The garbled message was followed by the sound of guns on the horizon in the direction they'd just come from.
"Increase speed to thirty-two knots. We need to get back as soon as possible!"
Jack knew that thirty-two knots was the top speed of the Valiant and one that she wouldn't be able to sustain for very long but they needed to make all possible haste back to Quiller's Cove.
Even the boilers on the Destiny started to scream at the high speed, but the ship cut through the water in a breakneck pace.
On the bridge, Jack kept his binoculars perched against his face watching the horizon. He could just barely make out the landmass of the island in front of him and the closer he sailed, the worse it got.
Only seven miles away, he could make out smoke coming from the town. Five miles out, he could make out the silhouettes of the two Occitanian cruisers. He would need to get closer before he could even think about firing from Destiny's guns.
Finally close enough, he turned to Abigail. "What is the name of your weapons division officer?"
"Lt. Kyle Abrams," she said, pointing to the younger man with dark hair on the bridge.
"Lt. Abrams, I need the forward turrets loaded and ready to fire."
"Yes, sir, right away. Thirty seconds and they'll be loaded with ordnance."
Jack looked back at the horizon. He could clearly see the base now including the enemy cruisers and worse of all, they could now see him. It wasn't ten seconds later that the closer one fired a salvo directly at them, splashing into the water a good two hundred yards short of the bow.
Jack turned to Abigail. "I want to engage both of them at the same time. I can't leave one to deal with us while the other fires on the town."
Abigail's brow scrunched in confusion. "What are you suggesting?"
"I want us to sail hard to port so we can fire a proper broadside against them. Let the two forward turrets fix on the further cruiser and the rear turret on the closer one. Let's radio over to the Valiant to take the closer cruiser as well. I want the Tiger to zigzag over in that direction and prepare to let slip a few torpedoes."
Abigail nodded and began to radio the commands over to her crew and to the other ships. The ship started pulling hard to the left and Jack watched as the six stunning twelve inch guns in the two forward turrets started to raise and fix on a point just above the horizon.
"Lt. Abrams, are we ready to fire?"
"All three turrets locked and loaded, sir!"
"On my orders then. Three, two, one, FIRE!"
Abrams radioed the order and the cruiser fired a mighty broadside as every one of the guns opened up in an incredible display of fire and brimstone. Jack watched as the ordnance from each of the nine guns sailed up into the sky before coming crashing down on the enemy ships.
The salvos from the forward turrets of the Destiny splashed near enough to the further cruiser but not enough to do some damage. The closer ship wasn't as lucky.
"HIT! Hit on the closer cruiser!" Abigail shouted.
Jack looked over at the cruiser to see fire and smoke bellowing from the cruiser's rear turret. The guns looked to have been blown off the entire platform. Meanwhile, the salvo from the Valiant appeared to fall just short of the mark, splashing in the water in front of the cruiser.
"At least one turret is out of action," said Jack before turning back to look at Abrams. "How long until we're reloaded?"
"Forty-five more seconds, sir!"
"Now let's see what they do," said Jack as he waited for them to respond. Through his binoculars he could make out the turrets of the further cruiser swinging into his direction while the closer one seemed to focus more on the Valiant.
Several tense seconds went by before the roaring of the guns beckoned across the bay as both cruisers fired near simultaneously. Jack watched them arc up into the sky as they headed in his direction.
Bracing himself against the railing, he watched them sail down where several shots just overshot them and exploded in the water just beyond the ship. It was a miss, but a closer miss than the first shot.
He looked over at the Valiant to see a spark of fire and his stomach dropped. One of those shots had struck the superstructure of the ship but didn't appear to be too damaging.
"How long now, Abrams?"
"Ten seconds, sir!"
Jack turned to look at Abigail. "We have to make this one count."
She nodded and several seconds later, he heard Abrams open up. "Locked and loaded, sir!"
"FIRE!" Jack roared.