Forget the Rules
Lieselotte awoke to a shake. The moment her eyes opened, she wanted to close them.
"Stand up, I saw your eyes open," Ernst commanded. Lieselotte sighed and pulled on her piloting jacket. If there was anything to like about Ernst, it was hidden under the deep layers of his hate towards anyone who wasn't equal to him. Lieselotte was better than him at everything from fencing, foreign languages, diplomacy, piloting, and anything a girl wasn't allowed to do, but the stupid fact that she was a girl ruined everything. Ernst was heir.
She hated how he pestered her every morning, asking what stupid things she'd do in the morning, until some officer or Tesla would tell him to go outside the fence. Then he would shut up and sit down on his royal bum, doing nothing. Lieselotte actually was a help, knowing so much about Darwinist and Clanker powers, and how to actually use a microscope. She could do everything better than him. She went to the recently created mess hall to get her fair share of gruel (happily not made by her. Cooking was not her strong side.)
"Miss, we saw a ship. Help has arrived!" one of the men shouted. She ignored him. She sat next to Tesla.
"Well, I would have hoped for better. Come," he motioned for her to follow him outside. Sure enough, a airship was floating in the sky. Tesla looked at it with distaste. Lieselotte took her field glasses and held them to her face, surveying the airship.
"Care to identify, Lieselotte?" he asked.
"British air ship. Leviathan. Made from the life strands of a whale. First ship to make it to India and back, eletrikal engines that use your alternative current design. Wait a moment, looks like they have two Daimlers also," she said, handing the field glasses to Tesla.
"Good job. Gather your stuff, although I'm not to happy about British air ships," Tesla muttered before handing Lieselotte her field glasses back. She went to one of the small labratories and got her many notebooks and her beloved microscope.
By the time she got outside, a Huxley was landing. The men grabbed its tentacles and a boy walked over to Tesla.
"You are British?" Tesla asked. The boy bowed.
"Aye, sir. Midshipman Dylan Sharp, at your service."
Tesla was peeved, and Lieselotte. Poor boy, the walking stick was fully charged. "How annoying."
The boy looked shocked. "Excuse me?"
"I specifically requested that no powers other than Russia will be involved in this exoedition. Lieselotte, the men need an extra hand with the Huxley," he said and Lieselotte nodded before jogging over to the Huxley and shouting commands to the men in Russian. The Huxley was safe when they walked back to the main field. A few moments later, the boy was shouting to the men. Something was weird about his vioce, though. Probably has a cough.
"They don't speak English!" Lieselotte yelled to him. He gave her an annoyed expression.
"I know that!"
"Then why bother trying?" she responded. Who did he think he was? He was talking with a countess without the slightest tone of respect!
Stop that, Lieselotte thought. You're sounding like Ersnt.
"I don't know, alright?" he was irritated. Lieselotte had a talent for that.
Just at that moment, Ernst had bothered to stand up from his royal bum and see why everyone was standing outside.
Great.
Ersnt, probably trying to show the Midshipman he was better than him at something, attempted something terrible.
"I challenge you to a fencing match!" he yelled, his voice pompous and proper.
Lieselotte had enough of him. She made sure she had the rag in her pocket before unsheathing her fencing saber and using the flat of the blade, hit his head.
"How dare you, filthy servant!" he yelled at her. Lieselotte wanted to laugh at how cartoonish he seemed.
But she was angry.
"Excuse me?" was all she said. He smirked.
"I said, how-"
"I heard what you said, dummkopf."
If looks could kill, he would be dead. But sabres did. And if a fencing sabre was in Lieselotte's hand, he was in trouble.
Erst took up a lousy fencing position. He never was one for fencing. Vater would scowl at his attempt of the position. Lieselotte took her position.
He lunged.
In a quick movement, Lieselotte used her quick thinking to see he was aiming for her legs. She jumped a bit early, and crack went the blade.
Oh, lovely. Now time for the attack.
He dropped the sabre. She advanced and sliced his cheek. He cowered, so she moved back. She attacked again, this time getting his foot, watched him wince as he fell, then she removed the rag from her pocket and pressed it to his face.
His head fell down.
"He should be out for a few hours. The dose isn't fatal, but I could make it fatal."
The airship was grand, much better than the one she had been on previously. But, she had to sleep on the floor until she would be dropped off at Vladivostok, unless Tesla intervened. She was his apprentice, and a good one. Ersnt was definetly going to get sent back to Galicia, but she didn't know what to do. She didn't want to go back to Galicia, but instead, she wanted to continue on the adventure she was having.
Startiling her from her thoughts, a lizard popped up from a tube.
"Miss Lieselotte, please assist Captain Yegorov and his men, as you are the only one who can understand them well," the lizard said.
Lieselotte left her small labratory in the middies' mess to see where they were. She didn't really have to, since the corridors were crawling with people and Yegorov nearly immediately yelled her over when he saw her.
"Madam Lieselotte," he spoke in rapid French, "the prince is on board!"
Lieselotte's eyebrow's knitted together.
"Yegorov, there are hundreds of princes in the world. Alright, maybe there's only a couple hundred royals out there, myself included, but you could be talking about England, Spain, Nor-"
"The young Austrian prince! The one from your country!" he exclaimed. Lieselotte nodded. "I'll go help Tesla. Where did you last see him?''
"He's somewhere farher down, talking with the prince!"
She was gone in seconds. She snuck up near Tesla, nearly blending in with the shadows of the corner where Tesla was talking with the prince. A prince who could give her answers. But he walked inside the navigation room with him, where a marine guard was keeping the Russians back.
(A/N: Okay, Alek and Tesla don't really talk at that moment, but it's a fanfic for a reason! But there is a marine guard at the door of the navigator room.)
"Excuse me, sir, but I need to get in there," she spoke politely.
"No lassies in there. Leave," he responded coldly.
"But I'm Mister Nikola Tesla's apprentice. I must go inside."
"And I'm Darwin's brother. No Russians in here, lassie," he glared. Her eyes narrowed and she punched him and slipped in the navigation room.
"Hello, sir," she nodded and slipped behind him, her hands ready to grab her sabre. She may have lived in London for a few months and lived on a Darwinists airship, but she would never trust them. Her eyes scanned the room, and she saw a pair of identical piercing blue eyes staring at her.
Her mouth fell open.
"Hello, Vater," she muttered.