The First Battle with the Pirates

"What a fool! Why didn't I ask them where their continent is located..... Now we're stranded here in the ocean!" Grimm flipped his table, spilling his cup of tea, his eyes glow red. For the past two days, he was enraged while locked at his own quarters.

"Relax darling, relax a bit. It's not you're fault! The great Grimm I know would never make any mistake!" One of his wives encouraged him, she patted him in the head, calming him slowly.

Grimm lay silent in his chair staring at his spilled tea. "Right, you're right... This is not my fault. Darling, can you go outside for me? call Officer Kenskh would you? I want him NOW!"

Hearing this his wife was shocked and was paralyzed for a while before she went on to do what his husband commanded.

After a while, Officer Kenskh and Grimm's wife entered the room, they both were sweating balls, but Officer Kenskh's are much more obvious, "Ye... Ye... Yes... Sir?" the officer mumbled.

Grimm stares coldly at officer Kenskh as he was trembling in fear. Seeing his helpless wife also trembling, Grimm said to her, "It's fine Jennica, you may leave this room."

"As you wish my dear husband." She then left the room.

After Jennica left the room, Grimm continued to stare coldly at the poor officer. "Do you know what you have done?" He asked.

"Nggg... Yes... No..... Er-"

"ANSWER ME!" Grimm roared.

"No, sir! No! I do not know! Please forgive me! Please! I'm sorry! I'll repay you anything!" The poor officer cried helplessly.

Hearing this Grimm was silent for a while, before he laughed in ridicule, "Repay... Me? How are you going to repay me? You don't even know what you have done to this entire company!"

"I..... I... What did I do-"

"Enough! Open your trousers, now! Wipe the spill on my floor with it. Wipe it clean!" Grimm ordered. Immediately, Officer Kenskh do as Grimm said, he opened his trousers and wiped the tea off the floor.

It seemed that Officer Kenskh is only a lowly officer in this ship, but in fact, Officer Kenskh is technically the lead admiral of this entire fleet! Then why is he called an officer by Grimm? Because Grimm wanted to be the only one in this entire fleet to be called Admiral, no one but him! Simply,

everyone in this ship are powerless against Grimm, he is simply ruthless!

Seeing this seemingly lowly officer wiping tea with his trousers, Grimm opened his mouth, "You may have the highest authority in this entire fleet, second to me, but remember, second to me meant you still serve under me, below me, and you have no right to be arrogant in front of me!"

Hearing this, Officer Kenskh was shocked but he remained silent, he stared helplessly at Grimm. Before he said a word, Grimm continued, "You are in the meeting room two days ago right? You heard my orders clear, we will cancel the shipment and visit this new transported continent right? Yet two days ago, that underwater iron ship appeared right beside us! They probably came from this new continent we've been searching for. Yet what have you done? Nothing! You just stood beside me watching, you did not even remind me! That's the reason why I ordered the ship to circle these waters!"

Hearing this, Officer Kenskh almost blew out of rage, he was humiliated just because he did not inquire any information about the location of the newly transported continent from the underwater ship. A trivial problem caused him to lose his dignity... No, the more he thinks about it, the more he understands. This is not a trivial problem! In fact, this was a huge problem, without the location of the continent, where would they head to? Go home empty-handed? The officer's rage dissipated while his embarrassment grew.

Before letting Officer Kenskh go, Grimm ordered him to invite the other officers in this ship to go to Grimm's quarters. With pleasure, Officer Kenskh do what Grimm wished, he wanted to see the other officers to be scolded like him.

After plenty of high ranking officers entered the room with a cold sweat, they are be scolded and humiliated by Grimm. Each and everyone one of them was in fear, not to mention the guards in front of Grimm's quarters could also feel the dreadness from outside the quarter.

Just as everything was about to get much more intense, suddenly a low ranking officer rushed towards the door.

"Where's Officer Terin? Where's Admiral Grimm? I bring dire news!" The officer shouted before he was scolded by Grimm's quarter's guards.

"Silence! Can't you see Admiral Gurk is currently teaching the other officers? Do you want to die boy?"

"But-" Before he finished what he was saying, he was dragged away by the guards and thrown to the floor where he fainted.

After another half an hour.

BOOM!

A loud boom resonated through the seas. This shocked everyone in Grimm's quarters. It was not panic but confusion that filled their minds. Little did they know, the fleet is under attack.

Grimm's personal ship is the heart of command of the entire fleet. Every action is within Grimm's permission or order. Communication among the ships is by wireless telegram, considering the importance of telegraphy, Grimm makes sure that the telegram operator teams are competent, well experienced and supposedly high ranking. Yet, Grimm just 'invited' them all to his quarters to teach them a lesson, leaving the single-handed junior officer on the telegram room. In which he is currently on a fainted state.

-

Tom Miller, Commander Senft, and the entire crew knows their purpose of this mission; to protect Germany. To the fleet's eye, the submarine disappeared from plain sight but it doesn't mean they are truly gone from the area. In fact, in the entire two days time since their first contact, the submarine had been tailing the merchant fleet, just about 500 KM away from Germany.

Of course, it's crucial to deliver this world map they recently get their hands on to HQ, but it's much more important to keep their eyes on this merchant fleet. This way, the crew would know where the fleet would head to.

For the past two days, the merchant fleet mysteriously circled around the northern sea. The submarine can only follow them silently watching their every move. By tailing and watching, it doesn't mean the submarine has to stay underwater looking through the periscope all the time. Instead, the submarine was on the surface the entire time, only using radar equipment from afar.

Inside the submarine, Tom Miller and the other German officers were playing a deck of cards. Yet, for the third time in a row, Tom Miller won again.

"God, how are you so good at this game?" an officer asked.

"Because I play this game all the damn time in the office back at Hamburg, I tell ya, I'm the king," Tom smirked.

"What are you playing?" Suddenly Commander Senft walked in.

"Ah Commander Senft, Tom.... Ah I mean Commander Tom said this is American poker, it's pretty fun." The officer said.

"I see, may I join?" Commander Senft asked.

"Be my guest." Tom showed a simple smile.

While Tom was handing out the cards, suddenly an officer came running to them.

"Commander! Radar shows there is another fleet approaching the merchant fleet, and it seems, this fleet is extremely massive! It could be an armada, sir!"

Commander Senft grew a dark expression, "Speed up the submarine, let's catch up with them. We will also submerge."

After about half an hour underwater, the submarine finally caught up with the fleet. At this exact time, the unidentified fleet is also very close to Grimm's fleet.

As then Commander Senft looked through the periscope he saw the vessels in a tight formation. There are so many of them in numbers and glance, he could tell that there is no cargo ship to be seen, just a lot of steel plated ships and a whole lot of gun turrets.

"What do you see sir?" One of the officers asked full of curiosity.

"I don't know what kind of fleet they are, but all of them are armed with a lot of guns and are steel plated." Commander Senft told the crew.

"How about their flag sir?"

"Er..... It's not the same as those merchant ships."

"Do you think it's possible they're the merchant's enemies?"

"I don't know, they could probably be another merchant ship or another escort or-"

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

All five guns from one of the unidentified vessels fired from the starboard side towards one of the merchant fleet. One of the merchant's ironclad received two hits, hitting the bow portside and one of its portside gun turrets. After receiving the hit, the turret exploded into smithereens.

"They're firing..... They're firing! It's a naval battle!" Commander Senft gasped as he couldn't believe his eyes after seeing through the periscope. Hearing this the crew grew silent.

"Commander, can you tell us everything while you're at the periscope?" One of the officers asked.

"Alright, alright... Oh? The ironclad fired back. It..... Scored a hit on the enemy! The enemy's cockpi is on fire now!" Commander Senft gasped.

"Um..... Sir which do you consider the enemy?" Amidst the intense atmosphere, one of the officers asked.

"I don't know, but I am on the merchant fleet's side, so I consider the unidentified vessels the enemy."

"Continuing..... Another enemy vessel fired their guns! It scored multiple hits towards the damaged ironclad, it's-"

Suddenly the periscope let out a bright orange light that bounced of Commander Senft's face.

"The ironclad exploded!"Commander Senft tightened his grips towards the periscope handle. The crew was shocked. He could imagine the lives lost from that explosion. But he couldn't stop to mourn for them, he can only continue broadcasting what he sees through the periscope.

"Incredible! Now the merchant fleet is creating some sort of formation! Ooooh! Another ironclad fired their guns! The enemy's ship also fired theirs, their exchanging shots! Most of the shots hit the merchant fleet's ship! At this rate, the merchant fleet will be annihilated!" His voice contains a sound of dread.

"What do we do now sir?" One of the officers asked in panic.

"I..... I.....Don't know..... I think it's best we don't interfere....." The commander mumbled.

"Are we going to sit here and watch people die?" Tom suddenly asked in a cold tone.

"Then what do you suggest?" Commander Senft stared at Tom.

"Assist them of course."

"You mean indirectly declare war on some unknown country that could potentially annihilate us? We don't even know who's the good guys and who's the bad guys. Even worse, this could also be personal matters between countries, we have no right to interfere."

Hearing this, Tom, stood up and looked through the periscope for a while, a smile could be seen from his face.

"Commander Senft, let me explain, those you see are merchant ships right?"

"Merchant ships? Oh, the one we're following all along? Yes, it's the most probable. The cargo could clearly be seen."

"Then what do you see on the unidentified vessels? Just ships mounted with guns and steel plates right? No cargo ships whatsoever. Let me tell you, from what I heard, the Soviets encountered them on the eastern shore. They are hostile, they kill women and children, I can swear you that." Tom explained in a cold voice.

"..."

"You also can look at their course. As you and I saw through the periscope they came from the north, heading towards the south; towards Germany. What do you think they will do to your wife and children back at home?" Hearing this, Commander Senft and the entire crew couldn't help themselves but tremble in fear.

"I get you, alright, prepare the torpedos."

"Sir? Are you serious? Are you going to declare war on them?" One of the officers asked.

Commander Senft simply looked at the sailor and smiled forcefully. "We are not declaring war on them, because they will declare war on us first."

"What?" The officer was confused.

"We surface now! Prepare the torpedos" Ordered Commander Senft.

"But sir!" The crew panicked.

"Just do it, trust me!" Commander Senft was confident.

-

"Damn it! Who's attacking us?" Grimm shouted in rage.

"S... S... Sir... I think the Ka'abals is attacking our ship!" The officer shivered.

"Ka..... Ka'abals? That Ka'abals? The most fearsome pirate fleet in the entire ocean? Lead by the famous Ishmur Ka'abals? The one who owned 50 ironclad warships, he who cold-bloodedly massacre men, women, and children. Ah, may the Gods save us." Grimm muttered with a tiny pint of fear.

"Why are you saying that sir?" Hearing the notorious Ka'abals made the officer shiver more.

"How many of their ships are there?" Grimm couldn't help but ask.

"About 10 sir...."

"Good..... Good! It seems that he is not commanding this fleet. So the mighty Ishmur Ka'abals wanted a piece of land from the newly transported continent it seems..... We are going to give one of his fleets a fight!"

"Giving them a fight sir? But the Gargantuk exploded, the Sargoon is immobilized, while the Gyrbook awaited it's fate underwater. Only two of our ironclads are fit for battle, sir! The Miramar and the Asbesty."

"What? Then how many of them ships are sunk?"

"The reports tell us that one of their ships exploded, another one was badly on fire, one is badly damaged, and another one immobilized. It seems they have six left, while we only have two ironclads...." The officer shivered.

Grimm was speechless. If his fate is to die like this...

Suddenly, a familiar black iron ship emerged from the waters behind the merchant fleet. This time, it was much more exposed, it looked..... Massive! There are no windows or anything, all plated with steel.

-

"Sir, we are fully surfaced, what do we do now?" One of the officers asked.

"Calculate the targeted ships. Now, we wait and pray." Commander Senft grew an expressionless look.

"Ok...."

As one of the Ka'abals vessels spotted the newly emerging ship. They adjusted their guns and fired towards it. The distance between the submarine and the vessel is pretty far off, and the submarine's body is slim, so the probability of the rounds hitting the submarine is low, but it sure is possible.

BOOM! BOOM!

Two shots fired towards the submarine, luckily, the round's didn't hit the submarine and splashed left and right of the submarine. This all happened in an instant, but for the crew onboard the submarine, their hearts skipped a beat.

"They missed sir!" One of the officers was in a cold sweat.

"Good, so they finally declared war on us, and so we must defend ourselves!" Announced Commander Senft

"The submarine is on target sir!" One of the officers shouted.

"First tube, Feuer!"

PIUFF

"Quickly adjust to the second target!"

"On target, sir!"

"Second tube, Feuer!

PIUFF