[COR - MRCA-result] The Defence of King's Harbour

[Flavius Gratian]

A few weeks had gone since Lawliet arrived in Mooreton Bay, and things had been mostly quiet. Representatives from the WTC had resumed control over the Icarus Returning and sailed her out of town, which lowered tensions considerably. The trial had been in recess for quite some time as other matters seemed to take priority for the Colonial Administration, one of the jurors had even travelled to Celestia to partake in the ruckus with all those explorers.

Then one morning as Lawliet was overseeing the gunboats, a merchant sailor suddenly ran up to him.

"I need to speak with the commanding officer!" he said.

"I am in command of these vessels, but overall command of the settlement's forces is held by Mayor Hume. However, not just anybody is allowed an audience with the Mayor, so you'll have to explain what it is you want to me, first!"

"We just entered port, but while passing through the straits between Cocovia and Inferno Pordejon, we spotted two large ships flying the colours of Zublius von Wreck following behind us. We shook them off, but they are still nearby, I'm sure."

"Well that's not much of a worry to us", said one Lawliet's seamen who had listened to the conversation, "we're more than capable of defending ourselves with the reinforcements and all."

But Lawliet felt his blood turning cold as ice with a realisation: "They're not coming here; they're heading for King's Harbour." With the reinforcements sent to Mooreton Bay, King's Harbour was virtually undefended. "We need to send word to Mayor Hume immediately, asking his permission to help them!"

"Sir, we don't have enough time, the tide will turn against us in two hours at most, and then we'll have to wait for two days", one of the sailors noted.

It was a difficult decision, if they waited for Mayor Hume's permission they would miss the tide, and King's Harbour may well be sacked before they had a chance to arrive; but going anyway would be a direct violation of his orders.

"Order all hands to the boats and send word to the Justicia, we're leaving for King's Harbour within the hour!" Lawliet ordered, after a few seconds consideration.

As the men hurried off, Lawliet wrote a short letter explaining his actions. When finished, he gave it to one of his sailors, "Deliver this to Mayor Hume!" With a heavy heart he boarded the gun sloop and took off.

They travelled as quickly as they could through-out the day and following night. By morning the next day they finally saw King's Harbour in the distance; it was not a moment too late. Even as they arrived in port, the pirate ships were spotted by the town lookouts. The battle was fierce, but the high maneuverability of the gun boats worked to their advantage. They rowed in close so that the pirate's cannons could not hit them, while the Justicia gave covering fire, and their heavy guns tore through the pirates' hull. This turned the tide, but just as the pirates started to retreat, one of the ships fired a broadside towards Lawliet's gun sloop. It destroyed the mast and made a wreck out of the hull. Had the battle not been over by this point, Lawliet's men would not have been able to save her, but now she was taken into port. Her damage was so great that Lawliet had to stay with the gun sloop in King's Harbour while ordering back the gun boat and Justicia to Mooreton Bay so as not to leave his orders permanently broken.

 

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So this is my attempt to reconcile the already published arrival at Mooreton Bay for the trial with the MRCA result that one of the ships never got there. I hope neither Hume nor Cooke  (@Ayrlego, @Bregir) are too mad at Lavendwood for disobeying orders by taking things into his own hands (especially, as I'm about to give him his own ship, tomorrow).

And here's an overview of my little build:

Spoiler

 

Edited February 25, 2018 by Flavius Gratian

[LM71Blackbird]

Neat and entertaining little build!

[Captain Genaro]

That is a nice build and an entertaining story. The cotton works well as smoke from the cannons. 

[Roadmonkeytj]

Very swell indeed good explaination ... How do you attach the cotton to the muskets? 

[Flavius Gratian]

On 2018-02-24 at 6:18 PM, LM71Blackbird said:

Neat and entertaining little build!

Thank you!

On 2018-02-24 at 6:40 PM, Captain Genaro said:

That is a nice build and an entertaining story. The cotton works well as smoke from the cannons. 

Thanks! Glad you think the cotton works, I was unsure of how "proper" it was but had nothing else, so...

On 2018-02-24 at 8:44 PM, Roadmonkeytj said:

Very swell indeed good explaination ... How do you attach the cotton to the muskets? 

Thank you very much! I just a small piece of adhesive tape, though I would recommend a little glue. It sticks better, is simpler to work with, and is still easy to remove, sadly I had none availible for this build.

[Bregir]

To Lt. Lavendwood,

Your initiative and bravery in the defence of King's Harbour has been noted and I am asked to convey that the Merchants of the city have decided to offer you an honorary sword in return for your services next you arrive in King's Harbour.

Captain Jno. Cooke, RN

Colonial Governor, Southern Isles

_____________________________

Love your action shots, sir! The use of cotton works well, and I like the little cut-outs of the gunboat and pirate vessel. Well done!