Rise of the Steel Fleet

by Storm Seas

The Battle of the Dragon Mark Straight (Part One)

09:00
Changeling Flagship

The Changeling Commander looked through a set of binoculars, the faint wisps of smoke leaping at him from over 14 knm away to form the shapes of two Equestrian Ship of the Line. From the smoke pouring aft of the lead one, it must be a Superliner like his own flagship. His lips curled in a thin cruel grin as he realized the reports of some 'Super warship' that should be in this formation, we're false. He tighten the focus on the lead ship to determine what class it might be. The super structure was a simple tripod mast and he could barely make out the five dual turrets of her main broadside battery as they began to train and elevate towards his command. The range was long but they could probably score a lucky hit at this range. He lowered the binoculars and turn back into the command center.

"Prepare to engage the lead ship." he commanded.

"Aye, Sir. Prepare to engage the lead ship." somepony repeated as the crew began a rush on action.

"For the Glory of the Queen!" He said as the main battery slowly began it run to starboard.

09:00
HEMS Schornhorse

I stood in the armored conning tower, know to most on board as the Citadel. the ship had been cleared for action but due to a certain Admiral's insistent orders, the gun were trained still in their for and aft position. I resettled my headset on my head but couldn't get it to fit nicely, so i set it around my neck and cranked the speak volume to max.

"Sir," I turned my head to the side to see Lieutenant Heartstrings standing to the passage to the Main Gunnery Director.

"Yes lieutenant?" I turned my whole form to face her.

"Is there any way we can make the Admiral change his mind Skipper? I mean this is putting a lot of ponies at risk should the ball drop, heck we should be leading this formation!" her anger laced the words she spoke even though the tone never rose.

"I'm aware of that Lyra and I have taken it up with the Admiral. And that's all I can do." I held her gaze and silently wish there was some form of comfort to give her. She had lost much of her family during the Battle for Canterlot and, well she had very few connections with anypony.

"Just thought I'd ask skipper." She whipped a salute and cantered off to the MGD.

09:04
Admiral's Bridge

Admiral Blue Blood was nervous. He should have been on the Canterlot right now but instead he was on this floating death trap. The ship his physical presence was on only carried 12 guns to the Canterlot's 24 and yes they were bigger but they were untested in true combat, while those on the Canterlot had seen action for the last 18 months. He shook his head in silent cursing of the situation that put him on this experiment.

"Has the Enemy responded to our hails?" he asked his Communications officer.

"No, sir, nothing yet." the colt answered and continued to transmit the canned order to heave to.

"Not surprising, have the Harmony fire a shot across their course."

"Aye, Sir!" the same officer replied and transmitted the order.

The Admiral trotted to the starboard wing of his bridge and watched as the Harmony's forward turret fired off a single round. The shell screamed over the enemy position at a speed three times the speed of sound and a geyser of water erupted from the sea less than a mile from the lead Superdreadnought.

09:05
Changeling Flagship

"They have fire a warning shot, sir!"

"I'm well aware." his grin from that shell passing over head now was a smile as he picked up his com for the fleet.

"All ships, open fire! For the Honor of Our QUEEN!"

09:06
HEMS Schornhorse

I was looking towards the enemy when I saw the fire faint flash of gunfire rippled out from the Changeling line. I remember yelling form all hands down when the rain of 12 shells ripped through our formation, the majority focused on the Canterlot. Even we weren’t unscathed. I guess their gunnery was more of put shells near target instead of on target. A single 12 in round careened off turret one leaving a massive splash as the shell wasted itself on the thick upper armor. Another shell passed through funnel two without detonating and splashed harmlessly of our port quarter. It was the third shell that came in at such a steep angle that I saw it drop into the deck just forward of number two of the secondary armament. That shell punched through the upper and lower armor decks and punched a hole straight through to the keel where it detonated just outside of the ship’s hull. The resulting explosion rocked the ship from stem to stern and caused the fairly small hole to burst inward into the auxiliary generator room, killing and maiming many of the ponies stationed there.

“What’s the situation Mesh?!” I called into my com.

“We took a round into one of the forward generator rooms. DC has got it contained to the compartment but the explosion buckled a few plated in boiler four and there a fair amount of water in there. The pumps will hold it down but I wouldn’t push us to much above our current speed of we might lose boiler four.” The lieutenant sounded a bit winded and I go the feeling she was in the action trying to patch boiler four as we spoke.

“Understood, keep on it lieutenant.” I switched my com to the Admiral’s com officer. “Tell the admiral we have taken a hit, and our max speed is reduced.”

“”Aye, sir,” The com officer said as I switch the com to Chief Gunnery Officer Muleheim, “Chief get me a gunnery plot of the leading elements of the Changeling line.”

“Yes, sir, should I have the guns trained?” He asked

“No, not yet just get the solution so if we do engage we can drop those rounds in seconds.”

“Yes, Sir!”

I magic jumped to the bridge from the Observation deck and waited as the returning fire from the Canterlot and Equestria hammered their own lances of fire out at the enemy line. I stood there in front of the master plot and felt a deep fear welling up as more and more rounds streaked in from the Changelings. The Canterlot was their target, just like the city they attacked years ago, and I felt the same feelings that burned their way into me during those harrowing hours.

I shook my head and tried to clear my reddening vision. I wanted to fight, that why I joined the Navy, but that Admiral was keeping me from my duty. I was about to com him again when the air above me shattered as a stray shell, probably from a ricochet smashed through the upper works of the bridge.

“What happened?” I ordered.

“The compass platform was hit, Sir!” one of the lookouts on the bridge wing hollered back.

“The Admiral’s bridge?” I asked.

“I can’t tell sir!”

“Find out, NOW!” I drew my energy to my horn to jump to the bridge when Lyra with the admiral braced on her side stumbled onto the bridge. She was covered with small cuts and blood, but the Admiral sported a massive gash on his chest from a piece of shrapnel. It wasn’t serious but would still need to have medical attention.

“Corpsmares to the Bridge!” I called over the com as another rouge shell raced over head.

09:12
Dragon Mark Straight

Had anypony been watching from the skies over the Dragon Mark Straight the sight laid out on its surface was one to behold. The Equestrian Line was proving their metal once again and had already sunk two of the enemy dreadnoughts. Their fire had been devastatingly accurate in the opening broadside but now as the enemy had found the range, their accuracy had fallen off. The Canterlot had lost one of her broadside turrets but still valiantly fought on. The Equestria had received light damage and retained her main battery, but due to the accumulating gun smoke had a hard time scoring many hits on the Changelings. It was at this time that the unthinkable happened.

A single armor piercing shell had spent nearly thirty second in flight by the time hit the Canterlot. This single shell had traveled nearly 11 nautical miles to hit the Super dreadnought it had been fired at, and when it did I punched right into the twisted steel that had been turret six. I passed through the mangled wreckage and dive deep into the bowls of the ship’s main broadside magazine, and there is where its preset timer detonated it. The resulting explosion shattered the ship’s keel, snapping the mighty ship in half. But the destruction wasn’t over. That single explosion rent bulkheads and tore through the Canterlot’s innards, destroying mare and colt alike tile it hit another source of power, and two secondary explosions finished the ship off as her aft and forward magazines blew in spectacular shows of death and destruction.

The Skipper of the Equestria order a hard turn to port to avoid the wreckage, but doing so only put him into the sights of the Changeling line which only had to fire again to hit her.

09:15
HEMS Schornhorse

I was stunned. In only ten minutes of battle the pride of the Royal Equestrian Navy had been completely obliterated with what seemed to be contemptuous ease.

“Sir, what are your orders?” I called to the Admiral just inside the armored conning tower.

“Have the Canterlot disengage and make smoke to the south! “He ordered

“The Canterlot is gone, Sir! The Equestria need our help!” I shouted back and saw for a brief break in his facade as fear flashed in his eyes. He was too scared to act and I faced a major decision, to follow his orders or to defy them and fight. I looked back out over the water to the towering column of smoke that marked the Canterlot’s last position.

“I will not abandon my comrades, and I will not have my ship shot out from under my flank.” I magicked my headset on top of my mane and punched it to the Main Director.

“You may open fire Chief.” I had made my decision.

Author's Note:

Well that one part done!

It took me so long to get all the pieces right for this combat sequence and I hope you all enjoy this bit while I hammer the final chunk into a coherent piece.

Schornhorse Immer Voran!