"Enemy fleet sighted!" The Hoplite on watch shouted from the front of the ship, as the outline of enemy masts could be seen in the distance. The fleet had continued after meeting with the scout ship in their formation. Leotychides on the far flank with his ships hidden in overlapping triangle formations, Xanthippus in the middle with his ships in a line formation, with gaps so the second line could fit through. Dom's fleet was similar to Xanthippus, with the Trireme and his own Quinquereme at the front, with the rest of the borrowed Trireme behind them. Dom had placed his other ship types to his right flank, to screen any enemies that may have been hidden in any coves across the Samos coast, as well as to be able to swiftly flank and board any engaged ships when the two lines crossed, or be used as Archer Platforms to thin the enemy numbers and cause chaos within the enemy formation.
Dom had been surprised that they hadn't been ambushed at all during the journey, having expected GeneralSlaughter to have had more influence on the engagement, part of him hoped that the low morale of the Persians would have made the situation more difficult for him to have persuaded than planned. They had seen a couple of outlying ships, that had quickly turned and fled at the first sight of the Greek Fleet, most likely warning the Persian's of their approach.
"We should be with them within the next couple of minutes!" Centurion Cato informed Dom, who was stood at the rails with Gan Ning. On the other side of him was Centurion Septimius who was looking out to the sea in thought.
"Thank you Centurion, have the crew ready for battle." Dom replied, as a smile appeared on Gan Ning's face beside him.
"And get the Braziers ready, I want fire Arrows and fire Bolt's ready to be launched before we clash." He ordered, with Centurion Cato waving his hand in acknowledgement as he himself began shouting orders to the mixed crew of Marines, Warriors and Sailors. Gan Ning then turned to Dom and Septimius. "I'm going to man the Ballista myself before we clash. When should we release the Titanaconda?"
"Get a signal to Sun Ce to have them launched from the back of the ship and to hide in the Sibylla's wake when we increase speed." Dom replied, having kept two Titanaconda hidden for this battle, the other two had been sent with Ling Tong and Andrew to help them protect their own ships and gains. Part of him regretted it, but he was also excited to see how the two would perform in this battle.
"I'll go and have the men ready to fight." Centurion Septimius declared, before pausing and nodding to both Dom and Gan Ning respectfully. "Lord and General, I'm excited to fight alongside you both again."
"How many masts can you see?" Dom asked Gan Ning who was about to depart to the front of the Bellona, Dom could see a few, but he wanted to check with his General as they got closer and closer.
"Prepare for Battle, Increase speed!" Centurion Cato shouted loudly, the whole crew reacting as the pace of the ship increased. The Sibylla and other ships around them followed suit, with the Bellona being the centre point for the right flanks attack.
"They seem to be coming closer to us than planned, so they must be getting their own speed up. I can see at least forty, but it's harder to see further across." Gan Ning replied before pausing for a second, "I think they are in a line formation like ours, so it could come down to skill and numbers."
"We definitely have the skill." Dom agreed, looking down the line of their own fleet. Xanthippus was an exceptional naval commander, and Artemisia had come up with the plan with Zhou Yu. Leotychides was also a good commander himself, even if he was quite eccentric. Dom then walked with Gan Ning to the front of the ship, where Gan Ning prepared with the Ballista crew. Gan Ning looked forwards and then with a twinge of frustration in his voice, turned to Dom.
"That isn't a Trireme in front of us." Gan Ning said, looking ahead of them, the enemy now only a couple of minutes away at a push, the ships figures clearly defined. There was easily a hundred ships approaching them, if not more. A long line of enemy ships that continued in to the distance where Dom knew Leotychides would be prepared for them. Dom looked and could see what he meant, the ship at the front was taller and wider than the Trireme, whilst following the same design style.
"Increase speed!" Centurion Cato shouted, the drums banging heavily to match the rhythm as the speed went up by another notch.
"A Quinquereme." Dom replied with a shake of his head. "It seems we have one of the enemy flagships in front of us."
"We know that originally the Persians beached and burnt their fleet, so we aren't aware of it's full allocation, however it's possible it's the large ship the Samos delegation discussed." Gan Ning stated as he began moving the Ballista in it's direction.
"So it could be GeneralSlaughter's ship, which means that we could be against the others like us and not the Persians." Dom stated, some frustration in his voice as he wanted Persian Trireme and not a mixture of ships.
"Or the Persian's didn't fully trust them and split them across the fleet." Gan Ning laughed, as he raised the Ballista slightly for range. "I see that as a prize to capture regardless!"
"We could always do with another Quinquereme!" Dom agreed, before a smile appeared on his face. "Try not to damage it too much."
"That's why I am trying to work out where to launch, originally I was aiming for a low side, but now i'm thinking of hitting the deck instead, taking down the mast and causing a fire." Gan Ning replied as the ships got closer and closer. "I don't have long to decide."
Dom agreed, as he turned to the waiting crew who were being prepared by Centurion Cato and Septimius. "Men, we are about to engage the enemy fleet. Whilst our aim is to win this Battle of our Greek Allies, our main goal is to claim more ships for our own fleet. Crassus has put aside a war fund for our return, the more ships we capture, the more you will all be given in thanks! I have full trust in you, my elites!"
The crew cheered at the thought of additional rewards, whilst they braced themselves for what was to come. The upper bodies of their enemies were now clear to be seen as they approached the continuous wall of enemy ships that came at them.
"Ramming speed!" Centurion Cato shouted loudly as the oars increased their pace for the last time. A pace that couldn't be maintained for prolonged periods. Dom heard a loud splash from behind, as the two Titanaconda hidden on Artemisia's Sibylla released themselves in to the water to squeeze between the attacking lines.
"Loose!" Gan Ning shouted as he released the Bolt that had a flaming rag wrapped around the hard metal point, towards the oncoming flagship, where a variety of armoured warriors could be seen looking back at them. Archers around him at the front of the ship aimed at the oncoming Quinquiereme, whilst the Trireme on each side of them aimed towards their own targets. Dom looked to the right as Sun Ce released his own bolt in a similar fashion from the Ballista on the front of the Sibylla, it's bolt targeting a Trireme in front of them.
Gan Ning's bolt landed amongst the ranks of armoured Warriors, taking on in the chest and impaling him against the mast of the Quinquereme, which creaked and started to fall backwards from the impact. Screams and shouts could be heard as the flaming head of the bolt began to take hold as the Bellona quickly reached them. The ship itself turned slightly, as the falling mast changed the balance of the ship.
Sun Ce's bolt had done similar damage to the Trireme that was approaching them as well, taking out a large number of oars before landing within the bows of the ship, causing it to list to the side and give a bigger target for the Sibylla to hit as well.
"Brace!" Centurion Cato shouted loudly, as the oars were pulled in and the Bellona crashed in to the slightly exposed front corner of the enemy Quinquereme. The whole ship shook on impact, with Dom almost falling on his rear if not for holding tightly to the side of the ship. He stood himself up, as Marines and armoured Hoplite began appearing around him as they charged forwards.
"Attack!" Centurion Septimius shouted as he ran past Gan Ning who was ordering the Ballista reloaded and jumped on to the enemy ship that was currently in chaos. The mast had fallen and crushed many members of the crew, as well as dangerously blocking access to some of the below decks. The crew onboard the top deck that hadn't fallen in the ramming attack, were either being taken down by the few Archers on Dom's ship or were putting up a front to fight back against the boarding party.
"Keep that Ballista firing at the other ships!" Gan Ning ordered as he also jumped onboard, with Dom running behind him with two of his guards on each shoulder.
Dom jumped across, the sound of creaking under his feat as the enemy Quinquereme took on a small amount of water in the location where the Bellona's ram had hit them at a deadly angle. The sounds of shouting could be heard from below as the ships oarsmen tried to free themselves to help above. The sound of clashing could also be heard and Dom looked to see a line of Legionary Marines and lightly armoured Hoplite fighting against the enemies, with Gan Ning charging straight towards one who was armoured better than the rest.
"Take them down, claim the ship and move on!" Gan Ning ordered as he raised his own blade, slashing down at his enemy who he believed to be the Captain. Dom looked at the fallen mast, where a ballista bolt had torn a man almost in half, with the fire growing at the rear of the ship.
"Lord, we need to join the forces or retreat back to the Bellona, we are exposed to enemies here." Actumerus said to him, as Dom looked at the Sibylla beside them crashing through an enemy Trireme on one side, whilst on the other side two ships were entangled as their crews thought man to man. The second line of both fleets were now coming through the gaps that had been left, and Dom could see that the Bellona would be exposed to an attack itself now if they didn't pull back from the enemy ship soon. He realised that rather than trying to claim it, they should have tried to sink the first enemy ships, but a Quinquereme was too much of a target to not try and take. Due to the angle that the Bellona had hit, as well as the angle the Sibylla had hit, the gap between the two was growing.
"Put pressure on!" Dom shouted as he charged forwards, making his own decision to trust his new allies to protect them. He unsheathed his Zhan Lu as he made his way forwards as his Legionaries quickly made work of the enemies who tried to organise themselves.
"This isn't the Spartan flagship!" Dom heard one of the enemies shouting from the back, nearer the burning mast, as the man Gan Ning was fighting was pushed back. Dom looked behind the enemy lines and saw a couple other well armoured Warriors and ordered his men to head towards them, as one of them had shouted about the Spartan Flagship.
Suddenly the ship rocked aggressively, as an enemy Trireme that was aiming for the Bellona was pushed in to the side of them heavily, an allied Trireme having come through the lines and targeted the threat. Dom looked towards them as he partially lost balance with everyone else on board, seeing the young man who was beside Xanthippus the day earlier waving in his direction, before sending his own men to board the Trireme that was squashed between the two of them.
Using the advantage, Gan Ning finally dispatched his foe, whilst the Legionary line pushed forwards to the remaining enemies that were blocked from retreat by the burning mast.