Story updated on: - 14/06/2011
Chapter beta read by: akiqueen

Chapter 5 (Battle)

The battle had finally begun for the captain of the blue six. With his hand firmly pointed towards the metal floor, he waited and listened as the torpedoes left his sub in search for the Musuca that was lingering on the seabed.

As expected, the Sonar operator heard the ominous clicking sound of the Musuca's counter measure and he too knew that this was going to be a standard fight to the death.

With such an advanced countermeasure like the sonic shield, the Musuca was successful in destroying the two incoming torpedoes. Almost immediately, the enemy creature showed its vengeance by firing back at the Blue Six.

"Evasive manoeuvres," Iga ordered to Alexander, who was piloting the Blue Six.

Iga held onto the chair as the G-force of the Evasive manoeuvre almost tossed him towards the bulkhead. He heard the scraping on the outer hull as the torpedoes swam past and then the firing of countermeasures.

Suddenly Kino shouted over the radio, "I am in the Grampus, let me out, I can destroy the enemy!"

Iga gave a silent pause as he considered her request. He knew Kino had her issues, but with more torpedoes in the water, he had little choice.

"Release the Grampus!" Iga Paused. Placing his hand on his hat. "Good luck Kino, come back alive!"

The back of the Blue Six lowered to allow the Grampus into the open water. With a sudden uncontrolled movement and skilled driving, Kino managed to get the machine under control as she glided it into the water, effortlessly looking for the Musuca.

It didn't take long to find the Musuca that was on the seabed bellowing up a dust cloud. Without any clear readings to what was around her, Kino piloted her Grampus directly towards the enemy creature. To her horror, two Umigumos appeared out of the cloud and made a bee ling towards her.

She weaved and ducked through the water and along the seabed. She armed her weapons with the pod of ordinances that popped up on her HUD. Salvo after salvo fired into the water, hitting the first Umigumo but missing the second. She franticly glided back to Blue Six as the Umigumo fired its weapons at her.

Just as she thought it was going to kill her, Iga fired a torpedo directly at it, saving her from instant doom. Kino offered little thanks before heading back to the Musuca for the final blow.

The Blue Sub then began to gracefully turn as it aimed its rear torpedo tubes at the second Musuca, which was gliding on the floor and trying to get a stealthy lock on the vessel.

"Fire!" Iga ordered as he shot up from his chair. He noticed his hat tumble to the floor and was too excited to catch it.

Sensing the incoming torpedoes for a second time, the Musuca deployed its shield and disarmed the projectiles.

Two large powerful explosions filled the surrounding area with bubbles, fire and dirt. Nothing could be seen at first and Kino glided her Grampus around the area with an eye of caution.

The faint calmness of the sea offered no reassurance, as the two combating people waited for the dust to settle. But suddenly, as expected in moments like this, a large number of Umigumos appeared from the mud cloud. The two remaining enemy Musuca's were still intact.

"Why are those things still in my water?" Iga demanded from his weapons officer.

"I don't know sir, they must have deployed their shields!"

"Captain, large number of Umigumos have appeared and they are heading for us!" said Yamada, looking at his sonar displays.

Then suddenly, a voice bellowed out over the communications system on the Blue Six, "Iga, this is Blue Base command. We are sending a small fleet of Grampus to your location, good luck! Blue Base out."

However not all was well for Kino, who by this time had her Grampus knee deep into trouble. Trying to be a hero, she had dived into a situation that would require more thought to get out of. She decided to take on one Umigumo, but she did not realise that three others were waiting for her in the darkness of the endless blue sea.

The shells did cause some damage to the first Umigumo, the bulletsricocheted off the hull, creating sonic effects in the water. Another volley destroyed some of the Umigumo legs; however, by this time she was well within their trap. Three more enemy units appeared out of the darkness and began pelting Kino's Grampus until it was destroyed.

Kino managed to eject herself out of the Grampus in time before the final explosion from a missile finished the job. Her life pod dropped to the bottom of the sea and all that could be seen was a small red light that flashed in the darkness.

-o-

"I am detecting more torpedoes in the water, Sir, we have six heading this way!" exclaimed Yamada.

"Launch interceptors, tell the other Grampus to stop them!" said Iga, displaying more anger at the thought of being taken out with such overwhelming force from the enemy. He had everything planned and assumed that this force would have been an easy target. But it seemed they were more organised than before.

Iga looked through the periscope display and surveyed the ocean floor, saying, "Yuri Majakofsky. If I am not mistaken, that is the Sandregus Trench over there, correct?"

Majakofsky looked on the map and sure enough, it was the trench he described. "Yes, captain!"

Iga moved away from the periscope and appeared to have an idea, "There should be fresh water sink holes around this area. If we can lure the Musucas towards them the freshwater will make the Musucas heavy and they won't be able to swim. They'll sink into the hole."

Majakofsky thought about the plan for a moment and confirmed the captain's results. With a pointed thumb Iga moved on with the next stage of the plan.

"Yun, contact the Blue Base and tell them to scan for fresh water sink holes. Once they find them, relay that information to us."

-o-

Meanwhile, as Iga tried to work out his ingenious plan to stop the Musucas from attacking, the torpedoes still glided in the water towards the Blue Six. But a barrage or countermeasures from the Blue Base's Defence grid destroyed all the intercepting torpedoes except for one.

"One torpedo remaining! It's heading straight for us-" then suddenly, before the sonar operator had time to finish his panicked speech, the whole boat rocked to the side as the torpedo detonated a few meters off the port bow.

"We are taking on water, damage reported in the forward decks and flood doors are in place," said Yun, receiving reports from the crew.

"Secondary engines are offline, switching engine type to standard," shouted another crewmember.

"Sir, I am receiving the information about thesinkholes. They're dead ahead!" said Yun as he wrote down the locations. He then handed the details to Yuri Majakofsky who in turn plotted the safest route to the location, announcing, "Captain, if we detonate a torpedo on the surface of the ocean, the impact will cause the roof of the sinkhole to open and sink the Musucas."

Iga then walked over to the table that had a few drops of water on it and studied the maps. "Dead ahead Cekeros, make sure they follow us!"

Iga then moved towards the centre of the room, "Torpedo room launch rear torpedoes, get their attention."

Two torpedoes shot out of Blue Six and careened towards the two following Musucas. Mortally wounded from the attack, the Blue Sub began to leak hydraulic fluid into the water. The torpedoes glided towards the Musucas, detonating a high yield explosive device. Suddenly the Musucas began to increase their pursuit in a frenzy of activity.

"Get us moving!" said Iga, picking his hat off the floor.

The remaining Grampuses chased the last of the Umigumos into the deep ocean only to be picked of at the Grampuses leisure. With the hostiles gone, the sea once again returned to a calm and smooth state. However deep within the water, the Blue Sub was preparing its deadly trap.

The ocean floor stood calm with the odd disturbance of rocks and jagged surfaces. From time to time, small streams of water drifted upwards from the ocean floor, indicating the presence of an empty chamber under the ground full of fresh water.

The Blue Sub then raced past the scene displacing all the sand with the two Musucas hot on its trail.

"We are on top of the location, sir!" said the sonar operator, checking for hollow signals on the ocean floor.

Iga stood up and shouted, "Load and flood rear torpedo tubes. Helm, blow forward ballast tanks and take us up forty five degrees up trim, full speed ahead."

Gathering up speed, the Blue Sub floated upwards by an angle of forty-five degrees, aiming its rear torpedo tubes at the Musucas on the ocean floor. Once the desired depth was reached, the two torpedoes were fired from the Blue Six and they headed towards the ocean floor. The Musucas moved out of the path of the torpedoes only to be greeted by a shockwave on the surface of the ocean. This in turn destabilised the fragile roof of the cavern and without warning, the entire area collapsed, releasing a sudden rush of fresh water.

Swimming hard, the Musuca didn't realise what was heading for them; all they wanted to do was catch up with the Blue Six. The slower Musuca began to feel the effects of the fresh water and its body became very heavy and it didn't take long before it began to sink back down to the ocean. The faster it moved, the more it dropped into the chamber like a stone. Luckily the remaining Musuca managed to escape the fresh water trap only to be greeted by a few torpedoes that was fired from the Blue Sub for good measure.

Down into the darkness the Musuca fell, unable to swim due to its extreme weight in the fresh water. It only took a matter of time before the large creature came crashing down onto the chamber hole and would be trapped there for days until the salt water displaced the fresh water.

Blue Six carried on drifting at full power upwards. Iga wanted to end it. He yelled, "Fire everything at them!"

Row after row of torpedoes launched from the rear of the sub aiming straight for the disabled Musuca stuck at the bottom of the sinkhole.

Massive explosions erupted throughout the seabed as the hole grew in size and eventually collapsed the chamber completely. Dust and sediment filled the area with an uneasy black cloud as everyone waited for the moment of truth. Was it still alive?

Moments passed and no sign of the Musuca could be seen or detected. The Blue Six re-levelled itself and waited in silence as the cloud of black smoke settled down, leaving the darkness of the open sea.

Iga squeezed his hat as he held on to it, hoping that this was the end. Still nothing happened and everyone soon smiled and felt relieved that they managed to save the Blue Base from this attack. It was a victory that was much more of a success than last time.

"That was lucky!" Cekeros announced as he sorted himself out.

"Mighty fine piloting there, Cekeros. I might have you trained up to pilot the Grampuses," Iga said, giving Cekeros a slight hint of a promotion if he behaved himself.

He soon smiled and thought mighty proud of himself, something that anyone sitting next to him would have to put up with for the rest of the hour.

Rescue teams swam out to collect the survivors and one disgruntled Kino, who by this time had sank to the bottom of the seabed. She pushed people aside as they tried to get out of the rescue pod and marched away muttering, "They set a blood trap for me, I will get my revenge."

-o-

"Captain, we should be reaching New London in a few minutes. We better prepare for inspection and transportation of the element." Said Jake's second in command, passing a clipboard towards him.

"Those damn inspectors, they are a waste of time, just a bunch of fat English idiots walking around the boat messing things up…" Jake moaned as he analysed the clipboard.

"Well, you know what the English authorities are like. They won't let anything slip and this element is very dangerous. You saw what it could do in the meeting."

"Yes… perhaps you're right. Once the preparations are complete we will head in the docks. Thanks."

Jake looked at his second in command and then saw the sun rise up in the distance. Its warm glow slowly filled the entire control deck and the calm blue sea was visible for all to see. In the distance, a silhouette of a mighty city could be seen. It glowed like crystals and Jake was eager to arrive.