The Kaga Saga

Part 17: Undead Sea

"Damn. What should I do?" Kaga uttered in the chaos. The undead Laffey was getting too close to New Jersey but Kaga also realized that the ZombHiei was aiming for her as well. She had the ability to use her lighting strike powers on only one target. Should she save her allies and take a hit that will surely kill her or should she save herself? She decided to go with the former as this adventure was her doing and New Jersey did not deserve to be killed. She guided her lightning power at the destroyer approaching the battleship and blew it up into a million bits.

"Thanks Kaga. Look out!" New Jersey exclaimed.

A shell infected by the scuttlebug was fired from the dead Hiei and headed straight towards Kaga. It struck the carrier dead on and detonated, leaving a large hole. Kaga was terrified that the infection was about to spread and that she'll soon scuttle herself and become one with the dead. However, the will to scuttle one's self from the disease did not happen for her. She checked inside her hangar to see the Wooden Bucket of Everlasting Oak tipped over from the blast and flowed its infinite spring of magic water. The water washed away the infected metal quickly and started to repair the hole in her hull. She also noticed that the black water started to clear itself up and leave a pristine aqua hue.

"Kaga! You've been hit. Do you want us to shoot out your bridge?" Kitakami asked.

"No wait. My scuttlebug infection is gone. The antidote is this bucket." Kaga realized. She poured some of the water out onto the black water and it started to clear up. I-168 could finally see underwater and used it to her advantage to sink some approaching zombie transports. The ZombHiei was taken aback. She was sure that hit would have cause Kaga to scuttle herself. She called onto her undead allies to go after the carrier while she took more potshots.

"Kaga, I think they really want that sword back." Ark Royal noted.

"Well duh." Kaga replied.

"No. That's not what I meant. I think the Neverust could be used to stab and penetrate Hiei's conning tower. The sword is needed to end all of this."

"But how will that work? Do I go for a ram? Fire my secondaries? What do I do?"

"Strap the sword to a bomb and drop it onto her tower."

"Oh. Alright. But my dive bombers are busy right now. Wait a minute."

Kaga placed the sword on an armour penetrating bomb and gave it to her top ace, Sakura 0. "You may not be a dive bomber but I'm sure a lateral unguided bomb drop should do the trick. You think you can do this?" She asked the fighter plane. "You can count on me." He answered.

"Good. You have one shot at this so don't miss."

Sakura 0 launched off of Kaga's flight deck and headed straight for the ZombHiei. AA was weak but he didn't want to take chances. The ZombHiei noticed the lone fighter coming towards her and saw the sword attached to the bomb. Knowing that this was going to destroy her, she made sure her anti air weaponry was aimed for the lone Zero. But undead AA was significantly weaker than live AA and the flak failed to hit its target. Sakura 0 then proceeded to drop the bomb with the sword attached and it barreled straight towards Hiei's bridge. The bomb penetrated easily into the conning tower because the sword was made of the strongest steel around. The bomb blew up but more importantly, the Neverust stabbed something vital and knocked the ZombHiei out cold.

"AAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!" The ZombHiei screamed. The entire ship started maneuver erratically and her turrets turned back and forth violently. Her bridge started to lose its eerie green glow and faded away to complete darkness. After some violent spasms, the ZombHiei shut herself down and completely stopped moving. She had returned to her lifeless state and slowly sank back to where she came. As a result, the skies lit up once more as the sun returned to its original position. The bright sunlight affected the other zombie ships as well. They all hissed as the ultraviolet rays hit them and they slowly burned before being completely dead in the water. Eventually they sank beneath the waves and everything returned to normal. Everyone was glad that they got to see the light again after what seemed like an eternity in darkness.

As Kaga approached the sunken wreck of Hiei, she saw the Neverust float back to the surface. She picked it up and examined the sword a little further. Now that she could see more clearer because of the sunlight, she noticed a message written on the sword. The message said:

Traveller, if you see this message, you are one step away from finding the final clue. This time, it won't be on this world but somewhere out in the stars.

What the hell did that all mean? Kaga used her Silicon Chip of Knowledge to get any hints but she kept getting errors. After the third attempt of looking for answers, the chip opened up a file that Kaga never knew was in the database. From examining the images, the next clue was a key made of jade found in an asteroid... made of jade? Not only was the clue in space but the asteroid happened to be orbiting the Moon.

"How in the world did Kidd get all the way out there?" Kaga was in disbelief.

"So now that we got the Neverust, where do you think the next treasure is?" Enterprise asked.

"Space. Outer space."

"Excuse me? We are seafaring vessels, not spaceships. How on earth can we get into space?" Ark Royal was confused.

"Well I know someone who has. Follow me, we're going to-" But Kaga couldn't complete her sentence because she overheard New Jersey weeping behind her.

When she looked back, she noticed New Jersey looking down. "What's wrong?" She asked. New Jersey slowly tried to get her words together and said, "It's Kirov. I miss him already and I should have tried to protect the team better."

The battleship broke down in tears even more.

"Look New Jersey. You were fortunate to survive and I need you to assist me. I promised you to take a large share of the treasure. That's why I hired you." Kaga reassured.

"I'm sorry. You are right but I don't feel like I have the will to continue. After we do a small ceremony for my fallen comrade, I'm leaving the group and retiring from my PMC career early."

"I guess it's for the best. I will relieve you from your duties right after the ceremony."

All the ships gathered together and proceeded to do a 21 gun salute. While this was happening, 4 planes from Kaga's Sakura Squadron did a missing man formation. A makeshift wreath was dropped on where Kirov died and New Jersey presented a quick eulogy. The battleship said that Kirov was one of her most trusted mercenary partners and that he always got the job done even if he was expendable. She shared the many successes they had together and finally stated that he will sorely be missed. Kitakami silently sobbed to the eulogy.

When the ceremony was over, New Jersey made one final request before formally leaving the group. She requested that Kitakami had to go with her as she had a contract tied with New Jersey still. This caused a bit of conflict for Kitakami.

"I think that if you follow me back to the office, I can assure your own safety." New Jersey said.

"If you stay with me, I promise you a fair share of the loot from the treasure." Kaga counter argued.

"Well I, I... I..." Kitakami was lost for words.

"Take your time. I think this is up for you to decide what is best for you." Kaga suggested to Kitakami.

The group watched her struggle for a bit but eventually she calmed down and made her decision. The cruiser who would usually be quiet finally spoke up in the loudest tone she ever had.

"I'll have to side...