Infrastructure: Part Two Hundred and Ten

As was usual on the Icemountain sea in autumn there was a fog. It was less pronounced around Daagsgrad during the siege as water favor was guided upward by spells to sustain the Drow's thunderheads, it was growing thinner as the day continued and it was not the thickest fog to begin with, but never the less out of it the horizon was lost in grey haze. To Petrov, this was a minor blessing and he made a note of tossing a few extra credits in the Keeper's collection plate if he got through this day. 

More than ever did the artillery officer turned Admiral feel the weight on his shoulders. He knew that before him was a fleet three times the size of any that he had previously faced which included thirty two ships of the line as well as a number of steam powered vessels and that the stakes were as high as they could get. Victory or defeat today could mean the continued survival of Infrastructure, or it's destruction. Every asset that was available had mustered at Borogskov for the push. What needed to be done this day needed to not only be in their favor, but it also needed to be decisive.

For this reason Miles did something he hoped would turn out well. About Twenty minutes ago he ordered the warships in Daagsgrad's harbor to move out to the southwest and engage the blockade. This would let him engage the Drow Armada from two sides and he hoped that this would get the Dark Elvish fleet to converge on them. The problem was that their was only so much punishment that fleet could take and from the reports they were taking a world class beating.

He observed the video feed from the recon drone and noted that the plan had worked as intended. The Drow fleet had converged around the squadron and were giving it a pummeling, though they had taken a few losses themselves. He began wondering if he had set it into motion too quickly. Eventually, given the movements of some of the Drow ships it seemed like that they had been spotted. But even so they were still bunched together.

"We are entering range, cooridinates are available sir!" Lieutenant Korvec said through a speaking tube.

Petrov nodded to the man seated in front of him "Very good, relay to gunners." Said Captain Viktorovich.

"Aye Aye captain!" A couple seconds latter there was the sound of gears turning as the massive forward turret adjusted itself on it's pivot and it's cannons were aligned. He had received a lot of complaints from the Engineers about bringing his new flagship out to battle after it had just completed it's maiden voyage from Daagsgrad to Borogskov and it took a notification from Drive himself to shut them up about it. Not that they did not have a point. Many of the ships that he skippered had problems early on that cropped up once everything had been put together and needed to be sorted out in the yards. But unfortunately this invasion was something that needed to be sorted out right now.

Meanwhile on the Drow fleet the spotters one by one turned their spyglasses southeast and made out the indistinct shapes in the distance approaching them. Onboard a 108 gun ship of the line Qiulnaj ti Zaelros pulled out his clearsight spyglass and looked through the haze to the oncoming ships. There were a dozen of them at the least and at their head something that he had hoped they would not have to face. It was massive, a hundred yards long and broadly built. As he watched, he saw two distant bursts of fire and smoke erupt from the two forward cannons from six miles away. For a few seconds he thought that this was just them trying to make their presence known, then he saw one of his frigates blown in two and a good section of a Ship of the Line's forecastle be blown apart. He then got another look a the craft and made out it's name printed along it's prow.  It was a foreign word to the coldlands, but one which suited her well. A name which would come to be synonymous with that class of warship.

That steel leviathan advancing on his fleet was the Central Committee's will made manifest on this world, their wrath brought down on their enemies.

Their Avatar.

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