Stormbreak (Seafire #3) - Natalie C. Parker Page 0,8
thinking they had her on the run, while the plane of Decker’s barge burned. This was her favorite moment of any battle. When the plan she’d drafted in her mind came together in perfect, bold strokes of fire against water.
They ran, and the Bullets chased. Right into the midst of Silver Fleet and the additional five Red Fleet ships holding back for this very purpose. The Bullets were surrounded before they’d even spotted the trap.
For a moment, the battle seemed to pause as the Bullet clips realized their mistake. Then they moved again. Three chose to fight and were quickly subdued, while a fourth fled, and the fifth surrendered immediately.
Caledonia surveyed the scene with grim satisfaction. The battle was theirs, and if his ship was still afloat, so was Fiveson Decker.
CHAPTER THREE
Decker’s ship listed hard in the water, its hull biting ever deeper as the ocean surged into its gut.
“We can’t latch on without endangering the Luminous.” Pisces considered Decker’s ship with a studious frown as they lapped it once more, searching for signs of the Fiveson himself. “They’ll be underwater before we could detatch. Hell, they’ll be underwater before you can give another order.”
“Cover!” Amina called, bringing everyone to their knees.
Caledonia ducked beneath the rail as a few Bullets opened fire from the sloped deck and Amina’s Knots returned the gesture with far more efficiency. This was not the focused attack of a brutal Fiveson, but the last, desperate sounds of a dwindling clip unwilling to surrender.
“Clear,” Amina called again. “Stay steely, Knots.”
The lip of the deck was nearing the water now. Pisces was right. Decker’s ship would soon be nothing more than a memory. But there was still no sign of him, nor of anyone trying to escape.
“Decker should be out here. Looking for a deal or looking death in the face. It’s not like a Fiveson to hide.” Caledonia watched as a fresh wave of struggling Bullets rushed topside to renew their attack.
“Cover!” Amina’s command came again. This time, the gunfire from the Bullet ship was thin. The Knots returned fire and then all was quiet. No more Bullets appeared, and the ship began to sink more rapidly. In another few moments, it would be submerged entirely.
“He might have abandoned ship already. Unless he was never on board to begin with,” Pisces suggested, tipping her eyes toward the barge. The entire western sweep of the vessel was engulfed in flame, the rest still smoking, every inch of the surface charred.
Decker would have wanted to be at the helm of battle, but maybe he’d been taken down by the Knots in the first wave of attack. Maybe he’d hidden belowdecks and drowned. Or maybe he’d been on the bale barge checking his crop when her fleet arrived, and he hadn’t had time to return to the Assault Ship. If that was the case, Caledonia wanted confirmation.
“I’m leading a boarding party,” she said, leaving Pisces to return to the bridge. “Harwell, tell Piston to send a team as well. We’ll need as many hands as possible to search that barge. Nettle, get us as close as you can.”
“Yes, Captain,” Nettle answered, delivering orders to the bridge crew with her next breath.
The deck rumbled and soon the Luminous Wake skimmed alongside the towering barge. If the structure was imposing from a distance, it was more so up close. The barge itself had four hulls, which curved outward at the edges and supported a massive platform deck covered in destroyed crops. Within minutes, Caledonia’s boarding party was scaling a tall hull and planting boots on a deck still steaming and sticky with wet ash. There wasn’t a single speck of orange in sight; every blossom had been consumed by the fire. Even the sweet scent had been seared from the air, replaced by the acrid bite of smoke.
Between rows of blackened crops were the charred bodies of those unlucky enough to be tending the blossoms when the first fire-bringers fell. Caledonia swallowed hard at the sight. Across rows of scorched earth, a few figures directed hoses over the fields, spraying seawater into what flames remained.
But no one came to meet them. Nor did they attack at the sight of their invaders. They kept to their work, dousing flames. Unconcerned with Caledonia and her crew.
“Spread out,” Caledonia said when the Piston’s party arrived, letting Pisces make search teams of the forty crew members. “Bring survivors topside. I want Decker alive.”