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Sunset was not far off. The last moments of daylight were holding to the sky as the sun topped the horizon, beginning its descent into night.
The fleet was gliding only five feet above the water, moving no faster than if they were sailing the surface.
The Minotaur was moving seaward from nearer to the shore, already signaling their findings to the Talon.
Commodore Knight stood at the foredeck, reading the message through a spyglass herself. Lieutenant Zaffir was at her side, doing the same.
“Fishing village, no known naval presence. Trawlers all about the bay. The next major town is ten miles inland. No cannonade or visible defenses. Sunset approach will be blinding,” Aria read, speaking aloud.
“I concur, Commodore,” stated Lt. Zaffir.
Aria descended to the main deck and walked across at a quick clip towards the aft deck. She paused when she reached Sergeant Novick. “Inform all hands, we are running silent.”
“Aye, Captain.”
Aria continued on, then headed up the stairs to the aft deck.
“Captain Orvin, prepare to change course and move inland. Signal the rest of the fleet. We do this nice and simple. Orderly. One at a time, volleys so long as we have targets. Not total obliteration but extensive destruction.”
“Aye, Commodore,” replied Orvin. He turned. “Commander Arlen?”
The recently promoted first officer of the Talon took up his signal lamp and beamed instructions to the rest of the ships of the Knight Fleet.
Even though Aria retained overall command, during battle the Talon fell to the command of Orvin while she oversaw the entire fleet. He needed a second, and thus they decided that promoting Arlen was the way.
Lieutenant Palvern replaced Arlen as Chief Gunnery officer, while Lieutenant Zaffir took Palvern’s post.
They had discussed making Zaffir first officer for a time, but Aria and Orvin determined that they were better off keeping her ambitions in check. They still put the youngest, most green officer on the ship to good use, and she considered the change in status a promotion.
They had encountered a fleet of equal size to their own and obliterated it two days after meeting with Admiral Rustic. The new corvette assigned to them, the Pegasus, had taken the most damage, as the captain of the fast ship did not immediately obey the orders of the commodore.
Aria had demanded to know his reasoning, and he spat all kinds of distrust at her. Further, he made many disparaging remarks about newly promoted Admiral Rustic.
She removed him from command and replaced him with his second.
The newly-promoted captain made the necessary repairs and soon had his boat in good order, eager to prove himself better than his former superior. It did not take long for that to be the case.
Aria had brought the former captain of the Pegasus aboard her galleon, where she placed him in the brig. She left him there, to watch as they did battle over their next few encounters, and she spoke to him often about disobedience and insubordination.
She determined he would not be executed, but he would have to be disgraced. She would not have dissent of his kind.
The now-disgraced captain was left in the Talon’s brig, and Aria intended to return him to Admiral Rustic at her earliest convenience. The man could possibly still serve the Huscarn Navy, but not under Commodore Knight.
The Knight Fleet had reached the shores of the Cromah Republic and sought out a good first target to attack. The moment was now upon them.
The Ealantic coast of the Cromah Republic, Aria knew, was not too dissimilar to that of the Huscarn Empire. A city here and there, beaches, cliffs, and from time to time, coves and fishing villages. The people of the two nations lived similar lives, and both enjoyed a nation that covered an entire continent.
The Cromah believed themselves freer. While, to Aria’s mind, the Huscarn were no less free - they simply had no say in the choice of their government.
To her way of thinking, they had it better. Life for the Huscarn people was lawful but not so bureaucratically regulated as the lives of the Cromah. Aria believed in the empire.
The Talon was aflight, gliding along the coast, fourth ship in the line. The Pegasus had the lead, followed by the Earl and the Magistrate. Behind the Talon came Scimitar and the Rapier. The schooners Baron and Lordling, and the sloops Stiletto and Broadsword would remain seaward, on guard for the approach of Cromah naval forces. Being caught this close to the coast could be dangerous. Maneuvering would be complicated at best.
The Minotaur was heading farther out to sea, taking point. Aria did not need to level the village, just rain destruction. She was always willing to take chances, but she would take necessary precautions. She would not be caught off guard by the enemy.
The sunset atop the water would pretty much blind the villagers to their approach. They’d be able to do nothing, sound no alarm, and take no cover before it was too late.
“Portside cannons, make ready to fire,” spoke Commodore Knight as she descended the stairs to the main deck.
“Aye, Commodore,” replied Lieutenant Palvern. She quietly repeated the order, and it was passed belowdecks.
Aria returned to the aft deck, where Orvin stood over the left shoulder of Chief Crang, and Commander Arlen was to the rear of him.
“We’re ready, Commodore,” spoke Captain Orvin.
“I can see the edge of the village now,” remarked Commander Arlen, a spyglass to his eye. “I doubt they’ll see us.”
“This is going to be ugly,” commented Captain Orvin. “They’re completely defenseless.”
Aria looked out at the tree line along the water, which was growing more and more sparse as they neared the village.
“Do you pity them, Mr. Orvin?” questioned Commodore Knight.
Cral Orvin shrugged. “Some. They’re just civilians, after all. But we are at war. Not all good targets are military.”
“It’s a lesson for the Cromah,” stated the Aria softly. “This is the price you pay in the lives of your people for opposing the empire. And it will weaken the support for the government as they fail to offer protection.”
The Pegasus had targeted several of the fishing trawlers and junks in the bay and was now opening fire. Deck guns were being employed to further target ships and do the most damage they could.
After three volleys, the corvette turned seaward and rose to twenty feet above the waves as she accelerated away.
Now the shoreline revealed flat, low buildings on the edge of the village. Canneries or warehouses, most likely. Decent targets, but only if Aria were bent of the utter destruction of the community. Which she was not.
Commodore Knight watched as the Earl and Magistrate each began to fire, targeting the buildings nearest the water. Docks, warehouses. seaside homes, and stores would be pounded and easily shattered by the heavy fire from the schooners.
Shouts and screams could be heard across the bay as the people of the small village reacted to the attack. Aria could see the target for the Talon as they got deeper into the bay, and the schooners arose and turned back seaward, accelerating away.
“Captain?” Aria commanded.
“Fire broadside!” ordered Captain Orvin.
The Talon rocked slightly to the right as the portside cannons fired on the village. They were targeting the next line of buildings inland. The mighty cannons of the galleon smashed their targets with a simple efficiency that Aria found both beautiful and kind of sad.
Voices crying out in terror could be heard across the bay as they destroyed everything they fired upon. The cannons paused only long enough to reload, before delivering a second volley. The central part of the village was being smashed. Smoke was rising, and bells were being rung in alarm.
But the damage was done, and no one could help them.
“Prepare to secure cannons! Mister Crang, come starboard forty degrees.” Raising his voice, Captain Orvin called, “Lieutenant Proggott, make ready to adjust sidesails and prepare to raise the Talon to maximum flight.”
“Aye, Captain!” stated Crang.
“Aye, sir!” replied Proggott.
A third volley was fired into the darkening village as the sun dipped below the horizon. Fires from the damage they had done licked the purple skies. Shouts, bells, and a cacophony of noises from the decimated village reached out across the bay to them.
“Take us out, Captain,” ordered Commodore Knight calmly.
“Mister Crang, all ahead full. Lieutenant!”
“Sidesails ascend to twenty-two degrees. Adjust for maximum flight!” called Lieutenant Proggott.
The Talon accelerated and rose higher above the water.
“Mister Crang, steady as she goes. Take us out to sea.”
“Aye, Captain.”
Commodore Knight looked back as the last ships to attack opened fire on the burning village. The cannon fire from the Scimitar and Rapier would strike the deepest inland, leaving no part of the village untouched.
Aria felt a momentary pity for the villagers, akin to what Orvin had expressed. They had done nothing but serve the Cromah government as citizens, living ordinary lives day to day. But then she considered that everyone had a fate, and they had been destined to suffer for their government’s errors.
Someday, when the empire controlled these lands, perhaps then they’d help them rebuild.
But now was not that time. The Cromah would learn that the seas were no longer theirs, the Ealantic was dominated by the empire, and their shores were not safe, either. It was a lesson anyone who stood up to the empire would learn, eventually.
Aria admitted to herself a preference for ship-to-ship combat over this. It was terribly unfair. And while she would do her duty and be the hand of her emperor upon this shore, she was all too aware of the magnitude of that lesson.
She wondered just how the Cromah would react to this change of engagement.