Fire on the Water 1, an excerpt from Alliance Evolution. See below for part 2

Fire on the Water 1; excerpt from Alliance Evolution

The ship worked its way south through the channel. It was wide and calm at this point, but there were some narrow parts coming up before long, as they worked their way through some islands. Zhan told all of his captains of the horrific passage to the south, so of course several of them had to try it. It was a much shorter route, going to Shanghai, and the northern passage was very long, and no easy run either.The captains had learned to time the tides from entry to exit. Done right, it was a smooth sail. Now that they had it worked out, it brought them out right where they needed to be to catch the current that took them straight across to Shanghai on the shortest route. They learned to judge the height of the water on certain rocks to tell them where they were on the tide. Sometimes they sat and waited until the tide was right, then shot through with no problems. Once in the open, they headed straight west until they felt the tug of the current that went in an immense circle in the open ocean. From Shanghai they rode it north to the long chain of little islands, where it curved east and then southeast, right into the entrance to the inside passage between the big island and the mainland. Then they pushed south to where it opened out, and they could run hard for Rivergrass.

          The ship was the Wisdom, and its captain, Yan, was experienced on this run. It had been a safe run so far. They were shadowed by dolphins and passed a large pod of the black and white animals that seemed to be native to these waters. They were smaller than the numerous and varied whales they regularly saw, and they noted that the even smaller dolphins avoided them. On a couple of trips, they had seen them snatch seals right off of low-lying rocks. Clearly, they were predators.The channel out took a sharp right turn, some ways south of the islands, that gradually widened until they hit the open ocean. They had learned that the north side was shallower, but still very deep, and the south side that Zahn had hugged was incredibly deep, and subject to the violent upwellings that he had experienced. They held to the middle of the channel and had no problems. As they approached the end of the channel, the captain felt uneasy. He had no idea why, but he called to the watches to look sharp. They sailed closer, and closer to the open ocean, and the channel opened wider as they went.

         Two watchers shouted down at the same instant, "Ships at the entrance!"

         Yan saw them, four fast corsairs, with massed armed men at the railings, two coming from each side of the mouth, and turning to intercept. "Weapons and all hands on deck!" he bellowed. There was no doubt of their intent. He had a following tide, so he had speed and maneuverability, but four ships... If he ran ahead as fast as he could, he might just squeak through between them. If he tried to turn around, they would catch him. He couldn't let them board, their numbers would slaughter his crew, and take his ship. The worry for the headlong run between them was fire arrows.

         "Buckets to the deck! All the buckets we have and fill them with sand! All sail!" The deckhands put every bit of sail out to catch every morsel of wind. They were running a gauntlet.Yan had fire arrows as well, and he hoped to distract them as they went by. He also had a couple of catapults to throw fragile pottery balls filled with a flammable oil, but their effective range was limited. If they were close enough they could even be thrown. That was his last hope to drive the ships off. Win or lose, this would be a battle to tell at home, if they survived. It would be a knife fight at sea. As they grew closer, there were a few ranging arrows fired at them. They fell short. Yan didn't bother to respond. Let them give him the range. He looked about the deck and saw that everything was as ready as could be.Then he had a thought. If he cut quickly, at the last possible minute, to one side, he might catch them off guard. The ships on the other side wouldn't be able to fire across their own ships...He ran to a spot between the two sets of rudder men. Wait, wait, the arrows were getting closer. "Hard left!" The ruddermen leaned all their weight into the long arm for the rudder, pushing almost to the breaking point. The ship seemed to pause for a second, then heeled as she began to spin. Yan waited for breathless moments until he was sure they would clear the pirate ships.

         "Hard right and put us alongside that bastard!" He ran to grab two of the pottery balls from their straw filled boxes. "Fireballs and fire arrows!" he screamed. The ruddermen brought the ship around right next to the southernmost enemy ship. Pottery balls flew across to the enemy deck, bursting on impact, and the fire arrows landed in the pools of oil. The flames ran in all directions, catching everything on deck. Fire arrows also rained on the other pirate of the south pair, and two sails were burning. "Hard left! Leave them to burn!" Their ship spun southward, away from the flaming vessel.Yan took a moment to assess what the other ships were doing. It looked like the two northern ships were tangled up together. They must have panicked, and both spun towards each other. The remaining southern ship was hidden behind the pyre that the first ship had become.Yan decided to run while the running was good. If the other southern ship tried to pursue, they could probably outrun it. The northern two would take a few minutes to get untangled.He shook his head. He was thankful that Zahn bought well founded vessels. Making right angled turns at full sail and speed would have torn cheaper vessels apart. He'd seen it.He ran the ship southwest, to put as much distance between them as possible, just clearing the southern headland before reaching for the open sea to the west, and the current to Shanghai.   When he was sure that he was out of sight of the pirates, he pushed north along the outside of the big island to an inlet that became lots of little inlets. There was a large village there, and he put in. He dropped off one sailor, Shan Yu, to get word to Zahn of the attack. Then he sailed out to catch the current to Shanghai[TV1] .

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 [TV1]This is slightly better in terms of structure and pace, but draw it out much more, it’s all too rushed. 

Fire on the water 2: excerpt from Alliance Evolution

Zahn was having a busy day at the port office. Two more ships had just come in from the north, one that looked like it was barely afloat, and one other accompanying it. The captain of the damaged ship asked for materials to repair the damage, most of which was to the deck and superstructure. He said that a barrel of oil had fallen over, and then caught on fire. Zahn didn't believe a word of it, because no reasonably competent captain would have let that happen, but he didn't really care. Their money was good, so he ordered the supplies brought to Wharf Twenty, where they were tied up. He asked if they had trade goods, but they said they had traded further north, and had nothing left. Red flags went up in Zahn's mind at that. Something was crooked about their story. After they left, he called his head of couriers, Shin, who doubled as his spymaster, into his office, and explained the situation and the story that concerned him.
Shin nodded as the story ended. "Sounds like pirates that got beat. Something smells rotten. I'll send runners north, and canoes to the big island. Maybe someone knows something."
Zahn waved him out and got back to the thousand other things that he was doing.
Two days later, a canoe came in from the island. Shang Yu jumped out and ran straight for Zahn's office. He described the attack on the Wisdom ship on the way out. When he finished, Zahn told him to go up to Wharf Twenty and see if it was the same boat. He sent for two guards to accompany the sailor, just in case they might recognize him. It wasn't likely, but he wasn't taking any chances with pirates. He also sent for Shin to meet him at the longhouse. Zahn headed for the longhouse himself, to find Kiapelaneh or his Warleader. He was relieved to see the Chief. He explained the situation succinctly. The Chief was infuriated, and sent for Stonefist, the Warleader. When the runner had gone, Kiapelaneh turned to Zahn. "Pirates? We don't want that to get started. We need to send a message to any fools that think they can mess with our ships, that they will pay in blood and bone."
Zahn agreed wholeheartedly, but "Unfortunately, there are many pirates on the other side of the great water. Smugglers and mercenaries as well. The Empire deals with them very harshly, and I think that we should too. They will not stop coming if we let them live."
The Chief recalled some of the less savory things he had seen in the Song lands. Opium was one. He was told that habitual users became violently sick and desperate if they didn't get their opium regularly, and they became useless when they had it. He did not want that to be smuggled in.
Stonefist arrived, with Shin right behind. The Chief explained the situation, finishing just as Yan's sailor arrived with his bodyguards in tow.
"They are two of the four ships that attacked us."
Zahn sighed. One way or another, this was going to cost money.
Kiapelaneh looked to Stonefist. "Assemble two assault teams and prepare them to take the ships in a surprise attack in one hour. I don't want the undamaged boat to get away in the night, if by some chance they smell trouble. Hit them hard and fast. We don't need prisoners, except the captains. Try to get them alive. Shin may be able to find out who was behind this."
Shin nodded, "I will assist."
Zahn waved his hand and the two men left to prepare their teams. When they were gone, he shared a thought with the Chief. "We have no warships. Our trading ships are lightly armed." He looked over at the bearer of bad news. "What is your name, sailor?"
"Shang Yu, Fleetmaster."
"How were the pirate ships armed? What weapons did you see used, or on the ship?"
"It began and ended very quickly Fleetmaster. I saw bows, and fire arrows. They had many men, all armed that way. I saw no other ship weapons."
Zahn sighed. "That is a relief. These are not Empire or other government warships. They are privateers."
Kiapelaneh's eyebrows went up. "You thought that a possibility?"
"Anything is possible, my friend. We are successful, and wealthy by any standards. When you are happy, there is always someone who wants to make you unhappy. This is my experience. My stay with the People has been the exception to that rule, and I value that greatly. I have been expecting something of this sort, and this was not as bad as I have imagined, thanks to your captain. Nevertheless, I, we, must plan for more of this, and worse. Not to do so would be reckless. I will be importing some of the latest Imperial military weapons for our ships. The cost will be enormous, but the loss of ships, cargo, and men would be catastrophic. The time has come to invest in our fleet.” A cook arrived with a tray of cha'. Zahn beckoned, "Sit with us Shang Yu, you have done well, and done enough for this day. Rest, and we will await further developments together."

***

Two hours later, Stonefist entered the lodge, and made a beeline for the Chief's table. "We were successful. The captains are still being interrogated, but we know key facts. "They knew our usual exit route, they even had crude maps. There was little detail to them, and we think they may have been compiled from cha'house gossip." He produced one of the maps and laid it on the table in front of Zahn. "The other two ships are waiting here," he pointed to a circle marked at a bay just south of the southern entrance to the strait. "They will be difficult to catch unaware, which is probably why they chose the location. They were relying on large numbers of archers and the element of surprise. They expected any ship to surrender to four ships attacking them."
Zahn nodded. "Most captains would have. I will have a special reward for Yan when he returns. I think he would be an excellent choice to train as Second Fleetmaster, to handle arming and training the fleet for combat. That will leave me free to concentrate on trade." He smiled.
Stonefist continued, "The captains appear to be from the southern islands, as do most of the archers, according to Shin. He believes that they are, in fact, free pirates. He suggests that if we simply ignore the other two ships. They will leave in search of easier prey, in more familiar waters, once it becomes clear that these two ships will not join them. The prisoners seemed very surprised that we knew who they were."
"Shin also suggested that we could encourage that choice by sending runners to the Makah village on that bay. A fleet of canoes filled with angry Makah archers heading for them, chanting war cries would probably do the trick. They are likely a bit jumpy. We could send a batch of fire arrows to the Makah, to help them make their point?"
That final touch led to grim smiles around the table. Fire on any ship is a captain’s greatest nightmare. It would be a final straw for the pirates, who were in unknown territory. If an enemy had fire arrows, who knew what else they might have.

***

Zhuo was standing at the bow of his ship. He hoped the other two ships would arrive soon. He didn't like waiting, and he didn't like this place. A few canoes had come out from a nearby village, when they first arrived, and the natives seemed friendly enough. They had traded for some fresh water, meat, berries, and bread, at first, but they hadn't been out for days now. He glanced toward the village situated at the mouth of a small river. He straightened up and shaded his eyes to see better. There was a dark mass on the water just in front of the village. The mass seemed to be moving in his direction. It appeared to completely detach from the shore, then proceeded towards the ships. Zhuo sounded an alarm, summoning all hands to the deck. The other ship's captain did the same. Zhuo finally made out canoes at the leading edge of the mass, then he realized that it was hundreds of canoes, some large and some small. After a few more minutes, he could make out that, except for the oarsmen, the natives all carried bows at the ready. He passed the order to prepare for sail, and ordered weapons standing by. Now he could hear fierce chanting, coming across the water. He shouted the order to raise anchors, so that he could maneuver if necessary. Then one, followed by hundreds of fire arrows arced from the canoes straight for him.
He screamed the order to get moving, and all hands, on both ships, scrambled to their tasks. Slowly, they began to make way away from the massed canoes, but not before a second volley of fire arrows flew. Some of these struck his ship, and sailors scrambled to put them out. One had struck the lower edge of a sail, which started to burn.
But they were moving away now, picking up speed, and the canoes stopped coming.
Zhuo ordered course for the open ocean, and home, then ran to help douse the fires.