25th May 1698.
Just as the British and the Dutch fleets entered the diterranean through the Strait of Gibraltar, the French fleet had already crossed the Strait of Sicily and was on its way to the Aegean Sea.
The sudden actions of the three Western European giants startled all of Europe, and as a result, ships travelling throughout the diterranean imdiately altered their course and rushed into the nearest safe ports, hoping to avoid being implicated in whatever the French were doing.
Gordon McFly, a tradesman, for the fear of being implicated, quickly turned his ship around and moved towards Genoa until the storm passed. He did not know what made the French mobilise their complete diterranean fleet, but he did not want to stay and find out either.
As he got closer to the port of Genoa, all the blood in his face was drained away, because a large fleet of warships was coming towards him at great speed. Without a second thought, he shouted at his sailors. " Hard left rudder!!"
It was only after he docked his ship at the port of Bastia that he let out a sigh of relief. But looking back at the silhouettes of the giant battleships that were gradually disappearing, a hint of worry could not help but appear.
’ The Italians have also mobilised their entire navy, are they going to war with the French? ’ He could not help but wonder and beco panicked.
Gordon was only one of the many people who were startled that day, and such things happened throughout the diterranean Sea.
Souda Bay, Crete, United Greek Socialist Republics.
Sauda is an old township on the island of Crete, but since the bay is also one of the military bases of the Bharatiya Navy, the town has turned into a bustling city.
Captain Amarinder Prasad, commander of two battle groups, stood in his office facing the two battle group leaders, his voice hoarse and loud.
"How many tis do I have to tell you both to not let your sailors idle about in the city? What if we encounter an ergency situation? How is the battle group supposed to function with the ship only being partially ard? "
Amarinder’s eyes looked like they were about to spew out laser beams the next mont, that was how angry he was.
"Tell ...How!? " he growled.
The two battle group leaders sat in their seats, breathing heavily, their faces red. They were angry, they were embarrassed, but make no mistake, they were not angry at the captain but at their incompetent subordinates. This was not the first ti they had this conversation with the captain. It’s already the third ti. But any ti such a thing happens, it is no less embarrassing.
’Let get ahold of them, I will cut those bastards’ als for a week, ’ one of the leaders with a majestic moustache viciously thought in his heart. The last two tis such a thing happened, he had rounded up all the senior leaders of the battle group and given them a similar treatnt that he was now currently withstanding. But since even after such a severe warning, the sailors are so complacent, he will set an example of what would happen if anyone crossed the line. Thinking of all the things he would do, his fist under the table tightened, making a crackle sound, and his lips upturned.
"Dong!!" "Dong!!" "Dong!!"
Out of nowhere, the sound of a loud bell vaguely penetrated the office. And once the sound reached the ears of the three n, their eyes widened and their expressions sharpened.
Amarinder completely put aside the curses that were in his throat and opened the door of the office with his brows furrowed, and what he saw left his eyes wide open.
A red flare that is only fired when there is an enemy attack suddenly appeared on the horizon.
"Quick, go to your ships and assu defensive positions," Amarinder acted imdiately and passed orders in succession.
"XO, use the firework to inform the bastards who had gone to play to be on the ships within 10 minutes, or else let them consider themselves no longer part of the Bharatiya Navy."
"Communications, quickly send a ssage to the Brigadier General and the Ard Forces of Greece, we are under attack."
Receiving the orders, the leaders of the battle groups, the executive officer, and the communications specialist all moved in unison and started to perform their tasks one by one.
Soon, fireworks began to light up the sky, looking extrely beautiful. The people in Sauda cheered at the light show, but the expressions on the faces of the Bharatiya roaming around in the street changed.
A young teenage man, around 20 years of age, lost all colour in his face after seeing the ergency signal on the horizon. The beautiful lady in his arms noticed the change in her new boyfriend’s expression, " What happened, dear?" She asked, worried.
The young man finally ca back to his senses and firmly looked at the woman with a grave expression on his face, making the woman even more panicked.
"Run back ho and don’t co out. The police and the military should soon relay so safety instructions: keep your eyes open and follow every order."
The young man kissed the woman on her cheek, " I have to go," he said, and got on his bike, flicked the accelerator to the fullest, and sped away into the distance, not even caring about the minimum speed regulations.
Thirty minutes ago.
Five kilotres from the coast of Crete.
BNV Harsha, Primary Scouting Vessel.
The captain and the vice captain were playing chess. The sailors were doing different things; so were polishing their guns, so were having their lunch, while others were playing Kabaddi right on the deck.
As for him, well, he was one of those who were actually working, not that he blad his fellow sailors, since for the last several years, apart from the rare occurrences of pirates, they had not encountered any enemy attack. Due to which everyone had beco very relaxed, himself included. The only reason why he had a pair of binoculars on his face was that he enjoyed watching the waves roll across the sea, the birds skimming low over the water, and the fish that occasionally leapt from the surface.
A faint smile crossed Pritam’s face as he watched a pod of dolphins swimming just beneath the surface, leaping in and out of the water like carefree human swimrs.
But suddenly, he noticed an oddity in the distance. A flag slowly rose from beyond the horizon. At first, there was only one, but soon that single flag multiplied into many. The laziness drained from his body at once as he snapped into alertness, his posture stiffening and his eyes narrowing.
"We have a situation," he alerted the sailors. "Approximately fifty to sixty ships, suspected to be warships, approaching at nine o’clock west," he announced loudly.
The captain and the executive officer were imdiately alerted to the news, and they both stood up mid-ga and ca on deck.
"Do we have more information?" the captain inquired.
Pritam did not take his eye off the eyepiece and spoke out, " Affirmative, it’s the flag of the Italian Federation."
"It’s the Armata Federazione Italiana."
Hearing that it was the Italians, the captain let out a sigh of relief. ’ So it’s just the Italians,’ he thought to himself. Due to the special situation, the other lookouts started to look at the approaching ships from different angles, and more information began to co in one after another.
"Update: the number of ships is approximately one hundred and forty or more."
"We see over six Venezia-class ships, eight Delhi-class vessels, more than ten Roma-class ships, over thirty dium-sized clippers and frigates, Genoa-class frigates, Naples-class light frigates, Amravati-class light frigates, Tuscany-class supply ships, and even more than four Guwahati-class military transporters."
Everyone on the ship began to feel sothing was wrong. Why did the Italian Federation send its entire naval fleet to the Aegean Sea?
"Should I declare battle readiness, captain?" the executive officer enquired, with a hint of worry etched on his face.
The captain looked extrely troubled as well, but ultimately he shook his head, " We are no match for the Italian fleet, but let’s not jump the gun too quickly. Who knows, maybe the Italians are doing so sort of an exercise?"
"So for now, just man the cannons, but do not point them towards the Italians, simply assu pre-battle readiness stance."
The executive officer nodded and quickly relayed the orders.
In the anti, the Italian fleet got closer and closer to the small 200-tonne Kolkata-class clipper.
The captain stood on the bow, ready to enquire what was happening as soon as the Italian fleet got closer to the ship, but suddenly his heart dropped to his stomach when he heard the words of Pritam.
"Captain, their cannons seem to be pointing at the ship, and the sailors seem to be loading up the ammunition."
The blood in his face disappeared, making his face look white as paper. He understood that the Italians, for so reason, were going to attack his vessel.
"Lower the boats, abandon the ship, and evacuate, quick, quick, quick!"
His hands were flailing as he roared on top of his lungs and woke up the stunned executive officer. In the most desperate of tis, he did not try to preserve his pride and order for the counterattack, but simply tried his best to save as many people as possible.
But unfortunately, it was too late. The Italian Delhi-class battleship attacked without warning, and they were caught off guard.
"Boom!"
"Boom!"
Deafening explosions were heard when the cannonballs wrecked into the small 200-tonne vessel, ripping apart its wooden exoskeleton and putting a large hole in the first shot.
"Ahh!"
A few sailors on the lower deck were directly hit by the cannonball, and even a sailor’s leg was cleanly severed.
The whole ship shook violently, and it began to tilt; it began to take in water. Pritam tried his best to stabilise his body and looked around to see if there was a way out. Then he saw a group of sailors in the rear lowering the ergency boat. He looked at the Italian ship preparing for a second round of bombardnt, and he no longer hesitated. He directly jumped into the water from the top of the lookout and tried his best to swim towards the boat.
"Boom!"
"Boom!"
Another round of explosions was heard, and the screams this ti intensified, and bodies were thrown into the sea due to the explosion.
" Row!"
Pritam cried out and started rowing the boat, as he understood that the Italians were out for blood. Maybe if they did not set off early and put so distance between them, even they would not be spared.
The sailors were still waiting to see if anyone would escape from the ship, but when they heard the shout, as well as the continuous explosions, they beca panicked and started rowing the boat with all their might.
"Boom!"
What had happened to the clipper was spotted by the second lookout about a kilotre from the shore, and without hesitation, an ergency signal flare was fired into the sky.
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