Brave Company by David Hill

ever done!’ puffed Noel as they pounded across the deck once more.
    Come on! Russell heard his voice begging silently yet again. He snatched a look over the side. Muddy water was rising in whorls along the length of the hull as the frigate shook.
    The cutter, he thought, while the whistle blasted and they stampeded for the rail once more. Why don’t they lower the cutter and get it to pull us? Then he saw how the little launch was swinging far inboard over the angled deck. It couldn’t possibly reach the water.
    The destroyer still lay just ahead of them. At least they weren’t here by themselves.
Fweeep!
Up to the port rail they charged again. In spite of the cold wind, Russell was sweating. On either side of him, men gasped and wheezed.
    Then his eyes bulged, as something came leaping up out of the river, thirty yards ahead.

    It rose in a column of dirty water, higher than
Taupo
’s deck, rushing upwards then falling back with an echoing
thwack!
The surface frothed and bubbled.Even while Russell gaped, another grey-brown column exploded into the air, ten or fifteen yards closer to the far shore. A bigger burst of mud and water this time, spraying upwards, then collapsing back on itself with the same flat
thwack!
    It’s a whale, his mind blurted for a moment. No, someone’s accidentally dropped some depth charges. Then voices began yelling all around him, hands pointing inland towards the enemy-held land, and he understood. The Chinese or North Koreans had seen that the frigate was in trouble, and they’d opened fire.
    We’re a sitting duck, Russell thought. We can’t dodge. We can’t get away. Any second now, they’ll hit us.
    Terror gripped his whole body. He felt his eyes stretched wide, staring. The skin on his back crawled. His arms twitched and shook; his heart hammered. Something seemed to squeeze his stomach. His mouth opened, but he couldn’t make a sound.
    ‘Move, lads!’ PO Lucas was yelling at them. ‘Move! Faster!’
    Fweeep!
They charged back up the tilting deck. Russell heard a voice gasping ‘Come on! Please – come on!’ It was his own. The ship shuddered each time they sprinted from side to side, but she was still stuck fast.
    Another fountain of water sprayed skywards, behind them this time. Two more followed, almost instantly.Russell could feel spray on his face, blown past by the wind. He imagined the communist gunners, dragging their artillery out from some bunker where they’d been hidden from UN planes. Where were they? Were they getting closer? The frigate’s crew pounded across the deck again. Russell was gasping and panting.
    BLAM!
He cried out as an explosion slammed, louder than any before. His hands flew to his ears.
BLAM!
The enemy were here, somehow. They’d reached the river.
Taupo
was doomed. Then he saw the destroyer was firing, all its gun turrets pointing inland.
BLAM!
Smoke from the muzzles streamed away on the wind.
    His hands clenched the rail. ‘Move!’ shouted PO Lucas, and feet thundered over the deck once more. But Russell stayed put. He couldn’t unlock his fingers. His head was sunk down between his shoulders. He wanted only to crawl away and hide.
    He half-heard the others racing back down the deck towards him. PO Lucas was starting to point, glaring at him, mouth open to yell. Then Noel and Kingi had his arms, pulling him from the rail. ‘Come on, Russ! Just keep moving; you’ll be all right.’
    Fweeep!
They stumbled back up towards the starboard side, the two other seamen half-dragging him along.
Whooompf!
More columns of water soared upwards, between frigate and bank and closer thistime.
BLAM!
The destroyer’s guns roared.
Taupo
kept shuddering.
    Why aren’t
we
firing back? Why are we just sitting here? Russell didn’t know if he’d spoken aloud or not. He looked again at the sloping deck, the weird angle of the gun turret, and realised why.
    ‘Stop!’ PO Lucas shouted. ‘Stop!’ They were all still, half-slumped against the port rail,