Ten Cents, Sunshine, Sea Rouge and Little Ditcher chatted away while they waited for Bluenose to arrive. They talked for two hours, by which the sun was high in the sky and the sea was warming up. Every now and then the water tower would creak, but the four tried not to show their worry. Not many boats come past, usually only a few tugs and motorboats and a couple of recreational yachts. Eventually, Bluenose chugged up with a white switcher around Sunshine's size. His name was Northern Lights, but he was the smallest tug in the Navy so was nicknamed Junior. They had a barge in between them with a brand new naval gun attached to it. Bluenose tested out the new weaponry before it was attached to the ships. Junior detached himself from the barge and went over to Bluenose's other side.
"Attention!" He cried. The tugs and Little Ditcher just stared at him.
"Listen to your senior." Junior hissed. Sea Rouge glared at him with his one eye and the switcher backed down.
"You, Eyepatch, have you gone and received permission from the Mayor for the water tower to be used in naval ammunition practice?" Bluenose bellowed.
"Yes, but…" Sea Rouge began, but Bluenose barged through him.
"I recommend you stand clear." He bellowed. Ten Cents and Sunshine chugged in front of the barge
"You can't destroy this, it is the pride of the town." Sunshine cried.
"If you give us a little bit, Puffa could go and collect some more steel to replace the broken support." Ten Cents pleaded.
"Let me think… NO!" Bluenose cried, making the two jump back. "The Mayor has given us permission as he doesn't think it can be repaired in time before it falls over."
"I am surprised the Navy even let you back in after that big munitions disaster." Little Ditcher said airily. Everyone looked at him.
"Excuse me small crane, but that was not my fault." Bluenose spluttered.
"From what I heard it is. Didn't you smash into some barges full of munitions?" Little Ditcher asked.
"That might have happened…" Bluenose said, trailing off.
"I mean, you did cause one of their most valuable tramp steamers to go up in flames." Little Ditcher continued.
"I order you to be quiet!" Bluenose boomed.
"And then Big Mickey fell over and nearly crushed all of the tugs there…"
"BE QUIET!"
"And Puffa and Ten Cents were nearly damaged due to other explosions."
"This is going to far, SHUT UP!"
"And the whole dockyard went up in flames."
"SHUT UP I TELL YOU, SHUT UP!" Bluenose yelled and he charged towards Little Ditcher and slammed into him. Little Ditcher then turned his arm around and used his hook to loosen Bluenose's rope on the barge.
"TEN CENTS, SUNSHINE, SEA ROUGE, GET IT!" The crane bellowed. The three tugs exchanged looks and charged. Bluenose turned and gasped.
"JUNIOR, STOP THEM AT ONCE!" The tiny switcher rushed determinedly forwards, but Sea Rouge slammed into him and pushed him into some empty barges. Sunshine rushed to Little Ditcher's side. The crane attached his hook to side of Bluenose and Sunshine tied himself to Little Ditcher. Ten Cents rushed and tied himself to the barge.
"Stop your plans and we'll let you go." Sea Rouge snarled.
"I wouldn't be so sure of yourselves, laddies." Bluenose smirked and looked behind Ten Cents. They all looked and saw several naval tugs approaching them. Little Ditcher recognised them as the ones who had been part of the rescue team for the tramp steamer. All of them charged forwards. Two smashed into Ten Cents and pulled the barge away from him, one went for Sunshine and Little Ditcher, one took down Sea Rouge and one rescued Junior. Ten Cents and Sunshine exchanged worried glances.
***
Zorran heard the commotion and peered out from behind the docks and saw the naval tugs.
"I wonder what's going on over there." He pondered aloud. Billy came out of his warehouse.
"Where are Zip and Zug, and why aren't you minding the loading?" He boomed. Zorran jumped and turned around.
"Zip and Zug went to look for more barges." He said confidently. The two switchers had left a while ago and were currently chugging a kilometre behind OJ.
"I see." Billy said, rolling his mental eyes. "And my other question?"
"Oh, I just heard a bit of a commotion over there, some naval tugs are doing something." Zorran explained.
"That is not a good enough excuse, there could have been an accident." Billy scowled. "Stay by your barge for the rest of the unloading. I have to go and see if Sea Rouge is doing alright with the naval tugs." Zorran sighed and chugged back to the crane. Billy passed him and chugged out of the area. He then looked to make sure Zorran wasn't watching and heading up to the logging camp, picking up one of his explosive barges on the way.
OJ was busy working at the logging camp. Some of the logs had frozen together over night, which actually made his job a lot easier to move the joined together logs over towards the barges. He was rather annoyed about being stuck on this job. A small cruise liner was coming and the rest of the fleet was towing it in, leaving OJ to do Big Mac's logging job.
"My engine would have been better off towing that darn liner in then having to come all the way up here." He mumbled as he tied more logs together. He was completely unaware of Zip and Zug hiding under a pier.
"Look at the old fool, talking to himself." Zug chuckled.
"He must be losing his mind." Zip added and the two laughed stupidly.
"He'll probably leap right out of his structure when we speed up and pull those barges lose." Zug smiled. "And then we'll rush away and deny everything." Zip giggled.
"So why does Zorran want us to do this again?" He asked.
"Because the Starr's have too many contracts, we need some of them!" Zug replied, rolling his eyes.
"But this one looks like hard work." Zip said, looking confused. "Why would Zorran want one where we actually have to work?"
"I don't know dummy, ask him yourself." Zug spat. Zip looked hurt.
"I thought you were my friend." He said sadly, and turned away. He didn't mind Zorran calling him a dummy, but Zip was a little sensitive when it came to his friends. Zug let out a silent sigh and turned around with him.
"I am sorry Zip, please come ba-" He came up to Zip's side and froze. Zip was looking at barge that was right in front of them with some dynamite on it- and the fuse was lit. The two switchers looked at each other and than screamed loudly. OJ looked around for the source of the commotion just in time to see the barge explode. The force caused mounds of dirt to fly high into the air and an old tree shook violently and tipped over and hit something in the water.
"What's going on over there?" He mumbled and hurried along. He passed through the barges, careful not to let any logs out, and then chugged over to the tree. Between the branches, he could see the figures of Zip and Zug, who were black from the explosion.
"What are you two doing here?" OJ asked crossly. The switchers spluttered and exchanged looks.
"They were trying to ruin your chances at the contract." They all turned to see Billy chugging towards them. The alligator tug had rushed here as fast as he could and had lit the dynamite and hidden in plain sight until it went off. OJ gasped and looked back at the switchers.
"I'll be reporting this!" He snapped.
"Your lucky I am not terminating your contract right now!" Billy hissed. Zip and Zug started shouting, but nothing was distinguishable due to the branches.
"Take them away." OJ said to Billy, who smiled and went behind the tree and started to push it and it's captives back to Mittsville. OJ sighed as he went back to work.
"I am getting too old for this."
The six naval tugs stood guard over the Star's, Sea Rouge and Little Ditcher. Bluenose and Junior prepared the area for the shooting. Nearby buildings were evacuated and all boats and trains were forbidden from entering the area. The naval tugs had seen Billy leaving the warehouses early and thought no one else would be there, so Zorran remained.
"As no one was seriously damaged," Bluenose said suddenly as he worked. "You will only get a light punishment. I thought making you watch your precious water tower go up in flames would be torture enough." And he let out a booming laugh. Junior and the Naval tugs all laughed as well. Sunshine let out a silent sob and Sea Rouge's face changed to an ugly, angry look. Bluenose and Junior were about to start the countdown when they heard more chugging. They looked around as Billy and his "captives" came in.
"What's going on over there?" He called and came towards them.
"This is a restricted area, Shoepack, leave now." Junior cried.
"I know that, why are they held hostage?" Billy asked, looking towards his friends.
"Not the time for questions." Bluenose growled. "Escort the alligator away." Two of the naval tugs left the hostage area and went for Billy.
"I'm leaving, I'm leaving. I'll go reprimand Zorran about these two." And he went towards the munitions warehouses.
"BILLY, the warehouses are restricted at the moment while we do our duties." Bluenose said sternly. Billy came to a halt. The tree continued to float away.
"Now Zip, flee!" Zug cried and started to force their way out of the branches. They started to spin around due to their different positions. Zip broke free and rushed too far forwards and smashed into Bluenose. The two naval tugs rushed to stop Zug while another two went to get Zip. Sea Rouge saw his chance. He charged forwards and slammed the tug in front of him into another and forced the two against the docks, leaving holes in both of them. Three more tugs approached him. Sea Rouge charged forwards and burst through them. He pushed past Zip and came up to the barge and hit it, making it spin around so it faced the munitions factory. Then, Sea Rouge tied himself to it and charged forwards. Billy freed Zug as Zorran approached them.
"I recommend we all move, I know when a gun is about to go off." Billy boomed and took the two Z-Stacks away as Sea Rouge headed towards the town's entrance. The naval tugs all smashed into him and the gun set off. The barge had moved when Sea Rouge was hit and the bullets now zoomed towards the munitions factory. Billy let out a screech of terror as the bullets smashed through the wall and towards the crates of fireworks and ammunition. The whole warehouse exploded in a multi-coloured ball of flame. The force knocked over the ancient crane and the ammunitions in the Z-Stacks barges exploded as well, causing part of the docks to blow up as well. Everyone looked in awe as the wooden building collapsed to the ground and some lone fireworks exploded into the sky.
A few hours later, the area was abuzz with action. The Fire Tug had arrived and doused the flames caused by the explosion. Billy was now sadly docked by the destroyed building and looked around at the scorched trees that had been hit. OJ had come down and was helping Little Ditcher salvage the sunk naval tugs. The Coast Guard was there and was reading out a list of offences that Sea Rouge was being arrested for. Ten Cents and Sunshine stood back, watching as Puffa's trusty truck had steel unloaded from it for the water tower, which had remained standing through the course of the day. They watched the Coast Guard finish talking and move away to talk to Bluenose and they rushed forwards.
"Are you going to jail?" Sunshine asked sadly.
"Yep, should be sunk by the end of next year." Sea Rouge replied. "For sinking two naval tugs, attacking several naval tugs, attempting to steal naval weaponry and they are trying to pin the munitions warehouses exploding on me."
"Oh dear…" Ten Cents said solemnly, at a loss for words.
"I was hoping to just take the gun and hide it until they agreed to cancel the shooting, so at least my plan kind of worked out." Sea Rouge said, looking up at the water tower. Ten Cents and Sunshine stayed there in silence, at a loss for words, but Sea Rouge knew they were sad and cared. Three naval ocean-going tugs with guns above their cabs approached Sea Rouge and attached ropes to him.
"Goodbye Ten Cents, Goodbye Sunshine." Sea Rouge said, managing a small smile.
"Goodbye Sea Rouge." The switchers said together and the watched as he was taken away. OJ then came over.
"Come on you two, I better take you home before the fog beats us there." He said softly. The switchers obediently went with him, leaving the chaos behind.
***
The naval prison had no name. Within the navy, it was referred to as "The Royal Naval Prison of Bigg City", though boats simply called it Hell. It was built inside a large cave on a small island twenty kilometres away from Up Town where ships didn't go to due to the nasty rocks nearby. The cells are made up of thick layers of steel that is impossible to break through and makes it difficult to breathe in the cell. The prison was more of less a dumping ground for arrested boats and tramp steamers waiting till they were sunk by the navy. They usually left them there for a while so they would go mad due to the intense darkness and loneliness. Twenty ocean-going tugs, like the ones escorting Sea Rouge, worked there: eight guarding the entrance, six patrolling inside and six at different points around the outside, making breakout impossible. Sea Rouge had a bit of a breakdown as they approached and started to cry, making the naval tugs laugh at him.
"Don't feel so tough now, do you fella?" One sneered.
"They'll probably shot your several times above the hull for sinking two of ours." Another chuckled.
"Then they'll blast you and your eye patch to smithereens!" The last one said and they all burst out laughing. Sea Rouge sniffled. They passed the deadly rocks and the guards before entering the prison. It was pitch black in here but the naval tugs had lamps to light the way.
"We don't have any room, so you can go in here for the time being." The first one grunted.
"Enjoy the dark, scum." The second one smiled and Sea Rouge was pushed inside a spacious cell and the door closed. It took a little bit for his eyes to adjust to the light, then he could get the outline of a tramp steamer.
"H-H-hello." Sea Rouge spluttered, gasping for breath. The tramp steamer floated over to Sea Rouge.
"Nice eyepatch, I need one of those." He chuckled with an accent Sea Rouge didn't recognise.
"I'm S-Sea Rouge, who are you?" The tramp steamer laughed loudly.
"Surprised you haven't heard of me, the name's Johnny Cuba." He explained. "I've being waiting for a room mate for a while."
"Why's that?" Sea Rouge asked nervously.
"Because," The Australian said, smiling. "Your going to help me get out of here."