Chapter 19: Battle

Extra Month #2, Day 30,

Day 278, Year 0001 DA

Walter

I ran onto the top floor, as Mike was reloading the cannon. Picking up the binoculars, I watched as the fleet started coming towards the channel. In the lead were a pair of sloops. A large column of water was descending between the two ships as I scanned around the fleet and cursed.

"Mike! The headland! About twenty boats heading in," I said.

Mike started turning the gun, and he lowered the barrel to fire as the two Nordenfelt guns manned by Katia and Nikita opened up. I was watching the headland and the first shell landed long.

"Mike, long by fifty," I said as he lowered the barrel and rammed a new round in. He fired the weapon and the shell hit a boulder, and it blew apart. The fragments from the rock and the shell shredded two longboats that were being beached. The thirty plus men were cut down as Mike reloaded and fired again.

Turning, I looked at the bay and saw the two sloops coming in fast. They were being shredded as I watched. The one on the left Katia was firing at while Nakita was raking the second one. I picked up one of the Frisbees and hurled it towards the closest ship, and it barely made it over the rail and hit a guy who stuck his head up. It went flying off and landed near the main mast. I picked up the detonator as a pirate picked up the Frisbee. The explosion shattered the sloops mast, and the ball bearings ripped through the manned gun stations. Flames started licking up the ropes from the explosion and the crew rushed to abandon ship as the ruined sails went up like a roman candle. The ship ran aground at the edge of the beach and the crew foundered in the water. Only one in twenty men from the seventeen hundreds knew how to swim.

Mike fired the main gun again as I picked up my sniper rifle and started taking out the leaders of the pirates as they formed up in groups to charge us. Hearing an explosion from the beach, I looked down and saw three cutters drifting on the water with bodies scattered around them, and a three- foot hole in the ground. Setting my rifle on the edge of the three-foot wall, I grabbed the handles to the .30 caliber machine gun. I started raking the ground as the pirates waded ashore firing their muskets and pistols.

"Mike, get to your gun! Fire on the second sloop," I yelled.

He looked at me firing the thirty-caliber, and ran over and grabbed the handle of the Ma Deuce. He started raking the deck of the ship as she swung around to show her guns.

I activated the mic, and shouted, "Nakita get down!"

The guns lurched on the ship, and rolled inward as the ten twelve pounders rolled inward. I felt the tower shudder as the double shotted rounds slammed into the wall. I heard Nakita scream, and then Katia took the ship under fire with Mike and me. We shredded the gun crews and the ship fell off with a dead man at the helm and the wheel blown to bits.

Mike let up on the machine gun and ran back to the nine- inch cannon and started reloading the weapon.

Mike

I rammed the shell in, and I started cranking the gun around and lowered the barrel.

Looking over at Walter, I yelled, "Walter, get out of the fucking way!"

I aimed for the big ship coming through the channel. The eighty- gun ship of the line was huge. Her gun ports were opening as Walter ran back to me.

I pulled the lanyard, the gun lurched and the round flew over the deck of the ship and exploded in the water. Opening the breach, the shell casing flew outward, and I was turning to grab a new round when Walter stepped up and slammed in the new round.

Closing the breach, I locked it down, and lowered the angle a little. I yanked the lanyard. The gun lurched and the shell flew through the air, and hit the bowsprit. The small mast and sail blew apart as the contact warhead exploded. Then the world exploded as the forty guns fired. Two by two they lurched back in their carriages as they came around. The tower lurched as cannon ball after cannon ball slammed into the side of the building as we were reloading.

I jerked the lanyard again and the round hit the side of the ship just near one of the cannons. The explosion blossomed out of the ship and when the smoke cleared, it looked like someone had hit the ship with a giant sledge hammer. As we watched, she rolled back down, and water poured into the side of the ship. We reloaded, and fired again. The second round hit the tilting deck about ten feet from the first hit and the ship lifted up out of the water and slammed back down. We heard the sickening snap, and she went down fast, until just the main deck was above the water.

The pirates were charging ashore from the ships boats, and I activated the charges we had placed and the ground shook as the homemade mines exploded among them.

"MIKE!" Nakita screamed in the microphone.

"What!" I shouted.

Walter ran back to the machine gun, and I reloaded the gun and swung it back around to the pirates when the tower shuddered as it was hit again. Looking to the bay, and coming around the ruins of the sunken ship of the line was a heavily armed frigate. Her guns were lurching inward as she turned started turning towards us.

I was slamming another round into the gun, when the rolling thunder came again. Looking around the gun, I saw the frigate fire her entire broadside. The tower literally moved as the double shot slammed into the tower, and she started to sway. Looking at Walter, I saw him looking down the side of the tower, and I shouted, "How bad?"

Walter turned and looked at me as I was grabbing the lanyard, and he shouted, "NO! You fire that and the whole tower will come down."

I ran to the wall, looked down and blanched. The entire wall below us was riddled with holes and cracks ran all the way down. The machine gun emplacement was gone, and I felt fear as I activated my mic.

"Nakita?"

"I'm fine, let's get out of here," she said.

"Ok, we are coming down," I replied as I lifted the fifty off its mount. Setting it down, I draped the last two belts over my shoulder and picked the gun back up. Walter had the thirty and the remaining three belts over his shoulder as well as his Barrett. We ran down the stairs, and Nakita joined us with our two BAR's and her .30-30. We ran for the entrance, and dropped into the pits dug on each side of the door as Nakita ran for the truck and jumped in. She was backing the vehicle up. It was hit by ineffective musket balls, until it was in front of the garage door.

While Nakita was doing that, we set up the two machine guns on their stands and connected the belts. Suddenly, the two Gatling guns opened up from the gate towers and the streams of bullets ripped through two groups of men that were charging us, and bowled them over like ten pins. The frigate fired again, and we watched as the back wall of the tower blew outward. Not all the cannonballs hit her, several smashed into the cliff face above us.

"Cover me," Walter said and took off running for the cruiser.

Walter

I watched as we were taking a pounding from the pirate ships.

Picking up my BAR, I said, "Cover me."

I was out of my gun pit and running for the Japanese cruiser. I ran up the gangway, as pirates opened fire on me. I felt a tugging on my sleeve, and I ducked behind the rail. I ran to the forward six-inch gun and opened the breach. Turning, I saw three pirates coming at me, and I mowed them down with my BAR. The men danced a little jig as the twenty rounds ripped through them.

I ejected the clip, and reloaded before turning to the iron box beside me. I lifted the lid and pulled out one of the rounds for the six inch gun. Slamming it into the breach, I closed the gun up and did a quick look behind me and saw it was safe.

Spinning the barrel around, I sighted on the frigate that was firing on us and pulled the lanyard. The gun jerked back and I opened the breach. The shell casing flew outward, and I reloaded the weapon and made a slight adjustment and fired again. The first round had hit the tip bowsprit, and it blew apart. The second round punched through the side of the ship, and a geyser of water flew up in the air but no explosion.

Reloading once more as the frigate turned to fire at me. We fired at the same time, my shell hit the mizzen mast at about ten feet up and the mast disintegrated at that section as twenty two cannon balls slammed into the side of the ship and bounced off. I was laughing as I reloaded and fired again but missed as the ship slid behind the rock.

Hearing a noise I turned and avoided the sword that slammed into the gun. I was pulled out my knives as I faced Captain Black. He was swirling his sword in his right hand and in his left was a dirk.