scene from my partners story that i reaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaallllly wanted to bring to life. :V

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Watch your head, ma'am,” said Midshipman Buckley.
Jane ducked hastily under an overhead beam. The Resolute's upper gun deck was low-roofed except for a line running down the central catwalk where a person could stand upright. This space was at a premium, however, as crew hastened back and forth. The ceiling on either side was crowded with equipment- conduits and cables leading to the guns and the crew's belongings all bundled up in hammocks.
“This deck is usually the main mess,” said Amelia, following Buckley and Jane. “The crew sleep and eat between the guns. When we clear for action it all has to go somewhere so it gets tied to the ceiling.”
“I see,” Jane ducked again. “Well...I suppose it all has to go somewhere.”
“Exactly.” Amelia stepped around a coil of rope and took her place with her back to the trunk of the mainmast where it came through the roof and disappeared into the floor. “Man your post, Mr Buckley.”
“Aye, ma'am!” Buckley grinned and took up a similar position against the foremast further down the crowded deck. Jane squeezed beside Amelia and gazed along the ship. The guns, squat, dull grey beasts, sat dormant but expectant with their attendant crews waiting alongside.
“Now what happens?” she whispered.
“Now we wait for the word,” Amelia whispered back.
“What word?”
Amelia held up a hand to signal for quiet. The deck fell silent aside from the occasional creak of wood or rope, and the humming of the energised machinery. A sense of anticipation filled the air. Jane realised that Amelia was watching a row of lights set into a brass plate on the wall. A green globe glowed into life and she nodded in satisfaction.
“Ports open! Run out your guns!”
“Ports open! Run out your guns!” Buckley echoed the order. The poised crew leapt into action, one crewmember per gun levering open the heavy hatches, the rest straining on the ropes that hauled the guns into the firing positions. Amelia crouched down to watch the view. An asteroid, roughly the size of the ship itself, was drifting alongside about half a mile away.
“Load!”
Behind each gun, the loaders grabbed the brass-cased shell charges, swung them around and rammed them into the waiting breeches. Jane watched the nearest crew slam them closed, spinning a round handle to seal it firmly.
“Three degrees elevation!” Amelia called.
“Three degrees, aye!”
“Charge your guns!”
“Charging guns, aye!”
Amelia turned to Jane and grinned. “I'd brace yourself, Miss Porter. And you may want to block your ears.”
She fished in her pocket and produced a pair of earplugs. Jane took them gratefully and wedged them in, standing back against the mast. Even with them, Jane heard the hum of power increase. The hair on the back of her neck began to stand on end as the static field increased. Amelia frowned in concentration, counting off the seconds until all the lights on the brass plate suddenly flashed in unison.
“Fire!”
Presumably Buckley repeated the order to his guns, but Jane never heard it. The battery in front of them went off together and despite her protective earplugs she instinctively clapped her hands over her head and cried out. Her voice was lost in the thunder of the volley. Amelia, unflinchingly crouched behind the guns, watched the shells flash across the void and slam into the asteroid. A series of flashes lit up across its surface, throwing clouds of dust and shattered rock into space. There were cheers from the gun crews, rapidly silenced as Amelia raised her voice.
“What did you make that, Mr Buckley?”
“Three over, ma'am!” Buckley replied.
Amelia shook her head. “We can do better than that! Adjust down one point five! Reload all guns!”
“Reload! Reload your guns!” Buckley called.
The crews jumped into action, ejecting spent cartridges from the smoking breeches of the guns and swiftly replacing them with fresh ordnance.
“Guns ready, ma'am!” shouted the gun captain.
Amelia glanced down to Buckley, who nodded. “Run them out!”
The ropes creaked again as they took the strain. The gun carriages creaked forward on their oiled rails and Amelia watched them thud into position and saw the light board flash again.
“Fire!”
Jane felt the air convulse again as the guns fired simultaneously. She gasped for breath and shook her head to clear it. Amelia, unfazed, took a stopwatch from her pocked, clicked it and looked at the numbers on it's face.
“Forty-eight seconds, Mr Buckley?”
Buckley shook his head. “Not bad,” he said.
“But not good enough?” Amelia raised an eyebrow.
“No, ma'am!”
Amelia nodded to him. “Reload!”
“You heard her, boys!” the gun captain roared. “Reload! Reload!”
“Wasn't that right?” Jane asked.
Amelia shook her head. “A good crew should be able to do that in forty seconds flat! Come on, move yourselves! Your lives will depend on this one day, I promise you!”
Jane shook her head as the crews redoubled their efforts. Breeches were slammed shut and Amelia nodded with satisfaction.
“Run out!”
“Run out!” Buckley shouted.
“Fire!”
Jane shuddered again at the thunder. Amelia clicked her stopwatch and clapped her hands.
“Forty two seconds! Much better! Keep it up, now! Reload!”
“Um, Amelia?” Jane touched her sleeve. Amelia turned and her grin faded at the sight of Jane's pale face.
“Are you all right, Miss Porter?”
Jane nodded bravely. “Yes, yes...I mean, I'll be fine...I just think I may need some air.”
Amelia patted her arm. “Of course, Miss Porter. I'm sorry. Go and watch from the deck.”
Jane smiled with relief. “I will. Thank you.”
“Mind your head on the way out,” Amelia squeezed her hand briefly, behind the backs of the labouring gunners. Jane smiled gratefully and hurried up on deck just as the next salvo boomed out. The vibrations could be felt even up top as she went to join her father, who was standing with Arrow at the side of the bridge and watching the practice through a telescope.
“It's rather impressive, Mr Arrow,” he said. “You must do this an awful lot.”
Arrow nodded with satisfaction. “As often as possible, sir.”
“I daresay,” Archimedes folded up his telescope. “You certainly seem to be doing well.”
“The captain sets high standards,” said Arrow. “Ah, Miss Porter. I thought you were observing from the upper gun deck?”
Jane fixed her hair and smiled shyly. “Yes, I was...but it was a rather...um, overwhelming.”
“That it can be, ma'am,” said Arrow sagely.
The guns fired again. Jane watched the shells streak out. A brace of them scored a series of direct hits on the target asteroid and she felt a strange twinge of pride in the fact that she knew that Amelia's battery had fired them.
“Very satisfactory,” said Forsythe, behind them. “What do you make the time, Commander?”
Chad looked at his stopwatch. “Forty seconds on that last salvo, captain.”
Jane smiled to herself.
“They're doing well,” said Arrow. “Forty seconds is the mark of a good crew.”
“And a good officer?” asked Jane.
Arrow smiled at her. “Quite right, ma'am.”
The deck shook beneath them as the broadside discharged. Jane followed the brilliant shells to their arrival at the target. The asteroid finally yielded to the pounding, splitting in half in a cloud of dust and shattered rock.
“Target destroyed, sir,” grinned Chad.
“Very good,” Forsythe gave a grunt of approval. “Change crews, Commander. Mr Costell, find us another suitable target.”
“Aye, sir.” Chad stepped forward. “Port gun crews stand relieved! Starboard gun crews to take their stations!”
Forrest and Whiting left the bridge, and disappeared down below deck. Buckley came up, followed by Amelia. She had her blue coat draped over her shoulder and her white shirt and waistcoat were marked with gunsmoke. While her pose and movements seemed relaxed, the alert poise of her ears said otherwise to those who knew her moods. Jane, feeling rather daring seeing her on deck without her coat, tried not to stare as she waved to her.
“Excellent shooting, ma'am, if I may say so,” said Arrow politely.
“You may, Mr Arrow, you may.” Amelia grinned happily. “It's been too long since I last got to do that.”
“It hardly showed,” said Jane.
“Ma'am,” Buckley joined them and touched his hat. He seemed to be equally energised himself and was carrying his hat in one hand. “Requesting permission to go below to scrub up?”
Amelia looked at the smoke stains on the young human's face and white collar tabs and nodded. “Permission granted. And try not to get so close to an opening breech next time.”
Buckley grinned. “I don't know, ma'am. I am getting rather tired of my eyebrows.”
Amelia laughed. “I'm sure we could find some other way to accommodate that wish. Good shooting today, Mr Buckley. You're dismissed.”
“Thank you ma'am.” Buckley saluted, nodded to Jane and Arrow and disappeared. Amelia pulled her coat on and adjusted her hat. They could hear shouts from the gun deck as Forrest and Whiting ordered their gun crews into position.
“Do we have a target, Mr Costell?” asked Forsythe, resuming his habitual pacing.
The navigator looked up from the console and shook his head. “Not yet, sir. There are a couple of possibles but their mass suggests light rock. I wouldn't recommend hitting them.”
“Indeed not,” said Forsythe. “We wouldn't want to fire off a practice round and get a facefull of rocks in return. Keep watching the field and notify when you have something.”
“Yes, sir.” Costell touched the controls. “Permission to station some extra eyes aloft?”
“Granted,” Forsythe looked up into the masts. “But keep the lookouts alert. Let's not get too distracted by our drill and forget why we're here.”
Amelia looked over to Jane and raised an eyebrow. “Would you like to go somewhere with a better view, Miss Porter?”
Jane blinked. “Where did you have in mind?”
“Well, I'd suggest the fighting tops,” said Amelia. “But I fancy you'd rather stick closer to the deck?”
Jane laughed. “If you don't mind.”
“The forecastle, then?” Amelia grinned.
“May I accompany you?” Arrow said.
“Of course, captain,” Amelia smiled. “Especially if you bring your glass.”
They made their way across the deck and up into the ship's raised bows. Taking up places along the side, they began scanning as the asteroid field. Amelia looked back at the pulverised asteroid and tried not to look too happy with the results. Jane settled down at the railing and gazed forward. The asteroid field disappeared into the distance, a long cloud of slowly-shifting rocks the ran as far as the eye could see in each direction on the ship's port side.
“Can you see anything, ma'am?” Arrow stood behind her.
Jane shook her head. “No...well, nothing except the rocks and the stars.”
Arrow smiled. “I hope you are not too worried about the whale you rescued, ma'am,” he said. “You did a good thing by helping him. I very much enjoyed his company while we had it.”
“As did I,” Jane sighed. “I do hope he's all right.”
“Void whales generally avoid asteroid fields,” said Arrow. “It is too easy for them to get lost or to collide with something. His parents would have taught him that. That may be why he left us.”
“I'm sure you're right,” said Jane.
Arrow patted her shoulder lightly. “Of course I am, ma'am. And maybe we'll see other whales as we enter the Megapterans.”
“Of course,” Jane agreed. “He'll probably join up with one of the other pods around the cluster.”
“And they'll take care of him as well, ma'am,” said Arrow.
Amelia looked around and laughed. “Look at the two of you. Nattering away like a couple of old ornithologists on a field trip.”
“Just trying to share some of the wonder of the universe,” said Arrow, grinning. “Your great-grandfather would have understood. He once had a pet juvenile mantabird which he kept until it got too big. I believe he released it to join the flocks during a port call at Jacob's Planet.”
“He sounds like an interesting character,” said Jane.
“He would have got on famously with your father, ma'am,” said Arrow.
Amelia rolled her eyes. “I'm not totally unpoetic, you know. I'm enjoying the view as much as anyone else.”
Arrow gave a deep chuckle. “I apologise, ma'am.”
“So you had better,” said Amelia, but the shine in her eyes said that there had been no offence. “May I make use of that glass, Mr Arrow?”
He passed the telescope over. Amelia nodded her thanks and put it to her eye.
“Is it really so hard to find another rock to shoot?” asked Jane.
Amelia shrugged. “A ship like this isn't a precision weapon, so we can't choose a small asteroid or we'd just be wasting ammunition. And if it's a light rock it'll explode as soon as we hit it and we'll have a cloud of flying fragments on our hands.”
“No risk to the hull of the ship,” added Arrow. “But more than capable of damaging our solar sails.”
“Ah.” Jane nodded. “Well. That all makes sense.”
“Hmm.” Amelia was suddenly thoughtful.
“Ma'am?” Arrow looked at her, aware of her sudden change of demeanour.
Amelia focused the telescope more closely on something deeper into the field. “There's something out there...”
Arrow followed the line of the telescope's gaze and frowned/
“May I see, ma'am?”
Amelia passed the telescope over. “Bearing two-eight-five, Mr Arrow. Range about four miles. What do you see?”
Arrow held up the telescope to his eye. A call rang out from overhead.
“Contact, sir! Contact in the field!”