Ch 7 Getting worse
"All hands, this is the captain. We're conducting submarine drills. That's all." Kodai said.
In the dead of night, Yamato left the fjord, escorted by two mini subs.
"Have the subs go 20 clicks ahead of us, and start firing torpedoes at us. We'll practice on evading, or destroying the incoming torpedoes." Kodai said.
As the subs raced ahead of the Yamato, Kodai gave Minerva a quick tour of the bridge.
"We have gun control, radar, helm, etc. This ship is capable of defending against any attack right now." Kodai said.
Minerva saw a small chain on Kodai's neck. Grabbing it, she pulled until she held a silver key in her hand. Both Kodai and Minerva were standing awfully close to each other.
"What's this?" Minerva asked, looking at the key.
"This." Kodai said, in a low and dangerous voice. "Is one of three launch keys to the 24 nuclear missiles I have on the ship. Each missile is as powerful as the Russian Tsar Bomba. The most powerful nuke ever created."
Kodai yanked the chain from Minerva's hand, and backed away.
"I've heard of these nukes. How dangerous are they?" Minerva asked.
"Then you really haven't heard of them. There's enough nuclear weapons right now, to destroy the world 100 times over. Yeah. Thank the Russians and Americans for that. The reason why no-one has ever used them, is because of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. In 1945, America bombed those two cities with atomic warheads. After that, no-one wanted to use said weapons in a fight, despite that everyone wanted to get one. Insurance per say." Kodai said.
"Sonar contact. 3 torpedoes on an intercept course." Aihara said.
Let the games begin. 3?
"Where are the mini subs?" Kodai asked.
"Here, and here." Shima said, pointing on a holographic map.
"The torpedoes?" Kodai asked.
"Here." Shima said, drawing a line on the map.
"Action stations! Set condition 1 throughout the ship. This is not a drill." Kodai said.
The various crewmembers got to their stations, preparing for an enemy attack.
"What's going on?" Minerva asked.
"Contact our mini subs. Tell them to scout where the torpedoes are coming from. And shoot down those damn torpedoes!" Kodai ordered.
Plasma and shock cannons fired at the incoming torpedoes, taking down two of them, but the third kept on going.
"Run from the torpedo. Prepare counter measures, and the decoy torpedo." Kodai said.
The Yamato ran away from the last torpedo, yet it was coming in, fast. The counter measures didn't fool it, and the decoy torpedo was fired, yet failed to hit.
"Take us to crushing depth." Kodai ordered.
"That's not possible." Sanada said.
"Why?"
"The water depth is to shallow for us." Sanada replied.
"Damn it. Alright, ascend, and use the 20mm pulse laser turrets."
Despite heavy resistance, the torpedo slammed into the bottom hull of the Yamato, yet failed to cause any significant damage.
"Sir, we're getting a message from the Korrasami." Aihara said.
Picking up a phone, Kodai answered.
"What is it?"
"We got 2 destroyers, and a cruiser heading down towards your position." Was heard.
"Shit." Kodai replied. "Get back to our position. We'll take care of them."
The Yamato ascended above the water, and aimed her guns at the unknown fleet.
"Minerva, you recognize those flags?" Kodai asked, handing her binoculars.
"Those flags are from the ministry of magic!" Minerva said.
Kodai grinded his teeth in anger. He couldn't afford to get involved in a three way war.
"Kodai, they fired at us. By all means, you should return the favor." Minerva said.
Kodai looked at her in surprise.
"Didn't expect that from you." Kodai said.
"I hate Umbridge and what she represents." Minerva said.
"Guns have a targeting solution. Awaiting your command." A gunner said.
"Throw everything we have at them." Kodai said.
The Yamato's 20 inch guns fired, and the result was short of devastating. The destroyers were shattered on impact, and the cruiser was crippled from the barrage. Another volley of shells was fired, and the cruiser was sent to the bottom of the sea.
"Minerva, follow me." Kodai said. "And position the Yamato over the wreckage."
The two headed into a storage room, and Kodai grabbed diver suits.
"I want to see those ships up close. Need to know why they were here."
The two entered the sea, and followed the remains of the cruiser as it sank to the bottom.
"Oh my god." Minerva said, seeing many bodies float upward, dead.
"Minerva. Follow me." Kodai said, heading deeper into the wreckage.
They found the warship's plaque, after navigating thru numerous debris.
"Acheron." Kodai said, reading the name of the ship.
McGonagall sighed in trepidation.
"Something you wanna tell me?" Kodai asked.
"The first wizarding war, with Voldemort. The ministry of magic was looking for unconventional methods to stop him. We invested in using muggle weapons and tech in the war. Didn't take hold with everyone." McGonagall said.
"Great. How many ships does the ministry have?"
"Not too much. About a dozen or so ships."
"That's all?" Kodai asked.
"Lets head back to the Yamato." Minerva said.
As the Yamato entered the fjord, Kodai ran thru his head a list of people in the school, at the moment, who would want them dead. And one name came to his mind.
"Dolores Umbridge." Kodai muttered.
"What?" Minerva asked, leaning towards him.
"She knows. Before I knocked her out, she said that she saw the Yamato. And now a fleet from the ministry has taken pot shots at us, and more than likely called for help before we destroyed them."
"Damn it. We just stay low. That's all. Just stay low. No-one else knows about this." Minerva said.
The plan went well, until a scene occurred in the Viaduct Courtyard.
"No!" Professor Trelawney shouted. "This can't be happening! It can't!"
Kodai ran to the courtyard, his suit cloaked. He brandished a Vector submachine gun, and watched.
"You didn't realize this was coming? Incapable though you are of predicting even tomorrow's weather, you must surely have realized that your pitiful performance during my inspections, and lack of any improvement, would make it inevitable you would be sacked?" Umbridge said.
"Hogwarts has been my home for 16 years." Trelawney said, sobbing.
"Was your home." Umbridge said.
It's starting. Purging all those she deems unfit, those that would cause trouble for the regime. Kodai thought.
"You have something to say, Minerva?" Umbridge asked.
"I have a lot of things to say." Minerva snarled at Umbridge.
"Professor McGonagall, take professor Trelawney back to her room." Dumbledore said. He approached Umbridge and pointed one thing to her.
"You can fire the teachers, but you can't banish them from the school grounds. That belongs to the headmaster himself." Dumbledore said.
"For now." Umbridge said, walking away.
For now? She's gonna usurp control from Dumbledore. I'll be fighting her before Voldemort.
The DA meetings took his head off the current events. He continued to train the students in weapons usage and hand-to-hand fighting. It was going well, until one day the students noticed something.
"What's that?" Harry asked, seeing a part of the wall slowly crumble. The wall then violently blew way, showing Umbridge, Filch, and several students from Slytherin. Filch pulled Cho inside Harry's view.
Minerva and Kodai apparated from the room towards the Yamato. They reappeared on the deck of the warship.
"The fuck was that?" Kodai asked, then vomited.
"Apparation. Go from one place to another, in the blink of an eye. Had to get you out of there." Minerva said.
"Thanks. I suggest you get back to school." Kodai said, then watched her disappear into thin air.
The secret was out. Dumbledore's army was no more. But the Yamato wasn't compromised, not yet. Not untilā¦.
"Sonar contact. Lone ship." Aihara said.
Shit.
The Yamato exited the fjord, confronting the lone ship. It was a yacht of some sorts. The yacht came aside, and Fudge came aboard, followed by several wizards. Kodai appeared opposite of him, followed by several marines, all heavily armed.
Both groups stood opposing each other. Kodai clapped his legs together, stood tall and raised his right arm in a 45 degree angle, in a perfect Nazi salute. Fudge only raised his eyebrows, not getting the insult.
"I've heard that Dumbledore is creating an army to usurp me. Now I see that the rumors are true." Fudge said.
"You're a corrupted dick, who should have been removed from his post long ago. If I wanted to destroy you, I would have hit your base with nuclear weapons. I got more than enough to do so." Kodai said.
"Sir, this doesn't concern you. Well, maybe it does, but I'm here to oust Dumbledore. He's gone quit mad, you see." Fudge said.
Kodai walked right next to Fudge, towering over him.
"Here are my terms. Hogwarts is under my protection. You move one inch close to the school, I'll fire everything I got. Including nuclear weapons. Lay waste to everything in sight." Kodai growled.
Fudge left and headed towards his yacht, but not before Kodai put a bug on him, allowing the Yamato to track his movements.
Meanwhile, Fudge was talking to his fellow wizards.
"He says he'll nuke everything. He's bluffing." Fudge said.
"I don't think he's bluffing." Phineas Nigellus said.
"I do think he's bluffing. We'll apparate into Hogwarts." Fudge said.
On the Yamato, they waited.
"Sir, contact." Aihara said.
"What is it?" Kodai asked.
"It's Fudge. He's at the school."
Kodai paced for a minute, wondering what to do.
"Arm and load all nuclear weapons. That's an order." Kodai said.
Kodai went to the tactical board, and started arming the nuke himself. He, and three other officers went to the launch controls and inserted the launch keys. Everyone was on edge.
"Can't believe this is happening." One said.
"Captain's lost it." Another said.
"Sanada, insert your launch codes." Kodai said, as he punched in his own codes.
"These nukes will obliterate everything in their path. We may not survive it." Sanada said.
In the castle, Fudge was talking to Dumbledore unaware of the threat growing outside. And the Yamato was hearing the whole thing.
"You will remember, Minister, that I sent you a report back in Octoer that Potter had met a number of fellow students in the Hog's head in hogsmeadeā¦" Umbridge said.
"Where's the evidence on that?" McGonagall asked.
"I have testimony from Willy Widdershins, Minerva, who happened to be in the bar at the time. He was heavily bandaged, but his hearing was unimpaired. He heard every word Potter said and hastened straight to the school to report to me-" Umbridge said.
"Oh. So that's why he wasn't prosecuted for setting up all those regurgitating toilets. Great insight to our justice system." McGonagall said.
"Don't get smart with me, lady. I have concrete evidence that Dumbledore is creating an army. Just after I got here to Hogwarts, I saw a large warship in the harbor, practicing its fire. Months later, I ran into Minerva in the hallways. I was simply chatting with her-" Umbridge said.
"More like interrogating me." Minerva cut in.
"And while I was talking to her, some invisible person slams me against the wall, and chokes me, saying something about the human body and that I'd be dead within a few seconds. And now, we have proof of this army." Umbridge said, showing the paper signed Dumbledore's Army, with the list of students that joined up.
"I also have something to add." Fudge said. "After Umbridge was attacked, I sent 3 ships to investigate the scene, only to never return. What was sent back, was that they were engaged in combat, with a large and very powerful warship. I saw that warship today."
"I have no idea about said warship. But I do know about this army. I started it." Dumbledore said.
"Professor, I started it. I gathered the students. Trained them." Harry said.
"Thanks for taking the bullet, but the paper says Dumbledore's army. Not Potter's army." Dumbledore said.
"This proof is in the pudding. Arrest him." Fudge said.
"I thought we might run into a little snag." Dumbledore said, rather calm.
"Snag?" Fudge asked.
"Yes, I see one." Dumbledore said.
"As do I." Kodai's voice thundered in the room, scaring everyone.
"Who is this?" Fudge asked.
"Fudge. You're denser then I realized. Listen carefully. You leave the school right now, or I'll attack, starting with nuclear warheads. I suggest you leave." Kodai said.
"Don't worry about that Kodai. I won't be leaving to Azkaban anytime soon. I got other plans." Albus said. His pet bird, Fawks appeared and when they touched, Albus disappeared in a bright flame.
"Consider yourself lucky, Fudge." Kodai said, as he disengaged the nuclear weapons.
"You may not like Dumbledore. But you got to admit. He's got style." Phineas Nigellus said.
