“No quarter given, none taken,” he said. “Though it helps that everyone respawns.”
Alex smiled. “Yes, that does take away most of the guilt.”
Shane looked back at the model. They had one ship, and given time it would have its full capabilities. And though it might not be practical at this point, once they got a fleet of them…
“You know,” he said, “no matter how this turns out I can take a little satisfaction that we were so effective that it made the guild drop everything in a panic.”
“You're famous. Or infamous, if you'd like to call it that. And it's not just within the higher reaches of the Iron Guild. Word of what happened is starting to trickle down to the lower ranks, and out into the streets. This is getting people's attention.”
He nodded. “And this might be the thing for them to rally around.”
Alex clapped him on the shoulder. “One thing at a time. Like you said to Travis, three ships aren't going to make that much of a difference. But if we can keep the momentum going then we might be able to make a difference. Or rather, it's about you.”
Shane thought he heard his tone change. “You don't seem terribly pleased about that.”
Alex shrugged. “I'm a bit jealous of you, I'll admit. None of us like the Iron Guild, and most of us would like nothing better than to go out and slug them in the mouth. You get to do that. Right now we have to sit on the sidelines and bide your time.”
“There's no way we could have done any of this without your help,” Shane said. “And so what if you missed the opening skirmish. There's a trade war brewing. I can feel it. Even if we act purely defensive, we're going to have to fight. The Iron Guild isn't going to knuckle under to us and lose their position without struggling first.”
“Which gives us plenty of time to join in the carnage,” Alex said. “You know, if this wasn't a game people would be saying that we're psychotic.”
That comment made him laugh. “If we did a lot of things in real life that we do in here we'd either be in prison or in a padded cell. I guess that's the beauty of a virtual reality. It's the ultimate escapism.”
“True enough. And even the hard times provide a thrill.”
Shane couldn't deny the excitement simmering inside of him. They were standing on the edge of a knife, waiting for the inevitable war to happen. No one knew what lay in store for them after that.
And he couldn't wait to see what they'd encounter next.
Chapter Twenty-Five
He couldn't avoid it. Brandon tried to ignore the buzz as he went about his business, but the talk was everywhere in Beylan. A new class of ship had challenged the guild near Welles Bay and sank several ships, then escaped without a scratch.
The Iron Guild was scrambling and offering a bounty of ten million gold. Two cruisers had been sunk in the fight. They were raiders. They were from the main battle fleet. Rumor after rumor swirled around, and Brandon wasn't sure what to think.
On one hand they had made an impression, but on the other their exploits were being wildly exaggerated. Was that just a coincidence, or were people pumping them up to give themselves a little more hope? Shane had already shared similar concerns with him. If Blue Frog and the rest of Rising Tide overestimated their squadron's capabilities…
“Huh, you're making a miserable face,” Jamie commented. “Something bothering you?”
“Nah, he's just like that all the time,” Kelvin said.
“I am not,” Brandon protested.
“Look, I'm trying to help you dodge questions. Just go with it.”
Brandon shook his head and looked around. “It's just all the rumors, you know? It's a bunch of people exaggerating things. And it's getting to the point where everyone talking about it is sounding delusional, you know?”
That was all he wanted to say on the open streets.
“I get what you mean,” Jamie said. “The rumors flying around are getting pretty crazy, but that's just the way it is. People like to embellish things to get everyone's attention, and the more people that do it the crazier it becomes.”
“I guess.”
“It's something different from all the misery and sadness, so I'll take it,” Kelvin said. He pulled out his guidebook. “And we get stuck as the runners, because right now there's nothing else to do.”
Shane had taken their smuggling vessel on a run to Dux with Ryan's former guild to help grow Maelstrom's treasury. Bailey was working with the rest of the engineers on the torpedo problem, and the rest of them weren't about to take the destroyer out of the harbor and suffer an attack from the guild. As far as they were concerned, they were stuck in Beylan for a while.
Brandon wondered if the enemy would even let them get out of the exclusion zone. Their ship might be considered dangerous enough to destroy at all costs, even if that meant launching a suicide mission. But they had only sunk three chasers, so maybe he was overthinking things. The guild might not be quite as concerned as he thought.
The torpedoes would change that, especially when fired in volleys. They had short range and were relatively easy to dodge, but a spread of a dozen would be enough to make cruiser and battleship captains take notice.
But to make them they needed to assemble components, and that meant purchasing plenty of items from the market. The torpedoes would be custom designed, based off a blueprint but modified to suit their purposes.
Brandon wasn't sure relying on so much untested equipment was a good idea, but the engineers indicated they had few options. The torpedoes they could buy on the market were expensive and not suited for the solid explosive warhead their new model would carry. Designing purpose-built equipment through the free crafting system was for the best. There would be teething troubles. That was the price they had to pay for creating better equipment.
They headed into the exchange, found everything on their list of items, and made their purchase. Brandon had no idea what the myriad of components did, but that wasn't his job. Bailey had the experience and the perks to put them to good use, along with the rest of the engineer teams.
But even inside of the exchange Brandon noticed the conversations. So many people were talking about the battle off Welles Bay, but none of them seemed to have all of the details. Did that mean the Iron Guild lacked them as well, or had they managed to keep them under wraps for now?
“Huh, would you look at this,” Kelvin said as they walked by one of the bulletin boards inside the exchange's entrance. Brandon saw him reach over and pull a sheet off.
“What is it?”
Kelvin handed over the paper. Brandon took a look at it and tried not to laugh as he passed it over to Jamie. The last thing they needed to do was to attract suspicion in the middle of the crowded market.
“Huh, I'm guessing you'll want to frame this?” she said, keeping her expression level.
“We might, yeah. But let's at least show it to the others when we get back,” Brandon said. His mood had improved considerably.
“Take a look at this,” Kelvin said, handing over a piece of paper.
Shane took it and looked it over. “Huh, so the guild has a bounty out on us. A million gold, huh? That's a pretty good price for us.”
“Nah, that's not it. We already knew the Iron Guild wanted our heads.”
“Then what is it?”
Kelvin pointed. “Look at the picture that they put on there. I'm guessing that's a sketch of what their sailors told them.”
Shane looked closer. “Oh. Huh, four turrets, huh? They really think we were that heavily armed?”
“Yeah, and proportionally it looks like they made it seem like our ship is a lot bigger than it is. Look at the size of the turrets compared to the rest of the ship.”
“Ah yeah, I see it. So they think we're a cruiser, huh?”
Kelvin grinned. “Seems like it. And it seems like we made quite the impression on them. Enough to make three crews completely panic and start making things up.”
He couldn't exactly blame them for it.
If the Iron Guild had no clue about the new cannons their appearance would serve as a huge shock, since no one used powder cannons due to their expense.
Of course, if they knew what the blueprint was for it wouldn't take long for them to figure out how Maelstrom's ship could fire so quickly, but whether they could do anything about it was another thing entirely. The ability to fire five or six shots in the time an enemy vessel took to fire two could be completely overwhelming.
“I'll ask Alex about that when I get the chance,” Shane said after Kelvin voiced his concerns. “I think there's a good chance they know what the blueprint is for since they were working so hard to get their hands on it. But at this point I don't think it matters. We have the machines, we can make synthetic dust, and they can't do anything about it. Not while they're in a safe zone.”
“Still, I liked it better when we had the element of surprise,” Kelvin said.
“I think we all did. But it wasn't going to last forever, and we still have a few tricks they don't know about. They're going to be focused on the cannons. They won't know about the torpedoes, not until it's too late. And if we get stuck fighting an enemy cruiser we might be able to score a kill if we play our cards right.”
Kelvin absorbed the words silently, but in his mind he had a few doubts. Fighting an enemy warship was an entirely different prospect from fighting a patrol ship. The later was more concerned with speed, since they needed to use it to catch up to fast-moving smugglers. Gunnery was a secondary concern, and armor was barely even a consideration. Smugglers used speed or subterfuge to complete their runs. Shooting only happened when everything went wrong.
But a warship focused on armament and protection, since they were expected to take on their counterparts with the same or even better capabilities. Their gunnery crews tended to be better, and even the smaller ones could shrug off hits that would break a patrol ship in half. Maelstrom's guns wouldn't be nearly as effective, and against some of the larger enemy vessels they might be almost useless.
The new torpedoes would give them an edge, but Kelvin knew all too well that they came with their own weaknesses. First, they hadn't even been built yet, and once the engineers completed them they'd need to test the weapons. Then the crew needed to acclimate themselves with the weapons, which would take time.
And the biggest issue was the weapon's limited range, about a thousand yards at most. At night they stood a good chance of getting close enough to use them, but during the day it would be much harder. Even with their speed and handling, getting past the enemy gunners and getting within torpedo range could be a daunting proposition.
“Anyhow,” Shane said, “we need to be careful, regardless. We have a lot of people looking for us trying to get the reward, and even if the scrubs can't get us the rest of the guild might be able to.”
“I agree. But we can't be too careful. The players are talking all over Beylan. We need to keep going while this is still fresh in their minds, if we want to inspire them.”
“Oh? So you want to be a hero now?” Shane asked.
Kelvin wasn't sure if he was just joking, but he decided to answer seriously.
“Isn't that what we're doing? Trying to be heroes so the other guilds will rally behind us? What's so wrong about that?”
“Heroes tend to die very quickly in this game. Or they fail.”
“The ones that just charge on ahead and don't plan end up dying. But we're not like that. We know what we're doing. We know that we need to plan, and we know what we're up against. If we pair that with us trying to be heroes, then I think we can make it.”
“True enough. But we have to be careful with the price on our heads, especially at this point. If we lose our ship we're back to square one. I know we've been replenishing our bank account pretty well, but we still can't afford a replacement.”
“I heard something from Bailey about Blue Frog building replacements?”
Shane nodded. “Yes, they're in the process of outfitting the hulls with the necessary equipment. I wanted to make changes the guns first like you requested, but I got overruled. Alex says they'll make the improvements in the second wave, but for now they want to get more of them out there on the seas.”
Kelvin shrugged. “I see his point. We still have an advantage over most guild patrol ships. I'd just like a few more, but then again if we put more destroyers out there...”
“That was his line of thinking. I don't know if it's the right one, but it's the one they've decided to take, so I guess we have to make the best of it. If we want to be heroes like you said then we're going to have to take some risks.”
Silence passed between them for a moment.
“So what are we doing next?” Kelvin asked. “I mean, right now it seems like we're just waiting. We don't have the funds or the crew for another destroyer, but we can't just spend it upgrading our base, either. We'll need them for later. And the engineers are still working on the torpedoes, so that's going to delay us further.”
“Getting restless?”
Kelvin exhaled. “Yeah, I am. I'll admit it. I know we've spent plenty of time trying to come up with a way to fight back agains the Iron Guild. Now that we have it and we're putting the finishing touches on it…”
“We've waited long enough. What's a little longer in the grand scheme of things?”
“I know. That's the way I should be thinking, but now that we're so close I just want to get out there. To really start pushing back, you know?”
Shane nodded again. “I know. I feel it too. But remember that we have a lot to get through. The new members are only about halfway up the perk tree right now. And we're still trying to get acclimated to the ship, not to mention the fact that we're going to be getting an entirely new weapons system shortly.”
“I know. I just hate the idea of waiting when the Iron Guild is out there strangling the trade. But I'm not dumb enough to be in too much of a hurry. I'd prefer if we avoided a disaster.”
“Yeah, you and me both.”
Kelvin glanced back down at the poster. “So that's what I wanted to show you. It might not be important, but I thought it was an amusing little factoid, at least.”
Shane grinned. “Oh, it's important, alright. And helpful. From what you've said about waiting...”
“Hm?”
“Sometimes it's hard to tell if you're doing anything, and being forced to wait and lurk in the shadows makes it worse. But this,” Shane said, holding up the paper, “this is proof that we have the guild's attention. And that makes me feel a little more confident.”
Kelvin smiled. “Yeah. But that only works if we keep it that way.”
“And there we have it,” Rami said. “One heavy fish, prepped and ready for action.”
“Fish?” Bailey asked.
“It's a nickname for a torpedo,” Dillon explained.
Bailey nodded and looked over the device, sitting in the middle of the warehouse on a stand. The weapon was about twelve feet long, a foot and a half in diameter, and weighed about eight-hundred pounds. A metal shell encased the interior, but having worked on the design she knew what lay inside. A flywheel powered a pair of counterrotating propellors in the rear, and a gyroscope inside the device had been rigged to the torpedo fins, automatically moving them to keep the weapon stable.
The business end of the torpedo contained one hundred and fifty pounds of explosives, rigged to a contact detonator. When the torpedo hit its target the pressure would trigger a small flask of pure fire crystal dust, which would then ignite the rest of the solid warhead. Dillon estimated that one torpedo could blow a hole in the side of even the biggest battleships.
The design wasn't perfect. The flywheel inside the torpedo need to be wound up before it was deployed, and that meant using a steam engine for several minutes to do the job. On the attack that didn't matter because they could prepare ahead of time, but if they were caught by surprise it would take time to deploy their best weapon. Range wasn't ideal either, requiring an attacking ship to
get very close to the enemy.
But for their purposes it was the best they could come up with on short notice, and it represented a radical change in the game's naval warfare. Before the larger warships could only be threatened by ships of about the same size, or by smaller ones firing extremely expensive torpedoes with a low rate of success. This design could be mass produced at a reasonable cost, and despite its shortcomings it would be powerful. At the very least it made taking on their destroyer a risky proposition.
“Good work team,” Jocelyn said. “This is the start of something good.”
Teresa spoke up. “Don't start celebrating just yet. This is only one of them. We're going to need eleven more to fill the ship, and I imagine you'd want replacements.”
Bailey nodded. “Yeah, that would be good.”
Jocelyn shook her head. “There you go, being a downer once again. Of course we need more, but building them is going to be a lot simpler now that we have a concrete design. Just sit back and bask in our accomplishments for a little bit.”
“Thanks, but I'll only be doing that once they send a guild ship to the bottom with one of these.”
“We'll try our best to make that happen,” Bailey told her.
She looked back at the torpedo again. So much work, so much effort, so many trips to various ports. The had run into dead ends, broken designs, frustrations, breakthroughs, all manner of ups and downs over the course of production. The team had made full use of the free crafting system in the process.
And yet, right now the other think that mattered was whether the device worked or not.
Shane watched through his binoculars as the torpedo streaked toward its target, leaving a faint wake as it glided beneath the surface. He watched expectantly for the last few seconds as the weapon made its final run, waiting for the resultant explosion.
It didn't disappoint. The torpedo slammed into the target amidships and detonated, sending a huge geyser of water skyward and buckling it in half amidships. Shane looked on with morbid fascination as it sunk into the depths within a few minutes, silently contemplating their new weapon.
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