"Can you hear that?" Ten Cents asked, looking about. "There seems to be some sort of noise coming from the water."

"Not to mention all those bubbles!" Sunshine added, his eyes looking about in confusion. "I thought we'd already gotten rid of the galleon!"

But OJ looked on concerned. "If it is as I suspect," he said, looking apprehensive, "then the old rumour may well be true."

Suddenly, a large ship smashed out of the water, throwing water and rubble everywhere. It then settled on the surface, the bow throwing water across the area of surfacing. It was very large and very long, and has guns festooned along the bodywork. Sitting above one of the gun turrets was a large drum like device, loaded with circular objects. The ship was painted, but there was a lot of rust hanging off the ship, and much of the hull was discoloured quite badly. In short, it looked as though a military vessel had just surfaced in the middle of the harbour- precisely as sunken ships do not.

Sunshine quaked. "What in the seven seas is that?" he asked.

"A bad omen, that's for sure," said OJ. "I fear the old rumour has indeed come true. For if I am not mistaken, that is the USS Nightmare!"

Zipp was jolted out of her thoughts by a loud blast of static coming from a nearby speaker. "What was that?" she asked.

Before anybody could answer her, the speaker suddenly began to broadcast.

"To anybody receiving this message, may I thank you for all your hard work. Were it not for that distraction you created, me and my ship would still be sleeping with the fishes. Now that you have done my dirty work for me, myself and me ship can finally finish what we started.

"It is our mission, and none of you can stop the USS Nightmare. I am Captain Mitchell, and this ungrateful city that took everything away from me shall feel the loss and despair I felt! LET CHICAGO BURN!"

Zipp grabbed her phone and immediately started a WhatsApp call to her friends. "Good thing this only needs WiFi to work," she said.

"What's going on, Zipp?" Hitch asked.

"We've made a big mistake," Zipp replied. "We've played right into that ship's hand! The pirates weren't trying to raise the USS Nightmare! They were trying to prevent it from being raised!"

Suddenly, the waters began to churn once more, and objects began to close in on the surface. "That's not good."

"Uhh, guys?" Sunny said. "We've got something bad going on here. A WW2 bomber just took off from under the water and is flying towards Chicago!"

Just then, planes began bursting out of the water and climbing into the sky, all of them heading for the city. "This is really bad," Zipp said.

"Understatement of the year, I suspect!" Pipp said.

"Rendezvous at the Star Fleet Dock!" Misty said. "I have an idea!"

Zipp nodded. "On my way. Now where's a motorboat when you need one..."

As the skies over Chicago suddenly sounded to the blasts of flak fire and air to air missiles (a small contingent of fighters on patrol in the area had scrambled to the scene), the Star Fleet found themselves under attack.

Top Hat backed up as fast as he could whilst motorboats roared past him. "Good grief!" he said. "Torpedo boats! Where did they come from?"

"The bottom of the lake, obviously!" Warrior said. "There's loads of sunken boats in the harbour!"

"Well, I guess that is true," Top Hat said. "But they seem to be heading for us!"

Warrior smiled. "I know an old trick." He positioned himself next to a ramp, and then just as the torpedo boats closed in he moved out of the way. The torpedo boats flew up the ramp and then crashed into a building.

Which then, inexplicably, exploded.

"I have no clue what is going on anymore!" said Top Hat.

"To all Star Fleet vessels receiving this message, please meet at Big Mickey's wharf," said OJ's voice. "I have a plan."

"We can't move off with this lot in our way!" Warrior shouted. "Those torpedoes will tear us to pieces!"

Suddenly, a hooter blasted out of the darkness, and Zorran rattled into view, towing a barge. "I'll draw their fire!" he shouted. "Now get to that dock! The Z Stacks will cover you!"

"See you on the other side, Zorran," Top Hat said, as he fired up his engine and moved away. Warrior followed him seconds later."

Big Mickey was a large dock crane based at the steelworks, where many ships were loaded and unloaded. He glanced down at the assembled tugs. "So, what's the plan? We'd best act quickly if we're going to avoid getting blown up."

"Yeah, what is the plan OJ?" Ten Cents asked.

"It's an idea I got from history," OJ said. "When England was threatened by the Spanish Armada, Sir Francis Drake had several ships loaded to the brim with gunpowder. They were then set on fire and sailed into the enemy fleet, and when they crashed into other ships they exploded and spread the flames to other ships. Hellburners, they called them."

"There's a distinct lack of wooden ships around here!" Big Mac said.

"I know that, but we've got the next best thing," OJ continued. "There's an old decommisioned tramp steamer nearby, Kraka-Toa I believe the name is. If we can go and get it, we can load it with explosives and crash it into that thing, sending it to the bottom!"

"I presume I'll be loading the ship, then?" Big Mickey asked.

"Seeing as you're a crane and none of us are, I assume so," Warrior said.

"That just leaves one teeny tiny problem," Top Hat said. "Where is the Seven Seas are we going to find that much explosive?"

"I know some," said a familiar voice. Sure enough, they saw Anenome on the dockside. "Follow me."

Several of the tugs did, the remainder staying behind to protect Big Mickey.

The Coast Guard had mobilised, and several security ships from the Port Authority were on the move across Lake Michigan. More and more ships were appearing, and those ships that could engage them could. Some of the fighting was knife fight range as the fiercest battle on the Great Lakes since the War of 1812 raged on.

One small group of torpedo boats was escorting another ship across the lake. This boat happened to have Zipp and her friends aboard.

"You sure this'll work?" Zipp asked Misty.

"I'm certain!" Misty said. "Sometimes we have to confront our problems head on! You taught me that!"

"So, let's just hope this guy is willing to talk," Sunny said. "Right?"

"We can only hope," Hitch said, adjusting his coat. "It's positively freezing out here!"

"Sixty seconds!" shouted a sailor. "Get ready, we're not gonna slow down!"

"Incoming!" shouted another voice. "Destroyer closing in, right hand side!"

"Mercury 2, break off to engage!"

One of the torpedo boats changed heading and prepared to attack the sudden destroyer, whilst the rest of the boats closed in on the USS Nightmare. The ship's guns were firing on any targets in range, and as they closed in Pipp looked surprised.

"It's that woman we saw bothering Captain Star!" she said.

Sure enough, Calla Lily was onboard and manning one battery of side guns.

"Prepare to engage the target!" shouted one sailor. "Surface battery, fire mission on my target!"

"Copy, barrage incoming. Hold tight!"

There was a slight delay as the battery set its target, but then a series of loud bangs echoed in the distance. Moments later, a series of explosions rocked the side of the USS Nightmare, destroying the side guns utterly.

"Target destroyed! Good on target!"

The torpedo boats moved to draw fire, whilst the boat with the Mane 6 aboard drew up alongside. A pair of sailors fired grappling hooks, which locked into the sides of the ship and held steady.

"Good luck!" one of them called.

Two by two, they climbed up the rope, and soon found themselves onboard the haunted ship. It was a twisted maze of spooky corridors and dimly lit rooms, which made navigating somewhat difficult.

But at last, they reached the bridge. But they were not prepared for what they saw.

A tall, gaunt man with a sharply defined nose stood at the ship's wheel, and looked out to sea. He had grey hair and a grey beard, and he was dressed in a Captain's uniform of the United States Navy.

"I returned from the briny depths, and this is the welcoming party I get?" he said, the slightest hint of an English accent in his voice. "The standards really have gone downhill."

"What do you want from us?" Misty asked.

The man looked round. "I want what any sailor wants- death to any traitorous landubber! We served this nation, and they tried to burn us away!" He laughed. "Well, now it is time for you to know what is like to everything you love torn way from you. ACTIVATE MORTAR BATTERY! TARGET THE HANCOCK TOWER!"

Pipp looked on in horror. "NO!"

Author's Note

Well, my fellow readers, welcome back to our little nautical tale. Our story continues to deepen, as we encounter more mysteries from the depths, and at last come face to face with the threat we've been facing the entire time. Although based on Set your Sail issue 5, relatively little of the issue has been used here directly.

The USS Nightmare is a Fletcher-Class Destroyer, a class of destroyer built between 1941 and 1945. 175 were built and proved to be very effective, with examples still serving in the US Navy as late as 1971. Four are preserved as museum ships; three in the United States, and one in Greece.

Lake Michigan is known for having large numbers of wrecked planes and ships at the bottom of it. Many of the aircraft date from WW2; the area around Navy Pier was used as a practice area for training carrier pilots. One notable pilot who passed through the school there was George Bush Sr., who would later go on to serve with distinction on the USS San Jacinto. According to the tour guide, he crashed at least one plane in Lake Michigan.

The Spanish Armada is a notable moment in English history. 137 ships strong, it was one of the largest invasion forces ever assembled, but some exceptionally poor seamanship and superb strategy from the English prevented it from achieving its intended goal of conquering England. Many ships would later be wrecked as they tried to ecape around the top of Scotland.

Anybody familiar with Tugs will remember Kraka-Toa, the tramp steamer which met a spectacularly fiery end in Munitions. The ship is named after a volcano in the Java Sea which erupted rather explosively in the 1880s, which was one of the loudest noises ever noted; people in Mauritius, which is more than 3,000 miles away, heard the eruption. Safe to say, I can only wonder what was going through the mind of the person who thought naming an explosives ship after a volcanic eruption was a good idea. The model for Kraka-Toa was reused in Thomas and Friends, most notably as the tramp steamer that knocks Cranky over in Cranky Bugs.

Captain Mitchell has now arrived. In terms of personality, he is based very loosely on the Captain Mitchell from the USS Nightmare haunted house. His appearance is modelled on the British actor Jeffrey Holland.

Can our heroes defeat Captain Mitchell and save Chicago? Find out tomorrow in the exciting conclusion to Thomas and Friends: Across the Sea!