Chapter 5
Captain Mors was an odd addition to The League: he was German, a pirate; a power unto himself and a former member of The Twilight Heroes, the German equivalent of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.
The Luftpirate had taken his best ship along with his crew to adventures on planets Mars and Venus along with other extraterrestrial worlds. He had fought tyranny in many shapes and forms and each time his misanthropy had got no better, he considered each challenge and triumph a reminder of how monstrous people can be.
So when the Great War broke out, Captain Mors hesitantly offered his support to the country of his birth, then gave only pedestrian contribution to the war effort. This conflict brought his misanthropy to near unbearable heights; mankind's stupidity was at its worst. Why should he contribute at all? This was a question that drove him to seek extended leaves where he would take his crew and find adventure on other planets; return months later with nothing more than rudimentary novelties for the military top brass that wanted so much more of him.
Eventually he was told to become part of a special team; it was called The Twilight Heroes. This idea intrigued him enough to participate, but his active membership would be joyless. This Germanic League was made up of individuals who belonged in a waxwork horror museum: the morbid psychiatrist, bringing with him a narcoleptic patient who was a homicidal maniac; a mad scientist who's technical skill was one hundred years before his time, he brought his wicked mechanical creation with him; and lastly there was the criminal overlord with hypnotic skill.
Captain Mors felt as comfortable with these entities as he had with the tyrants he fought in Outer Space. The Luftpirate soon took his leave of that bizarre grouping and recommenced his periods of extended leave on other planets and minor contribution to Germany's war effort.
Then in mid 1918 came a nasty rumour among the military top brass. Mors heard this rumour and observed the senior officers attempts to discourage and prevent it spreading. This treatment was typical for a rumour that was a devastating fact.
The rumour was that the Kaiser was a prisoner of the Americans, it says that during a goodwill visit to the front line he was kidnapped by a soldier, who had cleverly crossed No Man's Land disguised as a tree and crossed back in the Kaiser's automobile with his royal presence taken prisoner.
This embarrassing slip in security resulted in several executions and noble suicides; but that which came in to fill the royal vacancy was a fiend, an inhuman presence with a dictatorial flair, a mind set on world conquest and godlike control over the human race. This figure was not even born of natural parents he was devised in a laboratory, he claimed the Kaiser's blood was part of his personal construction, thus his eligibility for the supreme role.
The military top brass and royal servants had adopted this fiend as their leader, deducing that his drive to conquer the world was just what Germany needed to climb out of the pit of misfortune the war had put them in and turn its fortunes in their favour. The common people and soldiers were oblivious of this abomination, it was a tightly kept secret. He was always referred to as the Kaiser by those who knew the truth; he was never to be mentioned by name; an identity that revealed what he was; no-one was to say "Kaiser Homunculus."
This perverse twist of fate for Germany was too much to bare for Captain Mors, his sense of loyalty to the fatherland took a nose dive. But this time he would not flee the Earth and its self-destructive people, he docked his interstellar craft, the Meteor, in a hidden base and travel over the war torn world in his airship. Any contribution or even communication with the Kaiser's military was lackluster and beneath minimal to avoid great scrutiny.
Soon the Luftpirate would secretly cross the English Channel and offer his services, ship and crew to M, the mysterious leader of British Intelligence. Mycoft Holmes welcomed the German aeronaut and convinced him to keep his defection a secret, thus becoming a double agent. Mors would conduct missions of reconnaissanse, sabotage, extraction and infiltration for the British Empire. To further show his alliance with the allied powers he would take on French airship Captain Brieux as his Executive Officer.
Brieux was excited to be in an airship again; he worked well with the Indian crew, handled the instrumentation with professional ease and displayed perfect aerial sense when it came to reading the clouds and wind. In time Brieux told of his commanding an airship expedition into the Polar regions to seek out a lost viking colony.
Communication with M was made easy by a direct radio link, Mors' presence in London was seldom required. The current order was not the case though: he was ordered to pick up a Naval Officer from a port in French West Africa; take the individual, Paul D'Arnot, to the Kenyan rainforest and summon the jungle lord known as Tarzan of the Apes; once he was acquired, bring him to London for briefing.
All this was achieved with little trouble, apart from some embittered ivory hunters who came to a nasty end. The apeman first showed hostility to the German commander but an assurance from Paul D'Arnot soothed the antipathy Tarzan had usually shown towards German's during the war.
When Tarzan was taken through the central gallery, front and rear galleries he noticed that the furniture and decor were much like that of a passenger ship with shiny finished mahogany railings and plush cushioned seats. The gondola's windows gave excellent views of the outside, the propellers Tarzan saw beside the airship were actually wing screws controlling the vehicle's direction. The experience of seeing the green jungle canopy pass beneath him was dizzying, the apeman would need time and medicine to get over his air sickness. A cabin was made available to him to sleep off his vertigo during the long trip to London.
It was during the Mediterranean crossing that Captain Mors received a communication from M. The request was for Mors to accept an invitation to appear at a formal party for high ranking military. This was to be held at the mountain top castle of Schloss-Adler. Mors standing with the German military was shaky, but if he could mix socially with those individuals he could learn a few things about the new horrors showing up at the Western Front.
Mors accepted the task with a great deal of trepidation. Germany may be aware that he is a double agent and arrest him as soon as he arrives. There will most certainly be scrutiny amongst the Generals and Barons for his lacklustre effort to the war. Brieux was told to deliver Tarzan to London if he does not return and help M in any way possible.
The Jungle lord woke from his slumber and began to manage the aerial heights with ease. He looked down upon the European landscape with awe and wonder. Mors, freshly dressed and groomed for a party, pointed out the Duchy of Grand Fenwick as they flew over France. It was untouched by the War, unlike the French countryside; Tarzan noticed the long trenches, wide bomb holes and smoking ruins. Germany was the next country to pass over; Mors pointed out the Kingdom of Ruritania.
Tarzan asked the Captain. "Are we going to fly over Lutha?"
"Sorry my friend." Replied Mors. "Lutha is too far east. It is not in our path."
"I have friends in Lutha." Said Tarzan disappointingly.
"Lutha is a brave little kingdom between Austria and Serbia. It holds out well against Austrian aggression. Perhaps on the way back we can pay a little visit."
The Bavarian Alps were the prominent view ahead, Mors was familiar with Schloss Adler and pinpointed its location on a mountain top. As the airship approached, the crew noticed several zeppelins moored on the airfield at the mountain's base.
"We don't need to moor there." Said the Captain. "This ship can drop me off at the fortress steps and pick me up when I'm through."
Schloss Adler was a castle that gave a god-like view of Germany. Many lights revealed the festivity within. Expert manipulation of the controls allowed the airship to descend to the exterior grounds, lower the gangplank and allow Mors to disembark. Tarzan and the French officers were told to stay out of sight.
Entrance to the fortress was usually by cable car Mors had to knock on the front door. His landing via airship was noticed and a porter rushed to the door to let him in.
"Greetings Captain." He said. "If you could follow me, I shall take you to the gathering."
Up several flights of stairs was the course taken before Mors found himself in an ornately decorated room. It was large with plush rugs and bearskins on the wooden floor; the stone walls had stag heads, paintings and heraldic shields on it; several glowing chandeliers were on the ceiling. An earthworks fireplace added its flaming illumination to the baroque atmosphere.
Men in full dress military uniforms wandered through this and many other similar rooms. There were some finely dressed woman to, but mainly this was a gathering of military elite. When Mors approached a crowd of such figures it was like a parade of shiny monocles, multiple medals, Iron Crosses and well manicured mustaches.
Crowd reaction was sudden, Mors was instantly mobbed by officers seizing his hand for a handshake; it was a flash flood of joviality; those who couldn't get close for a welcoming grip or pat on the shoulder settled for a Prussian salute, others just raised their glasses in appreciation or gave curt nods. It appeared that his adventures in Outer Space and on Earth still held the public imagination despite his questionable lack of effort towards the war.
After the initial welcoming wound down, Mors moved himself into a circle of zeppelin commanders. Captain Zuppner grabbed a glass of moselle of a passing wine stewards tray and handed it to the Luftpirate who accepted it graciously. A predicted request to tell of his latest adventures was about be answered when a loud voice from the circles far end cut in.
"Why do you want to hear of his exploits? They don't do a thing for the war effort." Said Captain von Gorian.
The gruff commander was known to Mors; he was an extremely militant soldier who openly loathed anyone not giving their full best effort to the war.
Gorian was a gifted zeppelin commander in the first years of the war, but his luck ran out one day when he was crossing the North Sea after a raid in Scotland. British planes caught up with his zeppelin before he could elevate it above their effective range; multiple strafings ignited several pockets of hydrogen, costing the large craft its aerial worthiness, thus it began to descend, which meant copping more fire from the enemy planes. Gorian may have reversed the situation had not a fighter plane's bullet entered the window he was looking out of and hit him in the forehead. Luckily for the Captain the shell was badly manafactured and bounced off him after cutting the skin. He was knocked out and the crew figuring he was dead dropped his body out of the doomed airship as dead weight.
If the bullet didn't kill him the fall should have, but no, he hits the sea surface with just the right angle to save his life. The impact and submersion jolt him into consciousness. He manages to swim to the surface then thrash about with uncontrollable rage. A Dutch fishing boat picks up the raving mad survivor and hands him over to the police. Gorian's irrational rage continued for days without saying anything intelligible. While the surviving crew of his destroyed zeppelin were interred for the duration of the war; Captain Gorian was placed in a straight jacket and sent to an asylum where he remained for a year before German spies broke him out and returned him to the fatherland for further service in the zeppelin force.
As for the recovery of his faculties and sanity; Mors made the evaluation, faculties yes, sanity probably not.
"Why can't we hear of the great Captain Mors using his airship to bomb the front lines and send masses of enemy combatants into oblivion." Blared Captain von Gorian. " Or to direct its destructive potential onto an enemy airfield, blockading battleship or even better the cities of our upstart foes. Yes; make them shudder until they beg us to let them surrender."
"Captain von Gorian." Answered Mors. "If we can't fight war in a respectable manner then we should not wage it at all."
"Like what your doing; nothing at all." Yelled Gorian. "I can't recount a single thing you have done to really help the war effort. No; you've had you your damn head in the stars."
"Yours and my view of contributing to the war effort are clearly different."
Captain Zuppner cut in before Gorian could continue his rant. "Not another word Captain Gorian. We should appreciate Mors efforts; he has utilized his aerial craft for something we should all be doing; Exploring. Us Germans have zeppelins, we could issue forth a new age of discovery and open up the sky ways to beautiful bright wonders that sadly await the end of this all encompassing war which unfortunately monopolises our skill and potential."
"Oh; so your with this counterfeit patriot?" Said Gorian.
"I'm all for exploration." Answered Zuppner. "I would gladly trade ten bombing runs for just once to take my zeppelin and go on an adventure like his."
All others in the circle became lost in their own personal imaginations of grand adventure in exotic lands. Captain von Gorian left the ring to mingle elsewhere.
"Thanks Zuppner." Said Mors. "I hope your adventure comes soon. We should talk about them when they're over."
The Luftpirate drifted away from the zeppelin commanders to blend in with the general party and observe the other rooms. The bar was serving schnapps and beer; a piano was filling the party area with light melodies. The pianist was called Orlac and he played like his hands were a gift from the gods. Several officers were trying to recreate Oktoberfest within the rooms, something they couldn't do at the front, there was plenty of beer here, but the war had compromised their festive spirit too much.
A stalwart figure in a neck brace bid Mors to join him for a schnapps, which he promptly ordered from the bar. He was Count von Raffenstien, a former pilot who after being shot down, survived the plane crash with horrific burns and multiple injuries. He maintained a disciplined aristocratic poise despite his misfortune.
"Man's destiny is to reach for the sky." Said the Count. "Your achievements Captain Mors dwarf all others, though we must bid all prospective aviators to reach further and further up."
"It's a pity the war requires our pilots to aim low and reach for the ground." Replied Mors.
"Yes, the war." Uttered Raffenstein. "It often requires aviators to look down instead of up. War sent me up to the glorious firmament then grounded me permanently on a shattered Earth with a broken body. Now I am a prison camp commandant for downed pilots.
"I am honoured really; they wil carry on the dream of reaching the heavens after the war is over.
A steward bought two shooter glasses of schnapps and handed one to both aeronauts.
"I would feel honoured to drink with someone who has already achieved my long cherished dream." Toasted Raffenstein as he clicked his heels
Both schnapps went down in a second. The Count and the Captain shook hands then separated.
Another aristocratic voice called Mors to his circle. He was Baron von Klugermann, Imperial leader of Germany's aerial forces, the others were obviously pilots.
"Greetings Captain Mors." Said the Baron. "I hope you didn't find Raffenstein to gloomy, he is a man with his head in the sky and his feet stuck on the ground."
"He was quite pleasant actually." Replied Mors.
"Being in this high mountain fortress must have brought his positivity back. That and an extra dose of morphine."
The Baron introduced his company. "May I present Baron Emmelman, Hans von Hammer and Phantom F. Harlock."
All handshakes were warm accept Emmelman who betrayed an air of hostility in his.
Baron von Klugermann began a little speech. "I understand that man should follow his heart, but that heart should beat for Germany. This empire is in danger of being humiliated and demonized by the allied powers. Each man must give their all for the Kai; country or we will be forced to live under a mandate of those who hate us."
Mors caught on to the fact that he was going to say "Kaiser", but stopped. This was confirmation that the nasty rumour was true. Kaiser Homunculus was the leader of Germany and driving the war effort to its strange acceleration.
"I hear Baron." Asked Mors. "That new methods are being tested on the Western Front. Will they provide us with this much needed victory."
"Why yes Captain." Answered Klugermann. "The allied soldiers don't know what's hitting them. Our scientists have delivered to us some of the greatest weaponry since poison gas. It's good that some scientifically gifted people are giving Germany what they need to win."
Mors realised Klugermann was drawing him into an argument about his apparent lack of contribution to the war effort.
"What of the Eastern Front Herr Klugermann?" Demanded Emmelman. "We could use some of this help there to. Poland is becoming the rope in a tug of war."
"These methods are still being tested." Answered Klugermann. "Anyway what we have really only benefits the infantry in the trenches. As for us, the scientists tell us they are developing planes that don't need pilots."
That statement struck the group like a thunderbolt.
Baron von Klugermann noticed the group reaction then excused himself. " I must go now and make my presentation. Perhaps Captain Mors here can offer his technology for your current efforts."
Emmelman turned his attention to Mors as if he had the means to turn the war around in Germany's favour. The Baron made a heap of demands, a heap of accusations and proved what a heap of trouble he can be to those he doesn't like; before Hans von Hammer ushered him away to the bar for more schnapps.
Phantom F. Harlock paid compliment to Captain Mors. Using the young invention of aviation towards exploration rather than warfare was admirable. Harlock himself wanted the Great War to end, so he could return to New Guinea and explore the Owen Stanley mountains in a plane.
The two aviators drifted apart. As Mors wandered through the party he noticed two blonde ladies in shiny dresses bare shoulders and cleavages discussing the present males. They were Baroness Klugermann, the leader's faithless wife, and Baroness Sandorff, an amorous aristocrat known for her seductive moves. Each woman turned their attention towards Mors and signaled him to approach them, but the Captain pulled the silk domino mask out of his hat and donned it; a sure sign of disinterest.
Making his way to another room, Mors found himself amongst submarine commanders, they were so few, many of their numbers ending up on the bottom of the ocean. A memorial photo collage of lost commanders was on the drawing board. Mors recognised Friedrich von Schoenvorts who submarine disappeared in the South Pacific and Karl Heinrich von Altberg Ehrenstein, whose U-boat disappeared in the North Atlantic after sinking a British ship.
Mors left this room to further mingle when Baron von Klugermann called for everyone's attention, from a podium in the centre room. Guests flooded into the area where he could be seen; it was shoulder to shoulder.
The Baron began. "Now all of you know that Germany is going to win this war. New science has given us the means to to turn previous misfortunes around. Most of you know about the mighty war machines and masses of homunculi smashing the enemy lines on the Western Front.
"They will come in much greater numbers and sweep the British and Americans to the Channel ports and back across the water to await their just desserts. France will fall within a month, Portugal will withdraw. Germany will then turn its newly augmented fighting forces East.
"So who does Germany owe for this blessed science that revitalises our masterly status over this conflict? The gifted professors of Unit 11, all performing at their greatest potential under the leadership of one brilliant scientist; a German and a patriot. This poster I am about to unveil is the creator of Germany's salvation. Behold, the greatest scientist ever."
The veil was ripped away to reveal a photo poster of a young looking man.
"Doctor TotenKopf."