Wind Dancer: Secret War Steampunk Series - Adventure, Mystery + Mad Science Read Online Free PDF

promised.
“Any idea who our attacker was?” Saira shrugged.
    “He looked to be some cow-herder mudfoot nomad,” she replied.
“Most likely one of the ones who did this.” She gestured towards the bodies of
the tortured crew laid out on the ground. Will nodded grimly.
    “Too bad,” he said. “I would have liked to get one of them
alive for the Company.” Saira snorted, caressing her electric rifle.
    “Better to simply give the mudfoot a bolt rather than make
them go through all the muck of one of your so-called civilized trials. They
would only hang him anyway.”
    “I cannot say I disagree,” Will responded. “Still, it might
have meant a bonus for us if we could present a live one.” Saira raised her
chin.
    “Take anyone else alive if you can!” Saira called out. She
turned back to Will with a nod.
    “Should we not get you back above?” She asked. “You were
shot, you understand.” Will shook his head.
    “Not before we see if that strongbox is in one piece,” he
replied laconically “You do want to get paid don’t you?”
     

Chapter Three
    Wind Dancer, Bengal Province
    Free India States
    “Very well,” Saira Brighton, Arms-Master
of Wind Dancer, pronounced, “That finishes our meeting. Good work
out there everyone. I will expect you all at drill in the morning where we will
work more on guard formation. You may go about your business or…” she pulled
the cork from her own bottle again. “You may finish your drinks, if you haven’t
already.” She took a healthy swig, feeling the rum burn comfortably on the way
down.
    With differing versions of “Aye Aye,” some members of the
landing party stood up to leave, while others shifted on the benches to talk to
their neighbors. She watched her Tigers with satisfaction.
    The landing drop had turned out to be uneventful. Save for
the shooting of the Captain and finding the bodies of the Raja Goh’s crew that the herders had played with, she added to herself. They had found the
ship’s strongbox and hauled it back to the ship without further incident. It
had all been in a day’s work and no one had been hurt, she thought in satisfaction.
Briefly, she brushed the aura of her newest Tiger, Ravin, with her spirit
senses to find him more settled than before. It was his first exposure to the
evils men will do one another, and he had naturally lost his stomach over the
tortured bodies. He had then straightened up and carried on, as she knew he
would. He would do, she thought with approval.
    “Mind if I sit for a moment?” Saira looked up at the
question. She saw Michael McGuire, the ship’s chief wave operator, gesturing
with his mug at the empty bench space across from her. Saira thought it better
to hold her after−action meetings in the mess. Everyone could relax, have
a drink, eat, or smoke as they liked, to unwind. She found that the meetings
went much better so, despite what Mr. Rogers pronounced.
    She smiled at him, teeth gleaming in her dusky face.
    “Please,” she pointed with her bottle. “We were finished with
the meeting. Are you not on duty though?”
    McGuire nodded, sliding onto the bench.
    “Cap’n is on another Aetherwave call with Calcutta. He told
me to take a long break.” He sipped from the mug and sighed. “Wu does make a
good cup of tea once you get used to the spices and all. How went it down
there?”
    She drank again from the small rum bottle, and then shrugged
as she lowered it. “Well enough. We had no more trouble from the locals.
Blowing up their rockets seems to have sent them running. So, the Cap‘n did not
want you listening in, did he? Is it about our next job?”
    McGuire managed to look offended, his brogue thickening.
    “I am shocked lass that ye would even think such a thing.
Running the aether is a sacred trust, it is.”
    Saira laughed. It was no secret that McGuire was, or had
been, a ‘wave tapdancer’. Tapdancers made their very illegal living by
listening in on supposedly private transactions