with a gruesome fate. The crews could only helplessly watch as the two creatures fought over him for themselves, until things gets worse for the sailor when the two creatures in each side grasp his shoulders and legs, pulling him with much force until he is tear into two.

The horror of this scene played out before the captain and the crew, leaving them in shock.

But amidst the terror, there was a small victory that the flying creatures had finally been killed.

"What in the world is happening?" the captain asked in horror, trying to comprehend the traumatic events that had just transpired. Little did he know, an even greater threat is coming.