The Team were on Mars, newly arrived in Syrtis Major, the heart of the British Colony of Syrtis Lapis, some for the first time, and rumours of war were rife.
The Governor was a very worried man. It was imperative that the unaligned city state Thoth align with Syrtis Lapis and not join Shastapsh in open rebellion. The royal princess Aramaranda and the Prince of Thoth were favourably disposed toward professor Wilhelm and the disgraced Waldmont, but the Governor had just discovered that neither were in present company. This was a blow.
But perhaps not disastrous. After all, Martians may not have the refined social sensibilities of Earthmen, certainly not of Englishmen, and perhaps the brother of the disgraced Waldmont might be an acceptable stand-in. One could only hope, and the wretched man couldn't stay here in Syrtis Major after all. Why on Earth had he not observed common good manners and not put in a personal appearance at the Residence?
An aging Aphid class steam gunboat, the Wasp, would be put at the heroes' disposal. Captain Turngood was present and only too happy to explain the flight plan. The Wasp would sail first to Meepsoor, then swing a path over the Isidis Desert to keep well clear of Shastapsh.
Shastapsh was known to operate a large fleet of their own, and had an auxiliary fleet of privateers only too happy to profit while doing Shatapsh's dirty work. The merchant fleet of Syrtis Lapis were rich prey, highly valued by pirates. Military targets were fair game. The Wasp would have a large bullseye painted on her once she was beyond the borders of Syrtis Lapis.
A day was lost to resupply, which the team used to good effect. Reverend Fogg decided to bring The Word to the citizens of Thoth, and went into the town in search of a native interpreter, a scribe capable of translating the Bible into Thoth. The others went shopping, mostly for clothes in which hey could put up a good showing on behalf of Queen and Country.
Fogg was able to retain a Martian scholar who could read and speak English and Thoth, and who was willing to undertake the job, albeit with some reservations on the amount of time it would take to render the large Earth book into Thoth. However, he was willing to try, and so Fogg's entourage now included one Queeleek Thorshian.
The team boarded the Wasp and passed a pleasant day sailing above the Syrtis Major-Meepsoor canal, reaching the mooring mast at the British compound. On docking the Adventurers and the Officers of the Wasp were invited to the Governor's residence for dinner. The Governor was a pleasant host, even making Waldmont welcome though it was obvious he was making that effort if one paid attention. Queeleek had been allowed to visit "friends and relatives" in Meepsoor, and had left the ship promising to return the next day.
The heroes returned to the Wasp and retired for the evening, leaving the second engineer and two marines on watch per the orders of Captain Turngood.
In the very early hours of the morning, the adventurers were awakened by the sound of a musket shot. They grabbed their pistols and ran to the deck from their quarters below to find the ship overrun by fanatical Martian Ground Cleansers 1 armed with muskets and wicked-looking knives!
The team naturally engaged the enemy as quickly as possible, earning a fusillade of ineffective musket fire in return but gaining as a result much-needed time while the cumbersome primitive weapons were reloaded.
Fogg raced to the rear of the Wasp and bodily shoved one terrorist overboard, engaging a second with his trusty fists. This Martian, and a second now revealed, were dressed in black, with hooded tunics. One engaged Fogg in furious hand-to-hand combat, wielding a short sword while the other worked furiously near the rear of the boiler at something Fogg could not see.
Burke shot at these new targets, but was unable to wound either.
Waldmont engaged ground cleansers to very good effect with pistol and knife, giving good account of himself in several encounters. The man would have seemed driven by some inner demon, had anyone the time to watch him in action.
Forsyth drew his trusty pistol and in no time was making life hard, then impossible for the Ground Cleanser scum in the bow of the Wasp.
Both Fogg and Burke were able to dispatch the strangely tough and able black-clad combatant who had engaged Fogg, but neither were able to prevent the other from completing his mission and leaping overboard, then rappelling to the ground with some sort of thin rope attached to a belt-mounted reel. The black clad villain dodged under the hull of the Wasp and was fled.
Burke and Fogg studied the boiler as Waldmont and Forsyth were finishing off the Ground Cleansers. There was a brown mass, not unlike a terrestrial wasp's nest were it not for the fizzing noise and clouds of blue smoke issuing from it, attached to the boiler. Fogg attempted to pry it off with a knife, but the blade became stuck fast.
And fast was the strategy Fogg then adopted to retreat amidships.
Forsyth had joined Fogg and Burke, opening a stopcock to drain the boiler in a futile attempt to quench the odd combustion taking place in the "wasp's nest". When that did not work, he too retreated amidships.
Burke, for reasons known best to himself, decided to stick around and further examine the mass, but did finally back off a few feet.
And the "wasp's nest" exploded violently, destroying the Wasp's boiler, the deck and part of the gunwales. The Wasp would fly no more. The forces of Martian Nationalism had won the day.
Except.
The British Empire is not so easily defeated. Heliographs were sent the next day, alerting Thoth to the delay and requesting replacement parts and crew for the Wasp, for the two marines on watch and the engineer had been unfortunately killed in action, the marines having been knifed and the engineer dispatched by the musket shot that had awakened the heroes during the night.
The boiler arrived by barge along with an engineering crew of a size quite at odds with a broken-down Aphid-class boat reprieved from retirement. The Thoth mission must be important.
Within three days the Wasp was refitted and working again, with a full crew complement, and she set off for the vast wilderness of the Isidis Desert, avoiding the Shastapsh navy and privateers per the original plan.
On the first day out the Wasp encountered two small Kites that attempted an ambush, but after only a single exchange of fire the Wasp was able to out-maneuvre and outpace the sailing vessels and escape unhurt.
To be continued ...
- A violent nationalist underground conspiracy dedicated to getting all Earthmen off Mars by any means possible↑
Clear Credit:
Map of the British Dependencies on Mars based on an original map first published in Space 1889 by Frank Chadwick and available now from Heliograph publishing as ISBN: 0-9668925-9-0. Map reproduced to illustrate narrative. No challenge of copyright is intended. No clear attribution of the original artwork is given on the original, but the book lists the artists whose work appear in that volume as Tom Peters, James Colton McGonigle, Jim Holloway, Joseph O'Neil, Richard Hasenauer, Dave Choat, Steve Crompton, Jeff Dec, Craig Farley, Paul Herbert, Robert Jamison, Rick Harris, Ken Mayfield, Tim Bradstreet, Shea Ryan and James R. Kuntz. If the original artist would contact me I will be happy to properly attribute the artwork used.
Plan of the Wasp from page 116 of the Space 1889:Red Sands setting book published by Pinnacle Entertainment Group. Diagram reproduced to illustrate narrative. No challenge of copyright is intended. I do not have clear attribution for the art itself, the book citing Interior art by: Richard Clark, Christophe Swal Cartography by: Jordan Peacock. If the responsible artist will contact me I will attribute the artwork properly.
