Reborn In 17th century India with Black Technology

The newly constructed Bharatiya Navy has been split into three different fleets commanded by the commanders Akhil, Prasanna Nair, and Gautam. In total, the Bharatiya Empire has constructed 712 warships in the past two years, among which 25% of the ships are commanded by Prasanna Nair, 30% by Akhil, and 45% by Gautam.

22nd August 1659

300 kilometres off the coast of Somalia and two days away from the Bharatiya forward naval base in Seychelles.

Commander Akhil currently has command over 8 Delhi-class battleships, 2 Guwahati-class armed merchant ships, 9 Pune-class battleships, 45 Colombo-class frigates, 15 Chennai-class clippers, 90 Amravati-class frigates, and 45 Kolkata-class clippers.

Akhil, sailing through the Gulf of Aden, looked through the telescope and found a silhouette of an island that had no traces of civilization. The island almost looked uninhabited if not for the pegs that were dug in the coast, which Akhil thought were for some merchant ships to temporarily dock.

Akhil looked at the man standing next to him on the deck. "Is this it?" he asked, passing over the telescope.

Nanda Kishore took the telescope and looked through it. "Yes, sir, this is it."

He looked at Akhil and pointed at the island. "The island is called Kinshia. It is a small uninhabited island which had temporarily been used as a pirate den for a small period of time, but after the Indo-Ottoman War, the pirates were scared away, and the island became uninhabited once again."n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

"Seventy kilometres east of this island is another small island called Samhah, and 20 more kilometres to its east is another island smaller than it called Darsah."

"Darsah is currently our destination," he said.

Akhil immediately got the gist of it. He could have gotten all these details by looking at the map, but if there was an option where he could directly learn about the information from people who had seen it with their eyes, then he would prefer the latter. This is one of the reasons he recruited Nanda Kishore to his fleet after giving up some of the high-potential newcomers from the Naval Academy. Even as far back as a few years ago, Nanda Kishore had already become the leader of the naval base in Seychelles, and he also participated in the Indo-Ottoman War, helping quite a bit in defeating the Ottomans by running some operations in the Gulf of Aden.

Since Akhil's current mission is also in the region, he recruited Nanda Kishore to be under his command.

---

A few hours later,

The Bharatiya fleet eventually came to a halt behind the island of Darsah.

It was a shock to Akhil when he saw the beautiful scenery on the coast of Darsah. He stood on the deck of the ship, shocked, as he looked at the gigantic hills standing on the coast like a rock wall.

Nanda Kishore, looking at the familiar scenery after a long time, felt a sense of relief wash over him. His expression softened as he closed his eyes and felt the comfortable breeze coming from the coast.

Minutes passed, and he looked at the commander to see what his orders were. But seeing the reaction of Commander Akhil, he smiled. "It is beautiful, isn't it, sir? Even I was mesmerised the first time I came here, but sadly, after the Indo-Ottoman War, I didn't get another chance to come to this place."

Akhil nodded without much thought. Fortunately, he did remember the whole reason he had arrived. "Didn't you say that you can get a view of Socotra Island from the top of this island?" He pointed at the rock wall. "How can we climb this wall? And this whole island is nothing but a rock—how can we disembark?" he asked, his expression a little doubtful.

Nanda Kishore did not stop smiling. Instead, its nature changed from one of happiness to intrigue. "Please follow me on the rescue boat, sir. I will show you."

Soon, Akhil and Nanda Kishore boarded a clipper and sailed five kilometres east. The wind speed near the coast was fast, so it didn't take long for the Kolkata-class clipper to cover the distance within 30 minutes. Soon, they came near a unique estuary-like terrain.

Looking at the large cave-like entrance in front of him, Akhil was shocked, his mouth agape. He now understood why Nanda Kishore did not panic or hesitate when he questioned him.

Nanda Kishore looked at the cave with a nostalgic gaze. "When spying on the Ottoman ships, me along with my team found this cave by mistake. It was using this cave that we were able to climb up the hill and reach the other side of the island, " he said.

Akhil nodded in understanding, tying the clipper to a boulder within the cave. The commander of the Bharatiya Empire and a battle group captain began to climb the narrow passage within the cave that led to the top of the hill.

The climb was arduous as the rocks were too narrow, but fortunately, both Akhil and Nanda Kishore were trained individuals. They were quite athletic and given that both of them were young, it did not pose too much of a challenge. Within a few minutes, Kishore and Akhil reached the top of the hill.

Looking back was a cliff 100 metres tall, and looking forward was a slope that led to the end of the island and eventually joined into a beach.

Akhil squinted his eyes as he looked to the north. He could vaguely see a sliver of a large landmass. "That's Socotra Island, isn't it?" he asked, looking at Nanda Kishore for confirmation.

Nanda Kishore nodded. "Yes, sir, this is it. From this point, if we build a watchtower, we should be able to see the coast of Socotra." Remembering his situation the last time he was here, he smiled bitterly. "I remember a few years ago I had to use a small ship, risk the lives of my team and myself, and get closer just to get a visual, not understanding that a taller elevation was enough to look at the coast."

"Sigh," he shook his head, coming back to his senses. "Come to think of it, the saying 'you're only human if you know how to read and write' is really true. The me from a few years ago and the me right now are completely different."

Akhil nodded his head without commenting. In fact, the feeling Nanda Kishore was experiencing was actually mutual. Since his time before getting to the Naval Academy and after, he has become a completely different person. If not for the education he had received in the Naval Academy, he would have never gotten a chance to be the commander of the Bharatiya Navy fleet, despite there being many more experienced naval veterans.

In fact, Nanda Kishore was actually one of those more experienced naval veterans. Kishore was a person who had been in the navy much longer than Akhil himself. He had joined the Bharatiya Navy at its inception and had fought many battles for the empire. With the Indo-Ottoman War ending, Kishore had already earned enough credits to rank up as a battle group captain, but unfortunately, his education was barely at the middle school level. Due to conditions requiring high-level military leaders to have completed a certain level of education, Nanda Kishore was not able to rank up, even though his credits added up. In fact, Nanda Kishore was one of the rare Class 2 Yoddhas in the Bharatiya Navy.

---

A few hours passed, and the logistics staff of the navy immediately acted and transported the wooden poles and planks required to build a watchtower.

The reason why the fleet was not brought to the vicinity of the cave was because the hill below which the cave was located was not suitable for warships to sail. The waters were shallow and rocky; only the Kolkata-class clippers and Amravati-class frigates could sail there.

The materials to build a large watchtower were present in the Guwahati-class merchant ships. The materials were stored in case emergency repairs needed to be done to the ships, but now they were being used to build a large watchtower at least 100 metres tall.

The construction did not take long, as the engineering team of the logistics department was trained to handle such tasks. Within two hours, a tower 100 metres tall, decked out with a rope ladder, was built and ready to be used.

Akhil was very satisfied. He quickly climbed up the tower and stared at the coast of Socotra, which was now visible.

As expected, there were a lot of small merchant ships docked at the coast. It was like a small naval market.

"Come to think of it, do you know under whose control the Socotra island is?" Akhil asked.

Nanda Kishore scratched his head and thought deeply. "I do not know much, sir, but from what little I know, this is the area of influence under the Sultanate of Qishn and Socotra, so logically it should be under a sultan."

"Hmm, alright then," Akhil nodded. Although he did not get enough information, he was still satisfied with the important details.

To be continued...