High Tide, Low Company

by MacDragon

Phantom in the Night

Phantom in the Night

The previous day had seen them as helpful, timely, some even said heroic ponies. His crew had been in all different situations from field medics to firefighters and even assisting search and rescue teams. They’d cared for the injured, built shelters, and cleared debris scattered all around the island after the raid. It was only as they left that they saw the enormity of the affected area and discovered where it was they were. A little island community called Jibland, which was little more than a tent city now, with a smoldering scorch mark covering a large majority of the island.

Captain Pip had spent most of the night in a dreamless sleep. He barely remembered waking at all in the night after he fell asleep. He’d woken early in the morning from a gentle prod from Radko. “Sir, it is first light. Shall we be making our way now?” The Hooviet stallion asked.

Pip stood and stretched shaking the sleep from his head. “Yes, yes we should be on our way as soon as we can, see that the crew is present and let’s get under way. I must go inform Captain Thunder of our departure.” He replied.

A voice cut in just then, “Then I suppose you’ll be looking for me.” Captain Thunder was already outside, his timing was impeccable. “You’ll find your ship has been resupplied with extra food, water, and munitions, plus some sailcloth to replace what you used here. Your ship is prepared to head to sea when you and your crew are on board. But before you go, allow me to extend a personal thanks to you and your crew for your great assistance. I have a gift for you. It’s simple, but it will aid you in your travels.” He presented Pip with a folded banner. “This is the flag that we fly just beneath our Nations flag, or in your case your ships main flag. You are not required to do so at all times, but when abroad, if you ever encounter any of our long range operations if you fly this they will give assistance, anything you need, ponypower, food, water, or rescue. Any who fly this flag are considered part of our Royal Navy Forces, a part of the main fleet if you will. You’ve earned it, fly it proudly. May good winds favor your vessel on your travels and may the spirits of the sea watch over you and your crew.” Thunder finished with a salute.

Pip accepted the banner and returned the salute. It was an important gift. Very few vessels outside the fleet flew, or even had, one of the banners. It was a badge of respect and honor. Captain Thunder turned about with a sharp snap and returned to the forward operations station to continue his work. Pip and his crew loaded into the longboats and returned to the Bonnie Lass.

They made it to their ship quickly; once the boats were secured Pip handed the banner to Zanza and Danza and had them promptly raise it to fly just below their own flag. It was a long triangular flag with a white hulled vessel embroidered into its royal blue background with the letters RCN emblazoned in gold thread next to it.
Pip and the crew began preparing the ship for cast off. The crew busied themselves checking spars, rigging, and sails for preparedness. Captain Pip stood at the chart table, thinking hard as to where he would go if he and his crew were fleeing a place after raiding it like this. He tossed his satchel onto the table as he paced to and fro thinking hard. Nixx had made his way up to the table as well and was suddenly very intrigued by something on the map. “Sir.” He said, addressing Pip.

“Just a moment Nixx.” He said, deep in thought.

“Sir really.” He said again.

“I said one moment. I’m thinking.” Pip said, trying to stay focused was difficult when getting interrupted.

“Sir, really you need to see this.” Nixx insisted once more.

Pip stopped and glared at the tech, who was now examining the map with a special pair of goggles that had little lenses for magnification built into them. The tech was an eccentric about detail, but Pip knew the map top to bottom, every detail, whatever the tech could have found was likely just a scratch or something. Regardless, Pip made his way over to the insistent pony. It wasn’t until he got closer that he realized it was not the map he was looking at, but rather the tarnished medallion he’d had him inspect the night before.

“What is it Nixx? You saw it last night, nothing special, it’s a medallion, what could be so important on it now?” He said a little aggravated at having been pulled out of his deep thought.

“Here, look. It’s no wonder I didn’t see his in the dark last night. But this may help you decide where we should go first.” Said the unfazed tech as he removed the goggles and handed them to Pip.

The Captain took the goggles and put them on. He moved over to where Nixx was standing and peered down at the medallion. It looked like it had the night before. He could only see a worn imprint of a pony on its surface. Nothing of interest he could see. “What am I supposed to be looking at?” He questioned the tech.

Nixx replied by reaching over and clacking the magnification lens into place. “Look, the figures hindquarters, its cutie mark. Does that look familiar to you?” Pip looked closer. The spot where he was looking only looked like a different smudge on the worn metal. “It does not have a cutie mark, just more worn space. What are you getting at Nixx?” he questioned, confused at what the pony could possibly see.

Nixx let out an exasperated sigh and clacked another lens down to magnify it closer; he then rotated the medallion ninety degrees. That was when Pip saw it, the cutie mark, or rather the island. The figures cutie mark was an island. Pip tore off the goggles and brushed the satchel off the map, searching for the shapes that matched the figures mark. It took only a moment. “There.” He said pointing with a hoof to a large island out in the open waters of Eternity’s Crossing.

“Gallopfrey?” Nixx said in question. “Is that where were to head?”

“Yes, that’s the best clue we have as where to start so make sure everything is tight.” He said to nopony in particular.

Nixx asked another question before he left to go down to his room where he spent most of his time tinkering, “Sir, may I take this with me. I’d like to see if I can’t clean it up any, maybe it’ll have more information.”

“Yes, go ahead, that is ok. If you find anything at all let me know.” Pip replied.

“Of course Captain.” Nixx took the medallion and trotted below deck.
Pip was left at the helm with Dinky and Radko. There was a clanking sound from the front of the ship, which would be the anchor he realized. The wind caught the sails and they were soon moving. The white hulled giant closest to them fired a salute to them, custom among military vessels, a wish of good fortune. Pip ordered the gun crew to fire off their own salute in return. Shortly one of their deck cannons spoke in response. And with that they were sailing out of the bay, and into the open waters of Eternities Crossing.
҉
Time passed quickly at first, the excitement of a new heading after so long spent in equestrian waters with little to no action for months they finally had a mission, which gave them purpose. They were on a true voyage now and the excitement had driven most of the morning quickly. It was now early afternoon and they were settled into the normalcy of the sailing. The voyage to Gallopfry would take them the rest of the day plus the next day and the night between them of traveling to make it. Soon the crew would calm down and slow their work pace to save something to pass the time till evening supper when they’d be left to their own devices on a rotating watch schedule.

Pip had them practice gunnery, knowing full well that it would probably be called upon and nopony could ever get enough. They practiced first with timing. It was crucial that when delivering a broadside in combat, a maneuver executed when the ship drew close to another’s side and fired all its cannons on that side into the opposition, and so it was required that they could fire all the cannons either at one time, or in a domino effect. This would allow them to land each shot as a hit depending on what the action called for.

They practiced first without loads, each gun team would, upon given the command for broadside, touch the igniters to the cannon and yell “Bang!” This allowed Bull, the gunner commander of the ship, to judge if they were timed right. If done correctly their combined voices would sound like one many voiced shout. If done wrong it would sound more like a rabble of school colts at play in the park. At first the pretend fire exercise brought humor to many of them, even the all serious Bull could not help a chuckle, but soon the laughter stopped and after a couple hours of this they were doing much better. Bull asked for permission to use the cannons for a true broadside exercise.

Pip granted permission for one, they would need to save their shot, but one would not hurt. Soon the cannons were loaded, all timed well 4by Pips eye, then Bull gave the command to fire and the entire cannon side roared at once, the acrid sent of gunpowder wafted through the air along with the whoops and whinnies of the gun crews for getting it right in one try. Pip would be sure to reward them if they could repeat that in combat if it came to it.

Bull stomped once to get their attention. He congratulated them and then blew their bluster out by dropping cleaning equipment at their hooves. After all a clean cannon was key to a good shot by his standard. And so the crew learned how to clean the guns next and soon they had them gleaming. From there they were released to go about their other chores.

Pip returned to the top deck to watch the crew as they went about their business. The mid-day sun beat down from the cloudless sky, causing one to thoroughly sweat regardless of whether or not they were still or moving. The only relief came in the spray as the ship moved through the water.

The crew was busy inspecting the sails and rigging once more. Others were working with Radko to adjust the newly added supplies into a more balanced setup below. The rest were scrubbing away at any surface that needed it. The ship had collected a fair share of dirt and grime the previous night and it showed.

The next couple of hours went by quickly. Signal training, longboat launch, and fire suppression exercises were run to
pass the time. Soon the sun was dipping below the horizon. Pip set the crew free for the evening, as dinner would soon be served. “Radko, please bring down the banner for the night.” Pip requested. Rako enlisted Danza and together they lowered, removed, and folded the Royal Naval banner, storing it in a strongbox underneath the chart table. By then night had fallen. Danza and his twin brother Zanza took over at the chart table and helm, allowing Dinky and Pip to retire below for dinner.

The crew was already livened up, though much more subdued than the previous nights. The first evenings out at sea always proved tiresome to everypony. There was some hearty laughter from a group near the back of the cabin. More of the crew had simply eaten and retired to their cots or hammocks for the night, leaving an empty air about the dining area. Pip even noticed Dinky was exceptionally tired as she ate her meal with heavy eyes. She finished quickly and made her way back to him after depositing the plate back with the cook. “I’m to sleep love, wake me if something happens.” She nuzzled him warmly and then disappeared up the stairs. Pip mulled around his meal a bit more before he too returned it to the galley.

He went back up to the top deck and stood in the quite night air for a few moments. Alone with his thoughts of the last few days, he was interrupted by the sound of a clearing throat. He turned to see Quix standing behind him. “May I have a moment of your time Captain?” He requested.

“Yes, what is it? Pip asked. It was rare that the surgeon ever requested to speak to him one on one.

“Captain, I want to talk about our recent action with the raid on Jibland. Particularly the patients I saw there.” He said.

“What about them? I assume it was the normal injuries; burns and wounds from blades, possibly some shot too would be the extent of it, am I wrong?” Pip answered in a questioning tone.

“You are correct, for the most part. But there was something else. Something that in all my years I’ve never seen, something that to me is very daunting. What was stranger was that I only found it among the dead or dying.” Quix replied.

“Found what?” Pip replied, now fully intrigued.

Quix looked around, he gestured to the chart table. Pip trotted to the table where Quix now stood, rummaging through his pack. He proceeded to pull out a piece of parchment which he then unfolded, presenting it to the captain. Pip examined the paper, it was rough, and had some stained blood on it, no doubt from Quix’s work with the injured. Upon the stained paper there were etchings, lines, in the shape of a U. “What is this?” he asked in confusion.

“It’s a sketch, I know it’s not the best but it’s all I could do in the short moments I had. Can’t you see? They’re bite marks. Almost all the dead had them. In the same areas, around the neck, or on their shoulders, they were deep as well. As if whatever bit them had fangs.”

Pip looked at the paper again, fully registering what the surgeon was saying. He doubted no part of Quix’s observation, he was a brilliant medical mind, and he knew enough about dentistry to recognize a bite mark when he saw one. Just like he could stitch up a cut or mend a broken bone in a pinch. The question that floated in his mind was what could have possibly made such a mark.

“I take it you don’t know. Well, I for one don’t know. It’s a pity that is all we have. And just how did you get a heading? I’m assuming that Captain Thunder must have provided it to you?” Quix Guessed.

“No, we figured that one out thanks to something he gave me, a medallion of sorts, apparently taken from one of the attackers.” Pip said, he pulled the medallion out of the pack he’d left under the table and set it down on top of the drawing. Quix lifted it with magic and held it before his face, inspecting it closely. “Hrm, it’s not much to look at. How is it you found a heading on it? There is nothing on it.” Quix said.

“That’s what I thought as well. Nixx found the clue on it. He used a pair of magnifiers to look closer.” Pip replied. At which Quix produced a pair of his own out of his pack and began looking at the medallion.

“I see, its cutie mark. I will guess it corresponds with a point on the map?” He guessed correctly once again.

“Yes and no,” Pip said, “It coordinates to the map, but not to a point, rather, it points to an island. And that is where we are headed.

Quix set down the medallion and sighed. “I don’t know what were headed into, or what were getting involved with but I fear that were going to need all my expertise in the near future. I just wish I knew what the bite marks were from. That bothers me greatly.” He said.

Pip looked at him as he set the medallion down on the table. “I don’t either, but I’m glad that we have such a grand surgeon on board to deal with what could come. We’re going to need it I’m sure.” At that Quix yawned a large yawn and called it a night, he was visibly tired and needed sleep badly. Pip wished him good evening and himself proceeded to his cabin after being sure to leave Danza and Zanza in charge. He walked to the bedside; hooves dragging from exhaustion. Dinky was fast asleep already. Pip less laid down as much as he fell into the bed lightly, he curled closely to Dinky’s sleeping form, draping a foreleg over her side. He passed out as soon as his head hit the pillow.
҉
Pip was roused once again in the night. This time more urgently. “Captain! Come quickly, we’ve been spotted!” Pip was out of bed in a blink, sword belted and hat on. He went to wake Dinky but found she was already up and ready. He bolted out the door quickly; Danza pointing to the port spotters’ scope. Pip trotted over quickly and looked through it. Zanza had aimed it to its target; Pip could make out the ship. It was black, sails and all. No lamps glowed on its deck. A fog had built up over night and it obscured most of the ship. But in the fleeting moment he caught sight of the other ships deck he could see its crew, armed to the teeth. They were preparing cannons. Pip knew right away they meant to attack.

“Douse the lamps! Everypony to battlestations!” He shouted. Radko could be heard bellowing below decks, the crew was already up it would seem. He was glad they readied them beforehoof, any seconds they could save would be good. The ship went from silent, to a bustle of crew above and below deck. Cannons were readied; weapons were handed out rigging prepped for combat. All done in a matter of minutes, the exercising earlier on seemed to pay off.

The crew were at their stations, gunponies at their cannons, boarding parties prepped as well as their counterpart, the ponies responsible for repelling the other ships attempts at boarding. All the noise of preparation halted as soon as it had started, leaving them in quietness, save for the gentle splashing of the sea as they navigated through the nighttime waters. The fog had rolled in quickly; it obscured almost everything around them. Where the lamps had once cast their glow on the deck it was now dark, they could not see beyond the deck more than fifty pony lengths. Poor conditions indeed, so they waited.

They were traveling at a quick pace, but even with that they had no idea where the other ship was. None of the spotters could see far enough to make a spot. They just kept watch as best they could. Then suddenly one shouted from the stern of the ship, “CONTACT!” the crew member bellowed before ducking below the railing.

Pip turned to see the other ship bearing down behind them, coming past from port to starboard, they cut across the path of the Bonnie Lass, it’s crew was hard to spot at that speed but easy enough to hear their shouting and curses, the maniacal laughter of some. There were sharp cracks of noise as the other crew fired rifles at them and a thunderous boom as they fired cannon at them from behind. Luckily they missed with the cannon and the shot could be heard splashing across the water. As quickly as it had happened, they were gone again, swallowed by the fog.

By the look of things it would seem they were but a rabble of brigands, thinking the Bonnie Lass an easy target. They didn’t even wait for a decent shot before firing their cannons. Pip though was not one to take looks as fact; bravado could win a fight as much as knocking out the other fighter. He underestimated nopony.

He could feel the Bonnie Lass turn to starboard, making to follow the other ship. He looked up to the helm, Dinky stood there, confident and un-intimidated, and she knew what was expected in an engagement. The Bonnie Lass made the turn in a tight move, quick and clean. Soon enough their bow spotter called out, “Contact! Were coming up on their stern, twelve pony lengths to their port, I don’t think they know we followed.” He said, anticipation clear in his voice.

Pip galloped to the spotter and looked through his scope. Indeed, they were coming up on the ship quickly. He could see now in detail, it was a larger ship than theirs. They sported two gun decks to their one. They were outgunned by a whole other deck. But what they didn’t have was his ships technological upgrades. The rotatable guns would prove useful, but what would more than likely end up winning this engagement would be the blaze guns. Even if they missed it usually scared off the offending crew quickly.

They were gaining rapidly; soon they would be within visual range and would no doubt be spotted by the other ship. As if on cue there was a shout from the other ships deck, no doubt they’d been spotted already. There was a clanging noise ahead of them, the guns of the other ship being readied. His own crew was prepared, he could hear the clicking of the rotating long guns as they aimed at the other craft. “Captain, we will be in range for the long guns in less than a minute.” Bull said, “Do we have permission to fire?”

“Yes, once in range fire when ready. Aim low if you can, I want them taking on water as soon as we can.” Pip replied.

Bull relayed this to the forward guncrew. The cannon began clicking once again, dropping its aim a little lower. There was a split second of silence, and then the gunpony jerked the firing string. There was a crack of thunder and they watched as the round struck home. The rotating guns were smaller than the other guns on deck, but they were much more advanced. They used rounds that were projected faster. Upon impact they could punch through most hulls. This proved true as they watched, they were close enough they could see the wood splinter and crack upon impact. Then as the gun crew finished reloading, there was a dull thump from inside the other ship. Pip realized Bull had loaded the explosive rounds instead of the solid shot, a good choice as far as he was concerned.

There was another sharp crack from the forward gun, another sound of splintering wood followed by a loud thump as the round exploded inside the ship’s hull. This continued for three more shots before the other ship suddenly slowed its forward movement, quickly dropping back to match the speed of Bonnie Lass. The rate at which they slowed was far too rapid for a ship that size, even with the damage done by the forward cannon.

It was a good move, Pip could respect that much, even though he knew in his heart that it had to have been achieved with magic. There was no way a ship that size could slow so quickly normally. The Bonnie Lass was now in a dangerous position. The larger ship, if able to fire a full broadside, would be disastrous for the Bonnie Lass. “Disengage!” Pip shouted at the top of his lungs. Radko shouted a command at the same time. There was a groan as their ship began its sharp turn which was suddenly drowned out by a loud roar. Pip looked to its source, knowing full well its cause.

Radko had given the command to fire their full complement on the starboard side. The cannons had spoken first, but their quick bangs were smothered beneath the rage of the blaze cannons. The flames roiled out of the cannons like an angry phoenix, lighting the night with their baleful orange glow. They painted the side of the brigand vessel, dousing it in sticky orange fire. Soon half the hull was covered in flames; they licked up the sides, hungry for the wooden hull.

Their turn hit its sharp point, forcing them to keep their hoofing rather than aim the guns. As they turned the second cannon unleashed its rage upon the ship’s hull. The flames stuck to everything, burning uncontrolled on the ships side as it crawled its way upward. They did their best to keep their hoofing in the strong force of the turn for fear of being knocked off, eventually the turn stopped and they were able to look to the other ship once again. It had resumed its course, this time moving away with all haste, the crew could be seen dousing the fires with water, it took more water than normal but they were able to get the fire under control. It had done its intentions though. The side of the ship was charred and broken; the vessel would need extensive repair and its crew knew when a battle was not wise to maintain, they fled as quickly as they had come. Luckily for the Bonnie Lass the other ship had never gotten a chance to fire another shot after the one they missed. Pip watched the ship vanish into the night fog, limping off quickly to lick their wounds.

The engagement had lasted less than half a turn of the clock. It had been quick, they had been lucky; normally it would be the Bonnie Lass that would pounce with the element of surprise. They had been outgunned by the other ship, only the quick thinking of his crew and the clever inventions of their tech pony had saved them from destruction. Still, they had wounded as well, and slight damage from small arms fire. Some of the rigging had been damaged from musket balls and was currently being replaced. One of their gun crew ponies had been hit by a stray musket ball as well, Quix was seeing to him now. They could hear him grunt and see him biting down on a stick as the surgeon used magic to pull the ball out of the wound. It was a glancing hit Pip later found out, shallow and lodged against a rib. The pony was given an extra ration of grog and allowed to rest for the evening to keep from aggravating the stitches.

They quickly did the needed repairs, checked that all the cannons were loaded once again, in case the ship came sneaking back up on them in the night. The larger bulk of the crew went below decks. Some returned to sleep, others sat in the galley to eat or just talk. Pip walked up to the helm, Dinky stood there, steering the ship through the water. He could see the exhaustion on her face. She was tired, worn, like the rest of them. But she was near collapse by the looks of it. Pip walked to her and placed a hoof on the wheel next to hers. She didn’t let go of the wheel, she just kept staring forward. Pip set his hoof on top of hers, this got her attention. Her head turned, eyes dilated past normal Pip noticed, she blinked a couple times, regaining some composure. She took her hooves off the wheel and grabbed him around the neck, Dinky was shaking badly, and she could barely stand. “Danza,” Pip shouted, “Take the wheel, Quix with me.”

Pip ducked under Dinky’s chest, aligning himself with her so that she could hold onto his back for support. Pip stood there and waited for Quix to bring up his kit. Dinky was still shaking so he slowly backed her up to the side of the deck and tried to help her to sit down. She wouldn’t cooperate, Dinky moved back and held on to his neck again. Pip didn’t understand what was wrong, he knew she was upset but he didn’t know if she was hurt or not. He did however lower himself down and sat on the deck. Dinky followed mechanically. She just sat there wrapped around his neck while Quix gave her a once over.

“She’s ok, not hurt. Whatever is wrong you’ll have to figure out on your own. Something scared her by the looks of it. She also needs sleep, I can see it, she’s fatigued badly. Get her to bed and do what you can to get her to sleep, she’ll either fight it or she’ll go out. I’ll let Radko know the ship is his, we’ll take care of things up here, you see to her Cap.” He said.

Quix packed up his things and went below deck. Pip remained with Dinky for a few moments more. She still clung to him as he stood up. Pip did his best to guide her to their cabin. Once inside she relaxed her grip on him enough to allow herself to be guided to the bed where Pip helping her into it. He too crawled in and lay next to her, she wrapped her forelegs around him once again and lay there in silence. Pip laid his head against her neck just sitting in silence for a moment, and then the floodgate opened.

“I thought I was going to lose you today. I should have seen that ship coming. I should have turned sooner, before we had to engage. It was all wrong. I’ve been working the helm for a long time now, we’ve been doing this for years, I’ve never let that happen before, and we’ve never been at the mercy of another ship. I’ve always kept the ship and us, you, out of harm’s way. I almost got us killed, all of us. I didn’t know what to do. I….” Pip stopped her before she could continue.

“You did wonderful out there. Your quick action in that turn saved us. That ship coming onto ours the way it did was nothing you could have helped. We’re dealing with something entirely different than what were accustomed to. You saved our ship, the crew, and I tonight. You did outstanding. You can’t always prevent things. I am glad you were up there. Don’t ever doubt yourself. You saved us all tonight.” He said.

Dinky visibly relaxed and looked him in the eye, “Thank you. I’m sorry.” She said.

“It’s ok.” Pip said.

Dinky yawned her eyes drooping quickly. She looked up at pip, golden eyes looking him in the face. Pip was going to say something but it was muffled as she kissed him with passion. She would be ok; he knew it for sure as he kissed her back. Dinky pulled away slowly and rested her head on the pillow next to him. She was out as soon as she closed her eyes. Pip looked down at his mare next to him. She was everything to him, tonight had been hard on her. But she was strong, it would take more than that to make her cave. Ever since they were young, before he’d earned the respect from his service, she’d looked out for him. He’d looked out for her as well. They’d been inseparable since they’d met.

Pip was going to get up and go back out to deck but he didn’t want to wake Dinky, she needed the sleep. He listened to the world around him. It was quiet. Calm. He could just hear Radko and the Zebra twins talking, about what he was not certain though. Things were in good hands. Pip leaned over slowly and grabbed the cover and with a slow turn of his head covered Dinky’s sleeping form against the cold sea air. He lay his head down on the pillow and let himself fall asleep.

Comments

[doorcf]

Wow! first combat, that scene was well written.

Poor Diky almost dying of exaustion, hope the crew can survive the tests that will follow

[MacDragon]

1831670

We'll see! Glad you are liking it. That first battle was a small skirmish, I have more planned in the future! Stay tuned!