by Mark C. King
“And the crew?”
“I guess some might make it but most won’t. Who cares?”
“What? No! I can’t allow it.”
“Wait? Isn’t this why you are here?” It was Jeremiah’s turn to be confused.
“I came here to disable the main gun so that the RAF can bring her down. I did not come to kill.”
“What do you think the RAF is going to do? Fly up and ask politely that they land? You can’t have one without the other.”
“Once Grimkraken sees that he is outgunned, he will surrender,” pleaded Sigmund. “He is not the kind of person that ‘goes down with the ship’. I’ve met him, he is arrogant and will not likely give his life for any of this. We have to try to disable the cannon before trying to just destroy the ship and kill all these people!”
“Look, what you are asking, taking down the main gun, it is possible. They aren’t expecting any rebels to be onboard. But this,” he pointed at the crates, “is so much easier.”
Sigmund did not relish the idea of fighting his way into the gun room. But he would rather try that than destroy the ship and all onboard. He flashed back to the deaths he saw at the factory battle and couldn’t bring himself to be directly at fault for more deaths. He didn’t say to Jeremiah that the destruction of the ship could also mean the destruction of the cubes; he wasn’t ready to give up on letting the cubes survive and giving his niece a chance at walking.
“How about this,” Sigmund said in a reasoning tone, “you set the timer for a long time. Give us an opportunity to take out the gun. If we fail, then the cube activates and destroys the ship. If we succeed, we have time to turn it off and let the RAF do their thing. Either way, we win.”
Jeremiah sighed and shook his head. “You do realize how many people have been killed because of Grimkraken and his men?”
“I do. I’ve seen many of them die firsthand. Grimkraken and his men need to be brought to justice. I’m just not ready to be the executioner.”
Dropping his shoulders in defeat, Jeremiah said, “Alright, we’ll do it your way.” He hefted the gun he took off one of the guards and said, “If we get in a tight spot, I’ll use this. I have no qualms about being the executioner.”
Sigmund didn’t like this partnership much but he gritted his teeth and said, “Set the timer.”
Jeremiah examined the crate and then looked around the room. He found a crowbar quickly and went to work on opening the wood container. A minute later it was open and Jeremiah was working on some part of it. Sigmund stayed near the door listening for anyone that might discover them. Another minute and Jeremiah stood up and said, “Done.”
“How long?”
“Ninety minutes. If we are going to succeed in taking out the cannon, it will take much less time than that.”
Sigmund nodded and looked at his watch, 9:30 pm, they had until 11:00 pm to get back here. “You can get us to the Gauss cannon?”
“Yes, I know where it is but I have never been in the gun room. Not sure what we’ll find in there.”
“One thing at a time. Lead on, coal man.”
As they made their way to the Gauss gun they didn’t pass many people. At this hour the crew were either on watch duty – searching for any RAF dirigibles – or in their bunks. Still, Sigmund never had his hand very far from his gun.
After passing through countless hatches Jeremiah finally stopped and indicated the next hatch, “The next hallway leads to the gun room entrance so there will probably be a guard. You ready with the knock-out juice you have there?”
Sigmund pulled the gun from his holster and nodded.
“Stand behind me so he doesn’t see the gun. I’ll do the talking until we’re close enough for you to blast him.” Jeremiah opened the hatch and walked through. The other side was another metal lined hallway, only one door on either side, and at the end of the hall was a man with a large, intimidating six barreled rifle that stood in front of the far door.
Sigmund, trailing behind Jeremiah, whispered, “What kind of gun is that?”
Jeremiah shook his head and then spoke to Sigmund loud enough for the guard to hear, “If I find out who broke the mechanism, I’m gonna tie him to one of the propellers.” They kept walking towards the guard. “I mean, I was in my bunk having this great dream. Why couldn’t it wait until morning?”
Sigmund nodded sympathetically, doing his best to play along. The guard took a step forward, but didn’t point his rifle at them. He said, “You have permission?”
“Permission?” Jeremiah exclaimed. “The mechanism is broke, that’s my permission!”
“I’m sorry, but you need written permission to enter. Grimkraken’s orders.”
Jeremiah turned to Sigmund and said, “You were carrying the permission, right? Give it to him.”
In one quick motion, Sigmund raised the gun and before the guard could react sprayed him in the chin. Jeremiah caught the guard as he fell to the floor. “Go see if one of those rooms are unlocked.”
Sigmund was able to open the first door he tried and found a dark empty room. He helped Jeremiah lay the guard in the corner and they went back to the entrance to the Gauss cannon room. Jeremiah picked up the dropped rifle and displaying it to Sigmund, said, “This is a rotating six-barreled scatter rifle. Not much good from distance but there is nothing better for up-close.”
Sigmund looked at it in awe and terror. It was impressive but he couldn’t imagine how awful it would be to be on the receiving end of it. “We both agree that we’re better off not having to use our guns, right?”
“Right. But there is no harm in being prepared.” Jeremiah then reached out and opened the hatch. They walked in and found themselves in a large room. Along one wall was a massive steam powered machine with tubes and wires coming off of it. The middle of the room contained a large tube – the cannon barrel – with attachments connected to it. There were also windows that allowed views out of the front of the ship. Near one of the windows was a large spyglass, no doubt used for aiming the cannon. There were only two men in the room, one along the wall next to the machine and one near the cannon itself. Sigmund wished they had taken a moment to plan their actions but it was too late now, the men in the room turned to look at them.
Jeremiah immediately rushed towards the man along the wall. Sigmund rushed towards the one near the cannon and was able to spray him before he could run away or attack. Seeing the gunner fall, Sigmund looked over to where the other man was – he was on the ground with a large bruise on his forehead. Sigmund looked over at Jeremiah who said, “I don’t have any ether, but the stock of this rifle works nearly as well I’d say.”
What did Sigmund expect? At least Jeremiah didn’t kill the man and they didn’t make much noise. Jeremiah asked, “So, you know how this all works?”
“I have the basic idea. That large machine is an electricity generator and it sends power to this housing unit next to the cannon.” Sigmund paused, looking over the machines, and then said, “We take out the electricity, we take out the ability to fire this thing. Drag these guys to the spare room while I set up the explosives.”
“Explosives?” Jeremiah cocked his head, “You’ve been holding out on me, Bandit.” He then lifted one of the men by his arms and dragged him out of the room.
Sigmund examined the steam generator and located the pressure tank. He took out the two explosives and placed them on the tank. He watched as Jeremiah took the second unconscious man out of the room and when he returned, Sigmund said, “I’m going to blow the pressure tank. There should be enough pressure released to take out most of this room. So hold the door open and when I run through it, you will want to be right behind me.”
Jeremiah nodded, pulled his goggles over his eyes, and then held the hatch door open.
Sigmund lifted the metal cover flaps exposing the lighting wheels, took a deep breath and then quickly spun one of the lighter wheels and then the next. He wasn’t sure if anything was happening until smoke started to emanate from
each device. Sigmund needed no more proof and started running. He passed through the room hatch and headed for the next one down the hall. He could hear Jeremiah running behind him. Through the next hatch he didn’t stop, he wanted one more between him and the explosion. As he neared the end of the next hallway, hand extended for the hatch release, the ship shook as a deafening sound resonated through the metal hull. Sigmund hit the deck while Jeremiah steadied himself against the hallway wall.
Jeremiah looked down at Sigmund and said, “I think it worked.”
* * *
Aboard the Destroyer Firefly, the lookout yelled, “Sir! Something has happened!”
Falkner stood up, grabbed his spyglass, and headed to the front windows asking, “What do you see?”
“Some sort of explosion out of the front of the ship. It looks like a large release of steam near the main cannon.”
Faulkner looked through his spyglass and saw that there was a cloud of white releasing from near the front of the ship and dissipating into the air. He did it!
“Sir!” Communications Officer Owens said, “I’m getting multiple reports from the other ships that they are also seeing the same thing. Explosion and steam.”
Faulkner lowered his spyglass and smiled grimly. “Send the order to the fleet: Attack!”
“But, sir! We have not seen the signal, what of the flare?”
“I think we’ve seen all the signal we need. Order the attack!”
33.
Christoph Grimkraken was shaken from his sleep – literally – while a thunderous boom rung out. He jumped out of bed, pulled on his pants, and put on a jacket over his sleep shirt. He took a few extra seconds to put on his boots and then exited is cabin. He was only about ten yards from the control room door. As he approached the guard in front of it – looking confused and nervous – the guard stepped aside and let Grimkraken enter.
Stepping through the door, he yelled, “What happened? Report!”
A young man, early twenties, nervously responded, “We’ve had some kind of explosion.”
“Of course we’ve had some kind of explosion! What exploded?” Grimkraken yelled.
“Sir,” a different young man, “I’m receiving no communications from the Gauss cannon crew. Could be that we had a rupture in one of the tanks.”
This was not what Grimkraken wanted to hear. Anything but the Gauss Cannon – it was their biggest advantage. “What is your name?” he asked the second man.
“Thompson, sir.”
“Mr. Thompson, go to the cannon and find out what you can. Now!”
“Yes, sir!”
As the man ran out of the room, Grimkraken sat in the command chair and announced, “All hands to battle stations.”
A moment later an alarm sounded throughout the ship indicating the order. Grimkraken turned his thoughts to the possibilities of the situation. Either there was some sort of mechanical failure or the ship had been sabotaged. There had been no signs of issues prior to this but his crew had also proven their loyalty. Either way, the end result was the same – their main gun was in jeopardy.
“Sir, I have a contact, make that two contacts!”
Grimkraken walked over next to the lookout and grabbed the spyglass from his hands. It only took a moment to see the two ships, destroyers. Not a coincidence then – his ship damaged and the immediate appearance of the RAF. His ship had undoubtedly been sabotaged. Saying to himself as much as his crew, “We still have them outgunned.”
“Another contact, starboard!”
Grimkraken walked back to his seat and was about to give a command when Thompson entered the control room. “Sir, the generator for the Gauss Cannon exploded. We have no way to repair it!”
Grimkraken nodded. It would be an old fashioned fight. “Take your position, Thompson. Contact Shelton and tell him to have his men scour the ship for a traitor. The rest of you, prepare for battle.”
* * *
Jeremiah helped Sigmund to his feet and said, “Follow me, I know a way out.”
“Not yet, I have to signal the fleet.”
“You must be kidding! I’m pretty sure all of London could see that explosion.”
“I can’t take that risk. It’ll only take a moment.”
Knowing that he wouldn’t be able to convince Sigmund, Jeremiah said, “Well, hurry up then.”
The two men ran back to the Gauss cannon room. Inside they found destroyed machinery and metal pieces around the room – everything glistening with moisture from the escaped steam. The front of the room had gaps where the windows were, completely blown out from the explosion.
Sigmund ran to the window, lit the fuse on the flare, and pointed it into the night. A moment later a bright red fireball launched with a hiss. Sigmund watched it for a moment as it arced across the sky.
Jeremiah called out from the door, “Satisfied? Can we get going now?”
Sigmund looked at Jeremiah and confessed, “I’m not going with you.”
“What? There is nothing left to do!”
“I can help the battle. Pretty sure the cannon operators will not be too good at their jobs if they are asleep.” He indicated his gun. “You go deactivate the timer on the cube and get out of here.”
“Sigmund, you’re something else. Look, if you come to your senses, all of the outside hatches have compartments near them with parachute packs.” Jeremiah shook his head. “Farewell, Bomb Bandit. I hope to see you on the ground in one piece.”
“Me too, coal man.”
Jeremiah smiled, turned, and started running.
“Hey!” Sigmund called after him, “How do I get to the cannons?”
Without stopping, Jeremiah yelled out, “One floor down and on either side of the ship.”
Sigmund watched as Jeremiah disappeared through one of the hatches and hoped that he wouldn’t regret not following him.
* * *
Some of London’s citizens awoke when Grimkraken’s generator exploded, the rest of London awoke when the air battle started. Sleepy eyes became wide awake as cannons boomed all across the London sky – sounding like a terrible thunderstorm. Flashes of cannon fire and explosions lit up the horrified faces of those below.
Group Captain Randolph ‘The Falcon’ Faulkner leaned forward in his seat as his mind calculating all options as the battle ensued. Grimkraken’s ship loomed large in the window as he directed the Firefly to steer to the starboard side. His front cannons fired before losing their angle on the ship – Faulkner watched with satisfaction as the shots smashed into the upper port side of the enemy ship.
“Sir,” Thompson called out, “the Cloudburst is down.”
The crew scanned the horizon and saw a fireball in the distance descending rapidly to earth. Faulkner swore under his breath. By the end of the night either Grimkraken would be down, or he would. One way or another, it would end for Faulkner this night.
With his port cannons now exposed, Faulkner ordered a full broadside. The shipped rocked from the percussion. More of the port hull of the enemy ripped open with explosions. Two of its cannons were destroyed and the front port propeller was non-functioning. That left six of the original eight. Faulkner wondered how many needed to be taken out before the huge ship would fall.
Another set of explosions rocked Grimkraken’s ship, the shots fired from some other dirigible. The enemy ship returned fire and an explosion could be seen from another of the RAF’s dirigibles. Its balloon didn’t ignite and the brave ship stayed in the battle.
“Helmsman, steer us near that damaged ship. Let’s take a little heat off of our sister.”
* * *
Grimkraken’s face matched the panic that he saw in the crew around him. The reports that kept coming in were not about enemy ships being downed, but about the loss of cannons, propellers failing, and men dying. He even had a strange report that several cannon crews were evidently knocked out.
For the first time Grimkraken saw his plans falling apart. His healing war, the civilized world he env
isioned would not happen. Once having decided on the outcome of this battle, he rose from his command chair and said, “Keep at them! I’m going to help with the cannons.” He left the room leaving the remaining crew aghast. Their captain had just abandoned them.
He needed to get to the production area. He needed to gather the designs for the cube. He could still make a fortune and perhaps could still have his war in time. It took five minutes to reach his destination. He fell a few times along the way as the ship rocked with explosions. He took the design papers out of a locked wooden filling cabinet and placed them in a duffle bag that he found in the room. Running through the door he headed starboard towards one of the escape hatches.