Chapter 9: Battle on the Seas

We lost one of our older Chihuahua's today
We assume from a heart attack.
Faith
1997-2008
Rest in peace

Day 10

Battle on the seas

Walter

Katia yanked the wheel to port. I took aim with the grenade. When the enemy ship turned and fired her entire starboard battery, the patch of water directly behind the ship exploded upward. I lifted my rifle and fired the grenade. The high explosive round hit the bowsprit, and blew it apart in a rain of splinters. I could hear screaming as I reloaded again with another high explosive. Another explosion detonated near the stern, as Mike destroyed the rudder.

The ship started falling off the wind as her tail was shot off. I fired again. The round smacked into one of the six pounders, and exploded. The fragments ripped through the crew as they were loading the heavy weapon. I hit the 'eject', and dumped the clip and slapped a new one in. Grabbing my bag with more clips, I climbed up the ladder and stood on the flying bridge and started taking out the crew with three round bursts.

I saw one of the men trying to encourage the men to fight while directing some of the crew to cut away the sail that was smoking. The sail fluttered away into the wind and burst into flames as I fired at the man wearing all the fancy glitter. He flew backwards and hit the main mast as he died. The crew was running for cover. I started firing into them, as they ran.

Mike closed with the stern of the ship and started firing at the crew huddled there.

"Katia, close with the bow, but watch those guns," I shouted down to her as I reloaded my weapon and unleashed the rest of the clip into a mass of men as they rushed to their guns. They went down like lynch pins as the heavy rounds ripped through the armor that they were wearing.

I was reloading when Mike fired his last grenade and one of the six pounders flipped over and landed among a group of gunners loading one of the cannons. The men were crushed under the thirteen hundred pounds of iron and wood. The bow came closer and I swung my rifle up and unloaded it into the crew making them fall back. Slapping a new clip in, I slung the rifle up over my shoulder as I pulled my pistol. Jumping onto the enemy ship, I landed on the rail and gripped the rope with my off hand. I fired the first rounds into the mass of men charging me and five went down as the big .44 caliber rounds ripped through them. I quickly started firing at the enemy crew. They fell back from me, as I yanked my second pistol out.

Several of the pirates lifted muskets to fire at me and I took them down before they could move. Ducking behind one of the forward cannons, I pulled my rifle off my shoulder and started firing at anyone who poked their head out. I ejected the clip and reloaded when Mike opened up from the stern.

Loading my pistols I stuck them in their holsters as I started advancing on the cluster men firing at Mike. I reached the mizzenmast, and turned around. My round caught the man coming up out of the hatch, and he slid down to the deck below with his head blown off. Screaming started coming up from below.

I shouted, "¡Entregarte o morir!" which was telling them to surrender or die in Spanish ... or I hoped it was, since it had been a long time since I used Spanish.

A white flag poked up from the hold, and a bunch of the sorriest looking men that I had ever seen came up on deck.

"Drop your weapons," I said and swords, daggers, pistols, muskets and baying pins hit the deck in front of them. Mike came over with another group from the stern and I looked at the thirty-four men and six young boys that I assumed were powder monkeys.

"First things, first. I want you men to throw the bodies over the side after you strip them of their weapons and gold. You boys, come over here and sit down," I snarled out.

The men started cleaning up the dead while my ladies watched from the ships. Within ten minutes, the deck was cleared of the major wreckage and the wounded had been seen to. There were very few and I dispatched the worse of them. I was talking to the boys and I learned they were all nine years old and were powder monkeys, their names were Adan, Dario, Ernesto, Apolinar, Josue and Silvio. Three were born in Cartagena and the rest were born in Spain. They thought it was 1765 or around there because they had been sailing the ocean here for the last six months.

Katia came onboard, and went below with Dorian. I offered to help, and they told me to stay where I was. They just wanted to explore this strange ship, before we sent it to Ocenanis' realm. Little did she know! I had other ideas for this ship.

When she came up, I wanted to kill the rest of the prisoners. She led three woman wrapped in blankets from below and over to our ship. I could tell they had been used hard and long.

One of the scum tried to protest, and I blew him away. I yelled at several men and told them to throw the body over the side. When they didn't move fast enough I just pointed my rifle at them and stared. They flinched at my stare and I knew they thought they were dead. Finally with the wreckage removed, and the two cannons lashed down I herded them back to middle of the ship.

"Ok, I want you to lower your longboat, get some food and get in it. If I see your skuzzy looking carcasses again, I will feed them to the sharks. Do I make myself clear?" I snarled.

The men nodded their heads and jumped to do my orders. The boys started to leave and I held them back as the men swarmed down the ropes and soon the small craft was full. Picking up one of the knives, I threw it into the boat.

I snapped out, "head west. If I see you again, I will kill you."

They threatened us and told us what they would do to us once they reached the fleet.

"I will follow them Walter. Until they are out of range of the radar of these two boats, and then I will turn back," Mike said.

One of the pirates was walking by me with a cask of water in his arms when I answered Mike.

"Take mine, she has all three engines. We will start for home; we still have three days of travel up the coast. Catch up as fast as you can," I said loud enough so the pirate heard me. The pirate looked at me and I knew he understood English and as he turned away, I ginned as I nodded my head at the man.

Mike looked at the man I was nodding at and he nodded his head back at me, and ran for my boat.

Mike had all my ladies and the children offload onto the sloop that I had now found out was named the Revenge and we watched Mike and Nakita follow the longboat. Leaving the girls up above with a shotgun, I went below and searched the ship. No one was hiding below and then I was back on the deck with a long rope in my hands. Taking the rope I had Katia tie it off to the stern of the thirty-four foot fishing boat and to the bow of the sloop. I said a silent prayer for the ship not to break up under the stress. Leaving the girls to watch over the ship, I lowered myself down to the fishing boat and slowly put her in gear.

Firing up the engines, I slowly started towing the ship into the bay. Three hours later, Mike rejoined us and shepherded us into the bay. The cruiser was sitting right where we left her. We tied the Revenge up and then we unloaded everyone's belongings right on the dock. We then took the two fishing boats over to the hidden dock.

Hoisting the ships up out of the water, we made plans to clean them later after we rested for a few days. When we got to the doors, we opened them and let the ladies in. Galina was upset that she had lost one of the cages for the Macaws and I promised to make her one soon.

Mike and I split the six boys between us, and we let the three women have one of the motor homes as their home. We showed them how everything worked and got them settled. Mayra came over to us while Katia and Nakita were showing the other two girls how everything worked.

"I heard them call you Walter and Mike. I assume you're English?" Mayra asked.

"No, America. We come from what would be your future," I said.

"Oh. Well I just wanted to say thank you. I don't think I could have handed being raped again. But I do have a question for you. What are you going to do with us?" she asked.

"What is your name?" I said as I helped her sit down.

"Forgive me. My companions are Lilna and Crettle, and as you can tell they are natives here and my name is Mayra Christina Louise Belinda Sandoval-Alvarado. My father was the Captain of the San Cristobel. We were attacked by fourteen pirate ships, while we were heading for Cartagena. I was to join my mother and my future husband, there. My father tried to fight them, but he was betrayed by the crew. They turned our ship over to Sebastian Black, a notorious pirate who plied his trade on the Caribbean Seas. He is so foul that he has a death sentence on his head from the English, French, Dutch and the Spanish governments," Mayra said.

"Was he the captain of the ship we captured?" I asked.

"Surely you jest, Captain Black on a sloop when he has the French frégates-vaisseau at his command?" Mayra replied.

"A what?" I asked.

"Oh ... A 'frigate', is what the English called them. She is the former French ship Commandant, captured last year by Captain Black. She is of the Comète Class, a thirty-gun design by Joseph-Louis Ollivier. Her armaments at the time she was captured were twenty-six eight pounders and four, four pound guns. She now has twenty-six twelve pounders and four eight pound guns," Mayra replied.

"How do you know this?" I asked.

"Why, Captain Black is a braggart! He says that no warship can catch him or destroy his ship because of her armament. He has the Commandant, the San Cristobel, nine sloops, five brigantines, and nine captured merchant ships at his command. He also has over eighteen hundred pirates. They have established a base somewhere, I don't know where it is, but he has heavily fortified it with guns taken from the merchant ships, and several batteries of twenty-four pounders and thirty-two pounders that were ship's cargo," Mayra said.

"Fuck," I replied and I noticed Mayra inhale at my curse.

"Sorry about that," I said.

"You just surprised me, is all. I should be used to vulgarity because of that swine," she replied.

I laughed and smiled at her, she was a spunky girl who has gone through hell.

"Well, ladies, we will..." I stopped as Katia came up and handed me a bottle.

"Oh, yes. Here. You all should take one of these pills," I said.

I shook some from the container that we had left on the table. I could kick myself for not taking them with us to the island so I could inoculate them. We would just have to go back and do so.

"What are these?" Mayra asked.

"These will prevent you from getting the spotted fever," I said as I handed the pill to her.

"Thank you," she said as she took the pill and Katia handed her a glass of water.

"You're welcome. Now get some rest," I said and stepped out of the RV.

Mike led his new family home after we gave each of them a pill.

I grabbed several wireless cameras and a solar pad and put them in a bag. Going out to the dock with one of the four man zodiacs, I placed them inside the boat. I went back and grabbed one of the small engines. Katia came out and asked what I was doing and I told her, so she went back in and came out with my rifle and ammo backpack, and placed them in the boat. I kissed her and started the engine.

I sped across the bay to the point, and tied up on a rock outcropping. Carrying the solar pad, and the cameras, I climbed up until I could see the bay. Setting the cameras up, I wired them to the solar pad, which I placed where it couldn't be seen from the water. Spacing the cameras where I had a good view of the bay and the entrance to ours harbor, I turned the transmitter on, and directed back to the cave. The antennae brought in the feed from the beach cams.

"Let's see them sneak in, now," I said as I snickered. Picking up my binoculars, I scanned around the entrance. In the distance, I saw the two sloops making their way towards us, as the night started to fall. I watched them anchor off the bay entrance for the night.

"Fuck!" I said as I watched the two ships.

I went back to the Zodiac, and started the engine. Backing up from the rocks, I turned for home and ran inside. Mike was in my place, and the women were making dinner for us. I went to the computer and brought up the camera feed. With the camera on the pirates, we watched as they settled down for the night.

"Were fucked, Walter," Mike said.

"Nope, not even a little bit," I replied as Katia walked over to us.