فصل 19

19

Abandon Ship

The Proton quickly fell behind as the remaining three ships, the Regulator, the Neutron, and the Pulse, moved ahead at speeds above twenty-three knots. Ninety minutes later, as the sun sank into the sea to the west, the jagged silhouette of the Nukufetau atoll came into view. “There she is,” Enele said. “That’s a beautiful sight.” “I’m happier at what I’m not seeing,” Adam said. “Elgen boats.” “Where’s the Elgen compound?” Enele asked Noa.

“Hatch’s Fort Knox is off Motulalo,” Noa said. “It’s the largest islet and the only deepwater port.” “Where is that?”

“Southeastern tip of the island.”

“Then why are we sailing west?”

“Have you ever sailed to Nukufetau?”

Enele shook his head. “No. I was only there as a kid.” “She’s a true coral atoll. The island’s pretty much a big rectangular frame filled with water. There’s a deepwater port into the lagoon on the northwest side of the island. If we can enter the lagoon, we can sail south inside the reef and dock closer to the construction and the seawall our people just built. If there are Elgen ships, we’ll be better concealed and better defended. If it’s a big ship, the lagoon is shallow enough that she won’t be able to follow after us.” “Well done,” Enele said. “How far are we from the entrance?” “We’re about ten kilometers.”

“Let’s get there fast.”

Just three kilometers from the deepwater opening in the atoll, there was suddenly a distant flash, followed by a loud explosion, echoing like thunder. A shell hit the water two thousand meters from the Regulator, exploding water several hundred yards into the air.

“There they are,” Enele said.

“That missile was fired from a battle cruiser,” Noa said. “It’s the Edison. She’s still intact.” “How far away is she?”

“She’s covering the entry,” Noa said. “They must have guessed our play. They know if we get in there, they can’t follow.” “Can we get in there first?”

“No. They’ll reach it before we do.” Noa turned on his radio. There came the clamor from a foreign tongue, followed by English with a heavy Russian accent.

“Rebel ship. This is the ES Edison battle cruiser. Reduce your speed and surrender, or we will sink your ship.” “What are our options?” Enele asked.

“We can’t outrun her,” Noa said. “Only the Neutron can.” “We can’t outgun her either,” Adam said.

“It’s like we brought a knife to a gunfight,” Zeel said.

“A butter knife,” Enele said.

“A plastic butter knife,” Zeel added.

“We could try to ram her,” Enele said.

Noa shook his head. “She’d sink us long before we reached her.” “We need to beach and get everyone off. Could we make it?” “The reef will rip the bottom out of us,” Noa said. “She’ll definitely sink.” “At this point that’s a given. We need to get the weapons off the ship. How far up the shore can you get?” “At twenty-four knots, I think I should be able to get at least a quarter of the boat on land.” “I’ll take a quarter,” Enele said.

“Our soldiers need to be prepared for impact. It’s like crashing a car.” “I’ll alert them.”

“And they’ll need to abandon the ship fast. The Edison will continue to shell us. Even on land they can blow us up.” “We’ve still got a better chance of surviving a ground shelling than being sunk at sea. Give me the radio,” Enele said.

Noa handed the mic to Adam, who handed it to Enele.

“Attention, all ships. The Elgen Navy is about to engage our ships. We can’t fight them. We are going to force our boats up the beach. Beach your craft on the nearest shore and abandon ship. I repeat, beach your craft and abandon ship.” He then switched the mic to the ship’s PA system. “Soldiers, this is Enele. We have come under fire from the Elgen battleship. If we stay on the water, they’ll sink us. We are going to beach our ship. Grab your weapons and brace yourselves for frontal impact. As soon as we hit, abandon the ship as quickly as possible. I repeat, brace for frontal impact and abandon the ship as quickly as possible.” Enele turned back. “Zeel, I want you belowdecks. If I don’t make it, you’re in charge.” “Yes, sir.”

“Noa, radio the Proton. Tell her to stay away.” “Yes, sir.”

Suddenly, to the east of them, the Neutron banked hard to the port side, then picked up speed. She was the smallest and fastest of the four ships, capable of sailing upward of forty knots.

“Where’s Pio going?” Enele asked.

“Apparently not with us,” Noa said.

Adam lifted binoculars. “His crew is jumping off the boat.” “What is he up to?” Enele said.

“He’s smart,” Noa said. “He’s the only one who can outrun them. That’s what he’s doing. By the time they finish with us, he’ll be long gone.” “Where do you think he’s going?”

“Vaitupu,” Noa said, suddenly swinging the rudder. The entire ship rolled to its side. “Prepare for impact.” Even in the growing twilight the brilliance of the white sand beach reflected the moon and loomed before them, growing larger with each second.

“Sixty seconds,” Noa shouted.

Enele lifted the PA system. “Sixty seconds to impact.” “Forty-five.”

“Forty-five,” Enele repeated.

“Thirty.” Noa laid his hand heavily on the ship’s air horn.

“Thirty.” Enele glanced over at Adam, who was gripping his chair, his feet up against the front wall.

“Fifteen.”

“Fifteen seconds!” Enele shouted. “Brace yourselves!” “Impact!” Noa shouted.

Before Enele could speak, there was a loud, tearing, grinding sound of metal and rock. To Enele it felt as if everything had turned to slow motion. Noa was thrown into the boat’s controls, and Enele flew more than ten feet, crashing against the front of the bridge. Still, the ship remained remarkably stable as she cut into the beach far enough to rip out trees and foliage. When the motion had stopped, Enele jumped up and grabbed the mic.

“Abandon ship! Abandon ship! Grab your weapons and abandon ship.” Men began jumping off all sides of the boat into the water and sand, like rats fleeing a burning ship.

“Here she comes,” Adam said, pointing to the north. The battleship was bearing down on the Regulator, now only a couple of kilometers away and moving in quickly.

“Get off the ship!” Noa shouted. “She’s going to blow us up.” “Open the level doors,” Enele said.

Noa pushed a switch, then turned back. “The hydraulics are gone. We don’t have time to get the weapons. We’ve got to get everyone off. Especially you.” He turned to Adam. “Get him out of here.” Adam grabbed Enele’s arm. “Come. Now.”

Adam’s words were answered by an explosion as a shell struck the boat’s stern, knocking them all to the ground.

“Go, go, go!” Noa shouted from his knees.

Adam and Enele got up and ran outside the bridge. The boat had burrowed so deeply into the sand that it was now only fifteen feet above the ground. “It’s sand,” Adam shouted. “Jump!” They both jumped over the side of the boat. Just then a second shell hit near the middle of the ship, blowing it in two. Fire sprung up from the center of the boat.

“Noa’s got to get off,” Enele said. Almost as if in response to his words, there was a small explosion near the forward section of the boat, followed by a larger one as the flames reached the ship’s fuel tank. The large explosion destroyed the whole of the bridge.

Both men gaped in shock. “He’s dead,” Adam said.

“We’ll be dead too if we don’t get out of here fast,” Enele said, standing.

Just then the sound of high-caliber machine-gun fire began, leaving a path of sand flying up and down the beach.

“Get to the other side of the knoll!” Enele shouted to his men. Several had already fallen, hit by the gunfire. Enele and Adam found temporary shelter beneath a concrete seawall. Machine-gun bullets strafed the beach and struck the wall Enele and Adam had taken refuge behind, chipping the rock but not penetrating it. The battleship continued to draw closer to the Regulator.

“She’s going to blow up our weapons,” Adam said.

“She’s going to blow us up first,” Enele said. “Look at her guns.” The ship’s turret revolved toward them.

More gunfire flipped sand up off the beach and shredded the foliage around them. Enele’s civilian soldiers ran in panic from the gunfire, something none of them had ever experienced. Then mortar shells started blowing up around them as well.

A kilometer to the north of them the Pulse beached. The older boat didn’t fare as well as the Regulator, and the reef tore the boat fully in half. The back half of the ship rolled starboard, then burst into flames.

The battleship fixed its massive cannons on the beach, blowing large craters in the sand. Then the firing suddenly stopped.

“She’s anchoring,” Adam said. “They’re putting boots on the ground.” “They’ll run right over us,” Enele said. “We need to gather everyone we can and get to the compound.” “It’s nearly twenty kilometers from here.”

“Or we’ll die here,” Enele said.

Just then Adam’s eyes grew wide. He pointed toward the battleship. “Look!” Bearing down at full speed on the battleship’s stern was the Neutron.

“She’s going to ram her,” Adam said. “She’s too small to do much damage.” “No, she’s full of C4,” Enele replied.

“Oh yeah,” Adam said.

The Edison discovered the Neutron too late and tried to swing its guns to its stern. The Neutron plowed into the back of the battleship. It was only a few seconds before the tons of explosives in the Neutron’s hull detonated. The explosion decimated the Neutron and lifted the battleship into the air, sending fire through the entire boat and igniting the explosives and fuel it carried. The resulting explosion destroyed everything in the vicinity. When the smoke from the blasts cleared, there was nothing left of the Neutron, and the battleship was burning against the night sky like a funeral pyre.

“Pio,” Adam said.

“That was the bravest thing I’ve ever seen,” Enele said, standing. “Let’s gather everyone. You take everyone here and start unloading weapons. I’ll take some men down to the Pulse.” He turned to walk away, then stopped and turned back. “Someday we’ll build a monument to Pio right here.” Then he turned and sprinted off toward the Pulse.