Every night, Eliana tossed and turned in her bed. Soaking her sheets in sweat… her heart racing. She might have escaped from Banshee’s Wail… but not in her mind. Every time she closed her eyes, she was back there… she could see Raudur and the others, see what they had done to her. And every time she slipped off to sleep, she went through it all again… and again… and again…
She had been separated from Celia for days now… the only thing she saw and heard from the other woman was her screams when the pirates managed to tear from from her lips… but she couldn’t spare much thought for what her lover was going through, not after learning of the gangbang they had in store for her today. Banshee’s Wail had made port somewhere, to sell what little loot they had plundered from Constantos… and with most of the pirates at liberty, they were free finally to really put her through her paces.
Raudur and another two sailors dragged her out of the cell in the Brig they had made for her and up the stairs into the sleeping quarters of the crew. She was instantly greeted with a deafening cheer of excitement. Eliana felt her knees buckle as she stared in wide-eyed horror at the sea of pirates packed inside into the small area… every single one of them gazing at her with lust. Most had already fucked her before… but not all at once.
The pirates had dressed her. Her own uniform from the Navy was long gone, but they had dug up an enlisted office uniform from somewhere… it was a size too small for her, but that didn’t bother them in the slightest as they had squeezed her into the too-tight uniform. Taking knives, they had cut out holes for her breasts and her crotch, leaving her entirely exposed as they had clipped a tricorner cap onto her messy red hair.
She knew how much the image of her in that outfit was turning them on… Eliana whimpered miserably as many of them reached out and groped her while Raudur led her toward the center of the building. “I hope you’re ready for this, cunt,” Raudur whispered into Eliana’s ear. “I had to organize this to get the men’s mind of how little treasure they got on Constantos, and how many of their friends were cut down. You’re about to get fucked by more guys than a dyke could imagine.”
Eliana felt the heaviness in her chest and the tears already forming in her eyes as she stared at the center of the quarters, where she was being taken.
“Well boys, I hope you’re all ready to fuck some tight Navy holes,” Raudur mocked with a sweeping bow, as the sailors crowded around. “For any of you who haven’t had the pleasure yet, this little slut is Eliana… and the lady is a Captain of the Imperial Navy.” He smirked. “And she was the one who lead those sailors against us on Constantos.”
Many of the men yelled. A few threw things at her… a bottle bounced off her cheek, opening a small cut on her brow. “Now now,” Raudur warned. “None of that. Hurt her with your cocks instead… that’s more fun anyway. Little red-haired bitch has taken a lot of cock already, but she’s still nice and tight… so let’s fuck her real good and hard and show her what we do to Navy cunts around here.”
Eliana was shaking in absolute terror now as she listened to the thunderous roar of anticipation from the crowd. Raudur, meanwhile, began preparing the ropes in the center of the room from where they were tied to the ceiling, wrapping them around her wrists… forcing her to bend as he he raised her wrists higher and higher behind her back until she was barely able to move at all, and completely vulnerable to whatever the group of eager pirates wanted to do to her.
“Please!” Eliana begged hysterically. “Please, let me go! Not this, please, not all of them!!” The captain struggled, but they were weak… she was at risk of dislocating her shoulders if she struggled too hard. She couldn’t struggle in any way but to shake her ass back and forth enticingly, and the psychological torture of the restriction was truly unbearable… she couldn’t even see what was going on behind her, and knowing generally what it would be did not make it better in the slightest… it just gave her more to dread.
“Okay boys, step right up and get to work on the bitch!” Raudur shouted, motioning toward Eliana’s gorgeous upturned ass. “And don’t worry, I promise you’ll all get multiple turns with the cunt. We’re keeping her here until every single one of you can’t get it up anymore.” Eliana screamed as she felt the first pirate smack her ass before placing the tip of his cock against her already well-raped rear.
She screamed in anguish as the powerful pirate, that she couldn’t even see, began roughly shoving his dick into her asshole. “Damn this bitch really is tight!” The pirate roared, gripping Eliana’s thin waist firmly while he ripped his cock into her sphincter as hard as he could. Eliana could do little but wail miserably, as the pirate hammered away at her asshole.
The man’s cock was huge, and Eliana could feel her tender anus getting absolutely torn up. Thankfully it took him just a couple of minutes to cum, and the battered officer trembled in disgust as her abused rear was flooded with semen. When she finally felt the massive pirate pull his cock out of her ass, Eliana screamed in horror as he was instantly replaced by another.
“God… please… give me a second!” Eliana sobbed, writhing around miserably as she felt another pair of rough, giant hands seize her hips.
“Fuck that’s a pretty little cunt,” the cruel pirate remarked, as he pressed the head of his dick against Eliana’s pussy. The redhead screeched pathetically as the giant pirate ripped his cock deep into her sore cunt.
“Don’t forget fellas she’s got another hole up front!” Raudur laughed, pointing toward Eliana’s head. How she was bent over by the strappado bonds kept her head even more immobile than her rear. “I know she sound sexy when she’s screaming, but won’t someone shut this bitch up?”
Several Pirates immediately raced to the mentioned spot, crowding around in front of her. The first one to arrive quickly dropped his jeans and boxers and smacked the tip of his huge cock against Eliana’s face. He held it in front of her lips and ordered her to open her mouth, but Eliana refused. “I said open that mouth bitch!” He slapping Eliana across her face viciously… but he didn’t stop. Over and over he smacked her until her cheeks were crimson and her tears were a continuous river down her face, flying like seaspray each time she was slapped.
Eliana squealed in pain and quickly parted her lips for the man… but even that didn’t get her mercy. He slapped her a half dozen more times before he even realized that the captive navywoman had given up resisting. As soon as he realized, though, he brutally plunged his cock into the beautiful girl’s mouth and toward her throat. He gripped Eliana’s head with both hands and used his powerful hips to slam his hard dick in and out of her mouth. Eliana could not see anything other than the Pirate’s thick bush of pubic hair right in front of her, but she could hear the deafening chants from men all around her urging the rapists to fuck her harder.
The Pirate behind Eliana roared, burying every inch of his huge shaft inside the beauty’s tight pussy… but Eliana did not even notice her cunt getting filled with sperm. She was much too busy trying not to choke to death on the massive dick stuffed inside her mouth and throat. The pirate in front of her was merciless, as he thumped his penis back and forth into her face nonstop. It was the most horrific blowjob imaginable, as Eliana’s hands and head were both restrained and she was completely powerless to stop the disgusting pirate from using her however he pleased.
Despite the huge cock that was lodged in her mouth Eliana’s anguished scream could be heard by all the men in the warehouse, as another pirate got behind her and rammed his penis into her asshole. Meanwhile, the Pirate fucking her face finally reached his climax and started spewing his sperm into Eliana’s mouth. Eliana sobbed dismally as she felt the hot spunk gushing into the back of her throat, helpless to stop it. When he was done the man yanked his dick out of Eliana’s mouth and gave her an appreciative smack in the face before leaving.
“Augghh! Aauugghh! Aauugghh!! Eliana shrieked over and over again as the massive pirate behind her brutally pounded her asshole. “Celiaaaaa!” she shrieked. “Help meeee… Plleeeeaaaasse!” She begged and pleaded to no effect but to encourage the men, a look of sheer terror on her face as another unwashed Pirate stepped up to use her mouth.
“Open your mouth whore!” The man ordered, slapping Eliana so hard that the sound echoed through the cabin. Eliana wailed in pain and respectfully spread her lips wide for the dirty, tattooed man. She immediately started gagging as he drove his cock deep into her little throat. Once again, however, she couldn’t do anything to help herself. The cruel pirate fucked Eliana’s mouth for several agonizing minutes, and pulled out just twice during that span to give the captured captain a few seconds to breathe. By the time he blew his load inside her mouth, Eliana’s face was a crimson color to match her hair, and she looked like she truly yearned for death.
Meanwhile, the man behind her had already ejaculated inside her asshole and had already been replaced by a truly massive pirate… his cock felt like a sword in her guts. That huge man was fucking Eliana’s ass so hard that her toned legs buckled violently each time he slammed his cock into the torn opening. Eliana’s pleas for mercy were short-lived, as another Pirate soon had his cock buried deep inside her mouth.
It was, without a doubt, the most appalling, horrendous rape Eliana could have ever imagined, and it continued uninterrupted for nearly three excruciating hours. There were eighty crewmen aboard Banshee’s Wail, and all but 5 of them were male. During that span more than fifty pirates happily used her mouth, ass, or pussy. Torrents of sperm were now flowing freely from the three openings, and despite how deep into her they pumped their seed the bowls beneath her were starting to fill with the disgusting fluid. Eliana’s asshole and cunt were both badly torn and gaping horrifically. Her jaw, likewise, was terribly sore from the constant facial abuse.
“How you holding up there slut?” Raudur laughed, stepping in front of the weeping captain.
“Please…” she whimpered pathetically. “Please stop this… I can’t take anymore!”
Raudur smirked at the thick streams of drool and cum that dripped dripped off her chin and into the bowl below as she tried to beg with him.
“What do you mean you can’t take anymore?” Raudur asked incredulously. “Only half the crew has had their turn… and I dobut any of them are ready to be done with you. You got all the rest of the day and probably most of the night to go, so quit your bitching and suck it up and be a good little whore… otherwise we’ll have to drag your little girlfriend up here and have her take half the cocks for you.”
Eliana shuddered, gulping, swallowing hard. “Then do it…” she whispered softly, hating herself for every word.
Raudur laughed. “Ah, young love,” he said darkly, shaking his head. “I’d do it, too… let her know you asked for it… but the Captain wanted some time with the blonde whore, so it’ll have to be just you for the crew.”
Eliana wept. Somehow, it was even worse to be weak enough to say something so horrible… and not get anything for it… than it would have been if Celia was being raped on her word just beside her. It wasn’t her fault, she told herself… they were going to abuse and rape both of them anyway, no matter what she said… it didn’t matter what she said. It wasn’t her fault… they were playing a rigged game.
Raudur smiled at her, patting her on her cum-soaked head before wiping it off on her arm. “Keep up the good work, Navy whore,” he told her with a chuckle. “You’re just about halfway done… with the first round. I’m sure you know we’re all gonna have a second or third round with you by the time they’re done with you.”
As Raudur walked away, a few of the pirates freed her from her bondage. Eliana felt so weak she would have collapsed if they didn’t hold her up, and she was in no position to fight as they pushed her to one of the cots on her back. She squealed in agony as they tied her there, he legs spread as wide as it was possible and tied off to two corners of two different cots. Another rope was looped around her neck, restraining her while letting her head dangle off the end. The moment the men tying her stepped away, a pair of pirates moved up to take their turns with the pretty redhead’s pussy and mouth.
Eliana screamed in agony as she felt one of the men grab her waist and spear his huge cock deep into her exhausted vagina. Just seconds later the other giant began smashing his own dick back and forth between her succulent lips. With her head suspended upside down Eliana was forced to stare at the man’s disgusting balls while he fucked her mouth viciously.
A little more than two hours passed by while the gang proceeded to rape Eliana in this new position, and about 30 of them were able to use the beautiful girl during this time. Eliana’s aching pussy burned like it was on fire, but the pain in her throat was even worse, as over a dozen pirates had stuffed their entire dicks down it. Eliana’s beautiful face and hair were both completely drenched with cum. Most of the men had chosen to ejaculate in her mouth, while a couple had pulled out and shot their loads all over her face. Her hat was still held on by the clips Raudur had used to bind it into her hair, but it the blue of the navy cap was crusted close to yellow by the cum that had landed on it.
There was a brief pause, like anticipation… Eliana heard the commotion of many Pirates moving out of the way and the daunting sound of heavy footsteps quickly approaching. After several seconds, a huge pirate finally stood over the captain’s bound head. She had seen Rashet before… but never been fucked by him yet. She stared in terror. The dark skinned man was, put simply, enormous. He was almost certainly the biggest man she had ever seen… not fat, but built like a battleship, or at least like he could lift one.
“Damn,” Rashet said, whistling. “You boys have fucked this slut up. Fuck if she still isn’t the hottest thing I’ve ever seen though,” Rashet chuckled, as he gazed down hungrily at the helpless redhead. “How are her holes holding up?”
“They must make em special in the Navy,” another pirate laughed, “because she’s tight as a virgin still. Her body was made for this.”
“Just what I hoped to hear,” Rashet smiled as he dropped his pants and presented his cock to her. Eliana had seen him rape Celia before, and he knew that the goliath had to be huge, but the actual sight of Rashet’s cock was unreal. The monstrous shaft was nearly 11″ in length and seemed almost as thick as her wrist. Rashet stood in front of the captain’s dangling head and stroked his cock for a moment, allowing the fear to really settle into the girl. When he finally began moving toward the other end of the rack Eliana screamed in horror and pulled feverishly at the ropes that held her.
“Please no! Please I can’t! He’ll kill me! Please don’t let him do this!” Eliana pleaded desperately up at Raudur.
“Relax slut, you’ll live,” Raudur reassured the terrified beauty. “He’s been fucking your girlfriend at least once a day since she was captured, and she’s still here.”
“Nooooooooooooo!!!” Eliana screamed, tugging at her bonds harder once she felt the massive tip of Rashet’s cock against her aching pussy.
“God that fucking feels nice!” Rashet exclaimed, holding his cock with one hand while he slowly sank it into Eliana’s cunt.
Despite how much it was lubed up from the countless pirates who’d cum in her already, Eliana’s tight pussy put up a hell of a fight. The beautiful redhead screamed in agony as her raw, battered pussy was stretched further than ever before, further than she thought capable. Rashet’s dick was so enormous that it literally felt like he was ripping her pussy in two with it. Eliana wept and squealed miserably as the behemoth continued driving forward until his cock hit her cervix and refused to go any further. Only a bit of the gigantic pole were sticking out of Eliana’s sex.
Eliana wailed in torture, as the huge Pirate slammed forward with his hips and tried to bury the rest of his cock in her pussy. “Fuck you bitch! Get ready I’m gonna fuck you through the deck and into the bay you slut!” Rashet roared, just before he began ferociously ripping his penis in and out of their captive’s cunt.
Eliana screamed, struggling crazily as the huge beast started pounding her pussy. No one went to her mouth or payed at her… the entire group surrounded here gathered around the cot at watched as Raudur demolished the helpless beauty. Just the sight of her long, sexy legs spread insanely wide and her continuous, desperate attempts to free herself were enough to make many of them nearly cum while they waited. Every single muscle in Eliana’s slender frame was visibly straining as her body tried to absorb the violent pounding.
“Oh God please!!! Please stop!!!” Eliana begged wretchedly, as Rashet continued to demolish her tight little pussy.
“Damn but she’s tight,” Rashet laughed as he reached out and smacked Eliana’s tits hard while he ripped his cock in and out of her cunt.
Eliana’s face was twisted into a look of pure misery and tears of agony were flowing from her eyes. Every time Rashet slammed into her she screamed she looked like she was going to passt from the pain. This wasn’t sex… it was torture with a cock. It was insane that Rashet could even fit his cock inside the too-small, too-tight girl, and Eliana felt sure that he was permanently changing the shape of her cunt, if he wasn’t ripping her to shreds.
“Fuck yeah!” Rashet roared in pleasure. “I’m cumming! I’m cumming in you nasty puss you dirty fucking whore!” Eliana screamed in torture one last time as the juggernaut stabbed his dick into her as hard as he could. An instant later she felt his heavy load of jizz flooding into her pussy and breathed a huge sigh of relief. Eliana did not care at all about having his cum dumped inside her body… not compared to the alternative of having him continuing to use her.
When Rashet finally finished depositing his seed and removed his massive cock from her vagina, Eliana could feel the incredible void that was left inside of her. It felt as if someone had just fired a cannonball into her cunt.
Grinning wildly, the pirates watched as her pussy clenched, narrowing again, pushing some of his seed out of he and onto the bed frame and the deck… still so tight. “I’ll be back in a few hours bitch,” Rashet promised the devastated Eliana. “I can’t wait to bust open that pretty little ass of yours…”
As he walked away, Eliana sobbed. She could feel a thick stream of cum dripping out of her pussy. The hole ached and burned worse than ever before, and she did not know how she was going to handle any more cocks being slammed into it. It had been the most excruciating fucking of her life to date. Her body was soaked in sweat from her constant struggles, and she was so exhausted she could not move even if she wanted to.
“Okay boys,” Ruaudur said with a grin. “Who’s next?”
Eliana adjusted the collar of her uniform for the fifth time in as many minutes, concerned that it wasn’t fitting her properly even though she had been wearing it for the past two months. A captain of the Imperial Navy had to look the part, so even without a ship, she had been wearing it every day in port since she had returned home from the raid on Sabreport. It helped her to forget. While she was wearing the uniform, she wasn’t a raped former slave, but a woman of honor and privilege, an officer of the Empire.
That was important to her. She didn’t want to think of herself the way the pirates had tried to make her… no matter how she found herself back there whenever she closed her eyes.
Eliana crossed her arms over her breasts the wind sprayed sea mist over her. She always felt like men were staring at her… she had bound her breasts against her chest to the point it was uncomfortable, but still thought she caught the sailors rowing the boat looking from time to time. For all her life, Eliana had been proud of her appearance… had always liked the attention it got her. Now she wished all that attention would just… go… away…
The form of Justice was fast approaching, and from where she sat in the rowboat she could see the sailors crawling across the rigging of the Imperial flagship, a mighty war galleon as they prepared her for sail. It was the personal command vessel of Fleet Admiral Holt, the man who had summoned Eliana to see him… and while she was annoyed at having to meet him like this, he was the Admiral in charge of the entire South Seas Imperial Navy… and if she wanted another command, she would have to get it through him. He had given her a command for the invasion of Sabreport, after all… and while that raid felt dismally like a failure to her since she hadn’t found Celia and Banshee’s Wail has escaped, on paper it had been a resounding success.
Still, the personal summons made her nervous. When he had summoned her before, it had made sense to her… she had news of Sabreport and the attack on Constantos. It had been logical for the Fleet Admiral to want to get her report right from her own lips. He had no reason to speak to her directly now… he was too far above her in rank even if she had a ship… and as a Captain without a ship of her own, she was even low down on his list of concerns. She couldn’t help but feel that he had found out about her conflict with Captain Elias and his crew. He seemed like the type to strip her of her command in person if it had to be done.
If that was what was in store for her, she would take it without complain… she wouldn’t give Elias the satisfaction of hearing about her breaking down or showing outrage. Then she would just try not to drown herself in the bay.
A crewman aboard Justice tossed a rope down to them, and she took it, her hands moving with automatic motions as she tied off the boat and steadied it for a ladder to be tossed down. She felt certain that the letch’s in the boat would be staring at her ass the whole way up, but there was nothing for it. Reluctantly, she climbed up to face her fate.
Fleet Admiral Holt was much the way she remembered as he rose from his desk in his cabin, greeting her. “Captain Eliana… thank you for coming so soon. I didn’t inconvenience you at all, I hope, given that you were on leave?”
He gestured for her to sit, and she did. Beneath her feet, she could feel the telltale rocking of the ship in motion… they were going somewhere. The men rigging the sails had suggested that to her, but this confirmed it. “Not at all Admiral. I serve at the pleasure of the Emperor.”
Holt smiled. “I’m glad to hear that. So…” He lay one hand on a thick stack of paper on his desk. “I’m sure you’re wondering why I’ve asked you here. I had some important questions to ask you.” He picked up one of the pieces of paper, and Eliana saw her own name on it… the Navy’s file on her. Everything she had done since the academy… good and bad. “Elliana Rogim… you are the daughter of Captain Salas Rogim, I believe. Is that correct?”
It was a formality of a question… of course he already knew. “Yes sir,” she said. “He was my father.”
Holt waved a hand. “No need for formality, Captain. I doubt you know, but I served under your father… my first post as an officer was on True Wind for more than a year… I was singularily impressed with your father. He was the one who recommend me for promotion to Captain. If he hadn’t… well, I’d have been with him on the Emerald Isles when the hurricane struck.” He paused on that for a second, remaining silent as he remembered. Eliana did much the same. She didn’t especiall enjoy dwelling on her father’s death.
“He died a hero, you know,” Holt said finally.
“I know,” Eliana said quietly.
“You were already in the academy when he died, I see…” Holt continued, looking over the papers, “But your performance before and after is… markedly different. It seems you were as inspired by him as I was. You graduated with honors… at only nineteen I believe. Fast than anyone else, man or woman… I believe I graduated you, in fact.”
“You did, sir,” Eliana agreed. “You were a rear admiral at the time, the youngest in Imperial history.”
He smiled at her. “No more sirs, please, you’re making me feel old.” Holt kept smiling, but it did become a bit more forced as he turned the page… a red stamped page. One of many, Eliana knew. “Tell me about your time serving on Golden Dawn.”
Eliana considered her words carefully. “Captain Wrent was a skilled commanding officer, and a good teacher. I learned a great deal serving under him.”
“You stacked up nearly as many red marks as you did commendations,” the Fleet Admiral said bluntly. “I see here… insubordination. Insubordination. Failure to follow Navy Regulations. Insubordination. Failure to complete routine duties. Insubordination. Insubordination. And just for for variety, striking a superior officer. This would have been enough to blackball anyone but you, I think… the Navy had very high hopes for you.”
Eliana swallowed. “For the record, I was cleared of striking him.” He had tried to slap her. She had grabbed his arm.
“I see that,” Holt agreed, flipping the page. “You don’t need to tell me Wrent is a pig, and that he didn’t deal with having a bright young rising star of a woman assigned to his command well… I already know that. I’m just concerned about your own ability to control yourself.”
He stared at her for a few more seconds before flipping past the last two Red Stamps and entering the gold stamps. “But even he couldn’t stop you for being noticed. Excellence in battle. Bravery. Excellence in navigation. Excellence in leadership. Bravery. Tactical brilliance. Service beyond the call of duty…” He looked up at her. “Tell me about that last one.”
Eliana shrugged. “Captain Wrent was injured in a storm off of the Shoals. We didn’t currently have a first officer, so I ended up taking command and seeing us through the storm.”
Holt raised his eyebrow. “That storm riled up a nest of Leviathans, as I understood it.”
“We avoided them,” she said simply. It really hadn’t been that big of a deal. Her father had sailed into a Leviathan frenzy without a witchman to save people trapped in a hurricane. The Golden Dawn had had excellent witchmen. There had been little enough risk.
Holt paused for a moment, obviously waiting for her to say more. When she didn’t, he turned the page. “After that commendation, Wrent put you up for a command of your own. Consensus in the fleet was he was trying to get rid of you by promoting you after only five years.” He patted the stack of commendations. “These got you Sacred Star.” He looked over the Red Marks. “And those got you sent to the South Seas, and Constantos.”
He flipped deeper and deeper into the pile. “Plenty of people went to bat for you… in particular, the other fresh officer aboard the Golden Dawn… a man I believe you know.”
Eliana nodded in agreement. “Stantis. Good man,” she said.
“And so he is,” Admiral Holt agreed. “We need more men like him. He lacks the tactical skill for me to want to give him his own command, or with his record I would have promoted him to Captain already. He has an impeccable reputation. Several former teachers, two retired admirals… friends of your father, I believe… and the Governor of the Emerald Isles have all made applications in your support. I suspect that in the face of all this support, Fleet Admiral Rathanos felt he had little choice but to give you your own ship, but assign you the least important post he could find for a Navy warship. Unless I miss my guess, he was hoping you would either get your independent streak in check, or get bounced out of the Navy entirety.”
He looked up from the papers. “Neither happened, I see. From the reports we have, you remain an excellent captain with a record of success… and a mystifying inability to perhaps routine duties in a satisfactory mannor… and Rathanos has been promoted to oversee the North Seas, so that makes your command my decision to puzzle out.” Holt met her eyes. “So, Captain. What would you do with a promising young Captain with a reputation for brilliance, but who can’t seem to follow the rules? One who recently lost her ship to a Pirate attack, and then helped to shatter the fleet of the Pirate Queen responsible?”
Eliana wasn’t sure… but she was growing increasingly convinced that if he was preparing to strip her of command or court-marshall her, he wouldn’t go through such an elaborate discussion first. The Admiral was driving at something… he felt sure of it. Could… she dare to hope? “Pirate Queen Kiera’s fleet was broken at Sabreport, but a dozen or so ships escaped… and Kiera herself was captured, so presumably hers was one of them. I would give that captain a mission to hunt them down.”
Holt stood, smiling. “Funny… I had a similar thought. Follow me.”
Eliana stepped out onto the deck… and froze at what she saw.
Justice had sailed out of the bay, and over around one of the maze of islands that made up the approach to the port. She had known that mess of islands included several secret ports that the Navy made use of, but she hadn’t ever been in one. She was in one now, she felt certain… because she had never seen a ship like the one in front of her.
It was enormous. Three frigates and a Galleon were anchored beside it, and the ship made them all look like toys. It was more than twice the size of the Galleon, and looked like it drafted well more than twice as deep. It was differently colored, as well… Navy ships were usually whitewashed for visibility at night, but the larger ship was a bottled black and green. It easily hung four times as much canvas as any ship she had ever seen… it would probably be reasonably fast despite its vast size and probably weight.
Eliana stared at the ship in surprise. No one made ships that big… they couldn’t. Nevermind that it would be impossible to hide anything that big from the Leviathans no matter how many witchmen were working, wood just didn’t have the structural strength to let something of that size stand up to storm surge. And…
She blinked. “That ship isn’t made of wood.”
Fleet Admiral Holt was grinning broadly. “I’d like to introduce you to the Implacable… the first of her kind. She’s crafted mostly from the chitin of a beached Leviathan we found three years ago. It took that long to build her. She’s nearly indestructible.”
Eliana found her mouth open. Yeah, she bet she would be… she had never heard anything but a tall tale of a Leviathan being killed by anything, and gods knew that ships had tried. Cannon fire bounced off their armored plates like it was a solid sheet of steel, and the beasts had a penchent for shattering the offending ship to driftwood before they could try too many times.
“She’s lighter than you expect,” Holt said. “The hull cuts through the waves much easier than wood, too. She’ll make better than 18 knots.”
“Sacred Star could barely make that sir!” Eliana protested. If this was true… only light, exceptionally fast ships like schooners had a chance of outrunning Implacable at all… But more to the point, even if a ship could outrun her, it would take long enough that her guns could pount any ship that small to splinters. This ship represented an enormous change in the way Naval Combat could be done… she would be nearly unstoppable.
“She is a beauty,” Holt agreed. He turned to Eliana. “Your next assignment is this. I want you to take command of the Implacable, and use her to hunt down every last pirate in the South Seas. Break the remaining fleet of Pirate Queen Kiera, and capture her if possible.”
Eliana was stunned. “Sir… her name is Implacable. Virtue names are only given to fleet flagships.”
A slow smiled crossed his face. “You are quite right,” he agreed. “If you accept, this assignment comes with an immediate promotion to Commodore. You’d command Implacable, the frigates Cold Wind, Distant Dream, and Restless, and the galleon North Star… enough firepower to crush any remnants of Kiera’s fleet that are still out there.” He looked at her seriously. “I think the task should go to someone who has a… shall we say, fairly loose sense of dedication to standard Imperial doctrine. Someone for whom getting this done is personal.”
Eliana didn’t know what to say.
“Do I have the right person?” Holt asked seriously.
Slowly, Eliana began to smile. “Yes, Admiral. I’ll… I’ll do it. I’ll capture or kill every last pirate sailing these seas for you.” She clenched her fist. And I’ll get Celia back. Hold on, Celia… I’m coming for you…
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