“No retreat! Victory is upon us! The Junta’s Fleet is broken! I shall personally shoot any officer who dares to suggest anything but a final forward advance. If your ship still has ammo and power left, fire everything you can! If your ship has none, prepare for a ramming maneuver! We shall run them down with our sabers as they run, with everything we have left!”

- Admiral Wilhelm Filken, Second Battle of New Krakow, 293rd Cycle, the 2nd Revolutionary War.

+++ Jonathan Jones +++

Jahellios System

New Krakow

FS Zoeker

“...!”

“Jonathan! My men are reporting that the enemy is already firing small arms at us. They’re dangerously close! We’re responding with our small arms!” Harold shouted as I took a quick look outside of the bridge. Two of their patrol boats were now circling us at a hundred meters, punching holes with their tiny main guns, firing their AA weaponry at us, or raining down rifle fire from the decks of their ships.

I could also see tracers coming from the decks of our ship, most likely from Harold’s twelve-strong contingent who manned the machine gun mounts or protected vulnerable spots of our ship from any boarding action. That was the most we could do in response to their small-arms fire. Worst of all, I could see that one of the enemy ship’s AA turrets finally turned its barrel straight at us.

“Everyone! Get down!”

The rain of bullets scattered through the bridge as we ducked down. Unlike space-faring warships, surface naval forces today always operated ships that had little to no armor. So much so that even machine-gun fire from infantry could penetrate everything with little or no problem. They were strafing us like hell.

“Screw this!” Harold said, standing up through the maelstrom, and picking up his SMG. “I’m going! They’re about to ram and board us!”

So that’s why they’re trying to suppress the bridge. I tried to stand up and take a peek, as bullets continued to fly around us. Indeed, they were all turning straight to us. One of their patrol boats, dead ahead in front of our bow, tried to turn as well, but it seemed that Foxtrot had already taken control of weapons.

I watched as the 76 mm autocannon pounded at it, nearly two dozen shells from the Zoeker’s main gun rained at it for a few seconds before it slowed down on the water. “Louise! Hard to starboard! We’re gonna collide on that ship!”

“I…I can’t!” She shouted as she kept a tight hold of the wheel even while she ducked to protect herself. I could see her steering it hard to starboard, but our ship wasn’t budging. “It’s not—”

“It’s over,” Juliett said. “I can’t reroute the drones to repair the steering controls, they’re disabled. In fact, we’re cut off from the engines. We’ve lost control of the ship.”

Louise began pulling down on the throttle, but I could see that we were moving at the same speed dead straight at the knocked-down patrol boat. “This is bad.”

“I…” Juliett fell silent, as she gave up on controlling the maintenance drones. “Everyone, you two, get your weapons now and brace for impact. We have no other choice. We’ll be dead in the water and they’ll ram and board us.”

“All of you go! I’ll follow later!” I rushed back to the weapon’s control and pulled out the interface for the VLS controls. All of it was already in red, with many of their shots probably targeting it earlier. I remembered it was also why I wasn’t able to use it properly. I told Juliett to fix it with the maintenance drones, but none of it was fixed.

In fact, the bow side VLS was colored red on the interface. “Don’t try to use the missiles. If a complication happens, we risk blowing up the ship,” Foxtrot said. The main screen was already filled with bullet holes and badly damaged and exposed electronics. His logo was gone, but we could still hear him through the intercom. “I’ll take control of the main gun and the PDS guns as best as I can, for as long as I can. It’s an honor to serve with all of you.”

“Foxtrot? Why?” He really did sound oddly human there.

“Better sink while fighting for the Duchess in the High Seas than be decommissioned and sold for scrap,” He laughed. “Go, now. The bridge isn’t safe.”

“Target their corvette,” I ordered. “If you can’t sink it, I want it to be a burning slag before it rams us.”

“Acknowledged.”

I ducked as another burst of bullets nearly clipped me. Standing up, I rushed to grab my SMG, pistol, and every other weapon and equipment that I could use, before following them through the narrow passageways of the ship. Just then, I heard the loud alarms, as Foxtrot warned us that we were about to collide. I immediately found something to hold onto and held onto it hard as we collided.

Unfortunately, it didn’t hold well, and I felt my back slam into the edge of one of the opened doors. It was so damned painful, that I found myself paralyzed on the floor for many seconds. Fuck, is my spine broken? I checked my head for any injuries, only to find none. That’s lucky.

I used my SMG to aid myself at standing up, before I made my way out of the superstructure, and found bullets raining straight on us on the decks. I staggered forward close to the railings and looked forward into the bow of our ship. The enemy patrol boat that we rammed was split in half, burning violently, as the 76 mm autocannon continued firing from the decks.

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Still, I could see that our ship’s bow was badly dented, nay, there was a literal gaping hole on it, and we were slowing down to a dead halt while being devoured by the violent waves. Fuck…this ship’s dead. I picked myself up, and moved into a covered part of the decks, before firing my SMG at one of their patrol boats that was strafing us, which was also similarly practically half on fire.

Damn you, you bastards! I shouted in my mind, as I felt my gun recoil at my still sore body as I fired at another patrol boat that made an attack pass against us. They were all on the decks, firing at us with their rifles and guns, before that same patrol boat was turned to Swiss cheese right before my eyes, as the 76 mm autocannon finally turned to it and dished out its firepower.

The ship stopped dead in the water, still on fire, as it began listing. Still, they were shooting at us, even when they were already sinking. These people just won’t relent. I thought as I ducked down, reloading my SMG, before returning to firing at them. I looked at my side and noticed that even Louise was out there, firing her pistol at them.

Damn…it seems like we really screwed up a big one this time. I thought to myself. This was stupid. Not that we had much of a choice. Our missiles were too crap, as they were intercepting it quickly. And they probably had more bullets to fire at us than we did, so why had I ordered a damned suicidal charge again?

Yeah, I screwed up big time.

Still…we could probably still hold until the Jukebox arrived. Or we would be underwater by then.

Wait, why are their main guns stopping? I noticed that their autocannons finally relented, as they continued circling us. But this time around, only the sound of the Zoeker’s 76 mm autocannon was the singular heavy weapon that we could hear in the fight. That must be it. They also don’t have as much ammo as us!

It made sense! That was why they also charged straight at us. They…oh god…I still screwed up. All of them were now turning their bow straight at us.

They really were planning to board us. We were done for.

“We’re…actually…really fucked…”

I guess…this was how overconfidence would be punished. All because I saw how the Radiant fought, or how we managed to beat a pirate fleet larger than us in Escuardo…I became complacent this time around. This wasn’t my turn for victory. This wasn’t a space battle. And there won’t be a Radiant to save us here.

Here…we were prey.

I should have realized that sooner.

+++

+++ Andre de la Fleur +++

I had to take the damned opportunity.

Whoever attacked them, I didn’t know what the hell their plan was. I suppose I was just as bad though. If I attacked that corvette with this vessel alone, I’d probably fare just as badly. Still, I applauded them for their efforts. Now, I had an opening. No, not just an opening, a damned pure wide-open crack on their defenses. And I had to go through that breach and exploit it fully.

Just hold on there, whoever you people are. Faintly, I almost felt worried about that battered ship. Who the hell would even go to these ends to pursue these people? Another noble? Perhaps they were also targeting other houses. Those protesters certainly didn’t make any distinction at what estate they would assault and loot last time after all.

Or was it perhaps…no, that shouldn’t be possible. Why would she do that? She already had an opening to leave and escape. To carry out the plan. Why the hell would she grab a ship for herself just to find me? Did she perhaps see my name on the registries? But I nabbed it quickly. I only left it there for just enough time to lure them.

Damn it, don’t tell me I also lured her in?

No, that couldn’t be it. It just…she shouldn’t be here! She shouldn’t be there. Was that why they attacked these people headfirst? Only she…only her would be so hotheaded to do that. No…this was bad. This was extremely bad. If she was really there, that…

That brat! She should have left already! Damn it. Of course…perhaps her pride got through that skull of hers again. She’d probably have thought that she needed to do everything to get me back, or else she was unworthy, or something stupid. And because of it, she might find herself killed tonight.

“O-1!” I shouted, and the logo of this ship’s AI, my assistant who handled the ship for me, appeared on the screens. “I don’t care if we’re only three kilometers away. Break our stealth, and open up our main gun on their biggest ship!”

“Acknowledged, master.” The AI’s feminine voice replied, and I could see her calculate the firing solutions rapidly on the screens before the main gun’s turret turned toward the direction of their biggest ship, which seemed to be limping forward in an attempt to ram the ship that attacked this group of criminals. “Firing at once.”

+++

+++ Jonathan Jones +++

“Come on, get him out of here!” I ordered one of Harold’s men, as we dragged an injured man off the decks. A burst of shots forced me down, however, and I turned around and began firing my SMG in the direction of a nearby patrol boat that was about to slam headfirst into us.

“Someone’s firing at them!” I heard someone shout. It was Juliett, and she was also using her SMG to fire at them. “Another patrol boat! It’s firing at them.”

“What?” I stood up, and indeed, in the far distance, there was another sleek grey patrol boat that I could faintly see through the thick rain and raging waves—until it opened its searchlights straight to the enemy corvette, all as it fired its main gun. It was rapid, in fact, it seemed that it carried the same main gun as the Zoeker, and the enemy corvette was now slowing down as it attempted to turn to us.

Come on, grow a brain, and turn to that ship instead! Their gun was forward-facing too, which meant it could only fire on us (not that it was firing, it seemed dead, must have run out of ammunition), instead of firing back on that new contact. “Is it perhaps the authorities?”

“No…I’m already on it…” Juliett’s eyes were glowing. “It’s…him. It’s Louise’s brother…”

The ship continued firing, as it sped up toward the mass of burning ships that were us and these criminals. So that was how it would be then…instead of us rescuing him…it would be him rescuing us.

The sheer irony.

“André…it’s him…and it seems that he’s also on the hunt.”

“For what?”

“Something that the leader of this criminal group possesses…and I reckon that if that’s the case…”

“Then we’ll have to get it.” Juliett nodded.

Damn it then. I guess it’s true CQC soon then.