A/N: Well, that was a touch dark for Chapter 7, wasn't it?
Part Eight – Storm Caller
Wales stood on the shoreline behind the Commander's house; she took a deep breath, with her eyes closed and facing the sea. A picture in her left hand as she asked, "Henry, you're coming for me aren't you?"
"Henry's dead." a voice said while walking along the shoreline.
"Sadly no, it seems he's not." Wales said sadly, pausing to add, "It seems he's done something… horrible."
Wales felt a hand on her shoulder, leaning her head against it she lifted the picture of Mitchel in the tank for the person beside her to see, when they gasped Wales said, "I know that Henry is coming to kill a kansen, and he's using my son as a tool to do it."
"Is that?" the other kansen asked.
Wales rocked her head back and forth against the hand as she said, "It is Washy… Mitchel is inside that beast coming for me."
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Approximately ten hours from the target location.
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He was sleeping again, I do not like him… my hydrophones detect U-47 just to my North West by about a kilometer away… I send her a message, "U-47, are you there?"
"I'm here" she says to me, I feel relief at knowing that she wants me to know she's there.
"What do you know about the Prince of Wales?" I ask her.
"Not a lot… She's a KGV hull, Herrin Bismarck thinks highly of her." I get told in response followed quickly by, "Why?"
"The human wants me to kill her." I tell her, pausing to add, "I am to hold a position in nine hours and be ready to start shelling the shore to draw her out."
U-47 didn't say anything for a few moments before asking, "Can I come on board?"
"Yes, he is sleeping right now." I tell her.
"One last question, do you have the ability to send and receive real-time video communications?" she asks.
"I do, why?" I ask.
Again she is quiet for a moment before saying, "I think you should have a chance to talk to Wales before you two try to kill one another."
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Midway
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Wales heard her phone ringing and she rolled over in her bed to grab it before heading into the living room of the Commander's quarters she saw that it was a video call, activating the call she asked, "Hello?"
On her screen she saw just a blank screen before a voice came through that felt like a gut punch, "You are Prince of Wales?"
She nodded as she said, "I am, who am I speaking with?"
"I am Thunderer." It said back to her in his voice.
Taking a seat on the couch, she positioned herself to look out the window at the ocean in the dark and asked, "To what do I owe the pleasure of talking with you?"
"U-47 suggested I talk to you before we fight in ten hours." It says to her.
Wales felt some tears starting to roll down from her eyes as he asked her, "Why are you leaking fluid out of your eyes?"
Wales wiped her eyes and asked him, "Why are we even fighting? I don't even know who you are…"
"I am Thunderer… The human on board blames you for ruining his life." He says to her.
"Then why is he using you to kill me? You're one of us…" she says to him cradling the phone in her hands.
"He is weak… We are strong." He says back.
Wales bites her lower lip, twisting slightly in place as she says, "I loved him once, he was nice to me… made me feel good about myself, letting me know that it was alright to be more than what I am."
"That does not sound like the human I have with me. He calls us abominations, weapons that should not be." He says to her.
"Do you know what he plans for you when you've killed me?" she asks, drawing her knees to her chest.
"I am to be sent for scrap." He says coldly, before pausing to add in a different tone, "I do not want to be scrapped."
Wales nods as she says, "So either you kill me and die, or I kill you and live with the fact that I took your life."
"We are weapons, we do not question why we are used." He says to her.
"We are so much more, though…" she says getting off the couch to stand at the window as she adds, "I'm a mother, I have a son… I love him very much. If we were just weapons, then why am I able to be a mother? Why am I able to love something or someone?"
"I do not know. I was only brought online a few months ago." He says back to her.
Wales moves to pick up the picture of the body in the tank and asks, "Have you seen the body in that tank?"
"I have… U-47 says it is me." He says back.
Wales bites her lower lip again, putting the picture down and taking a deep breath before she says, "That body has a name, that name isn't Thunderer, his name is Mitchel, and he's my son."
She waits for him to respond before asking, "Are you still there Thunderer?"
"I am." He says, pausing to say, "I was thinking about your words."
"I don't want to fight you Thunderer. I don't think my guns could harm you enough before you sunk me… but more than that, Mitchel is a part of you and I don't want to hurt him." She says into the phone.
When Thunderer doesn't respond she adds, "Do you like that human you have with you?"
"I do not." He says back.
Wales takes a deep breath before asking, "What if we could free you from him? Make it so you could join us here?"
"Would I have legs to walk with?" he asks
She feels the tears rolling down her face as she can't help but give a half laugh and smile as she says, "And eat food, rub your toes in the sand, and touch another person."
He is quiet again then says quickly before closing the link, "He will be on my bridge… I have trouble targeting small targets with my main guns… if you can take advantage of that, please do."
She nods and strokes the screen as she whispers to herself, "I will Mitchel, and I'll save you from your father."
Holding the phone to her chest, she whispered out, "Thank you U-47, for giving me a chance to talk to my son."
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"Well?" asked U-47 as she sat in the captain's chair in Thunderer.
"I do not want to fight her." As I say that, I start getting flashes in my memory, flashes of memories that are not mine.
"So why follow the orders of the human you have with you?" she asks me.
"He can kill the body in the tank… I do not think I can survive without it." I say to her, I had a feeling that the human would do that, to end me if I did not follow his orders.
U-47 stands and moves to look out the window, leaning over one of the consoles as she says, "I can protect him during the battle if you want to change your mind about fighting Wales."
"You would do that for me?" I ask her, feeling something strange… is this hope?
She turns around to face my bridge camera as she pulls down her face mask and smiles at me as she says, "I am, I'm your friend Thunderer and I don't like seeing you used in this way."
"I will guide you to the room, please protect me." I say to her.
She simply nods and moves to follow my lights down into my depths.
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Nine hours later
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I bring myself to a stop, position myself so that I can bring all four of my turrets into position to shell these shore installations and I ask my human, "What did this Wales ever do to you?"
"Stop asking questions, you don't need an answer to." he says to me.
That makes me mad.
"Who is Mitchel?" I ask as I load high explosive rounds.
He stops what he's doing and starts lowering his binoculars as he says in a low, dark tone, "What did you say?"
I do not like the way he is talking to me.
"I asked: who is Mitchel?" I restate my question; I am confident that U-47 will keep her word and protect me.
"Where did you learn that name?" he asks his tone still low and dark.
"What does it matter? I learned it. Now tell me." I say back.
I watch as he moves around my bridge to the fire control center, his hand slams down on the manual override to fire. I feel a rumble from my bow to stern, the sound of thunder going with it. I see the water depressing in arcs from my side as eight lances of light arc up and away from me, heading almost forty-thousand meters away.
This makes me even madder, he took my control away.
"You shouldn't have done that." I say.
"Know your place, Mitchel, and listen to your father." He says to me.
I run that word through my database, father. The returns I get make me feel rage. I slam the locks on the bridge, it is hermetically sealed now and I start pumping out the air as I say to him, "You really shouldn't have done that."
I swing around some of the anti-aircraft guns I have on my bow to point at the bridge as I continue, "I have sealed the bridge and I am pumping out the air."
I watch as he takes a deep breath and moves to an outer door, and I am horrified to see that he takes a card and swipes it through a reader and overrides the locks on it, dashing outside. I swing around one of the small caliber AA guns and open up on the gantry he's on.
I watch as the shells land near him but he starts to run down the gantry, jumping from ledge to ledge to get lower on me.
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Midway
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Wales did up her sword belt and sighed, she knew what was about to happen. Looking to her left, she saw the letters she had written and placed there, one way or another, she wasn't planning on coming back from this fight. With a heavy sigh, she looks in the mirror and makes sure she looks her best before heading down to the shoreline.
Once she standing at the edge of the water, she summons her rigging and steps onto the water, just as she saw eight bright lances in the sky arching down towards the island. She followed their path and knew they were going to hit the runway, with one last heavy sigh; she pushed off and out to meet her fate.
She zigged and zagged once she could see the black hill, as she got closer, she could hear the sounds of weapons fire coming from it, but nothing seemed to be coming her way. Placing a hand over her eyes she squinted to try and see what was going on that hull. What she saw was a human running down the outside of the superstructure, while the AA guns were opening fire on it.
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Why won't he just die?
I swing stern facing AA guns around; I want him to head to the side. He takes the bait as the guns open fire… a little more, a little more…
Just as he gets near one of my secondary guns, I swing it inwardly and use the barrel to pin him against my superstructure. I press it against his belly, hard… I stop pressing against him when he screams in pain. He yells at me, "Thunderer what has gotten into you!?"
"You lied to me." I say back coldly.
"I have a body. I am your offspring, and you want me to kill my mother." I say, taking my time with my words, raising the gun slowly, dragging him up with it.
I pause for a moment and check the trajectory before firing a round out of the barrel, the muzzle flash burning his flesh as he screams in pain again and I add, "Then you were going to kill me… I do not want to die. I do not want to fight my mother."
I swing the battery away from my superstructure quickly to pull him away from it and let him fall to my deck as I rotate it back into place, the barrel over his head as I add, "You will not hurt me, you will not hurt my mother, you will not hurt anyone…"
I pause to slowly lower the barrel down on his head, he screams the entire time until my external audio pickups detect a wet sounding popping noise and I add, "Ever again."
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Wales sped up her approach when she saw what was happening on the side of the ship, it surprised her when it didn't try and rotate the guns to engage her, leaping onto the hull she moved to the crushed body as it was being ground against the deck by one of the secondary mounts and she asked, "Thunderer?"
"He is dead." He says to her.
"Was that?" she asked carefully, her rigging still on display.
"My father… I hate him." He says back again.
Wales walked over to the bloody rags, putting a hand on the barrel of the secondary battery, and asked, "Do we still have to fight?"
"No." he says
Wales breathes a sigh of relief before asking, "Can I guide you to port?"
"IS that a good idea?" He says to her.
Wales nodded her head and placed a hand on the secondary barrel that had been used to crush Henry as she said to Thunderer, "Yes, everyone misses you."
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Once Thunderer was anchored, Wales made her way down below to the secure room, as she opened the door, she heard the cycling of cannon. With a deep breath, she said, "Don't shoot."
"Prince of Wales?" asked a voice in the darkness.
"Yes, I'm here to get Mitchel out of that tank." She said back to the voice.
"Then let's get started then." Said the voice back as the lights came up and she saw a woman with dark hair and swimwear on.
The two of them drained the fluid out of the tank and started to disconnect the body from the tubes and wires, from outside the room, they heard Thunderer told them, "Please, be careful."
"We will, you don't need to worry." Wales said as she started to pull the last connection.
"I…" Thunderer started to say before stopping when the last of the wires came free.
"Thunderer?" U-47 asked, when no answer came she asked again, "Thunderer?"
Again no answer came, she looked to Wales and said, "We should get him on shore and find out why Thunderer went silent."
Wales nodded and put one of Mitchel's arms around her shoulders, while U-47 did the same from the other side.
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An hour later…
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Vestal checked the readouts on the machines, her lips becoming a frown as she checked his vitals, her eyes closing and shaking her head from side to side.
Wales wrapped her arms across her belly and asked, "Well?"
Vestal bit her lower lip before saying, "It's not good. Whatever was done to him to make him into that… is killing him now."
Wales felt her knees get weak as the news hit her like a truck, she moved and sat on the edge of the bed while Vestal continued, "His organs are already shutting down…"
"Then we plug him back in." spoke another voice from the doorway.
"We can't." said Vestal turning to look at the other voice as she added, "It's not that simple, Gneisenau…"
Moving to pick up one of his arms, she pointed to the skin around one of the connection points as she says, "These are infected with some kind of bacteria now, plugging him back in wouldn't stop this infection."
She took a deep breath before adding, "His body was made dependent on that ship… We separated them; it looks like doing that is going to kill both of them."
Wales balled her fists on her thighs, tears starting to roll freely from her eyes as she whispered, "I can't lose him for good… I just can't."
Gneisenau walked more into the room and stroked the side of Mitchel's face as she asked, "Can we do something?"
Vestal sighed as she said, "I can make him more comfortable, but I can't stop him from dying… If he were fully kansen, then maybe we could use…"
"The cubes!" said Wales as she stood up, turning to face Mitchel she continued, "Vestal, you said his body was competing with itself after he touched the cubes right?"
Vestal nodded and Wales continued, "What if we tip the balance?"
Vestal's brow furrowed for a moment before she nodded with a shrug and said, "We really have nothing to lose at this point…"
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Wales laid Mitchel down in the Admiral's cabin inside of Thunderer, tucking him in as she sang a lullaby to him in Welsh. Once he was in tightly she continued her song and stroked his head, tears rolling freely, her attention snapped to the door as she heard a knocking on the hatchway, she saw Gneisenau standing there, a cube container in her hands as she said, "I found a pair that were in resonance with each other… I put one on the bridge…"
Wales nodded and moved back while Gneisenau placed the second one on Mitchel's chest she said to Wales, "I'll stay whit him, you need to get some rest… He won't be alone."
Wales bit her lower lip and looked down as she shook her head from side to side as she said, "I really shouldn't… if this doesn't work…"
"You being here will not change the outcome. But if it doesn't work, you being here would be devastating." Gneisenau said as she wrapped Wales in an embrace.
Wales let out a shaky breath as she nodded and said, "Thank you Gneisenau, if… when you know something…"
Gneisenau nodded and said, "You will be my first call."
She watched as Wales stroked Mitchel's face one last time before leaving the room. With a sigh, Gneisenau turned to look at Mitchel as she said softly, "Kommandant, we didn't get a chance to really get to know one another, but I was starting to like what I saw… truth is that night was a date."
She sat beside him and stroked his forehead as she bit her lower lip and continued, "One that I had hoped could lead to more."
She sat there for what felt like hours, she could see he was breathing still but he was starting to shiver. Getting up and looking for more blankets and not finding any in this room, Gneisenau sighed to herself and stripped down to her underwear before climbing into the bed with him, rolling him to his side and pressing herself against him from behind as she whispered, "Don't get the wrong idea…"
As she held him close to her, he slowly stopped shivering. They stayed like this for a while before her eyelids started to get heavy, causing her to yawn as she said, "Don't go dying on me Kommandant…"
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My head is pounding, but I don't want to get out of bed, I feel something warm pressing against me from behind, in time with a soft tickling of my neck as air moves past it. I open one of my eyes and see that I'm on a ship, I feel my heart rate pick up; the last thing I remember was being in my quarters…
That was when I became aware of something wrapping around me, it's soft and warm. I lift the blanket to see arms, arms that are not mine… these are more slender…
I close my eyes and wince as another searing stab of pain hits my brain, with my eyes closed I can see, me? I see myself in bed, with someone that has long purple-pink hair… I start to look around the room, and I recognize the clothes on the floor… I try to remember the name, but it's not there… only the face, a very pretty face.
As I rack my mind to try and place a name to the face, I hear the clicking of shoes against metal… I try to find it, and then I see them, short blond hair, red uniform… I know her… It comes back quickly, she's my mother. I start to wonder why I can see her from above… I start to look around more, but somehow I know where she is heading, I know she is heading to the room I'm in; this only makes my pulse pick up more. My attention returns to the room I'm in when I feel the mass behind me shift and let go of me, I watch as she sits up, the blankets falling away from her… she is very beautiful… I feel her touch the side of my neck with two fingers for a moment before I see her shoulders slump down and she lets out of a breath.
I watch as she gets out of the bed, she is topless but has undergarments on her lower half… I watch as she slips on shorts just as the door opens and my mother says as she walks in, "Gneisenau, is…."
I can see the two of them looking at one another… I think on that name, Gneisenau… I get flashes of seeing her smile, seeing her laugh, seeing her looking frustrated, and seeing her look embarrassed.
I watch as my mother brings up a hand and coughs into it, her cheeks getting a little red as she says, "Um… Excuse me…"
Gneisenau gets her top on in a hurry as she says, "He was shivering, and I couldn't find more blankets…"
After a moment, I open my eyes and I can no longer see them, but I can see the wall ahead of me, I feel a little sick to my stomach, going from seeing everything from outside of my body to only seeing with my eyes is really disorienting. From behind me, I hear Gneisenau continue, "I checked on him when I woke…"
"You slept with him, naked?" I hear my mother, in a tone suggesting she didn't fully believe that had happened.
"Not naked, I had on underwear. As I said, he was shivering and I couldn't find any more blankets. He stopped shivering shortly after I climbed in with him." Says Gneisenau with a sigh before adding, "As I was going to say, he is alive… was the cube still on the bridge?"
"No, and I don't hear the one that was put in here." says my mother.
Cube? Do they mean those wisdom cubes?
"Then maybe it worked?" I hear my mother ask.
I find myself asking, "Did what work?"
I hear Gneisenau ask, "Mitchel?"
I hear my mother ask, "Thunderer?"
I feel recognition of both, and neither at the same time. I sit up in the bed, wrapping the blanket around me as I ask, "Yes?"
Both women look at each other, and then back to me as they ask, "Which is it?"
I feel my brow knit together as I say to them, "I don't know."
I see them both take on expressions of both relief and concern and I ask, "What happened to me? Where is U-47?"
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A/N: Chapter eight done. There is still more planned, but this arch is done.