The Adventures of the HMS Harlot

Part 3: Otto River, Boatswain

I was running through the tight corridors of the ship, sending any loose men to the aft to start prepping for battle, praying that it wouldn't turn into some hand to hand combat. I burst into the weapons locker, unsurprised to see Sydney and Barty already loading up. "How much ammunition do we have?"

"A bunch of crates. Enough for a good fight." Barty spit out the cud in his mouth and motioned to the line of open crates set into the metal shelves. The off kilter boxes that were half dangling over the edges put my trained mind on edge, but Barty has his own ways, I just keep telling myself that. Though the place could use a good dusting. It's absolutely reprehensible the condition he leaves that locker in. If I just had some time, polish, and a few rags I could fix it right.

"How much for the cannons? We aren't going to want an up close fight."

"A fair bit. Can't promise a good fight on that, but it should still be pretty fun."

"How long are we talking about?"

"A half hour of returning, I'd bet."

"Don't worry, I can buy us some time when that runs out too." Sydney remarked as he gave his cannon arm and dab of oil.

I'd like to set the record straight: I have nothing against cyborgs, but I wouldn't trust one with my life. The concept of human augmentation is vile in its most crude foundations. Are you a human with godlike powers or a machine with a moral compass or just another puppet waiting for Hettie to hack into and take over? I've heard the rumors of her experiments on Eden. It's only a matter of time before the cyborgs turn on us. I'm glad Sydney knows about my thoughts. It'll make taking him out weigh less on my conscience.

"I'll keep your arm in mind." I answered the cyborg curtly. I grabbed a few pistols off the table much to the protests of Barty, who was departing for the Engine Room, and began redoubling my rounds on the lower decks, as I started to hear some panicked shouting from the top deck. Gobbs and Thimble were already in the engine room with Witherford and Eldon. Hopefully, they would be able to coax some speed out of the Harlot; against the fastest ship in the Armada fleet, it was a poor prayer in the wind.

Part of me wanted to see what was going on above but I knew it was for the best for me to stay below and unseen. My men were at places, ready to go when the moment came to fight and the few infantry I had available were heading up towards the deck as Victoria whipped past deeper into the ship off towards the Engine room.

I heard the alarm bell ring out only a few moments later as the Harlot began to rock in earnest. Roy had started his maneuvers early it seemed; good because it would shake the Gabriel sooner or bad because it meant the Gabriel was close enough to be an imminent threat. I steadied myself and made for the aft cannons with my whip at the ready. We rocked slightly as the first volley from the Gabriel struck us. Squarely above the aft cannons, but we suffered no damage. It's a real testament to the craftsmanship of the Monarchy to say the least. They built ships to last.

The men fired off a volley but it fell short, barely getting within grazing distance of the hull. I was egging on the men to load the ammunition when the ship took a sharp dive with a slight curve. I grabbed onto the pole nearest me and used my whip to pull myself upright. Roy no doubt was putting his own Monarchy craftsmanship to good use, because I could feel the ship shake from a close call with a destabilizer.

Realizing the fight had moved elsewhere, I ran towards the port side to see how the men were holding up only to discover the ship spinning so fast that the fight had moved somewhere else entirely. I moved up towards the bow and nearly tripped over Eldon going down the small set of steps.

"Where's the fire?" He asked as he held out a hand to steady me. He was covered in soot and he had a rather bad cough about him.

"If we catch the wind right, we could have a clear shot at them from here. Are the cannons loaded?"

"Just about."

"Good. Keep them that way." He sort of hiccoughed and rocked on his feet.

"You might want to grab onto something." He reached an arm out and hooked himself to a loop of chain hanging from the ceiling as the ship took a rather sharp lunge forward and rocked up to the right. I went sliding right into a crate of ammo against the wall, spraying the men in bullets. I picked myself up in no time. I could see Eldon fiddling with the slingshot in his pocket as he took some steps towards the cannons.

"You're job is down here, Eldon. Not throwing rocks at pointless targets. ¿entendido?" I turned and walked off towards the port side and stuck my head out of a window. The Gabriel had deployed its rear thrusters and was gaining on us. It had a clear line on us, but only their front facing gattlers were in any position to fire. But they weren't.....there's only one reason they wouldn't be trying to bring us down then.

There were a few sharp jolts to the each side of the ship and Roy pulled us straight up into one of the thick clouds in the area, and I felt us slow to a crawl. We sat there for a few minutes, spinning in the fog, disoriented and I imagine Roy was hoping to disorient the Gabriel as well. I could feel my heart pounding in my chest. I knew what the Gabriel might be trying to do. I know what their back up might be...but Zephyrus never mentioned George being nearby. Fue el estrés, eso era todo. Sólo estaba siendo paranoico. Que nunca iban a encontrarme.

Roy moved us out of the clouds quick enough only to see that the Gabriel was still upon us. I felt the ship rocked once more by cannon fire, and Odessa ran below deck to muster the troops. The cannons were vacated. I had to restrain Eldon mightily to keep him from charging up towards the deck, covered by the surging mass of men.

As soon as it started though, it had ended. They had retreated, of course. If they had really intended to destroy us or take us in, they would never have let up until we were drift wood on the winds. They had more than enough Seraphim to do a good sweep, if the Gabriel didn't want to waste more ammunition.

My worst fears were thus confirmed. I'm glad Witherford showed up next to me and I'm even gladder for the rum he offered.

"Do we fight or do we run?" He asked as I took a swig and turned to see the cheering men behind me. What fools. If only they knew the hell they were in for.

"I think we'll drink first."

OTTO RIVER