Back for more, eh? Well, I hope you readers enjoyed thus far, 'cause things are about to get seriously steep. Hang on to your britches, here we go.
Disclaimer: I do not own Frozen (and nor would I want to). The characters, places (provided that I've spelled them right), creatures, and everything else already featured in Frozen belong to Disney. The plot, OC's, OP's (original places), and the steampunk elements belong to me.
When Yellowstone Erupts, Revamp 1
A Frozen Fanfiction
Chapter 2
(E.D.S. Shield, June 1427)
(Captain Joshua Lucerna POV)
The day after his conversation with Admiral Worlith, I boarded the E.D.S. Shield, telling the crew to make final preparations for the upcoming battle. Now, a week later, I was mentally preparing himself for what I was leading his crew into. It was the middle of the night, off the shore of the enemy outpost near Farcia, and my crew was ready for me to give the order. Tonight, we were going to take the enemy by surprise, then strike them from behind while they were distracted.
"Sir," First Officer Erickson said, snapping to a salute. He was a middle-aged man with a faint red beard, strong as an ox yet loyal as a dog. Erickson worked on the Shield for a living, sailing with her whenever they needed her help. He himself told me that sometimes she was sent on aid missions, other times for refugee rescue missions, and sometimes repair ventures. He told me to take care to not let anything happen to her, as she has not seen a single battle yet. That would change today.
"Ready for my order," I asked. He nodded. "Wait for the signal. The Shield and the Vestium both have to be ready for this to work."
Two minutes passed before I saw the signal: the massive artillery on the E.D.S. Vestium rotated towards the outpost and her captain waved a single small torch in a wide upwards arc.
'Here goes nothing,' I thought.
"Crew ready," I shouted to the men at the mobile artillery units onboard the ship. "Prime artillery, take aim… ready… ENGAGE!"
Four loud blasts rocked the Shield as the artillery opened fire on the towering outpost. Less than a second later, four more blasts echoed across the seas as two towers on the fortress fell to powerful explosions lasting mere seconds. Grown men started shouting from the fort as they rushed to either their planes or cannons. Now we had their attention; it was all up to Captain Davis to hit them where it hurt.
Ten loud engines powered up, giving a slight upwards thrust to ten large bird-like figures on the shore. The airplanes, as the Infernus ambassador to us called them, took off at insane speeds. Supposedly, there were three weak points on each airplane: the wing, which allowed for steering; the cockpit, where the pilot was; and the engine, which provided the thrust keeping the vehicle in the air. I told the gunners to avoid the cockpit if possible, as capturing one of the terrorists could help in future battles, so that technically left two targets on the vehicles.
Rapid gunfire made the crew duck or find cover, which was terrifying in and of itself. These planes had weapons of their own. Our job just got a great deal harder. Luckily, the Vestium has more weaponry than the Shield, so finishing off the outpost shouldn't take too long.
"Take those planes down," I shouted to the crew from behind the wheel in the pilothouse. Our anti-air gunners returned fire at the planes, though few rounds found their mark as the aerial vehicles were flying at such high speeds.
A loud explosion sounded from the outpost. A massive fireball ballooned upwards from the center of the building, the supposed ammunition deposit. The Vestium hit her primary target. Now she could focus on the planes attacking the Shield.
After thirty minutes of battle, bullets riddling the Shield fore and aft, the last plane finally ran out of ammunition and was shot down. Sometimes, the pilot ejected and opened some sort of sailcloth called a 'parachute', surviving the fall into the waters. Other times, the craft hit the water too fast, killing the pilot with the sudden stop. And every time we hit the engine, the plane would catch fire, giving the pilot a brief window to eject before the craft exploded or hit the rough waters. All in all we caught ten prisoners, five pilots and five others. We then sailed to the village to return all POW's and those taken by the terrorists, then returned home to bring the news and prisoners back to Erysipelas.
"A job well done, Captains," Admiral Worlith commended I and Davis. "The villagers will be pleased to know that a repair ship is coming to help with fixing the damage. Speaking of which, the Shield has taken some considerable hits. It seems as though these 'fighters' are called that for a reason."
"Thanks to you, sir, we were able to fend them off long enough for the Vestium to finish the job," I thanked him.
"No thanks necessary, Captain; you did what was right. You won't be getting any awards for one good battle, but for your patience and service, I am pleased to inform you that the Liberty-class E.D.S. Liberty is ready for her maiden voyage, and her crew is most eager to meet their captain.
"Davis, escort the repair ship to the village. Lucerna, I think it's time for you to see your crew, sail your ship. Sail around the city, see how you like her. She's in the shipyard, waiting for you."
"Thank you, sir." I dropped my salute when he started walking towards the main city, then almost sprinted to the shipyard. I couldn't wait to see the Liberty.
I had to run my mouth, didn't I? I sure could've waited to see the Liberty. I trusted the mechanics with one job only, and they blew it.
"That's the skeleton of your ship, sir."
"Hang on, Mike," said another mechanic. "That's not Luxiam. That's Lucerna, the new boy who got the first Liberty-class Super Destroyer."
"Luxiam?" I said aloud.
"Eh, some guy who wanted a Destroyer for carrying those 'airplane' things, so we're giving him a scaled-down version of the Liberty with a flat deck."
He led me to the other side of the shipyard. The ship was hidden behind a massive set of doors inside the shipyard, at least five times the size of a normal Destroyer, which was already three times the size of an Ironclad or Caravel. The Shield was an Ironclad, the Vestium was a Battleship, a small Destroyer, and the Thunder was a Destroyer. I couldn't wait to see the Liberty now.
"Open the doors, boys."
The massive doors opened, and my mind exploded. The massive ship was impossible to behold. With huge artillery in the middle and the sides of the ship, she was a glorious, beautiful even. She was endowed with the blue and yellow of Erysipelas, and the ramp up to the top deck was right before my feet. The crew was all on board, ready for my orders. A tear welled up in my eye as I gazed at the sight.
"Aww, don't tell me you're crying," complained one of the mechanics.
"Tears of joy," I muttered, wiping my eye with a gloved hand. It was standard for soldiers to wear gloves, but I was one of the few who actually used it other than for decoration. "She's beautiful. You did an awesome job."
"Well, you going to take her for a test drive or not?"
I nodded, then started climbing the long ramp. Once I made it up, the crew cheered and whooped and hollered and shouted. My First Officers marched up to me and gave me a sharp salute, followed by the Marines and the crew. I returned the gesture and dropped it after a second.
"Well? She's not going to sail herself, now is she? Get her up and running, raise the flag and let's unveil this beauty."
It only took a few minutes, but I eventually learned that the ship had a strange onboard system powered by the boilers, which were fueled by a more powerful version of the 'liquid coal' that I kept hearing about. Instead of having to look for enemy ships, we could just use something called 'radar'. No need for a map either, as we had an automatic navigation system. Even the artillery didn't need manual aiming, as we now had a targeting system more powerful than using sights. She was even the fastest ship in all the fleets now, and probably the most powerful and advanced as well. She was a prototype, but boy did she look mighty. She was a gift from God to have been made this soon, according to the mechanics.
Ten minutes after taking the wheel, she was finally working at full power. The Liberty had enough fuel reserves to last us a very long time, possibly even a decade in a hypothetical 'everlasting battle'. To go with this, she had enough firepower to take on a fleet of Ironclads and come out on top with ammunition to spare.
"All systems are online."
"Radar starting up."
"Targeting systems functional."
"Navigation active."
So many First Officers informing me of so many things.
"Where to first, Captain," asked First Officer Williams, my real First Officer onboard this vessel.
"To Arendelle," called my father's voice from the back of the pilothouse. I turned to see my father and snapped a salute to him violently. "At ease, everyone. I'm coming along as a guest. I've received word from the King of Arendelle that he requires assistance from us, something about the Holy Fire and 'it might be able to help'. Besides, I haven't seen my old friend in ages.
"This is your ship, Captain. Consider this a test drive."
I nodded and turned to the Navigation Officer.
"Plot a course to Arendelle," I ordered. "Keep radar running, targeting and weapons on hold until I give the word. How soon will we arrive at top speed?"
"Within the week, sir," responded the N.O. "We have enough food to last us ten weeks."
"Bring us out of the shipyard carefully, take us out of the harbor, and head us straight for Arendelle."
"Yes sir."
End
A/N: Wow, I'm excited. I have an idea on where I'm taking this, and it's gonna be great.
BTW: I've posted a new YouTube video (pre-apologies for the echo, clicking noises, and constant topic changing). It's called 'Political/Random Glog #001', so go check it out.
Other than that, I'll see you all next chapter. Texas, out.
