Disclaimer: Not Scott :(
Eugene Newkirk strutted about the spine of the Leviathan, feeling the wind whistling around his ears and generally feeling on top of the world. A sniffer ambled by, searching for tears in the skin, and Newkirk tried not to cringe. He still didn't like those unnatural beasties, even after three years aboard the Leviathan.
The Leviathan was headed back to England to restock on a few things that the Leviathan couldn't make for herself - like soap. They were also going to be picking up a new midshipman.
Mr. Rigby had decided to retire. He was getting on in years and he said, "I don't feel like training any more of those daft midshipmen. I'll leave that to the younger fellow."
The "younger fellow" ended up being Newkirk. Yes, Captain Hobbes had decided to have Newkirk train the new middy, at least until they could find a replacement for Rigby.
Newkirk whistled, grinning as he thought of how many tricks he could play on the new middy.
He had had quite a few adventures over the years. Though the ship had never been the same after Alek, Dylan, and all the Clankers and boffins had left, the Leviathan was still a big part of the war, and she still saw a lot of action.
There was that time over the coast of western Africa. Newkirk had shown his fighting skills (well, perhaps just lucky shots, he admitted to himself) and had actually saved the Captain's life in battle!
He really didn't know how it had happened. One moment he was shooting wildly into the enemy fray, almost wetting his pants hoping, hoping that he wouldn't get injured. The next thing he knew, he was told he had shot the man sneaking up behind the Captain, saving Hobbes's life and earning a few days' worth of fame aboard the ship.
The sort of fame that Dylan had always seemed to have, ever since he had saved Newkirk's and Mr. Rigby's lives that fateful night above the glacier.
Unlike Dylan, Newkirk hadn't lost any of his men on his first mission.
Ah, well. He shrugged to himself as he climbed down to the hold. Dylan had always had a way of getting in on everything that went on in this ship. He had even known the prince's secret before anyone else on the Leviathan.
…
Newkirk was touring the Leviathan with the new middy, Mr…. Newkirk checked the paper. Oh, yes, Mr. Irvine. Another Scotsman.
Newkirk was reminded heavily of Dylan when he had first come aboard. The same wonder and excitement (which all new middies had) coupled with the thick, Scottish accent was like meeting Dylan all over again. Mr. Irvine even looked like Dylan. He had the same blonde hair and blue eyes, sparkling with mischief.
Oh, yes, he'd be a troublemaker all right. And, like Dylan, he had passed the middy exam with flying colors.
Thankfully, young Irvine wasn't as tall as Dylan. That had always irked Newkirk, Dylan being taller.
At the end of the tour, Newkirk said, "All right, Irvine. Any questions you're dying to ask? I know everything there is to know about this ship," he bragged.
Generally people wanted to know about Alek, the famous and perplexing prince who had thrown away his empire to be…. a zookeeper? But, "Did you know the midshipman Dylan Sharp?" asked Irvine.
Newkirk felt surprise, "Aye, I was a midshipman the same time that he was. But why do you ask? Most people want to know about the prince."
"Aye, the prince," Irvine waved his hand dismissively, "he's barking famous and all, but he didn't really do anything. I saw this newspaper article about Midshipman Sharp a few years ago. He was in Constantinople. I decided I wanted to be a middy aboard the Leviathan too, when I read it!"
"Istanbul," muttered Newkirk. Great. Another Dylan fan. How come Newkirk never got any recognition?
"My older sister is quite taken with Mr. Sharp. She wants to marry him or something," he rolled his eyes. "Girls. She even wanted to be a middy too! But," he snorted, "girls can't be middies! That would be too confusing, having girl middies aboard!"
Newkirk agreed with that. The only girls he had known were silly and shallow. They were more interested in the color of their hair ribbons than in the war. Men were dying on the war front and all girls could talk about were tea parties. It made him barking mad.
"So she made me promise to write her everything I could find out about Dylan. What's he like?"
"Well," said Newkirk, "you can find out for yourself in a week."
Irvine looked confused.
"We're going to pick him up from a mission in Switzerland late next week. That's where the Leviathan is headed next."
"Barking spiders!" shouted Irvine. "I can't wait to meet him!"
"Well, until then, you'll need to start your middy chores."
"Oh, aye," Irvine's face was a squick disappointed, "right."
Newkirk grinned, "We can start you out in the gastric chambers…"
Irvine groaned.
…
Newkirk stood next to an excited Irvine in the hold a week later. The young middy had begged to accompany Newkirk as he went to fetch Dylan from the castle. Figures, that Alek would have a barking castle.
Newkirk shook his head. Princes.
Because there was no ground crew to land the Leviathan, Newkirk, Irvine, and a few other crew members were to climb down the lines and fasten them to the ground below. There wasn't that much to fasten the lines to (no trees on top of a glacier) so they were fastening most of them to the castle and castle wall.
Newkirk peered down and saw Dylan standing below them, just outside the castle gate. He pointed the figure out to Irvine. "You better not say anything bad about Alek in front of Dylan. They're best friends."
"Really? A royal person and a commoner? That's barking weird."
Newkirk shrugged. "Never understood it myself." He tried not to let any jealousy show through.
There was no more time for talk as the crew members slid down the lines to the ground below. As soon as Newkirk landed, he looked around for Dylan.
Dylan was directing some of the crew on where to tie the lines, bossy as ever.
"Dylan!"
"Newkirk! How was the trip?"
"Fine, fine. I get to train the new middies now."
Dylan's eyes widened. "They trust you to teach the poor new recruits? How awful for them," he smirked.
"You're just jealous that you've spent the last few weeks cooped up in this dusty old castle doing science while I've been having adventures." Newkirk added, "There's someone who wants to meet you."
He turned and gestured to Irvine, who had been standing shyly to the side. "Mr. Dylan Sharp, may I present Mr. Irvine, our newest recruit."
Newkirk watched, amused, as Irvine seemed unsure whether to salute or shake hands with Dylan. He settled for a salute.
Dylan laughed. "I feel like a middy again!"
"Nice to meet you, sir."
"Aye, likewise. Another Scotsman, eh? I can tell by your accent. How are things back home?"
"Great! You know, I really admire you. I read about what you did in Istanbul. My sister wanted to be a middy too, just like you! But I told her she couldn't 'cause she's a girl. She fancies you." Irvine blushed.
Dylan seemed to find this immensely funny. "Does she now? Well, you tell her that she shouldn't let anyone stop her just because she's a girl. She should find a way to do whatever she wants to do," he finished solemnly.
Newkirk found this a little strange. Dylan had never seemed to be interested in any of the girls they had met on their travels. As far as Newkirk knew, Dylan thought girls were silly and stupid, same as he did. What had changed?
"Well," continued Dylan, addressing all of the ground crew, "You're all invited to dinner in the castle. I just sent a messenger bird up to Captain Hobbes. I remember service food, and I figure you all deserve at least one decent meal." He made a face. "Most of the crew will be coming down, even the Captain. The storage rooms can more than accommodate you all." There was a cheer from the crew members.
Newkirk and Irvine followed Dylan inside. Dylan gave them a brief tour as all the various crew members from the Leviathan dropped to the ground, eager for a good meal.
Newkirk was amazed at the massive storage rooms. "You could feed the whole crew for weeks on this stuff!" he exclaimed.
"Aye! Alek came back last year to retrieve all the gold he had thrown overboard the Leviathan. He had quite enough money to restock the pantries."
"Alek must be awfully rich."
"He is. He's completely redecorating his new estate in Stuttgart right now, daft boy. Actually, he should be heading back to London in a few days." Dylan had a strange tone to his voice.
"Do you miss him?" Typical, thought Newkirk.
"Aye, we're still good friends."
Irvine spoke up. "How come he's working at the Zoo now? He's a Clanker, isn't he?"
Dylan laughed again. "He was, but I think I persuaded him to join our side. He's quite good with the animals now, though he wasn't when we first met."
Dylan stopped at a door, saying, "This is where my new beasties are. They're a new type of messenger bird. I can't let you stay long, but I need to pick up Bovril."
Irvine gasped as a brown ball of fur jumped up on Dylan's shoulder as he opened the door. Bovril's looks were a little strange, if you hadn't met him before.
"Barking spiders!" shouted the creature.
Irvine jumped a full foot in the air. "It - it talks!" he spluttered.
Dylan stroked Bovril's head. "Aye, it's a perspicacious loris." Seeing Irvine's confused face, Dylan just shook his head. "Never mind. Let's go eat!"
They went to one of the banquet halls, a massive room that held the entire crew of the Leviathan. Newkirk thought it strange that an old castle on a glacier would have such a big entertaining room, but what did he know? Nobility were a strange bunch. (A/N: the castle was built over 600 years ago, according to Leviathan: "The Alps were warmer then. There was once a thriving town out there.", to quote Count Volger. Thus, the Castle may very well have been built to accommodate a lot of people.)
A decidedly sciencey-looking man whom Dylan introduced as Bennett was talking to the Captain. Newkirk gathered that the food was pretty good from the way that everyone else was eating.
Newkirk grabbed a tray and went through the buffet-style food spread. He knew he was definitely getting potatoes - that particular food would be cooked to perfection if Dylan had anything to say about it. He settled in midway through the table, letting the crew members' conversation wash over him.
A young coxswain by the name of Mr. Mason was stretching contentedly nearby. "I haven't felt so relaxed since the beginning of the war."
"Aye," said a nearby man, another Scotsman, "I'm done with this sodding war. The Clankers are beat, they just need to admit it. They've lost the whole last slew of battles."
"Well it's barking embarrassing to surrender, I guess. That's what's keeping them from giving up."
"Aye, well, I hope they don't do something drastic. You know what they say; desperate people do desperate things."
Newkirk would remember few things about the next few days. However, what he always remembered most vividly was Mr. Mason nodding solemnly at the statement the Scotsman had uttered, as though it was the most profound thing ever said.
That was the moment before everything went wrong.
A/N: Okay, I won't normally do this, but I decided that I agree with Daft Prince: the Hartmann invasion scene was too smooth and not very believable. The next chapter will be from Hartmann's POV… go read it! :D