At last the pilot spotted two splotches of faintly glowing paint floating in the nighttime air ahead.

The warden, having taken Lady Fisher’s words to heart, ordered him to attain a higher altitude and approach in a climbing arc. They were far enough away he felt they could achieve their objective and come down from above, thus sparing his ship from their guns as Marissa predicted.

Several tense minutes followed as the ship climbed in the night sky then spiraled down toward its objectives. Marissa returned to the door in the passenger area and made sure once again that her students were ready.

At last they floated down very close to the two stranded ships, and Logan left the bridge to check in on the women.

“How do you intend to board them, Lady Fisher?”

“We’ll need to get close enough for a harpoon gun. We’re going to tie a line between these ships, neutralize the men aboard, then capture the other one. You will tow the first, and we will attach lines to the second so both can be brought in. I hope you have enough fuel.”

“We’ve enough to make it across the Atlantic, my dear lady. I trust that will prove sufficient to haul two errant ships to Carlyle Aerodrome.”

“Very good. Have your pilot bring us slightly to the side of the first one, so we can exit via this door.”

“So you will be exiting, after all?”

“Yes, Warden. We will need to exit this ship in order to capture the others. Have no angst, we have trained extensively for procedures such as this.”

Reluctantly he returned to the bridge and gave instructions to the pilot. Slowly, the ship spun around and came even close to the other two, staying above them so their guns could not fire.

Marissa moved to the door and threw it open, letting in a cool nighttime breeze that wafted through the cabin.

“Everyone don your Alpine gear.”

The girls nodded and pulled out goggles, then put them on. They retrieved studded boots from their backpacks, quickly swapping out their regular footwear. They donned special gloves. In moments, they looked like mountain climbers preparing to scale cliffs.

“Ready Evelyn? We will tie off on the doorframe.”

“Yes, Lady Fisher.”

“Good. Aim for the top fin.”

“Yes, Lady Fisher.”

Evelyn aimed the harpoon gun out the open door, and Marissa stood out of the away.

She had complete confidence in the girl, mainly since this was something they had practiced several times in the past.

The gun fired off with a small blast, deafening in the cabin. The grappling hook sailed out and down, toward the fin on top of the rear of the dirigible below.

They heard a distant clank as the multi-pronged hook found purchase, and Evelyn tugged on the rope, pulling it tight.

She turned the gun around butt first and broke out the window to the side of the door. Glass fragments floated away in the darkness. Then she twirled the gun and the end of the rope around the doorframe and through the broken window, and tied it all off in a sailor’s knot.

“We are secure, Lady Fisher.”

“Very good. Everyone clip onto the line and go down to the ship. Godspeed, ladies. I’ll go last.”

Evelyn nodded, and she pulled out a clip attached to a harness under her blouse. She attached it to the rope and jumped out the door, whizzing down and away on the makeshift zip line.

Molly followed her, then the other girls went down, one by one.

Logan walked out of the bridge just in time to see the last one leaving. His eyes grew wide.

“Have your men keep an eye out for a flare, Warden,” Marissa said. “We’ll fire it off when both ships are neutralized and ready to tow back to the aerodrome.”

Before he could respond, she attached her clip to the line and jumped out the door, following the others.

He ran to the door and watched her sail down, feet stuck out front. The other girls waited for her, standing on top of the dark dirigible.

When Marissa reached the end of the line, she braced for impact against the fin. Her enhanced body handled it easily. Suddenly, she no longer moved, simply dangling at the end of the line.

She reached up and unclipped herself, dropping neatly to the dirigible’s surface. Her clawed mountain boots provided sure footing, and she walked over to where the girls waited.

They had another line running between them, through clips on their belts. Marissa took the end of the line from Molly and tied it off on her own clip.

“Right. To the middle. We’ll climb down to the cabin from there. Think of it as a free solo exercise.”

The girls nodded, although she could tell no one seemed particularly enthusiastic about this part of the operation.

Marissa could hardly blame them. She was not looking forward to it herself. This time she led, tromping over the sloping top of the dirigible to the midway point.

These things are huge, she thought, walking along. You don’t realize how big they are until you’re walking on top of one.

She stopped at what she reckoned to be halfway, and turned around. The girls followed her in a single line.

Matilda, the least graceful of them all, walked at the end of the line with her arms outstretched. She seemed a little wobbly.

Briefly, Marissa wondered if she should have let the girl come with them. At the time, she was thinking Matilda would add one more needed gun. But getting inside the first shop might prove harder with her along.

Too late now, she thought.

“Right. We’ll go down here. Pull your sticky gloves tight. Everyone maintain the pace so no one holds up the line. If you fall, do not panic. The rest of us will pull you back. Ready? I’ll lead off again.”

She moved further down on the side until the angle of the slope became quite steep. At that point she went down to her hands, and neatly turned around. She crawled backward, her sticky gloves squelching as she adjusted positions, using her claw boots as needed.

Above her, Molly repeated the moves. Soon, all six crawled backwards down the rounded edge of the airship.

Toward the end, Marissa hung practically upside down on the bottom of the dirigible. She quickly made her way to where the envelope and the cabin met, and at last reached the relative safety of the ship’s glass windows.

She paused, heart pounding, and caught her breath. A moment later, Molly joined her, and they hung on the side of the cabin smiling at one another. The others quickly followed.

Marissa began looking for a way in. She doubted they would lock any of the doors up here.

Matilda brought up the rear of the line, and clumsily clawed at the underside of the dirigible with her boot.

She slipped and suddenly lost all grip on the airship, plummeting down into the darkness.

The line between the girls snapped taut as Matilda hung suspended over open air.