The Privateer and the Princess (Part Three)

“Captain Windrunner, you may not realize this, but your cargo runs will win this war for us. Come take a tour of the ship and I will show you,” Admiral Storm said.

“I appreciate the hospitality, but the cargo needs to be delivered as soon as possible. We are immensely grateful for the rescue, but we have a schedule to keep,” Zeke said.

“We are on our way back to Luna ourselves. We would be honored to escort you back. As you know, it is not safe out there alone. In fact, my men are already securing the lines to your vessel. Don’t worry about the schedule, the Liberator is quite the speed demon when she needs to be. Come along, I do love showing her off,” said Admiral Storm.

Zeke sipped his tea to hide the grimace on his face, but he followed the admiral on the tour. Other than the crew’s quarters and the cargo hold of the ship, Zeke saw everything on the airship. The admiral loved hearing himself talk, which Zeke endured stoically, occasionally making mental notes about potential structural weaknesses in the hull.

“…and here is the first proof that Mongrel 'adaptions' can be safely extracted and grafted onto a pure-bred Lunar citizen. Sven, come on out!” said the admiral as the two stopped outside a nondescript door.

The door slowly opened and a plain-looking man with a strict military buzzcut stepped out. Upon sighting the admiral, he saluted crisply. It was then that Zeke noticed that the man had four arms, the second set of arms were attached to the man's hips.

“At ease, Sven,” Admiral Storm said gently, “could you please tell Captain Windrider what you can do?”

“Yes, sir,” Sven replied as he turned to Zeke, “I am capable of wielding a weapon in each of my arms, just as capably as a man with two arms. I also can shoot a gout of fire out of my mouth.”

“Thanks to the cargo on airships like the Tranquility, we will claim victory of those foul Victorians! We are were able to safely transplant the 'adaptions' of two different Mongrels onto Sven here. Now he is a better fighter than any single man on this ship, except maybe me,” said the admiral with a wink before dismissing Sven.

“What happened to the Mongrels?” asked Zeke.

“They perished. But Sven was unharmed in the process. Soon, we will get approval from the Senate to enhance our soldiers on a grand scale. If I play my cards right, I might even get a seat in that august body. And I will not forget those that assisted me,” Admiral Storm said, while pointing a bony finger at Zeke's chest.

“Thank you Admiral,” Zeke said politely, “May I make a suggestion? The Mongrels on your ship and the Mongrels on my ship may have 'adaptions' that could be quite complimentary when transplanted into our soldiers. May I see the Mongrels that you have here?”

“So you could compile a list of potential combinations to assist the Lunar Institute of Flesh Experimentation in their work on augmenting our men? LIFE would love that! Captain Alex never said that his First Mate was such a clever man. This way!”

Deep into the bowels of the ship they traveled, until they reached the cargo hold. The admiral simply pushed the heavy wooden door open without breaking a sweat. He explained that the Mongrels could not escape, so there was no need to lock the door.

In the cargo hold, amidst the usual barrels of rum and crates of hardtack, were several cages, all but two containing a Mongrel. Each had silver manacles on their wrists. The Mongrels all looked intently at the newcomer, and Zeke noticed that woman from earlier was in one of the cages.

“Don't worry Captain, the manacles are quite secure. We do not need to worry about them using their powers to escape. Now, regarding their powers, Subject One has gills on the side of his neck, so he can breathe air and water...”

The admiral went over the powers of each Mongrel, until he came to the woman.

“We have not figured out her powers yet, but this particular batch of Mongrels fought tooth and nail to protect her. None of our enhanced interrogation techniques have broken anyone yet, so we do not know what she can do. But we will find out one day.”

“Thank you for the tour, admiral. It is nice to see that Luna's finest are under the command of someone as capable as you.”

“You are welcome Captain. I would be honored if you would join the officers for dinner at four bells.”

“I gladly accept. If you will excuse me, I would like to return to the Tranquility to wash up.”

After the long walk up back to the main deck, Zeke made his good-byes and walked down the ramp back to the Tranquility. After relaying his findings to the boarders, Zeke laid out his plan to stop Admiral Storm, after dinner, of course.

Part One | Part Two | Part Three | Part Four

Picture Credit: "airship again" by Mike is licensed under CC by 2.0