Canto II: Servabo Fidem

While those youngsters were making merry in their Arcadia, a fair maiden sat in her quarters, inside a very particular ship: A huge battleship which was 350 metres long, which she named FBF Transantarctic. True to her name, the ship was anchored off the coast of Southern Antarctica, not far away from her geographical namesake.

Due to the fair maiden and her warship, the old stories of yore came roaring back to life: This time, instead of strange monsters lurking in the depths of the icy seas, the danger was a very angry Magical Ship with what amounted to a mix between a Yamato-class Battleship and a Queen Elizabeth-class one: Her armour and weapons resembled the former, and the configuration of her rooms resembled the latter. Why? Because she didn’t have enough information on the Yamato-class ships, but had sufficient knowledge when it came to the Q.E-class types.

The ship was armed with 9 barrels in 3 turrets with a hulking 80cm calibre. They were 50 metres long! She also boasted two turrets with 3 barrels each. These had a lower but still impressive calibre of 46 cm. And to defend against aircraft, she used 180 23mm AA guns which had 4 barrels each, and could fire 4000 rounds every minute!

Her armour was equally impressive, being 700mm thick at her most protected spots, and 400mm at her least well-protected. And somehow, the ship didn't sink! She moved slowly, at 15 km/h, but at least she moved. Do not underestimate the power of steam turbines! But surely, the ship must have been teeming with crew rushing to and fro, right? That was not the case! Her admiral and captain , Broadside Betsy, was her sole crew member. Then, how did she operate? The answer is simple: Magic, of course. The ship was the result of Betsy's Magic, Battleship Supremacy, which allowed her to create such a behemoth! The ship was automated but allowed for manual aiming, movement and firing, which her admiral loved.

Z-Flag Hei, as her few fans and comrades nicknamed her, was reading a book on naval battles while covered in blankets, and had a satisfied expression on her face. She had made an enemy out of the world for the sake of her dream, but she wouldn't waver. She had learnt and studied much about naval history before leaving Helsinki, her birthplace. So she would be fine: The world's strongest battleship was on her side!

Betsy was 176cm tall, and had grey hair which turned darker and darker near her hair tips before turning black. Her back hair reached her clavicle, and her bangs were almost straight, but they curved a bit, giving them a slight reverse U shape. Her sideburns were thick and pointy, and her back hair rested on her shoulders a bit: Part of it was there, part of it was well, on her back. Her eyes and eyebrows were light yellow, and her eyes had no pupils: They were surrounded by a black band which went around the yellow part, but it was like looking at a sun!

She was no slacker when it came to looking good: On the right side of her head she had a cartoonish skull brooch. On her head she wore a round sailor hat which looked a bit like a jellyfish. Its edges were black, and it had two black ribbons which were long and thin emerging from the sides. Thus, a jellyfish. Betsy also had a headband with black and pink bunny ears, and they pierced her hat.

Strangely, she wore an iron collar around her neck, with a long chain dangling in front of it, and it reached her midriff. She was a free spirit, but wore something befitting of a slave…

Anyways, her outfit was a daring wedding dress which was light grey, with a darker ribbon on her chest. Her outfit revealed her shoulders, how scandalous. It had no sleeves. It had been designed to show off her thighs, for some reason: It was shorter in the front than in the back. Around her wrists she wore armbands which replicated the famous Z-Flag. In her left hand she held an elegant cutlass, and in her right hand, a flintlock pistol.

Back to her outfit! She wore white kneesocks, and one could see that she wore a garter belt too. She also wore long grey boots. Finally, she had a long black, demon-like tail peeking out of the back of her dress.

The Magical Girl, whose real name was Leka Heikkila, closed her book, left it on her nightstand, and stared at her desk, which was littered with papers and books. Even though she had a dining cabin, a day cabin, and a night cabin, she preferred her night cabin. She walked over to her desk and picked up her diary, drawing a smiley face and writing Another fun day! in a blank page. She put it down and picked up a coat from her chair. She put it on and left her room, closing her door.

She walked across the corridor located in the ship’s second deck, which was lined with countless rooms with different utilities, such as a bath, a spare cabin…

After a few steps in the direction of the ship’s stern, she reached her dining cabin: Yes, it was right next to her night cabin! It was a lavishly furnished room with a large table and many chairs.

Betsy picked up a plastic box full of fried rice and a pair of chopsticks which had been deposited on a chair, and then sat down. "Rub-a-dub-dub, thanks for the grub. Yay, Free Battle Fleet!"

With blissful expression, the maiden tore through her food and finished eating it all in less than a minute. Magical Girls didn't need to sleep, eat or drink, but that does mean they didn’t enjoy it. That box of rice had been prepared by the crew of a submarine which had passed by her ship, and knowing her story they took pity on her. They threw the box onto the upper deck and then left.

Betsy didn't like submarines, but she could tolerate their presence and valued their power when they were on her side. She also disliked missiles, which she considered to be unfair and a great enemy of battleships. But the thing she hated the most… was the aircraft carrier. The mere thought of them caused her to almost crush the plastic box in her hands, which she took to a spare cabin room near her night cabin. Said room was full of similar boxes given to her at different points in time.

"I'll give these back when everything is over. Once I have wiped the concept of aircraft carriers from the face of this planet and witnessed the rebirth of the Battleship Era, I shall do just that. Please wait for me, Yamato , Bismarck, Iowa… Warspite. As long as I live, the dream of the Battleship Era will one day roar back to life! This one’s for you, Grand Old Lady!’’

Nodding furiously, she slammed the door shut and hurriedly walked in the direction of the ship’s bow. Her aim was to reach the ship’s galleys, located on the deck above. From there, she’d be able to climb some stairs to reach her true goal: The ship's bridge, from which she could observe her surroundings clearly.

Betsy stopped for a second and checked a thermometer on a wall. "-20° degrees outside? Golly, that’s rather chilly. If I didn't have this amazing heating system, I'd be hard-pressed to keep a stiff upper lip!" She laughed out loud and kept walking. ‘’Kougou, let’s do our best today!’’ Kougou, which was Japanese for Queen or Empress, was a nickname that the girl had given to her ship, She pumped her fist into the air, beginning to run down the corridor in a cheerful manner. ‘’Will it be a missile today? A submarine? Or maybe we’ll get to blow a goddamn carrier up!’’

She passed by the ship’s main telegraph room, and then backtracked back to it. ‘’I almost forgot about my daily telegram to Aldara, Lucia and Sachiko! They informed me that they became Magical Girls yesterday. I must ask how they are doing: They are my esteemed childhood friends, after all.’’

Betsy adjusted her white, round sailor’s which was close to falling off, and entered the room. Sitting down in front of the wireless telegraph, she started working on sending her daily message. However, a paper popped out of the machine as she was doing so: A message had arrived! But she had not been expecting that, so the noise made her jump from her chair and hit her head against the ceiling in a comical and exaggerated manner only attainable by Magical Girls and cartoon characters.

‘’VITTU SAATANA PERKELE! That scared the daylights out of me!’’ While cradling her poor head in her hands, she slowly rose from the floor and sat down again. A gentle smile then appeared on her face, as she remembered the fun times she had with her wacky friends. ‘’They’ve always been by my side. If I am here, trying to change the world, it is thanks to them. They even saw me off on the day I left Helsinki to sail on my battleship. Let’s see…’’

The smile wiped itself off her face once she read the short message, and a chill ran up her spine. What could it be?! ‘’This… isn’t good at all.’’ The message stated: ‘’We have decided to follow your path, Lekke! Wait for us: We shall join you shortly. If you inform us of your location, we will meet with you as soon as possible… But the funny Galician will probably find you herself ! Peace out, and long live the High Seas Quartet!’’

‘’This is nothing short of a disaster. I only believe in battleships, but if there’s a God out there… Please help me.’’ She knew that if the rest of the High Seas Quartet, which was the name her friends had given to their little group, joined her, things would turn into a mess and spiral out of control. But she could not stop them now: They were more stubborn than her. ‘’This does not mean the end of my dream, but it surely means that I have to redo my calculations for the future. Dear friends, please hold back. And mother, father, worry not: Your daughter is in good shape and in high spirits.’’

To her friends, she simply replied with: ‘’You’d mess up my plan, so no way! Long live The Grand Old Lady!’’ And to her parents, she wrote a long, long telegram detailing all of her trials and tribulations so far. She also explained that the rest of the Quartet was trying to join her, and it would probably lengthen the time she would take to return home if they did, which she was trying to avoid.

She also expressed her wish to send more telegraphs their way, and apologised for the lack of communication. With a gentle smile on her face, she sent it: She couldn’t help herself, she loved her parents! They were both naval historians too, and they were partially responsible for their daughter’s wacky behaviour. She was proud of her Finnish mother and her British father, and regretted not being able to send more messages: Leka did not want them to be intercepted, which she had avoided so far.

‘’Cor blimey, chaps. The esoteric Galician, the Japanese samurai and the pasta-loving imperialist Italian are coming to join me, and I have to hide from them. Why are my friends so close to their national stereotypes? Ah, fate is a strange thing.’’

Heading back into the corridor, she started muttering ‘’Come, cheer up, my lads, ‘tis to glory we steer…’’ to herself while knocking on the doors she passed by with her cutlass. After passing by one of the ship’s boiler rooms, she stopped in a large empty space in front of the mess hall for stokers and mechanics, and climbed up a staircase which led to the ship’s galleys. In other circumstances, they would have been full of people going to and fro, but as was the case with most parts of the ship, they were mostly unused, and quietly gathered dust.

‘’Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair! Nothing beside remains.’’ Seeing the ship in this state reminded her that she had to avoid falling prey to hubris. With that in mind, she climbed up another staircase, passing by the General Reading Room, the Petty Officer’s Reading Room, and her own sea cabin, which she used when she was sailing the seven seas. Finally, she reached the Admiral’s Bridge, located on top of the conning tower (an armoured cylinder). The conning tower offered better protection during battles but had terrible visibility, so she rarely used it. The Admiral’s bridge was also located under the upper bridge. She greatly disliked the upper bridge, as it offered no protection: It was exposed to the elements and to enemy fire.

Betsy sheathed her cutlass and stood in front of the ship’s steering wheel, observing the equipment in the room: Telescopes, a pelorus, a few signal lamps… It was a damn good bridge. She raised her left arm and pointed at the horizon. ‘’Good morning, FBF Transantarctic. Had a good night? I sure hope so, even though it’s always daytime in this season. Now, shall we set sail?’’ With a colossal groan, the ship trembled as its boilers fired up and its anchor was raised. The Magical Girl then started shouting various commands: ‘’Anti-Torpedo Nets, Deploy! Guns at the ready! Full steam ahead, my girl, for we are going on a trip to Amsterdam: This location isn’t safe anymore, even for us. Aldara is on the move, and our friends mustn’t find us, so let’s run from them!’’ After everything was ready, the ship started moving as fast as it could.

She stood there for a few minutes before going downstairs, to her sea cabin, and picking up a padded chair. She sat down and waited for a few more minutes. ‘’Golly, I need a cuppa.’’ She rushed downstairs again, and came back after a while, holding a steaming cup of Earl Grey tea and a large amount of cookies. ‘’Cheerio, South Antarctic. I pray I can return to you again.’’ For some reason, she always had plenty of tea and cookies on board, and she seemed to never run out of them. After uttering those words, she sipped on her tea and watched the clouds in the sky and her ship sailing in the icy waters. ‘’This will take a looooong while. Kougou is rather slow, but she’s strong. Go get ‘em, girl!’’

She ate a cookie and sipped on her tea again… Which she almost spilled after seeing something in the sky. To make her endanger her tea, it must have been something shocking. And indeed it was: A star-like glow in the sky, slowly descending in her direction. She slowly drank the rest of her tea to soothe her mind, put down her cup and calmly walked down to the galleys, where she opened a door which led to the upper deck. Sitting down on one of the ship’s main turrets while shivering from the cold, she ate her cookies until the light stopped in front of her. By that time, she only had one left, which she offered to the star-shaped mass of light.

The cookie then vanished, and Betsy started speaking to the mass. She knew what it was: How couldn’t she know? They came down from the sky a year ago, changing humanity’s present and future forever. Unlike the others, this one wasn’t pure white, though: It had a bluish hue. ‘’If one of your highly esteemed kind is here, that must mean you have something truly important to transmit. So, go ahead, then. I, Broadside Betsy, humbly accept your revelation, and wish for peace between our races.’’ The mass of light blinked its light thrice and then blasted off into the sky once again.

Betsy stared into the distance, having received a substantial amount of information through those three blinks. ‘’How disappointing. What am I supposed to do with this information? I couldn’t care less about alien factionalism, their plots, or the secret behind Magical Girls. I’m here to avenge Warspite and the other battleships. But even I need to take a break. So I’ll ignore what the alien told me so I can enjoy my vacation…’’ She then realised something important. ‘’I don’t have any money! It’s not like I’ve ever needed it. Well, I’ll figure something out. Dare to dream!’’ The fact that her 350 metre ship was very conspicuous crossed her mind too, but she simply thought that things would sort themselves out, and paid it no further heed.

She went back inside, but this time, she went into her cramped sea cabin, which only had room for a bookshelf, a lifejacket and a bed. She clapped once and her cutlass vanished. She sat down on her bed and simply stared at the wall: It was one of her strange habits, one she had developed after turning into a Magical Girl. She could stare at a wall for hours without a single thought passing through her head. It served as a distraction during her long journeys around the world.

Then, as if to shake her out of her trance-like state, a large shock ran through the ship and sent Betsy tumbling onto the floor. ‘’An enemy attack, perhaps? Let us spring into action!’’ Running down the stairs, she stepped outside… And witnessed something terribly unwanted. Almost as bad as a submarine, a missile attack, or an aircraft carrier!

It was, in fact, one of her friends: The Galician, Aldara Llanos, in her Magical Girl Form! This was going to be difficult to deal with…

Sachiko could be pacified by being allowed to play the samurai, and Lucia could be silenced by being offered pasta… But this one was almost impossible to shake off!

Leka wasn't surprised at all by her presence: Before becoming a Magical Girl, she had some pretty strange ways of tracking people and objects down. In fact, her tendencies bordered on stalker-ish at times. Some things never change…

The girl in question was around 160 cm tall. She had short black hair which was styled into a ponytail which was long and decorated with a big red ribbon. Her bangs were straight but concentrated in the middle. Her sideburns were long and curved inwards, while her eyes were covered by a grey blindfold. She had mermaid-like ears which were a greyish blue, and resembled the fin of a fish.

She also wore a deep blue witch hat, and had a huge halo of light behind her head. As for her outfit, she wore a white sailor jacket with sleeves which were split vertically into deep blue and black, and her nails were long, sharp and painted black. Her collar was blue, and her tie black. Below her exposed midriff she wore a white belt, and blue cargo pants with black knee pads. She also sported rain boots which were deep blue. Finally, she also wore a deep blue cape which was quite impressive, with greenish edges. And in her left hand, she held a light blue staff with a golden cross on the tip.

"What did you do to those two, Alda? Did you trick them into travelling to Nepal again?" Betsy's two friends were missing. She wasn't too concerned: In fact, she was relieved. But she wanted to know what her friend had pulled out of her sleeve this time.

"I have changed my ways, I have. I did convince our lovely friends to improve themselves and convinced them to atone for their misgivings before they set out on their journey to join you, I did. They won’t be leaving Finland for a while, and they shan't trouble us, they shan't. Those two will surely rain blessings upon me once they are finished, they will. But I need not their praises, I do not! For I am Habelas-Hainas, the All-loving Witch-Saint, and I seek not praises, I do not. I seek the greater good, I do! So, Amsterdam is your destination, it is. As it is written in the heavens, I must accompany you on this and all of your journeys, I must.’’

Betsy was rather surprised at her new and strange way of speaking, but she was going to use this chance to secure her future. So she walked up to Habelas and shook her hand. "I would originally chase you away, as your presence would throw a wrench in my plans. But perhaps having someone else around isn't a bad idea."

This change of mind came from two sources: The herculean nature of her task, and the fact that her ship's rooms were mostly unused: They needed to be cleaned, and having an extra pair of hands would be a blessing.

"What was your Magic capable of doing, Habelas? I think you never told me in detail. Perhaps it would be useful in our current and future endeavours." That question implied You better use that magic of yours to clean this ship or whatever, you weird brat!

"Worry not, it is most useful, it is! My magic, Cross-Staff Of Santiago, revolves around doing the impossible in benefit of the downtrodden, it does. You and I will accomplish great things, we will! Now let us go: Our Dutch friends need our aid, they do! This is for the sake of the world, and for the sake of my own dream, it is.’’ She patted her blindfold and pointed at the horizon with her cross-staff, her cape fluttering in the wind.

‘’But what about my… No, OUR dream, Alda? Have you abandoned our project, the project of the High Seas Quartet!?’’ She was visibly shocked: They’d all shared the shared dream, and now her friend had seemingly discarded it…

‘’I have not discarded that dream, I have not. Its essence remains, but its form has changed and expanded, it has. It is part of a bigger dream, one beyond our understanding, it is.’’ She turned to face the sky, and joined her hands in prayer. ‘’One day you will understand, you will. Leka, you one day will understand how your… No, our little dream fits into my larger dream, you will. I shall help you understand, but I shan’t tell you the answer, I shan’t. And one should live for one’s dream, not for another’s, one should. Even if that dream is…’’ Her voice trailed off, but she spoke again after a brief pause. ’’Now let us begin our journey by performing a miracle, let us!’’ Habelas took a deep breath, placed her staff on the ground and leaned against it. She then started praying fervently in Galician-Portuguese, a language which Betsy had heard of but could not understand. It was a fervent prayer, imploring protection on her travels, and wishing for a steady arrival at her destination.

When she finished praying, she removed her blindfold: Her eyes were a light blue colour and her white pupils had the shape of a 4 point star. ‘’My prayer has been heard. Coordinates have been fixed, variation is within an acceptable range. Commencing space-time disruption… Achieved. We are the world’s strongest! Now come forth, Cross-Staff Of Santiago!’’

A bright and dazzling light enveloped them, and for a few seconds, they felt the force of gravity vanish for an instant: They were then unceremoniously forced to contend with the mighty force of gravity once again.

When the light vanished, they found themselves at their destination: It was Amsterdam Central Station’s waterside, next to the Amstel river. They were standing next to a boat which doubled as a bike parking lot, and the sky was clear and bright. The passersby did not react to the sudden appearance of the pair! They were already used to similar events: Publicity equals knowledge, so they knew.

Betsy was holding a miniaturised Kougou under her arm, which she simply chalked up to an unknown function of the ship. After coming back to their senses, they began walking forwards, and Habelas put on her blindfold again. She could see with it on too, apparently: It did not bother her at all.

‘’We have made it, we have. The smartest option is to walk in a straight line until we find something interesting, it is.’’ They strolled along the poster-filled blue barrier which separated from the river. ‘’Alda, we need to find a place to stay. But we have no money on us… Can’t you use your magic to make money?’’ It seemed like a reasonable idea.

Sadly, things weren’t so easy. Habelas shook her head: ’’I cannot do that, I cannot. My magic won't allow me to benefit myself like that, it won't. I can cause miracles like going from place to place with it, but I cannot enrich myself, I cannot. But I can help others with my miracles in exchange for lodging, I can!"

She sounded excited at the prospect of helping around. Perhaps this was how a good Magical Girl should be? No, she was kind and generous but still lacking in the justice department: A truly righteous Magical Girl would have apprehended Betsy for her crimes. Perhaps that would change in the future, perhaps Habelas would one day bring her childhood friend to justice. The idea was there, but it still needed to be nurtured until it could bloom splendidly… But would it ever be nurtured?

"Lodging… A hotel would be nice. Yes, we should look for a hotel, shouldn't we, dear friend?" Betsy's grey wedding dress fluttered in the wind as she said that.

"It sounds most reasonable, it does. Let us look for one, let us." With those words exchanged, they focused their efforts on finding a suitable hotel.

After a few more minutes of walking, Betsy pointed at a large hotel in the distance, which was located behind a concert hall for contemporary classical music.

‘’Hey, Alda. What about that one? It looks most pleasant.’’

‘’Indeed, it does look agreeable, it does. Let us go forth to secure our lodgings, let us.’’ With their target secured, the only thing they could do was to charge on.

And so they did: They briskly moved forwards until they found an elevated metal walkway over the river, which led to the concert hall.

They debated if they should use the walkway to arrive at the other side of the river, where the hotel was: If they did so, they’d have to use a staircase at the left end of the bridge to descend again. The staircase was part of the hotel, as shown by the characteristic bricks it displayed. But they decided against it, as it would be too much of an effort.

So they walked a bit more along the railing which separated from the river. Said river was eventually covered up by a white platform and then buried beneath the pavement and roads of the city. They reached a ramp which led to the white platform, and walked across the pylons which separated the platform from the hotel’s side.

‘’The Dutch sure like their bikes. Charming isn’t it? But battleships are far more charming.’’ Betsy had never owned a bike, but she wasn’t against them: She found them charming.

‘’Indeed, it is most charming, it is. They are clean, fast and quiet, they are. In fact, the Netherlands do have more bikes than people, they do.’’ They walked past an elevator and a staircase protected by glass, which probably belonged to the parking facilities below them, and they laid their gazes upon the large glass venue in front of them, which hosted events like conferences and dinners. Once they walked past the ramp which led to the garage and left the shops aimed at tourists behind, they encountered a statue of a white cow on what appeared to be a skateboard-like platform.

‘’Dear friend, might you know what this is? It is surprising, almost as surprising as a carrier being useful!’’ Betsy pointed at the curious object.

‘’I know not, I do not.’’ Habelas shrugged and dragged Betsy along, as they had no time to spare. They walked past the doors of the hotel’s bar/restaurant, and stopped to look at the hotel’s curious shape: Apart from the facilities located in the brick area, a huge rectangular block of rooms protruded from the hotel’s front: One could see the bottom of the block, which was a bit aged but in general, it was very well-cared for. They were separated from the brick part by a square-shaped, glass-windowed structure. It looked a bit like a puzzle.

A few steps after that, they were then beneath a thick, white slab which was located above the hotel’s main doors: Said doors were flanked by two potted plants, and by more glass windows. ‘’It is time, Alda. Let us go forth and grasp victory for the sake of our dreams. Grand Old Lady, watch me.’’

‘’O’great Santiago, guide our steps, guide them.’’

What awaited them? What tricks would fate play on them? Even the Miracle-Making Witch did not know. With a prayer for a better future in their hearts, they stepped into the hotel. But if they had paid more attention, they would have seen that the one watching them was neither Warspite nor Santiago, but a security camera located on the slab they saw moments before…

                                                                         ☆☆☆