I will publish a new part of The Kraken Wars every Friday over the course of the next months. I hope you enjoy the story as much as I did!
The
Kraken Wars
Jacob Elwood linked into
the Village Plaza in Never Drift and slowly let himself take in the
sights and sounds of the warm spring morning. He took a seat on a
bench under the statue of Winged Victory. The smell of the sea, the
sun in his face and the sweet sound of birdsong in his ears could
have lulled him into an easy complacency. It was the screech of a
gull that snapped him out of it and it happened just as his lifelong
friend linked in to join him.
She wore a crisp,white
dress uniform with the gold stars of a Captain on her collar.
Susan Wayne forbore the
usual dress skirt in favor of sharply creased slacks, polished dress
boots and a leather belt with a holstered revolver, said revolver
being of a respectable caliber.
Jacob rose to his feet and
greeted the captain, her handshake was warm and firm.
"Well Captain, shall
we"? He motioned toward the door and the woman stopped for a
second, "When did you stop calling me Susan," she asked?
"When you started
wearing the sidearm."
Jacob opened the door for
Susan and they both entered the offices of Sprokit & Kogg
Publications.
Jack Tracker had seen his
old friend link in to Never Drift from his desk. He rose, poured two
mugs of coffee and placed them on the small table in the corner of
his office. When he saw Susan link in, he added a third cup and
pulled the chair from his desk over to the table.
When the door opened, Jack
was already motioning to the table and was holding a chair for Susan
Wayne.
"Ever the Gentleman
Jack", said Susan with a wide smile.
When his friends were
seated, Jack seated himself and picked up his own mug for a long sip.
He waited patiently. Jack had learned, a long time back that the best
way to get people to speak, was to give them all the time they
needed.
It was Susan who finally
broke the silence.
"You have heard of
the Kraken attacks? They are on the rise, in all the Steamlands and
in all corners of the Grid. We are not sure if it is a population
explosion of some sort or if they are reacting to some external or
internal stimulus. Airships move at a pace that make then vulnerable
to Kraken but that does not explain why the attacks are on the
increase"
Jacob then said, "What
ever the reason, they must be shown the error of their ways.
If they are in any way
teachable."
Jack put down his mug and
finally spoke, "I noted in the New Babbage Dispatch that two
Kraken had attacked a fast packet as it was arriving in the city. It
was torn in half before the Tessla Canon on the Palisade wall could
be brought to bear, and so, I wonder why you might bring this to my
attention.”
Jack returned his
attention to his coffee and awaited the reply, which was not long in
coming,
Jacob nodded to Susan and
said, "You have the floor and Jacks attention."
"My company,
Consolidated Airship Transport, will announce shortly that they will
offer a bounty on Kraken. We will also provide a moderate stipend to
help outfit airships to be armed for the task."
Jack stiffened in his
chair. He looked from Susan to Jacob and back. He made a short wave
of his hand and said, " I don't need a stipend to outfit a ship.
Tell me more about this bounty."
Susan and Jacob both
smiled at his response, as they knew that he had a difficult time
turning away from a challenge, especially if it had an open ended
opportunity for profit.
"Consolidated Airship
Transport will pay 250 L$ for proof of every adult Kraken taken.
Currently the beak is the most likely form of "proof" that
will be accepted. Each Kraken has only one and the beak is an easy
way to document the age of the beast.
Do you see any holes in
the plan, so far"?
Jack sipped his coffee as
he contemplated the dangers and the rewards involved in this scheme.
Hunting was not a new endeavor for him. He had learned to hunt large
and small game as a boy and as an adult he had sharpened and honed
his skills to a fine edge. He had not hunted Kraken, at least not
yet. He had studied them, their habits and life cycle, and he had
observed them from a distance and been able to outrun a few of them.
As a very good cook, he had always wondered how Kraken would taste;
tough no doubt, it would require a good marinade.
Jack put down his coffee
and broke the lull in the conversation.
"Allow me to make a
counter proposal of sorts. I have two Merlin Class Cutters being
refitted at the Manchester Yards. Both were former Privateers, aka
pirates. I was thinking of using them as a sort of Mercenary Merchant
Marine vessels. I would offer them as escorts to small convoys of
airships in pirate infested waters and airways for a reasonable fee
with a no harm/no foul contract in the case of loosing an airship to
being over run with the brutes; with of course no escort fee paid in
that case. The bounty would be a bonus and I will remove all the
Kraken parts from the scene as I do not wish to litter the grid with
decaying carcasses. Does this seem acceptable?"
Jacob Elwood stared at his
friend in open mouthed amazement, he had come here expecting to make
a hard line argument for the plan and Jack had opened with a plan of
his own, in the space of a few minutes. Susan Wayne merely smiled and
said, "I believe Consolidated Airhip Transport will find that
plan acceptable with only a few small details to be worked out."
Susan rose and both men
stood as well. Hand shakes were exchanged all around, then Jacob and
Susan left to work out the contract.
Jack returned to his desk
and began working on details.
===========================
When Jack Tracker arrived
at the Manchester Yard he was delighted to find that both of his
cutters had been completely refitted. He saw that the hulls and
woodwork gleamed in the afternoon sun and the flag of Caledon and his
personal ensign was emblazoned on the side of each gas bag,
The yard manager beamed
with pride as he read off the last of his checklist.
"The canon have been
cleaned and the bores polished, torpedoes checked and the clockwork
mechanisms oiled and calibrated, the magazines are full, fuel tanks
topped off and all hull rigging double checked and replaced where
indicated. May I say they look quite flashy with the new paint you
specified. Shipshape and Bristol Fashion, I should say/."
They did indeed, appear to
be ready for action, as they swayed to and fro, moored in the gentle
breeze. They were to be put to a far better use than their former
Captains had placed them.
Consolidated Airship
Transport had pounced on his proposal like a hungry cat on a fat
mouse. They had been loosing airships and cargo to pirates and Kraken
for far too long and it was time for some payback.
The cost for guarding a
convoy in a pirate infested section of the grid was 250 L$ for each
Cutter with a maximum fleet of 5 airships. Salvage rights on any
pirate vessels captured were to be awarded to Mercenary Merchant
Marine. Jack was not terribly fond of the idea of slugging it out
with air pirates, but the company had been reluctant to write a
contract that didn't contain that provision. Jack retained the right
to decline for just cause; he was after Kraken.
Night had just fallen as
Jack made his way to the Green Door Cafe.
Wyatt Tong served the best
Asian food in all of New Babbage. He knew food the way a good pilot
knows the sky; all the ins and outs and the spaces in between. His
menu never had more than two items on it, but if a dish made it to
that page, it was sure to be spectacular. The door to his underground
cafe was painted a deep green and blended into the basement well of
masonry so completely that if you didn't know about it, you would
pass it by and never notice it. That green door had no sign and was
always locked. One had to knock and wait for Elder Tong to open the
tiny door at eye level.
Maybe you could enter, or
you might be told , "No room now, come back later."
The main hall of the Tong
Cafe was spacious and richly appointed, but held only five tables
with four chairs each. The carpet was a rich asian design and the
walls held rare paintings in heavy, gilded, frames. Dinner for four
at Wyatt Tongs Cafe could easily cost a months wages for a working
man.
That night the door opened
and Elder Tong smiled warmly, "Come in Mister Tracker, it is
always good to see you."
Wyatt strode from the
Kitchen and grasped Jacks hand.
"I have a special
dish to share with you tonight. Come back to my office and we will
dine and talk. There you will tell me what brings you to my Green
Door. Oh, other than my food, of course."
The office of Wyatt Tong
held only a few furnishings. The huge desk dominated the room, it was
made of a rich dark red wood with ivory inlay and bare except for a
gold pen and inkwell and a stack of cream colored stationary. Jack
had once asked from what wood the desk was made and Wyatt answered,
"Old shipping crates."
There was a table and four
chairs in the center of the office.
One wall was covered by a
floor to ceiling book case. A large, iron bound trunk sat on a
shipping pallet.
Wyatt walked over to the
chest and lifted the curved lid. The chest appeared to be filled with
half teacups, packed carefully in sawdust. He lifted one of the
objects, carefully and reverently.
"This is the nest of
a seabird, the very rare, Pelagic Swiftlet. They build this delicate
nest in the very tops of huge sea caves. Natives of the islands where
the Swiftlets nest, make tall ladders, and when the young birds have
flown, they harvest these delicate nests. I purchased this trunk from
a seller of curiosities at a good price, but had he known the true
value, he could have gotten perhaps a hundred times that. And so,
tonight you and I will dine on Bird Nest Soup, for our first course."
The soup was a light broth
with what at first looked like noodles and strands of seaweed. The
tendrils of pale green sea grass and the gelatinous strands of bird
nest made a rich and pungent soup with a delicious combination of
flavors.
The main course was
grilled turtle steak and tiny bite sized red potatoes followed by a
desert of Redberry sorbet.
Over cups of rich, mint
tea, Jack asked his old friend what he knew about the flesh of the
Kraken.
Wyatt carefully place his
cup on its saucer and leaned back in his chair, "Why do you ask
me this? You have never spoken of anything like this subject to me
before."
Jack then recounted his
prior conversations and his agreement to clean up the Kraken bodies
and bits as part of the contract. If he had Kraken flesh in heaping
piles it would seem that something had to be done with it? Might it
be edible? Useful in some other process yet unknown?
Wyatt was thoughtful for
several seconds, then he placed his fingertips to his temples, as if
to coax the thoughts from his brain: ” The flesh of the Kraken is
indeed edible, there are no known ill effects from its consumption.
The flesh of the mantle is quite thin for a beast of its size,
perhaps 5 MM over most of the body, but incredibly tough. It must be
pounded heavily to be tender enough to be eaten. The flavor is very
mild with only a hint of fish taste. The tentacles are so tough and
fibrous as to be useless."
Then Wyatt stopped and
looked at Jack for several seconds. Jack remained quiet and waited
for the "but" that he knew was coming.
"However, there are
other ways to utilize a resource. Tomorrow I wish to fly with you to
a small island in the middle of a large ocean bay. We will visit a
small dock complex with some small sheds and buildings. An
acquaintance of one of my cousins friends, for a very short time, ran
an illegal seal hunting operation there. Seals were hunted for their
fur and the tough, oily flesh was shredded and made into pet food.
This unfortunate, highly illegal and truly disgusting operation was
quickly discovered and the miscreant is now in a Linden Prison. It is
my wish that he remain there for a very long time."
Jack was nodding and
sipping his tea, "Wyatt, how this pertains to me is very
confusing."
Wyatt smiled and winked,
"The actual hunting of Kraken is of no interest to me, but you
have piqued my interest with the flesh of Kraken you will be
collecting. I can obtain this island and its contents for a very
small outlay, I simply never had an idea how I might make use of it.
The machines there are sealed in crates, but they will process Kraken
as easily as the poor, unfortunate seals. I assume that you may have
a price in mind for all this Kraken flesh."
Jack didn't hesitate for a
second,"Thirty percent of the profit."
Wyatt said, "Fifteen
percent of the Net."
Jack countered with,
"Twenty percent of the Net and no charge for delivery to this
island."
"Done!"
They rose to their feet,
each man spit in his palm and they shook hands on the deal.
The island was not only
small, it was low, so low as to be just above sea level.
The short, sand runway
look up the whole length of what had been generously called an
island. The collection of small sheds and buildings were perched on
pilings in the sallow waters on the South side of the airstrip,
Jack determined that this
speck of land would not be his first choice as a spot to ride out a
storm of any magnitude. The buildings and dock seemed to be well
built and though weatherbeaten, they were holding up well.
"This place surely
looks like it was a home for some of Troubles Favorite Sons. To tell
the truth, I am surprised some form of piracy was not involved as
well."
Wyatt Tong shook with
laughter, "You never heard me say it wasn't. In fact it was what
this bunch branched into and what eventually brought Linden Law to
their door. The Coast Guard eventually packed all the equipment into
crates, sealed them and put them in the buildings on the dock. I can
get it all for the taxes owed since the place was shut down."
"I only brought you
here to show you that the equipment is here, the island is here and I
can be ready for production in thirty days, You can leave this end of
the plan to me. I trust you to provide Kraken for me to process. This
will work well."
Jack nodded, smiled, and
reached into the hull of Kraken Bane and lifted out a small cooler;
then they toasted the new, unnamed and un-described business based on
the flesh of the Kraken.
The very next day Jack
signed the contract with Consolidated Airship Transport and a new
company was born; Mercinary Merchant Marine took to the skies with a
new feet of Kraken Killer Kutters.
Once Wyatt Tong had
actually procured the island and begun setting up his new machinery
for the production he intended, Jack could fly Kraken Doom to the
island and begin testing his canon and new ammunition on Kraken
targets. The targets had been produced on the printing presses of
Sprokit and Kogg Publishers and mounted on wood stands. The targets
were life size and provided an easy way of testing the ordinance for
accuracy and range.
The canon proved
themselves Immediately,with killing shots on Kraken out to 50 M in
test after test. Velocity fell off rapidly beyond 40 M and it soon
became apparent that the guns. though deadly, were short range
weapons. Jack was unsure how the clockwork torpedo could be used on
Kraken but he had them and could see no reason for their removal. The
rounds for the dual canon had been replaced with expanding hollow
projectiles that promised to be extremely effective on the unarmored
flesh of the Kraken and the magazines of both airships were full, as
were the fuel tanks.
Jack would captain Kraken
Bane and Jacks younger brother, Phineas Sprokit would captain Kraken
Doom. Each captain had selected his crew and said crew were being
outfitted with their choice of sidearm and were training on their
respective airship.
The first assignment was
not long in coming.
The contract details were
delivered tp Sprokit and Kogg by express currier and were quite
specific, thought Jack, “The game
is afoot.”
End of Chapter One.
(c) All text and pictures by Jack Tracker
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