Troopers swarmed the hall, pushing open doors and rushing into the tight corridor.

Four of the girls knelt in shooter stances, two facing either way, with Lady Fisher and Molly standing behind them. They fired continuously in both directions this way, with Tommy guns punctuated by an occasional shotgun blast.

Over the roar of gunfire, Marissa kept talking.

“This is almost a perfect defensive position, with the exception of the doorways leading into this hall! That is where most of our opponents are engaging.”

A bullet caught Marissa in the side as she said this. She grunted with pain.

Scowling, she scanned the hall filled with troopers carrying broomhandle machineguns, and shot the one she figured responsible in the head. He dropped like a rock.

All too soon, the flow of men wearing dusters and gas masks stopped, and they killed the last one.

Anna looked up from her position in the back and said, “I’m out of bullets, Lady Fisher.”

“What is Rule Two, Anna?”

“Be resourceful.”

“Very good. I suggest you take that one to heart. Now is not the time to forget our rules, ladies.”

The girl looked around at the bodies before her and pulled out a stick magazine from one of the trooper’s submachine guns. She began stripping it of ammo.

Waving at the bodies on the floor, Marissa said, “These, girls, are the very dregs of humanity. Reduced to mindless automatons, they have only one purpose left in life, and that is to inflict harm on the population outside the steam vaults. Sewer troopers are the very worst in all things. They are not to be reasoned with. No one has even recorded a conversation with them, ever. All they are good for is killing, I am sad to say.”

Marissa walked to the nearest body and stripped the magazine from the gun. She harrumphed, finding it only had three bullets, but she took them anyway and pocketed them, then tossed the mag back to the floor.

“We should all reload our drums here. Our work is not yet done. Get busy everyone. Molly, keep an eye on the hallway leading to the bridge for any surprises. Matilda, you keep an eye on our rear.”

She walked around the body in front of her and bent to retrieve another magazine.

“Go ahead and loot the corpses, ladies. This is your right as a Venture Society member, to profit from any kills on a mission. You will also be paid by the crown upon successful completion of a mission. Remember, experience is gained during a mission, but considerable monetary rewards are gained upon successful completion. All of you will graduate with healthy RVS accounts after this, especially if we can help the Warden pull in these two dirigibles tonight. There’s a bounty on black airships, after all. And the otherworlder can’t have all the fun. Or the rewards.”

The girls diligently stripped ammo from the sewer troopers and rifled their pockets. Unfortunately, the dead men carried little in the way of personal treasure on them.

“What about their guns, Lady Fisher?” Evelyn said. “Are they worth keeping?”

“The broomhandle is of Prussian design, and it works well enough. The Thompson submachine gun is superior, especially in terms of reliability. Rare is the misfire or failure to eject, with a Thompson. Also, with the ability to use drum magazine, its capacity is far greater, whereas the broomhandle is limited to 20 rounds. Therefore, we in the RVS do not use the broomhandle unless forced to by circumstance.”

The girl waited, expectantly.

“However, it is true that some merchants back at headquarters might pay a decent sum for them. I’m uncertain of their resell value. You will have to shop them around amongst the arms merchants to see who might give you the best price. In that regard, at least, they are worth keeping if you desire to put in the time needed to offload them somewhere.”

Evelyin smiled and quickly gathered up three guns, shoving them into a duffel bag she took out for looting purposes. Other girls followed her lead.

Soon, only bodies and bloodstains remained on the floor.

“Now, the forward part of the ship remains unexplored. Let us venture forth together. What is Rule Five? Anybody?”

“Strength in numbers,” Evelyn said.

“That is correct. And we certainly took care of this rather large group of brigands, did we not? Six women against however many troopers are here. And they are all dead while we remain alive to venture forth some more. Do not doubt Rule Five. It has always served me well in the Venture Society and it will serve you well, too, in the years ahead.”

Together, they approached a door on the far side of the corridor, closer to the bridge and front passenger section. During all the shooting, it had remained closed.

“Careful. Going through doors can be dangerous.”

The girls nodded and moved to the side while Evelyn worked the latch and threw the door open.

A trooper waiting on the other side opened up with his broomhandle, spraying the hall with bullets. Evelyn took three shots to the side as lead bounced around the hallway.

She fired back, but her bullets just seemed to bounce off.

“Shotguns, girls!”

Molly stepped out from the edge of the doorway and raised a shotgun to the man’s face, pulling both triggers. He fell over in the blast, gasmask cracked, but his head remained intact.

“This one, girls, is enhanced.” Marissa said, moving into the passenger area and scanning it for additional threats.

She looked down at the man on the floor, blood seeping out of the broken eyeholes of his mask.

“However, it would appear our shotgun idea worked. And it worked quite well, I might add.”

She turned back to the girls standing in the doorway.

“Whose idea was it to use shotguns to the face on elite sewer troopers, girls?”

They all answered in unison.

“It was your idea, Lady Fisher.”

She smiled at them.

“That is correct.”