Tyranny of Steel

After having successfully raided the Venetian merchant vessel, Honoria and her crew had begun to set sail for Trieste. Austria did not have much coastline at the moment, and Trieste had formed the central trading hub.

It was also the city with the largest harbor, as it held Austria's most significant shipyard. The haul that the crew of Honoria's Revenge had achieved was substantial. Not only did they manage to loot the wealth the merchants had gained from their recent trade with Byzantine Merchants, but they also got ahold of the expensive items they were bringing back to Venice.

On top of this, they got several prisoners to ransom back to Venice. If Venice refused to pay for their ransom, they would sell them to slavers within Constantinople for profit. Either way, there was money to be made with the captives.

At the moment, Honoria was enjoying the beer Berengar had given to her; it was the standard drink prepared onboard the Vessel. In the middle of her Captain's quarters, she was lying on her plushy feather mattress, which was covered with silk sheets.

She immensely enjoyed the freedom of the seas, and she could not thank Berengar enough for fulfilling her dreams. The only thing she regretted was that her lover was off at war while she returned to his borders. If not for that, she might stop by Kufstein to engage in some fun with Berengar and Linde.

However, Honoria's thoughts did not last long as she overheard a knock on her door; as such, she rose from her bed and walked over to the door. After opening it, she saw that Elfrun was standing at the entrance with an excited expression on her face. Before Honoria could inquire about it, Elfrun blurted out her news.

"Captain, we have spotted a Genoan Vessel! It appears to be a Carrack! What are your orders?"

Hearing that such a large merchant vessel was nearby brought a smile to Honoria's face as she immediately placed her beer upon her cupboard and grabbed ahold of her baldric, which contained her pistols and her sword.

After slinging it over her shoulder, Honoria put on the cavalier hat Berengar had given her and smiled before giving her orders.

"We're going to pillage it, of course!"

With this, Elfrun's excitement grew even further as she grabbed ahold of two grenades from her belt and rubbed them with anticipation.

"I can't wait to use these bad boys!"

Seeing such a cute expression on the young adolescent girl's face as she talked about violence brought a smile to Honoria's own immaculate visage. As such, she grabbed ahold of the girl and stuffed her into her bosom before exclaiming.

"Oh, my sweet little Elfrun, you are just too adorable!"

Elfrun did not deny the hug and nuzzled against Honoria's chest like a cute little kitten with a smile on her face. After a few moments, Honoria released the girl before dragging her up to the ship's deck as she began to shout her orders to her crew of salty wenches.

"Prepare for battle! We are taking this Carrack!"

With that said, the girls onboard began to cheer as they loaded their weapons. Before long, the Sloop of War that was Honorai's privateering Vessel caught up with the Genoan Carrack. With this in mind, Honoria immediately gave the order when they had successfully entered the firing range.

"Fire at will!"

The moment Honoria gave this command, the 18 lb long guns opened fire on the carrack with their solid shot. They did not intend to cripple or blow up this ship, a carrack was a mighty vessel capable of journeying from the Mediterranean to the Baltic, and as such, it was worth a fortune. If they could capture the Vessel and repair it, they could sell it to the Byzantines or Granadans for a substantial sum.

With this in mind, the cannons fired their solid cannonballs into the enemy vessel. Before the Genoans could even react, they found themselves being blasted apart. After the first volley of 10 cannonballs was propelled at the target, Honoria's crew rapidly began to reload the guns before once more firing the projectiles.

With each cannonball, a bit more of the carrack was chipped away, and the Genoan sailors were forced to bilge the rising water within their Vessel. This was an issue Honoria's ship did not have due to the water-tight seal created from the galvanized steel-plated hull.

The Carrack was nearly defenseless from the cannon fire forced upon it by Honoria's Vessel; after all, it utterly lacked in offensive weapons, aside from a few crossbows utilized by the sailors.

The roughly 50 sailors aboard the Genoan Vessel fired their crossbows at the enemy, but Honoria and her girls were well protected by the cover the ship's hull provided. As such, the Women onboard Honoria's Revenge fired their repeating flintlocks at the enemy sailors.

The rate of fire, the effective range, and the damage these weapons were capable of was vastly superior to the crossbows used by the Genoan sailors. Before long, half of the Genoan sailors were dead, and they had begun to raise the white flag.

After this action was completed, they disarmed themselves, and Honoria's crew lowered the planks, where they quickly boarded the Vessel. After doing so they began to restrain the surviving Genoan sailors. The crew of the Carrack was surprised to see that the pirates who attacked them were all women.

As such, the Captain of the Vessel began to bark at the lasses who had attacked his ship.

"Which one of you bitches in charge?"

The moment he said this, Honoria appeared before him with a cruel smirk on her face. She kicked the man in the gut in response to his statement before informing him of her status.

"I am Captain Valeria Zonara, Privateer licensed by the Kingdom of Austria to combat the enemies of his Majesty King Berengar; you will show me some respect!"

The man had just begun to recover from the violent reaction when he spat on the ground before further cursing the woman.

"Fucking Austrians! They've now got women doing their dirty work; you fucking barbarians should learn your place!'

Honoria glared viciously at the Captain of the Genoan Vessel, these sailors had no respect for women or Berengar's people, and as such, they needed to be taught a lesson; thus, a devilish idea formed in the princess's mind as she barked her orders.

"Elfrun!"

With this, the little girl immediately jumped up from her spot and saluted Honoria.

"Yes, Captain?"

A wicked grin formed across Honoria's immaculate visage as she asked Elfrun the question on her mind.

"Do you think you have a grenade that can fit in this man's mouth?"

Elfrun went from shock to a state of excitement as she matched Honoria's malicious smile before fumbling in her pockets. As she did so, she found a small steel ball filled with explosive powder and a fuse.

The moment she pulled out the small explosive device, the little girl leaped with joy as she walked over to the Genoan Captain and forced the grenade in his mouth with the fuse sticking out. After doing so, she gazed at Honoria, who nodded at her in response. Upon seeing this, Elfrun lit the fuse with her lighter before backing off from the blast zone.

The Captain's eyes opened wide as he tried to scream for help, but it was no use, the grenade was lodged between his jaw, and he could not quickly spit it out, nor could his cries for help reach the ears of his compatriots who were bound nearby. Witnessing such a horrific sight, the Genoan sailors began to scream for Honoria to stop

"Mercy! Show him mercy, please!"

Luckily the fuse was a slow-lit match. Otherwise, the man's head would have exploded by now; as such, Honoria glanced over at Elfrun before asking the question on her mind.

"What do you think? Should we show mercy?"

With this, the little girl began to pout; she wanted to see the sight of the man's head explode, purely for scientific reasons, of course. However, after thinking about it, the girl thought it might be a bit too cruel and pulled the grenade out of the man's mouth before tossing it into the sea.

After doing so, Elfrun realized that the man had quite literally pissed his pants in fear, and as such, the girl was disgusted before walking back to Honoria's side. It took the Genoan Captain a few moments to come back to his senses before he gazed up at Honoria as if she were the devil.

As he stared at the foreign beauty, a malicious smile spread across her visage before she leaned in and whispered to him.

"Call me a bitch again, and I promise you the next time I will go through with it, do you understand?"

The Genoan Captain had shivers down his spine as he nodded silently towards the demonic woman in front of him. Afterward, Honoria called out to her crew.

"You know the drill, put them in the brig, and plunder the vessel, whatever we can't take leave on the ship, after all, we're sailing this baby to port!"

With that said, the girls quickly got to work, locking up the prisoners and distributing the goods; before long, the two ships were sailed side by side by Honoria's crew on their journey to Trieste. The gains they made on this day were substantial; one thing was sure, Honoria and her crew would be eating well tonight.