The Log of the HMAS Marigold: Parts I-V

[Evelyn Adler]

"Oh, I'm glad to help you out!" Marys eyes were sparkling. "The "Dagger" is not a pirate airship per se, so she shouldn't have any boarding harpoons as such - but she definitely has alternative docking devices, which is basically the same, a harpoon with a rope attached, to secure the airship to the ground or whereever."

She stopped for a moment, trying to orientate herself.

"I believe it's that way... maybe I should take the lead?" When he didn't object, she wiggled dexterously past Hawthorne in the narrow corridor. "Oh, by the way," she murmured as she passed him "to fill the blanks in your file, another job of mine was snake dancer. With a boa constrictor."

Carefully she proceeded down the corridor, smiling to herself, as she felt his eyes in her back.

[Private Weasel]

For once Hawthorne was silent. Whilst he was known to carried many weapons, he had always thought his finest and most deadly was the dual blades of his wits and tongue. Suddenly he disarmed, with a word from the woman in front of him he lay defenceless and could only just stop himself from stammering out a reply like some virginal schoolboy.

Compose yourself Alex, he cursed himself for his distraction, you're a British assassin, for God's sake! It's not your first day on the job, you know better than to fall to wiles.

There was silence for a second as he considered the perilous temptress gliding along the corridor in front of him.

Composure dammit! Composure!

"Oh you are definately going to be the death of me Miss Krugar," he replied as he followed the young lady down the corridor.

[MWBailey]

Rourke went along with Redburn and Starling, stopping once to retrieve a set of wings and again, to step sideways into a sort of hatched closet and bring out three coils of cabled rope, each with it's own attached boarding grapnel. "Take these, he said, and and keep 'em hangin' 'round yer shoulders. They'll be good for haulin' in close to the Marigold or hangin' on to whatever else needs us to hang on to it. We use these for all sorts o' things in the Air Service." He also appropriated several grenades from several corpses, and passed those around too. "Never pass up a useful tool...or weapon," he said, with a slightly mad gleam in his eye.

[walkthebassline]

Redburn accepted the grenades with a grin and a similarly mad gleam.

"Why thank you sir, I don't mind if I do. Its been such a long time since I held any explosives."

He sighed wistfully and wrapped some rope around his neck.

"Now lead on good sir. I assume you know where we're going."

[Stella Gaslight]

There was a deep groan and some intense shaking as the Dagger tried to right itself. Apparently the mechanism had quite enough thank you and gave up the ghost.  "I think (hic) we should (hic) follow the cursing in german.  Before they find us.(hic)"  This was embarrassing but at least it was working. Her skin was sickly green her mouth tasted like feted earth and was foaming.  Starling looked very much the fearsome greenie until she opened her mouth and hiccuped again. "Damn (hic) untested reactions."

[Evelyn Adler]

"You know, sometimes I think the same about you, my dear Lord Hawthorne!" Mary answered lightly. "But I hope, that lies still many years in the future!" She was actually a bit pleased with herself, that she had found a way to deflate his impenetrable british facade for a moment. Hawthorne was vulnerable. Good. She was determined, to make herself very vulnerable as well to this man and it was good to know, he was not the smiling statue he pretended to be.

"But I hope you'll be the death of Marie-Louise Krueger.
I'd suggest, she went missing in action fighting those Greenies on the "Dagger", when you send your report." She turned her head to look at him. Her eyes were very large and serious; there was no hint of mockery in them.

"Lord Hawthorne, you know as well as I do, in our line of work, one does not simply resign. Therefore, the woman who took this assignment and boarded the Marigold, needs to be dead to the world. And even then, I suppose, it'll take all my skill, to cover my tracks. Once we get back to Europe, I should be able to take the necessary steps, to be rid of my pursuers once and for all."

Suddenly she cocked her head and listened, putting one finger lightly on her lips. She motioned to Hawthorne, to stay where he was and catlike sneaked up to the next corner. Gingerly she peeked around the corner - and pounced! There were sounds of a short altercation, then a thumping sound - and then Mary came around the corner, the inanimate body of another Prussian scout in tow.

"Look what I found!" she beamed.

[The Corsair]

The ship took off without any trouble but a few short seconds in the storm made Joe realise there was no way he'd make it. He'd be blown off course or plainly be smashed into the side of the Dagger. He landed back down and hatched a new plan.

The new plan was, he hoped, slightly less dangerous but definitely more difficult. He stepped out to the edge of the open landing bay doors and swung himself out to the side, clinging to the lip on the edge of the retracted door. He only just managed the 180 and got his feet on to a small outcrop on the side of the ship. His hands were forced to relinquish their life-saving grip on the open door and now swung wildly about on his flailing arms as he scratched and scraped the side of the ship, hoping to find a hold. Finally he caught a small pipe that looked as though it vented steam from the door mechanism. It scalded his hands thoroughly and he gritted his teeth in a painful grin to force himself to hold on until he found a new handhold.

There were enough protrusions and indents for him to make his way up the side of the ship, often only barely sheltered from the wicked wind by the small wall created by the landing bay's entrance and exit. On the top, he discovered his new plan was perhaps more dangerous than the old one in terms of the sheer number of obstacles. He was by one of the fully deflated gasbags so crossing wasn't an issue in the physical sense. It was instead difficult in the militaristic sense. A Prussian ship hovered above the Dagger, tethered  by three enormously thick cords to prevent too much movement. At the base of one of the cords was a small guard of Prussian Stormtroopers. Clearly they, too, were interested in the ship. The Dagger had been boarded twice.

As much as his plan needed a rethink, Joe felt compelled to stop caring about the particulars of his plan and go for it. Eventually, his risk-loving personality took precedence and he continued moving toward the form of the Marigold, still attached to the Dagger. It took him right through the Stormtroopers. Now, with only 20 or so metres between him and the Prussians, he stopped and decided just how he would use his advantage of surprise to outplay his enemy.

[MWBailey]

Rourke knew where he was going, all right. He just wasn't sure what they would find when they got there. in order to get to an outerbalcony that had doors big enough for an infantry-wing-equipped person to fit through without smashing the portal, they had to first go up to the grand gallery, where the LZ-7 was moored (he had seen that much when he craned his neck out of a porthole just outside the thronehall). He hoped that (a) it would not be too heavily guarded, and (2) that the guards would be complacent in their apparent victory.

Imagine the trio's collective surprise upon finding not only the stormtroopers and the Zeppelin, but also their formerly-winged companion Joe, who seemed to be trying to sneak to the Marigold across one of the deflated support gasbags. Rourke made up his mind the moment Joe was spotted by the Prussians.  "What say we give 'em somethin' further to think about, hey? Miss Starling, why not use our little assault for cover to sneak up on the Zepp and blow a few 'oles in 'er engines, eh? Me'n Redburn'll try to snatch Joe away from 'is captors while you're about that. We might even make it to th' Marigold if'n we're lucky!"

[Stella Gaslight]

Starling had been holding her breath trying to stop the hiccups and it looked like it worked "That sounds excellent and you are in luck I have a few spare blow guns.  All you have to do is load aim and fire(hic)." Starling shook her head and sighed she was stuck with them until the compound ran out.  "Off I go(hic) if you two will cover me I can do a quick buzz over and then Old Betsy and I can take out the engines while you keep them busy."  Starling took off with a bit more force than she meant to and for a moment she spun until she got a better handle on the controls.  The Prussians had already noticed her but had no clue what she was doing until she swooped down on them screaming like a banshee and firing darts.  Then they scrambled for cover and a place to return fire.  When they had a chance to regroup three of them had been hit and most of them were yelling things in german she didn't understand other then the curses that peppered it.  One fired at her but she rolled crowing as it went wide.  Starling was having a ball, living out every flying dream she had ever had.  Pulling out Old Betsy she loaded the enhanced round took aim.

[Private Weasel]

"I assure you Miss Kruger," said Hawthorne as he unclipped the flightpack from the scout, "that my superiors have often commented unfavourably on the overly lax nature of my reporting style"

He allowed his companion a cheerful wink as he lifted the pack onto his shoulders, clipping himself into the device with uncanny ease.

"It's a real worry to them," he admitted, rounding the next corner and raising his pistol as if he expected the guard they confronted to be there.

The Stormtrooper had a bead on them, his rotary gun bearing down on then with a darkening menace; and yet he did not fire.

Hawthorne smile did little to give away his relief, in his right hand he held is recently looted pistol, in his left the dynamite from the trap. Their eyes locked, the Stormtrooper hesitated and this was all Hawthorne needed to close the gap and swing the pistol across the guard's chin.

Hawthorne quickly unstrapped the second flight pack from his fallen assailant as took in the scene.

"It looks like our unconscious friend had the same idea as us, as it seems we have arrived at the Storage lock-up," he said as he passed the flying device to his accomplice.

"We should also look for ammunition as I have the misfortune to  run out quite a while ago."

[MWBailey]

It was like Undili all over again, his squad reduced to just him and a comrade, and the Impis behind cover. "Right, then, Redburn! 'AVE AT 'EM!" Rourke screamed and added several phrases in Swahili and Mandarin, tossing two grenades and cutting loose with the portable Hotchkiss, pounding across the uncertain surface of the deflated gasbag. Along the trip, he had liberated no less than seven daggers from their deceased owners, as well as several pistols of various types. Once the Hotchkiss was emptied, he began drawing the pistols two-handed and emptying them into the bewildered and totally disorganized and demoralized stormtroop guards, every so often switching one hand or the other to a dart-thrower, and stitching up the troopers a treat, or nailed some luckless soul with a dagger while tossing an empty pistol aside.

All the while, they advanced pell-mell, finally coming face-to-face with the entrenched troopers, who suddenly became convinced that an entire regiment must be behind the shrieking, murderous madmen who were suddenly amongst them and slaying them wholesale. It was simply too much; the troopers, who had been promised easy victory, instead found themselves being massacred. After only a token fight, they broke and ran for the rope ladders to the LZ-7...

[Evelyn Adler]

The corridor emerged onto a gangway along the sides of the storage room. Mary stepped out onto the gangway, only to squat down immediately. Silently she pointed out to Hawthorne the three guards in the room. They stood close together, talking.
On the opposite wall she could see a rack full of the harpoons they needed, right next to the storage gate. She pointed at the rack and grinned.
To overpower the guards, they needed a distraction.  She was quite sure, Hawthorne would be admirably suited for that task. She motioned for him to approach the guards right from the front, whereas she would sneak around their backs and attack from there, then looked at him questioningly.

[Private Weasel]

Hawthorne nodded and waited, watching a Miss Kruger to get into position. On the signal he stepped forwards, arms above his head, his eyes full of the fear and worry of the dire situation he had found himself in.

"Thank goodness you're here!" he exclaimed as he walked into view, his posture submissive.

"It's the crew!" he explained, still steadily closing the gap between himself and the momentarily surprised guards, "They turned against each other, I have my ticket here"

He fumbled about his person, all the while moving forwards. Almost upon them now, the guards finally came to a decision and raised their weapons freezing Hawthorne to the spot.

Hawthorne smiled and slowly lowered his hands.

"Make it quick?" he suggested.   

[Evelyn Adler]

As soon as Hawthorne had their full attention, she broke into a run. With a few quick leaps she was close enough to jump, feet first, kicking the first guard hard in the back with the full impact of her weight.

He toppled forward, crashing into his colleague and both went down in a heap. One hit the floor so hard, he was out cold, the other she hit over the jaw with her pistol and he dropped limp.
The entire attack had taken less than ten seconds.

"When you're finished with yours, I'll wrap them all into a nice little parcel!" she winked, pointing to a heap of ropes.

[Private Weasel]

Hawthorne smiled through the exertion; the final guard struggled helplessly, his head locked between his Lordship's arms, cutting off his airway. The guard's struggling lessened and a few seconds later the guard went limp, crumpled to the floor with his unconscious companions.

Straightening his jacket and brushing imaginary dust from his lapel (which by now was quite beyond repair) he nodded in appreciation.

"Impressive," he remarked dragging the guards into a pile and assisting with their bindings, "I don't believed I would have been able to have done better."

Hawthorne's ever present smile became rye and hinted of mischief

"This is a shame really, as you're certainly more of a distraction than me as well."

[walkthebassline]

His pistols emptied, his blade covered in blood, his leg starting to ache again, and his absinthe running low, Redburn was not in a trifling mood. He had been shouting like a madman, his green-tinged skin adding to the effect. It took a great amount of self control to not follow the retreating Prussians back onto their ship and continue the slaughter, but when he looked over at Starling he halted. She was in position, her rifle aimed, and as she pulled the trigger the LZ shuddered and the engines made a horrible noise, a noise no engine is supposed to make. Redburn glanced at Rooney and Rourke, and began to reload.

"So do you think they'll try to take off, or will they rally and come back out at us?"

[Evelyn Adler]

"I beg to differ!" Mary murmured. Working at close quarters with Hawthorne did certainly not help her concentration, especially not if he looked at her like that. One knot was not right and she tied it again. Beginners mistakes!  She just hoped, he hadn't noticed.

Hastily she retrieved the mechanical wings from where she had hidden them. After strapping them on, she checked and double-checked if they were really secure. An observer might have noticed, she seemed a little nervous about this. Loudly she said "We do work quite well together, don't you think? Shame really, that they ordered me to kill you; I'm glad I don't follow every order blindly!"

Grabbing one of the harpoons from the rack, she declared "Ok, I'm all set!" Mary looked quite determined. Only a little pale around the nose.

[Private Weasel]

"Oh, if I got upset each time somebody interesting was ordered to kill me, I'd simply have no friends!"

With a cacophonous boom Hawthorne fired his oversized pistol at the portal window, shattering the toughened pane into smithereens. Satisfied with the devastation that he had wrought, Hawthorne nodded to Mary who passed mooring harpoon to him before loading her own.

"You'll be happy to note, that no such order was passed in my direction," Hawthorne commented, loading the Harpoon into its tube, "Of course, I'm not sure we entirely realise how dangerous Mary Kruger is."

The mooring harpoons were large and wickedly barbed designed for of planting themselves deep into hard ground and holding the behemothically monstrous airship firm. The firing mechanism was a compressed air contraption and included a spool, around which metres and metres of a metallic and intricately woven cable rested.

The pair chose their targets carefully, firing in unison with before quickly looping the launchers in a complicated spider web before the wire pulled taut.

"Two down," announced Hawthorne, "four to go"

[Stella Gaslight]

When Starling pulled the trigger there was an almighty boom and then she was flipping head over heels backwards away from the rather large hole she punched in the LZ-7.  She managed to get her self righted again just before Old Betsy sizzled through its leather lanyard.  After a moments fumbling Starling found her canteen and used her last bit of water the quench the gun. She could hear the dual shouts of panic coming from both the engine room and the deck where the stormtroopers had landed.  Feeling triumphant she flew back to Rourke, Rooney and Redburn. "I think they have a problem.  The serum just hit the few that ran from us and I may not know much German but I certainty know my colors and curse words. I say lets get to the ship before they stop running around like someone has lopped their heads off and come looking for us."

[walkthebassline]

"I agree. Its time to make ourselves scarce."

Redburn turned around, and then paused. His gasp drew the attention of the others.

"Hang on there; I could have sworn I just saw that cad Handthorpe lurking around. How is that scalawag still standing?"

[Evelyn Adler]

"Oh, your friends want to kill you too? I can hardly believe that!" Mary's eyes sparkled mischievously.
"Honestly, I have no idea, why this assassination was ordered. Perhaps you really annoyed some German diplomat recently?" Careful she took aim and fired the harpoon.

"Small wonder, if no one at your agency has heard the name Mary Krueger before, I invented the name especially for this journey. I could give you half a dozen others, maybe one of them rings a bell? Irene Bernard? Linnea Lundkvist? Donna Aurelia de Alba? No?" Suddenly she grew serious again. "To be honest - sometimes I wish, I could just use my real name and stay with that. How do you do that? Everyone knows Lord Hawthorne, even where you live - surely you must have made some enemies, haven't you?"

After a short pause she added rather pensively. "And I wonder, how you'll call me when we go back - Miss Kruger won't do, that much is clear!"

[Private Weasel]

Hawthorne shrugged and aimed the fourth harpoon. A second later and it was away, tearing through the metal hull of the neighbouring airship. He turned, and looped the harpoon launcher around a bulkhead before releasing it as the cable twanged taut.

"Sooner or later," he mused, picking up the final launcher and searching for a likely target, "everybody wants to try and kill me. I try not to take it personally"

He fired again,  the third Harpoon embedded itself in the Zeppelin  underbelly and held fast, pulling the launcher from his hands almost immediately and holding it tightly, pressed against the portal, luckily missing all of Hawthorne's fingers.

"Using your real name isn't impossible," he said picking his pistol from the floor and loading the clip, now fully loaded with bounty from the storeroom,"The Earl of Halifax isn't my cover. Well I hope it's not or I'm seriously in too deep."

Lazily he pulled his arm around and let off two shots down the corridor, flooring an approaching Stormtrooper.

"Hmmm, seems like the ships are moored together enough now to allow the more heavily armoured assailants to arrive."

"Body armour seems like cheating, wouldn't you say?"

[Evelyn Adler]

"It's only cheating, if it works!" Mary eyed the dead soldier. "This one has a rather substantial hole in his chest. Well done, Sir!"

She picked up some more clips of ammunition. "The ships are neatly tied up, we should see to get back to our companions as fast as we can, your Lordship. Before the cavalry arrives."

She cocked her head and listened.

"I believe, I just heard Starlings elephant gun. Maybe we should hurry!"

[Private Weasel]

Hawthorne nodded in agreement, but as they turned to leave, he reached out and lightly brushed Mary's arm, attracting her attention.

"Miss Kruger?" he asked pensively,

"We all have our masks, mine is a mirror, you have several. Suffice to say tomorrow you can be whom ever you desire. In my case, I would very much like it if you called me..."

Hawthorne paused, his armour of faux smiles and overt Britishness wavering, slightly.

"If you would call me Alex."

[Stella Gaslight]

"I am guessing he is just far to stubborn and perhaps that vial wasn't the only thing he dosed himself up on.  If they had a cure they very likely cold have made something that mimics the euphoria where you feel no pain.  With that and determination you could keep going for a long while."  Starling touched the pouch were Redburn's little gift was.  She could not wait to analyze it tho she decided any new discoveries would bear both their names.  It was only fair after all.