“Yes, sir, I have the deck,” responded Dowden grudgingly. “Should I have the whaleboat made ready to launch in case, well…”
Matt cast an appraising eye at the sea and quickly shook his head. “Too dangerous. If anybody falls in, try to fish ’em out real fast, but there’s no sense risking people in a boat. Not in this sea.” He looked at the concerned faces on the bridge, meeting each eye. He prayed that if anything happened to him, they’d be all right. But he had to go. “Very well, carry on. You all know what to do.” He removed his hat and handed it to Reynolds, exchanging it for one of the platter-shaped helmets. He buckled the chin strap and turned to Chack. “Let’s go.”
Together, they clomped down the ladder to join the boarding party sheltering beneath the bridge and the gun platform amidships. The party was as large as Walker could carry in such seas, numbering just over a hundred. Most were the cream of Alden’s Lemurian Marines, armed with swords and spears. A few destroyermen would go as well, but only those who’d shown Shinya some proficiency with a blade. They were armed mostly with pistols and cutlasses, but Silva had one of the BARs and Tony Scott carried his personal Thompson. Matt shouldered his way forward to the hatch that led onto the fo’c’sle. There he ran into Chief Gray and Lieutenant Garrett.
“Boats,” he said, nodding at the men. “Mr. Garrett. I don’t remember mentioning either of your names when I put this boarding party together.” Gray hitched his web belt, but it stayed right where it was. It couldn’t ride any higher without being let out. He met Matt’s gaze with an expression of determination.
“Well, Skipper,” said Garrett, “you didn’t exactly un-mention us either.”
Matt frowned. “Be careful, then. We can’t spare either of you.”
“Like we can spare our captain?” questioned Alden as he squeezed his way to the front of the line. The crowd parted as best it could in the cramped space. There was an overwhelming sour odor of wet fur and sweat. “Captains don’t lead boarding parties. As head of Walker’s Marine contingent”-Alden grinned, but with a hint of reproach-“that’s my job.”
Matt grinned back, remembering when he’d made the appointment. At the time, Alden was the only Marine in the world. “Nevertheless, I’m going. We’ve been over this before.” He gestured at those around, destroyermen, as well as their shorter allies. “Don’t worry. These are your troops. You trained them. You’ll retain tactical command if we run into organized resistance. Just don’t forget the priorities.”
“Right,” Alden agreed. “Secure the ship, and don’t let ’em scuttle. Take prisoners, but kill ’em all if we have to. Nobody speaks Grik and we’ll probably learn more from the ship than we will from the crew.”
Matt nodded agreement. “Don’t risk anybody’s life to save any of theirs. While you’re doing that, ten ’Cats”-he paused, looking at Garrett and Gray-“them too, I suppose, will accompany me into officers’ country. We’ll try to find any papers, maps, or other documents. Maybe we’ll even catch their captain!”
Alden glanced through the small rectangular window near the hatchway to the foredeck and squinted through the spray that left it almost opaque. It was nearly time. “Maybe so, Skipper. But if he was on deck, he’s a goner for sure.” He whistled at the nightmare tangle of heaving debris. The machine guns had stopped firing and there wasn’t a living thing in sight. “What a train wreck!”
“Hell,” said Gray, “they might keep him in a bucket down in the hold, for all we know. Just because that thing has stern galleries like an Indiaman don’t mean their leaders stay in ’em. They’re as likely to hold Hindoo revivals there.”
The men laughed, and many of the Lemurians grinned too. None, not even Chack, understood what he meant, but humor for any reason was good at moments like this. Alden moved to the hatch and turned.
“All right,” he bellowed. “Listen up! We’re goin’ out there to activate Captain Reddy’s contraption. When we do, I’ll blow this whistle.” He held up a chrome whistle in his left hand. “When you hear it, go! Single file, as fast as you can! No goofing around or gawking! It’s gonna be tough for the ship to keep station in this sea, and we’ve got to get as many aboard as fast as we can. We could lose the bridge at any moment! If we do, those left behind will try again. There’s bound to be lizards left and they’re not gonna be happy to see us!” He waved at Lieutenant Shinya, about midway down the press of boarders. The Japanese officer waved back and repeated Alden’s instructions to those behind. “Good luck!” Alden roared, and opening the hatch, he dashed onto the fo’c’sle. Matt and the others quickly followed.
Atomized seawater drenched them immediately as they ran to a pair of heavy cleats on the forward bridge plating. Matt looked over his shoulder at the wallowing derelict and then up at Dowden leaning over the wing rail. Dowden was gauging the distance. Suddenly he pointed at Matt with an exaggerated gesture and yelled, but the words were lost in the crashing waves. Garrett and Gray released the cables holding the “contraption” upright against the side of the bridge, and it plunged down to starboard. Matt watched it fall with a fist on his heart, hoping it wouldn’t just disintegrate when it struck.
It was a corvus, a device inspired by his interest in history. Specifically, in this case, the first Punic War. A corvus was basically a long, rigid ramp that dropped upon the deck of an enemy ship so troops could sprint across. A sharp spike attached to the descending end was supposed to drive itself into the deck, holding the ships fast together and forming a temporary bridge. It should work. It hadn’t worked well for the Romans, he reflected bleakly, but they’d never had a chance to try it.
As advertised, the weight and inertia of Walker’s corvus drove the spike into the enemy ship with a tremendous crash. The entire structure bowed alarmingly, but sprang back to its original shape. The frame, like almost everything else from Baalkpan, was made of the heavy bamboo. Alden blew a long, shrill blast on his whistle. Sword in one hand, pistol in the other, Matt followed the Marine across the bouncing bridge. The rest of his immediate party raced after him, followed by a closely packed line of yelling destroyermen and chittering Lemurian Marines. As soon as they gained the enemy deck, they deployed into a protective semicircle, which quickly expanded as more boarders joined them. Grik bodies were everywhere. Some were shot to pieces, while others had been crushed by falling debris. The foamy water coursing across the deck was dark with their blood.
Matt glanced back. The second wave, led by Shinya, was just starting across. The dismasted hulk wallowed horribly and the strain on the corvus was unbelievable. The spike was battering a growing hole in the deck and despite Dowden’s best efforts, the bridge began to fail. “Quickly, quickly!” he shouted. They couldn’t be quick enough. Ultimately, it was the attachment to Walker that parted, not the spike in the deck. Shinya had almost reached them when the corvus behind sagged under the reinforcements and then, with a deafening crack! fell into the sea.
“Grab the manropes!” Alden screamed as the spike jerked out of the hole and the whole thing tilted over. Dozens did so, and fortunately it was already so entangled in the debris of the rigging that it couldn’t have fallen completely, but Matt dreaded what he would see when he looked over the rail. At least a dozen men and ’Cats dangled by the ropes. Some were actually in the water, holding on for dear life. A few disappeared astern, waving their arms in the air.
“Get them up!” Gray leaned over, snatched Shinya like a doll, and threw him on the deck. Others joined him, hauling the men and ’Cats up as fast as they could. Silva’s BAR hammered. The Grik were coming up too.
Tony Scott stood by Walker’s rail, wide-eyed, watching the figures struggling in the water or clinging to the ropes. He’d been next to cross. His foot was on the corvus when it failed. For a moment, all he could do was stand there, clinging to the chain. He would have been in the water! So far, none of the terrible fish had arrived. Maybe the heavy seas kept them deep or disoriented, but he doubted they’d stay away long. And there were still people in the water. One wore a helmet, like most of the destroyermen did, but seemed too stunned or injured to do more than hold a rope. With quickening dread, he saw the long brownish blond hair unfurl and stream out from beneath it when a wave washed over the helmet. He gulped.