The Graveyard of Empires - Chapter 3

Chapter 3

An Abduction That Is Perhaps Instead a Rescue

The Warlock slipped down the coast by night, low and without any lights so she was almost invisible. Eden could navigate within a few feet by the position of the stars, but that would not prevent them from colliding with something she didn't know was there, so it was good to have Zenobia and Quill both taking turns on watch, since both of them could see in the dark as if it were day. The moon was already down, so there was just a scattering of starlight.

Zenobia was at the helm, the muscles of her back flexing as she worked the great wheel. Belial slumbered in the harness on her back, making small sound as she licked her lips. Eden could see the sharp little teeth in that baby's mouth, and was glad she was not the one who had to nurse her.

"I cannot say this is the most crazy thing we have ever done, but it is pretty good," Zenobia said. "We will have to hope the ship is not late."

"There's been no weather to stall her," Eden said. "She's a military ship. She'll be on time."

"We are going to raid the biggest naval shipyard in the country," Zenobia said. "I would not miss this, but you had better not kill us."

"We will be in and out like the wind," Eden said. "They will not even know we are there."

"It is Norfolk," Zenobia said. "They make ships here, they keep ships here. I think they will notice a ship."

"Yes, they will, but they will not know who we are." Eden said. "By the time they realize what has happened, we will be gone."

"Somehow these plans never go like you say, ratoncita," Zenobia said, laughing.

"And yet they work anyway," Eden said. She turned and waved to the bosun. "Set the lights, I'm going below to the transmitter."

She left the men setting the proper running lights for a legal ship as she went below and a little aft to the small signal room. There was already a sailor here who ordinarily listened for signals. But tonight there was work to do that needed a more delicate touch. She took his place at the console, put the headset over her ears and listened to the coded chatter that came in and out of the country's primary naval installation just a few more miles down the coast from them.

Eden knew many of their codes already, and it only took her a few moments to pick apart the newest variation. When they were hailed in cypher she answered easily, tapping out the signals to make them seem like a cargo ship arriving ahead of schedule, hoping for some shore leave for the holiday. They instructed her to go to the south end of the yard where they would moor until morning. That was perfect.

She left the transmitter and jogged back up to the deck. She ducked in the helm to give Zenobia the heading, and then forward to where Quill crouched naked against the rail with a spyglass to his eye.

"Do you see it?" she said.

"Yes, there." He pointed. "The Oregon at anchor, just as the telegram said." He lowered the glass. I just saw a party leave the ship, so they may not be aboard any longer."

"Alexander Van Drake," she said. "The shipbuilder who designed the biggest warships in the world." Three of those warships now made up the backbone of her own fleet. There were a number of reasons why the famous designer would be brought to the United States - none of them boded well for her. Fortunately there was a simple solution for that.

"Hmmm," she said. "If they already brought him ashore this will be a bit different. We'll have to put down, cross the shipyard unseen, get into wherever they have him, and then get him back out before we rouse the whole navy." She snickered. "And you thought this would be easy."

"I never said that," he said. "You sure you won't let me just go alone?"

"You are much more stealthy than I am, this is true, but you might need me if things go bad." She thumped his arm. "Come on. I need to take the helm when we land, Zenobia still steers a ship like it was an ox-cart."

---

They moored the Warlock at the farthest dock, away from the lights. Even so, Eden thought they might have an hour if they were lucky before someone noticed them. She dressed in dark clothes and belted on her spare sword - the Experimental electro-blade of Captain Black. She would not risk losing Belial's sword on a mission like this. She did not take a pistol, because if shooting started on this endeavor, then everything had already gone to hell.

Zenobia had to stay at the helm. There was no way she would pass for anything resembling normal, and someone who could see in the dark needed to stay with the ship in case they had to make a hasty exit. Eden and Quill dropped ropes and climbed down the side of the hull and into the wooden bracings of the mooring platform. From there it did not take them long to reach the ground. Eden realized this was the former Confederate Airship Graveyard, where she had stolen a ship just a year ago and begun her odyssey. All the old ships were gone, and the old gantries had been cleared away to make room for new docks. She could see three still under construction. Time marched onward.

They reached the ground and then stole across the open ground of the shipyard. Eden knew the layout from memory, but things had changed since she last had a good look, so she was cautious. The ground was often in shadow from the huge mooring gantries, and they slipped across the old yard to the borders of the new. Here the ground was piled with the supplies needed to build the new docks, and among the stacks of lumber and stone and barrels of nails there was plenty of cover. There did not seem to be many people around at all.

She could not even see Quill most of the time, as his skin changed colors, allowing him to blend into the background of whatever he stood beside. He still could not be all things from all angles, so he had to be careful and make sure he was not out in the open. He stopped and allowed her to see his beckoning hand now and again so she knew where he was.

The modern part of the shipyard was far more massive, with huge structures like dry-docks to hold the ships while their hulls were constructed, before the they were lifted into the air. There was a lot of cover, and so they had comparatively little difficulty crossing to the long building just below where the ship Oregon lay moored.

It was a long, high structure without much in the way of features, save for windows set high up under the eaves. Eden knew what that meant: it was an engineering lab, built for space, light, and so people could not easily peek inside it. They were building something in there, or they were going to. And with one of the most innovative ship designers in the world in attendance, she had no doubt it was something she would rather they not build.

There were guards at the wide doors, but not along the sides. Eden beckoned Quill and the two of them hurried across to the wall. There was a small side door secured with a heavy chain and a lock, but Eden drew out her tools and had the lock open in a few moments. She looked around quickly, trying to see if anyone had spotted them. She was sweating inside her black clothes, hot and sweltering in the humid air this close to the estuary. It was quiet, but she knew that would not last. Someone would realize the Warlock was not a civilian ship and then there would be hell to pay.

She lifted the latch and they slipped inside. Immediately there was light, and she saw electric bulbs strung along the beams overhead. The inner space of the building was puled with supplies in crates, and at the center was the sleek, raked form of an airship. For a moment it puzzled her, but then she realized it a scale model of a much larger ship. It was a mock-up being used to test some principle of it's design.

They heard voices and she motioned Quill to circle around, even as she herself crept closer, keeping to cover. A group of people came in view, and she ducked down to stay out of sight, peered around the crates to see the man she'd come to find.

There was a group of naval officers in uniform, and she knew they were high-ranking by the number of medals pinned to their jackets. Behind came a detail of obvious guards with rifles held at port - big, thick-necked fellows. Between them was a tall, rather slightly built man who looked rather young - Eden would be surprised if he was over thirty. To her further surprise there was a woman with him as well. She was properly dressed, but there was no disguising the curves packed under her corset, and she had the dark hair and olive skin that marked her as not likely of Dutch ancestry. To Eden, she looked like she might be from the East Indies.

"So here we see what you have brought me here for," the man said, and she heard only the trace of an accent. "I see you have stolen my designs and yet cannot even execute it properly. I suppose this is why I have been abducted." He looked at the navy men with an angry glance, but his blue eyes were fatigued and he looked less sure than he tried to sound. Eden watched the woman, saw her study the model ship with intent eyes. Who was she?

"We have a somewhat urgent need for your services, and your employers were being most difficult allowing us to speak to you," one of the navy men said. "You will be given every courtesy, every comfort. But you will work for us now. We have even allowed you to bring your wife," the man gestured. "I did so over the objections of others, and so you should thank me."

"Oh, indeed, I suppose I should," Van Drake said, sarcasm dripping from his voice. He looked at his wife and she shook her head imperceptibly. Eden frowned. Who was in charge here? There was something here that did not match up, but she did not know the people here well enough to read them.

She noticed, then, that instead of four guards there were now two. Even as she looked one of them seemed to step into a shadow and then vanish. Quill was doing his work. Eden drew her scarf up to cover her face and tucked her hat down low. Time to move.

She drew her sword and lunged out from behind her cover. The first navy man was not even facing her and she simply hit him behind the ear with the pommel of her sword, sent him sprawling to the ground. The other two men started, eyes wide, stunned. She kicked one behind the knee and he dropped, met her knee with his skull on the way down and lay there groaning. The third one groped for a pistol he was not wearing, and so Eden simply kicked him between the legs and he fell in a heap.

Van Drake pushed his wife behind him and Eden laughed. "You want out of this?" she said.

"I. . . " he looked at his wife and she nodded. "Yes, yes we do."

"Then come with me," Eden said. Quill appeared out of nothing just beside the Van Drakes and they both drew away, shocked at the appearance of this naked man from nowhere. "They won't be down long."

"Neither will the guards," he said. "You said not to kill."

"Good." Eden pointed to the model. "Torch it."

---

The fire caught quickly, and they just had time to get across the trainyard and toward the docks when the flames burst through the roof and roared upward in a column of incandescence that drew the attention of every person on the base. Sirens went off and men came running from all over, ignoring the small party hurrying the other way. They reached the dock and climbed quickly, Eden ready to cut down anyone who got in their way, but there was no one about.

The four of them hurried aboard the Warlock and then the men cast off. Eden turned to look out over the shipyard as they gained altitude. She had been planning to drop a few shells into the magazine as a distraction if she needed to, but this seemed to be working just fine. She grinned and turned to call to Zenobia. "All speed to the west," she said. "Open her wide and get us as much distance as you can."

"Aye!" Zenobia said and spun the wheel as they rose above the base. Eden felt the drives begin to thrum under her feet as they started to pick up speed.

Eden clapped Quill on his bare shoulder. "Good work my friend. You do not disappoint." She turned and looked at their new guests. "Come, let me show you below to a cabin. We will have better accommodations soon, but for now this will have to do."

"Who are you?" Van Drake said.

"I," she said, "am Captain Eden Kane, the most notorious pirate." She smiled, waited. "No? You've not heard of me?"

"Your pardon, Captain," Van Drake said. "But there is not any such person. Not really."

"Oh, I beg very much to differ," Eden said. She turned and led them aft, down the companionway to her cabin. "I am a most real person. I am perhaps the most real person you will ever encounter." She gestured around the cabin. "Please, sit and be comfortable. Would you like a drink? I have most excellent spirits and wines in that cabinet there, or I can have food brought if you like." She sat down, hung her swordbelt on the back of a chair. "You are Alexander Nelson Van Drake, but I am at a disadvantage. I did not know you had a wife."

"Oh, yes, well. This is my wife - Calliope Viveca Van Drake." He gestured and the girl nodded her head, still watching everything closely.

"Well, pleased to meet the two of you. I do wish it were under better circumstances. I am a great admirer of your work." Eden put her feet up and stretched.

"What. . . what do you want with us?" Van Drake said, uncertain. She could see he was very tired.

"Put yourself at ease, sir," she said. "I have no thought to harm either of you. Indeed, once this business is concluded, I shall pay you for your services and see to your freedom to go wherever you wish. I am a pirate by trade, but not a savage."

"What services would you ask of me?" Van Drake said.

"Ah," Eden said, smiling. "There hangs a tale. Now hand me that bottle, and I will tell you."

Continued in Chapter 4

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