The Ship Rache Teaser
"The Ship Rache"
Chapter 1: Still As A Sandbar
*****
It was a dark, windy night, the Moon reflecting off the water, and the creak of ropes and rigging were barely audible. The ship was dark- No lights were lit, neither on the deck, nor in any of the quarters. Though the ship was huge for its time- It was, in fact, a massive ship of the line- It was sailing by the leigh at an impressive speed. It sailed along with distinct purpose, its French Republican flag fluttering and snapping in the wind.
"Captain, we have a ship off starboard bow." "Colours and type?" "Looks like a frigate, Royal Navy. 42 guns." The captain smiled and gripped the helm, turning the wheel to make an intercept course. "Starboard gunners, make ready!" The crew lit the matches on their botefeux, or the sticks which held the matches used to fire the guns, off of a lit cigar one of the crewmen was smoking, and the rest of the crew laid down on the decks, weapons ready.
The crew, however, was not really from the French Navy- They were simply privateers who had supported the French Revolution of 1789, and were given this ship in order to disturb British shipping and support the Americans in defending themselves from Britain. As Britain hadn't decided that getting back America from its Republican state was a lost cause, their job was to take British gear and ships, and turn them over to the Americans. Thus, they used pirate tactics, and their captain used his race as a benefit. He wore a black leather overcoat over his black fur. As he was half-wolf in form, that intimidated his opponents; He liked to scare them even more by claiming he was a werewolf. Certainly, that, along with the utter size and armament of his ship, made most of the ships he raided surrender immediately.
The frigate then turned towards their course, and the captain of the Frigate shouted out that the French were coming. The captain of the ship of the line, however, yelled out, "Raise the black-jack!" This meant, of course, to raise the black flag, which was a symbol of piracy. The upper gun decks of their ship was also about level with the sailing deck of the Frigate; The Frigate was a long, low, smooth ship, and the huge ship of the line was a rotund fortress of guns and liberal amounts of iron nailed to the hull. This battle would be over soon.
Or so he thought. The Frigate's captain yelled out an order to try and lose the pirates, and of course, they were running away from a ship that had three times as many guns, and instead of the frigate's 200 men, they had 1,230 men. Sure, the frigate was faster, but the ship of the line didn't need to be fast in order to cause damage. "Starboard side guns! Fire!" The ship's starboard side rumbled and boomed with cannon fire, firing grapeshot into the side of the ship and all over the decks. The effect was thousands of small holes peppering the hull, injuring their portside gunners, killing dozens of their deck crew, and wreaking havoc among the lower rigging- But the ship wasn't damaged enough to actually take on water and sink.
With her crew in shambles and her gunners incapable of responding to the larger ship's fire, the frigate surrendered. The extra hundred crewman, whose sole purpose was to assist in boarding, swung over and landed on the deck. They immediately started lining up the surviving crewmen, pointing their guns at them. The captain of the larger ship swung from the helm to the helm of the frigate, landing right in front of the captain. They levelled a pistol at each other- And the wolf captain took a second pistol in his other paw.
He advanced slowly, growling menacingly. He ended up scaring the other captain, who shot at him- And utterly missed. The wolf, who had two more shots, advanced quicker on the frigate's captain and told him one thing. "Tell your crew that we're taking all of your goods, your crew, and your ship, and no-one gets hurt so long as they stay still as a sandbar. Got that?" "You French gobschite...!" "I'm not French, captain- I'm Prussian. Get that straight." That comment made the other captain spit in his face- Causing the wolf to fire a shot. By pure coincidence, he shot the captain in the leg. Immediately he ran at the other captain, screaming profanities.
A figure held out an arm, however, and stopped him from attacking the other captain. "Leave him to me." The figure lowered its hood, revealing a blue-eyed wolf, with a very British-sounding female voice. She drew a sword. "Now, you fill the good Captain's demands, and no-one gets hurt." "Damn you...! Damn you all to-"
A gunshot broke out. The wolf captain had fired a shot in the air. "Stay still as a sandbar, occupants of this ship, and you'll live! Move or threaten my crew, and you'll be dead! We're taking her and all her goods!"
Of course, after that, there was not much resistance- All fourty-two guns, all the ship's provisions, all its powder, and even the money of the crew they'd pressed into service, were stolen and put into the larger ship's hold. "Rache", as she was called- "Revenge" in German- Would take the extra guns and powder she didn't need to the American Continental Army to help them defend themselves against the British. The ship, they would give them as well- Both for a fee.