Laciel
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| Joined: 09 Jan 2013 |
| Total Posts: 9 |
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| 12 May 2013 06:05 PM |
I was bored and decided to write a short story about the Kraken due to the recent sightings at Portsmouth. Please enjoy and I'd appreciate creative feed back and criticism.
Cast - Ship: H.M.S. Cullifrey, 72 guns Ship of the Line
Real Characters- Rank: Captain. Name: James Treville, Esq.
Rank: 1st Lieutenant. Name: Zhelib.
Rank: 2nd Lieutenant. Name: Lance Carter.
Rank: Gunner. Name: Mr. Fox.
Invented Characters- Rank: Midshipman. Name: Mr. Smith.
Rank: Boatswain. Name: Mr. Jones.
Rank: Gunner. Name: Mr. Green.
Rank: Gunner. Name: Mr. Walker.
Rank: Seaman. Name: Mr. Wattson.
Rank: Seaman. Name: Mr. Tailor.
Cook. Name: Mr. Fletcher.
Doctor. Name: Dr. Miller.
Calm was the sea as the H.M.S. Cullifrey glided gracefully through the soft surface of the salty waters of Portsmouth bound for Dover, sails at half catching the bitter winter winds and decks creaking as sailors went about their duties as normal under the supervision of the ship's Lieutenants.
"Full sail!" ordered James Treville, the Cullifrey's Captain, in a loud and commanding tone over the general noise expected of a Naval ship.
"Mr. Tailor! Mr. Wattson!" the 2nd Lieutenant Lance Carter called down into the bowels of the ship, "Captains orders, get up there and unfurl those sails lads!" he ordered before turning back to watching the starboard Gunners under his watch go through their drills.
"Aye aye, sir!" two voices responded in unision, both men appearing from below deck and quickly made their way up the rigging to complete their task.
On the portside things ran just as smoothly under the watchful eyes of 1st Lieutenant Zhelib, his Gunners listening and responding well to his orders.
"Swab! Powder! Wadding! Shot!" Zhelib ordered, commanding each step of the process while the Gunners went about swabbing out the bore, pushing in the charge of powder, pushing down the wadding and loading the shot. Only after a double check that his orders had been followed correctly did the Lieutenant give the order to fire, because when done incorrectly the cannon could explode violently and he didn't want that during a drill.
Or at all for that matter.
Below deck the Bosun, Mr. Jones, was busy lecturing a group of seaman on the nature of gossip as he had noone to flog. Very rarely did he have to flog someone on this ship as the men were all relatively happy and very well disiplined.
Not too far away from Mr. Jones and his gossiping sailors Mr. Smith, a Midshipman, talked casually with Dr. Miller about herbal remidies recently discovered on an expedition to which to the ship's cook, Mr. Fletcher, piped up and added that the herbs made good seasoning with the right fish. Everything was as usual aboard the H.M.S. Cullifrey.
That was until the barometric pressure dropped.
Lieutenant Carter noticed first as he stiffled a yawn and his ears popped, then all the experinced sailors began to notice and as expected the order came from Captain Treville to furl the sails.
"Furl those sails!" he commanded from the wheel, "Bring it all in and haul it tight!"
To which all able hands went scurrying about, up the rigging and hauling in the sails before fastening them down tightly. One seaman hopped down from the rigging with a soft bump on the deck next to Lieutenant Carter, a curious look on his face.
"Sir, why do we all hurry about when the pressure changes and bring in the sails when we have such a favourable wind?" he asked.
Lance turned to look and smiled lightly, it was good to have sailors that were keen to learn. So he explained thier actions.
"Well Mr. Fox, when the barometric pressure drops it means more often then not an oncoming storm. If we kept the sails unfurled then it could cause disaster and if we left it until the storm actually presented itself..." he stopped aburptly as he was interuppted by the Captain.
"...then it would making furling the sails much more dangerous." Captain Treville finished as he came up behind them with a grimace as he looked out to sea, hands folded behind his back and holding himself with pride like a true Naval Officer. "At ease Lieutenant." he added as Lance gave a smart and respectful salute.
And sure enough the clouds began to darken and the rain set in, the bitter wind becoming a powerful gale that battered the ship this way and that. Captain Treville battled away at the wheel, giving the storm his all as his Lieutenants ran to and fro about the ship making sure everyone had secured a lifeline to the main mast and making sure the cannons and other loose cargo were tied down properly.
Zhelib looked up towards his Captain as he secured his own lifeline and noticed the grim look on his face. He made his way next to his Captain's left side and shouted over the storm to his Captain.
"What's wrong sir?" he asked but his voice was drowned out as thunder struck.
"This is no normal storm Lieutenant." came Captain Treville's responce, having understood what Zhelib had tried to ask him, "I smell something foul in this god awful wind..."
And at that moment the ship stuck fast in the water, sending sailors flat on their faces and the Captain painfully into the wheel.
"What was that?" Mr. Jones shouted out to noone in particular, "A reef?" Some of the men ran to the sides of the ship to look, bubbles rising from the water below that bubbled away at the ship's belly. Captain Treville thought for a moment then his eyes widened in alarm.
"GET AWAY FROM THE SIDES!" he roared at his men but too late as a huge ugly red tentacle rose from the salty sea and quickly impaled Mr. Jones, wrapped around him and dragged him to the depths. The whole action took less than 3 seconds.
"KRAKEN!" yelled several of the sailors as they ran for weapons and the Gunners to their Cannons as more tentacles slowly rose from the water.
"We must free the ship from it's grasp or we are are done for!" Captain Treville bellowed to his Lieutenants to which both nodded in understand and went about their duty.
Lieutenant Carter ran to his station on the starboard side and ordered his men to hold their fire and for any nearby seaman to grab a spear or musket and prepare to launch one large assault on the invading tentacels. Lieutenant Zhelib almost mirrored his actions on the portside but decided to switch his ammo to chain shots instead of the normal shots.
Almost syncronised the Lieutenants ordered to fire upon the Kraken with varying results. The portside were peppered by a large ammount of fire from the muskets forcing them to come closer together in defence before being tied up by the chain shots and sinking below the surface. As for the starboard side, the tentcales were ripped apart by a full Broadside and equally peppered with musket fire as well as a few spears piercing them before too sinking below the surface of the sea.
"AYE! Good work lads!" the Captain complimented as the Cullifrey broke free from her fleshy prison only to be struck by a rough rouge wave to port that claimed the lives of a few sailors as well as soaking the powder of the portside cannons.
James stood at his beloved ship's wheel and cursed the beast, his teeth beared in a viscious snarl.
"Not my ship. Not my men. You shall have nothing you beast!" he roared as he steered the ship up a wave before turning hard to starboard, so that the cannons of the portside faced directly down into the sea as they rode the wave, very close to capsising.
"Captain, what are you doing?!" yelled Mr. Green from the rigging, holding on for dear life before loosing his grip and plummeting to the sea below with a blood curdling scream.
But instead of hitting the water, he flew straight into the beak like maw of the Kraken as it raised it's head above the surface.
"So it shows itself." Zhelib commented as he held on to the mast, leaning back against the slanted deck, "So that's what he's doing, trying to lure the Kraken's head out so we can kill it!"
"All Gunners to the starboard guns!" Lance yelled as he aimed a musket down towards the beast as did several seamen, all holding on to the deck for dear life as they did.
The wave carried on to serve as an uneven platform and the Kraken followed their progress, getting closer and closer by the second, the stenched of a thousand dead sailors and pirates wafting from it's foul mouth. A very tempting target.
"Hold fire until we give the word!" Zhelib yelled as a seaman fired upon the Kraken with a musket, "We won't get another shot at this, let's make it count!"
The Kraken was meters away now, almost on them again. James held his hand above his head and watched as it got closer and then...
"I'll send you back to where you came from you ugly SON OF A..." a clap of thunder cut him off as he roared the last word then...
"FIRE!" he gave the order as the thunder cleared and the Kraken was level with the Cannons and at point blank range.
"FIRE!" yelled Lance and Zhelib to the men and a storm off lead and Cannon fire leaped from the deck and tore into the Kraken, dark blood flying everywhere as it howled with a unearthly cry and sank backwards into the sea.
Captain Treville smiled weakly and closed his eyes as the wave they had been riding closed in around them and everything went black.
Some time later, James opened his eyes to the sight of a beautiful cloudless blue sky and with a large groan he sat up and looked around to a most peculiar sight. Most of the men were unconsious on the deck as were Lieutenant Zhelib and Mr. Green, but somehow Lieutenant Carter had ended upside down in the rigging only being held by his foot, his usually clean uniform smeared with Kraken blood and his jacket dangling over his head, his arms dangling loosely.
Despite himself the Captain started laughing which caused some of the men to stir, including both Lieutenants and soon everyone still alive was laughing and celebrating their victory after Lance freed himself and joined them.
"HUZZAH! HUZZAH! HUZZAH!" they chanted but the moment soon passed.
"We lost Smith, Jones, Walker, Wattson and Tailor sir." Mr. Fox said quietly to the Captain and everybody went quiet.
James leaned against the wheel to support himself and closed his eyes, his heart heavy with the loss of his good men. But his men needed him here and now.
"All hands to stations, I want full sail bound for Dover!" he commanded to which everyone went about it. Some helping Dr. Miller treat the surviving wounded and the rest going about repairs and sailing.
James looked over the state of his beloved Cullifrey. She was in shambles and he had lost many good men to the beast but they were alive. Both of his Lieuteants appeared at each of his sides, Lance on the left and Zhelib on the right.
"Did we kill it sir?" Lance asked with a sideways glance at his Captain, Zhelib nodding as he folded his arms behind his back.
"No, I think we just gave it bad day." the Captain responded shaking his head as he pulled out his compass lowering his eyes to it to get his bearings then when they rose they were filled with fire, "But next time, I'll make sure it feels the full wrath of the Navy and a scorned Captain."
"Well, at least it will make a good story at the tavern in Portsmouth sir." Zhelib commented, cracking a smile.
And they all laughed, the Cullifrey sailing bravely on towards Dover.
Meanwhile at the Admirality Building at Portsmouth... "Finest ship in the Navy?" Lord James Autaepercival Kirk commented behind his desk as he read his report on an incident that had happened at the docks, "Whichever idiot wrote this wouldn't know the finest ship in the Navy if it raked him with a full Broadside..." he muttered. And so ends the story with a little wisdom from Lord Kirk.
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Canis2
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| Joined: 15 Sep 2012 |
| Total Posts: 41 |
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| 12 May 2013 07:00 PM |
| Well, well, well...quite a good read, Mr. Laciel. |
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| 12 May 2013 07:21 PM |
| Even I enjoyed that..... and I'm not much of an online reader. |
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| 13 May 2013 07:29 AM |
| Beautifull! I always liek to see talent ;) I also wroth stories like this, only in dutch (cause i'm dutch ;) |
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