A Glorious Stand (Glorious Beginning Continuation)

[Devil 321]

It seemed as though Ivan had been correct about the master knight @Phoebe being unable(?)to use the Comlink. Simpson's facial expressions seemed annoyed there. Bastion had stated tanks. ASB(Artificial Secondary Brain) ran a list of what data it had on such a weapon. It was odd to Warpath that these didn't have sniper rifles, at least anti-personal sniper rifles on board for the crews. Yet, that might be because of added RPG munitions. 

'' Warpath to Bastion. As soon as the left furthest ship is within range, please fire all tanks 2 times at it. -- I need air lift to the one in line after the one closest to the one being bombarded. ''

The idea was to cripple the furthest left, board the second in the middle(The one closest to the one on the furthest right) Once on board. Warpath would begin hostilities, firebombing the crew, hopefully the smoke(Poison Ivy, Poison Oak, Poison Sumac, and peppers high Capsaicin content) created from the fire would cause some real problems for those on board, and perhaps if the wind was favorable, cause problems for the other ships as well. Using the havoc, Warpath would take control of the helm, and attempt to steer the ship into the furthest right ship, hopefully doing so at such an angle, that it caused all 4 ships to get stuck.

'' Ivan. Do you know what a wishbone maneuver is? I would like to set up units on either side of the beach, so those pirates that do make it up to the beach, are torn apart from eitherside. ''

Could also be called a pincer. The question was. Was there a way for Warpath to get air lifted to the ship he wanted to board? That would make things a lot easier. Now the ASB did suggest working with the other mercenaries, but not many of them seemed to be able to understand the tech Ivan provided. 

'' Ivan, can you find out if anyone else here is able to use comlinks? ''

[Xoco 191]

Douglas, now having finished his conversation with Addison, strolled towards the sound of the red lads’ singing, his feet matching the rhythm of the song.

“Admiral Howard?” He spoke, leaning on his cane, “Addison sent me here after I inquired about joining the battle.”

[Zashiii 4331]

"It should start soon," Natalya spoke out loud to no one in particular. Standing on the beach but a bit farther back from the initial line of defense, the young girl was patiently watching the enemy ships and hoping the fight won't ever reach the shores.

Behind her, sprawled on the sandy ground are the alcohol-stained figures of her babysitters Sera and Khaki. Empty bottles of booze littered their surroundings, some of the intoxicating substance seemed to have spilled on the sandy beach. They have been sleeping and drinking in wait for the impending battle, much to Natalya's dismay.

Ignoring the two idiots, Natalya returned her attention to the ensuing naval combat. She will just have to be patient for now.

[notmuch_23 2300]

Thurgood looks over at Natalya sitting on the beach, the two drunk women passed out near her, then to the empty glass bottles of booze, and starts thinking.

"Huh, if I fill those with thermite, I can stick the lit magnesium sparkler in through the top, get the reaction going, and actually have a bit of time to throw it before the glass gets incredibly fucking hot. That way it acts much more like an extreme Molotov cocktail. The glass breaks, sends molten, burning metal everywhere, which hurts like fucking hell no matter how much hits, or where, and ignites anything flammable while being next to impossible to extinguish! BRILLIANT!"

So, with his attack plan requiring him to be idle longer than anybody else, Thurgood stands up, walks over to Natalya, and asks "y'all need these bottles for anything?"

@Zashiii

[Fierach 3639]

As the ships drew closer they became more identifiable; four sea dragons of steel and fire, cutting through the water gracefully despite their jagged lines. Their decks swarmed with activity, potential plunderers making ready to extort another haul. 

The Mandarin, the Red Royal, the Blackpool and the Unbridled. Such were the names of the primary vessels of the Tithe Fleet, commandeered by the Crimson Wake.  A host of smaller ships swarmed around each vessel, and as the four larger pirate destroyer-class vessels came to an anchor far from the beachhead, the smaller vessels of the pirate armada came together and headed for the beach to make a landing. A mist would come with them, unnatural and dark. 

It covered the advance of the smaller vessels and landing craft, not entirely, but ominous enough. Figures could be seen through the fog, but not clearly as they made their way onto the beach, pirates ready for plundering, confident, arrogant. They had already struck a half dozen other ports for their portion of the "Gleaming Tithe" demanded by their overlord, and the Crimson Wake would see that the town of Marrow's bounty be added to it.

[Silent Sword 33]

From a far away distance, a cloaked figure watched the battle unfold through an ornate spyglass.

[Agent Knockout 216]

As Ivan watched the ships, he realised something.

'Those are not ordinary pirate vessels, those are armoured destroyers with escorts! I need to get to the firing stations at once! Warpath, we will communicate through the secure comlink channel, but I need to ready fire at once from my concealed and protected position!'

As Ivan ran for the firing platform, he rushed in the command vehicle where the rest of the crew was stationed and shouted:

'Action stations! We have them in visual range, and they are destroyers with landing craft! Milenic, contact our standby reinforcements and tell them to deploy! Also, call helicopter support, those Hinds! We need to assist our Ally as much as possible! Move, move, move! ,as the crew rushed to their positions and began executing the orders at once. 

 

[Phoebe 1739]

The Master Knight, draped in cloak and hood, ceased her singing. Her nails struck a final chord, leaving an ominous yet beautiful note echoing across the empty ocean. She placed the instrument on the ground before standing and bringing her hood down around her shoulders. The wind billowed against her as she stared blankly at the approaching pirates. Ravenous and hungry, they seemed, and so they shored around her, a lone statue amid an ocean of opportunistic predators.

Why this gesture? She sought to reason. To reason with a foe that from the accounts of the victims, were beyond reason. But it was the sworn duty of a Knight, a protector of the realms of men, to have the strength to exercise restraint. Restraint from devolving into a bloodlusting fiends seeking only to destroy. On this day, she would destroy her foe, but no more than was necessary. And it would all begin, with a negotiation.

[notmuch_23 2300]

As the ships came closer, Thurgood could see that they are modern, armored naval vessels as he looks up from the spot where Natalya, Sera, and Khaki are on the beach, then over to the rowboat, and back to the vessels, and back to the rowboat, and back to the vessels.

There's an old saying that no plan survives first contact with the enemy, and it's one he knows well, so his "plan", such that it was, wasn't very fleshed out; he wanted to stay flexible, but rowing out on that little wooden boat is pure suicide! Having something to give him enough buoyancy in his gear to just swim out there would be better, even better if he had shape-charges to plant below the waterlines of the three destroyers anchored out at the edge of the harbor...

...but wishing he had equipment doesn't get the job done. What could he do with what he already has?

[Zashiii 4331]

@notmuch_23

"Yeah..sure..uh...oh! Natalya was taken aback at the man who greeted her. That face is something she can never forget. He....this man. She knows this man. In fact, she even knew his name. The words came out of her lips before she could swallow it back.

"Uncle Thurgood! Thurgood Singlance!" came her squeaky voice. "It was really you! Auntie Holly and Uncle Jack always told stories about you."

[Jack Howard 310]

Howard saw the ships and noted that in a second they would be able to see them. At the click of a finger Howard turned to Cochrane and waved his gun in the air. Cochrane quickly saluted and brought his men to their knees by tapping their shoulder and telling them to pass along, every soldier quickly crouched down on their knees, one after the other. Howard himself, who had already got his troops down by the, in his opinion genius, order. He rushed down the long line of logs and troops, tapping all of their soldiers and reminding them of the orders and when to follow. The trap was set and the troops were ready.

The troops in their red uniforms had sunk beneath the cover of the logs by the orders of Howard and Cochrane. Sitting down in a kneeling position, using their guns to keep them up they waited for the order from Howard. There they remained, chewing tobacco and fiddling with their sabres awaiting the fight. They were given an incredibly specific order to lower the angle of their hats to go over their eyes, not fully cover them but just them the impression of being non-human. Howard was making every idea of making the soldiers more scary come into play. These little fear tactics included the said hat slanting and tightening their uniform to "make them look more foreign.". The order to "fight like wolves" as Howard said, basically murder and run at the order was made just before they crouched down by Cochrane and agreed by Howard, when they stood, they would yell at the top of their lungs as they open fire to give the impression of being more ruthless than them, in these soldiers eyes these pirates were animals, so they would slaughter them like animals. 

The ensign officer, the bloak who held the ship's colours, was going through the most nerve-wracking time. He was given the order from Howard to stand up first, showing their colours to the enemy to make them have the regret to their charge. This gave him an incredibly high chance of death. As the poor bugger positioned himself to be ready to raise the flag, he got a surrounding reputation with the troops. "A soldier to stand in the middle of a shooting range is the most brave man among the ones shooting him" A soldier whispered, who was kneeling right next to him. The lad was cheered up from this lads words but just to his luck, Howard had made it there on his rush down to remind everybody of the orders. Howard stopped and whispered, "You are leading this attack, you're one of the heroes of this battle.". This cheered him up more and got his confidence back. 

All the troops were ready, the trap was now fully set. The battle could begin.

[Agent Knockout 216]

As the tasks were assigned and completed, the 3 tanks slid into their defensive positions. In their previously dug holes, only the turret and a small part of the upper glacis was visible, and no pirate shot would penetrate this thick hemisphere turret. It would either bounce off harmlessly, or get stuck. The glacis would too resist the blows. Mostly stealthy, the pirates would barely notice this manuever.

What might be noticed, though, was the very distant sound of the jet engines of the two MiG-29K fighters flying a good distance away from the village, preparing for a possible attack run. However, it also partially blended in with the wind, making it a little harder to notice. 

Edited February 25, 2020 by Agent Knockout

[Veloci-Rapture 2086]

Mel peeked over the barricade log and took a good long look at the approaching pirate ships, then laughed. It was the laugh of a woman who has just heard a piece of amazingly good news and wonderful joke at the same time.

"Fuckin' beautiful. Look at that monster."

Her eyes caressed the Red Royal as if the ship were a long-absent lover approaching from afar. She took the final swig from her flask and tossed it onto the sand at her feet before scanning the beach for the guy who'd been asking about a rowboat.

"Hey! Firebug!" she called out, waving to Thurgood. "You up for a bit of meta-piracy? I've got the transportation if you're willing to bring the pain!"

@notmuch_23

[notmuch_23 2300]

"I don't know what they told you, or how true it is," Thurgood tells Natalya as he picks up the empty bottles.

Then a voice came from somewhere else.

"Ya got somethin' faster than oars?"

@Zashiii @Veloci-Rapture

[Veloci-Rapture 2086]

"Faster and sneakier," Mel nodded as she approached Thurgood and Natalya. She glanced at the kid then shrugged her shoulders; she hadn't planned on having more than one person in her audience for this one, but it probably wasn't important.

"I'm a high priestess of Luquura, and I've already secured her blessing. I can assume one of Her Sacred Forms," Mel tried to convey the capital letters on the phrase with her intonation, "and swim you out to the ships, with only your head above the water. My question is, if I can ferry you right up against the hulls, do you have something you can use to bust holes in them right at the waterline? We can get three of the big ones listing hard a-port, then climb up onto their flagship, beat up enough of the crew that they get scared of us, take it over, and start blasting their marines from behind."

Mel cocked her head at Thurgood. "Sound like a plan? Yes? Good? Great. Meet me at the waterline. As soon as those salty dogs hit the beach, we'll set out."
 

@notmuch_23 @Zashiii

Edited February 25, 2020 by Veloci-Rapture