Calm before the storm

OCTOBER 1945

For almost two to three weeks the USS Missouri had only recently crossed the Pacific Ocean and squeezed her way through the narrow locks of the Panama Canal, now standing between her and New York City was a category five hurricane that’s been terrorising the Caribbean region for a few days.

Captain William Callaghan and first lieutenant Joe Sheridan observed the towering storm carefully looking for a solution to navigate the Missouri round the storm or to turn the ship around and head to the nearest port.

“Or... we could just go through the Bermuda triangle?”

“But sir” the young lieutenant asked in a worried tone. “The Bermuda triangle is the ‘gateway to hell’”.

“That’s what MacArthur said to me about Okinawa” Callaghan replied.

“True but…” Joe asks but was interrupted.

“But what of it, besides we don’t have much of a choice here” Callaghan answered.

“Ok sir, I’ll inform the helmsman of our… renewed course” Joe replied with growing fear. The captain only replied with a nod.

THREE HOURS LATER

On the aft deck fantail catapults alone was a middle aged aircraft mechanic who was checking up on one of the ship’s two OS2U kingfisher seaplanes. So far his work was left uninterrupted for two hours since he had the whole aft deck to himself while the rest of the ship's crew were below deck or catching some rays on the bow ’sixteen inch guns’. He finished his maintenance on the plane twenty minutes ahead of schedule allowing him to have a twenty minute nap before he could start work on the other kingfisher plane. He placed his tools back in the kit, laid his back on the planes left wing and closed his eyes. After five minutes into his sleep he was suddenly awoken by a loud thunder like noise, he shot straight up and quickly turned his head towards the aft turret. The gun was still in its idle position since the Missouri left Japan nearly three weeks ago. He turned his head towards the sky to catch a glimpse of a massive lightning bolt dance across the sky followed by thunder that were as loud as the ’16 inch’ guns themselves.

“Where the hell did this storm come from” he said to himself.

In the ships bridge

“This storm just came out of nowhere sir” Joe answered.

“Just came out of nowhere? Eh” Callaghan exaggerated.

“Yeah it… well… it wasn’t like this five minutes ago” Joe replied in confusion.

“You don’t think the hurricane caught up with us” Joe asked with increased confusion.

“HELL NO!” replied Callaghan, “there’s no way a hurricane could’ve moved this-

“ROUGE WAVE, DEAD AHEAD!!!” screamed the helmsman.

Before everyone could look outside, the Missouri’s sleek bow had already punctured through a fifty foot wave before it came crashing down on top of her forward guns.

The last thing that came to Callaghan’s thoughts was “SHIT!” seconds before another wall of water smashed its way through the starboard bridge windows knocking everyone off their feet, Followed by what sounded like a ‘Big Boy’ locomotive thundering through the bridge.

“Is EVERYONE Ok, WHO’S HURT?” Callaghan yelled above the storm.

“WERE ALL GOOD SIR” Joe replied.

“O.K, HELMSMAN, GET BACK ON THE WHEEL, ALL ENGINES, AHEAD FULL”. Callaghan ordered.

Within moments after the first wave hit, the entire ship was in chaos. Sailors, marines and crews were being thrown all-over the place, while the middle-aged aircraft mechanic had his arms wrapped around the portside rifle of the aft gun, holding on to dear life. Everything that wasn’t tied down to the ship’s deck was simply thrown overboard. What went from a peaceful voyage home to an ultimate fight for survival in a forest of towering waves.

The helmsman was starting to have difficulty controlling the helm.

“Damn it, the current must’ve gotten really strong” he thought to himself.

Within moments of regaining control, another officer points out to something off the starboard bow.

“WHAT THE HELL IS THAT!” he screamed on top of his lungs.

Everyone drew their attention to the direction he was pointing. The bow tipped up steeply over a wave before diving down into an open stretch of water, revealing something beyond everyone’s belief… a gigantic whirlpool. The whirlpool was massive, twenty football fields in diameter and the Missouri was heading straight for it.

“Oh MY GOD!” Joe yelled.

“HARD TO PORT! ALL ENGINES, FULL ASTERN!” yelled Callaghan, but it was too late. The ‘MIGHTY MO’s’ bow was already hanging over the monster whirlpools gaping hole and within moments the almighty battleship and her crew was swallowed whole by the whirlpool.

The Missouri was now freefalling at a complete 90 degree angle, accelerating at insane speeds and like a toy boat down an amusement park water slide the ship was violently swinging from side to side, going up and down repeatingly, but against the odds, the ship manages to ride it out intact. While everyone was screaming their heads off, Captain Callaghan was struggling to keep his late lunch in his stomach from the ships frequent movements have made him beyond seasick. Before Callaghan was about to give up, he noticed something in front of them, there was a bright light up ahead. Before Callaghan could figure out what the bright light was, the ship’s bow had slammed into what was another wall of water  that hovered above the gaping hole and within an instant, two thirds of the entire ship was already hanging in mid-air before freefalling again back into the water.

As the ship’s hull slammed back into the water, everyone on-board that was holding onto something were suddenly yanked from their grip and forced to the ground as if the grim reaper had ascended from hell to steal their souls. on the bridge, the captain and the other officers were in a worst condition, 1st lieutenant Joe has a sprained wrist and has inflicted several cuts to his right side face from the shattered glass while the helmsman had shattered his jaw and nose from hitting his head on the helm, he was lucky that he'd only sprained his neck from the impact. the spotter was on the ground unconscious from being flunked into the portside wall, he was being attended to by the second lieutenant who's right arm was impaled by a large shard of glass.

"Captain... are you okay" Joe asked the captain who was on his knees with one hand clutching his stomach. Joe feared that he was probably impaled by a shard of glass into the abdomen. Before he could scream 'MEDIC', Callaghan had jumped onto his and sprinted out of the bridge to spill his lunch nearby.

"Guess that means I’m in charge for now" he says, spitting out a mouthful of blood.

EQUESTRIAN COASTLINE

The beaches were calm, the sun shining bright and warm along the coastline, princess Celestia was minding her own business as she strolled along the coastline admiring the view.

“This view never gets old” she said to herself.

Before she could return to the castle, she suddenly heard a noise, something she never heard before; she looked around her surroundings trying to locate the source of the noise. When she turned her head towards the ocean, she saw something that made her speechless; she saw a giant whirlpool forming in the middle of the ocean. It was the largest she had ever seen, it looked like it was big enough to consume half of ponyville if it was to be a sinkhole. Before she could figure out its origin, the whirlpool suddenly exploded sending water everywhere. Princess Celestia went from speechless to horrified when she saw something else in the exploding whirlpool, a giant ship came flying out of the water, it hanged in the air for a split second before falling back into the ocean.

The princess couldn’t believe her eyes of what she just saw and then drew her attention on the mysterious ship that had just randomly popped out of the water. The ship was massive, bigger than any tall building in Canterlot, to help reveal the ships true identity, the princess decided to use an old spell she came up with a long time ago. Princess Celestia closed her eyes and her horn began to glow before suddenly erupting into flames, she opened her eyes glowing bright red and then cooling down to a normal red colour and the fire on her horn was extinguished. She had just casted the old phoenix vision spell on herself and then drew her attention back onto to ship.

Like using high powered binoculars her eyes zoomed in onto the ship’s bow revealing that the ship is built from steel like material.

She identifies the ships portside anchor and painted in white a couple of meters from where the anchor sat was the number 63. She next identifies two massive devices that looked like cannons mounted close to the forward superstructure, the largest she’s ever seen before locating the bridge and the tall tower behind the bridge. As princess Celestia scans the superstructure she locates five smaller cannons fitted alongside the ship. The cannons appeared to be rigged in dual mounts, she then spots the two funnels still emitting smoke on top of the bulky superstructure and that’s got Celestia thinking of how advanced this vessel is before finally reaching the stern cannon. Now that she has seen every inch of the ship, she closes her eyes for a few seconds before opening them again revealing her normal eyes. Not only is she dealing with an advanced warship but where did it come from.

“The whirlpool!” she said to herself.

But when princess Celestia looked back to where she first saw the whirlpool, it had vanished and that made her more worried than ever.

USS Missouri…

“Lieutenant, what are our casualty reports?” Callaghan asked still felling seasick.

“So far, eight sailor’s dead and two engineer’s sir, injuries, thirty two sailors, five personnel from fire control including the gunnery officer ” Sheridan replied.

“What’s the latest report from damage control?” Callaghan asks again.

“Nothing to report sir, the ship is somehow still in the same condition as she was when we left Japan, with the exception that we lost all our floatplanes during our wacky ride”.  Joe answered.

“Damn it, so the weapons, engines, magazines, everything’s checked out” Callaghan says in an unsatisfied tone.

“Well, almost sir, I'm waiting on the reports from communications, the mess hall, hull integrity and the steering”.

“Steering, Lieutenant, what’s that you see over there” Callaghan says, gesturing the helm.

“Um, the helm”

“Correct, now who is the person that mans the helm” the captain asks again.

“The helmsman, sir” Joe replied, knowing that this is going to lead to another argument between him and the captain.

“Correct as well, now, where is the helmsman” Callaghan asked Joe in his dead serious tone.

“Well, according to the injuries list”- Joe explains before Callaghan raised his hand to interrupt him.

“Don’t want to hear any of that ‘according to the list bullshit’ first lieutenant, I just want a straight answer”. Callaghan asks with his patience wearing thin.

“The med-bay, sir” Joe answers, hoping to end the conversation as quickly as possible.

“Good, you’re dismissed” Callaghan replied with the relief of his frustration.

But before Joe could proceed to inspecting the helm, he decides to ask the captain one last question.

“Sir, um…” Joe says while trying to address the question to the captain without reigniting the argument.

“What is it first lieutenant” the captain answered.

“Well it’s just…, what was the point of having this discussion” Joe asks, now regretting about asking the captain such a stupid question.

“The reason for having this discussion, Sheridan” Callaghan replied as he turns around and approaches the young lieutenant. “Is that you have to realise is that if the helmsman is in the med-bay, how is he going to file out a report saying that the rudders are either jammed, not responding or that there’s nothing wrong with them at all, if he is in the damn med-bay!”

Joe was once again in the no-man’s land. ‘Just another day in the navy’ he would usually say, but this time, it was serious.

“SIR, I was only concerned of how you are resolving our current situation and your level of responsibility for the men serving under your command!” Joe says, knowing he’d already pissed off the old-salt… and he was right.

“They are MY CONCERN!” Callaghan barked. “AND YOU THINK THAT I’M THE ONLY ONE ON THIS DAMN SHIP THAT DOESN’T GIVE A DAMN ABOUT MY OWN CREW. WELL LET ME TELL YOU SOMETHING FIRST LIEUTENANT SHERIDAN, I DO GIVE A DAMN ABOUT MY CREW AND THIS SHIP” Callaghan says as the argument escalates.

“SIR” Joe says trying to resolve the argument before it hits the fan. “With respect, we just got sucked down a giant hole in the ocean and spat out through the other side, possibly into unknown or hostile territory, with no means of communications with any allied warship or base and lastly, not to forget that we are a long way from home… And I mean a long, LONG way from home, SIR!”

Joe’s comment had caught the captain off guard, not only was he surprised about the young lieutenants actions against him, but the fact that he was right, they are a long way from home.

“Hmm, I guess you’re right about one thing son”

“About what, being a long way from home”

“No, let’s leave that for later discussions and focus more on our other situations first”.

“Other situations sir, I don’t follow?”

“Just hear me out son, what I’m trying to say is that when it comes to times like these, you need to be more organised to resolve the situations and problems we might encounter along the way”.

Joe has always been organised, he was as organised as a chimpanzee with a typewriter from his first day at the academy to his first day of deployment on the Missouri.

But after what he and the crew went through today has gotten him in a situation that he can’t explain.

Joe’s train of though was derailed when some of the other officers entered the bridge.

“Gentlemen” the captain addresses “from what we know about what just happened today are unexplainable beyond anything that we have encountered. Some of you are aware of the rumours that are running amok on this ship, some claiming we went back in time while others claim we got sucked into a portal to another world. All I can say is that all these rumours are nothing but some kid’s bedtime stories, we are no longer in U.S waters for all I know, hell, and we might not be anywhere near America as far as I can tell about the coastline on our portside is definitely not Florida” the captain gestures the mysterious coastline.

“But right now, we need to get our priorities straight, 1st lieutenant, you may address the meeting” the captain says motioning the young lieutenant forward before saluting to the other officers and left for the observation tower.

As Lieutenant Sheridan was about to address the meeting, a voice boomed over the ships loudspeakers.

“Chief Engineer Adams to captain Callaghan”

“Go ahead Adams”

“We just finished our damage analysis on the engines; all components are reported undamaged by our little tumble down the well”

“Good to hear engineering, stand by for further instructions”

“Will do, engineering out”

MANEHATTAN HARBOUR…

The city of Manehattan has been unusually busy lately; the reason is because of the Royal Equestrian joint naval exercises there about to conduct with the Royal Austalion Navy, but prior to the Aussies being late, the Equestrians grow concerned. Standing aboard his newly completed capital ship the ‘EQUESTRIAN JUSTICE’ Commodore Steel Waters and his newly acquainted messenger Pegasus Frosty Icecube.

“The Austalions should’ve been here hours ago” the bored Pegasus says.

“Stow the belly-aching comrade; remember that you’re a leather neck” A patient Captain Gold Eye Willie answers with his strong staliongrad accent. The Pegasus only replied with a slight groan before resting her head on the wooden railing.

“So tell me Captain, how’d you earn the name Gold Eye?” Steel Waters asks.

The Captain turned to face his commander; the commodore was a steel blue unicorn who had an anchor with two crossed over swords for a cutiemark and was dressed in his new uniform. The elder stallion proceeded to lift his gold eye patch.

“Actually, I’d just got the picture” Steel Waters says after just realising what lies behind that eye patch.

“Are you sure kid; it’s not as bad as it looks from what your dad told me”

“Nah, I’m good will, you do know there’s a thing called the mirror, right”

“Smart flank”

The two Commanding Officers couldn’t resist a good laughter for a few minutes before refocusing on their jobs and dismissed each other.

“I’d best get back to work, Commodore” the Captain saluted.

“Captain” the Commodore replied.

As captain gold eye returned to his post, commodore Steel Waters reacquaints himself with his awaiting messenger.

“Sir I’d just received a message from princess Celestia” frosty says as she passes the scroll to her superior.

“Thank you Frosty” the Captain replied as he retrieved the scroll from his messenger and proceeded to open it. The message says.

Dear Commodore Steel Waters

Earlier this afternoon, an unexpected anomaly has taken place recently; a giant whirlpool had formed off the coast, but before I could figure out its cause, a giant steel like warship appeared through the anomaly and onto our waters.

I’ve sent word to pegasi scouts about the vessels presence in our waters and here is the first report:

EQUESTRIAN ROYAL GUARD 1st PEGASI SCOUTS

REPORT #1 ON UNIDENTIFIED WARSHIP

Heading: 3 degrees north-east

Speed: 28 knots

Armament: by initial analysis from princess Celestia, nine gigantic cannons fitted in three turrets, twenty small cannons fitted in ten turrets.

Propulsion: unkown.

Unfortunately, that’s all I can present to you for now, but what I can tell you is that the steel ship is heading straight for Mainehattan, I need you is to send the ‘EQUESTRIAN JUSTICE’ and two of your best ships out to intercept the vessel before it reaches the city harbour, and be advised Commodore, I had just received word from the Austalion prime minister that they have lost contact with their ‘IRONCLAD’ fleet that they have sent to participate in our joint exercises and I fear that the Element Bearers who are also at sea maybe in grave danger.

Make haste Commodore; I have full confidence that you achieve success on this following mission.

Your beloved ruler Princess Celestia

As Steel Waters rolled up the scroll with his magic and passed it back to his fellow messenger who gave a concerned look.

“Uh sir, are you okay?” the young pegasi asks

“Actually” he replied, realising the importance of the mission ahead. “There’s been a change of plans”