Hanz opened his eyes to see a strangely luxurious place. The area was a cave with glowing moss scattered about. The water lapped at his ankles.
"So you are awake now." A melodic voice spoke. Hanz looked around searching for the person who spoke.
"Who are you?" He said while his eyes scanned the area. He looked to see the water around his ankles coalesce into a figure. She wore fine clothing and jewelry. She looked like a woman in her peak of beauty.
"I am Aquarius. You are wondering why you still live do you not?" Gaia said. Hanz nodded. "I brought you here. Well you and your companion." Gaia spoke.
"Companion?" Hanz said lowering his defense in confusion.
"Your ship. GERMANIA I believe." She replied and Hanz was frozen with shock/ "You see I have a request of you. You can say no and I'll send you to the afterlife." She continued. Hanz stood curious at why she kept his soul from moving to the afterlife.
"Explain and then i'll decide." Hanz said.
"You see Hanz. I have brought you to solve a problem for me. My oceans are flooded with evil beings who hide their ships on islands in my seas. Pirates are so out of control that noone can enjoy my seas because people are afraid of these pirate lords. I want you to fix that since your ship outclasses any other ship on the entire planet so people can live by the sea peacefully." Aquarius said.
"How am I to do this?" Hanz asked.
"Well you body was too destroyed to bring into my world. The only thing that I could do was fuse your soul to the nearest object...GERMANIA." Aquarius said and Hanz was so shocked he fell to his knees.
"I don't have my body anymore. This can't...be real." He said before shaking his head back into focus. " How am I suppose to crew a ship for you if I am a soul trapped in a ship?!" he shouted.
"You see. With your soul infused into the ship, you control all its systems at once. Radar, guns, scout planes can all be controlled by you. However, you will need teaching and I can do that." She then squatted down to look Hanz in the eyes. "I promise that I won't leave you trapped in the ship. I just can't give you anymore abilities at the moment because of the sheer magic required to bring you, the ship and infuse your soul. I will find a way to allow you to be a physical being again...I swear on my honor as a goddess." Aquarius said wiping tears away the were beginning to well up in Hanz's eyes.
"If I do this. I get a new life and a body back...right?" He said standing up and Aquarius nodded. "Then I promise to try and help free your sees of evil. I may have worked for Der Fuhrer, but that was just part of the job not my ideology." Hanz said smiling.
"Excellent. Now I'm going to wake you up from my realm to where we are. Then teaching will begin." Aquarius said and the room faded away. Hanz could see the entire ship control room but he couldn't feel legs or hands. Then he heard a ping and felt the replying ping come back to his hearing. Aquarius could be heard in his mind.
'The first thing you need to do is learn to materialize your soul.' he heard
'concentrate on what your old body was. If your mind is clear then you will be able to manifest an ethereal form.'
Hanz did as she told and cleared his thoughts. As he did this, his spirit began to form into his old form.. He looked it over, but when he tried to touch the controls, his hand faded through.
'You are still just a spirit so you cannot touch corporeal objects. Now is to teach you how to carefully work the guns. Concentrate your mind on your arms.'
Hanz focused his mind to his hand and arms slowly feeling them become heavy.
'Your mind is connected to this vessel and so your senses are connected to it. By concentrating your mind the main guns can be moved. Move your arm for large turns and your hand is for finer adjustments such as your wrist for up or down and fingers for very fine degree adjustments.'
Hanz nodded and move his arms slowly and he could hear the turrets cranking into position. "I can feel the movement as if they were my limbs. How do I fire them thought?" He asked.
'snap your fingers. So long as you mentally hold the guns in place, snapping the fingers will not interfere with the gun movement. Reloading will happen in your subconscious but that wont make the guns any faster than your crew could fire.'
"Okay so typical reload time was two and a half minutes long for the main guns which is fine because range gives me a time advantage." Hanz said. He focused his mind and snapped.
BANG!
All the main turrets fired. Hanz looked out to see that he was anchored near a large island and the shells soared onward. the sound of loud splashes as the shells hit the water in the distance.
'Excellent now you can protect the seas. I have supplied you ship with a map on the wall.'
Hanz looked at the rear of the pilot house to see a map on the wall with the major nations named and Xs on some islands.
'The X represent the main islands that pirates hang around. However, you will require allies to help locate these pirate lords. If you travel northwest for two days you shall reach Equestria. Two days northeast is the Griffon lands. South east is Zebrica and south west is "The Untamed" since only scattered trading ports exist on the coast.'
"What is the best one to go for?" Hanz asked.
'Equestria is safest and their society has evolved well. They are very open to any being so long as you come in peace.'
"Then Equestria it is." Hanz said.
'Great. Now focus your mind to the direction you want to go and picture the speed at which you are traveling.'
Hanz cleared his mind and focused the ship towards the northwest at full speed.
'The engine will turn off only when you next fully control it. Turning will be done by moving your feet in the direction you want.'
With that Hanz let go of his concentration and let his soul return to the ship itself as GERMANIA gently moved on the seas towards Equestria. Little did they know that the trip there wasn't going to be without some...problems.