Part
6
Andrew
led Talia out of the Plunder and Lightning after the rest of the crew had
moved ahead of them. They went back down
the passageway that had brought them to the P&L until they reached a
ladder, then up one level and back down the passageway in the opposite
direction, going past several doors until Andrew stopped at one where he turned
the handle and opened it wide. He
stepped out of the way so Talia could go in first.
“Well
color me impressed” she said after stepping inside the and looking around. “I’m guessing this is yours?” As a ship’s officer, Andrew rated his own
cabin. In this case it was large enough
to host small meetings if needed. To
Talia’s question, he immediately pointed to the pictures that were fastened to
the bulkhead above his desk. Talia saw
several of her and the girls, as well as a family photo that was taken at
Christmas. Seeing the girls, she smiled,
but the tears started again. Oh, how she
wanted to hold them!
Andrew
walked up from behind and wrapped his arms around her, knowing what she was
thinking and feeling the same way. Talia
rested her head against his right arm, drawing comfort and strength from his
presence. After a minute she tilted her
head up and asked, “I’m guessing we’re here to change?” she said.
“Yep,
since this suit is definitely not fit to wear anymore, nor is it or your dress
appropriate for shipboard operations.” replied Andrew,
“Good
to know, because now is not the time for one of your lame pick-up lines” she
answered dryly.
Andrew
laughed. It was nice to hear his wife
making a joke, even during this time.
She always knew what to say, and her sense of humor tended to bubble up
at more appropriate times than his did.
“I
wouldn’t dream of it, for the least because I know who has rooms to each
side.” Then he inhaled and raised his
voice to a volume like he used to use during Artillery live fires, “GET MOVING
BADGER! YOU SHOULD ALREADY BE AT YOUR
STATION!”
A
muffled “Nuts!” came through the walls, along with the laughter of several
other voices who were with Badger waiting to see if his prediction would
manifest. Then the sound of shuffling
feet and the closing of doors.
Talia
turned around to look at Andrew. “Do I
want to know how you knew they were there?”
“Probably
not.” He replied with a somewhat embarrassed tone.
Talia
smile broadly, a more playful tone now in her voice, “Do we need to have
another talk about what you do for a living?”
Andrew’s
hands went up defensively even as he saw the sparkle in her eyes. “Oh, I tell you all I do. I just don’t tell you everything my shipmates
do.”
She
pondered that statement and decided it was probably good that he didn’t tell
her everything, especially since they had teenage girls at home, or would have
them at home once they got them back.
“Got it. Ok, with that in mind
what am I supposed to change into?”
“Good
question.” Andrew gave another glance
around his cabin. “I don’t see my
‘Go-Bag’ or the extra that Captain XO said he would have for you. I keep a few things here but not enough for
us to be comfortable.”
Then
there was a knock at the hatch. “Enter!”
yelled Andrew, and the door opened, and a very young-looking crewman stepped in
with two bags and a very nervous look on his face.
Andrew
gave him a quick once-over to make sure he recognized him. “You’re one of the Professor’s Interns,
right? I thought the Captain XO had a batman that was going to bring those bags?
Or is that you?”
The
intern replied “I am Sir, an intern I mean.
The Captain XO’s batman asked me to help, he was pretty overloaded with
getting everything on board for the emergency deployment. I agreed and he told me what room to bring
these to. No one told me that shortcuts
through the forward hold were...”
“Ah,
you met Vlad I take it.” Said Andrew, trying very hard not to smile at the
intern’s predicament and apparent discomfort at having met Ensign Vlad.
“Yes
Sir, I did. I’m amazed he let me
leave. I thought for certain I was going
to be his lunch. That’s what the
Professor and Badger both told a group of us last night in the Zeppel Inn. They just never told us where he lurked.”
Andrew
gave a sympathetic smile; he had heard this one before. It didn’t mean it wasn’t humorous, just that
some people liked to see how far they could push it. “Vlad has a policy, he doesn’t attack members
of the crew, even interns. That doesn’t
mean he won’t mess with you, but he won’t eat you or attack you.”
The
intern sighed in obvious relief, when from behind came a raspy voice that
sounded just a few degrees above freezing and with a decidedly Romanian
accent. “Redleg iz correct.” And with that the intern dropped the bags as
he jumped and shouted in surprise.
Landing, he whirled around to see Ensign Vlad, the very pale skinned Assistant
Engineer from the forward hold, standing in a position just behind him. Andrew was impressed, he never saw Vlad move
up behind the intern. Vlad continued,
still staring at the intern, “But you
vill be zee first to know vhen I change my mind.” He finished with a very toothy grin that
showed off four very sharp and pronounced incisors. That was all the poor hapless intern could
take as he took off down the corridor yelling “PROFESSOR!”.
Vlad
and Andrew watched him run, as Talia burst into laughter from inside the
room. They both faced each other and
chuckled. “Can I help you with the bags
Sir?” said Vlad, sounding more like he was raised in the state of Maryland, with
no trace of the Romanian accent anymore.
“Certainly
Vlad, come on in” replied Redleg and he grabbed his bag, moving back into the
room, while Vlad picked up the one for Talia and joined them inside.
“Hi
Vlad” said Talia, “was that as funny to you as it was to me?” The family had known Vlad for a while, ever
since he ‘joined’ the crew during the Renegade’s Halloween trip to Transylvania
last fall.
“Hello
Talia, it is good to see you again.” said Vlad as he placed her bag onto the
bunk. “I do enjoy my part in
perpetuating the myth about interns being a food source. Those with a sense of humor tend to enjoy
it. Those that don’t are the variety of
recruit that only sees the profit in what we do, and none of the adventure or
humor that is required to get the profit in the first place.”
Andrew
nodded, “Very true, though I’m pretty sure Captain XO would prefer that
particular rumor died quickly.”
Suddenly
the ships intercom system sounded with a two-toned whistle indicating that the
Captain XO was about to broadcast a message to the crew. “All hands listen up. We are at cruising altitude, secure anything
loose as we are about to go to maximum speed.
If it falls off, we aren’t coming back for it. As we discussed during the briefing in the
P&L, our intelligence is that the kidnappers are heading to Wales, so we
have about a 3-hour trip. The drinking
lamp goes out in two hours. Also, STOP
THREATENING TO EAT INTERNS! That is
all.”
“I
guess that particular intern already made it up to the bridge deck” said Andrew
with a chuckle.
“He was
moving pretty fast” replied Vlad, “I guess I will let you two get ready and
move to my own duty station. But before
I go, let me say that I will do anything to help you recover your
daughters. They are the only two young
ladies in Scotland that haven’t read ‘Twilight’, so therefore they actually
hold real conversations with me instead of being in a constant swoon.”
“Just
so long as it stays at the ‘conversations’ level” said Andrew with a stern look
on his face but a twinkle in his eye.
Vlad
grinned, then a left, closing the hatch on his way.
Andrew
turned towards the bunk and his bag, quickly pulling out his boots, dark khaki
weatherproof cargo pants, a dark green long-sleeve t-shirt, and a black light
jacket that was both wind and waterproof.
He started to peel off his Sunday Suit when he saw Talia holding up a
leather corset that would not have left much to the imagination if she were
wearing it. “Ok, before you gut me like
a fish, can I go and air-keelhaul a couple of crewmates for thinking it would
be funny to include a corset in the bag for you?”
“So not
your idea?” said Talia in a tone that would freeze oxygen.
“Oh I’d
love to see you in it, but not when I’m having to share the look with the rest
of the crew.” Talia smiled at that
comment, then Andrew continued “Please tell me there’s other stuff in there
that you can actually wear.”
“Pants,
boots, socks, a jacket, but no shirt.
Got an extra t-shirt I can borrow?”
Andrew reached back into his Go-Bag and pulled out another t-shirt, this
one red with a Disney logo on it. “How
about this one?”
“Perfect.”
And with that they both began to change.
It didn’t take long, and as Andrew was strapping on a drop holster for
his .45, Talia looked at him and asked, “Do you have a holster for me?” Andrew went to his cabinet, dialed in a
combination, “Wedding date in case you’re wondering” he said over his shoulder
which brought another smile from Talia, then he opened up the door and pulled
out a universal belt holster that would fit her PX4 Sub. Handing it over, Talia hooked it to her belt,
holstered her weapon, and then went back to lacing up her boots. They actually fit pretty well, along with the
rest of the clothing, which now had her curious about the…other item that was
in the bag. Time for that later.
She looked up at Andrew, “What
about clothes for the girls?”
Andrew
looked up as he finished with his own boots.
“Good question. We can cover that
when we get them back. I’ll ask Kiwi who
has stuff in their size. If anyone
knows, she does.”
“That
works.” Talia said as she stood up. “Ok, anything else?”
“Yep,
hang on.” said Andrew. He reached back
into his locker and pulled out two leather caps with goggles on them. He handed one to Talia and kept the other for
himself. “You don’t need to wear the
hat, but you will need the goggles if we get into any kind of situation where
the Tesla’s are used.”
“Got
it” said Talia as took the goggles off of the cap and then slid them around her
neck while Andrew pulled his cap onto his head and adjusted his goggles so they
sat on his forehead. When that was done,
he took Talia’s hands in his own, and they both bowed their heads to pray for
safety for their girls and the crew of the Renegade, wisdom to help them find
the girls, peace for the entire situation.
When
they were done, Andrew opened the hatch to let them both out. “Now we go up to the Combat Information
Center and see what’s going on.”
“Is
that where you are during your raids?”
Andrew
answered, “No, typically I’m on the main Tesla Deck with Smoke Cooper keeping
an eye on the Ventral and Main Deck gunners.
I do hang out in the CIC prior to the actual raids, it’s the best place
to be so I can know what’s going on.”
Andrew
started to take her back towards the Plunder and Lightening when they both felt
the Renegade bank hard and the speed increase.
Glancing back at Talia, he took her hand and said, “Here’s hoping that’s
a good sign”, then he led her back down a level and then forward of the
P&L. They came to a hatch guarded by
a member of the Bold Air Hussars, who upon recognizing Andrew opened the hatch
to let them inside. Inside they found
Jerri with some of her intel team, Platoon Sergeant Kim, Top from the Glider
Zouaves, Turbo, and Smoke Cooper, along with XO. Everyone acknowledged their entry; XO spoke
first. “Deuce, tell Redleg and Talia
what your people found out.”
Jerri
took a long drink form a wine goblet and then looked at Andrew and Talia. “We’ve been having a hard time getting any
information about the van, it seemed to just disappear. Then we got a call from one of our contacts
who’s stationed in the port of Greenock on the west coast of Scotland. He got us pictures of a Mercedes Van with a
license plate that starts with CP18, and he reports that it’s parked next to a Dromedary-class airship that belongs to an
outfit called ‘I.G. Deal Imports Inc’, based in Miami, and it’s currently
taking on cargo for a midnight departure to the US. We’re still trying to hack into the vehicle’s
onboard GPS, but unless someone else gets a better sighting, we’re assuming
this is them.”
XO took
a drink from a tumbler and then continued the update. “Based on this new info I ordered the course
change. It makes sense that they would
want to get out of the country as fast as possible. Renting their vehicles from Wales is a classic
case of misdirection that I could almost admire if I wasn’t ready to kill them
for taking your girls. We should be
there in about an hour, maybe less.
We’re going to come in from the west, sending in the Glider Zouaves
first to do a covert infiltration and rapid seizure of the ship. The Bold Air Hussars will be in
reserve.” He then picked up his tumbler
again, waved towards Top, and then took another drink.
Top was
holding a bottle of beer from a local brewery that some members of the Renegade
had a stake in. “Squads 1 & 2 will
come down on the loading area to secure the perimeter and make entry at the
cargo hatch.” He paused to take a drink and then he continued. “Squad 3 will land on top of the cargo
airship and make their way inside from there, except for their sniper team
which is going to drop onto the building where the spotter is right now so they
can do some overwatch.” Another
drink. “Once we’ve secured your daughters,
we’ll see if the cargo is worth looting and finish securing the airship for
future ransoming.”
Andrew
looked up “Tesla’s set to disrupt electronics and engines?”
XO took
another drink and then he nodded.
“Yep. Also, the Parasites will be
ready to launch but we won’t deploy unless we need to. No reason to spook the locals any more than
they already will be. As the Zouaves
make entry, we’re going to broadcast a message on GUARD letting everyone know
that we’re conducting an anti-slavery operation on behalf of the Dutchy of
Luxemburg, in accordance with our Letter of Marque. We may need to spread around some coin
after the fact, but it won’t be anything out of the ordinary for us. Other than that, this should be easy, but
these characters have already surprised us a couple of times today, so everyone
be on your toes.”
With
that, Captain XO finished his drink and then looked around the room. “Anything else or any questions?” Another drink appeared next to his hand, and
Loggie asked “Yes Sir, when do you want the mortars to light stuff up?”
“Probably
never, and definitely not without direct orders” said XO as he picked up the
new drink. “And I mean that, I don’t
care how many drinks you bring me.” XO
then took a drink, after which he held up the glass and toasted Loggie. “But if I was susceptible to bribes this might
do it.”
“I’m
shocked that you would accuse me of trying to bribe you” replied Loggie as
indignantly as he could. “I would never
resort to such a tactic, in fact it’s a baseless lie. Why am I getting all of this abuse and
hostility?”
Andrew replied
matter of factly, “Because your WP rounds burned down the London docks, which
included the Muskovy Yacht that we were about to hijack, meaning we were unable
to ransom it back to the owner, and a number of crew received burns in the
process.” He turned to look at Talia
“All covered by the Letter or Marque of course.” She nodded and gave a smirk, “Of course.”
Loggie
threw up his hands in frustration. “That
was months ago. This is unfair. I’m going to file a grievance with the
pirates union representative.”
“Good
luck with that, I know the Union President” said XO. “Ok, anyone else?” He looked around and saw Talia with a hand
raised. “Yes Ma’am, you have a
question?”
“More
of a comment, but did you all notice that ‘I.G. Deal’ is an anagram for
‘Gilead’?” Talia looked around at all
the faces that were now trading looks with each other and contemplating her
statement. Several “ums” and “ahs” could
be heard when XO finally blurted out “AARGH…Deuce! How did you miss that?” Andrew then turned to his wife, a wide smile
on his face, “Good one babe.” He leaned
over and kissed her and then looked back at Jerri and her team as they were now
furiously pounding away at their keyboards.
One of
the analysts turned their laptop towards Jerri, who then said “Give the lady a
prize. I.G. Deal is a shell corporation
for Gilead. Not the most complicated set
up we’ve ever seen, but enough that it didn’t trip our normal filters.”
“Fair
enough. Get all you can on them and see
if you can dig up any others” said XO.
“Top, assume the whole ship is now hostile and not just
cooperating.”
“Always,
but I’ll give everyone a final brief before we go, which I need to go and do
now so I can get my pre-combat inspection in.”
“Go, we
should be about 15 minutes out.” said XO, and Top was out the door, followed by
PSG Kim. Andrew and Smoke Cooper headed
out as well, with Talia right behind them.
“How
much bacon is on?” asked Andrew.
“One
pound per Tesla, changeover is in,” Smoke checked his watch, “3 minutes, then another
pound goes on.”
Andrew
nodded. “That should work considering
the current timetable we’re on.” He then
looked over at Talia who was shaking her head in disbelief. “Hey, the crew likes it and the grease makes
a great lubricant for the Tesla mounts.
Win-win.”
Talia
looked at the two of them. “Did you two
come up with this idea when we were at Carson?”
“Oh
yeah, we even experimented some” replied Cooper. “We just couldn’t do any full-scale
production due to ‘health code’ factors and some other silly stuff like that.”
Talia
rolled her eyes. “Well that’s
comforting. Do I get any of this bacon?”
“Absolutely”
said Andrew. “You can stick with us as
we check out the turrets on this deck before we go to General Quarters.” With that, Andrew took her and started
walking forward. “Smoke, check the upper
deck mounts. Make sure Badger isn’t
torturing anyone up there, then meet me on the main deck.”
Smoke
Cooper through Andrew a salute that would give a Sergeant Major an aneurysm,
snarled “AARRGGHH!”, and then went looking for a ladder to head up to the
Crow’s Nest while Andrew and Talia headed towards the ventral tesla turrets.
When
Smoke got up to the Crow’s Nest, he found just what he expected to find, or
mostly. Two Tesla crews, and Badger with
his group of ner-do-wells, which is saying something for an air pirate
crew. Badger had responsibility for a
rail gun, a mini-gun, and the ‘t-shirt cannon’, which could fire t-shirts but
typically was used to lob oversized grenades or lewisite bombs at worthy
targets. The t-shirt cannon and mini gun
were pretty straightforward weapons as far as operation and maintenance were
concerned, but the rail gun was experimental.
Captain XO said it was acquired during an early raid shortly after he
started his second career with the Renegade, but he never gave any more details
than that. Since no one ever saw an
instruction manual for it, operation of the rail gun was voluntary. Badger was crazy enough to run the rail gun
without a second thought, and that normally attracted a few other likeminded
individuals among the crew and interns.
What Smoke was not expecting was to find the Armorer up in the Crow’s
Nest as well.
“Ok
Badger” Cooper said with a scowl, “what did you break this time?”
Badger
smiled and held up his hands. “Hey, It’s
not my fault that the flux capacitor won’t draw the 1.2 gigawatts needed to
fire the rail gun, it completely broke on its own.” Cooper just kept scowling since he had no
desire to let Badger know that he found that particular line pretty funny. From just under the rail gun mount, Bajan
Yoda, the Armorer, remarked “Stop trying to say this thing runs on Lightening,
it’s not a Tesla.”
“Tesla’s
don’t run on Lightening either Bajan, I should know” growled Cooper. He and Bajan could go around and round about
how the Tesla’s worked. Cooper had the
know-how from being the Master Gunner for the test unit that Redleg used to
command, while Bajan was one of the smartest armorers that Cooper had ever met,
not that Cooper was ever going to admit that in front of witnesses, especially
Badger. “So, what are you doing if it’s
not fixing the non-existent flux capacity inside the rail gun?”
“I’m
troubleshooting a power problem with the automatic feed mechanism for the rail
gun. They can still load it manually,
but I’m starting to think our latest jury-rig isn’t working out quite
right.” Bajan looked up from his
work. “It should be good to go when we
hit our target, but just in case I’m going to hang around up here to keep an
eye on things.”
Cooper
thought about that, probably wouldn’t hurt.
“Ok, keep working and let me know when you’re done. If we need you, I’ll know where to find you.” He got a wave from Bajan, then he turned to
Badger. “What about the mini?” Badger looked at the mini gun and ran a hand
along it. “No issues. Ammo and power feeds are both synched
up. If anything unfriendly flies near
us, it won’t fly away. I’ve got a couple
of the Professor’s interns to keep the rest of us company and to teach them the
proper way to hose done an engagement area.”
He turned back to Cooper and started rubbing his hands together. “I can’t wait, hehehehehe.”
Cooper
shook his head, typical Badger. Then he
looked at the interns and asked, “You both aware that Badger has a bad
reputation, even for this crew?” The two
interns looked at each other, then back at Cooper. “Of course we do, we volunteered to be up
here” said the female of the pair. Her
male counterpart just nodded his head and grinned. “Alright.”
On that note he went over to check on the Tesla crews.
*****
After
checking all of the gunnery crews, primarily to make sure they had stopped
drinking, but also to verify Grapple Guns were loaded and safe and the Tesla’s
were set to disrupt ground electronics, Andrew, Talia, and Smoke Cooper met
back up on the main gun deck near the forward turret. About that time the order came over the
intercom; “Glider Zouaves, Launch”.
Andrew and Smoke Cooper looked off to the starboard side; Andrew
remarked “There they go.”
Talia
looked in the same direction but didn’t see anything except the lights of the
port in the distance. “Where?” she
said. Then she looked at the two of them
and jumped in fright. Both of them had
their goggles down, and the addition of the steam punkish look to their faces
was just one more stressor for the day that Talia wasn’t prepared for.
“Oh,
sorry Talia,” said Andrew. “Put on your
goggles and I’ll point them out.”
Talia
reached to the goggles hanging from her neck and started to pull them into
place, but then stopped. A hand went
into a pocket to pull out a hair tie, which she used to put her hair up into a
quick ponytail. Then she pulled up the
goggles and adjusted them onto her face, discovering in the process that these
had some light amplification ability as everything turned green. Then she turned in the direction Andrew was
pointing and saw a lot of winged shapes moving away from the Renegade, towards
a distant group of lights where she also saw some grounded airships.
“Well
that’s cool” she said. “Airships are
pretty commonplace, but I’ve never seen a flock of gliders moving
together. So now what do we do?”
“Hopefully
we stand here and watch” replied Andrew.
“Once their inside we’ll be ready to zap any electronics if needed. Captain XO’s announcement about our raid
should be going through about the time they touch down.”
Talia
nodded, still fascinated by the Gliders and how the goggles worked. Ok, maybe her husband’s job had some pretty
cool perks after all.
*****
Back in
the CIC, Jerri kept a line open to her observer. This guy was definitely getting a bonus if
she had to pay it out of her own funds.
His voice coming over the speaker again saying “Ok, there’s movement at
the van, people are getting out. Their
walking around to the back and opening it up…doing something…not sure
what. Ok, now they’re moving towards the
open cargo hatch of the Dromedary.
Bingo, now six people, and two of them are wearing dresses.” At that news, a collective ‘YES’ went through
the CIC, and Jerri reached for an intercom as they continued to listen. “The other four are definitely escorting the
two in dresses, stand by for pictures…Ok, got the pic, I’ll send it gkskgah…”
Everyone
looked up at that sound and listened as the line went dead. “What was that?” said one of the analysts.
“Someone
just got to our spotter, probably killed him” said Jerri. She grabbed the intercom and keyed in the
bridge. “Captain XO, our spotter
confirmed the presence of the girls being taken into the target airship, then
he dropped off the air. It sounded like
someone killed him.”
“Roger”
XO replied, then he keyed a radio.
“Glider Zouaves, spotter is down, LZ may be hot.”
Up in
the lead glider, Top heard the news and quickly adjusted part of the plan. “Sniper 3, you are weapons free for any
perceived threat at your overwatch location.”
“Sniper
3, acknowledged.” With that the
two-member sniper team switched on the targeting sights that were integrated
with their gliders. There, on the
rooftop, two figures. One was dropping
the other out of a grip, a heavy bladed knife evident in its hands. The lead sniper adjusted the sight to zoom in
on the head of the one still standing, then she squeezed a lever on the
crossbar of her glider, which triggered the 7mm sniper system that was also
integrated into her glider. She watched
as her target’s head snapped backwards, then it fell. “Sniper 3, target down, 10 seconds to
landing.”
Top
double-keyed his radio to acknowledge.
15 seconds later he heard “Sniper 3 in position, no visible
threats. We have two bodies on the roof,
one is the target we took down, the other is our target’s victim”. Top pulled back on the glider bar and dived
down to the dock, knowing everyone else was headed in as well. Another 15 seconds and his platoon started to
land, drop their gliders, and take up quick positions before they made
entry. He heard 3rd Squad
report landing on top of the airship, and then there was no more time to
wait. He looked at the 1st
Squad leader, made a fist, and then pointed at the open door. The squad leader took off with his squad,
securing the door and moving inside. The
sounds of gunfire started right way, as did an alarm. Top keyed his radio “Renegade, they know
we’re here” then he moved inside with the rest of the Zouaves.
Hearing
Top’s report, Andrew took his wife’s hand, and then keyed the gunnery
intercom. “Tesla gunners, sound off if
you have a positive ID on any antennas, engines, or other electronics.” Immediately he heard “This is Puff, I’ve got
antennas at the nose of the airship. No
friendlies in sight.” Andrew smiled then
replied, “Slag them.”
The
forward ventral tesla lit up the night as a charge arced away from the
Renegade, impacting the nose of the Dromedary-class airship. It lasted long enough to ensure no radio
message would get out without full replacement.
Seconds later, the starboard ventral and both starboard main deck teslas
fired, their targets were the engines that were just coming into view.
“They’re
not going anywhere” opined Andrew. He
squeezed his wife’s hand just as he heard the Captain XO initiate the warning
to all in the port about the Renegade’s intentions.
“ATTENTION! ATTENTION!
In accordance with the anti-slavery policies of the Duchy of Luxemburg,
the Airship Renegade is conducting an anti-slavery operation. Our only interest is the Dromedary-class
airship and the safe return of the captives aboard. If you do not interfere, then we will not
consider your actions to be hostile.”