They found no pilot onboard the ship. Marissa speculated the man had been involved in the earlier shooting and was now dead. Either that, or the sole elite trooper they chanced upon was the pilot. He came from the front of the ship, after all.

A quick search of the remainder of the cabin found it empty, with no additional threats evident. Marissa turned her attention to injuries, with Evelyn having suffered the worst. She directed Anna to help extract any bullets and stitch up the girl’s wounds.

“[First Aid] is a valuable skill, ladies. And today is an excellent opportunity to pick it up. This is one that will serve you in good stead throughout your career, even after you leave the Royal Venture Society. It always good to help your fellow man, to be the Good Samaritan, when you can.”

Anna nodded, silently pulling her enhanced needle through Evelyn’s midriff.

She stopped suddenly and looked up, grinning.

“I got it! I got the [First Aid] skill! I can feel it!”

Evelyn’s eyes narrowed in jealousy.

“Lucky.”

Either not noticing Evelyn’s foul mood or choosing to ignore it, Anna quickly finished sewing her up and returned her supplies to the kit before storing it away.

At last, Marissa felt they were ready to move on the other ship.

“It will be trickier to get to, in a way. It would help if we were at least slightly higher than they are. Ladies, let us unload this dead weight. I realize it is physical labor, but a Venture Society member must not be above such tasks, especially on a mission. Even a lady needs to pitch in and dig trenches once in a while.”

To their credit, the girls did not complain. But no one smiled at the thought of having to handle corpses any more than they had to. They worked in pairs.

Marissa opened another door, and one by one the girls tossed bodies out to fall on the streets and rooftops below. Slowly, the airship rose a little higher in the sky.

“Each body is about 14 stone, give or take. Some of these bigger fellows might be 15 stone. So, we can assume that with the reduction of all this weight, our additional altitude will be sufficient for us to make it down to the other ship.”

When the last body was tossed overboard, Marissa moved to the windows in the main passenger area facing the opposite direction. To her delight, she found they opened out, leaving a wide enough space for someone to crawl outside. The other airship loomed below, faintly glowing paint floating in the night sky.

“Very good! Now, we are going to repeat the procedure as before. This time, I want to leave one person behind to retain our control of this vessel. Matilda, you will stay here.”

The young girl blinked, but she did not protest. She had no desire to make the treacherous journey over to the other airship. Staying here would be just fine with her, and it showed on her face.

“Right, then. Who has the harpoon gun? Evelyn? Anna, you take it. Let’s let Evelyn continue healing and perhaps you can pick up another skill or two.”

Reluctantly, Evelyn handed the other girl her weapon, freshly reloaded with another grappling hook.

Anna leaned outside the window and aimed down at the other ship, carefully. The gun boomed and the hook sailed across the distance, landing once again on the back fin. Anna pulled and secured the hook, then she stopped with a surprised expression on her face.

“I just got a new skill! [Lucky Shot]!”

“Oh, luck skills are very rare and useful, ladies. This is indeed quite fortuitous. Well done, Anna. Well done indeed.”

The girl beamed in happiness while tying off the line. Evelyn scowled and crossed her arms.

Marissa sent four girls down quickly. Then she turned and looked at Evelyn.

“What a dreadful expression, dear. Are you still healing from those gunshot wounds? Stay here with Matilda. You don’t need to go sliding down on a rope like that if you are not feeling well..”

“I could go in her place, Lady Fisher.”

“Tut-tut, Matilda. You stay here and keep Evelyn company. You two may talk quietly amongst yourselves while I’m gone. But remember Rule One. What is Rule One, ladies?”

“Be diligent,” both girls said together.

“Correct. Always be diligent. I know this dirigible seems to be cleared of villains, but you should nonetheless remain diligent and keep an eye out for threats at all times. What if someone is hiding in a closet? What if we are overpowered over on the other ship and sewer troopers make it back here on our line? Be diligent and on your guard. Always.”

“Yes, Lady Fisher.”

“I never get tired of hearing that. Say it again for me.”

“Yes, Lady Fisher.”

“That’s my girls!”

Marissa smiled at her two charges, and clipped her harness to the line out the window. Crawling onto the ledge, she jumped and zipped down to the other ship, sailing off in the night.

Once again, the girls latched themselves to one another by rope and donned their sticky gloves. Marissa led the way toward the center of the dirigible, walking along the top. Then they carefully made their way down the rounded edges and to the cabin below.

At this point, having successfully performed the maneuver earlier, the girls seemed quite accustomed to hanging off the side of airships. Plus, they no longer had the clumsy Matilda to contend with, and their movements seemed smooth and sure.

But the last girl in the line this time, Jane, wandered to the left a bit too much on the way down. Her mountain boots scraped the edge of the phosphorescent paint still glowing on the upper side of the ship.

When she joined the others along the outer windows of the cabin, a tiny bit of paint remained on her foot.

Marissa noticed it as Jane climbed into position.

“Jane!” she whispered. “You’ve been marked! Get your foot below the window!”

Too late, they realized the tiny pinprick of illuminations had been seen inside, too. A door opened and someone stuck out a broomhandle machine gun, opening fire and emptying the magazine along the side of the cabin.