Gwen looked at the map and said, "This is likely just a staging area."
"What is that?" I asked.
"It's someplace close to your enemy that is safe. You don't need to transport people and equipment from your home base if you have someplace closer and secure that you can launch your attack from."
"So we still don't know where the jeebees come from. Just where they have made their home away from home."
"You got it."
"That's wonderful."
Lieutenant Mills said, "What if we come in from the West in the morning so our shadow is behind us?"
Captain Plumer said, "While it's a good idea, this ship does not blend into the sky like the Constellation and it means the pilots would be flying into the glare of the sun."
Gwen said, "We should prioritise targets. Destroy the lightning device, remove the sentries, and drop almost everyone off at this entrance to drive them out the other one where we will be waiting for them with both our big guns."
I said, "That sounds like a good plan as long as you don't mind walking home. The first jeebee coming out of that entrance will have a target it can't miss. I prefer to have my airship someplace relatively safe when the shooting begins."
The Sergeant said, "You have marked two entrances. I think we should go in both. The Lieutenants can take me and my soldiers to that one and wait 15 minutes. The rest of you could go in this one and proceed as quiet as possible. Hopefully we can get all the jeebees caught between us by attacking at the same time."
I said, "That sounds like the best one so far. I'm open to any other ideas. Also, unlike some officers that I've read about, I won't mind changing tactics if we find one isn't working out so well for us."
I continued, "It's been a long day for all of us. Let's get some rest. Sergeant! There's not enough beds for everyone and it's cold outside. Keep the stairs and walkways clear. Set up some watches and I expect breakfast ready for me at sunrise. The rest is up to you... Gwen, you can sleep in here again if you'd like."
• February 16
Gwen said, "I haven't slept with one of my grandmothers for a long time. I remember that my grandpa had gone duck hunting and it was just the two of us in the house. There was a terrible thunderstorm and she let me crawl under the covers with her."
I said, "That's touching, but don't get used to it. 'Tis almost time for us to go hunting."
Luckily for us, gas stoves don't create huge amounts of smoke so we could have a hot meal. Most of the men had found something around to sit on, but someone had set out a table and chairs for those I considered as my command staff. It was relatively peaceful. I wondered if it was always like this when one went to war.
The Sergeant was talking with Gwen. He said. "The Major said you rescue kidnapped people and hostages. That is a noble profession."
"Thank you. I like to think that I make the world safer for ordinary people."
"You also have a most unique uniform. I've never seen anything like it."
"This suit is designed to protect me. It is a special fabric with a unique weave. Your guns and rifles might give me a bruise. Weapons like my pistol will leave a burn. I didn't feel anything when the jeebees shot me. In addition, the helmet is supposed to withstand most bullets, but I don't want to test that claim."
"Do you get shot often?"
"Of course, I get hit. When your opposition has weapons that fire over 100 rounds per minute, it's hard to avoid. I really try to avoid it though. I prefer to get in and get out without them knowing I was even there."
Captain Plumer joined us. I said, "Good morning, Captain. What weapons do your men have?"
He said, "Those pirates looted everything they could from the remains of my ship, especially the rifles and cannons"
I said, "You do know that I ruined their cannons?"
"They did mention that when they saw your airship. I had heard the tale before, but hadn't put all the pieces together."
"I have boxes of ammunition, but no extra guns or rifles. Do your men know how to work a Gatling gun?"
"We know how they work, but we have never fired one."
"Find a soldier who has and tell him I said to train your men. Please do not put any holes in my ship. The last ones took a week to repair."
"Yes, Major. By the way, I've never known a woman who got herself into more trouble than you. "
"I think the line goes 'They started it', right?"
"Are you going to finish it?"
"I will be among the first to celebrate once it ends."
I sat at the table, watching the sailors learning about the Gatling gun. I was also trying to decide when to attack the jeebees. The soldiers were also watching; staying far away as if afraid the sailors were going to shoot them.
Bradan sounded his steam whistle. His display read:
FLYING AT 3000 YARDS
I motioned for him to stop the whistling and I heard the sounds of those cannons. I looked at the sky and saw the jeebees flying at us. I called to Captain Plumer. "The jeebees are delivering weapons for your men. Now is your chance to try out the Gatling gun in battle."
He looked at me and smiled.
I started giving orders, "Have your men get it on the other side of the Clover and bring those jeebees down. Lieutenants! Split up your men into two squads and deal with any you find on this side. Gwen! Run to my stateroom and bring back my rifle; the shiny one. Bradan! Please bring me a case of rifle cartridges. I'll be looking for a good spot away from my ship."
It took a minute to move the Gatling gun and other one before the man firing it found how close the flying jeebees needed to be before he could hit them. We had plenty of bullets though and the sailors made sure he didn't run out.
Most of the jeebees fell within 100 yards of the gun, but every so often, one would go flying over the Clover and come into range of the soldiers on that side. If the jeebees had thought to carry something on fire, we could have lost our ride home.
As I expected, this was not the only ones they had sent. This was more of a diversion. I thought of it more like practice. Bradan tapped me on the shoulder to tell me that hundreds were advancing from the West.
We were prepared and since our rifles fired further than their pistols, they didn't come close. They had shields but we fired at them from different directions and they couldn't protect themselves and fire at us at the same time. I heard the Gatling gun firing and figured they tried to come at us from both sides at once. I wasn't sure but suspected their shields didn't stop its bullets.
When the battle was over, the jeebees were all on the ground and we had a few men with burns. The sailors went among the jeebees to take their rifles and Bradan gathered the bodies for burial.
I went over to Bradan. "I'm sorry, but we don't have time for you to bury them now. I promise we'll be back."
I called out, "Get the Gatling gun back inside. We are taking off as soon as everyone is aboard."
I saw Gwen and said, "I am taking your advice."
"Does that mean you are going to act like a real officer and stay somewhere safe while the men fight?"
"No, it means the four of us are going up to the firing platform and make it safe for the Clover to get close to them."
We got aboard quickly with only a few men injured by rolling the Gatling gun over their feet. I took a quick count of my men before ordering the pilots to take us up.
I said, "Sergeant. It gets very loud when we fire the cannon. We need you to relay orders from the top of the stairs."
I told Ethan to take us up to 2,000 feet and go as fast as we could for seven miles. At that time, slow down and give me all the power we have for the cannon.
I wanted Lieutenant Reed on the controls and Lieutenant Mills helping me fire, but they said I had that backwards. So, I sent Lieutenant Reed to get two dozen shells, twelve of each kind. Lieutenant Mills and Gwen prepared the gun.
I asked Gwen, "Could you be my spotter and use the telescope to find targets."
She re
plied, "I don't need that old thing."
"You aren't going to tell me you can see like a hawk, are you?"
She said, "No, I have this instead," and pointed to her helmet. "I can see at two miles what you see at 100 feet."
"Maybe you should be doing the firing then."
"I can't see through the sights and see the target at the same time. It is better that you are the gunner."
"Then as soon as we slow to a crawl, find me things to shoot. Tell us whether to use mortars or darts as well."
The first target she saw was a lone jeebee; likely a sentry. One dart was all it took. It may have reported we were coming, but they had to have known that already. Gwen spotted a variety of shiny things which I turned into shiny scraps with the mortars. She spotted six jeebees in a group and suggested I aim a mortar at their feet to create more shrapnel. That didn't work. I had to wait for the gun to charge up again and then I put six darts into six jeebees.
I shot several other minor targets before we came upon what had ignited the Constellation. Gwen confirmed it matched my description of Felix's device. She also spotted a jeebee commander at its controls. I asked for a mortar and shot the jeebee with it. Unfortunately, the device was running. I called to the Sergeant that we needed to drop at least 500 feet and we needed to do it now.
I took a step back and said, "I can't shoot the device until it is shut down properly. Any suggestions?"
No-one said anything for a minute.
Gwen volunteered, "Get us in close enough for me to slide down the mooring line to that ledge. I am sure that I can turn off the device."
I asked, "What about when you are done?"
"I climb back up and you blow it into little pieces."
Surprisingly, it was as easy to accomplish as she said. I gasped when she jumped out and grabbed the line as she fell and I couldn't look as she climbed up and swung back inside.
I told her, "Please don't do that again." I asked Lieutenant Reed to load four mortars and I used them to destroy the device once we moved away from it.
With no other obstacles, we dropped the soldiers at the large cave mouth. The rest of us were dropped off at the small one. I made sure we had the Very pistol before telling the pilots to get to a safe height and wait for a signal. If we didn't signal, they should pick us up the next morning with breakfast ready. I don't know why no-one laughs at my jokes.
The sailors insisted on going first. I was going to say that Bradan and I should go first to spot jeebees, but if he could sense them at the front of our small group, he could sense them at the rear too.
It was pretty easy going. Bradan would sense a few and the sailors would advance quietly and shoot them with the rifles they had picked up. Gwen would make sure they were dead by stepping on their heads. Those heels on her boots were nasty. She said they weren't called stiletto for nothing. Bradan indicated six jeebees in front of us and three in a side tunnel.
I said softly, "The sailors should continue forward, Bradan and I will check the side tunnel, and Gwen should remain here so we don't get lost."
Gwen started to protest. I smiled at her and said, "Be a good girl and I'll treat you to sweets later."
This tunnel was not naturally formed. Its walls and floor were smooth and rounded at the top. I looked to Bradan and asked, "How far away are these three?"
200 YARDS
I could see the blue-white light that I first saw that night years ago far down the tunnel. We were about halfway to them when the tunnel lit up as bright as outside. When my eyes adjusted, I could see three jeebees working some strange-looking device with massive coils of wire arranged to intersect each other in all directions. I shot at them with my rifle, but the bullets impacted on some kind of clear shield placed between us.
Suddenly, I felt dizzy. Not the normal kind that I've grown accustomed to lately. It was like I was looking straight down into a grey bottomless pit with nothing to hold onto. All I could hear was a buzzing noise. I felt like I was spinning in all directions, but not falling into the pit. I was getting nauseous. Suddenly, I felt okay again.
Bradan had placed himself between me and the jeebees. Whatever weapon they had, he was big enough to completely block it. He turned around in place so I could see his display. Then his legs went out straight and he fell to the ground.
YOU MUST RUN AWAY
"I won't leave without you."
I MUST REMAIN HERE
"But why?"
ALL HERE WILL DIE
I smelled something burning. Normally Bradan just smells of grease. Then I noticed spots were turning bright orange on his underbelly.
"There must be something I can do."
YOU MUST SURVIVE
"You are my best friend. I will always remember you."
GOODBYE MY FRIEND
I ran away from him as fast as I could, but didn't get far. It wasn't a loud explosion by itself, but the tunnel echoed it mercilessly. I felt pieces of metal cutting into my back as I was forced to the ground by the shock wave.
I sat up and mourned the loss of a friend. I couldn't bear to watch him burn up. Without him, I was lost. I couldn't stop crying. I had no idea how much I really cared about him. I had pets when I was younger who hadn't made me feel this sad when they died. It was a fact of life that animals die. Bradan should have been with me for the rest of my life.
Gwen ran up with her helmet on. I could barely hear her. "We need to get out of here. This area is seriously radioactive."
I looked up at her, speechless. She must have realised I was in shock as she lifted me up and helped me back the way she had come. When we rejoined the sailors, she removed her helmet and asked, "What happened back there? We all felt dizzy and then there was an explosion."
"They had a new weapon and it killed him."
"I'm sorry. If I had only known..."
"You couldn't have stopped it. He died to save us."
"We must hurry. We are running out of time."
"I don't think I can go on. My back feels like it has been sliced into thin strips."
"I won't say that it looks okay, but you aren't mortally wounded. You need to have the metal fragments removed before you get radiation poisoning though."
"That's twice you mentioned radiation. What is it?"
She replied, "In the right hands, it keeps the world running. In the wrong ones, it destroys cities. You can ask your cousin about it when we get back."
She addressed the sailors, "Do we have a medic here?"
One man said, "We have the kit from the Clover with us, but we aren't trained for a situation like this."
She said, "Okay, I will do my best." She took the kit and found something that looked like tweezers, only much cruder. "Look what they put into the survival kit; Scotch Whiskey. It's almost pure alcohol and will probably hurt... a lot." She opened it and poured some on my back. She sang a little ditty as she worked:
5 bits of shrapnel pulled out
5 pieces of steel
grab one today
toss it away
6 pieces of shrapnel all gone[xii]
I screamed and I cried until I passed out. That probably made it easier for Gwen to work. When I revived, I was laying on my stomach and Gwen was holding my hand. I looked around and we were by ourselves.
"I sent the men on. If the army was punctual, there should be a full-scale battle going on in the centre of this mountain. How do you feel?"
"Why do people ask me what they already know?"
"Because we care about you."
"A jeebee commander once accused me of asking questions that I knew the answer to. I lied to it so it would keep talking."
"I'm not lying to you, and I know you are in pain. I am hoping it's not as bad now."
"I feel a tiny bit better than before. Now my back only feels like someone ran a cheese grater down it."
"If you feel well enough to walk, we can see how the battle is progressing."
"What happened to the three jeebees down that tunnel?
"
"They were blown to pieces along with their device. The bulletproof glass kept your bullets out but couldn't handle the force when your automaton exploded."
"Did you say 'bulletproof glass'? I don't think that can exist."
"We call it that, but it's really other things mixed with the glass."
"I didn't come this far to miss the ending... Can you give me a hand up, or two?"
She stood first and let me pull myself up. It was a long walk and I was moving fairly slow. We encountered nothing hostile until we reached the centre.
The cavern was enormous. On the far wall, the jeebees had installed all of their equipment. I recognised some of it, but not everything. In the centre of the cavern were about a hundred jeebees with their weapons at their feet. They were surrounded by soldiers and sailors with their rifles and pistols drawn.
Off to the right side, I saw Captain Plumer talking to a green jeebee. He noticed us and sent a man to bring us to him.
The man said, "The jeebee says it wants to surrender to our officer, but it won't talk to any of us."
"It will talk to me. They've always thought I was an officer."
I looked at Gwen, "Would you please run and shut off all their devices? I don't want any more surprises today."
I tried to walk as if I was okay and hoped I could fool it. I addressed the Captain, "Go and tell your men to watch the jeebees carefully. They can use their legs like we use our arms and those rifles are too close to make me feel comfortable."
I moved as close to it as I dared. I wanted to speak to it privately, but there was no chance of that. I would have to be satisfied with talking quietly.
It spoke first. "I wish to negotiate our surrender with you."
I asked it where the people were that they had abducted. It told me, without a hint of pride, glee, or malice. It calmly explained what they had done with the people and animals they had taken. I now knew the answer to the biggest mystery of the decade... and wished I didn't.
Then it talked about all the good things that they could do. There was mention of how the planet could still be saved from man's mistakes. It talked about starvation, overpopulation, mining, and deforestation.
Fianna Kelly Versus the Jeebees: A Collection of Steampunk Stories Page 25