Aboard the Vraikanese turret ship Adventure Capitalist
Captain Ruhk's eyes were near inseparable from his scissor periscope the moment he received a report from one of the rocket glider aviators that he had sighted a group of ships passing through the area on his last sweep. A young officer eager to prove himself, he had rushed his vessel ahead of the rest of the formation to get to his quarry first. While this would be a serious breach of conduct in most any other service, the Vraikanese encouraged taking initiative and action.
The fact that the ship's meterologist had reported a storm was rolling in only added to the foolishness of his endeavour, but he was not to be deterred. Unfortunately for the legs of everyone onboard, the Adventure Capitalist was of an older make than most of the other ships of the fleet, and suffered from a low freeboard, as many earlier designs did. Consequently, the raging waves were liable to wash over the deck, leaving all of the crew drenched and miserable. All except Captain Ruhk, who seemed far too focused on his daydreaming of glory to come to care.
Soon enough Ruhk spotted the distant smoke erupting from the funnels of steamships visible on the horizon. He grinned broadly. However, the members of the crew who ventured to look back behind them found that their own fleet was even farther behind them than their target was close to them. This only exacerbated their bad mood.
Ruhk at last parted from the periscope and rushed out to the very tip of the bow of the ship. He drew his officer's saber and pointed it directly ahead of him. "Look! There they are! Shoot them! Shoot them lots! Perforate theeem!" He cried.
Joji, his gunnery officer, calmly walked up to him and tapped him the shoulder. "Firstly, they are much too far away. Second of all, our turrets, given their arrangement, can only fire to port or starboard. I know you previously served upon one of our more modern vessels that is capable of what you demand of us, but you mustn't forget that this one is not that one." He explained, then sighed. "You're getting ahead of yourself."
"No, get the ship ahead of myself! I--I mean, increase speed! Bring us close enough to see their ludicrously ugly paint jobs!" Ruhk demanded.
Joji shook his head. "Third of all, I am in charge of your guns. Nothing more. Fourth and hopefully finally of all, the engine is already damaged from the strain you've been putting upon it for the last few days of travel. The machinists have already warned you against overloading the coal furnace any further."
Ruhk sighed and dropped cross legged, his hands on his cheeks. This only exacerbated his drenching, but he did not seem to mind. What he did mind was that he couldn't get those ships -now-!