Chapter 509: Exploring Unknown Regions

Honoria stood atop the bow of her vessel, with her pirate crew. It had been quite some time since they had seen action. Sworn to Secrecy by the confines of Austrian law, the woman that followed the Pirate Queen was looking for adventure, and she knew just where to go. 

Shortly after returning home, Honoria had spent some time with her infant child, however she was quick to leave him and her husband behind as she pursued adventure and riches in the unknown lands across the atlantic. 

Berengar had promised to allow her to explore the depths of the Americas, and she was keen to do so. Equipped with the most modern weapons available to the Kingdom of Austria, Honoria and her crew were now venturing to the new world by their lonesome. 

After their exploits in the War of Austrian Succession, and Reconquista, Honoria's crew had become exceptionally popular in the folklore of the Mediterranean, attracting more crew and personnel who swore their allegiance to the Byzantine Princess and her crew of salt lasses. 

These women were now dressed in a pattern of attire similar to that of the Austrian Navy, the difference being the use of skirts and thigh high socks. They had been at sea for well over two weeks now, and were getting close to the new world. 

The chart of their course was actually far south of where Berengar and Honoria had initially landed. Under the King of Austria's direction, the Third Queen set sail for what was as South America in his past life.

His aim was to get her to explore the land that was known as Venezuela in his past life. In doing so, mapping out the region, and allowing Austria's future colonial endeavors to have a general idea of the layout of the land, and the factions who inhabited it. 

Currently Honoria was cleaning her 1422 Service Revolver, though this was not a standard model. Instead, it was heavily embellished with gold damascene in a pattern with skulls and bones. The grips were made of mother-of-pearl, while the trigger and hammer were gold plated. Overall, it was an extravagant weapon, fitting for the wealthy Pirate Queen. 

As she wiped the oil onto the functional parts of the weapon, she overheard a loud shout from the young woman stationed in her crow's nest. 

"Land Ho!"

Honoria quickly finished cleaning her revolver before loading it. After doing so, she stashed it away before clambering to a better position on her vessel to get a view of the unfamiliar landscape. In the distance was a tropical beach, which led to the Andes Mountains behind its sandy shores.

Honoria had already questioned whether Berengar was aware of the New World before discovering it, but this new landmass far to the south of where she had landed previously only further confirmed her suspicions. 

Eventually, the ship made its way into the bay, where the crew dropped the anchor and lowered the row boats into the ocean. At the head of the first boat, Honoria stood as her lasses rowed the boat closer to the shore. 

With her naval cutlass in hand, she waited for the moment she stepped on the sandy shores, and entered the new world once more. After strenuous effort, the boats made berth on the beaches outside of the mountain range set in its background. 

After all her girls had gathered, Honoria checked to see if they were all properly equipped. With G-22 rifles in hand, and 1422 Pattern web gear over their torsos, along with black leather bandoliers which contained spare .45-70 cartridges, Honoria was certain that her crew could handle any conflict they encountered. 

Thus, under the lead of their Captain, the privateers of the Queen Honoria's Revenge set out to explore this foreign landscape. With Honoria at the head of the crew, they entered the mountainous Andes. Completely unaware that some locals had spotted the arrival. 

The higher Honoria and her crew climbed, the more exhausted they became, until finally they made an encampment on a plateau overlooking the bay below. Not all of her crew had deployed into the mountainous region. Instead, a fair portion of them stayed onboard the vessel.

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Though there was no threat to the safety of the ship in these primitive waters, one would be foolish to leave behind an iron-clad warship with no protection. Thus, Honoria marched with a small company of privateers into the unknown regions of the Andes mountains. 

As she gazed upon the bay through her binoculars, the Byzantine Princess smiled when she thought about the freedom she now had when compared to her previous life as the Byzantine Princess. Eventually, she put away her tools and lied down on a bedroll. As she gazed up at the night sky above the Andes mountains, she smiled before passing out. 

Not even thirty minutes had passed since the moment Honoria closed her eyes, to the instant gunfire resounded in the air, the Byzantine Princess quickly rose from her position, to see her encampment was under attack by some local savages, these tribesmen wore little in terms of clothing, and were painted from head to toe in war paint. 

Honoria quickly reached for her revolver and her sword as she joined the fray. The thunderous echo of gunfire had instigated a sense of dread in the hearts of the natives as they pounced on the strange pale skin women who had come from the sea.

Honoria pulled back the hammer on her revolver and aimed it with her right hand straight at a native warrior's skull, squeezing her trigger and in doing so blasting his head apart. She did not hesitate to pull the trigger again as she shifted the muzzle of her weapon to a nearby savage. This time, the bullet tore through the opponent's torso, leaving him dead on the spot. 

She had not been expecting an attack so soon after arriving. Despite this, the Byzantine Princess was calm as she rallied her girls by her side.

"On me, form a firing line, and defend the camp!"

Though these girls weren't professional soldiers, they were experienced enough in combat to follow commands. They quickly did as they were instructed, and formed their ranks by Honoria's side, where they lowered their rifles toward the oncoming attackers. Their bayonets formed a spearwall that skewered those foolish enough to rush forward. In the next moment, Honoria gave the command to annihilate the enemy..

"Open fire!"

With this said, smoke flew out from the muzzles of the rifles, and with it, the lead projectiles went down range and into the bodies of the enemies, causing their blood to splatter across the plateau. Without needing instruction, the girls who belonged to Honoria's crew pulled back the bolt on their rifles, and inserted a cartridge into the empty chamber, before slamming it home and firing another shot. 

They continued this action until the native war band had completely scattered up the mountains, too afraid to pursue the pale-skinned foreigners who commanded the element of thunder. After they had disappeared into the dark night, Honoria spat upon the nearest corpse and issued a command to her troops.

"From now on, I want sentries posted at all entrances of our camp. I did not expect to encounter hostiles so soon, but now we know there are natives to this land, and they are hostile to us. Prepare for combat, because we are not leaving until we chart this strange land!"

The girls nodded their heads as they flipped the safeties on their rifles towards the safe position. They would have to be on high alert from now on. Who knows what terrible fate could have happened to them if one girl had not spotted the shadowy figure of a savage warrior? 

Thus Honoria and her crew had contacted the local population, and unlike in New Vienna, this was not a friendly encounter. She knew by the native's reaction that she and her girls were in for a long, and bloody struggle to chart the region's topography. 

However, despite these worries, she would press on. Berengar had plans for the region, and though she did not know how he knew of its existence, she was faithful to her husband, and would do as she had promised. Which thoroughly records her encounters and sells the information to the Austrian Crown as viable intelligence for its future Colonization Efforts. 

As for Berengar, when he received news of the locals hostility he would plan accordingly for his future attempts to control the region. The Austrian King planned for Venezuela to be the first of his southern colonies.

After all, there were many desirable natural resources in the region, such as oil, gold, iron, bauxite, rubber, and, of course, potatoes. Berengar would have a hard time containing his desire in the coming years to set sail and immediately colonize the region.. Patience was a virtue, however, the King of Austria was far from a virtuous man.

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