The Game Called Revolution, - [ebook reader 8 inch .txt] 📗

the same model as the ship we took down near that fort. I wonder if their lightning attacks work against each other.”

Jeanne reached the top of the frame and dropped down onto the airship’s deck. “We’re not going to open fire on the other airships. That would take too long.”

“Then, how?”

“I have an idea. You’ll just have to trust me.”

 

***

 

Jeanne inspected the bridge of the enemy airship (which, according to the words on the hull outside, was named Rechtschaffener Dämon, or “Righteous Demon”). It was similar to that of the French airships, except there was only one operator’s chair in front of the captain’s chair.

Like the French airships, there was also a communications tube hanging down from the ceiling above the captain’s chair. Suddenly, Pierre’s voice came from it. Unlike the Minuit Solaire’s tube, this one had a clean sound. “Commander, are you there?”

She grabbed the tube. “Yes, Pierre. What have you found?”

“We’re in what on the Solaire would be the boiler room, except there’s no boiler. In fact, there doesn’t appear to be anything down here that utilizes steam.”

“Well, what is there?”

“There’s a large cylindrical device that stretches up to the ceiling. It has two cranks on either side of it, as well as switches labeled…let’s see, my Austrian is a little rusty…On and Off.”

Jeanne thought about this for a moment. “Why don’t you and Pierre flip the switches to ‘On’ and then both of you turn those cranks at the same time. If what Celeste has told me about the generation of electricity is correct, that should start up the ship.”

“Aye.”

She went over to the operator’s chair and examined the console in front of it. There was a black metal stick jutting out from it. Was this used to fly the airship? If so, Jeanne thought, it was a very strange way to do it.

To the left of the stick was a large silver lever about the size and shape of Pierre’s knuckles labeled “Fire 1” and to its right was a button labeled “Fire 2.” At least, from what Jeanne knew of Austrian military terms, that was what they said.

Suddenly the deck beneath her began to vibrate and hum with energy. It appeared as if Pierre and Victor had been successful in starting the airship. So, this is what the awakening of an electric beast is like. It was much subtler than the loud rumbling of the steam-powered airships she was accustomed to.

She returned to the communications tube. “It looks like you did it. Now I’m going to—”

Her words were abruptly cut off by something exploding into the back of her head. She fell to the deck, her vision blurred by bright lights.

“Ho-ho! Did you think you could defeat me that easily?”

Thornwood! They should have made sure he was dead.

He picked Jeanne up and effortlessly threw her into the bridge’s canopy window. The glass splintered upon her arrival and—despite her irodium armor—it hurt like hell.

He then grabbed her rapier from its sheath at her side and examined it. “This is a very nice sword. It will make a fine gift for my lord Frederick William II, King of Prussia. It’s customary to give a clean present to one’s superiors, but I doubt he’ll mind if a little of your blood is on it.”

Jeanne sat up straight against the bulkhead. Thornwood gripped her rapier with both hands and thrust it at her head, but her metal gauntlets allowed her to grab the blade. It soon became clear, however, that Thornwood’s vastly superior strength would win out in the end and the rapier would pierce her head anyway.

Without thinking, she kicked at his nether region. He stepped back, groaning in pain, but he seemed more enraged than anything else. He allowed his fury to overtake him and charged at Jeanne with the rapier.

She instinctively rolled out of the way, even as her whole body was racked with pain. Thornwood grunted in pain as he became the second person in only a few minutes to collide with the canopy window. It cracked even further under his weight.

Seizing the opportunity, Jeanne locked her fists together and brought them against the back of his head, sending it back into the glass. Again and again she did this until the window was painted with his blood and his face was an unrecognizable mess.

His body slumped unceremoniously to the floor. At almost the same moment, Pierre and Victor rushed in. “Are you all right, ma’am?”

She sat gingerly in the operator’s chair in front of the damaged window. “I’ll be fine. Right now, I need you two to dispose of Thornwood.”

“Understood, Commander,” Pierre said with a mix of satisfaction and pride. Clearly, he was going to take pleasure in getting rid of the man who had tried to kill his commander. He turned to Victor. “Let’s throw this trash overboard.”

Victor grabbed Thornwood’s legs. “You really did a number on him, Commander.”

Pierre grabbed the arms. “Wish I had been the one to do it.”

Jeanne simply said, “Return here once you’re done.”

They left with Thornwood’s body, and then returned a few minutes later. “So, what’s the plan now?” Pierre asked.

Jeanne explained. “When Thornwood took off my eye patch, I was able to get information on things going on below this volcano with my God’s Eye. There’s been a gradual increase in seismic activity over the past few weeks, so gradual that Thornwood and his men probably never even noticed. But,” she pointed to her eye patch, “this eye sees everything.”

“Are you saying this volcano is active?” Victor said.

“Yes,” Jeanne replied. “But at the rate things have been going, the enemy probably would have gotten these airships out of here long before it erupted. With a little coaxing, however, I think we can speed up the process.”

Pierre grinned knowingly. “I get it. You want to blow up all that equipment down there, increasing the seismic activity and creating a catalyst to this volcano’s eruption.”

“Exactly. Those barrels near where we were brought in contain extremely volatile liquids. Destroying them should produce the effect we need.”

Jeanne gripped the metal stick at the operator’s console and gave it a slight jerk to the right, towards the direction of the barrels. However, the Rechtschaffener Dämon banked sharply into the wall of the chamber. The airship shuddered violently under the collision.

Pierre moved swiftly, cupping his right hand over Jeanne’s on the stick in an attempt to help stabilize the airship.

“I suppose a lighter touch is needed,” she said.

“All right, let’s try this again,” Pierre said.

Together they gingerly angled the stick until the Dämon maneuvered back towards the barrels. Once they were facing their targets, Jeanne pulled back the silver lever labeled “Fire 1.” “I hope I understand this correctly,” she said. She then pushed the button labeled “Fire 2.”

There was a high-pitched whine, followed by a bolt of blue energy erupting from the outer hull of the Dämon. It struck the barrels, causing them to explode in a series of massive orange fireballs which quickly merged into one. The gargantuan inferno moved faster than Jeanne’s eyes could follow, almost immediately engulfing the Dämon.

The three of them instinctively ducked down as the canopy window was blown inward. Without wasting any more time, Jeanne pulled back on the metal stick, which sent the enemy airship climbing upwards and out of range of the explosion.

Now more explosions below them rocked the ship. Jeanne’s plan had worked—perhaps too well.

“Maybe we should have gotten higher up before firing at the barrels,” Victor suggested as wind blew in from the charred hole where the canopy window was.

“It was hard enough getting this ship into position as it was,” Pierre retorted.

Jeanne said, “Never mind that. Right now, we have to rescue Celeste and the others before Mt. Erfunden erupts.”

8

 

 

 

 

The Austrian Netherlands, September 24, 1789 (Infini Calendar), 4:10 p.m.

Celeste poked her head out from behind a tree on the outskirts of the forest.

Alphonse, one of the Minuit Solaire’s bridge operators, expressed his concern from an adjacent tree. “What are we going to do? The Commander and her group were captured.”

As the highest-ranking officer among the group of nine, Celeste was looked to for leadership. “We just have to have faith in them. The Commander won’t be beaten easily, you can count on that.”

Unfortunately for her, the other members of her group were not as optimistic. They were all facing a dire situation: Even if they survived this day, they would still be stranded behind enemy lines, a long way from France. Their chances of ever seeing home again were dwindling rapidly.

One member of the engineering crew, a twenty-year-old young man, said, “Maybe we could stage a rescue. You know, go in and free them ourselves?”

Celeste shook her head. “We’re not soldiers, George. We wouldn’t stand a chance in there.”

“But—”

George’s words were abruptly cut off by an explosion coming from Mt. Erfunden, followed by large plumes of smoke.

“I told you they would do it!” Celeste yelled jubilantly. “Milady is the greatest!”

Alphonse, however, was still reluctant to share her excitement. “It’s too soon to celebrate. Even if they did succeed in destroying the airship factory, we still don’t know if they survived that blast.”

Celeste was about to chastise him for his lack of faith when suddenly a dark object arose from the volcano. “It’s an airship!” she exclaimed.

“Dammit!” George yelled. “One of those bastards survived!”

Another of the engineers pointed out, “It seems to be damaged. Look how it’s moving erratically.”

They all observed the airship as it wobbled in circles above the volcano. Celeste could have sworn that whoever was operating it had never done it before.

Wait a minute…!

She burst out into the open, waving her hands frantically at the mysterious airship.

The others cried out in alarm and confusion, pleading for her to return to hiding with them. However, she gave the opposite response. “Everyone, come on! Help me wave to them!”

This went on for a few minutes. They kept trying to convince her to stop, and she in turn kept trying to convince them to join her. Eventually they realized they weren’t going to win out on this and cautiously went to her side and waved to the airship.

Within minutes they got the airship’s attention, and it flew—albeit erratically—over to them. When it got in close, they could see it had been damaged by the explosion. The canopy window had been blown out, its edges seared by flames. But through the hole they could see who was piloting it.

“It’s the Commander!” they shouted.

“Just as I figured,” Celeste said. “None of us have ever operated a foreign airship before, so it must have been our knights flying so awkwardly. I mean, the enemy would certainly do a much better job, don’t you think?”

They proceeded to berate her for risking their lives on what they considered a flimsy hunch, but she didn’t care. The Commander was safe, and the mission was (presumably) accomplished.

Pierre and Victor appeared topside and dropped a rope ladder for them. Celeste waited until everyone else had gone up before she ascended the ladder. While she was climbing, though, there was another explosion from Mt. Erfunden. “What was that?”

“The volcano’s erupting!” Pierre shouted.

“What?” she shouted. “I thought it was dormant!”

“Not quite as dormant as we were told,” Victor said.

The Dämon rose sharply, forcing Celeste to hang on for dear life. She managed to make it up, however, and Pierre and Victor helped her on to