"Attention all hands! Attention all hands! Entering the End Zone in five minutes!" The public announcement system blared out. "All hands to secure themselves in their designated locations! Repeat! Secure yourselves for rough weather! Entering the End Zone in four minutes and... forty five seconds counting now!"
The excited and nervous crew and passages had long prepared themselves for this moment. For the past few hours, division heads and leaders had ensured all loose items and every box, crate or container had been securely tied or locked down. The crew had checked, double checked and triple checked to make sure nothing was loose.
Now after that announcement, the crew and passengers had settled down in either their action stations or bunks and strapped themselves in. They waited nervously as they listened to the countdown as the UNS Vengeance approached the border that separated the light and the dark.
"All hands! Brace for rough weather in... Three... Two... One... BRACE!"
Captain Blake watched the view from inside the bridge, seeing the wall of the dark clouds coming closer and closer. The forward decks vanished into the clouds and very quickly, the pagoda bridge slammed into the clouds too.
The view immediately turned dark and nothing could be seen except for swirling clouds that were illuminated by the lights of the UNS Vengeance. For a moment, the UNS Vengeance appeared to be still sailing on calm seas and suddenly, the entire ship tilt madly upwards at almost a forty degrees angle and the crew and passengers cried out in panic.
Blake bit down a curse as he gripped the support bars of his chair that had been installed everywhere for the crew. The decks tilted backwards alarmingly as if they were riding a roller coaster going up a ramp. Suddenly, the tilting and the clouds disappeared and what the Blake and the bridge crew saw was an ocean very different from which they came from.
Lightning forked across the skies and illuminated the low stormy clouds. What looked like tornado could be seen between the storm clouds and the surface of the ocean was filled with giant walls of waves. Before everyone could even admire the view, there was a moment of weightlessness before the decks seemed to come rushing into everyone faces.
UNS Vengeance dropped from the crest of the wave before smashing into another rising surf. Tons of seawater splashed over the ship's top decks and it continued up over another wave of water. Metal moaned and groaned loudly as the UNS Vengeance rode a wave that was almost twice its height. The heavy duty straps holding down the containers in addition to twist locks, strained hard against the winds and strain of the shifting gravities. Tons of seawater, splashed over the ship as waves smashed against its hulls.
Captain Blake stared out at the gloomy landscape that covered the viewports of the bridge while automatic wipers struggled madly to wipe the collected raindrops off the armoured glass. The skies flashed with unnatural lightning, briefly illuminating thick low lying storm clouds for a moment before the roar of angry thunder rolled over the ship.
The UNS Vengeance had laid anchor off the coast of the First City of the Fleet to pick up the Marines and for the first time, the city had fallen peaceful after seeing the mighty ship. The inhabitants had recalled the scene where the battle carrier had fired its cannons and blew several airships off the sky.
The sight of pure destruction had been burnt into the minds of the people and seeing the giant ship within sight of the city had made them all quiet and obedient even the unruly ones tucking their tails between their legs as they did not doubt the fearsome power of that ship.
The loading of the Marines and their equipment took half a day of shuttling from the shore and to the ship. Dijon and his equipment took up almost the entire cargo space of a landing craft and more time to unload compared to the rest of the Marines.
Following that, they set sailing, taking a week to reach the borders of the End Zone. The unnatural ring of clouds covered the horizon and the once massive battle carrier became like a tiny speck before such a spectacle, the smaller escorts even more so. Their escorts blew their foghorns and flooded the comms with farewells and well wishes before the comms got cut off abruptly when they ended the End Zone.
"Damage report!" Captain Nimo called out from his seat. Like everyone else, he was strapped in tightly to his seat. "Navigator! Check for any dangers in our heading!"
Blake left the Captain to run his ship while he continued to observe their surroundings outside. Despite having read multiple accounts from both ancient journals entries and recent exploration reports about the conditions of the End Zone, it still did not prepare one enough for the experience.
Already, he noticed some of the strapped down crew nursing a head injury from the sudden and violent ride as they hit themselves in the head against equipment. He wondered how the sailing ships of the Old World in the past managed to cross this violent sea and survive on the New World. He felt a sense of admiration for those sailors who must have balls of steel to endure crossing these waters as he thought about it.
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A sense of doubt crept into his mind as he saw their situation did not seem to improve. The waves taller than the Vengeance kept coming and the hull of the Vengeance groaned louder. He wondered if they will get capsized and his one sided quest would kill the thousands that put their faith in him before they even started.
As fear took seed in his heart, a voice in his head said, "If three hundred years ago, wooden sailing ships with the aid of magic could do it, why not the UNS Vengeance with modern technology and magic?"
Blake's momentary nervousness disappeared as determination overtook his mind as those words were echoed in his mind. He whispered softly to himself as he steeled his heart and mind for the coming days. "Yes... We shall not fall here! Now, it is our turn to make the crossing!"
-----
Mills laid strapped down on his bunk. He moaned loudly as the ship tilted wildly and he wondered if the ship was going to capsize and this would be his final tomb. "Oh my god... Is the whole trip gonna be like this?"
"I pray not!" His bunkmate, a first lieutenant called out. "This is worst than hell's week!"
"How long did they say this trip would take again?" Mills asked as he popped a few seasickness pills down his mouth.
"Eh... one month?" The reply came from below him.
"Ahhhhh... fuuuuccccck thissssssssss..."
-----
Blue Thunder's wings had spread wide open and was using them to cup both Saphia and Rastraz as the two dragons were moaning from seasickness. The up and down motion of the ship had made them both feel sick except for Blue Thunder was actually quite enjoyed it.
He patted with his wings as all three of them had donned their dragon harness and had locks with quick releases securing them onto the decks so that they do not slide off and crash or damage the tied down aircraft in the hangar.
The precious eggs were secured in a thickly padded reinforced case and were within reach of the dragons. Blue Thunder sighed as he lifted up his wings to find vomit on them and wondered how long before the sea calmed down enough for them to get a water pump over to spray the mess the two dragons had made in their bay.
-----
Dijon's internal gyroscope told him that the decks were tilting up and down. His metal body was firmly latched onto the servicing bay, preventing his locked down body from moving. His electronic eyes scanned the empty bay before he shut his visuals off.
The scalding pain his physical body constantly endured was a reminder for him of his failure to protect Sherene and the endless suffering he had under the hands of his captors. His current goal was to find Sherene and redeem his mistake and wreak vengeance upon the people who destroyed his mind and body.
One by one, he shut down his systems only leaving behind his life support running and set a boot up sequence once they arrived in the Old World. He knew the journey would take roughly a month and he when he woke up from his electronic sleep, they would have reached the Old World.
-----
Dr. Sharon sat strapped in her chair as she monitored the medical alert channel for any emergencies. There were some calls incoming in, but so far, nothing critical which required her expertise. The up down motion of the ship did not affect her much, in fact, it shouldn't affect any of the humans as they all had space and motion sickness implants.
She only worried for the native races, as sea sickness could hamper the entire ship's operations if too many crew members were affected by it. She had expected wild and violent weather but not at such scale. As she sat there worrying about the journey, the medical alert channel flashed red and she tapped the message and frowned.
Quickly, she unbuckled herself from her seat and said to her assistants, "There's a medical emergency down at deck four C two! A container had broke from its lock and crushed a crew member! We are the closest medical unit and we need to get down there ASAP!"
"Yes, madam!" Her two assistants unbuckled themselves and grabbed their gear while trying to keep balance. Once they were ready, they follow Dr. Sharon out of the med bay and they moved as fast as they could across the shifting decks to save lives.
-----
One Week Later
A ray of sunshine stabbed through the low laying storm clouds in a rare moment of calmness. The mighty tsunami sized waves had died down and everything was peaceful. The whirlpools, tornados, and thunder and lightning had vanished, their only traces in the far gloomy distance in the horizon.
Hatches opened and for the first time, the ship was no longer rocking up and down. The grateful crew and passengers spilled out to the open decks and open passageways to take in the views and fresh air after being cooped inside for a week.
They had suffered the mad pitching of the ocean for a week now and many had accustomed themselves to the pitch and roll of the sea. There were injuries and even some damages to the ship which the engineers and techs worked under dangerous conditions to repair and fix.
Now, as the crew and passengers spent a well deserve break from the calm of the sea, the public announcement system and an emergency siren started blaring. "All hands! Action Stations! This is not a drill! Repeat! All hands action stations! Sea monster on approach! This is not a drill!"
The crew and passengers barely rested ran back into the ship and the hatches were secured for combat. Gunners donned on life vests and helmets, grabbed cans of ammunition for the defensive guns ran out to their stations and removed the weather protection covers off the gun mounts.
Ammo cans were slotted into the guns and belts of ammunition were pulled out and loaded. The guns of the battleship section could not be used to fire port or starboard side only forward or aft. Only the weapons mounts of the carrier sections could fire port and starboard side.
Depth charge launchers mounted along the sides of the carrier hulls roared as they were tossed out in an arc. The barrel shaped depth charges hit the calm waters with a heavy splash and seconds slowly ticked away before they blew up columns of water in sequence.