HoloPirates: A Tale of Adventure

Stormy Seas

KKKRRAAAAA---BOOOOMM!!!! The lightning flashed through the air, illuminating the ship and the churning sea for a brief moment. I brushed the wet hair out of my face and stuck the spyglass back up to my eye, and I scanned the area in front of us. Still nothing that I could see, except for more of the violent waves that tossed our ship about, threatening to throw us off course. I put the spyglass away, then ran up to the aftcastle as another gigantic wave washed over the deck. I grabbed onto the mast just as the torrent of water slammed into me, and I held my footing as the ship rocked up and over the wave. I let go of the mast as the bow slammed back down in the water, and I ran straight to the aftcastle, grabbing onto the stairs and steadying myself as the ship was hit by a rogue wave, veering us off to the side.
"Captain!!" I yelled over the howling of the wind, knowing that Marine would like the title. "Nothing yet! Shouldn't we be getting close?"
The lightning flashed overhead yet again, and it revealed Marine, one hand on a wheel and the other on a device called a sextant that she held up to her eye. The sextants on my world I loosely knew were used for naval navigation, but this one, according to Marine, was much different, and much more special.
"Aye Micheal, we are getting close!" She said, keeping her golden eye on the telescope of the sextant. "Have a look yourself!"
She held out the instrument with one hand, and I grabbed it, but when I put it up to my eye, I couldn't exactly comprehend what I saw. There were crisscrossing lines all over the sea, and when I looked up at the stormy sky, there was a gigantic blue blanket of color blotting out the storm, and across it, read the words "The Maelstrom." I aimed the sextant back down, then pointed it ahead of us. Yet, I still didn't see anything out of the ordinary.
"You have to tune it!!!" Marine yelled from the wheel. "The Graduated Arc! Tune it using the Drum!!!"
"What the hell are you talking about????" I hollered back as thunder boomed through the air.
"The little knob at the bottom! Turn it, and it'll tune the Graduated Arc!!"
I looked at the sextant, and sure enough, at the bottom of the shaft that held up the telescopes, there was a knob, and when I turned it, the long arc moved around, apparently tuning. I put it back up to my eye, and as I tuned it while looking through the scope, I saw all of the lines that were crossing each other begin to space out from each other, and up ahead, some of the lines sank into the water, disappearing from sight.
"Aye, I see it Captain!!" I yelled. "Just ahead!"
"Aye, just ahead!!" She yelled back, excitement bubbling in her voice.
I handed the sextant back to her, then ran back up to the front of the ship, dodging all of the crew that were rushing back and forth between the waves and bursts of wind to get their respective jobs done. Honestly, even thought i was scared out of my mind as our ship was tossed over the waves, I had to admit that my heart was pounding from both the excitement and thee adrenaline that was coursing through my veins. As I got back up to the forecastle, I extended the spyglass out and scanned the horizon, looking for the depression in the middle of the ocean, but so far, it wasn't visible. What was, however, was the mast of a ship, waving a very ominous blood red flag from the very top of the mast, rapidly approaching us from behind.
"MARINE!" I yelled, getting her attention.
I pointed at the red flag in the distance, and she looked through her own telescope, saw it, and gave a nasty look.
"WE GOT BOUNTY HUNTERS!!!!" She yelled as loud as she could. "Hold them off until we reach the Rift!!!"
"Aye Captain!!!"
All of the crew snapped into motion, rolling the cannons out of the portholes and grabbing their own weapons, but when I looked back at the ship, it crested over the wave, and its entire form came right into my view. The ship was much, much, much larger than our ship, with two decks of guns, excluding the guns on the top deck, and the entire side of the ship was armored with metal plates that had large spikes sticking out of them. But what really caught my eye was the two towers in the back, built into either side of the aft castle, and at the very top of both of the towers, there was a double cannon turret that swiveled and aimed right at our ship. However, even as the ship came within point blank firing range, the turrets and cannons held their fire, and instead, at the very bow of the ship, three of the crew members aimed a gigantic spike launcher and shot right at the ship, impaling it in the stern of our ship. From the spike, there was a chain that extended to the other ship, keeping us connected. The chain was pulled taut, and suddenly, our ship lurched backwards, throwing all of us on the deck. I got back up as another wave washed over the deck, and I grabbed my pistol, unholstered it, and held it at the ready. The roar of the enemy crew reached my ears, and when I looked up, I saw that all of the crew on the other ship were raising their swords and weapons as they yelled threats and insults. I ran up to the stern of the ship, aimed my gun, wiped the water out of my eyes, and shot at the enemy ship, striking one of the crew in the shoulder. I cheered silently for myself, but right as I was celebrating, I saw this gigantic, double finned tail slam down into the water, about two hundred feet behind the enemy ship.
"Marine, back there! Did you see that?"
She gave me a strange look, then handed off the wheel to one of the crew before bounding over to me. She slung the musket off of her shoulder, took aim, and fired, striking another of the crew, and this time, the crewman dropped his sword and fell off the side of the ship, splashing down into the water below. We both ducked down below the railing of the deck to gain cover, and she looked me right in the eyes.
"What did you see?"
"It was like a tail. A big whale tail, and it hit the water. Thats all I saw." I said. "It was behind the other ship."
She peered over the railing of the deck, then lowered the musket, wedged the stock in between her thighs, and began to clean out and reload the musket.
"I didn't see anything. Let's just get away from these guys. Once we do, we can hightail it to the Rifts and just get out of here, aye?"
"Aye, got it."
I reloaded my gun, then cocked it, popped back up, aimed, and fired. I missed the crew, but with a stroke of sheer luck, the bullet struck one of the lanterns that was attached to the mast, and the large sum of oil within the lantern exploded like a small napalm bomb all over the deck, catching crew members and the deck of the ship on fire. The flames washed over the base of the mast, and the crew became panicked with putting out the fire.
"Were you actually aiming for that?" Marine said, aiming her musket and killing another of the crew.
"Totally." I lied.
As I looked back at the ship after celebrating, my heart dropped right into my stomach as I saw all of the gun ports opening up as the cannon barrels were pushed out of them, getting ready to fire.
"Marine, we have to get out of the line of fire!" I yelled over the howling of the wind and rain.
"Aye that!" She yelled back as the enemy crew returned fire with their muskets. "But we can't until the spike is gone. As long as its there, we ain't moving."
My mind began to race, but suddenly, a very brave, and very stupid idea popped right into my mind.
"Marine, keep the crew off of me. Trust me."
"What?!!?"
"Just trust me!!!' I yelled. "Lay down some covering fire!!"
"Micheal, what are you doing??"
I grabbed her wrist, and I looked her straight in the eyes as the rain and wind whipped at our hair. Despite the thunder and thee howl of the wind, I dropped my voice to a low volume.
"Marine, I need you to trust me. Just trust me, and keep the enemy crew off of me."
"Aye, please, whatever insane thing you're about to do, be careful!!"
She pulled me into a tight hug, and that spurred me enough to nearly light a fire right in my chest. My entire body warmed up in the sheets of rain that were coming down, and I pulled out of the hug, ready to execute my very stupid plan. Marine gathered up about nine of the crew, all of them holding muskets and flintlocks, and as soon as it was clear, I swung myself over the side of the railing, and I hung onto the side of the ship for dear life as it rocked in the storm.
"MICHEAL???" Marine yelled as she opened fire on the enemy crew to keep them away from me.
"You said you would trust me!!" I yelled, drawing my dagger and sticking it between my teeth. "And keep them away!!"
I heard her snarl above me, and I shimmied my way over to the place where the gigantic metal spike was impaled in the side of the aft castle. I held on as another wave rocked the ship, and I cussed myself out as I prepared to drop to the level that was above the spike.
"Oh damn you Micheal." I said to myself. "The things you do to impress."
Before I could stop myself, I dropped down to the windows of the cabin, grabbing onto the top of the frame and planting my feet on the bottom, keeping myself from falling while also preventing the precious windows from breaking. I only had one more level to drop down to to get the spike, but boy, was I not looking forward to it. I looked down at the spot I was dropping to, and again, I cussed myself out, starting to hate the fact that I was playing hero. Finally, I just steeled my nerves, and I dropped myself, grabbing onto the bottom of the windows and putting one foot on the metal spike that was stuck into the wooden hull of the ship. I pulled the knife from my teeth as lightning flashed through the air, and I stuck it right into the wood, attempting to use it at as a wedge to get the spike unstuck from the hull. So far it wasn't budging, but I stuck the knife back in and pried, and it wiggled just a little bit.
"Oh come on!" I said. "Get out of there!!"
I pried with the knife as hard as I cold, but suddenly, the wood splintered, the knife came loose, and it tumbled right out of my hands and into the sea.
"NOOO!!!" I yelled, beating my hand against the wood of the ship. "Oh fuck you Micheal!!"
I looked at the spike, and while it wasn't loose, it looked like the knife had done a good amount of work wedging it out. I grabbed the spike and pulled with all of the force I could muster, and even though the wood cracked, it was still holding the spike in the hull. My mind raced as the ship rocked again, and suddenly, as the rain and wind whipped at my hair and clothes, I got a wonderful idea. I grabbed onto the window frames, steadying myself against the incessant waves, rain, and wind, and I lifted my leg before crashing it down on the spike, kicking it with all of my strength. The spike was dislodged just a little bit, and I raised my foot yet again, swinging it down on the spike with a mighty stomp. This time, when I hit it, it became dislodged so much that I figured that it only needed another hit or so. I gripped the window frame, then brought up all of my strength and put it into one more kick, and the moment that my foot hit it, it was yanked loose from the hull, splashing down into the water.