Akin peered at the journals from above, trying to work out the scrawlings upside-down. It wasn’t much use, the foriegn language mixed with the almost archaic looking texts confused anything he tried to grasp, but he did notice how much difference there was between the text at the top of the page and the bottom. Akin secretly loathed being at such a disadvantage that seemed so simply as not knowing the language needed, he was grateful to Ke for being such a standup player in the events and for translating like a fool all night, but she was barely a year through nearly 70 to 80 years worth of logs. There simply wasn’t going to be enough time to decipher the entire story of Brunhilde.
She nodded again, still stoic and flat toned, “Yea, Burton took command and lost almost half of the remaining crew during the mutiny. The original crew was close to 100 men, 98 to be exact. There aren’t exact numbers on how many offloaded with Kessler but we can probably just say 10, and then the following civil war on the boat burned the crew down 36 men. Those would be some harsh working hours.”
Akin was already trying to imagine the math, a ship doesn’t randomly absorb extra men. Each person who steps on a warship is vital to some capability of the vessel. Losing that many crewmen translates into longer working shifts, more jobs piled onto one person alreasy working longer shifts, and a less flexible and reactive combat capable ship. The only net positive would be that there would be a massive surplus in food.
This wasn’t even taking into consideration the mechanics of mutiny. Civil war on a ship is almost always a death rattle before terrible endings, either because the ship suffers such damage or because the crew is so crippled the ship is compromised. The logistics alone of organizing an insurrection are such that any decent leadership would instantly sniff out that kind of problem, especially on a smaller ship. The math wasn’t adding up.
“How’d a science nerd replace a grizzled U-Boat captain? Wouldn’t those kids be more worried about making it home than living out a deep sea lab fantasy?” Akin had gone back to resting against the wall, sipping his ever cooling mud-coffee.
Ke’s eyes scanned back and forth a while before she spoke, “He already had outsiders on the ship, so it looks like he just leaned on that network when the time was ri-,” she paused, rereading a line a few times.
Akin lurched in the sudden silence and looked up to her, “…yes?”
Ke shook her head and read aloud.
15-JAN-45 Kaptain Burton U-5918 Brunhilde
The ship is mine and, by default, back in the Führers hands. I have obtained the original orders which should also be enough to hang Donetz by piano wire when we return to port. The traitors sabotaged the front of the ship, launched the Steam torpedoes into the sea without arming them, and barricaded themselves in the compartments. In fact, there are numerous rats enclosed into various sections of the ship, some of them in the most important parts. They did not, however, maintain the helm. I am taking precautions now to protect the most vital parts of the ship that I have access to and to protect the remaining loyalists I still have working. Sajer is still trying to convince more to join his cause but I believe that the men with me see the future I can provide and the justice we can sweep across this planet. The world has never known such an Ocam’s Razor, and it is in such dire need of it.
We will begin preparations for final removal of the traitorous elements. There will be no letters home or grand heroes welcome, they will be consumed by the deep and forgotten by history, the most aggregious death I can offer. If not for the records proving the dangerous and villainous nature of the crew I would destroy the captain’s logs and start anew.
We will start anew
Chief Scientist, acting Kaptain Felix Burton, SS