Aboard The Son of The Exiles
The ship was barely holding together. All the other ship sailors, mostly from the best of navy except his ship, have been enrolled by the Navy higher ups with rejected and problematic sailors. It had been given to him as an insult—a vessel fit for the disgraced, the unwanted, the failures of the navy.
Most captains would have taken one look at their crew and surrendered to despair.
Ahab?
He welcomed it.
Men with scars and stories of betrayal. Men who had been cast aside, just like him.
He stepped onto the deck, the salty wind whipping at his coat. The sailors—his sailors—stood in silence, waiting for him to speak. Their eyes, filled with resentment, distrust, or simply nothing at all, locked onto him.
He smirked. "I won't waste my breath pretending we're friends. You were thrown onto this ship because they think you're failures. And they put me here because they think I'm the same."
Some of them sneered. Others looked away.
"But listen well," Ahab continued. "The rest of the navy wants us dead. They're sending us into the belly of the beast while they sit back and watch. Fine. Let them."
He took a step forward, his voice turning sharp. "They call me Ahab, like it's an insult. I say it's a warning." He pointed towards the horizon. "Captain Aaron Jones is waiting. The navy expects us to die at his feet." He let the silence hang before he grinned.
"Let's disappoint them."
The men exchanged glances. Some smirked, others stood straighter. Elias didn't need their trust—he just needed them to be willing to fight.
Because ahead, past the waves and mist, past the broken ruins of his father's obsession, was The Black Leviathan.
And Captain Aaron The Kraken Jones was waiting.
Elias Ahab and his crew of The Sons Of Exile had sailed several days through thunder, storm and the randomness of the sea. None of this didn't even flinch and they threw all of this mess without a scratch on the ship. The ship stood tall and the crewmates listened to the command their Captain gave without even a hesitation and questions. Even though the crew was filled with traitors, deserter, murderers, cowards and failure, they had their trust fully on their Captain.
Ahh ... a ship filled with mad men but still following their Captain's order. Had the same characteristic with a certain whaling ship crew, Right?
They have arrived at the Black Leviathan hideout. Ahab and the ship crew set their ship a few kilometers from the island to prevent alarming the Black Leviathan pirates. They planned to ambush the hideout at night while all the pirates are resting so they can catch them off guard.
A Few hours later, The night arrives. The darkness has gloom all over the place.
"Get ready, we will start an ambush towards the island" Elias says to his crew.
He continued, "We will prove to them we aren't a bunch of rejects!"
"We will make the navy higher ups kneel to us!" One of the crew members shouted
They all laughed, including Captain Elias Alexandria Ahab. The only thing they don't know is that is the first and last laugh they ever shared together.
They carefully go around Black Leviathan's island to sneak attack them with three shots of cannonball. The attack destroyed a bunch of buildings including a watchtower of the island but something is unusual...
There is no reaction from the Black Leviathan Pirates at all.
Ahab expects the pirates will start tweaking and try to attack them back. He planned to try to gun them down when they aren't ready to fight. But, it was dead silent with only burning buildings and trees from the cannonball shot the only thing that can be heard.
"Something isn't right, Captain" Mason said
"Yeah I know that Mason, I expected them to try and fight back but it was dead silent... no chaos, no panic, no screaming and it feels like no one was here."
Wait. No one is here?
Suddenly, an ambush has happened, two shots from a Black Leviathan ship has been released and goes deep in Ahab's ship.
The first cannonball struck The Son of The Exiles with a thunderous boom, sending a shockwave through the ship. The second came almost instantly, splintering wood and sending sailors flying.
Ahab barely had time to steady himself before the enemy was upon them.
Dark sails. Tattered flags. Black-painted hulls gliding through the fog like specters. The Black Leviathan wasn't just waiting for them—they had been prepared.
"This is an ambush!" one of his men shouted.
"No shit," Ahab growled, grabbing onto the railing as a third cannonball crashed into the deck, splintering wood and steel.
The enemy ship rammed into them, grappling hooks flying onto the masts. Pirates poured over the rails, howling like demons. Some had their chests tattooed with strange symbols. Others wore necklaces of bones and teeth, whispering prayers to something beneath the waves.
Ahab drew his saber.
"They shouldn't have known we were coming."
There was only one explanation.
"We were betrayed."
Thus, a battle on the ship's deck happened.
Steel clashed.
Ahab ducked beneath a wild swing and drove his saber into a pirate's gut. He twisted, yanking the blade free as another came at him.
A gunshot rang out. Ahab felt the heat of the bullet pass his cheek.
He turned and saw a pirate aiming for him again—before one of his own men, a burly sailor named Jorge, tackled the bastard overboard.
"Ahab!" Jorge roared. "Orders?!"
Ahab's mind was already racing. They were outnumbered, their ship was damaged, and worst of all, the enemy had the upper hand.
"Forget defending!" Ahab barked. "We take their ship! Kill the helmsman, break their ranks!"
Jorge grinned, wiping blood from his face. "Now that's an order!"
His men, those deemed rejects, worthless by the navy, were now fighting for their lives. And in the heat of battle, they were proving something—
The navy was wrong to throw them away.
As Ahab fought, his mind kept returning to one thing.
"Who betrayed us?"
This wasn't a random pirate attack. The Black Leviathan knew they were coming. Which meant someone, somewhere in the navy, had fed them information.
"But why?"
Was it just to get rid of him? Did they think the pirates would finish what the navy couldn't? Or was there something more?
And then a thought struck him, chilling him to his core.
"What if this isn't just about me?"
What if the navy knew about Captain Aaron "The Kraken" Jones?
What if they were hiding something?
Ahab clenched his teeth, slashing down another pirate. He would survive this. He had to. Because now, he wasn't just hunting pirates.
He was hunting the truth.