“But we can’t bomb the place to pieces. Callder could be in there.”
She seemed thoughtful. “Hmm. That could be why they took him. As a bargaining chip. No matter. Who makes a queen wait for twelve hours? It’s an outrage. How many military submarines do we have in the Mediterranean? And how fast can they all be here?”
Naclana turned to the crew of the submarine. “Do any of you have the answers to that question?”
The driver chewed on a wad of gum as he considered this. “What kind of submarines do you guys need? Attack subs, cruise missile, or boomers?”
“Boomers?” Naclana repeated in confusion.
“He means ballistic missile submarines,” Aazuria explained, stepping forward. “I want all of them. I want them all here.”
“All of them?” Captain Jove repeated. “Well, it will take a few hours, but most should be relatively nearby in Atlantis anyway. Are you trying to put on a show, Queen Aazuria?”
“Yes, Jove. If there are any larger passenger subs in Atlantis that we could use, just to look more menacing, that would be good too. I want at least a hundred.”
“A hundred?” Naclana repeated in shock. “Aazuria, what are you doing?”
“That’s way too many,” Captain Jove told her, scratching his beard. “If you strip Atlantis of that many submarines, they’ll be vulnerable and defenseless.”
“I don’t care,” Aazuria said harshly. “I want all my Mediterranean submarines here. Now. Call my fucking bombs, and let’s blast this stronghold until it isn’t so strong anymore.”
Naclana stared, his jaw slightly ajar. He did not think he could remember his cousin being this furious in recent memory. He was beginning to think that she was slightly off her rocker. “Stop,” he commanded. “Everyone, relax for a moment. Let’s think about this.”
Aazuria turned to look at him with narrowed eyes. “I just gave an order, Naclana. Are you challenging my command?”
“I think that recent events in your personal life, combined with long waking hours, might be leading you to act rashly,” he said carefully. “Let’s just sleep on it. Let’s give up on Leviathan for today, and go unwind at a spa in Greece. We can talk about your divorce. And Varia. And Visola.”
“Are you serious?” Aazuria frowned. “I cannot go and ‘unwind’ at a spa when all of this is going on. My main task at hand now is to find Callder and bring him home to his family.”
“Yes, but a hundred submarines?” Naclana sighed. “Zuri, don’t you think that’s kind of… expensive? It’s kind of a lot of resources to spend on Callder.”
One of the men in the submarine’s crew began to chuckle. He was silenced by a glare from Aazuria.
“It’s not just Callder,” Aazuria told him. “Did you forget that the United States blamed Sionna’s supposed connection with Leviathan as the reason for her assassination? We don’t know anything about this man. The last time I saw him, I was a young girl. He was a teenager. That was centuries ago, and I did not know that he was even still alive. I want to look into his eyes, Naclana. I want to find out why my friend was killed. I want to find out what he’s up to, and why the United States of America cares.”
“And I think you should, and will, get all of that information,” Naclana told her, “but you don’t need to do it today. You’re seriously jet-lagged. You’re falling asleep on your feet. You keep glancing at your briefcase warily, like it’s going to sprout tentacles and choke the life out of you. You’re a strong woman, but you’re not strong enough to go to war today. It won’t kill you to wait until tomorrow.”
Aazuria moved forward, and reached out to take her cousin’s hand. She squeezed it gently. “Naclana, I already told you. I cannot wait. I cannot stop. It will kill me. Besides, I could not go to a spa in Greece. How would I communicate with anyone? I do not speak the language.”
“I speak Greek,” Naclana said, returning the pressure on her hand. “Please, cousin. Please take a day off.”
“I’m not losing my mind,” she told him softly. “I promise you, I’m still in complete control. Atlantis won’t be entirely vulnerable without the subs; she still has plenty of heavy artillery on the ground. I still have great respect for that beautiful island fortress. I don’t actually want to destroy it. I may be slightly annoyed at being made to wait, but I’m not going to kill thousands of people for no reason! I’m just going to give them a scare, Naclana. A show of power. I think it’s what Vachlan would do, if he were here.”
“No,” said Naclana firmly. “If Vachlan was here, he would advise you to fight patience with patience. He would advise you to chill out. And if I’m replacing Vachlan as your advisor. I’m advising that you take a moment to step back and think. You have a lot of power at your fingertips, Zuri. There’s a fine line between showing it and using it.”
Aazuria sighed. She moved away from her cousin and faced the ship’s captain. “Please send our coordinates to Princess Yamako Mizuchi. Can you have her confirm that Callder is alive inside that castle?”
“Yes, Queen Aazuria,” said Captain Jove, quickly getting to work on the orders. “Sending coords now… and, affirmative. Princess Yamako confirms that Callder is in the compound. Lieutenant Petros, do you have the information on the submarines?”
The lieutenant nodded. “Yes, sir. There are 75 in close range that can be here within four hours. We can get another 50 within six hours.”
“Send them all over,” Aazuria said firmly. Moving over to the small cot on the far end of the submarine, she lowered her body to the thin mattress. “For now, I’m going to take my cousin’s advice and have a nap.” She lay there for a moment, on her back, before turning to the side and reaching for her briefcase.
“Zuri! Sleep!” Naclana scolded.
She was going to protest that she had things to do. She was going to ask for permission to remove her makeup, at least, but she was so tired that she could barely move. She obediently folded her hands over her stomach and closed her eyes.
16 hours later…
“Queen Aazuria, the submarines have all arrived,” Captain Jove announced. “They’re here earlier than expected.”
Stirring from her nap, Aazuria woke to see Naclana sitting near her, and reading through her divorce papers. She rubbed her eyes, and looked out into the Ionian Sea. Sure enough, there were dozens of massive submarines all surrounding Fort Triton.
“He wants full custody of Varia,” Naclana told her.
Aazuria scoffed in disbelief. “Is that really in there?”
“Yes.”
“I never should have made divorce legal,” she grumbled, throwing her legs off the side of the cot. Standing up and stretching out her body, she smiled at the crew members of the ship. “Are you boys ready to battle? Or at least to make to make it look like we are?”
“Always ready for you, Queen Aazuria,” said Captain Jove cheerfully.
“I’m excited to be a part of one of your legendary fights!” Lieutenant Petros said, pumping his fist in the air.
Aazuria laughed softly, moving to the window to examine the submarines. “What formation are they taking?” she asked.
“It’s a basic circumvallation investment at the moment. Would you like any variations?”
“No. You are doing an exceptional job, gentlemen.” Aazuria glanced back at the captain to give him a grateful smile. She returned to studying the layout of the battlefield. “Shoot down anyone who tries to leave Fort Triton. Man, woman, or child. If they get 200 meters away from the city walls, put them down.”
Naclana frowned. “Zuri, are you sure…”
“Give the orders,” she told the captain.
The man immediately nodded and complied.
In the meanwhile, Aazuria moved into submarine’s bathroom. “Oh, Sedna. My hair is a mess,” she said in dismay. She grabbed a brush and began aggressively pulling it through her tangles. Once the mass of silver strands was tamed, she moved to unzip a purse containing her toiletries. Having fallen asleep in her m
akeup, she used a remover pad to remove the waterproof makeup from her eyes and face.
Naclana moved into the doorway. “Queen Aazuria, I’m worried about you. You went from feeling scared and nervous to overcompensating with overconfidence. Are you sure you’re capable of doing this, right now?”
“Once I have my eyeliner and mascara on, I will be ready,” Aazuria said as she applied a thin layer of foundation. “My features are so pale underwater that I don’t look very menacing or serious without a little bit of war paint.”
“Let me help,” Naclana told her. He moved to her side, and began to put some small braids throughout her hair, sparsely. “Back home, when I was a child, Celtic women did not go to war without a few braids in their hair for luck. I used to braid your mother’s hair.”
Aazuria smiled as she continued to do her eye makeup. Finally, she added a dark, crimson lip-stain to her very pale lips. She waited a moment for her cousin to finish tying some of her slender braids together in a knot behind her head. “Thank you, Naclana. Do I look ready for this?”
He examined her cosmetic enhancements. The black eyeliner caused the deep cerulean shade of her eyes to seem even more mystical. The darkening effect to her lips gave her expressions and words even more gravity than they already had. He nodded in approval. “You look like the fabled Sapphire that they tell stories about all over the undersea. If I were the Leviathan, I would choose my next moves very carefully.”
Her wine-colored lips tugged upward into a smile. She moved past her cousin, and into the cabin, smoothing out her clothing. She looked down at her wrinkled green dress in disappointment. On an impulse she unzipped the formal garment, and removed it from her body. The result was that she was left standing in only her armored underclothes, a habit she had picked up from Visola. She wore Kevlar-lined green pants, and a short, cropped sports top which showed her midriff. “Now I’m ready,” she told the rest of the crew. “When I give the signal, I want you to all to point the torpedoes at Fort Triton.”
“Yes, Queen Aazuria.”
“If I give a second signal, I want you to fire them,” she instructed. “All except the ballistic missiles, of course.”
“Of course, my queen.”
“Do you want to take a rifle with you?” Naclana asked with concern.
“That might be a good idea,” Aazuria said. She wrapped a few belts of ammunition around her body, before choosing between the available rifles.
“Take the one with the attached GP-25 grenade launcher,” Captain Jove recommended. “It’s not only scary-looking, but great in a fix.”
She lifted the weapon, and found that it seemed very heavy in the submarine, but she knew that it would become lighter in the water. She nodded, slinging it over her shoulder. “Thanks, Captain. This one will do just fine.”
“You look positively lethal now,” Naclana told her, impressed.
“That’s the idea,” she said with a wink. Moving over to the airlock, she pressed the button to open the doors. “With any luck, there will be no bloodshed today,” she told the men, before entering the airlock, “but I’m personally not opposed to acquiring some bruises and bullet-holes if it will mean success.”
When the doors closed behind her, the men in the cabin were left to shake their heads in awe.
“What a woman,” Captain Jove remarked. “It’s an honor to be assigned to the crew of her sub.”
“She’s magical,” Naclana agreed proudly, “a walking legend.”
Lieutenant Petros nodded enthusiastically. “I bet there’s nothing she can’t do. It feels good to know that our lives are safe in her hands.”
“Speaking of which,” Captain Jove said, clearing his throat. “Naclana, can you urge her to sign those divorce papers a little faster? I’d like to flirt with her when she gets back to the sub. Her last husband was the captain of a tiny fishing boat, right? I daresay, I’m the captain of a much larger and more impressive vessel. Mine even has torpedoes…”
Naclana rolled his eyes as he moved to the window. “Alright. Keep your torpedoes in your pants, boys. There will be no firing of any missiles until Queen Aazuria gives the order.”
Aazuria waited in the water with one hand on her rifle, and the other hand on her hip. The thousands of armored men surrounding Fort Triton had begun to move around uncomfortable at the sight of the submarines, and some of them even retreated into the caverns of their home. Aazuria did not have to wait as long as Naclana had before Princess Marina came swimming out of the fortress, with a furious look on her face. She moved forward in the water until she was face to face with Aazuria, her golden dress spinning around her legs like ribbons.
“How can I be of service?” Princess Marina asked in sign language, forcing a barely hospitable smile.
Aazuria returned her smile, except her own was genuine. She was excited by the apparent odds of the situation. She used her hands to respond. “I am Queen Aazuria Vellamo of…”
“I know who you are,” Marina responded curtly. “What do you want?”
Observing the woman’s rude manner, Aazuria responded succinctly. “I would like to see Taranis.”
Marina scowled. “The Leviathan has greater matters to attend to, at the moment. He will see you when he gets some free time.”
“Greater matters?” Aazuria repeated. She lifted her hand and gave the signal, and all 125 submarines prepared their torpedoes and missiles for launch. Once the large guns were pointed at the fortress, Aazuria smiled at Marina. The armored men who had swarmed around the fortress defensively all began swimming back inside with great haste. “I think that he might consider these matters to be worthy of his attention.”
“Perhaps. But personally, I do not think he will consider this situation too notable.” Marina lifted her own hand to give a signal. Instantly, hundreds of mechanical walls began to open all over the island fortress.
Aazuria frowned as she observed the massive amounts of weaponry that were being readied all around the fortress. She swallowed, noting the wide array of anti-submarine rockets and torpedoes. It was a considerable arsenal. She knew that there was no use in trying to determine which side had more firepower, or which firepower would reach its destination with more speed. In a fight like this, both sides would be annihilated. She knew that while most of her submarines were heavy-duty and well-equipped for war, some of them were more vulnerable than others. She knew that there would be heavy losses of the lives of crew members, and that it was simply not worth it to gain mere information. It was not even worth it to secure Callder’s life, in addition to information. Yamako’s information had indicated that he was alive and well, and his vitals were strong. He did not seem to be in any immediate danger. It was possible that he was just shacked up with some woman, and that he had really left his family by choice.
Unwilling to let this go without a little more pressure, Aazuria swam closer to Princess Marina. She glared at the woman, her blue eyes piercing into Marina’s hazel ones. “My sources tell me that you are holding my brother-in-law captive. I will not leave this place unless I receive proof of his safety.”
“That is a reasonable request,” Marina replied, smiling graciously. “Unfortunately, Callder Murphy is currently engaged in a scintillating high-stakes poker tournament at the moment. I would disturb him, but you know how grumpy boys can get when you take away their toys. If you really want to get his attention, I recommend firing some of your torpedoes.”
“Perhaps I will,” Aazuria responded sweetly. “All of the highly-trained naval warriors in these subs are thirsty for a good fight.”
“Oh, I understand,” Marina said. “Our men are the same way. Give them any excuse to push those big red buttons, and they are jumping for joy. What’s the point of having really big guns if you can’t use them now and again?” Marina swam closer to Aazuria, reaching out to touch her white hair. “You really are a beautiful woman, Queen Aazuria. Just like I’ve always heard. The pure-sea-dweller traits are a telltale sign of true royal blood
and good breeding. It’s a shame we have to meet this way, for we could be friends. If you must fire at us, please make haste. Fire your missiles. We are ready.”
Aazuria was stunned by the woman’s demeanor. A twinkle in Marina’s eyes vaguely reminded her of Visola. This comparison was enough to create a sinking feeling in Aazuria’s stomach. She knew she had made a mistake, and that even with over a hundred war submarines, they were not going to make any progress today. She was not ruthless enough to risk the lives of her men, or to harm the possibly innocent men inside the fortress. She did not have enough confirmation of their wrongdoing to incite such drastic action.
“Please, be my guest,” Marina encouraged. “Fire at us. If you are lucky, you will garner the attention of Leviathan. Unfortunately, we will be required to defend ourselves. I only fear that in the midst of the chaotic battle that is sure to follow, as we both bombard each other with explosives, it might be difficult for you to have a conversation with my brother.”
Staring unblinkingly into Marina’s emotionless hazel eyes, Aazuria’s cobalt irises discovered an unmovable foe. She could not remember this having ever happened before. She was at a perfect stalemate. She was at an utter impasse. When Marina smiled in flawless confidence, Aazuria studied the other woman’s proud posture and perfectly styled golden hair. She felt like she was in the presence of an equal, and that did not happen often. She knew that all she needed to do was open her fist and clench it twice, and hundreds of bombs would be fired. She knew that she could win, but she felt no desire to do so. The cost was far too great. She suddenly understood that neither side had ever intended to cause any real harm to the other. This had all been a very elaborate pissing contest. Aazuria lowered her chin slightly, a polite sign of deference.
“Well played, Marina.”
“Better luck next time, Queen Aazuria.”
The two women bowed deeply to each other, never breaking eye contact. They both turned and swam back to their respective sides. As she propelled her body through the water, Aazuria felt the conflicting emotions of disappointment and relief colliding in her gut. She did not like to fail a mission, but there was no retrieving Callder today. Naclana was right. Still, she had gained valuable knowledge about the defenses of Fort Triton. If it ever came to a fight in the future, it might be wisest to attack from the air. Entering the submarine airlock, she waited for the water to drain out. When the doors to the inside finally opened, she stepped forward, dripping wet.
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