Chapter 11

Their hour of respite had passed, as it always did, in the blink of an eye.  The main engines were down and the secondary engines were running the show.  Quincy and a small squad of mechanics were flittering about down in the engine room like bees, doing things that Levi didn’t really understand.  He was very glad someone did, though.  Instead, he had positioned himself out on the deck, a scope in his hand.  He, too, had been trained in such things, after all, and he felt useless just sitting about while the crew worked.  So he spent his time calculating as best he could the distance between the two vessels.

The Iron Dove had started with a good lead; Simon’s guesses hadn’t been far off.  When they killed the primary engines, they were about an hour ahead.  But the secondary engines simply weren’t built to move the vessel efficiently under battlefield conditions.  On the warships they had been, of course, but Simon had removed those to increase cargo capacity.  While the Mercury chasing them was quite a bit larger, it was still able to steadily close the gap.  Though he didn’t say it out loud, Levi was fairly sure they wouldn’t get the main engines back online in time.

“Levi, what’s up,” Simon called as he walked from machine gun to machine gun, making sure his men were all in position and ready to go.

“Ten miles out, give or take.  We’re back where we started.  I’d say fifteen minutes before we’re in weapons range.  If they have anything bigger than a three-incher, we’ll be hearing it soon.”

“Hopefully not, then.”

“Ah, I got something else,” Levi said as he looked back down range.  “Runners coming up off the Mercury.  They’ll be trying to board, then.  They’re not advancing, though.  They’ll wait to do that once they have fire support.  Not good.”

“No it isn’t.”

“May I make a suggestion?  Arm the rest of your men.”

Suddenly a shell burst a few hundred yards back behind the airship, the sound of the shot following a moment later.  They were just taking potshots, with no real accuracy to speak of.  They had some time yet, then, before they started falling on target.  Levi simply looked down at Simon, who nodded then called out to his men.

Levi had to admit that Simon’s small arms collection was rather impressive.  It rivaled that of anything he had ever seen on a military ship, anyway.  There were a variety of rifles, both semi-automatic and bolt-action, as well as pistols, shotguns, and even a few grenade launchers.  Levi didn’t want to think about how desperate you’d have to be to make one of those effective on your own deck during defense.  He quickly checked the pistol on his hip, making sure he had enough bullets, and then grabbed both a shotgun and a Springfield rifle; a weapon that felt almost as comfortable in his hands as his pistol.

He looked around and saw Hank standing off to the side, staring at all the weapons.  It appeared as though the danger of the situation had finally dawned upon him.  Levi, however, didn’t have time to cheer the boy up.

“Hank, take this,” he said, handing him the shotgun and a small bag of shells.  “This’ll give you a full reload though you shouldn’t need it if you make your shots count.  You have your revolver, yes?”  Hank nodded.  “Good.  Start with the shotgun and go to the pistol if you run empty.  Only reload if you know you’ve got the time, otherwise just switch weapons.”

“Where on the deck should I go?”

“You’re not going to be on the deck.  I need you through that door and down the hall,” Levi said, pointing to the only door off the deck and into the ship proper.  “Your task will be to protect Abigail at all costs.  That’s what we’re here for, after all.”

“What about Quincy?”

“They’re already taking some weapons down to the mechanics.  They’ll be able to hold their own but it definitely shouldn’t come to that.”  As he spoke, he checked the mechanisms of his rifle.  It was the Air Service variety, with an extended magazine holding twenty-five rounds and a shortened barrel.  This had been the weapon in his hands almost every time his airship had boarded or been boarded by another.  The powerful bullets would do the job, he knew.  Though it lacked accuracy at range, that was rarely a problem encountered during a boarding.  He then looked back to Hank.  “Do you understand?  You do not leave Abigail no matter what.”

“I understand.”  He seemed to be split between indignation and relief as he turned and went back into the ship, holding the shotgun as tight as he possibly could.  Levi turned and joined Simon who was just finishing moving his men into position about the deck.  A number of barricades had been moved out and would provide a small amount of cover from fire that was sure to come from the runners.  Levi just hoped it would be enough.

As if to validate Levi’s previous statements, shells began to burst around the ship more regularly, one even coming close enough to pepper the deck with shrapnel.  Most, however, were more flash than explosion.  This told Levi something important: they wanted the crew’s heads down but they wanted most to remain alive.  That was a touch unlike pirates.  Curious, he moved over to the edge of the deck and lifted his scope once more.  The runners were now moving toward them, though not in a terribly quick manner.  They would be coming in range of the three-incher soon; it wasn’t safe for them yet.

“They don’t get on, do you understand me,” Simon screamed to his crew.  “If a pirate makes in on board, so help me, I’ll dock your pay for a week!”

The men grumbled to themselves and continued looking out into the open air.  Such a beautiful day, Levi thought.  It was a shame people were going to have to die on such a day.  But then, that was their decision and not his.  He had to remind himself of that as he found himself a position on the deck.

After only a few moments, the big gun on the Iron Dove started firing, lobbing shells every four seconds or so in the general direction of the runners and the Mercury.  The runners simply began bobbing and weaving through the air as they came on and there was little chance of actually hitting the things directly.  The majority of the fire was concentrated, then, on the main ship.  A few hits were scored, Levi could see, as small plumes of flame and smoke puffed up from the still-distant vessel.  But unfortunately, he also knew that such hits weren’t likely to slow the ship down much.  It was simply too big and too well protected.  It would have to be much closer and take a lot more shells before it was in any real danger.

Surprisingly, the Iron Dove hadn’t taken any direct hits yet.  The helmsman was moving about in a standard battle pattern, of course, as Levi felt the ship move about underneath him, but the Mercury should have been able to put at least one shell on target by now.  Instead, though, they continued to burst around the ship, causing a sense of trepidation but little else.  Levi assumed that they wanted to take the ship whole so they could add it to their collection.  It was a fine ship, after all, and would make an excellent pirating vessel.  Generally, when pirates took a vessel out of the sky they killed everyone on board.  This was a thought Levi pushed to the back of his mind.

The report of a machine gun suddenly sounded loudly across the deck as the gunner decided to fire off a volley at the nearest runner.  They were getting close now, Levi could see.  There were three of them, all told.  One was obviously a gunship meant for nothing more than fire support.  It had a machine gun mounted on either side and Levi knew that it would simply hover about the deck firing away.  The other two were carriers, filled with people ready to actually put boots on deck.  They’d come in hard and fast, the men leaping out as quickly as they could, hoping the gunship was covering them.  It wasn’t a fantastic position to be it; quite vulnerable, but it was the only way to take a vessel quickly.

The other machine gun nests finally opened up fire and the gunship began doing the same.  With a grunt, Levi threw himself behind a barricade as bullets started to pelt the deck.  The opening salvo was always the worst, he thought.  While the big guns fired on one another, the individual on the deck was little more than helpless and simply had to wait for the boarders to arrive.  It wasn’t a long wait.

To his left, one of the carrier runners flew into view.  On instinct, he turned and fired a round into the ship, not really aiming at anything in particular.  He slid the bolt back, now taking time to actually look at things.  There were maybe ten to twelve men sitting in the open middle of the ship, with the pilot sitting up front.  Most of the pirates were firing their guns wildly down onto the deck, their random assortment of firearms sounding like a horrible orchestra.  He fired again, this time finding his mark.  The man slumped back, gulping, as the bullet tore into his gut.  It was a fatal shot, though it would take some time to bleed out.  Unfortunately for the pirate, his comrades knew this and considered him dead weight.  With a push, he fell from the side of the ship and plummeted out of sight.

His shot, however, had drawn their attention and he had to quickly duck back behind his cover as a few men shot at him.  Working the bolt once more, he let his ears tell him when it was okay to aim again.  There was a break in the noise, finally, and Levi leaned over and aimed this time at the pilot.  It would be little more than a luck shot, but it was worth a try.  Just as he was about to pull the trigger, one of the machine guns on the deck opened up on the runner, killed two men, before it was forced to dip down and out of sight.  Cursing, Levi turned and looked for the other ships that he knew would be out there somewhere.

The gunship moved into position up a bit on the starboard side as its guns began to again rattle against the deck.  Levi fired a few rounds at the ship before being forced back under cover once more.  It was strangely peaceful, this dance that he seemed to find himself in; pop out, fire, pop back in before getting hit.  It seemed so simple.  The fear and uncertainty that he had felt back in the harbor was gone; instead, he was mechanically going through the motions of firing on incoming boarding vessels.  Just like he was trained to do.

He heard one of Simon’s men call out and he looked over the cover to see the first runner coming low over the far end of the deck.  The gun ship was just above and behind it, providing adequate cover fire as the pirates leapt from the small ship.  With a curse, he lowered his head and dashed over to where Simon sat behind a number of stacked crates.

“Bloody hell,” Simon said as a round sank into the wood beside his head, smiling despite himself.  “They’re not messing around, huh?”

“Wouldn’t seem that way.”  Levi rose up and shot at a pirate who hadn’t managed to find cover quickly enough.  The bullet grazed his shoulder, eliciting a cry of pain as one of his compatriots grabbed and pulled him to cover.  “Did you get a look at their arms, though?”

Simon nodded.  “They aren’t Devilfish.  No idea who they are, either, and at this point I don’t really care.”  Following Levi’s example, Simon stood and, extending his pistol forward, got off three quick rounds before ducking down again.  An explosion sounded down the deck and Levi looked out to see the runner that had recently moved in on flames.  The machine gun had torn into its engine, causing it to burst into flames.  A few men were still in the thing.

Almost as if in slow motion, the ship listed and wheel up over the deck of the Iron Dove as the flames licked over its interior.  Just as it was about to go down past the railing and out of sight, Levi saw one of the pirates inside grab his weapon, climb over one of his pirate friends, and jump toward the ship.  With gymnastic precision, the pirate tucked himself into a ball and hit the deck in a roll.  In a second he was back on his feet, his eyes quickly scanning about for enemies.  The man was obviously skilled, Levi knew, so he almost felt bad as he leveled his weapon and fired into the man’s chest.  He fell with a thud onto the deck and didn’t move as Levi worked the bolt action of his weapon once more.

Levi watched as one of the men working a machine gun was hit in the neck.  He slumped over, the gun going silent, which garnered a small cheer from the pirates down deck.  Though that end had been cleared particularly to limit the pirates cover, they had managed to advance enough to find some for themselves.  Levi patted Simon on the shoulder before dashing up once more to another group of boxes closer to the front of the ship.  He felt somewhat ridiculous in his khaki slacks, suspenders, and white dress shirt as he crouched with his rifle in hand.  It wasn’t the general image of airship battle attire and he couldn’t help but think that his old XO would have yelled at him for it.

He fired again, keeping a silent count of the shells expended.  He wouldn’t do anyone any good if he ran out of bullets, after all, and the rifle took a while to reload.  A number of load shots sounded behind him and he whirled to see the men crewing the three-incher shot down by men on the second runner.  Levi wasn’t sure how they had got back there but he knew that wasn’t good.  Catching Simon’s attention, he pointed up to the gun just as the pirates started jumping down upon that part of the deck.  A number of them went through the floor hatch, which led down into the bowels of the ship.  With a grimace, Levi ran back toward the door but was cut off by the remainder of the pirates as the moved down onto the deck proper.

They were surrounded, Levi thought as he quickly threw himself behind the boxes, hitting the ground hard.  Grimacing, he rubbed his shoulder and tried to gage the situation.  There were maybe ten pirates up deck in good position.  There were now about ten more down deck, also in excellent position.  He guessed there were about ten more moving through the ship.  Simon had perhaps fifteen men left on the deck.  There were ten or so below deck, including Hank, Abigail, Quincy and the mechanics.  He wasn’t too worried about those below deck, though.  It was a hard thing fighting your way through the narrow corridors of an airship and he knew there were at least a few good men down those halls, not to mention Hank and his shotgun.

He couldn’t do anything for them at the moment, though, as the bullets continued to fly above his head.  The ship shuttered and came to a stop, the sounds of the engines dying heard even over all of the gunfire.  They had taken the bridge, then.  This was the point at which sane captains often surrendered their ship lest the entirety of the crew be slaughtered.  Simon, of course, wasn’t one such captain.  Instead he had bellowed something derogatory toward the pirates, and then called to his men to continue fighting.  Levi knew, though, that they couldn’t keep up the fight for much longer.

The door leading into the ship suddenly flew open, a pirate stumbling backward through it as it did.  A loud blast issued from down the hall, knocking him on his back.  A second later, Hank – followed closely by Abigail – flew through the door and, after a second of searching, over to Levi.  Hank looked a touch flustered, with his clothes and hair all in disarray and the bag of shells nowhere to be seen.  Abigail wasn’t fairing much better, though she was more composed than Levi would have expected.

“What are you doing,” Levi yelled as the crouched down beside him.  “I told you to stay inside.”

“And that was fine, Boss, until the pirates came inside, too.”  Hank pumped his shotgun, his eyes flying wildly across the deck.  “Thought you may be doing better out here, though… doesn’t seem to be the case.”

“No, not quite.”  Levi fired another two rounds down the deck before speaking.  “Abigail, are you alright?”

“Yes, I think so,” she said, seemingly unable to stay still.  “How are things here?”

“They’re on both sides of us, apparently they’re down below, and they have the bridge.  All told, it’s not a fantastic situation.”

Hank’s shotgun sounded as he haphazardly fired at a pirate well out of range.  Levi smacked him on the back of the head before shooting at the pirate himself.  “You’ll never hit anything at range like that.  Save your ammunition.”

He looked about for Simon, trying to see if the man had some sort of plan for getting out of this.  Unfortunately, the situation had turned rather desperate rather quickly.  He finally caught his eye and, for a time, they simply stared at one another.  Then Levi nodded and Simon dropped his head for just a moment before standing.

“Cease fire,” he called out to his men, “cease fire.  Rein it in, boys.”

As the gunfire dropped away, Simon stood and walked out into the open, his arms out to his side, no weapons to be seen.  Sighing, a number of men did the same.  Levi sat his rifle down, indicated that Hank should do the same, and then walked out to Simon.  This was, unfortunately, his first surrender.

The pirates gave a cheer before rounding them up and moving them to the cleared portion of the deck.  A few moments later, Quincy and a few of the mechanics – Levi assumed these were all that were left alive – made their way up to join them, prodded along at rifle-point.  Levi made eye contact with Quincy, who nodded and smiled sadly.  One of the pirates walked over to the railing and silently fired a bright red flare into the sky before turning and speaking very simply.

“You stay here.  The boss is coming.  Then we see what happens.”

“Can’t think for yourself, huh,” Simon asked, stepping forward, that annoying smirk upon his face.  Without speaking, the man cleared the distance between them and backhanded him hard.  Simon dropped to the deck with a grunt, his hand holding his face.  Simon’s men collectively inhaled and a couple moved to help him up.  Levi just shook his head and waited as Abigail’s hand somehow slipped into his.  He held on tight.

About ten minutes later, a runner slowly drifted into vision.  It was the second runner, Levi saw, and had more than a couple bullet holes in it.  It ran just fine, though, and slowly it settled down onto the deck.  Two men quickly jumped out, shiny new Thompson machine guns in their hand, before a third man moved forward.  He wore a black greatcoat that hung down to his ankles, the sleeves completely covering his hands.  On his head rested a large black beret with what looked to be a lavender blue flower patch sewn on.  A brown beard drooped across his chest and, to the silent amusement of Levi, actually had an eye patch.

He paced for a time back in forth in front of the gathered sailors, looking each in the face, before turning and walking a few paces away.  And then turned back dramatically, throwing his coat behind him for emphasis and pointed to one of Simon’s men.

“You must be the captain,” he said in an ironically high voice.  The man, however, simply shook his head and looked confused.  “No?  Oh…”

“That would be me, sport,” Simon said, taking a step forward.  His jaw was starting to swell up a bit but he tried to hold himself with as much dignity as he could.  “And who in the bloody hell are you?”

“Well, my name’s Lloyd,” the pirate captain said, seemingly reflexively, before reasserting his pirate persona, “But most call me the Blue Fist!”

A few of the other pirates aboard shook their heads despite themselves.

“Alright, Lloyd, what do you want?”

“It’s the Blue Fist!  And I’m the conquering captain, thank you, so I’ll be asking the questions.  But first,” Lloyd said, clearing his throat and then raising his first above him.  “We, the Periwinkle Gang, claim this ship as our own!  Hazzah!”

 He looked pointedly at the pirates around him, who – after a momentary pause – gave an unenthusiastic cheer back.  Simon, however, was obviously struggling to hold back laughter.

“The… Periwinkle Gang?  Seriously?”

“Well yes,” Lloyd said, looking hurt.  “It’s a shrub from Europe that has these little blue flowers on it.  Vinca Minor?  It’s a color, too.  Did you even go to school?”

“I learned enough to know that pirates don’t name themselves after sissy colors.”

This earned him another backhand from the large, quiet pirate standing close by.

“Thank you, Ivan.  Now, we are looking for someone by the name of Quincy Boone.  Is he aboard?”

Levi tensed and he felt Abigail do the same at the mention of Quincy’s name.  This was more than a little unexpected.  What did the pirates want with an old machinist?  Levi saw Hank clench his fists so he quickly put his hand on the boy’s shoulder, the silent don’t do it obvious in his look.

“Don’t know that name.  Sorry, brother.”

“That’s a shame.  Ivan?”

The large pirate, obviously named Ivan, took a step back from the group, pulled a pistol from his hip and, before anyone could say another word, shot one of Simon’s men at point blank range in the chest.  The man, as surprised as anyone else, simply stood there for a moment, swaying, before falling to the deck.  The blood slowly started to pool under him as his eyes glazed over.

“Alright, son, that’s enough of that,” Quincy said, stepping forth before Levi could stop him.  “I’m old Boone; now don’t go killin’ anyone else.  What are you wantin’ me for?”

“Ah, Mr. Boone.  Nice to meet you, I’m Lloyd.”  He quickly shook hands with Quincy, an odd sight, before continuing.  “We’re here to take you away, of course.  You’re a very popular man nowadays.”

“I don’t think so,” Levi said, finally mustering up a little courage.  To add emphasis to his words, he drew his pistol – which had somehow not been taken from him while they waited – and pointed it at Lloyd.  All of the pirates on deck pointed their gun at him in return.  “This man is under my charge.  You’ll not be taking him anywhere.”

This did not, however, garner the response he had been looking for.  Lloyd just chuckled.

“Ah, you must be his escort.  How brave; hadn’t expected that.  There was another one of you Hannan dogs, wasn’t there?  There were supposed to be two.”

Levi mentally willed Hank to stay back, but before he could even sigh, the boy stepped up beside him.

“That’s right, I’m here.  What’cha going to do about it?”

“You have some spunk, boy.  But be quiet, the adults are talking.”

“Why you little…” Hank moved forward with more speed than Levi had anticipated and took a cut at Lloyd’s head.  Unfortunately for Hank, Ivan was faster.  He caught his fist mid-swing and brought his knee up into Hank’s gut.  He fell to the ground, the air knocked from his lungs, and rolled around a bit.  Lloyd just chuckled again.

“Fun kid.  Throw him on the runner.”

“I wouldn’t, unless you have no further use for your head,” Levi said, resolve upon his face.

“Mr. Hannan-Man, let me tell you something.  I’m the only one keeping even this many of you alive.  If my crew had their way, they’d throw you all over the edge.  If I were to die, they’d simply shoot all of you.”

Levi’s arm wavered for a moment, considering.  Lloyd did seem to be of a slightly different disposition to that of his crew and he knew that they were, at least, skilled fighters.  With a sigh, he lowered his weapon and holstered it.  Oddly, they didn’t try to take his weapon yet again.  As soon as his hand left the grip, though, Ivan grabbed yet another man and dragged him over to the edge of the deck.  The man struggled, but Ivan obviously had a mountainous grip upon him.  Lloyd just sighed.

“This is punishment for your obstinance, Mr. Hannan-Man.”  Ivan then threw the sailor overboard.  His screams could be heard for a moment before he was too far below.  Levi shook with anger at both himself and Lloyd.  “Now, we’ll also be taking a few of you to help out back on the ship.  Doesn’t that sound lovely?  We’ll leave Mr. Hannan-Man, and – as much as it pains me – his lady friend, as well.  You wouldn’t want to come anyway.  The men are… sometimes beyond my control.  Consider it a courtesy.  And a captain must go down with his ship, yes?  Ivan, please?”

Ivan pointed to a number of Simon’s crew, grunted, and then pointed to the runner.  After some delay, the men slowly shambled forth and climbed into the ship, anger, fear, and a multitude of other emotions playing across their face.  After this little culling, there were only a few still standing on the deck, including Simon, Levi, and Abigail.  Those remaining unconsciously moved closer together as a number of pirates piled into the runner before it lifted off and started drifting back toward the main airship.  Only a moment later, another runner – Levi suspected it was the gunship from earlier – landed and the remaining pirates got on board.

“That’s that, then.  It was fun, everyone.  Take care.”  With a salute and an oddly innocent smile, he turned and climbed onto the runner.  Levi reached for his pistol once more, but Abigail grabbed his arm and shook her head.  With another sigh, he acquiesced and relaxed his arm.  Suddenly, Lloyd called out again.  “Oh, and Mr. Hannan-Man?  Never point a gun at me again.”

He felt the pain before he heard the gunshot.  The bullet bit into his right thigh, gouging flesh and flooding him with agony.  His vision flared and all of the air in his lungs left him as he fell back onto the deck, his hands reacting for the wounded area.  The world was a very small place for a time as he tried to regain his breath.  On inspection, the wound wasn’t life-threatening, which was good.  It had simply caught a good amount of flesh and felt like fire.  Abigail was down with him in a moment, her hand tearing back the fabric from the area.  She pulled a roll of gauze from the back slung about her shoulder – odd, Levi hadn’t noticed that there before – and started stuffing and wrapping his leg.  As his vision returned, he saw Simon standing over him.

“Brilliant, brother.  Now what are we supposed to do?”

“You could help me to my feet,” Levi answered, stretching out his hand.  With a grunt and a stab of pain lancing up through his leg and into his back, Levi limped up onto his feet.  He leaned on Simon and looked about.  Only two of the crew remained; he couldn’t remember their names.  “What do you suppose we’re supposed to do now?”

A number of explosions down below answered.  The ship shook and Levi lost his balance, falling to the deck once more.  Gouts of flames rose up from below, blowing out windows and soaring into the air.  The Iron Dove started to list dangerously before one final explosion sounded.  Then the ship seemed to drop out from beneath them a bit as it started to fall out of the air.  Things only got worse after that.