“What do we do?” a girl asked, blood streaked across her face.
“It’s them or us,” Abagail answered resolutely, cutting an ammo pouch off a supine pirate. He moaned softly, and she stabbed him in the chest until he stopped.
“What the fuck is taking so long?” Jones demanded, tucking a loaded blaster into his belt and starting on the next.
“Any sec now,” Ryan muttered, aiming the SIG-Sauer, but not firing yet, as the haggard slaves began to stiffly climb over the gunwale dragging their heavy chains.
ON THE GUN DECK, the pirate painfully stood, his right arm hanging at an unnatural angle. Grunting at the pain, he glanced around and was relieved to find this deck of the ship empty. Not a soul was in sight, the line of cannons unattended.
He sighed in relief, and then the middle cannon thunderously erupted, lifting off the tracks even as it sent the hot iron out the gunport. Propelled by the block of C-4, the double load of shot smashed through the hull of the Delta Blue and punched out the other side of the vessel.
Split lengthwise, the broken cannon slammed into the pirate standing agog on the gun deck, crushing him flat. Then the second cannon stridently exploded, its lead balls going down into the belly of the enemy ship, punching through the deck and into the powder magazine. Instantly the black powder detonated from the crushing impact, sending flame and shrapnel everywhere. The last cannon spoke deafeningly, the massive wad of iron chains spinning through the wounded ship, cracking timbers and making the thick wooden column of the main mast wobble as it started to break loose.
A hundred feet behind the last cannon on the port side of the Constellation, J.B., Doc and Dean lay sprawled on the deck from the triple concussion, fingers feebly twitching, faces slack and pale.
On the Delta Blue a pirate in the crow’s nest howled as the damaged mast loudly cracked in two and hurtled downward, taking the rigging with it.
In the middle of shouting orders, Captain Draco glanced upward at the terrible noise and disappeared in the avalanche of ropes and broken spars. Top-heavy, the mast tipped over the side of the ship and slipped into the choppy water, dragging everything along behind. Still attached by a hundred ropes, the bow mast broke free of its predark stanchions and swept across the deck, smashing into pirates and slaves alike. Planks ripping apart, the deck collapsed and the aft mast toppled over, heading for the quarterdeck.
As the mast descended, Giles brandished a defiant fist, then exploded as the tower of wood squashed him flat and crashed onto the wheel, driving the captain’s cabin in the ship, the aft windows spraying outward like a sparkling shotgun blast. Rolling over the deck, the mast followed the others and dragged even more into the cold depths, bringing death to the sailors and blessed freedom to the chained slaves.
On the Constellation, the boarding party of wounded pirates turned to stare at the vessel. The side of the ship caved inward, flailing men spilling into the churning sea. Sunlight was visible from the other side of the enemy ship. The craft was holed all the way through, and burning out of control.
Bright lights came from within the dying ship as the fallen lanterns set fire to the wood and orange flames licked upward from every hatch and port. The flames increased to a roaring inferno, and the crew of the Constellation cheered as something inside the pirate vessel detonated again, spreading the conflagration even more.
“Cut those mooring lines!” Jones bellowed, racing for the gunwale with his ax. “Get her away from us!”
But it was too late. A larger explosion shook the Delta Blue, blowing corpses and cannon out both sides, then the whole world seemed to shake as the main powder magazine ignited and she blew apart into kindling, wreckage rising on a column of smoke and fire into the air.
“Hit the deck!” Jones roared, diving for wood, and the Constellation violently shuddered from the arrival of the heavy shrapnel.
An anchor plowed into the bow, ripping away most of the forecastle, and O’Malley was blown overboard with a splintered plank driven completely through his chest.