The Adventurous Ero Path of a Sailor

"Commander Easterbrook, you are needed at headquarters at once. I'm to escort you there," said Settler without the usual pomposity. It even looked like a certain level of fear was hidden behind his eyes.

Jack sprung to his feet. "Right away, Lieutenant. Has something happened?"

"Yes, sir. Last night there was action with the Occitanians again. The Commodore will fill you in on all the news."

"Let's get moving then," he said before turning to Kim. "Get word to Luke of where I'll be and then send a message to the Tiger and the Destiny as well. Have all three ships put on readiness to sail at once."

"Aye, sir," said Kim with a salute as she hurried to the radio.

Jack followed Settler out of the bridge and across the railing toward the plank. The morning was still calm, especially compared to the previous one, but Jack found himself scanning the horizon for enemy warships as they made their way to the dock. Fortunately, the harbor and its surroundings were empty of any foreign ships but it still didn't shake the bad feeling in the pit of Jack's stomach.

The walk over to headquarters went by quickly and this time they made their way to the second floor instead of the third. Settler threw open the doors to a command center and beckoned Jack inside. The first thing Jack could see was a large map of the entire island in front of him. The map had been marked with two, large X's—one over the town of Quiller's Cove and the other just out past the harbor.

Two sets of eyes locked on him right away. The first was that of Commodore Lucas who waved him forward with a gentle nod of the head. Jack didn't recognize the other man.

"Jack, thank you for coming so quickly," said Lucas before starting a salute. "I'm not sure if you know Lt. Grover Burbank but he's a commander of one of the patrol boats here."

"Lt. Burbank," said Jack with a nod, saluting the patrol boat commander as well. "What's going on, sir? Your deputy told me there was action with the Occitanians last night."

Lucas's eyes looked over to Burbank before settling on Jack. "I'll let Lt. Burbank tell that story if you don't mind, Jack."

"Well, Lt. Commander Easterbrook, last night my boat was on patrol duty of the harbor," started Burbank before removing his service cap. "About two hours into the patrol, we started to pick up a couple blips on the radar. At first I thought the crew was just a little jump after the attack from yesterday so we didn't think much of it. But the blips started happening more frequently, so we turned on the spotlight around midnight and sailed out past the jetty."

"As soon as we got past the jetty, our radar just about went dead. After a circle of the entire bay, our spotlight was able to make out a torpedo launch that was coming directly at the ship—"

"Wait a second," said Jack while holding up his hand. "A torpedo? You're sure it wasn't just a large fish or something?"

Burbank gulped. "I'm positive, sir. There was no doubt. Anyway, we narrowly managed to avoid being hit. After the torpedo missed us, I followed the wake to find a periscope watching us just a short distance away."

"A periscope? You don't mean..."

"That's right, sir. An Occitanian submarine right here in the bay."

"And brave enough to launch a torpedo the morning after an attack," said Lucas.

"What happened next?"

"We sunk her, sir. With depth charges. She tried to dive on us but we launched explosives right above her. She didn't have a chance."

"At least we got the sub. Any survivors?"

"There's six right now. Five of them will live, one's still being treated. One died just after we reached the shore. The rest didn't survive the explosion."

"We threw them in brig downstairs," interrupted Lucas.

"I'm sure the Occitanians aren't going to like this. Sooner or later, that submarine is going to fail to report."

"It's already happened, Jack," said Lucas as he pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket. He gave it to Jack to read.

ATTN: COMMANDING OFFICER JAVAN BASE

WE KNOW THAT YOU SUNK ONE OF OUR SUBMARINES. YOU HAVE SIX HOURS TO RELEASE TO US THE MEN RESPONSIBLE FOR THE ACT AND ANY SURVIVORS OR FACE DIRE CONSEQUENCES.

COMMODORE ALPHONSE BAPTISTE

15TH CRUISER SQUADRON

OCCITANIAN CONFEDERACY