Chapter 52: 0051 Hormone Cannon
"Buttercup rudder left, cattail rudder right! Flanking, squeeze the channel!"
On the vast open sea west of the island of York, two Brigantine-type sailing ships flying the colorful pupil skull flag rode the waves with huge sails.
They were in pursuit of two Kirk-types flying the French merchant flag.
Such a flamboyant chase was naturally spotted early by the Kirk type, but the broad-bottomed, slightly chubby and single-masted transom sails made it impossible for such a boat to race.
This is especially true in the crosswind environment at hand.
The only way they could borrow wind was to fold, but the two Brigantines, like behemoths with their jaws open, one to the left and one to the right, were forcing their course flatter and flatter.
There was less and less room to fold the rows, the sails were less and less utilized, and they heard the tall young governor upwind issue new orders to the pirate fleet.
"Forced landing! Permission to shell!"
Dense gun doors opened from the inside, and Yacharin, one eye closed, cocked his thumb behind a nine-pounder.
"Gunnery is second only to the romance of getting the girl, gentlemen." He said to the gunners standing behind him, "I know that English gunners are well trained, and where we fire two rounds, you can often fire three, and warships even faster. But why does England still not rule the world? It is because you are not romantic enough."
He squinted, stretched his arms, and stood motionless with his feet planted like roots on the violently undulating gun deck.
"The wind speed, the wind direction, the wind force, the timing of the ignition, the target to aim at, everything has to be considered. It's like getting a girl, you have to know her preferences, her upbringing, her fears and loves before you can hit it right on the nose and go straight to ... ignition!"
Boom!
The nine-pounder long gun in the third compartment exploded with a roar, and the red-hot shell cut a beautiful, slightly skewed arc that landed precisely on the main deck where the Kirk-type was posing with its small guns more than 50 meters away, smashing straight through.
A fire started on the inside of the deck, and the artillery and explosives collapsed inward down the hole, followed by ...
Boom!
A martyrdom explosion triggered by Yacharin's first shot, empowered by Hormonism's quackery.
The explosion occurred in the inner hull of the ship, the shockwave roaring and tearing the Kirk-type hull in half right down the middle.
Thick columns of smoke rose to the sky, and the calm sea set off a huge wave that was so big, five or six meters high, that it almost overturned the Buttercup ship on the side.
Everyone, including Yacharin, stared in disbelief at the gruesome scene.
Limbs, broken arms, complete human bodies, huge shipwrecks, and cargo sealed in wooden crates, and long since unsealed in wooden crates ...
Like rain.
The gunners were filled with awe, "Master Gunner, are all the Frenchmen as good as you are at firing guns?"
"Uh cough!" Yacharin coughed, "So what ... goes to the deck for a forced landing. For the romantic gentleman, we only need to care about when a woman is going to be in bed, we don't need to know exactly why she's in bed."
"Yes!"
The fight ended so abruptly.
Deep in hell their companions were still sinking in despair not far away, and the wails of the sailors came from the depths of the whirlpool, and the captain of the surviving Kirk type heard them, and instantly decided ... to hoist the white flag, lower the sails, and surrender.
Yacharin's Hormone Cannon does wonders.
The battlefield went into inventory, and Ramos had his third mate board the descending ship with the sailors, and in a few moments brought news to Lorraine.
According to that captain's account, they were actually two transshipments that had accidentally gotten away from the coastline in order to chase the wind.
Their bilges were full of china and embroidery from the Orient, with a total value of over thirteen thousand pounds.
Lorraine was like falling on a cloud.
Ten thousand ... three thousand pounds ...
Excluding the captured ships and charts, which could not possibly go for money, the Chamber's profit for the last month was over four thousand pounds, and for the last month again, less than two thousand pounds.
It follows that two thousand pounds is the normal monthly profit standard for the Chamber, given the Drake Chamber's capacity and access at this stage.
To earn thirteen thousand pounds on his own merits, Lorraine would have had to run the Cantabrian route for a full six months in fear.
And now ... they're half in captive ships and half at sea ...
Where are the black columns of smoke and traces of war floating in this long sea, it's gold pounds, it's time, it's more ships, bigger guns ...
At the end of the day, they are all gold pounds!
Lorraine's eyes were red.
"Pass the word that the fleet is at anchor! The Buttercup on first alert, the Cattail Flower to devolve all crews, pick up the captured ships, and inventory the cargo!" He took a deep breath, "Tell Ramos that Nyord doesn't need china or silk, those ... floating on the sea are all ours!"
With Lorraine's orders, Drake's two dainty flowers anchored and lowered their sails in these perilous waters, the anchor chain going all the way down to a depth of nearly seventy meters.
The Cat's Tail Flower had completely abandoned the war effort.
In addition to the twenty or so sailors left behind necessary to keep the ship steady, thirty men landed on the captured ship, pulled out a dozen cables, and virtually tied the captured Kirk-type to the Cattail Flower.
There were two dozen men rowing assault boats, scattered across the vast expanse of ocean to salvage the cargo that had flown out.
Nearby cargo is salvaged directly by the sailors swimming, and when they catch a piece, they send it back to the ship like a sea lion arching a ball.
The Buttercup was the opposite, with Haina climbing up to the foremast lookout and overseeing the southwest, and Pierce standing on the lookout of the mainmast and looking away to the northeast.
All the gun doors were open, all the guns loaded and in position, Lorraine herself was at the helm wheel, and even the saildrivers clutched the halyards and were on full alert in their positions.
Everyone's heart was in their throat, deer-like, thumping.
Faster, Faster ...
This is right next to the main channel of the Cantabrian. A barge robbery in such a deadly place would be like prying over a money truck on the highway to pick up the money when any car speeding by could kill them.
Reason constantly advised Lorraine to drop everything and stay mobile; money is not as important as a small life.
The sentimental villain smiles disdainfully from the sidelines; if people could act according to reason, how could the word fluke have been coined?
The two little people began to quarrel, and in Lorraine's mind, the quarrel caused Lorraine's heart to burn for two hours.
Salvage isn't done yet,
About six thousand pounds or more of cargo was piled up in the captive ship, and four thousand pounds wet and scattered about the deck of the Cattail Flower, and still nearly three thousand pounds of cargo soaked and floating in the sea.
The salvage skiffs rowed farther and farther away, and the swimming sailors grew slower and slower.
"God!" Pierce let out a sudden cry of anguish, "Reindeer! Reindeer sighted at twelve o'clock, full sail, full speed!"
He yanked off his hood violently, and for a moment he couldn't hold on to it, so he could only watch as it fluttered and fled.
"Wind due south, force six, moderate!" He froze and mumbled, his voice rising, shouting toward the stern helm, "Brother! Distance eighteen kilometers, the Reindeer is expected to arrive within the hour!"
Listening to Pierce's screams, Lorraine turned her head stupidly, staring intently at the due north horizon, which was all but devoid of any semblance of sail.
"Is this ... a lesson? Greed is too much, too soon?" He gritted his teeth, "Flags! Tell Ramos to abandon the captured ship immediately and retrieve the sailors! Ask him how long it will take!"
Ramos responded instantly, forty-five minutes.
"I'll give him fifty minutes ... to move as many of the captive ship's cargo holds as he can, all sailors retrieve the Cattail Flower, and then ... flee toward Bilbao!"
A bad feeling welled up in the seafarers' hearts, and Kron asked in place of the crowd, "What about us?"
"We ..." Lorraine took two sharp breaths "The Reindeer is running too fast. If we want the Cattail Flower to escape unscathed, we'll have to yank her back a bit."
Keren's eyes widened, "Going to pull the plug on a destroyer?"
"The adventure begins, my friend ..." Lorraine let out a bitter laugh, and as she did so, she ordered, "Buttercup, change the Chamber of Commerce flag and raise the anchor!"
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone