Hello! This is my first fanfiction ever soooooooo I really hope everyone likes it. Please feel free to comment and review.

Disclaimer: Im not Scott Westerfield

Prologue

Deryn Sharp looked over the crystal waters of the Mediterranean Sea, feeling the rough hide of the Leviathan beneath her. She was back home; where she belonged. As she gazed at the sight below something warm brushed against her hand. The Midshipmen looked over and saw Alek sitting next to her with this posture of royalty about him. He was talking, but she couldn't make out what he was saying. It sounded as though he were speaking into a pillow. Maybe it's the wind she thought to herself. Deryn sat in the quiet, still air taking in all the sounds and smells of her beloved airship. The shouts of orders further up on the spine, the barking of hydrogen sniffers, even the faint smell of clart sent a warm ache into her heart. She missed flying.

Among the beauty of the sea and the steady breeze, Deryn felt a shiver shoot up her spine and noticed that she lost her hearing completely. A distant thrum filled the whale with subtle hum. "Something isn't right," she said out loud, the silent Alek looked at her quizzically. Then with a mighty lurch, the leviathan tipped to the starboard side. Deryn and Alek were sent grappling for the ratlines, desperately trying to find a handhold. Beside her Alek was struggling to find a hold and when he did it slipped from his feeble grasp. Quickly she reached put and took ahold of his wrist. Fear was written on every inch of the former prince's face. "Hang on, Alek!"

The Leviathan continued its roll and if it did not stop soon they would both be dangling from the side of the whale. Deryn glanced up at her own ratline, which was starting to ravel out. She looked down at Alek, he was mouthing the silent words, "Let go, let me go." She didn't want to; Alek was her best friend, one of her only friends and not to mention she loved him with every fiber of her being. Losing him would be losing a part of her. Fléchette bats and Strafing hawks were flying around them, being disturbed from their nests. Finally the sound found her and filled her head with the screeching of the beasties in the air and the hissing of hydrogen escaping from the Leviathan's membrane. She dared herself to look down and saw Alek now yelling those same fatal words, "let go, let me go!" Tears were causing his green eyes to glisten, "Deryn, please! If you don't we will both fall!"

Deryn was screaming now, but she couldn't hear her own voice, which prompted her to scream even more, mixed with some select profanities. She was growing tired of this selective hearing of hers. Then the ratline burst loose and they slid down the remaining hide of the leviathan, at the last moment Deryn caught herself on a single rope hanging down. However, she felt Alek's fingers slip through hers, heard a deafening cry that if she could hear herself would match her own. She felt as if she herself were of falling. That weightless feeling was welling up in her stomach and tying a thick knot around her heart.

The great hydrogen breather began to turn upright once more, making it seem as though Alek was the weight that sent it rolling. Unable to move she lay there, curled up on her side against the warmth of the Leviathan. Gasping for air and gagging on her sorrow. He was gone… Her daft prince was gone forever from her life. Sounds became clear again and the clatter of clanker gunfire forced her to look to the sky. Beyond the tip of the leviathan, near the early morning horizon was an uncountable amount of clanker Zeppelins. Ornicopters were pouring out like bees of an angry hive. She could hear the bullets whipping past and pierce through the membrane with a slight pop, filling her nose the scent of almonds. As more and more hydrogen left the hull, she could feel the beastie descend toward the now hungry, white-capped fingers of the Mediterranean. For a moment the air went completely silent once more. It almost seemed like everything was in slow-motion as the armada was finally upon them. In the quietness she could hear two simple words, yet irritatingly familiar.

"Mister Sharp"

The Scott glanced around and saw only one person on the back of the whale. "Da?" Her voice quavered and squeak into the octaves of a girl.

"Mister Sharp" the voice rang out again.

As she took a step toward her father, a deafening explosion shook the remains the beastie. The shock wave flooded her ears with sounds again. She cursed hearing the frantic cries of the crewman trapped in the burning gondola, the sharp twang of bullets hitting metal, the roar of fire which she knew would be the end of them.

"Mister Sharp" Her father said for the last time, but now more people were with him; Ma, Jaspert, Dr. Barlow, Newkirk, Lilit. All of them, everyone one she knew, were there staring at her with blank expressions as the Leviathan erupted into a great ball of fire. Engulfing her and everyone she cared about.

Deryn woke up with a start, sweat covering her body and soaking though her sheets.

"Mister Sharp" This time it was followed by a well-known giggle. Bovril was watching her from the edge of the bed making the sounds of footsteps when the door opened.

"Oh, I wasn't aware you were awake yet", Alek said half-way between entering and walking away

A smile crept its way across her face. It had only been a dream. She sat up stiff from her fretful sleep, "Could you give a minute. I'm not decent."

"I'll wait outside." Alek said shutting her cabin door.

He must have something important to tell me.

She rubbed her eyes trying to knead any remaining thoughts or feeling of the monstrous dream. Throwing her feet over the edge the bed, she got up and began to get ready. She heard a sliding noise and noticed Alek slid a sheet of paper underneath the door. Picking it up she saw it had been folded into three sections, similar to the folds of letter.

"You might want to hurry." Alek said from the other side of the door. Deryn skimmed the surprisingly short letter:

Dear Mr. Hohenberg,

I have written this letter in advance so that there would be no delay in you receiving it. I must inform you that you will be presented an offer, asking something very important of you and Mr. Sharp. I expect the two of you to be at my office by 10:00 sharp to disuse things further.

Yours truly,

Dr. Nora Barlow

P.S: Do make sure that Mr. Sharp looks presentable

"Alek, what time is it?" She asked removing the remnants of yesterday's clothes and began to wrap new binding around her chest.

"It is ten forty-six"

"Barking spiders!" Deryn shouted, frantically looking for something decent to wear.

Alek laughed, "Remember, presentable Deryn."

Deryn scrambled to put her boots on, "You could've woken me up a squick earlier you daft prince?" She voiced out.

"It's more fun this way." Alek said with a laugh.

Deryn finally with her best clothes on and ready to go said "Alright well next time try waking me up bum rag, ok?" She opened the door, Bovril waddling out and climbing up to its perch on her shoulder. There stood Alek, fixing the cuff on his shirt facing away from the doorway. She smiled to herself and has he turned around, "Good?" Her arms rose slightly, gesturing at her suit.

"Beautiful" He leaned forward and kissed Deryn on the forehead, then grabbed her hand and made for Dr. Barlow's office.

Dr. Barlow's office was one of many apart of the large building that the Zoological Society operated out of. As a whole the building was equip with labs, archives, cabins, and the largest green house in London. Not to mention the zoo that the Society ran and looked after. It was no Leviathan, but it was the closest thing to a home Deryn had.

"You're late." The boffin said, annoyed, but Tazza greeted them happily. Her own loris repeated it along with several tsk sounds. It and Bovril crawled down onto the table and began catching up with one another. Sharing new words and phrases quietly. "Sadly I have no time to lecture you on the importance of being timely. There are more oppressing matters at hand, please sit." She gestured at the two chairs in front of her large fabricated deck. It appeared too sculpted out of bees wax from the tiny hexagons in its intricate design. They sat and waited for this offer they've heard so little about. "I have a job for you, a mission." She paused for a moment, "A German spy slipped into one of our archives and stole blueprints and various notes a few weeks back. Most of which were from our latest project in creating a fabricated submarine. Without the stolen information the project will take years to reconstruct. Now we have narrowed down on its location and believe it to be somewhere in Austria boarding France. The reason we have withheld this mission for so long was because of the Western Front. I was not about to send two children into a war zone but I have been left with no choice."

"Sorry to interrupt Dr. Barlow, but why us?" Alek said.

"You see, Alek, we believe the blueprints to be in Austria so naturally you're the most qualified."

"What exactly is that ma'am?" Deryn said scratching across the stripes on Tazza's back.

"Your mission is to travel to Amiens, France and gather as much information on the stolen items. When you report back with your findings we will send an agent to do all the dirty wok" The boffin glances at the pocket watch on her desk, "You'll be leaving in six hours, any more questions?"

Deryn and Alek both shook their heads and stood up to leave.

"One more thing," Dr. Barlow said, stopping them in the door way. Bovril waddled his way onto Alek's shoulder, whispering new words. "When you get there try to find Dr. Felix Morin. He is head of this project and would be more than willing to help get back his work. I do warn you that he is a rather strange man." She wished them the best of luck and waved them off.