Flynn hammered the second button again, but the result was nothing once again.
The Celestia's Prize shuddered hard as a harpoon slammed into the prow on the port side. There was a brief moment of nothing and then the Celestia's Prize was hauled around to make it a complete circle as it was towed after the Whaler by the harpoon stuck fast just above the waterline.
The force of the jerk bringing the boat all the way around knocked Flynn off his feet to the wheelhouse floor. He had just started to raise up when the metal shaft of a harpoon punched through the wheelhouse wall and shattered the wheel to pieces.
Flynn fought his way back up to his feet, only to see more harpoons coming. These harpoons have no anchor ropes attached to them. They were being shot off free with the intent to kill those aboard the Celestia's Prize before they could repeat what they'd done to the first Whaler, which had been reduced to burning wood fragments drifting on the water.
Flynn saw Ortega run along the deck caring something very heavy from the starboard side as a rope trailed out behind him. What was the man up to?
Then Flynn recognized what it was that he was carrying. He had the backup ship's anchor in his arms!
Ortega tossed the anchor over the port side and almost went in with it from his exhaustion of carrying it. Harpoons whizzed past him, but he didn't seem to care. He stumbled to the port side torpedo that had failed to release even as rope ripped out over the deck railing to fall into the seawater after the anchor plunging into the depths.
Ortega picked up a sledgehammer and for the first time he looked up to the wheelhouse where Flynn was starting to put two and two together. Flynn nodded affirmatively and waited as did Ortega.
It took a few moments of fast disappearing rope during which time Flynn almost saw Ortega harpooned. Ortega stood where he was though ready with the sledgehammer.
The boat jerked hard as it was pulled down in the water both forwards and aft. The back end of the boat was pulled out toward the port side and when it did the torpedo tube came in line with the bowel of the Whaler ahead of the Celestia's Prize.
Ortega swung the sledgehammer down to connect solidly with the back end of the torpedo tube at the same moment that Flynn hammered down on the red glowing button once again. With a protesting screech of metal the torpedo shot free of its canister and streaked out through the water ahead toward the Whaler.