Sigmund Shaw: A Steampunk Adventure (31 page)

The crew looked to the right as they saw flashes through the clouds and sounds of cannon fire. Hoffman spoke up, “It’s the Osprey, they’ve engaged the enemy ship.”

Faulkner, trying to stay calm for his crew, said, “Helmsmen, head toward the lights. When in sight of the enemy, turn for a broadside attack.”

“Aye, sir.” Responded Helmsman Simmons.

“Hoffman, radio Firefly and tell them to converge and engage.”

The cannon fire continued, more explosions and lights broke through the grey. Faulkner gripped his seat arms with white knuckles – not nervous, but eager. The cabin suddenly filled with light, so much so that the crew shielded their eyes. The light was immediately followed by a large explosion. Looking back out the window they saw a consistent, but flickering light, descending through the clouds. Was it the
Osprey
or the enemy?

Before Faulkner could ask, Hoffman said, “I’m getting no response from the Osprey. I think it was them.”

“Keep trying. We do not know that for sure.” Faulkner didn’t even believe himself. Then, out of the greyness a large, dark shape started to form. It clearly wasn’t the
Osprey
or the
Firefly
, it was Grimkraken’s ship. “Fire!” he yelled into a tube. “Helmsman, turn us to port, we will give them a full taste!”

The front cannons fired, sending a shiver through the cabin. They saw an explosion on the enemy ship and the crew whooped with excitement. The
Dominator
turned to port slowly, giving the side cannons an angle to shoot at. The crew all gasped in surprise as the enemy ship also turned but did so at a speed that no one thought possible. It has turned completely around, evidently its front now facing them, before the
Dominator
could make its ninety degree turn to port. They saw two flashes of light, one from each side of center of the enemy ship and they all braced for impact. With a loud explosion, the ship shook, but did not change its course or elevation. The armor had withstood the attack.
You are not dealing with a scout ship now!
thought Faulkner.

A few more seconds went by and then the
Dominator
was in position and fired its full complement of eight side cannons. Explosions rocked the enemy ship and it even dipped down and to the left. The crew again gave a cheer at the sight but didn’t fail to notice that the enemy ship kept towards them.

Faulkner was the first to understand that somehow this enemy ship was powered solely by propellers – one of them not turning due to his recent cannon fire. The idea of a craft like this had been discussed since DaVinci’s time, but never could be executed in a practical manner. His awe and confusion was short-lived as the main gun of the enemy fired. With a thunderous sound, the front of the armored cabin disappeared. The helmsman, Simmons, was gone, his station was gone. The cannon had ripped through the armor as if it didn’t exist. Wind poured into the bridge through the large opening.

The Dominator fired its cannons again, more explosions on the enemy ship, but no visible change in its approach.

Faulkner had lost all directional control of his ship. He and his men were sitting ducks. Amidst the rushing wind he pulled up the engineer tube and shouted, “Reduce altitude! Land us as quickly as possible!”

A moment later the ship lurched as air was being released from the balloons. The enemy fired its main cannon again and they could feel the impact somewhere above the cabin section. The ship lurched down quickly – Faulkner concluded that the second shot hit the shield and burst one, or more of the pocketed balloons.

The
Dominator
descended at a greater speed now – too fast for any kind of safe landing. Faulkner could imagine the engineers trying to compensate by adding gas to the remaining pockets. He hoped there were enough left. He looked at Hoffman and shouted over the wind, “Contact Firefly, tell them to retreat!”

The Falcon was down.

* * *

The battle in the sky was yet another event unlike anything Sigmund had ever seen. Not that he could see much of the battle as it was mostly hidden by clouds, but the explosions and eventually falling ships was enough to piece together what happened. To his, and the other’s dismay, none of the falling ships were Grimkraken’s. His heart sank as he watched the largest of the RAF dirigibles descend to the earth.

While the battle above their head was happening, a good number of the remaining army and police force had entered the factory to make sure it was unoccupied. Those that stayed on the battle line were attending to the casualties. Sigmund sat on a large chunk of iron – a piece of one of the armored vehicles – and began to shake. The battle was over, the immediate danger was gone, and now the emotions that were trapped behind adrenaline and action were let free. His body shook as if he was freezing. His mind refused to focus, preferring a numbness to any thought. As seconds, minutes, hours – Sigmund had no sense of time – passed by, a small thought began to penetrate the numbness. Death. There were many dozens dead around him. The survivors were lining the dead in rows for later transport and proper burial. Sitting alone amidst the still smoking battlefield, Sigmund began to cry. He was not prepared for these events. He was not prepared for surviving while others died.

No one approached Sigmund for what felt like a long time. Perhaps it was because they knew that there was no help to give, perhaps because everyone was too busy attending to the wounded and dead. He cursed himself for not helping but could not get his body to move.

“Sigmund,” a soft voice called out. He heard it but his mind refused to put meaning to it. It was just a sound. “Sigmund, it’s Dan.” He still didn’t stir.

It wasn’t until he felt a hand on his shoulder that he actually realized that someone was near him, that someone was talking to him. He looked up and saw Lieutenant Daniel Mills looking back. “Sigmund, the factory is cleared of Grimkraken’s men. Could you come take a look?”

Sigmund stared for a moment, blinked, and wiped his eyes. Without getting up he asked, “How do you do it?”

It was a vague question, but Mills knew what Sigmund was asking. How do you handle a battle, war, death? “Because I didn’t want it. And it was with the goal of preventing more of this.”

Sigmund didn’t argue but that view wasn’t good enough for him. Maybe that’s the thing, everyone finds their own way to cope. He didn’t know what would be his way but he knew without a doubt that it would include Alexis and Sarah. He always thought that they were reliant on him, that it was a one sided support system, but the truth was that they supported him just as much, if not more, than he did them. Their love and friendship was everything to Sigmund. The thought of them made his eyes pool again with tears. He wanted nothing more than to be sitting in their kitchen enjoying a meal, talking and laughing.

“Sigmund, we need your help. Can you stand?”

The thought of his family gave Sigmund enough resolve to stand up and follow Mills. They walked through the remains of the factory wall, past the destroyed machines, and more dead bodies. Sigmund forced himself not to look – his hatred for death could not be expanded. The factory itself suffered a fair amount of damage – it was never the target, but it stood right behind the battle line and took many hits. Bricks and stone littered the area all around the front of the building. The main doors were still wide open and it was through here that Dan and Sigmund entered. After they walked through the doors, Dan asked, “Where was it that you found the cube?”

Sigmund turned to his right to where the lab is, or was, and pointed. The multistory structure that held the lab and the offices above was in a pile of rubble. Several of the cannon shots had hit that section. They walked over to it, carefully stepping around bricks, and climbing over some larger debris, to the lab area. There was nothing to left to see. If there were any cubes or other important items, they would be crushed to oblivion under this pile of rubble. He looked at Mills and shook his head slowly, “This is where I found it. There was a lab here with some cubes and apparatuses.” He looked off into the depth of the factory and said, “I never made it beyond this room, perhaps there were other labs or production areas.”

Mills looked at the rubble for a moment and then said, “Our men are searching for anything now.”

“Has Sutton found anything?”

“No.” answered Mills, “Not yet. He believes that Grimkraken took everything with him on his airship.”

“What do we do now?”

“I’m not sure,” admitted Mills. “We don’t have ground cannons that can reach an airship and he just defeated a fleet of our dirigibles. And that cannon…”

“Sutton called it a Gauss cannon. Says that it can fire a projectile many times faster and farther than any conventional cannon.”

“Whatever it is called, it is beyond anything we have. If he rises above the clouds he should be able to see anyone approaching him and fire long before the opposing ship was close enough to fire its own cannons. The question is what does Grimkraken plan to do with it.”

An hour later, the factory had been searched and found empty of any cubes or the designs for them. Even the war machines were searched but were found empty of viable cubes. It seems that the furnaces that housed the cubes had a small explosive set to go off if the machine was defeated.

It was hard for Sigmund to stomach that after all of this, Grimkraken had escaped and everything important was with him.

30.

Word spread through London like a rushing sandstorm. No crack or crevice of society escaped the news of the battles of the day. By the night of the battle, London was divided. There was a growing section of the population that agreed with the ideals of Grimkraken, of believing that they were better than others and should impart their superior ways on the masses of the world. The majority of London was not of that mindset but it didn’t prevent some small riots and fighting in the streets and taverns.

The news of Portsmouth being attacked – and still burning ferociously – seemed to take a lesser spot in people’s minds as London had its own problems to deal with. The following day’s papers, Sunday, confirmed many of the rumors that spread throughout the city, that a rebel group led by Grimkraken, had pioneered new technology and was looking to reestablish the dominance of the British Empire for the said reason of creating a civilized world. For the duration of the day it was the only conversation piece. At night, people stood outside and on their roofs to see the menacing airship that hovered above them.

The following Monday, Grimkraken acted. He had taken his ship and flown north west to Warwickshire and bombarded the coal mining operation there. There were fortunately only a few casualties as he attacked prior to the start of the workday. When the ship had returned to London he sent a message that if he did not receive the support of the Empire, he would destroy every coal operation in England, one by one. This would both cripple the country and make his new power source more of a necessity.

The RAF mounted another attack against the enemy airship but it proved even more unsuccessful than the first attack. The dirigibles were destroyed without a single shot being fired from them. The enemy ship was too fast and too well armed to be taken down by RAF ships. England didn’t have an answer for Grimkraken. They needed one by midnight Wednesday before another coal operation was destroyed.

* * *

The greyness of the previous days gave way to a beautiful Tuesday morning. The skies were clear and the sun was bright. It was completely wasted on London. Grimkraken’s ship hung over the city like the darkest of storm clouds. The thrumming over London gave a constant reminder of its presence during the day and at night that was added to by powerful lights that emanated from it to scan the surrounding sky. The citizens knew that at any moment it could open fire and destroy most anything it wanted and there was nothing anyone could do about it.

Those frustrating thoughts, and others, filled the room that Sigmund currently found himself in. He had been summoned to the Northolt Air Base and was shown to a large conference room in the main office facilities. The room was paneled in dark wood, had a large conference table that could easily seat more than a dozen people, and three windows that currently had the curtains half pulled. Around the table were several men – those that Sigmund knew were Richard Sutton, Chief Inspector Gabriel Holmes, Sir Bradford, and Lieutenant Daniel Mills. One other that Sigmund recognized was none other than the Prime Minister himself, Arthur Balfour – who had a persistent scowl on his face as if he couldn’t believe he had to deal with this mess. The rest of the people looked to be military and government types. Sigmund took a seat near Mills and felt very much out of place. He could see why the rest were here, police, military, and even Sutton made sense from an engineering viewpoint. All had a purpose he could see, except for himself – the carriage driver and thief.

The group continued for a few minutes with different people having side conversations. Sigmund didn’t say a word, just continued to look around the room, half expecting someone to realize he was there and ask him to leave.

Finally, the Prime Minister spoke to the group, “Let’s all quiet down and begin this meeting. Group Captain, please start us off.

A mustached man who was nearer the end of middle-age than the beginning, stood up, leaned forward on the table, and placed both hands down to support himself.  He didn’t raise his eyes and said with a tired voice, “I am Group Captain Randal Faulkner. I led the first wave of dirigibles against Grimkraken’s ship.” He let that sink in for a moment – he had faced Grimkraken’s ship first hand, and had lost – then said, “We have asked you all here because we are desperate.” Raising his head to look at the men around the table, he continued, “Our dirigibles have not been able to withstand the power and range of Grimkraken’s airship. I would like Richard Sutton, Chief Engineer at the Academy of Advanced Science, to explain what we are dealing with and then ask for suggestions.”

Sutton waited for Faulkner to sit and then started, “There are two things of note about Grimkraken’s ship. First, as you all are fully aware, it is able to fly by use of propellers, not a balloon. In addition to making him less vulnerable, it also makes him much faster and more maneuverable than any craft that has ever be made by man.” A few of the military men grumbled at this statement but raised no overt objections. Sutton went on, “The second item we are dealing with is the main cannon of the ship. This is a little speculation on my part but all evidence points to it being a Gauss Cannon.”

“And what exactly is that?” one of the military men asked.

“The cannons that we are all familiar with use an explosive charge to propel a payload. The distance wanted and size of the payload dictate how much of an explosive charge is needed. In addition, the bigger the explosive charge the thicker the barrel needed to contain it. The Gauss Cannon does not use an explosive charge. It uses electromagnets to move a payload down its barrel and launch it. It can propel a payload much faster and much farther than a cannon of equal size.”

“Bah! Magnets? Stronger than gunpowder?” the Prime Minister asked unbelievingly.

“Electromagnets can be very strong and, when used with precision timing down a barrel, can move an object at tremendous speeds. To put it in perspective, the difference in speed that the Gauss Cannon can produce, compared to one of our ship mounted cannons would be similar to the difference between me flinging a bullet at you with a child’s slingshot and shooting you with a rifle. Believe me or not, but that weapon is well beyond anything we currently have.”

The table erupted in conversations. “How can we defeat that?” “What can we do?” “It can’t be possible”

Faulkner again reined everyone in, “Gentleman! Whether or not you believe what Sutton has said, I want you to know this: That cannon
is
far better than any of ours. I’ve seen it firsthand. We have lost men and machine because of that weapon. We need to proceed with the assumption that what Sutton has said is true.” He glared around the table daring anyone to disagree. No one did, although the Prime Minister rolled his eyes. Faulkner then asked, “Are there any vulnerabilities or weaknesses?”

Sutton thought for a moment and said, “The only weakness I can think of is that the Gauss Cannon needs very precise timing in order to work. It wouldn’t take much to ruin it. But that leaves us with the same issue, getting close enough to attack.”

Faulkner nodded in understanding, “Thank you Mr. Sutton.” Then turning his attention to the group, “Gentlemen, I would now like introduce Mr. Samuel Tilford.” He raised his hand at a man towards the back of the table. “Mr. Tilford represents the Coal Union.”

Sigmund looked at the man that Faulkner had indicated – he was a large man with a finely trimmed black and grey beard. His eyes were dark and seemed darker behind his large red cheeks. His clothing was exquisite, a man who radiated wealth. In a heavy voice, Tilford said, “Thank you, sir.”

One of the military men spoke up, “Why is he here? This is a military operation!”

Faulkner responded immediately, “From what I understand, Major Ripley, the Coal Union proved quite important at the Battersea Battle.”

“Quite right,” agreed Sir Bradford, “If it wasn’t for their arrival we would have lost many more men.”

Major Ripley did not look particularly satisfied but made no more comment.

Tilford started again, “Gentleman, we have, or at least had, a man inside of Grimkraken’s operation.” This was greeted by many looks of surprise. “We don’t currently know our man’s whereabouts but it was from him that we learned of the designs that Grimkraken had been working on. It was from these designs that we were able to build a few of our own war machines – although quite limited compared to the original design.”

“So you knew of these?” cried out the Prime Minister. “And what of the airship?”

“We knew, yes. The airship was also known to us but quite beyond our technology to recreate.”

“This is an outrage!” yelled the Prime Minister. “You should have told us! We might have been able to avoid this entire situation!”

“Tell you?” laughed Tilford, “With all due respect, Mr. Prime Minister, members of your government, your military, are behind this situation! Who should we have told? Who could we have trusted? We can’t even say for sure that there is not someone in this room that is working for Grimkraken.” This comment started much yelling, accusations, and pleas of innocence.

“Enough!” screamed Faulkner. The group slowly grew silent as he stared them all down. “There will be plenty of time to talk about culpability when this is all over. For now we need to tackle the problem at hand. Mr. Tilford, is there anything else you can tell us?”

“Just that I can verify what Mr. Sutton has said about the Gauss Cannon. It is an electrically powered gun. I, too, wouldn’t have believed it capable of much but it clearly is a formidable weapon. However, the amalgam cube was so intrinsic to the generator design that our engineers didn’t even bother trying to replicate it. We have no answer for that cannon.”

Sir Bradford turned to Sutton and asked in a near pleading voice, “Richard, is there nothing at the academy that can work against Grimkraken’s ship?”

“Nothing that hasn’t already been discussed previously.” Responded Sutton. “We need a new approach, bigger ships, stronger weapons, and all of that takes time. We are outclassed in every way. It’s like David and Goliath but David is losing in our story.”

Sigmund thought about the analogy. A giant, Goliath, a battle hardened warrior going up against one young man.
One man?
Sigmund fixated on that thought for a moment and then exclaimed, “I think we are looking at this wrong.”

The table of men turned to the previously mute Sigmund. Faulkner cocked his head, “How so?”

“Grimkraken’s ship is too powerful for any kind of frontal assault. Our weapons and ships cannot match his. Instead of trying to think of ways to overpower him, we should try to outsmart him.”

“I’m still not following…”

“The only way to approach his ship is through the air. When we try that, our dirigibles are spotted and shot down before they have a chance to attack. They are too big, too easy to see! They can’t hide their approach. What if we think smaller instead of stronger?”

Faulkner responded, “You know what happened to the scout ship. It was small and fast and it still didn’t have a chance.”

“I’m thinking even smaller. We have one cube, I say we use it against Grimkraken. It produces enough energy to power a small engine and enough heat to fill a small hot air balloon.”

Sutton, his engineering mind kicking in, spoke up, “How small? That cube wouldn’t power much.”

“The engine would be worn on the back of a person and the balloon would be attached to a harness that the person strapped into. There is no basket or cabin, just one man, an engine, and a balloon.”

“What good would that be?” the Prime Minister asked, clearly annoyed at the very suggestion.

Sutton, not noticing the Prime Minister’s question, said, “That might be possible. We have parts at the academy. We could build it fairly easily. But then what?”

Sigmund’s mind kept running, trying to think his plan through, “This one person, being small, avoids detection and lands on the ship. From there he makes his way into the ship and takes out the cannon. You said yourself that it wouldn’t take much to render it useless. I’m sure I could figure something out. And then–”

Holmes interjected, “You? You will do this?”

Sigmund nodded, “Yes. Look, the reason I’m part of this whole situation is because of my ability to sneak into places and do things while remaining unseen. That sounds exactly like what we are talking about here. Besides, I’ve been blown up, drugged, and shot since this all started, what’s left that they can they do to me?”