The Briny Deep, Chapter 5

Chapter 5 – Wako

The enemy force was sizeable, but had poorly made vessels in the waters closer to shore. The only real threat was a large, black, probably German-made man-of-war that was heading in their direction. This was no doubt the flagship of the Wako (Japanese pirate) ringleader.
Rodion saw that the enemy vessel had a higher gun deck than his own ship, and that if it fired at him from up close, the shots could probably take down the masts – but there was an advantage – the Peregrine could actually sink the taller enemy ship in a single volley if it got close enough and fired the twenty-five guns on either of its sides into the bottom of the ship.
“Alright, comrades – here’s the plan.” Rodion said, putting down his spyglass, “The Peregrine will hide behind those rock formations off the coast, while we wait for the large, ugly Japanese ship to come into range. Once it is in range, we sail right next to it, hoping that it doesn’t see us – which is highly unlikely, since our sails are up and flying like large bull’s eyes – and fire into its hull. Am I clear?”
“Wow, dedushka.” whined Alexei, “You had a really good plan – except for the sailing right up to the sonofabitch and shooting him in the kneecaps part.”
“Do you have a better plan? And I thought I told you –“
“Yes, yes, stop calling you grandpappy. In fact, I do have a better plan. I suggest I take a team of your best men in a rowboat and plant an explosive on the hull. Huh? What do you think?”
“I think that would’ve been a good plan – if we had the element of surprise, comrade.”
“What do you mean?”
“Behind you.”
Major Kazansky turned around, to find that the Wako on the enemy ship (named the Hakaisha, or Destroyer) were already firing at them from a long distance away.
“Don’t worry.” said Rodion. “They might as well be shooting at the moon! Wait till they get closer…”
Rodion turned to his men and shouted,
“Unfurl the sails! We’re gonna try to outflank the bastards!”
As marines and sailors scrambled about on deck; the huge, white sails of the Peregrine were unfurled, and the ship started to sail alongside the Hakaisha.
But Admiral Rodion failed to notice something – several tiny boats from the shore – faster, more stealthy craft, had reached the hull of the Peregrine, and several Wako were already climbing on board, holding their swords or daggers in their teeth.
Nobody took any notice of them until one of them made the mistake of trying to kidnap Natasha.
The unwary Wako entered Natasha’s room, peering around in the dark, looking for the glint of gold or jewels – then suddenly, he heard a click. Slowly turning his head, he discovered, much to his great dismay – that Natasha was behind him, wearing her yellow, cleavage-exposing gown and petticoat ensemble – holding a Yarygin PYa pistol to his head and grinning devilishly.
Without another moment’s hesitation, she fired the weapon, causing the Wako’s brains to splatter on the cabinet behind him, staining it a deep red. His comrades heard the shot and rushed into Natasha’s cabin.
Surprised at the sudden rush of enemies, Natasha attempted to leap behind a table, but fell short and dropped her pistol as her large hoop skirt would not allow the big jump. The Wako behind her then hastily grabbed her legs and dragged her out of the cabin, with her clawing at the floor in a desperate attempt to save herself.
Screaming could be heard coming from Natasha’s cabin, and Kazansky ran over to check on her. She wasn’t inside. Peering over the railing, he noticed that there was a small Wako craft with a girl in yellow in one of them. She was causing the boat to rock by punching the boatmen, throwing a couple overboard and otherwise causing havoc. It took three men to tie her down.
The boat was heading towards the Hakaisha, no doubt attempting to get their prisoner on board. This was without a doubt Natasha, and Kazansky was left with no other choice but to board the Hakaisha and save her.
The major ran over to Kyurdin, who had just thrown a couple of Wako dead into the sea. By now, Rodion’s marines had their hands full shooting Wako that had already climbed on board and kicking off Wako that were still climbing the nettings.
“Hey, Kyurdin!” said Kazansky, “They’ve got Lt. Natasha! What do you say you and me head over to their ship and give them the once-over, huh?”
“Time to live dangerously.” he replied, grinning. “I’ll alert his majesty and the admiral.”
“Tell him to guard the Peregrine. I’ll go ahead – you can catch up, can’t you?”
“Sure thing.”
With that, Kazansky gave a nod and plunged into the water.

Meanwhile, somewhere on the coast, Shruiken and Nicolette sat hidden in the foliage, observing the Wako gang that was busy arming itself and hiding away the panicking Russian prisoners.
“I don’t see my sister.” said Shruiken.
“Be patient, mon ami, they probably have her on one of those two ships fighting each other in the distance.” Replied the Scorpion, looking through her binoculars.
Shruiken did not listen, and rushed straight through the bushes.
“Hé - idiot! Que faites-vous? Revenu ici! Le damner, ils nous ont vus!”
Shruiken did not listen nor understand the Frenchwoman, but slashed through the enemy in a mad rampage, looking for his sister whom the Wako had kidnapped from their village. Her name was Hitteru Midori, a warrior of the Lost Clan as Shruiken was, and one who had less physical strength but more cunning than her brother.
Nicolette could stand for this no longer, as members of Shruiken’s attack force were already following him through the bushes.
“Merde.” she swore and called to her men, “All right, cochons, these men look like they need our help! Corporal, take three men and provide cover fire from here; the rest of you - À la bataille!”
With that, the mercenaries rushed forward, firing into the surprised and confused Japanese Wako and blowing up a few barrels of their gunpowder.

Kazansky hoisted himself up on the netting on the Hakaisha’s stern.
“Thank God for AquaSafe.” he said, referring to the waterproofing chemical that he coated his AK-47 with.
Keeping his back to the walls, he crept around the ship, looking for whoever was in charge here – or whoever held Natasha. Entering a dim-lit chamber with two large birdcage-like structures in it, he found Natasha and another woman lying next to her. Both were bound and gagged, but only Natasha was conscious.
Taking a blowtorch from his pocket, he burned off the lock and un-gagged the squirming Natasha, who yelled suddenly,
“Behind you!”
Kazansky turned around to find a man with an absurdly large sword running at him. He jumped out of the way just before the sword crashed down on the wooden floor. If he was a second too late, he would’ve been killed.
“Do you like my Zanbattou?” the man asked in Japanese-accented English. Kazansky leapt up to see that he was wearing a pink and yellow woman’s kimono and had female kabuki makeup on his face. He spoke with a feminine tone, and his movements were lady-like.
“Oh my God it’s a Japanese kozel.” Kazansky groaned, arming his AK-47.
“It’s a good sword...” the man continued, raising it. The giant blade made a great whooshing sound as it went up. “You should be honored to be killed by me.” he continued, bringing his sword down on Kazansky again.
The major avoided the blade and rolled over to the side.
“Oh, where are my manners?” said the man, with a flirty smile on his face, “My name is Robatamishii. Tekisosen Robatamishii.”
“Yeah?” replied Kazansky, “They used call me ‘Alexei Kazansky: killer of fags’ back at the academy.”
With that, the major raised his rifle, took aim and fired. Tekisosen was quick to block the bullets and ran to the other side of the room.
Just then, Kyurdin appeared from the doorway and locked swords with Tekisosen. The two seemed to be evenly matched, and Kyurdin’s aggressive swordsmanship was repelled by Tekisosen’s flexibility. The latter crossed swords and drew nearer to Kyurdin, grinning. He said,
“Hey honey – you look pretty hot. How about we – “
“Shut the fuck up faggot!” Kyurdin said, kicking Tekisosen in the crotch.
“Hohohoho!” Tekisosen laughed, flinching slightly. “Nice try, sweetie, but I don’t have any.”
With that, Kyurdin rushed to Tekisosen to pound him into the ground.
Meanwhile, Kazansky had unbound Natasha, and had instructed her to,
“Get the hell off of this boat! I’ll handle faggedy-anne over here.”
“Why don’t we just shoot him?” asked Natasha.
“We tried that! He blocks the bulle—“
Kazansky couldn’t finish. Natasha had taken Kazansky’s rifle and had shot Tekisosen in the rib.
“So he was blocking last time! Lucky shot!” Kazansky said.
Tekisosen staggered when he realized that he was hit, and held onto a pillar for support. Kyurdin grinned over his dying opponent and raised his own sword.
“Suck cold steel, you queer son of a bitch!” Kyurdin said, just before bringing his sword down on Tekisosen’s neck, severing his head.
Just then, the ship was rocked by a cannonball volley striking its side.
“Great job, people – now let’s get the hell out of here. The way things are going, this ship could sink at any moment.” said Kazansky, grabbing his rifle back from Natasha.
“I’ll take care of the other prisoner.” said Kyurdin, melting the lock on the cage. “You make sure that the lieutenant gets back on the Peregrine.”
“I know what I’m doing, comrade. Just let me be.” Kazansky said, rolling his eyes.
Taking Natasha by the hand, he headed to one of the lifeboats and lowered it down. Nobody was paying any attention to him – the Wako were busy trying to shake off Rodion’s marines that now had the upper hand of the battle and were boarding the Hakaisha.

The beach, meanwhile, was a complete mess. Wako dead littered the ground, their blood reddening the sand and their screams and cries filling the air – drowned by gunfire. Some of the corpses were floating in the waves on the shoreline, gunned down by the Scorpion’s men or slashed to bits by Shruiken’s warriors.
Shruiken was cleaning the blood from his sword when he saw someone carrying a woman in Japanese armor aboard a war frigate. He immediately took a small Wako boat and began to sail towards the vessel. Nicolette ran up behind him.
“That’s one of ours, you idiot! Merde!” she said, stomping her foot.
Shruiken rowed furiously to within range of this possible kidnapper, and then discovered that there a Wako short bow and a single arrow hidden in the boat that he was in. He loaded the arrow, praying to his ancestors that he would hit his target – and then fired.
The arrow struck the man, sending him plummeting into the ocean, while dropping Hitteru on the gangplank which he was crossing.

“Man overboard!” shouted Kazansky.
Marines rushed to the side railings and saw a corpse sinking into the water – an arrow had struck him in the heart. There was no hope of saving this unlucky marine.
Charnaiz, descending from the crow’s nest, heard shouts of “banzai” in the distance. He recognized that voice – it was Shruiken. He scanned the waters and found that there was a samurai wielding a bow in a small boat not far from the Peregrine. He decided to fly down there and have a little talk with him.
“Shruiken!” he called as he flew down to the small boat.
“Ah! Ohio guzaymasu, Charnaiz-san! What are you doing here?” said Shruiken, a little confused to see the Gondwanan king in his land.
“You killed one of our men! What’s wrong with you?”
“One of your men? No, I don’t believe so – this was an enemy! I have never seen this uniform before.”
“Never mind. We’re sending in another man to pick up your sister.”
“You’ve kidnapped her? Traitor!”
“Wait, no!”
Charnaiz couldn’t finish – Shruiken had drawn his sword and had attacked the Gondwanan king, causing the two of them to fall overboard.
Kyurdin, vexed by the event, watched the waters for signs of his sovereign. Suddenly, his fears were quelled when Charnaiz bolted out of the water, holding Shruiken by the collar. Up in midair, the king spoke to the samurai,
“If you’ll only listen – then I can explain!”
“You try my patience!” said Shruiken, slashing Charnaiz’s hand with his sword, causing him to drop Shruiken into the ocean.
The samurai survived, his head bobbing just on top of the water.
“If you’ll just listen!”
“All you do is lie!”
Suddenly, a female voice called from the bow of the Peregrine – Hitteru Midori, Shruiken’s sister.
“Brother! I am not harmed! These good men rescued me!”
Shruiken floated in the water, his eyes depicting an expression between appreciation and shame.
“I told you to listen to me!” called Charnaiz from up above.
Now another slightly larger rowboat came up to the Peregrine, with the Scorpion at its head and her men doing the rowing.
“Hé, visage de broche!” the Scorpion called out, referring to Charnaiz.
“What the hell is she doing here?” murmured the king, eyes wide.
“We don’t need a mangeur de merde on this team! Haha! Just joking! It’s good to see you again, clown de cirque!” she said, waving at him.
Charnaiz, gnashing his teeth, said with a hateful tone,
“I hate that woman. What a night this is…”

Meanwhile, a few knots north of Hokkaido, some fishermen were feeling vibrations in the ocean. They suspected it to be a tsunami, so they hurriedly paddled their small fishing boats back towards shore.
Suddenly, from out of the waters with a rush of ice and tidal wave, the Sosulka surfaced from under the deep – straight from Davy Jones’s locker itself. Led-Krovin, with his eyes all red from fury, stood barking commands at the undead crew from the Bowsprit of the ghost ship. Admiral Moroz himself was steering the ship, and his eyes glowed blue with hate for the group that had dared to attack his ship.