Chapter 26
Night was falling over the super zeppelin base as the sounds of battle subsided. Mors and Irma's wait was almost over: their vigilance was relaxed as the perimeter guard had ceased his passes.
"Looks like Tristan got to him." Whispered Irma.
Mors agreed but still the lookout tower watch could yet spot them.
Darkness brought low visibility and their much needed compatriot Gregor Samsa. The human insect had flown over No Mans' Land as soon as it was dark enough, then honed in on the two spies carrying the recently prepared attractant. He flew into the forest and crawled through the trees to greet Mors and Irma.
"You're right on time Gregor." Said Mors.
Irma pointed to the lookout tower and indicated that this particular guard had to be silenced. Gregor waited for the watchman to turn his back then sprouted his wings and darted diagonally up to the high platform and drove his barbed tarsus through the unfortunate man's neck and throat. There was no death scream. Gregor leaned the corpse against a post above the platform then darted back to the forest.
Fighter planes patrolled the night sky watching for not only aerial attack but activity on the perimeter. They maintained their pattern so Gregor's action was not noticed.
"Tristan should be back at our lines by now." Said Irma.
"And Hugo is probably ready to make his move." Said Mors.
The moment they were waiting for arrived with the sound of many engines filling the sky. Sirens wailed as G8 and his air squadron flew out of the dark sky and approached the base. Flack guns began to fire and the patrol planes veered to intercept the aerial raiders. G8 and his fellow airmen strafed the base once; taking care, in accordance with the plan, not to hit the super zeppelin. All planes then turned away and fled with the patrol planes and several other enemy craft from a nearby base in pursuit. The flack guns ceased as the alert wound down and the sirens hushed.
"G8 did his part well." Said Mors. "Everyone in the base is probably wondering why they didn't try to bomb the zeppelin."
An explosion on the far perimeter turned all base attention away from the sky. All security staff with torches, guard dogs and rifles ran to the disturbance. Only the lookout tower guards remained at their posts and the only one the League was concerned with was dead.
"Hugo Drummond has played his part." Said Mors. "Now we must play ours."
Both Irma and Mors were grabbed by Gregor then lifted up into the air, over the perimeter fence and high into the night sky. To save them a suspenseful walk through an enemy base, Gregor brought them down at a dark spot close to the zeppelin's rudder.
Many guards with rifles told them that the super zeppelin had its own security detail posted. The rudder was easily reachable from a deck several feet above the ground.
"That deck is where you have to get to." Said Mors. "I believe I can distract the guards."
Irma evaluated the scene. "Walking across this ground won't work; even if the guards are distracted."
"Gregor can take you there."
"No. He will be heard." Whispered Irma while pointing at a mooring cable.
"That cable can get me to the deck." She added.
A tall building, probably a workshop, had its roof close to the cable, which passes close to the deck before reaching the ground. Mors noted that a lamp post illuminated the particular length that will have to be traversed.
"You mean a flying fox." Asked Mors.
"Yes Captain." Whispered Irma. "I can do it, with the dispenser in my backpack, but the guards will have to be distracted for those few seconds."
"Just you leave that to me."
Gregor agreed to stay out of sight until needed.
Irma climbed to the top of the closed workshop with all the silence and grace of the cat burglar she was. The backpack did not slow her down much. When she got there, she was a barely discernible shadow, but Mors made out that she easily cast a belt over the mooring cable. She was ready.
Mors entered the area with all the walk and poise of a proud Prussian officer. The guards called for him to halt; Mors did so and gave a military salute. All guards stepped away from their positions to get a close look at the surprise presence, but not to Irma's satisfaction.
"Who's in charge here?" Demanded Mors.
One guard called for their Sergeant, who came out at once to see the superbly decorated officer standing proud in front of his watch. Mors gleaned his name from the secondary calls made by the befuddled guards.
"Sergeant Himmelstoss." Said Mors while giving a military salute. "Don't you recognise a Captain in the Imperial Prussian forces?"
Himmelstoss was lost for words then gave his own salute. "Your uniform is strange Captain."
"It has been specifically designed for me. Now why aren't your men attending to the security concern on the far perimeter?"
"Captain, we have orders to remain here and guard the zeppelin's rear no matter what."
"Sergeant, there has just been fierce fighting on the front and there is probably fighting now on the far perimeter. Your'e telling me that you just sit all that out here?"
"Well, well, not sit." He said awkwardly.
"Sergeant, I am going to demand an undertaking from you and your men." Mors commanded in such a way that the Sergeant needed to redeem himself.
"We can't leave our posts, Captain."
"No need." Said Mors. " I want your men to gather in front of me."
All guarded looked at each other, then after a nod from Himmelstoss, complied.
Mors turned the assembled soldiers' attention to the night sky.
"See that twinkling body up there?" Asked Mors. "That is Mars, the god of war."
All soldiers spotted the distant planet indicated.
"Since your duty does not require you to see action on the front." Said Mors. "Just in case this passive post has worn away your recruitment oaths; I want you all to pledge loyalty to the god of war."
The guards looked puzzled.
"What do we say?" Asked one of them.
"Repeat after me while saluting Mars and do not take your eyes off him during the pledge."
All soldiers including Himmelstoss saluted the twinkling body in the sky, then repeated Mors' words.
"I swear by Mars, the god of war, that despite my low risk position, my allegiance to the demands of war is solid and absolute; so help us Mars."
Mors saw Irma make her move during the pledge; she sailed down the mooring cable, flying fox style, with ease then jumped onto the deck during her flight. There was minimal landing noise and no utterance of pain. She was a true professional who quickly moved out of sight to do her work.
Mors turned his attention back to the soldiers. "Well done. Return to your positions." He gave the military salute and received one from all in return before turning his caped back and walking into the darkness.
Irma got to the rudder and found a part of it narrow enough to clamp the dispenser on. She was always looking up while screwing the clamps tight, lest one of the guards should suddenly be looking down on her. Such vigilance was silly, she considered, a guard stepping on the deck would have been heard. Nevertheless, each turn of the clamp screws seemed to come with intense suspense.
When she finished the fastening it was tested and proved to be fixed strong to the rudder. Irma the turned a switch to begin a slow dispensation of the attractant.
Footsteps on the deck revealed a guard's proximity. Irma was close to being discovered and caught: the dispenser could also be discovered.
A seasoned operator in silence and shadow, Irma quietly squeezed into a dark corner then placed her own personal gas mask on. She brought a cylinder from her backpack and turned the nozzle. The nearby guard was a few inches from seeing her when he started looking this way and that for for some sort of danger. He left the deck and showed a state of panic to his fellows.
Sergeant Himmelstoss and all other soldiers went to the troubled guard.
"What's the matter with you?" Demanded Himmelstoss.
Trembling and vague mumblings were all the guard could manage.
"Out with with it." Commanded Himmelstoss as he began to shake the man.
"What's the bloody matter?" The sergeant began to slap, then punch the soldier who seemed to be letting the side down so soon after a pledge to the god of war.
Other soldiers began to look around themselves frantically; a few began to hit Himmelstoss with their rifle butts as if he was the object of their fears. The Sergeant was knocked down. he would've got up and laid into his assaulters, but he found himself overcome with fear.
"Look, up in the sky." Yelled one of the guards. "It's Mars, the god of war, he's coming to strike us into oblivion for letting him down."
All soldiers looked up to the stars. Irma saw nothing, but they all seemed to see some divine threat. The group panic was frenzied, they all ran screaming for some indoor shelter where they could fortify themselves, hide under a table or huddle in some corner.
Irma closed the nozzle on her cylinder then casually walked away from the deck and rejoined Captain Mors and Gregor in the darkened street.
"It appears you made good use of Crane's fear inducing gas." Said Mors.
Irma took off her gas mask. "The idea is not new; just the type of gas."
Mors did not want further explanation; that was good. The cat burglar did not want to reveal that she used to put whole society party's to sleep with knckout gas before robbing them of their jewelery.
With all assurance given that the dispenser was placed, Irma and Mors allowed Gregor to take them into his embrace and be lifted into the sky and placed in the forest just beyond the perimeter fence.
"We should have Gregor take us all the way back to the American lines." Said Mors. "Both Hugo and Tristan will be back across No Man's Land by now."
"We will." Answered Irma who had spotted something under the forest brush. "Tristan did something before he left."
She revealed the dead body of the perimeter guard they had noticed before. The top of his head was bloody.
"He has been scalped." Said Irma. "I now know what those furry adornments are on Tristan Ludlow's stick."