As soon as Andrea was back, Walter and the others welcomed her aboard. Niles thought Walter in particular seemed very relieved, and Even Jon and Emma seemed a little lighter when she took to the helm.

She lifted the barge off the dock after telling Sidney to load the furnace for departure. As the Dusty Maiden was ascending Niles noticed a Guardian war barge by the name Vertigo lifting off from the docks. It seemed to be moving in their direction. But he decided not to pay it any attention. He felt too good to worry about anything right now and it was obvious the war barge was simply on route with an already pre-determined course set. There’s no way anyone can recognize the Dusty Maiden, he thought. Nobody knows what we’re up to anyway.

During the cruise to the Norbridge after their encounter with the Analaya, Niles had told Walter to drape a large canvas over the hull of the barge so the authorities couldn’t see what she was called. “Make her look as though she’s being repaired,” he’d said. Walter was a decent pilot when it came to navigation, docking, and lifting off. But when things got rough nobody aboard the Dusty Maiden had any of the skills Andrea had.

It’s good to have a skilled pilot that knows exactly what she’s doing in a scrape, he thought as he made his way down the companionway. “Hey, Sidney. That’s good on the wood for now.”

Sidney turned around. A smudge of black charcoal stained the side of his face where he evidentially wiped the back of his hand. “Can’t somebody else load this thing for a change?” He sat on a wooden stool a few feet from the furnace breathing heavily.

“Like who? Walter does all the fixing around here. James cooks, he cleans and he keeps the arms well maintained. We all have our part, kid.”

“Well I want a better part.”

Niles chuckled. “Of course you do.”

“I hate this job,” Sidney said, his voice rough.

“You won’t hate it so much after we cruise north,” Niles said, moving back up the companionway. Calling over his shoulder, he added, “We’ll all want your job when the ice comes.” Then he made his way to Andrea who was at the helm. “Sidney’s having trouble being furnace boy.”

“Trouble?”

“Yeah. He wants someone else to do it. I told him he’ll be feeling different when we get a contract that leads us back up north though.

Andrea smiled. “Niles... thanks for coming back for me.”

He was about to respond when Jon, Emma and Walter came forward. “I’m sorry, am I interrupting anything?” Jon asked, his eyes darting back and forth between them.

Andrea and Niles both told Jon that he wasn’t interrupting. Then the middle-aged Guardian said, “Then now is as good a time as any to talk about my...”

Jon’s eyes widened as he pointed astern.

“Jon...?” Andrea asked.

The rest of the group turned to look. “What’s the matter?” Walter asked, seemingly perplexed.

“I’m certain that Guardian barge has been trailing us since we left port.”

Damn, Niles thought. Now it can’t be a coincidence. “The Vertigo,” he muttered. “I saw her lifting off as we left Norbridge. I hadn’t paid her much attention at the time.”

“Then it’s good fortune that I have,” Jon said. “This is no coincidence. We’re about to be stopped.”

Emma shrugged. “But why? They don’t know who we are.”

“That bastard,” Andrea hissed.

The group turned to the pilot. “It was Andrew Jenkins,” she said.

“He wouldn’t do that,” Niles said.

Andrea crossed her arms. “He wouldn’t?”

Nobody said anything. Then after a moment Niles said, “Damn. It was him wasn’t it? I knew he was hiding how peeved he was about what we were doing, but I didn’t think he’d go and rat us out like this.”

“It doesn’t matter now,” Jon said. “All that matters at this moment is that war barge. And the fact that they’re on to us here in Norbridge when we left your crew member in the capital.”

“Word has gotten around,” Andrea added.

“Yes.”

“Right,” Niles said. “Andrea, take us up so we can get a good shot at the top of their gasbag.”

“That may have worked once with the element of surprise,” Jon said. “But I’m afraid they won’t fall for that while they know we’re here.”

How was the Dusty Maiden supposed to defend against a Guardian war barge without the element of surprise? In a straight fight Niles knew his barge was no match. Her gasbag didn’t even have scorg-leather weave. All the other barge would have to do is fire a hooker into her gasbag and they’d be finished. “Andrea, keep us as far from that other barge as possible.”

“Of course.”

“Walter, James,” Niles said. “If they get close I want you to fire as many hookers into their gasbag as you can.”

“Niles,” Emma said. “That won’t work.”

“I know that. But I want to deter them from tearing our gasbag as well. If we go down, then they go down.”

“Well I suppose that will keep them from sending us into oblivion by way of crashing to the ground,” Jon said. “They still have a much larger crew and much better weapons.”

“One step at a time,” Niles said.

“Niles,” Andrea said with a hint of fear in her voice. “They’re catching up.”

Niles and the others moved back to the stern to see what was happening. Andrea was right, the Vertigo was catching up. Fast.

If they get close it’s over, he thought. “Take us into that cloud,” he called. “Maybe we can lose them.

Andrea steered the barge in the direction of the cloud. The air was already getting a little misty and damp. A moment later they were completely obscured. At least Niles thought they were. It was hard to see past ten feet on deck, though that didn’t guarantee the Vertigo couldn’t see their outline. She could blast them out of the sky and there’d be nothing Niles could do.

Even though the Dusty Maiden was a relatively small barge, her gasbag was much larger than her hull and might not be completely obscured by the mist. “Shut off the props!”

Andrea did as she was told and the Dusty Maiden began to drift silently. It had to be pure luck, Niles knew, when he realized his barge was not ascending or descending, meaning the drylium pockets had been heated perfectly. “Walter,” Niles said. “Tell Sidney to keep the furnace burning exactly as it is.”

“I’m on it, Cap,” Walter said and ran for the companionway.

“How long do you expect to hide in this cloud?” Jon asked.

Niles was peering off the port stern for any signs that they might have been discovered. “Maybe we can drift with this cloud until they decide they’ve lost us and leave.”

“Do you hear that?” Emma said.

Everyone perked up. “Props,” Andrea said, peering above her. “And they’re close.”

“Damn,” Niles said. “James, get on those hookers. Everyone else, grab some weapons.” He moved up to the arms box, unlocked it, and swung the lid open. He handed Andrea a raptor then slung another identical rifle over his shoulder.

“Keep quiet,” Jon said.

The sound of the Vertigo’s props were getting louder and Niles could hear a voice being amplified through a megaphone now. “Niles Wentworth, Captain of the Dusty Maiden,” the voice called. “We know it’s you. Come out of hiding and surrender!”

“Right,” Niles said with a sarcastic drawl. “Hells.”

“If you do not comply we will destroy you.”

“If you can find us,” Andrea whispered.

“This is your last chance. Come out!”

Suddenly the Vertigo’s props shut off. Niles couldn’t determine where the war barge was as they no doubt attempted to locate the Dusty Maiden by the sound of her own props, except they’d also been shut down. For all he knew the Vertigo could be ten feet off the port. “Won’t catch us that easily,” he whispered to himself.

Jon moved closer to Niles, being very light on his feet. “They’re going to find us eventually.”

Eventually they would drift outside the cloud, or the white vaporous mass would dissipate leaving the barge at the mercy of those Guardians.

What am I supposed to do? he wondered. We can’t surrender.

“Perhaps,” Jon said, “the element of surprise is all we have now.”

Attack the Vertigo?

“That’s insane,” Niles hissed in a whisper.

“Exactly,” Jon said. “They won’t be expecting an attack.”

Andrea was crouching low as if to conceal herself from the war barge’s view. “Are you crazy? We don’t even know their position. How would we spring a trap?”

“Jon,” Emma called quietly. She seemed slightly exasperated as she gave Jon a knowing look. “Rmk Nineteen tech.”

“I know.”

“What’s Rmk Nineteen?” Andrea asked.

“It allows the wearer to detect heat signatures,” Jon said.

They’d be just as well off out in the open. “What?” Niles said heatedly. “Why didn’t you tell me before?”

“Hiding was our best option at the time,” Jon said. “Besides the range is only around fifty meters.”

“That can still change a lot,” Andrea said.

Wait a minute, Niles thought. Then, more to himself than to anyone else, he said, “Why didn’t I think of that before?”

“Think of what?” Emma said.

“We could rig a timed explosive and drop it off the barge. When it detonates the Vertigo will hear it and lower her altitude in pursuit. Then we could—“

“Spring a trap right on top of her,” he said, eyes alight.

“Exactly!”

“I like it.”

“So do I,” Emma said.

“Well then let’s do it,” Andrea said, gesturing impatiently.

It was only a few minutes before Walter had finished rigging the explosive distraction. It had been constructed out of a large rolled up piece of canvas. A rope in the center would act as the fuse and after it was lit several moments would go by before the first pocket of ordinance was hit. It would sound like a small explosion followed by gun fire. Then the second pocket would be hit moments later. This time much louder. The Vertigo would think the Dusty Maiden had spotted her and launched an attack from under them.

It was a lucky break, because if the Vertigo wasn’t drifting within the clouds like the Dusty Maiden, their crew would look over her side as they heard weapons fire, but there would be no Dusty Maiden to pursue. They would know it was a trick. This way, being in the clouds, the Vertigo would have to exit her hiding and before she knew it, the Dusty Maiden would be right on top of her. At least that’s how Niles pictured it in his head.

“All right,” Walter said, “it’s lit—toss it, toss it!”

They hurled the distraction over the side railing. A couple seconds later the first pocket went off. There was an explosion, and exactly like planed, it was followed by the sounds of gun fire. Walter had loaded the distraction with just about all the spare ammunition Niles had on his barge.

Then the second explosion went off, followed by even more gun fire. The Vertigo had to think they drifted into a descent before she spotted them and started firing.

“Did it work?” Walter asked.

The Vertigo’s props started up with a loud buzz. The Guardian barge must have been close, but not quite close enough to see the Dusty Maiden with those Rmk things—assuming they even had them aboard.

Niles could hear the props of the war barge start to lower. “They’re under us,” he shouted. “Andrea, take us out of the cloud.”

“On it!”

The Dusty Maiden’s props started up and in a few seconds she was descending fast. “Make sure you hit her canopy with those hookers,” Niles shouted to Walter and James.

Niles peered over the railing, trying to get a view of the war barge. The wind was pushing hard against his face, his eyes tearing, but it didn’t matter. He could see it—the Vertigo was under them about a hundred meters to port. “Andrea,” he shouted. “Keep at it.”

“You got it, Captain.”

Just then, James and Walter fired their hookers. The harpoons flung at the war barge. Walter’s harpoon penetrated the gasbag, but the other had missed by at least half a dozen feet. “The others,” James shouted.

Walter and James had set up five harpoon launchers over the railing, three on the port side and two on the starboard, just in case the Dusty Maiden became positioned in a starboard vantage point. They moved, fired two more hookers. They both pierced their target. Then James fired the last hooker. It hit the Vertigo’s gasbag just like the other three.

The Guardian war barge now had four harpoons sunk deep into the very top of her gasbag, two from the port, and two from the starboard.

“Everybody, hold on,” Andrea shouted at the top of her lungs as the Dusty Maiden cruised past the Vertigo. Then there was a massive Jolt. Loud quick, cracking sounds immediately followed.

Niles found himself on the deck. His lip was bleeding, everything was spinning. He couldn’t tell where he was, but that cracking sound certainly wasn’t good.

When the disorientation began to clear he realized the Dusty Maiden was still descending. Fast.

Andrea wasn’t at the helm, she was on the deck as still as a corpse. Suddenly Niles had very little care for the health of the Dusty Maiden.

Niles looked around, still in a dizzy haze. Then he realized a large part of the port side railing where the hookers had been mounted was completely gone with a large splintered gash in the decking. There was a tear in the gasbag. It was large, but not too large as to send the barge screaming into the ground.

Niles rolled on the deck to look at the starboard railing. It too was gone, a nearly identical gash of splintered wood on the deck.

Oh no, he thought. They were still descending really fast. Niles had no idea how high their original altitude had been at the time when they moved into that cloud, but if they were lower than he thought, the barge and everyone aboard would be killed as she slammed into the desert

“Andrea! Andrea! Ease... off!”

Andrea was still lying on the deck not moving.

“Niles,” Jon called. “Are you alright?” He started lifting Niles off the deck.

Niles got up. His head was still spinning. The barge seemed to be listing back and forth very quickly. But it wasn’t the barge, it was him. It was hard to keep balance, either from the turbulence of their descent, or his own shock He stumbled, and then he slammed against the deck. He tried to get back up but he only seemed capable of staggering on his hands and knees. “Shut... shut off the props!” he bellowed.

Jon lurched around Niles in the direction of the helm. He stepped over Andrea’s unconscious form and pulled back the wheel. The props obeyed, angling upward, slowing the Dusty Maiden’s descent.

“Cap, you alright?” Walter said as he bent to one knee to check on him.

Niles ignored Walter. He only wanted to know one thing. “Andrea?” he called to Jon.

“She’s fine,” Jon said. “Just unconscious.”

The Dusty Maiden was ascending again. “Did we take down that war barge?” Emma said as she lurched to the side railing where it was still intact to get a look at the sky.

James said, “I’ll check on Sidney,” as he made his way down the companionway.

“I feel like I broke my back,” Walter said.

Niles feared that that was exactly what had happened to his barge. Since Walter and James hooked the Vertigo with two hookers from each side of the barge, two of the rifles had wrapped around her hull when they were snapped taut.

Niles had little doubt the Vertigo had a massive tear in her canopy now, but the sheer force of the Dusty Maiden’s pull had been so strong her port and starboard railings had been ripped off, taking some of the deck with her. If the force of the blow was strong enough to do that, then what happened to the bottom of her hull? he wondered.

“Oh, no,” Emma screeched. “The Vertigo.” She was pointing at the war barge. “She’s coming back for an attack!”

Even though she had a long gash in her canopy, Niles could see the Vertigo was in fact coming around for an attack. She was high in the air, much higher than the Dusty Maiden. And she was descending too fast to be normal.

She wasn’t coming in for an attack. She was crashing. It looked like her course would take her right alongside the Dusty Maiden. “Everyone!” Niles bellowed across the deck, “brace yourselves!”

The Vertigo was moving forward at full speed. In the event of a rapid descent because of a canopy tear it was procedure for any barge captain to throttle up as high as the barge’s props would go for an attempted belly landing.

Everyone on deck was holding on to something, preparing themselves for a collision. All except Andrea. Niles had his arm around her chest, her head lolling to the side. “Here she comes!” he yelled.

James came rushing up the companionway. “What’s happening?”

“James,” Niles yelled as loud as his throat would allow. Then weapons fire erupted. “Get down!”

The crashing Vertigo cruised by on the Dusty Maiden’s port in an angled descent, machine guns screaming for a last ditch broadside attack. Dozens of thudding cracks hit the deck.

Niles bent his head over Andrea and winced. When he looked up, the Vertigo was gone, though thick greenish-black smoke from her open gasbag had billowed across the deck, obscuring everything from view.

Dryllium wasn’t toxic, but it did reek! Niles coughed hoarsely. “James?”

Jon got up and launched in the direction of the companionway. “Niles, he’s down.”

Gods—no!

Niles gently set Andrea down and moved to where James had been standing. He was alive, but breathing heavily.

The quartermaster had been shot in the chest and his shirt was soaking up blood. Fortunately he hadn’t bled out all over the deck.

“He needs magical intervention,” Jon said. “Neither of us have the required abilities—I can tell that by the wound itself.”

“Will he live?” Niles asked.

Jon shook his head. “We need to get to a port.”

Niles nodded, though he was still in shock—his hands shaking from their encounter with the Vertigo.