(Warfare has always fascinated me. Not that I like it – war is horrible – but the tactics, the battles, the Commanders are just so intruding. As a person that is fascinated by History this is certainly interesting when I get to see a lot of lore about war in AO, so I decided to write a few stories about it, starting with this one.)
(This will be a pretty long series, so stay tuned and I’ll do more if people like it.)
Commodore Ashley Zephiel rises from her sleep as rays of sunlight danced on his face. She wakes up and grabs her iconic hat and wears it, then goes to greet her crew. “Morning everyone,” she says. She takes the helm of the ship. Her quartermaster, Lieutenant Zhao, gives the order: “sails up!”
The Ketch of the Gravy, named Valiant, heads south with full speed, and she is not alone: behind her are two more ketches, and four caravels. The ketches led by Commanders and the Caravels by Majors, all heavily reinforced with thick bronze armor, the Ketches armed with massive bronze carronades, and the caravels fitted with Arcanium rams – deadly rams made of Arcanium which channels magic energy, dealing extra damage.
This wasn’t a single Gravy patrol ship, this was an entire fleet, and they had only one goal in mind: invade Etwan bay, a strategic outpost of the Corsair Country, and eliminate all ships and personnel found there. Every member on the fleet, from the marines to the lead Commodore himself, had sworn to fight to the bitter end, even if it cost their lives, they will achieve their goal. Many will perish in battle, and that is a fact.
They were just two days sailing from the bay now. Soon they will storm the beaches and fight to the death with those damned pirates that had plagued the seas for so long. Every passing hour made the crew even more nervous, their hearts beating faster.
As the sun hung directly above the sea, with the blazing heat of noon tormenting the crew, Commodore Zephiel spots a shadow in the distance through her spyglass. As she got closer, she noticed black flags on the ketch, with a crew of fierce men. Then to her horror, two more ketches appeared in the back.
“Enemy fleet approaching! Prepare for battle!” She yells. Lieutenant Zhao grabs a bugle and blows it, signaling to the other ships. The Commodore immediately takes hold of the ship’s steering wheel and explains, “I’ll lead the attack! The other ketches, assist me with cover fire! Caravels, flank the enemy and ram them from the side!”
“Cannons ready!” Lieutenant Zhao yelled. As the first Corsair Ketch is a few seconds away from Valiant, Commodore Zephiel yells, “now! Fire!” Boom! Boom! Boom! The carronades launched a devastating volley of heavy exploding shells, sending the lead Corsair Ketch, Vengeance, rocking and shaking. One pirate fell overboard, another’s legs were severed by the blast.
Zephiel immediately turned the wheel right, as hard as she could. When the Corsair ship retaliated, Valiant had turned nearly 90 degrees, so only two exploding shells hit her. Still, it was pretty damaging, as Commodore Zephiel slipped and fell, but she got back up quickly. “My fingers hurt……” she moans.
Then the right Gravy Ketch, Fortune, went by the other side of the Vengeance’ and unleashed another volley, further damaging the ship, whose body was half-submerged into the water and had cracks everywhere. Then, Valiant turns back to recover, and Fortune steps forward to take the fight. Vengeance and Fortune exchange volleys, but Vengeance, already severely damaged, fails to outlast Fortune, and right after the cannonball volley a caravel named Diamond rams Vengeance, delivering the killing blow. Wasting no time, Diamond’s crew under Major Blade and Fortune’s crew under Commander Curtis board the sinking ship. “Blast it! Fight till yer last breaths, lads!” Vengeance’ captain Fallenfire draws his greatsword and leaps into battle. Both crews draw their sword and guns and engage in a grim, fierce melee.
Meanwhile, Valiant turns to face the second Ketch, Blade. Valiant and Blade exchanged volleys, but Valiant had already sustained significant damage. Then, two cavarels with Arcanium rams, one with acid and the other with fire, rammed straight into the Corsair Ketch. The Ketch was immediately crippled, its right hull now corroding and burning. Majors Kelly and Cline leapt onto the ship. Kelly spinned through the ship, using her Sunken Sword to chop through the weaker pirates and soaking the stronger ones. Then Major Cline leaps into the air and blasts the pirates with ice magic, freezing them briefly. The Captain, Gutierrez, breaks free from the ice and leaps at Cline, repeatingly punching at her with burning fists, then swapping to his leg, giving her a heavy kick in the stomach that sent her falling into the ocean. Meanwhile the quartermaster drew his Rapier and fought Kelly in a melee battle.
Commodore Zephiel decides to intervene, stepping onto the wooden deck of Blade. “Ah, another one of you Navy Scum, in your fancy outfit,” Gutierrez compliments.
Zephiel gets into a combat stand, fusing her moonlight magic into her fists. The two face off for a few seconds, then Gutierrez leaps at her, launching a barrage of punches at her, pushing her off the ship, but Zephiel holds onto the railing, jumps up, kicks Gutierrez in the stomach and launches two punches before Gutierrez could block them. They both engage in a fist fight, with Gutierrez burning fists and Zephiel’s light fusion fists matching eachother with equal speed.
Gutierrez switches to his leg, smashing the ground and forcing Zephiel back, then attempting to land a heavy blow but Zephiel evades it, grabs his leg and flings him against the railing. Gutierrez crashes head first onto the wood, but he swiftly gets up and punches Zephiel several times before hitting her in the stomach with his ankle, sending the Commodore flying back to the front of the ship.
“So that’s it huh, all your talents……” Gutierrez mocks, wiping the blood off his face with his palm. “You’re just another Navy dog. Weak, and incompetent.” Gutierrez slowly approaches the disgraced Commodore, who struggles to rise to her feet as she coughs out blood. Half of the ship is now painted red with blood, but the fight wasn’t over yet. Then, his eyes wavered as Kelly finally slays the quartermaster, piercing the Sunken Sword into his chest.
As the Commodore tries to continue the fight, Gutierrez leaps at Kelly, swiftly punching her sword out of her hand and strangling her. Kelly grabs a dagger and slashes the pirate, and kicks him, but Gutierrez quickly gives her a hard punch on the face, and stomps her as she falls unconscious.
Commodore Zephiel screams, then leaps at the pirate, knocking him away and launching a barrage of punches. Zephiel and the pirate battle eachother with fists, punching and blocking, unable to knock the other out with a decisive punch.
Realizing a decisive punch was impossible, and knowing the enemy’s strength is far greater than hers, Zephiel leaps and kicks Gutierrez, then targets his arms, turning her hand into a blade-like shape and hitting Gutierrez’ arm repeatedly then striking his jaw, before landing a hit on his neck that severely wounded the pirate. Gutierrez gets back up, barely standing, and jumps and tries to kick the Commodore, but she leans back, evades the kick, before punching Gutierrez in the stomach, and dealing the killing blow by smashing his left jaw. The pirate staggers back a few steps, then falls to his knees, and collapses, defeated.
Commodore Zephiel stands there for a few seconds before she falls before abruptly realizing her subordinates are in danger. “Kelly! Cline!” She immediately dives into the water. She sees Kelly, unconscious, and with all her might Zephiel swims towards her, grabbing her and taking her back onto the caravel. She then turns and sees marines on the caravel trying to save Major Cline.
Zephiel turns and sees that most of her Marines have fallen, including Lieutenant Zhao, and her ship in ruins, with only around ⅓ of its durability left. She boards her Ketch and sits down, trying to get rest as the Marines tend to her wounds.
Meanwhile, Commander Curtis and Major Blade face off against Captain Fallenfire on Vengeance. Major Blade leaps forward with his hammer and smashes Fallenfire’s greatsword, but the pirate twirls around and spins, creating a tornado that knocks the Major back, then the two exchange hits, the metals clashing creating a sharp sound. Commander Curtis activates his Plasma circles, but with Blade in the blast range, he hesitates to attack. Fallenfire is clearly having the advantage, and so when he forces blade to the wall, Curtis yells, “jump!” Blade kicks Fallenfire’s leg, causing him to lose balance as he does a backflip, and Curtis throws a ball of pink glowing energy at the pirate Captain. Zap! Fallenfire suffers a direct hit and is sent flying, eventually hitting a pole and collapsing. “Ah, still have some fighting spirit in ye……” Fallenfire moans as he slowly gets up. His eyes suddenly shine brightly with orange, and he activates an orange magic circle, imbuing fire magic into his sword. “Look out!” The two Gravy troopers leap back as Fallenfire unleashes a huge blazing tornado, causing a huge shockwave and setting the upper half of the ship on fire. The two men jump back onto Fortune, but the pirate follows them and savagely attacks them both. He and Curtis fire a beam at eachother, as two magics collides they burst into an explosion, knocking Curtis back, but Fallenfire remains standing and fights Blade, his superior strength quickly overpowering the Major, but Curtis gets up and fires a blast at him, knocking him to the front of the ship. Fallenfire smirks, then points his finger at Blade. “Look out!” Three orange circles appear below their feet, and in an instant, a massive pillar of fire burst from the ground, lighting up the surrounding area and setting the whole ship ablaze.
Curtis was near the blast and narrowly evaded it, but Blade was caught right in the blast. As the fire cleared, Curtis dashed into the smoke and grabbed the dying Major. “Blade! Blade! You hear me?” Curtis shakes the Major, his entire body burnt and his clothes torn. “Please don’t leave me, please don’t leave me, please……” Major Blade slowly raises his burnt hand, tightly grabs Curtis’ and whispers, “I die in the wake of glory, I couldn’t ask for a greater honor…… and it was truly an honor to serve you, commander……” and with that, Blade closes his eyes for the final time.
“Sacrificing the lower ranks for your own benefit…… that’s all you higher ups do, don’t you?” Commander Curtis boils with anger. He leaps at Fallenfire, only to get blasted directly in the face. He coughs and leaps with magic, firing a beam that the pirate narrowly evades. He throws 3 balls of Plasma at the pirate, but Fallenfire endures them and fires back, to which Curtis fires another ball, and the balls collide, causing a small explosion. Taking the smoke to his advantage, Curtis leaps through it and gets near Fallenfire, then using what remaining strength he has, channels his energy and unleashes it, creating a Plasma explosion that sends Fallenfire back, wounding him. Curtis leaps onto Fallenfire and begins to savagely beat him. Rage filled his mind, it corrupted him as every punch grew more and more powerful and each exhausted him furthermore. The pirate simply laughed sadistically, unfazed by the pain even when his face was scarred and bruised. Curtis violently pulls a cutlass from a pirate corpse and raises it, his eyes filled with nothing but a desire to avenge his fallen comrades. With a quick stab he ended the pirate’s chest burst out with blood, spilling like a fountain. “So this is how it ends, hah……”
Commander Curtis slowly rises to his feet, then kneels done again, with an emptiness in his heart even though he had slain the enemy. He throws the pirate’s corpse into the ocean, then silently picks up Major Blade’s. The rage in his eyes has vanished, left only with grief and sorrow.
Soon the third pirate Ketch was sunk as well, and this time a larger force attacked them, making the fight easier than usual. The last pirate Captain, a magma mage, was swept away by the raging sea with several water mage Majors and Captain’s boosting them. The Gravy had triumphed, but at a terrible cost: two of their ketches and one caravel had been sunk, and the crews who had fought so valiantly perished in battle, bodies piled on the decks swarmed with blood, the sea itself turned red, and among the fallen were several Majors, killed under the banner of the organization they served so loyally.
For a moment everyone was unsure what to do. Commodore Zephiel and Commander Curtis were both heavily wounded, and were in no condition to take command, and everyone was crammed into the surviving ships.
Reluctantly Commander Crest, the captain of the surviving Gravy Ketch, Resilience, promptly took over command and immediately stated: “we must head back.” The crowd of marines instantly began whispering to eachother. “Now? We’ve come so far, we can’t back down now! We must advance and continue our objective!” A major yelled in objection. Commander Crest slammed the table with his fist, “and get all of us killed? Not a single person here is left unscarred, and we’ve already lost so much of our men. Your bravery is clouding your judgment!”
He sighed, then waved his hand, “there is no way we can attempt a successful landing now. Our ships are barely functional and our numbers are too little. The odds stacked against us are simply too great.”
The crew reluctantly complied and turned their surviving ships around. After two hard days of sailing they finally reached the Gravy outpost where they departed, to the shock and horror of the troops there.
Already a few wounded men had perished from lack of medical supplies, and those who made it were immediately rushed to the medical rooms. Another day passes. No one could sleep well that night: Commander Curtis horrified by what he has done, and Commander Crest wondering if he had done the right thing.
The next morning the two commanders are summoned to the office of Rear Admiral Zephyr. “Welcome, Commanders. Please take a seat.” Zephyr points to two seats, indicating the two commanders to help themselves.
“I have heard of your decision to halt the mission, Commander Crest,” Zephyr places his hands together and stares at the frightened commander. He nods, “Yes, sir, we have sustained very heavy losses and we are unable to advance further.”
“While you did do the right thing by saving your men from further disaster,” Zephyr sighs, “it is disappointing that we have been unable to carry out the planned attack. Now the pirates will be weary of our plans to take the fight to them.”
Every word felt like a dagger pierced into Crest’ heart. He knew his decision was the best decision, but he had, in some ways, failed his mission. He lowered his head, racked by guilt.
“How’s Commodore Zephiel? Is she alright?” Curtis asked with concern. “The doctors gave her some exlirs and herbs, she has no immediate danger or any fatal wounds, but she definitely won’t be able to fight for a few months,” Zephyr replied. Both commanders lowered their heads in sorrow.
“I’ll arrange for someone to take over. You two are tired and not exactly in perfect condition, so I’ll find another Commodore to lead the expedition. This is a defining moment – we must capture the Corsair base no matter what, at any cost. Too long have they plagued the seas, too long have they disrupted the peace. It is time to fight back.” The Rear Admiral’s eyes flashed with anger, and a desire for vengeance.