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  She took the first entirely by surprise, nearly taking his head off with the swing. The second didn’t have time to shout before she was on him as well, cutting him down as he dropped the case he had in hand and fumbled for his weapon. She was lucky with the third, too busy listening to himself complain while rifling through valuables to have heard the bodies drop. She cut him down as he was pocketing some jewelry. She dragged the bodies out of sight and checked the hall, starting her way upward again.

  #

  “Captain,” Emily began, speaking with quiet poise to the lead pirate, even as the other pirates were starting to survey both the crowd, and the dancers, as if they were ready to get on to the plundering. “You say there’ll be plenty of time later. It won’t do you any good to have these people panicking. Why don’t you give them a show of good faith? Let things settle down while your people go through the passenger list, and maybe you can get through this whole affair without having to kill any of these gentlemen when they try to be a hero. Some of them are worth a lot to someone.”

  “What did you have in mind?” the pirate captain replied, surprised at this conversation with a showgirl dressed like a wind-up doll.

  “We were just starting a performance. Maybe your command crew would like front-row seats? It would be an easy way to keep control of things for a while, and you seem like the type of man who can appreciate a good show.”

  #

  Luca killed two more pirates on her way out of the cargo area, hiding the bodies in the bays they’d forced open, while she mentally ran through her list. To have any hope, they’d need to do take control of the Sky-Dancer back, do something about the pirate ship, and then deal with the rest of the pirates. It was a tall order, but the alternatives weren’t good.

  She was pretty sure they weren’t going to just execute the passengers, but having some of the politicians and old war heroes that were aboard taken prisoner was still a disaster, especially when enemies might pay as much or more than family for many of them, whether to try to steal secrets, or for public executions.

  Arriving cautiously on the upper decks, she was surprised at how quiet it was. A bit of scouting revealed a pair of pirates guarding the boarding ropes, still secured to the back of the ship, while the Sky-Dancer’s master was by the wheel, explaining the quirks of handling the massive ship to another brigand.

  A handful of other pirates moved about the decks, mostly guarding the ship’s normal crew. Two realizations hit her at once. First, they needed the normal crew working, and thus probably didn’t have enough crew for both ships. Second, she heard music filtering up from somewhere below. The same music she’d heard starting before the pirates began boarding.

  “Good girl, Emily,” she whispered.

  #

  It was a fairly new polonaise by Tchaikovsky. The line of dancers showcased straight lines of legs in brisk clockwork steps. The choreography was proceeding just like they’d rehearsed. Emily was sure that later, she wouldn’t be able to thank the girls and the musicians enough. It was probably their first time performing in an obviously life-threatening situation.

  #

  Freeing most of the crew members proved fairly easy. All it took was a finger to her lips, and they’d looked away. Once she launched her assault on the pirates guarding the work crews, the men had joined in, turning on their guards and making quick and quiet work of it. They followed her commands to put on the dead pirates’ clothing to better blend in and be able to assist her.

  The Sky-Dancer’s captain was a different matter entirely. Luca was tempted to throw the man overboard herself when his expression and hesitation nearly gave her away before she could kill even the first of the pirates near him. Thankfully, the men she’d freed had been able to get close enough to help, and the captain—and control of the ship with him—was freed without an alarm going up, though it was a near thing. Even once the pirates were dead, he at first resisted Luca’s orders to put on one of their uniforms and continue piloting the ship.

  “You’re going to get us all killed. The dancer said—” he began.

  “The dancer said whatever was necessary to address the exact moment she was talking. She knows me. She was buying time. Even if everyone lives, a lot of you won’t want to when the pirates are done with you,” Luca insisted. “Now, go get dressed. I need you to fly the ship, or tell me who can.”

  When she’d finished that particular fight, she spoke to the other crewmen, and got verification that there were more pirates in the engineering room, but they shouldn’t be able to hear much of what was happening elsewhere. Most of the pirate ship’s officers and a few of the crew had gone below decks some time before, as discussion spread of dancing girls. Luca thought back to some of Emily’s practice sessions, and tried to guess at just how much or how little time she had.

  #

  As the music reached the height of its playfulness, Emily threw herself into a long sequence of quick tacquetée steps and sudden leaps, moving in erratic orbits amidst the other dancers, playing up the clockwork aesthetic for all it was worth. Sometimes, this Tchaikovsky fellow’s music seemed just made for her. Emily thought he really ought to consider specializing in toy dancers.

  #

  Luca managed to get fairly close to the guards at the back of the ship, but they were on alert, and there was no way to get around them. Finally, she just trusted in engine noise and the music, along with having cleared the deck for the time being, and charged. The first got a shot off, but it went wide. Luca’s shoulder crashed into him, and he tumbled over the back rail, screaming all the way down. She managed to bring her sword around, chopping down the other man as he fired his gun. Another miss, thanks to her quick reactions, but close enough to leave her ears ringing.

  #

  The Living Doll and her toy corps de ballet resumed their contrasting turns as the music returned to its earlier strains, slowly coming literally full circle. Between her gradually more staggered pirouettes, Emily counted pirates. The men in ragtag uniforms seemed more relaxed than the rest of the audience. Understandable, considering who had the weapons. The pseudo-mechanical woman was ‘winding down,’ but her mind was racing.

  #

  Luca inched across the boarding ropes, moving hand over hand along a rope from the underside. It was more difficult, and far more dangerous, than crawling over the top. Luca reasoned, however, that it was not as dangerous as being seen. She pulled herself up onto the pirate ship, noting the handful of men moving about the decks, and guessed she’d been right about not having enough of them to crew both ships. They still far outnumbered her, however, so she had to find a way to disable the ship quickly and for good.

  Sneaking past a few of the pirates, she made her way to their engine room, killing one man along the way. The door was unlocked, but she drew attention right away. A shout went up from one of the engineers, and half a dozen men came toward her at once, while she heard footsteps from above as well.

  She managed to get one shot off before they were on her, then she was on the defensive, readying her sword and backing up to a wall. The one saving grace was that no one seemed to have guns. Of course, she reasoned, that made a certain amount of sense, given the coal-fed steam engines. An accident with gunfire could be a disaster for the whole ship.

  #

  There was polite applause from the tense crowd—and very impolite applause from the pirates, complete with lewd suggestions—as the music ended and the dancers stilled like spent clockworks, then took their bows.

  “Well,” Emily announced, turning to the snaggle-toothed pirate captain. “The gentlemen could see a bit more if we did an encore—if you think that’s a good idea, sir.”

  “I did like all the parts with the kicking,” the pirate said. “Let’s have a bit more of that.”

  Emily’s painted smile widened brightly. “That’s a perfect idea, sir.”

  After a quick word with the other dancers, she called to the musicians, “A quadrille, gentlemen. Any quadrille,
but skip to the finale.”

  A good, loud encore quickly started up.

  #

  Luca had dropped three of the engineers by the time reinforcements arrived. In turn, she’d taken a couple of nasty cuts and one bad bruise from attacks with their various tools.

  Having heard more people coming, she’d fought her way nearer to the engine, managing to acquire a shovel along the way. As better-armed pirates moved in, she whirled about, attacking anyone who dared get too close with saber in one hand and shovel in the other. While the latter was somewhat more unwieldy, she had to admit, it made a pleasant sound ringing off the skull of a pirate. She knocked over one of the bins of coal after setting her feet, making their footing far more precarious.

  With slightly more room—but only slightly—she swung her sword wide to back them off, causing one of the men to trip, and stuck her shovel into the red hot engine, then swung that about as well, flinging burning coals at the attackers and around the room. When half of the people fighting her quickly shifted their attention to trying to put out the embers before fires started, she collected another shovel full of coal, and weaved away from the attackers, kicking over another bin, and tossing the hot cinders into the debris, starting new fires. The blaze was growing rapidly as she fought her way past the last people paying her any mind and raced out of the engine room, pulling the door shut behind her.

  #

  Emily was proud of her fellow dancers. There were no protests of “but it wasn’t supposed to be that sort of job” and not a single “I’m not that kind of girl.” Emily told them to alternate high kicks and battements and follow her lead, and each of them was doing her best, with all the energy of a music hall. Their more respectable clientele would no doubt survive watching a cancan line. At least they would if this gave Luca even a little more cover.

  #

  Luca reached the boarding ropes. With the fires having spread beyond the engine room, no one was paying her any attention at all. She sawed through most of the ropes to make sure the pirate ship wouldn’t take the Sky-Dancer down with it.

  Even if they saved the pirate ship, it wasn’t going to be in any shape to pursue. She didn’t think she had time to make her way across, and then cut it loose, especially since word had to get out about the fire sooner or later. When she was down to one final rope, she grabbed it as tightly as she could, stepped over the rails, and cut it.

  She barely had time to sheathe her sword and grab the rope with both hands before she was pulled off of the pirate ship and out into open air, swinging across the gap. She was grateful for her gloves and their extra grip, managing to barely hold on when the rope went taut. After wincing a moment, she verified that—despite her initial impressions—her shoulders were still in their sockets.

  Luca started climbing.

  #

  Two pirates burst into the room where the performance was taking place, just as the encore had been drawn out as far as it could go. They attracted quite a lot of attention, particularly from the pirate captain, as they raced up, and shared their news with him in hushed tones.

  “What?!” he bellowed, before shouting to his first mate, “Guard these lot, I’ll see what’s going on.” He gestured to three of his men. “You’re with me, the rest of you, stay here.”

  Nervous glances were cast around the room at this new development.

  Emily stepped up to the front of the stage. “Everyone is doing well. Just stay calm a little longer. I’m sure everything will be all right.”

  #

  Luca pulled herself up over the rails. Everything ached after the fight, and especially after the climb. All she wanted to do was lay there and catch her breath, but shouts from further along the ship spurred her back into action. She cut down the first very surprised pirate who reached her position, all his attention on the burning vessel. The second grabbed her sword arm before she could recover and swing again. He held on as two other pirates approached, one of them an older man with a limp. From his manner of dress and the commands he was shouting, Luca guessed the older man might be their captain. Rather than trying to pull free, Luca grabbed her closest opponent’s belt and fell backwards, managing to wrench her arm—and sword—away from him as he pitched over the rails.

  Just as she was getting to her feet, she had to dive out of the way again, and a shot tore up the wood of the deck where she’d just been standing. The older man’s first shot grazed her leg, and his second bloodied her face when the near miss kicked up a hail of splinters from her hiding place. The pair continued to approach, with the occasional shot ringing out to keep her pinned down.

  “I don’t know who you are, but you’re a dead man!” the pirate captain shouted between gunshots.

  #

  Emily helped settle the crowd from the stage, while the pirates prowled the room uneasily. With the Captain and his accompaniment gone, Emily counted only eight remaining. Two of those stepped outside the door to await their captain’s return. Three took positions around the room to keep an eye on the crowd, while the first mate and two others stepped up to the front of the stage to address the prisoners. With most fearful eyes on him, Emily managed to catch the gaze of one of the security officers who’d first alerted them to the threat. She thought there was a slight nod.

  “Show’s over, folks,” the first mate began. “I don’t know what kind of trouble is up out there, but don’t think we won’t—”

  He never got the next words out, as Emily kicked him in the back of the head with one copper-and-brass-reinforced leg. There was a ringing of metal off bone, and the man dropped. Two of the other dancers, having gotten used to watching Emily and taking their cues from her, launched themselves off the stage to tackle one of the other pirates. The security officer was up and wrestling for a gun with a brigand who’d ended up near him. The rest of the room erupted into chaos, as Emily lashed out at the next nearest target.

  #

  Hearing the pair closing in, Luca steeled herself, took a deep breath, and emerged from cover, taking her shot while she could and firing at the nearest voice. The surprised pirate dropped, clutching at his stomach.

  The older man in mis-matched finery turned his gun on Luca. She managed to close the gap enough to knock the shot aside, but still felt a burn along one arm where the shot grazed her. Her cut caused him to drop the gun and stagger back, but he drew a blade of his own, facing off with her. Even as the two crossed blades, she saw small melees breaking out about the deck of the ship as more of the pirates made three discoveries. First, they were leaving their ship further and further behind. Second, their ship was burning. Third, not all the apparent pirates on deck were what they appeared. The Sky-Dancer’s crew might not have been as well-armed, but now they had numbers on the pirates.

  As the fighting jostled the Sky-Dancer’s captain at the wheel, the ship rocked and jolted. Luca and her opponent both nearly lost their feet a couple of times. She had to admit, the pirate leader was clearly well-trained with the blade. Likewise, he showed no hesitation in continually trying to maneuver himself to take advantage of her blind side. While even before the eye-patch, she’d only ever been an average shot, when she held her sword, few people lasted long enough to try to make use of the blind spot. Even without the handicap, she wasn’t sure she would have been his better. With it, she was continually forced backwards, fighting defensively, until he had her back against the rail.

  #

  Emily dropped another pirate with a kick, as he was trying to regain his feet. She noticed the other security officer and a few of the former hostages joining in the fight, trying to overwhelm the remaining pirates with numbers. Had they not turned their back on her, had they not split their numbers, or had the ship not pitched and taken almost everyone off their feet, giving people a chance to overwhelm the armed men, she wasn’t at all sure they’d have done as well. There were wounded, especially from the effort to take down the sentries who’d stationed themselves just outside the room.

  Emily h
erself had taken a shot, and had the deep dent in one of her leg braces to prove it. She couldn’t help musing that she’d have just been crippled, if not for her expensive augmentations from having already been so.

  As the last skirmishes settled, Emily set herself to organizing the room. The security officers and anyone else who felt they had something to offer—and could borrow armaments from the defeated pirate guards—were sent above decks or set to guarding the doors.

  Everyone with any kind of medical knowledge was asked to get to work helping the injured, while anyone who fell into neither category was asked to either help those of the wounded who could move to get up on stage, out of the way, or to simply stay out of the way themselves.

  #

  Luca parried attack after attack, desperately fighting off the pirate captain’s efforts to run her through, or drive her back over the rail. She had already almost lost her balance half a dozen times and nearly pitched overboard. Fatigue was settling in after all of her efforts, and her hand was starting to go numb from the numerous impacts of the swords. He was still trying to maneuver to her blind side, attacking from his position of strength.

  “I give you credit, sir,” the pirate captain taunted. “I don’t know what unit you were with, but you were obviously a soldier, and you’ve fought like an officer and a gentleman. It’s over, though.”

  Luca parried his next attack and pressed back. She wasn’t going to last long, matching him strength for strength, especially in her current state, but she held on for the moment. “Thanks,” she responded, the comment inspiring a last ditch idea.

  She snapped her head forward, smashing the captain’s nose with her forehead. He staggered, almost losing his balance. A moment later, he did lose his head after dropping his guard while trying to stay on his feet. “I suspect you’re the only person on board who thought I was a gentle anything.”

  #

  Later on, Emily was sure, there would be speeches praising the people who helped fight off the pirate attack. Those who died would be named, and called heroes. She had a sneaking suspicion that neither she nor the other dancing girls would get much credit, which suited her fine.