Battleship (Movie Tie-in Edition) (8 page)

“Welcome everybody,” said Stone. “It’s great to see you here. Your ships look outstanding and your men look ready. Good luck to you all, be safe, fight hard.”

He nodded once more as if affirming everything he’d just said and then sliced into the cake. The moment he did, the band launched into a stirring rendition of “Anchors Aweigh.” This disappointed Hopper, who was of
the firm opinion that once,
just once
, the band should play the Village People’s “In the Navy.”
Yeah. Opinions like that are why Stone’s up there and you’re down here
.

“Hopper. What’s wrong?”

Raikes had come up beside him and was looking at him with genuine concern. “Seriously, Hopps. You look terrible. What’s on your mind?”

His mouth moved before he could stop it and the words all came out in a rush. “I was going to ask the admiral for permission to marry Sam except he totally hates me and you can’t tell anyone, okay. Please?”

She was clearly startled by the confession spilling from him. “Wow,” was all she could say.

“Seriously. Don’t tell anyone. None of the guys, and definitely not Stone.”

“Absolutely. Not a soul.”

“I had to hear it from Ord?
Ord?
From
freaking Ord?
” Stone said in disbelief. Then he paused and turned to Ord. “No offense.”

“Oh, none taken,” said Ord. “I’m right there with you. Who wants to hear something like that from me? Hell, I couldn’t believe it when Beast told me.”

“Color me shocked,” said Beast.

His closest friends and his astounded brother were grouped around Hopper at the far end of the deck. Hopper was glaring at Raikes, who was standing there shifting uncomfortably from one foot to the other and trying to look at anyone except Hopper. She was eating a slice of cake with great concentration. “ ‘Absolutely not a soul,’ Raikes?” said Hopper. “Really?”

Her response was a shrug.

“I have no soul, if that helps, so technically she kept her word,” Beast said helpfully. “I’m actually a robot sent back in time to kill John Connor.”

“Shut up,” said Hopper.

“Roger, I copy that.”

Stone circled the group, but his attention never left his brother. Clearly he didn’t give a damn about Raikes breaking her word; he was more focused on other aspects of the news. “Why did you keep it from me? From your own brother?”

Hopper was inclined to spend some more time being pissed off with Raikes, but that pretty much seemed to be a dead-end path. So he said in frustration, “Because there’s only so much humiliation I want to handle, okay?”

“What are you talking about? Why would you think I’d humiliate you?” Stone was clearly astounded at Hopper’s attitude. “I want nothing but the best for you and Sam! You guys are a great couple. Right?” He addressed the question to the others.

“Yes, absolutely,” said Beast.

Raikes nodded, her mouth still full of cake, and she gave a thumbs-up.

“I’d totally do her,” said Ord. Then, when he saw that everyone was glaring at him, he said defensively, “Hey, I’m new here. Gimme a break.”

Raikes swallowed the piece of cake. “I’ll give you a broken nose is what I’ll give you.”

Hopper shifted his attention to Sam. She was standing next to her father, the admiral. She was holding a glass of champagne and laughing in that marvelous way she had. That laugh that, no matter what manner of gloom had settled on Hopper at any given moment, always made things right somehow. Officers from Japan, England, and South Korea were grouped around her, hanging on every word she said, every movement, every toss of her head. They adored her. Everyone adored her. Especially her father, who had an arm around her shoulders and was clearly bristling with pride over the splendid young woman he’d raised.

And he couldn’t stand Hopper.

“It doesn’t matter what a great couple we are,” Hopper said. “There’s no way the admiral’s gonna approve. And when that happens—or doesn’t, I should say—at least none of you would have had to know about it. There wouldn’t be a whole ‘So how’d it go?’ thing. I could keep my humiliation hidden and my guts would tear themselves apart in private instead of you guys knowing what was going on.”

The others exchanged looks. “Are you serious?” said Stone. “C’mon, Hopps. You’re selling yourself short.”

“You absolutely are,” said Beast. Raikes, having shoveled another forkful of cake into her mouth, nodded.

“I’d totally do you,” said Ord. The others stared at him. He looked defensive. “Boy, try to lighten things up around here …”

Hopper stared forlornly at Sam. She might as well have been standing on the other side of the Pacific for all that he could see of their life together. “Her father’s gonna smash me.”

“He’s not,” said Stone. His earlier irritation with his brother had subsided, replaced by sympathy for Hopper’s obvious turmoil.

“I really think he is.”

Stone shook his head. “He loves his daughter. She loves you. He’s gonna respect that. Stop worrying about what hasn’t happened and get it done.” He paused and then said, “You want me to come with? Would that help?”

“There’s no need I can absolutely do it myself yeah would’ja, please?”

Releasing a brotherly chuckle, Stone clapped Hopper on the shoulder and with an inclination of his head indicated Hopper should follow him.

“Want us to come, too?” said Ord cheerfully.

“Actually, I’d like you, Ord, to jump overboard,” said Stone. “Raikes, Beast—you two go fish him out once he’s splashed around for a while.”

As Stone and Hopper walked away, Ord looked nervously at Beast and Raikes. “He was kidding, right? That … wasn’t an actual order, was it?”

“Sounded pretty official to me,” Beast said sternly. Raikes, wiping cake from her mouth with the back of her hand, shrugged.

Stone and Hopper walked toward the admiral’s group. As they did so, Hopper was busy running through all the possible scenarios he could employ to casually get Shane away from the other officers. Perhaps Sam and Stone could somehow pitch in. Offer to take the others around the ship, leaving Hopper with the admiral for a few minutes.

That could work. Maybe this whole thing could work. All I need is for things to go my way …

“Nagata,” said Stone in a tone of formal greeting.

The name snapped Hopper from his musings and he looked dead ahead of them. Sure enough, there was Nagata—along with one of his men—having approached from the side and come up to them just before they arrived within range of Admiral Shane’s group.

Instantly Sam, her father and proposals were forgotten. His world was now filled with nothing but Nagata, standing there in his crisp uniform, oozing smug superiority. Nagata was regarding Hopper with his usual cool contempt even as he said to Hopper’s brother, “Stone. Good weather for our exercise.”

“Yes, it is, and good luck to you.”

“And to you,” said Nagata. He tilted his head toward Hopper. “Your brother could use a lesson in tactics from you.” He threw Hopper a cold smile.

Hopper shoved his hands into his pockets, trying to look casual even as he fought to resist the impulse of smashing in Nagata’s smug face. “We were doing fine last go around,” said Hopper, “till you tried to ram me in open water.”

“Ships never touched,” said Nagata. “Accident.”

“Says who?”

“The independent naval inquiry.”

Working quickly to avert catastrophe, Stone said, “Hopper, back out of this. Don’t you have something much more interesting to be doing
right now
?”

Hopper took a deep breath to steady himself, and then looked over to the admiral and Sam. “Roger that,” he said.

He quickly hurried away, as Stone turned back to Nagata and said, with as much charm as he could muster, “Beautiful day for sailing, isn’t it, gentlemen?”

From a short distance away, Hopper’s crewmates were watching with growing interest the altercation that appeared to be shaping up. “This is going to be sweet,” said Raikes, who had finished the cake and was stuffing the crumpled napkin into her pocket.

“He walked away, though,” Beast pointed out.

“Come on, Beast. You should know better than that. That was just round one. Round two’ll come up before you know it.”

“What’s going on?” said Ord, relieved that the conversation had shifted away from the notion that tossing him off the ship was somehow a good idea.

“Last year Hopper’s and Nagata’s ships nearly rubbed paint. Nagata blamed it on ‘wind shear,’ ” she said, putting air quotes around the latter two words to underscore just how seriously she took that excuse. “Hopper blames Nagata. Hates the man.”

“Why?”

She smiled. “Hopper likes to find people to hate. It’s how he motivates himself.”

“Really.” Ord was unimpressed by that. “Sounds a bit juvenile.”

That was exactly the wrong thing to say. “Go mess with him,” Raikes said challengingly. “See what happens.”

Ord might have been new to his surroundings, but he’d been around long enough to know when he was being set up. “No.”

“Do it,” she dared him.

“No.”

“Do it,” said Raikes. She nudged him between the shoulder blades.

“Leave me alone,” he said, and quickly backed away. This prompted a hearty laugh from Raikes and a low rumble of amused approval from Beast.

Initially Hopper had been heading straight toward the admiral. That worked right up until the admiral happened to glance in his direction and give him one of those patented scowls of his. This promptly sent Hopper off on a sharp left turn and his feet brought him, almost of their own accord, to the nearest head. Or, as civilians termed it, the bathroom.

He stood in there for a time, staring at himself in the mirror.
You look like a scared little girl. Pull it together, for God’s sake
.

He turned the spigot and watched the cold water splash and swirl in the sink for a few moments, trying to avoid thinking of himself as swirling down the drain along with the water. He cupped some of it in his hands and splashed it on his face. He looked back up into the mirror and tried to ignore that water was dripping from his eyebrows. He forced what he imagined was an expression that exuded confidence onto his face. “Sir, it would be my great honor … my great privilege, for your daughter’s hand …”
Honor? Privilege? You sound like you’re getting a bump up in rank. Let him know how you feel, dammit
. “My joy …”

The creaking of the door was so unexpected that Hopper
nearly jumped two feet in the air. He turned and saw, to his anger and dismay, Nagata standing there. Nagata was studying him with open curiosity. “Talking to yourself?”

Not now. Don’t do this now
. “Just leaving.”

He started to head for the door. Nagata had stepped through and now he allowed it to swing shut, making no move to get out of Hopper’s way. “Practicing all the things you wish you’d said to me?” said Nagata.

Hopper felt the familiar rage starting to surge through him, and he did everything he could to contain it. “I don’t know how things work in Nagata land, where you’re utterly blameless in all things, but in the real world, not everything is about you.”

“You have something to say, why not say it to my face?”

Hopper took a step toward him, his fists trembling. “If I’m going to do something to your face, Sparky, it isn’t going to involve words.”

“Big talk. Big talk from a little m—”

He didn’t manage to finish the sentence because Hopper chose that moment to drive a fist squarely into Nagata’s gut. It caught Nagata completely by surprise, doubling him over and bringing his face close enough to Hopper that the American was able to punch Nagata in the eye.
Probably thought I didn’t have the nerve
.

Nagata staggered and Hopper closed in for the kill. But he was too slow. Even in the confined area, Nagata was able to sidestep him and he brought the base of his hand slamming up into Hopper’s mouth. Hopper’s head snapped back and he tasted his own blood in his mouth. Nagata’s hand thrust forward once more. Hopper was able to block it, just barely. He grabbed Nagata’s wrist and slammed him back up against the wall, which shuddered under the impact. They grappled for a few moments and then Nagata—bigger and stronger than Hopper—shoved him back. But Hopper didn’t let go and together
the two of them crashed into the nearest stall, the wall collapsing under their combined weight.

Hopper lost track of time after that, the world transforming into a vast haze of red. All he knew was that one minute he was snarling in Nagata’s face—the two of them slamming each other around and rolling on the bathroom floor—and the next they were being separated by masters-at-arms. As the MAs pulled the two of them apart, Hopper had a brief glimpse of a tall figure standing in the corridor, looking on in disgust. It was Admiral Shane.

Terrific
, he thought, as he came to the realization that trying to distinguish between the subtleties of words like “honor” and “joy” had suddenly become woefully, painfully moot.

The wardroom was filled with the remainders of all the material that had been used in the food preparation for the celebration. There were trays and large serving plates everywhere, either empty or with crumbs and scraps of food remaining on them. The catering crew had been in the midst of cleaning up, but when an assembly of high-ranking officers had walked in and told them that they needed the room, they did not hesitate to make themselves scarce. It was obvious from the attitude of the officers that being anywhere other than the wardroom at that moment was an incredibly good idea.

Hopper and Nagata were both standing stiff-backed,
accomplishing the impressive task of staring straight forward without actually making eye contact with any of the officers arrayed in front of them. Hopper didn’t feel much like speaking anyway, since his mouth was swollen to such a degree that he was going to sound stupid trying to form words. The only positive aspect of all this was that Nagata’s right eye had swollen shut, although considering that the vice admiral of the Japanese Navy was standing there glaring at Hopper, perhaps it wasn’t so wonderful after all. Admiral Shane was fuming … at Hopper. Standing to Hopper’s left was Commander Sherman Brownley, his commanding officer aboard the
John Paul Jones
, a broad-shouldered, middle-aged man who was dyspeptic on his best days. He was glaring, too … at Hopper. To Hopper’s right was Tony Mullenaro, Brownley’s executive officer, a short, thick Italian who was glaring … at Hopper. Off to the side was the tall, dark-haired Commander Rivera, who was glaring at—big surprise—Hopper.