Disclaimer: I don't own Ultimate Muscle, and I don't claim to. Nor do I own the Disney name or brand...

SLASH WARNING ADDED! SLASH IMMINENT! If you don't like it, look away!

Chapter Six: Dance of Disney Death.

Some 15 nautical miles south of the island of Crete, the USS Carl Vinson cruised steadily at a conservative 16 knots, surrounded by attentive escorts.

It had been nearly a week now since the revolution had begun, and the carrier had been on heightened alert for the whole time. Its air crews sat around in their flight suits, slumped into the chairs dotted around the crew decks as their aircraft sat humming on the hanger deck. Above those aircraft, Vice-Admiral Joseph Pillter was having another bad day.

"Where are the marines?" He bellowed, thumping the map table with a tensed fist. The neat naval officers all winced as the Admiral glared into their eyes with cold wrath.

"WELL?" The captain of the USS Ticonderoga ventured an answer.

"It would seem that they have been put onto a slower ship than we thought…"

"Yes. A Disney cruise ship! A FLOATING THEME PARK! The best soldiers in world, and we can't give them a proper assault ship because they're all in the damn Gulf!" He cursed sharply, and leaned back.

"Nevertheless, we have a job to do." The Admiral became very cold and retracted as he spoke, noted the officers, probably berating himself for his loss of temper.

"The USS Disney Wonder will be with us in two days, gentlemen." The Admiral gestured at the map of Crete. "We will land the Marines at Sunda Bay in two waves. The first wave will make straight for Candia, the second for Heraklion. Once we have secured the airfields, the USAF will be flying in F-15's and F-16's to cover the next step – a landing on Naxos. Questions?"

"Shouldn't we be sending an escort out for the Disney Wonder?" queried the commander of the USS Winston S. Churchill.

"No. The enemy has no real naval strength outside the Aegean. In any case, they would never guess she was a troopship."

A-004, somewhere in the Ionian Sea.

"Ship on sonar, sir."

"Type, course, speed?"

"Troopship, due SSE, 16 knots."

"Make ready tubes 1 and 2."

"Aye sir, tubes 1 and 2 will be made ready."

"All ahead steady."

"Steady she is sir."

"Target check."

"Course unchanged, speed unchanged. Sounds to be flushing out toilet tanks sir."

"Excellent. Range and bearing check."

"Range, 300 metres. Bearing, 006."

"Compute those into the torpedoes."

"Computed and entered sir."

"Open the bow doors, and steady to four knots. Man battle stations."

"Aye sir, manning battle stations and opening bow doors. Speed to four knots."

"Range check."

"Range is 285 metres."

"Fire tubes one and two."

"Firing tubes one and two."

"Set a new heading of 090, mark 150 feet. All ahead full!"

The Disney Wonder never saw the two foaming lines zero in on her towering port flank. The only warning she got was when the warheads detonated against her side, tearing open the steel plating and exposing the bowels of the ship to the merciless onrush of the Mediterranean Sea.

Despite her high-tech engineering and safety measures galore, the devastation was simply too much for the huge ship to bear. Hissing steam from ruptured pipes in her engine room, she turned turtle and plunged to the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea in just under three minutes.

Topkapi Palace.

Jaeger was dozing silently in a wicker chair perched on a narrow balcony overlooking the Bosporus. The glow of the evening sun lay behind the palace, leaving the south side of the palace in the cool shade. Jaeger had retired here in order to hide from the oppressive heat that the sun still projected across much of Istanbul.

A small noise roused him from his nap, and he looked up to see Andronicus, clutching a piece of paper within his trembling fingers.

"Is der a problem, Andy?"

"No, no, not at all Jaeger." Andy dropped down onto the marble floor of the balcony, still holding the sheet. Jaeger stared for a moment at the lone figure, then turned his gaze back out over the sea.

Somewhere over his shoulder, the Herculean was still moored out in the Golden Horn, riding silently at anchor. Jaeger refused to even look at the ship, her funnel adorned with the huge IWF logo in all its resplendent glory. Instead, he would glance away whenever he was on the north side of the palace, and avoid all questions and discussions over the ship.

Andy was taking quite the other view – he spent hours pouring over the technical drawings of the Herculean with his advisors, trying to figure out how to deal with the errant vessel moored in his harbour. It might also help to alleviate Jaegers' staunch withdrawal, which was now worrying more than just Andy.

Edwin was in the room behind the balcony, busily pouring tea into crisp white porcelain cups from a silver pot. He had watched Jaeger all the more intently over the past few days as the German had seemingly stalled all contact with palace officials, including him, and no even showed signs of withdrawing from Andy.

He had no time to worry further, however. An unshaven and slightly smelly Megas Domestikos strode into the room, swerved silently around Edwin and over to Andy, who was still sat on the marble.

"Sire, I have here a transmission from our 2nd Armoured Division. It has reached Bursa, and the Turks are falling back from the city. Should I order them to press their attack and encircle the defeated enemies?" Andy nodded slightly. The Megas Domestikos turned to leave.

"Isaac?" Andy called out. "I think its time we conducted a proper sweep of the Nicomedia peninsular – just in case. And put the Pantocrator on alert to make contact with the Carl Vinson."

"Very good sire."

There it was. Rising before him in all its exquisite glory. The Queen of Cities, Constantinople. Mars smiled malevolently. The taxi had finally expired from the heat days ago, and since then he had been skulking around on the Asiatic shore, looking for a way to sneak over the Bosporus without being shot, or drowning. He knew full well that the Bosporus currents could carry him under with ease, not matter how strong he was.

He was currently residing in a small thicket that hung over the edge of the water, just a few yards away from a vast container ship, whose impressive sides were blemished with blast marks from the gun battle that had raged here a week ago.

He shuffled slightly, leaning his weight onto one foot. The first pangs of hunger gripped him, and he realised he hadn't eaten for hours. Never mind.

A sudden shock alerted him to something wrong. A first he thought it was a thorn – he had already pricked himself many times in this thicket.

A moment later, darkness engulfed his mind.

To be continued…