The Adventurous Ero Path of a Sailor

The mighty guns opened up once more and sent a fresh volley toward their prey. They seemed to be on a near perfect trajectory and as Jack watched the ordnance dance across the horizon, he held his breath waiting for the hits.

In a flash, the further cruiser exploded in a fireball as the shots hit their mark. Several explosive blasts sent fire and heavy, black smoke bursting from the Occitanian vessel. The size of one of the fireballs rose several hundred feet in the air.

"Holy shit, what did we hit?" Abigail asked, watching the scene.

"We must have hit their weapons room. That whole explosion wasn't due to just our guns alone."

Yet another explosion rocked the enemy ship in the seconds after and soon it was almost completely obstructed from view due to the smoke.

Jack switched over to observe the other cruiser and was pleased to see another fire on the vessel's superstructure. He could even barely make out the crew as they worked to put out the fires. Soon enough, the closer cruiser executed a turn to starboard and started to flee the bay.

"Don't let that son of a bitch get away. Prepare to fire another salvo," Jack ordered, turning back to Abrams.

"Twenty-five seconds, sir, and we'll be ready."

Jack hazarded another glance at the cruiser on fire and was pleased to see the ship was already listing hard to port. What sailors hadn't been blown to bits from the blast were soon struggling to stay on the deck as the ship started to roll over.

"She's going to capsize," said Jack as he watched the events unfold.

Before Abigail could respond, he heard Abrams roar again. "Ready to fire, sir!"

"Fire now, Abrams!"

The ferocious volley from the Destiny's guns opened up but largely came crashing down in the waters surrounding the fleeing cruiser. Soon enough, the cruiser escaped out of the bay and disappeared into the horizon. A small trail of smoke followed in the air above it until it eventually fell out of view.

"Jack, should we chase it?"

Jack looked back to the base and then to other enemy cruiser. The Occitanian vessel was nearly capsized by this point and out of action. He could see enemy sailors trying to climb onto her hull to stay out of the water."

"No, not now. There's not enough of us to keep up the chase on her and also attend to the base and the survivors of the sunk cruiser. Besides, they won't try to come back without fixing their ship and without reinforcements."

Abigail nodded. "So back into port then?"

"For us, yes," said Jack. He radioed over to Lt. Vicky Carter on the Tiger. "Vicky, can you pick up the survivors of that Occitanian cruiser?"

A response shot back over immediately. "You sure you don't want them to become shark bait, Jack?"

Jack chuckled. "I'm sure, Vicky."

"Roger that, we'll bring them into port."

***

A short while later, Jack and the rest of the task force sailed into the harbor of Quiller's Cove. As soon as they were past the jetty, Jack could hear the sounds of revelry inside the town.

The horns on the tugboats in the harbor started to go off, giving a steady stream of honks as they went by. Soon enough the bells over the main port building started to ring as well. On shore, several of the dock workers and other sailors could be seen waving their service caps at the returning ships.

Abigail was the first to point out the obvious. "They're saluting you, Jack."

"Saluting me? Saluting us, you mean," he corrected.

She giggled. "No, I don't think so. This base has been all the talk about Commander Jack Easterbrook coming to visit and now he's just saved them from certain death. You're a hero, Jack."

Jack smiled but remained silent. Had he not hit the Occitanians when he did, they might have done the same to his ship with their next volley.

A few lucky shots were the difference between life and death. It was something that Bancroft had always told him when he was in the academy, and now he could see the old admiral was right.

As the ships pulled into dock and were pushed into their berths, he watched as several of the new fires from town were put out or brought under control.

The damage didn't appear to be as bad as yesterday and since most of the base was already on high alert, they mobilized quickly to contain the damage.

When the mighty propellers of the Destiny stopped moving, Jack, Abigail, and the rest of the crew escaped the bridge and made their way to the plank. Even from up on the ship, he could see a small crowd gathering to greet them as they descended to the dock, and they were all soon consumed by cheers.

"Thank you, men! Thank you!"

"You're all heroes!"

"You saved us from the Occitanians!"

"Three cheers for Commander Easterbrook!"

Several more cheers went up in the air as Jack tried to make his way through the small crowd. What seemed like thousands of hands patted his back or tried to reach his own hand to shake. He found himself shaking back, grateful that they were able to arrive just in time to prevent any further damage to the base.

At the end of the dock Jack was surprised to see Commodore Lucas waiting for him. He saluted the old commander as soon as he was able.

"Great shooting there, Commander!" said Lucas with a grin. "You showed those bastards how to fight!"

Jack grinned. "The Destiny is one fine warship, sir. I'm lucky to have the command of the best task force in the Javan navy."

"That you are, son! All of Quiller's Cove is proud of you, as well as the navy too. Hell, all of Java salutes you for your victory today, Jack."

"Hopefully the one that escaped won't give you any trouble any time soon. We sure bloodied her nose a bit."

"I feel quite safe even with you leaving tomorrow. I've already radioed the report of your action back to the Admiralty. Bancroft sent you back this personal message." Lucas handed over the small telegram.