Gareth and th Lost Island (35 page)

Gareth let Izzy take the lead. He followed her as
they raced down the stairs to what would soon become her domain.
They opened a door, and strode into a room where Gareth was lucky
to identify one piece of equipment in ten. Izzy, on the other hand,
was racing from one set of controls to the other. She was able to
discern what everything was, except for a rune engraved pillar in
the center of the room, and a pedestal, with an impression of a
humanoid palm in the top, sitting next to it.

Gareth walked over to the pedestal, and put his hand
in the impression. Purple light flowed from his palm and down the
sides of the pedestal. The light then broke off into four separate
paths that led to four crystals embedded in the walls. A younger
looking version of Center’s face took shape near the far wall.
“Magical signature of the Mintel family verified, system starting
up,” Center said in Mascalian.

“Speak in Trade, please, we have a multi-species
crew,” Gareth ordered.

“Acknowledged, Captain Mintel,” Center stated in
Trade language.

Gareth smiled, and turned to face Izzy, who was
flipping switches and cranking gears to start the engines. She
smiled back at him, and then flipped the lever that was supposed to
start the charged Aetherium flowing into the lift tubes. Her smile
switched to a frown when nothing happened. “I don’t know what’s
wrong. It looks like magic powered ships haven’t changed much in
13,000 years. I understand what most of these controls are for. I
did everything in the right order,” she muttered to herself.

“Engineer, I suggest you employ a kinetic
displacement to the central column in order to realign the rune
arrays,” Center suggested.

Izzy looked over to Gareth with confusion in her
eyes. “What does he want me to do?” she asked.

“He wants you to realign the rune array with a
kinetic displacement,” Gareth echoed. “You know… kick it,” he
paraphrased.

Izzy shrugged her shoulders, and gave the center
column a swift kick. Purple energy flowed up the column, along the
ceiling, and into various controls around the room. “Good to know
some repair techniques stand the test of time,” she chuckled.

Every one of the pirate fleet’s two manned dirigibles
were out trying to find a safe path wide enough to get their
capital ships through the storm surrounding the mysterious island.
The three frigates and the destroyer hung back at the edge of the
storm, waiting for their scouts to report back. An observant pirate
on the deck of the destroyer raised the alarm when he saw several
of the scouts suddenly dive out of the way of something that was
causing a large disturbance in the clouds. Eventually, the roiling
clouds gave way as a golden ship rose majestically out of the
storm.

Onboard the golden vessel, Pilot looked over his
shoulder and said, “Captain of the HMS Glorious Dawn, we will be
rising above the clouds any moment now.” Captain Mintel leaned
forward in his seat eagerly. The seat was set on a raised platform
in the middle of the crystal encased bridge of the HMS Glorious
Dawn. Pilot was also sitting, and had gone on for a good ten
minutes about how wonderful it was to finally have a seat while
steering an airship.

As the clouds thinned out, they were able to see the
small shapes of a dozen or more pirate minnows. Gareth leaned back
in his chair, and spoke into a tube that sent his voice to every
corner of the ship. “We will be engaging the enemy any minute now.
Henry, the minnows are yours. Tralnis and Sheldon, you two use the
main gun to take out the frigates. First Officer Morgana, use the
Sun gun to disable the destroyer,” he ordered. With a heavy heart
Gareth added, “We don’t have enough supplies to take prisoners, so
unless we manage to take their ships without destroying them, no
quarter is to be given.” He got off of his chair, and stood at the
railing behind Pilot so he could have an even better view of the
battle that was almost upon them.

Henry had left Chompers in the galley to protect
Teesh in case they were somehow boarded. The Chim slid down the
ladder to the tail gunner’s seat, and strapped himself in. After
flipping a switch that activated the magically enhanced hydraulics,
he spun the tail gun around to make sure it was moving on all three
axes. Gareth gave his orders, and Henry turned the brass key that
armed the tail gun. He waited until the first two man minnow
drifted close enough to get a good look at the golden ship. Holding
down the trigger, Henry riddled their gas sack with inch wide,
metal spheres. He let up on the trigger long enough to spin the
tail gun towards the next closest two man dirigible before he also
sprayed them with the deadly projectiles. The spheres went through
flesh just as easily as they did the resin coated canvas that made
up the gas sacks.

Henry flinched as a bullet ricocheted off of one of
the crystal panels surrounding the gun emplacement. Snarling, Henry
swung the gun around again, and squeezed the trigger hard enough to
make his furry knuckles tremble. His anger made his shot go wide
slightly, and glance off of the side of the minnow. While not a
killing blow, the shot had an unexpected benefit. As the sphere
skipped across the side, it tore through the ropes holding the
minnow’s ballast. With their ballast suddenly gone, the minnow shot
skyward, completely out of control.

The out of control minnow raced past the deck of the
Glorious Dawn, and gave the sniper a chance to jump onto the enemy
vessel. After he managed to collect himself, the sniper looked
around. He focused his attention on the huge gun mounted on the
fore deck. With a smirk, the sniper shouldered his rifle, and took
a bead on the Dwarf sitting in some sort of seat attached to the
side of the strange cannon. The sniper was about to fire, when he
sensed something large racing towards him. He spun around, and
squeezed the trigger. He watched in dread as his shot bounce
harmlessly off of the angular armor of a mechanical horror rushing
towards him on metal treads.

Kevin’s red lens had rotated into place, and glowed
with an angry inner light. “You will not hurt Kevin’s friend!” he
shouted at the pirate. With one swing of his mighty arm, the pirate
found himself sailing through empty sky towards the sea below with
a crushed ribcage. Kevin rolled up to the guard rail that
surrounded the deck, and watched the sniper fall to his death. He
rotated his triangular lens cluster to slip on the telescopic lens
so he could watch the splash the pirate made. When he was certain
the pirate would no longer be a threat to his friend Tralnis, Kevin
rotated his red lens back in place, and took up patrolling the deck
once again.

Tralnis barely glanced over to see what Kevin was
doing, being too focused on aiming the giant cannon. He never even
saw the sniper who had been trying to end his life. When he thought
he had the shot lined up, Tralnis squeezed the trigger. He missed,
and sent the 20 pound explosive sphere sailing harmlessly off the
nearest frigate’s port side.

“Great shot, Doc! Maybe next time you might want to
open your eyes when aiming,” Sheldon’s left eyestalk complained
sarcastically, as Sheldon opened the breach to load in another 20
pound explosive.

“Damn it, Sheldon! I’m a doctor, not an artillery
gunner!” Tralnis shouted back in frustration. He felt that odd
tingle again as the strange magic took over, and effected one of
the pirates helping to load a cannon on the frigate. The pirate
holding the cannon ball ready for the next shot suddenly lost his
grip, and dropped the iron sphere on the foot of the red shirted
pirate next to him. The red shirted pirate hopped on one foot,
while he grasped his other injured one with both hands. He managed
to hop right in front of the cannon as it was fired. The red
shirted pirate had a split second to look down at the gaping hole
through his chest before he expired.

Tralnis adjusted the sights on the cannon, and took
aim again. He squeezed the trigger, and sent this sphere slamming
into the wooden hull of the frigate just below their cannon. The
explosive sphere detonated, and blew the frigate’s cannon
completely off of the deck. Bits of wood and steel flew everywhere,
causing a great deal of collateral damage. “Hah!” Tralnis crowed as
Sheldon readied the main gun for another shot.

Elizabeth swore when she couldn’t get a clear shot at
the destroyer thanks to the frigate in her way. Deciding to do
something about it, she dialed the Sun gun to its widest beam, and
targeted the pilot of the frigate. The beam did as it was supposed
to, and bathed the pilot in a blinding, white light. He stumbled
away from his post, and caught the wheel with his belt as he passed
it. The frigate slewed to the side, causing its cannon to slide
with it as the gunner was firing. The cannon ball slammed into the
deck, and flew out the back side of the frigate’s engine room.
Black smoke billowed out of the frigate as the propellers spun to a
stop.

Tralnis stroked his beard as he admired Elizabeth’s
handiwork. “Come on boys, we can’t let her show us up. Load one of
the flammable spheres,” he told Sheldon. The Kwa-Kwa-Ur nodded
slightly, and picked up a metal sphere from a stack on the other
side of the main gun. After it was loaded, Tralnis took careful aim
once again, and squeezed the trigger, firing at the remaining
operational frigate. He meant to hit the deck, but struck the gas
sack instead. Tralnis and the eyestalks had to look away from the
bright explosion as the sphere broke apart, igniting the flammable
gas inside the giant sack.

“Take that you pirate bastar… Aaaah!” Tralnis yelled
as the Glorious Dawn was rocked by cannon fire from two of the
three cannons aboard the destroyer. The cannon balls struck the
metal shield near the front of the starboard side Aetherium tube.
“Explosive shells!” Tralnis ordered once the deck quit rolling from
side to side.

The destroyer’s captain smirked as the golden ship
looked like it was turning to run from them. “We’ve got them now,
men!” he shouted triumphantly. His excitement was quickly doused
when he realized their enemy had only turned part way, and now had
their side facing them. “Oh shit!” the pirate captain swore when he
saw both of the strange ship’s guns were pivoting to face them.
“Fire all cannons, damn your eyes, fire!” he ordered, panic
flooding into his voice. As a rule, pirates usually only picked on
targets that were much weaker than them. They always shied away
from anything resembling a fair fight, and this ship looked like it
just might be up to the challenge and then some.

While the pirate crew hurried to reload their
cannons, Tralnis and Elizabeth let loose with theirs. Wood
shattering in a line along the deck showed Henry was getting in on
the act as well. The main gun shot an explosive round into the
wheel house, while Elizabeth traced a needle thin line of white hot
light across the gears linking the destroyer’s four propellers to
their steam boiler. The heated gears seized, causing the propellers
to grind to a halt. The wheel house blew apart as the explosive
round hit. The surviving pirates frantically looked around for
anything white to wave as a sign of surrender.

Gareth sat back down in the captain’s chair, and
sighed in relief. He picked up the all ship speaking tube again.
“All guns standby while we approach the destroyer and the frigate.
Kevin, DAR-C, RENE, and Izzy, join me on deck. We’ll serve as the
boarding party to accept their surrender,” he said.

Twenty minutes later, the damaged frigate and
destroyer were moored together. Both of the captured crews were
standing on the deck of the destroyer. The pirates scrambled to get
as far away from the mechanical beings as possible when the
boarding party from the HMS Glorious Dawn strode across the
reinforced gangplank.

“Who is the ranking officer here?” Gareth called out,
flanked by Kevin on one side and DAR-C 254 on the other. Kevin was
wearing his angry lens to look extra intimidating.

One pirate hesitantly raised his hand, and answered,
“Um… you are, sir?”

Gareth shook his head. “No, I mean who speaks for you
as your leader?” he rephrased.

The same pirate shrugged his shoulders. “Don’t
rightly know, sir. Most of the officers were in the wheelhouse when
you went and blew it up. The remaining officer is our cook, and no
one listens to that scaly prick none,” he replied.

“Regardless, he’s still your senior officer. Bring
him forward,” Gareth ordered.

There was a scuffle at the back of the crowd of
pirates. The crowd parted, and a familiar looking Scaled One was
shoved to the front. Egite took one look at Izzy, and made a
beeline for her.

Kevin shot forward, and clotheslined the Scaled One
with an outstretched arm. The hulking robot bent over, and lifted
the gasping reptile up by the front of his filthy apron. Kevin
turned his head to look at Gareth, waiting for orders. With a jerk
of his own head towards the side of the ship, Gareth indicated what
Kevin should do. Kevin rolled over to the edge of the deck, and
tossed the trash overboard. His actions were met with cheers from
the crew of the destroyer.

“Yeah, we pretty much had the same reaction when
Egite got kicked off of our ship,” Izzy told the pirates.

Gareth slowly looked across the crowd of pirates.
“I’m going to give you lot three options. The first is remain on
this ship until we tow it into the air space of a country not so
fond of pirates. The second is to line up, and join your Scaled One
friend in the ocean. The third option is to quit your pirating
ways, and agree to become farmers on the island below us. If you
choose the latter, I guarantee your safety, and nicer homes than
you’ve ever lived in before,” he offered.

The pirate who had somehow found himself as speaker
for the conquered looked incredibly relieved. “I’m pretty sure I
speak for all of us when I say that being a farmer sounds mighty
good, sir,” he stated to murmured agreement from the now
ex-pirates.