Here's the fourth chapter. Mitsuro and her crew drill in ship handling, Tai's connection with Mitsuro becomes apparent, and Sora's secret is revealed.
Chapter 4: Ship Drills and Reflections
The sun was shining down on the water as Mitsuro walked past the other vessels. She felt sweat forming on her palms as she approached the cluster of sailors and naval aircrew gathered close to the nearest destroyer. Her eyes flicked away from them to study the ship they were to be training on.
It wasn't that much bigger than the ship currently in the process of being completed. But it was much bulkier in terms of armor and armament. The height made for a vast contrast to the sleekness of the ship beside it, but the layout was the same. Mitsuro made a face. The sides of the ship were becoming coated in rust and a few streaks of oil were located near the rear of the ship.
"Do we really have to practice on this thing?" she muttered.
She turned her gaze back to her crew, and she noticed that more than a few of them seemed grossed by the condition of the ship. She smirked. 'It looks like they don't really like it either.' Mitsuro thought with a hint of satisfaction.
Henry Wilson turned to face her. "Oh, Commander!" he greeted her with a smile. "It's about time for ship handling drills, right?"
She nodded, feeling her heart in her throat. "Yeah. But I wasn't expecting such a ship for us to use." She motioned to the ship before them.
"Ugh. Who in their right mind would give anyone such a crappy ship?" Helen Yates grumbled.
"Well, you may as well deal with it, because it's all we've got until our other ship is up and running!" Mitsuro hissed as she looked at the other woman.
Helen rolled her eyes and scoffed. "Yeah, right."
Mitsuro felt rage building in her chest, but she kept herself calm. She didn't want to risk losing her command so early into her career.
It took them an hour and a half to get out to sea once they had all gotten on board. The first thing that everyone agreed on was that the ship was horrible. Nothing seemed to work properly, and that included the engines. They skipped a few times every few minutes, forcing Conner Green and Sal Hudson and Greg Hansen to work around the clock to try and keep them running.
Mitsuro looked at the crew assembled in the bridge and felt a twinge of intimidation. But she forced it from her mind. She had to do this. "All right. This is our first drill as a team, so let's try and get it done right. Any mess-ups and you'll be doing pushups."
Three of the crew shook their heads at her statement. They apparently seemed disappointed in her.
Mitsuro bit her lip, but she shook her head. "No! Stay focused," she muttered. "Don't let this get to you!"
She straightened up and looked at them with what she hoped was a confident expression, but she doubted it. She began to give orders to them, and a couple of her crewmates scoffed, but they followed the orders.
They trained for three hours in loading the guns and firing them. It was very loud and hard work. Without automatic reloaders, it took three minutes for them to get one gun loaded and fired. The systems used to raise and depress the guns were shot, so they lacked the proper angle at which to strike their target ship.
At least the radar worked, which was a big bonus for them. They managed to shoot down one training drone as it buzzed the ship, but that was their only confirmed "kill". The ship's rudder was also frozen in some spots, so the evasive maneuvers were useless. Plus the ship lacked a helicopter for antisubmarine duty. So the chopper pilot and his crew were pissed.
The only benefit was that the life boats were usable, so they went through the drills for rescuing and retrieving crew members over the next few days. That was something good. But each time they carried out a fighting drill, they failed miserably. And Tai Ishihara was of very little use because their training ship lacked a space for his Harrier jet to be parked.
The second week of her training went smoothly and by the third week, they had perfected the art of fighting with a damaged and rusting ship. Mitsuro guessed that this was to also get her used to fighting in a badly damaged destroyer. But she didn't know why.
The fourth week was halfway through when she and her crew got word of their ship's finish.
Around the same time…
The young man glanced nervously at his hand. The cards he held were hidden from his opponent's eyes, but for some reason, his opponent seemed to know what cards he was going to play! How was he going to win this one!
Across from him stood Sora. He had a smirk on his face as he skimmed his cards with a finger. "Let's see… I'll set one card face down and end my turn."
"Good! Now time to end this!" the man snarled.
"I couldn't agree more, my friend. But it is your end, not mine," Sora purred.
"We'll see about that!" the man spat. He drew a card and smirked. "I'll play Swords of Revealing Light! This card cancels out your battle phase for three turns!" Six swords appeared around Sora's field, but Sora wasn't fazed by this move.
He smirked. "I doubt it," he said.
"And why not?" the man snarled.
"Because I play Spell of Release!" Sora cried. He waved a hand and the card flipped face up on the field. "You see, when you activate a Spell card, I can activate this card and redirect its effect at you. So…" As he spoke, the swords shifted position and launched themselves at the man and impacted on his field. "You can't attack for three turns."
"We'll see," the man murmured softly.
He glanced down at one of his cards in his hand and Sora sneered. He focused his eyes on that card, and instantly, he felt his ability kick in. The image of the card appeared in his mind's eye, almost as if he were seeing it from his opponent's perspective, and he knew what it was instantly. He blinked and he looked down at his own hand. It was perfect.
"I set one card face down and end my turn," his opponent said.
Sora could tell that it was the card his opponent had selected. He drew his own card from his deck and his sneer grew into a full-fledged grin. "It appears that this duel is over," Sora remarked.
"Bring it on!" the man said with a sneer of his own.
Sora slapped his card down on his Duel Disk. "I activate the Spell Card Firaga!"
"What does that do?" the man asked.
Sora smiled. "Basically, it destroys set Spells and Traps and inflicts five hundred points of damage for each card destroyed. Since you have four hundred life points left, this means that you lose the duel!"
The man's eyes widened in horror and shock as the flames from Sora's Spell Card set his facedown ablaze, causing it to explode not a second later. He threw up his arms in an instinctive reaction to block the smoke, but since it was holographic, there was no real need.
He lowered his arms and slumped to the ground, confused. "How…? How'd I lose?" he whispered.
"That is for me to know and you to never find out," Sora said simply. He shut down his Duel Disk and walked off, leaving the man to stew in his own defeat.
Sora sneered. 'He never even caught on!' he thought. No one could resist his ability, no matter how hard they tried. It was the same story as well for the last several days. Every opponent he challenged in the city of Santa Barbara was easily defeated by him. Already he had established a reputation in the city around the campus, and he was drawing attention to himself.
A few pretty girls had also fallen for him. So that was one bonus.
He enjoyed the attention he received, and he loved every second of it.
"I can't wait for the school year to begin," he murmured. "And hopefully I shall defeat one of the weak Duel Academy wimps that insist that their school is the best."
The Themelic Pantheon was hardly the newest school for dueling, and it was hardly as well-known as Duel Academy, which he knew was famous for certain events in its history, but he was sure that it would become one of the best schools in due time. Not even he, with his ability, could tell how long it would take. That was one downside.
Duel Academy…
Sora was confused as to how come people still went there, even after some very dangerous situations concerning the students at the school. Was it because of said events that it drew in more students than even the most elite school he knew of? That seemed to be the case.
He knew a friend who had gone there, only to disappear two weeks later. He never showed up again. And his friend had gone to the school to see if one such event would happen.
Personally, Sora despised Duel Academy because of its history and its reputation.
As the weeks passed and he became more familiar with the city, he encountered some duelists with good cards and excellent strategies, but each time he triumphed over them. To some of the residents, he seemed to have an aura of invincibility, and he always signed autographs when they asked for one.
Plus, his good looks got him a lot of attention with the women. He loved fondling them, and sometimes he even took a woman to bed. It was an amazing three weeks until he met someone who would change his life forever.
Four weeks later…
Location: Naval Base San Diego
Docks
Time: 1245, 12:45 pm, Local Time
Unnamed Navy ship
Mitsuro hopped out of the Jeep as it pulled away from the dock. She waved to the driver and turned to face the ship.
It glinted in the sunlight, the sleek angles of its deck and superstructure enhanced by the light. The gunmetal grey seemed to suit the vessel, and its guns reflected the sun's rays, adding an air of danger and menace to them. The hangar doors for the fighter jet's hangar were opened and exposing the jet perched on its lift. The only things missing were the numbers.
The crew stood assembled close to the ship as well, staring in mild awe and, in Tai's case, shock. Mitsuro couldn't blame him. She was also shocked.
"Wow… This is an amazing vessel," she whispered.
"I bet," Henry said with a grin as he turned to face her.
"So, are we going on board or what?" Helen asked in a bored tone.
Mitsuro nodded.
It didn't take them long to get on board and find their cabins and bunkrooms. Mitsuro searched hers out and was surprised to see it right behind the bridge. Then again, that was one of the perks of being the captain of a ship.
The rest of the crew split up and began checking out the different aspects of the ship, stunned to find the latest high-tech gear and equipment that they needed. The radar was state-of-the-art, and all communications was tapped into satellites, enabling live real-time conversations to take place. The helm of the vessel was very simple to operate.
As for the defenses, the guns were not the standard defenses that she had come to expect. The guns themselves were laser guns. They could fire farther, faster, and longer than normal projectile guns. They could also pivot higher and had a greater depressing range, meaning they could also take out enemy subs, if possible.
But it was the engines that made the vessel unique and special. Unlike a traditional destroyer, the new destroyer didn't use a fossil fuel powered engine. Instead, it used a set of engines that used seawater to provide limitless power to the ship. A process called magnetohydrodynamics made it possible. Mitsuro had heard of such a process in the works. She just hadn't thought that it would become possible to have a working prototype in such a short time. From what she understood, it used liquid helium to strip free electrons from seawater and that provided power to the ship. The water that the electrons were stripped from was then pushed out the back of the ship via a number of pump jets, much like a rocket's engine let out exhaust in a way. The force of the water emitted from the jets enabled a vessel to travel at very high speeds, making them able to outrun all other ships. But as a result, the ship equipped with such engines had to have hydrofoil fins mounted on the bottom of the hull for a certain speed limit. Above the set limit, the foils produced drag and had to be retracted or else they would snap.
Upon inspection of the engine room, Mitsuro was amazed to find that the ship itself was equipped with two massive engines. Once she saw them, she ran back out onto the dock and peered under the clear water, stunned to see six pump jets on the back of the vessel.
"So, what do you think?"
Mitsuro spun to face her father as he stood beside his truck. "Dad!"
"Do you like it?" he asked, motioning to the ship.
"Dad…it's amazing!" Mitsuro murmured. "But, I didn't expect the ship to be equipped with the new engines. The last I heard about it was that such engines were still in the works. How did the Navy get such engines for this?"
"A recent breakthrough put the engines on the production line way ahead of schedule. Hence why your ship was outfitted with them. They did the job during test trials, and during the simulated sea trials, they did better than expected," John said.
"Does this mean the ship's finished?" she asked.
"Not exactly. All that's missing is the name," John told her. "So, did you come up with one?"
She shook her head. "No. I didn't. I don't even know what I should call it!" she murmured, clenching her fists.
Her father placed a hand on her shoulder. "I know. But it needs a name in order for it to be registered with the US Navy."
"Such as?"
"You decide that one," he said.
Mitsuro looked back at the ship and watched as her crew, now thoroughly impressed, explored every inch and nook and cranny, getting an idea of the layout. Against her will and better judgment, memories of her brother came into her mind and she looked down, trying to force them back. She managed to do it, but in the midst of all those memories, one stood out the most.
That memory sparked something. A name came to her mind.
"Rising dawn…"
"What?" John looked at her in confusion. "Rising dawn?"
She nodded as she looked at him. "Yeah. That's the name. The Rising Dawn."
Her father placed a hand on his chin in thought. "USS Rising Dawn… I like it!" he said, smiling. He looked at her. "That's a great name for it."
"Yeah." Mitsuro nodded and turned back to the ship. "It sure is."
The next day…
Mitsuro stood out on the deck of her new ship, the newly named USS Rising Dawn. The waves crashed against the bow, sending shudders racing through the frame of the ship, but it held up well. The light, yet strong metal that the construction teams had used was something else, she had to admit. She was impressed by the vessel's capabilities so far, yet they had to test them in actual combat. And if not, then they may as well test them out in the middle of the ocean.
She smiled as the ship turned slightly to the left. She knew that the helmsman was trying to get a feel for the ship's unique handling. The ship was a new type that was still in the testing stages, but it was already handling well in actual sea conditions.
But they had no idea of what was coming much later on. Not at all.
Tai Ishihara smirked as he stood on the stern of the ship, feeling the vibrations of the ship's powerful engines beneath his feet. It brought to the fore his feelings of being able to enjoy such power. It was one of the reasons he had tried so hard to join the US Air Force. After much discussion and struggling to get past the disability factor, he was brought in.
After going through basic and Air Force training, he was first assigned to the USS George Washington for a few years flying F/A-18 Hornets and conducting antisubmarine duty with a fellow pilot he had come to know well. In fact, his duty and ability to adapt quickly were two of the factors that qualified him for promotion to lieutenant and the offer of a lifetime: to fly a Harrier Jump Jet recently purchased from the United Kingdom's aging Royal Air Force.
He enjoyed it.
Flying a Harrier was one experience he always enjoyed. His most favorite feature of the jet was the fact that it could take off and land like a helicopter thanks to exhaust jets on the bottom of the craft. It was also capable of vertical takeoff, and as a result of the jets, it was incredibly maneuverable, a trait he liked better than the jets themselves.
That maneuverability had saved his life once during a tour in Iran during the Iranian Civil War. He shivered as he recalled the Iranian fighter jets streaking toward him, their missiles about to be released from their wings. He remembered the light of the burning towns, the blood of those on the ground as they lay dying—
He shook his head and forced the memories of combat from his mind. He couldn't dwell on those, especially since he had another reason for being here.
His older brother.
He remembered the day his older brother had been found set adrift in a life raft with very little food and water. That day had changed him forever. Ever since he returned home and retired from the service, he refused to set foot on any kind of ship, whether it was a rowboat or even a simple paddleboat! That, coupled with his unusual silence and violent behavior toward anyone who even mentioned a ship, made Tai very worried.
Beforehand his brother, Satoshi Ishihara, had been very outgoing and willing to serve his country. Now, however, he was very reclusive and violent at the mention of ships.
And Tai wanted to find out why. So the only way to do that was to help Mitsuro find out about her brother's disappearance.
Tai had a few theories himself, but even though they sounded logical, he felt that they were also illogical. It didn't help much that he was considered a child prodigy in some areas of learning. He was twenty one, the same age as Mitsuro, but he was more intelligent in terms of computers, math, science, and history. Plus, although he was in the military, he had Asperger's Syndrome, a high-functioning form of autism. That had nearly gotten him kicked out, but after endless talking and a phone call to one of the higher ups, he was admitted into the Air Force.
He was curious as to why he was so smart and why he didn't get sick at all. His parents told him that it was a lucky thing, but he somehow doubted what they told him. Then there were his golden eyes. His father had hazel eyes and his mother had brown eyes, so he guessed that the two colors had mixed to create gold colored eyes. But something seemed off about that part, too. However, it seemed like the perfect explanation for now. So he let it go.
Tai's mind drifted back to his brother's behavior and the day he had discovered the contrasting change. He remembered the expression on Satoshi's face clearly. He recalled the way his lips were curled into a snarl and his eyes blazed with fire and anger. He reflected on the pain he felt when his brother had struck him with his fists repeatedly after mentioning the word "ship", and the warmth of the blood he had felt that day seemed to return to him. It felt as if it were still running down his face and into his mouth before running down the side of his chin.
He rubbed the spot with a hand, feeling the scar left over from when he got stitches.
Tai had learned to not mention ships around Satoshi again.
And that bothered him.
What had happened that caused him to act so strangely? Was it because of what caused Jason's destroyer to sink? Or was it something else?
