The Detective Turned Smuggler

by Lamasioux

Chapter 11

April 1st, 1010

The HOMS Sammakko rushed through the water at max speed after leaving the Hjortland port. They would have to speed by the Olenia navy which was engaged with the Changeling Navy some miles down the south shore. They would be lucky if they weren’t chased by multiple ships.

“We have an opening out towards the east Admiral.” One of the deer said on the bridge.

“Take us that way. We’ll try to avoid the main fleet and make our way down to the Luna Ocean before taking a straight shot to Las Pegasus.” Lauri said.

“Radio message from the Ishamn! They say they can barely see us, but as the Changelings continue to push them, they’ll eventually see us.” Said another deer.

“Keep us on the current route for now. We can’t get too far towards Equestria from here with all the mines and Changeling subs about. Just follow the mine maps we have and pray to the gods none of them have come loose.” Lauri then pointed to one of the deer and asked, “Keep a lookout on the storm that’s south as well. We might try and shimmy our way along the edge of it if it keeps going the direction it’s going in.”

“Doing that might push us too close to Changeling submarines.” The deer said.

“We’ll just go into the storm itself if that happens. We’re a single ship and we’re not in a formation. We can take whatever course through the storm.” Lauri said.

Then there was silence throughout the bridge. No deer said anything else for another minute before the deer in charge of radio communications said, “The HOMS King Johan has been hit with a torpedo.”

---

“Paper and pens? Do you have any?” Velvet asked the crewmember who was with them.

“Paper and pen? I could ask, but the ship was stripped of everything pretty much.”

“If you could.” Velvet said.

The crew member was a bit hesitant to go since he was to stay with them, but he finally agreed and left the room to go check.

Torsti then spoke up and asked, “What do you need to write?”

“Letters to our country and political documents. Mainly to write my thoughts down though, the official writings will happen once we’re in Equestria.” Velvet answered.

“Are you not worried about escaping first before doing that?” Torsti asked.

Velvet looked at Torsti and shook her head, “I just want to take my mind off of everything I guess. I think writing would help with it and trying to multitask. I need to get my thoughts down for when I need to start with everything I’ll need to do.”

“What is there to do? I doubt there’ll be any country left to lead in the coming month.” Torsti said.

“I could, but I can’t just abandon every deer left in the country and all those who died and will die from the war and occupation. Plus… Well, I plan on coming back. We’ll somehow get Olenia back and get control again so… I just want to prepare for everything possible.” Velvet said.

The crew member who had left now returned and said, “Sorry, we don’t have any paper to write on. Everything on the ship is the bare minimum.”

Velvet looked up at the crew member who was quickly rejoining them and said, “That’s fine. Talking will have to do then.”

Velvet then started to chat with Torsti and the crewmember. To them, they were secluded from what was happening outside of the room.

---

“Message from the Ishamn! Three Changeling ships broke away from the engagement and are heading towards us. Two destroyers and a light cruiser.” The deer staffing the radio station said.

“Three! Do they know what speed they’re going at?” Lauri quickly asked.

“They’re having any remaining turrets on the King John and the Kardinaali firing at them to try and slow them down. I’ll ask about speed.” The crew member said. They quickly asked on the radio before getting a response, “They’re speeding at a constant speed of 38knots.”

“38 knots… What’re we currently at?” Lauri asked.

“42 knots sir!” A deer said.

Lauri looked about in the cabin, looking out the windows and looking at each deer on the bridge before asking, “How far are the three ships?”

The radio deer asked on the radio and another deer got on the ship's intercom and asked for some deer.

The radio deer said, “The Ishamn says they’ll intercept us fast, but they don’t know the distance.”

The deer who had gotten on the intercom said, “Our spotters up top say they see them. 20 kilometers. In formation as well.”

“Formation at 38 knots? Fucking hell, they must be their newest ships… How far is the storm currently?” Lauri asked.

“Ten kilometers away.” A deer said.

“Is the ship prepared to go through it?” Lauri asked.

“We can get her prepared right before we hit it. Are we going to go through it?” The deer asked, looking over at the Admiral. A few of the other deer in the bridge also looked at the Admiral awaiting to see what he’d say in response.

Lauri looked out the window towards the storm not far away before answering, “Prepare the ship then. We’ll go straight into it.”

A few of the deer on the bridge turned back to their stations and started to talk through their intercoms to deer somewhere else on the ship.

From there, Lauri and other deer on the bridge continued to coordinate and send out orders to the deer throughout the ship so they could prepare for the storm.

They had to rush though as they were quickly approaching the storm. Crewmembers were rushing onto the deck of the ship, preparing the outside, some staying inside the ships to prepare there.

Everydeer on the bridge was monitoring everything they could, making sure everything ran smoothly. That was until one of the deer yelled out, “Incoming fire from the Changeling ships!”

Everydeer there then looked out of the windows towards the direction of the Changeling ships before they heard the splash impact behind them. The two rounds that had been fired from the enemy had missed and overshot, nearly missing despite being 18 kilometers away.

Without hesitation, Lauri quickly asked, “How many rounds do we have for the 105?”

“100 rounds exactly.” A deer said.

“Have the turret return fire until we reach the edge of the storm. That should hopefully slow them down.” Lauri said.

“Now? They’re still 18 kilometers away.” The same deer said.

“We’ll reach the storm in a few minutes anyways. Anything to deter them away is better than nothing.” Lauri said.

After that, the deer talked on the intercom to some deer and after a few more seconds, the ship quickly turned its internal alert systems on to alert the crew of the current situation. The crew who were manning the 105mm turret were already at the ready. They were currently turning the turret to face the direction that the Changeling ships were in after being given information from the bridge and other various stations.

Once the turret had turned all the way, it was only a few seconds more before the first round was fired away, vibrating the bridge. From there, the turret would fire away every so often in the same direction. None of the rounds would end up hitting any of the three ships.

From there, the Sammakko would do her best to dodge any incoming rounds without losing speed. The whole bridge was abuzz with deer doing everything they could to keep the ship at peak performance.

After some more minutes of work, the first raindrops started to hit the ship. It was only once Lauri saw the rain falling outside did he finally say, “Have the turret fire 7 more times than have it on standby. We’re at the edge.” Lauri then turned his attention to another deer, “What’s the progress with the outside? Is everything ready for the storm?”

“Everything should be finished by now. Anyone on the outside deck should be heading in soon.” The deer said.

“Ok then-”

And just then, the first problem arose. The Sammakko had been hit by a shell on the starboard side 20mm anti-air gun.

The shell exploded upon impact and destroyed the AA gun while damaging the deck and surrounding structure of the ship. The AA guns were in the mid-section of the destroyer, between the two smokestacks it had.

All the deer on the bridge were quick with figuring out what had just happened, before one of the deer saw the damage themselves and said, “Starboard side AA is hit!”

“Get damage control on that quickly. Put out any fire before we get further into the storm. That’s not something we need right now.” Lauri said.

The deer responsible for those areas were already working on that before even being told.

Within the ship, the deer responsible for damage control and fire control were quick to getting back out on deck to the AA gun position and as well from within the ship to assess the damage.

“Have somedeer check on the queen as well. Make sure she’s alright.” Lauri said, “And have them report back quickly.”

---

From within the ship, Velvet and Torsti, along with the crewmember with them, a deer quickly interrupted the three and asked about their wellbeing.

“All is good down here.” Said Nathan, the crewmember who was with the other two, but they quickly asked, “What’s going on up top? Were we just hit?”

“We’re currently opening fire on three Changeling ships that are trying to pursue us. Our starboard side was just hit, I don’t know where or what the damage is like, but the head chef went out to help do a quick assessment of the internal damage and look for any fire. I was called to check on you three, but I need to report back quickly.” The deer said before quickly slipping off.

“Well, that’s reassuring.” Torsti said.

Nathan looked at Torsti and said, “Ship was stripped down of all unneeded parts. We should be faster than any ship the Changeling navy sends.”

“But he did just confirm we were hit.” Torsti said.

“A single hit isn’t going to stop us. We got damage control.” Nathan said.

“There’s nothing we can do ourselves besides let them do their job the best they can and pray.” Velvet said, “So please don’t burden them. They have too many burdens to worry about without you questioning it.”

Torsti looked at Nathan, who stared back, before sighing lightly and going back to holding onto something. They were all holding onto something since they felt the ship get hit.

---

“We’re about five more minutes away before we start hitting rougher water.”

“The turret’s finished off its rounds for now.”

“The four deer manning the AA gun are dead. The gun is destroyed but damage to the ship is minimal. Our speed shouldn’t be affected.”

“The queen and guests are all ok still.”

Information kept coming in to Lauri for him to make decisions on. One after another. He kept having to respond or say thank you if it wasn’t that important, but with the three pursuers, things were hectic. Thankfully for the ship, Lauri was an Admiral. He was able to not be overwhelmed by it all.

“Have the turret return fire again. How many rounds are we at now?” Lauri asked.

“84 shots left.”

“Have them stay at a slower fire rate but only stop once they don’t have eyes on them from the rain.” Lauri said.

From there the turret would resume firing on the Changeling ships once the order came back in. Incoming rounds kept coming in occasionally, none of them would thankfully hit again.

Comments

[shining paladin]

awesome chapter keep it up cant wait for the next chapter

[Starlight Nova]

I'm just giving them a (shitty) character.

Why would you think that?

[Lamasioux]

10957966
From my perspective, my writing isn't all that good really. There's a lot wrong with my writing. I feel like I'm all over the place with things and a bunch of other things. This is my 4th story so far as well.