The Front-Line reverberated not just from the impact, but the sound.

Even though people were shouting orders, and relaying their damage assessments, none of it was audible. All I could hear was metal being crushed. All I could hear was my people dying.

All I could hear was the giant creature's roar.

The outside world was far away. The great windows showed it all, but peering out of them wasn't enough to fully grasp the distance. Especially when half of the windows were covered by giant snake creatures.

“Commander! The engine is hot and ready,” the quartermaster shouted from nearby.

“Get us closer to the beast!” I ordered.

Although I noticed several of the bridge express their opinions on their faces, not a one voiced them. All they did was go into motion. The Front-Line began to move before the quartermaster even finished relaying my order throughout the bridge.

Thanks to the size of the Front-Line, the first and only real proof that the train had changed course was the sight of the creature drawing closer. It only took moments for the windows to go completely dark. The starboard side of the window even scraped up against the creature's body, causing a small web of cracks to appear.

“Cannons ready sir!” Sarley shouted; her hand on the glowing crystal.

“Fire salvo!”

The world became both loud and bright as each of the seventy-two cannons erupted. Not only did the Front-Line rock a bit, but thanks to the close proximity of the creature, the impacts of the blasts were near enough to nearly blind us.

Waves of fire slipped along the windows and most probably the whole of the Front-Line. There were cannons all along the Front-Line and their projectiles were far from small. With this proximity, the explosions of magic might have caused some damage to my machine... but it was nothing compared to the damage we just inflicted onto the beast.

“Fire when ready!” I commanded, and headed for the railing nearby. I was going to need something to hold onto.

Counting the seconds, I was pleased when it only took thirteen for the next volley. The crew never failed me, even during moments like these.

With the second wave of explosions, the creature released a shriek. Many people covered their ears as a high pitched sound sent even me to my knee.

Following the shriek, came a great impact. The Front-Line jolted, and if not for the railing I'd have fallen over.

Although the shaking quickly stopped, I felt sick... and not from the motions. The Front-Line was one of the largest Lines in the world, for it to have moved it so greatly like that was daunting. This creature was massive, and if we didn't kill it or get away then we were all going to die.

Someone ran passed the railing, doing so at such a speed that his hat went flying off his head. I followed the quartermaster with my eyes and watched him approach someone who had collapsed. One of the midshipmen had fallen from her chair.

“It's angry!” my quartermaster laughed as he helped the woman back into her seat. Making sure everyone else was fine, I glanced to Sarley. Luckily she still had her hand on the firing crystal.

“Keep firing!”

A third volley caused the creature to release another shriek, and this time more than magic residue and fire danced along the window. Like being hit by an ocean wave, a third of the window went black with the creature's blood.

The sun no longer peered in from the window, being blocked by both blood and the creature. The bridge became tinted in azure blue from the magic steam accumulating within. “We're rounding the creature sir!”

“Keep close!” I commanded, and had to envision our positioning in my head. I was basically blind with the window so useless.

“Firing!” Sarley shouted, and even though I felt the jolt of the cannons and felt as the magic danced through the air, I didn't feel the impact on the creature. Had we missed?

“Assessment!” I ordered.

“Creature is heavily wounded! Carriage Nine reports it has stopped moving!”

For a moment I wondered if we'd killed it. Beasts of that size usually died quickly, once it got to that point... becoming too weak to move their massive bodies. But I also knew just how much it took to kill them occasionally. Their great sizes made it so difficult to inflict fatal damage...

“Reports of movement!”

“Impacts!” more people shouted, and I knew we were being attacked from every direction.

“Smaller beasts are jumping onto the Front-Line sir!” my quartermaster shouted.

The sound of metal creaking drew eyes to the ceiling. A great bang followed, and I knew the creature most likely had smacked the top of the bridge. The ceiling didn't buckle, nor was there any apparent damage from within the bridge... but I knew that any other Line, especially the much smaller ones, would have been completely destroyed from that single blow.

“Reports of creatures on the roof sir!” someone shouted.

“Guards get ready! Alert all crew!” I ordered, and hoped that all of the non-combatants got to the safe rooms throughout the Line.

Last thing I needed was for half my crew, especially the cannon midshipmen, to abandon their posts because their children were in danger.

This novel's true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.

“Have the top cannons take them out!” I ordered even though I knew they were already in motion to do so. Even though they didn't need my direct permission to protect the Front-Line, my orders sometimes made them move that much faster.

“A large one's burrowing into the bridge sir!”

“Arms!” I ordered, and was about to go and grab my own, but a loud crunch drew my attention upward.

A man sized piece of metal tore away, and a creature appeared.

Slithering in from the ceiling, the sound of it tearing through the hull was both terrifying and infuriating. How dare it!

Although long, and many times the size of a grown man, the creature didn't fall from the hole... it instead just continued crawling out of it. Within moments several people's length of the creature entered the bridge, and it released a deep hiss as it looked around... most presumably for its first target.

“Arms!” I shouted, and quickly the red glare of magical residue filled the bridge. Spikes flew to the ceiling. Arm-length rods of metal, glowing red from the combustion of magic which had propelled them, buried themselves into the midsection of the creature. The snake like beast shrieked with a similar cry to the giant, but wasn't able to wrench itself free as half a dozen more rods impaled it.

Although it had taken a few seconds longer than I had wanted for most of the guards to fire; enough had been at the ready to keep the creature from coming too far into the bridge. Even though not dead yet, the many spikes kept it firmly lodged to the ceiling and no longer an immediate threat. It writhed in agony, but only its blood fell to the floor around us.

“Firing!” Sarley shouted, giving way to another volley. The many explosions that followed not only brightened the bridge once more, but kept it that way. Sunlight once again came into the bridge.

The creature had moved away.

“It's retreating, commander!”

“Turn the window,” I ordered, changing my focus from the beast on the ceiling to the one outside.

A great burst of steam whistled, and the world began to shift. The window wasn't moving as quickly as it normally did, and the web of cracks from the impact earlier grew larger with the movement.

While the window moved, a strange sound emitted from the creature. Following the sounds came something falling from the ceiling. People on the bridge kept their panic in check as the guards went into motion. “It's part of the creature, sir!” the guard nearest to whatever had fallen shouted.

Looking up to the ceiling, I along the rest watched as the snake creature which had been pinned was now receding back into the hole it had entered from. Or rather, was being pulled away... it looked as if the creature itself wasn't moving?

Was it then connected to the larger beast...? It wasn't some kind of spawn or something?

“The rest of the smaller creatures are disengaging, commander!” my quartermaster shouted, a bit too happy with the news.

“Cannons ready!” Sarley alerted, and I quickly had to make a decision.

The Front-Line was moving at a fast pace, and the creature retreating only amplified the distance growing between us. It had only started moving away a few moments ago, and already I could make out most of it.

It was far enough now that it was clear we could escape. We could live to see another day.

But it was retreating for a reason. It was running to survive.

We could end the beast here and now, and not only avenge those who've died from this encounter... but save many lives in the future. The lives of other Lines… those who would be less fortunate than our own.

“Orders, sir?” my quartermaster asked.

Glancing to the window's cracks and the large hole in the ceiling... I knew the bridge had most likely received the brunt of the damage. Most creatures, no matter how large, always seemed to target the front of the Lines. Maybe it had something to do with animal instinct. The head and neck were usually the vital targets, the places where even minor injuries could kill.

“Back to course Jamthi,” I ordered.

“Right away!” he shouted, and quickly my order was relayed. With the quartermaster's orders the Front-Line began to turn, and increased to cruising speed.

“After-battle protocols!” I shouted.

With my order people went into motion. Reports of wounded began getting relayed, others told of the killed and missing. Doctors were given locations, and mechanics were given priorities. Assessments made.

“Surprised it did as much damage as it did,” Jamthi said, picking up his fallen hat.

“A fatal mistake,” I said.

“Not so, cousin. We're still alive. The Front-Line still running. Though I will ask, why'd you call us off? We could have slain the beast,” he asked.

“What if there had been more?” I asked back.

“More of those things...?” he flinched at the thought, and seemed to accept my reasoning.

Chances were there hadn't been. Such giant creatures very rarely shared their territories... they couldn't afford to. There wasn't enough food to share.

Hypothetically, it had been alone... and it had been on the verge of death.

But I didn't deal in the hypothetical.

“Emergency attention needed in carriage four commander!”

Waving Jamthi off so he could attend to it, I took one good glance around the bridge to assess. No one on the bridge had been lost, and every chair and position was still filled.

Glancing upward, I grimaced at the hole in the ceiling. I couldn't see any light within it, meaning the creature had not dug straight down... but I did see clearly the dripping blood and even chunks of flesh that the creature had left behind.

“You alright sir?” one of the guards neared me and asked.

“Yes. Are all the smaller beasts gone?”

“Seems so sir, we’re still doing sweeps, however.”

“Let me know when it's verified,” I said.

He saluted, but didn't move from his position.

Heading back to my seat, I sat back down and tried to relax. As always I wanted to help, to query and answer... but I had my place just as the rest did.

Me continuously asking questions would only slow them down. My crew was good, one of the best. They didn't need me getting in their way.

“The engine is fine commander!” someone shouted, and I was pleased to hear it.

For a long moment I only stared at the broken glass on the window. It was slowly returning to its normal position, and the sight of the thousands of cracks was like salt on a wound.

My personal wish was to hunt that thing down and burn it alive. Anything that dared to harm my home, my people, deserved at the very least complete annihilation...

But I was a Commander, not a man.

I didn't have the luxury to act on emotion.

“Cannon's twenty-six and forty-eight damaged, but functional! The rest received non-issue damages!”

“Good,” I whispered, and while everyone began giving reports, I watched us approach our destination in-between the web of cracks.

The place we had risked our lives to get to... the reason I had endangered the people I was responsible for, all six thousand of them.

A sea of sand.