The Olympian Sisters #3 The Gilded Age

Chapter 20

SOUTHAMPTON ENGLAND OCTOBER 10 1920 "OLYMPIC"

I was resting comfortably at my dock when Baltic snuck up in her cheeky way. "Rise and shine sleepybow!" She sang. I jumped. Narrowing my eyes at Baltic I said "Was that really necessary?" I asked.

She laughed. "Yes." She replied. "Look down, sleepy." She added. My first thought was uh oh she's done it again. But when I looked down, instead of what I feared was drawn on my face, Baltic had drawn a gold crown on my upper decks. "All hail Queen Olympic!" She drawled.

"Is that really necessary?" I asked. "Well you're leader of the navy aren't you?" She asked. "Sorry, I should call you HMT Olympic or is it HMS?" She muttered. I took a swing at her, she dodged away, laughing.

"You have to be faster than that!" She taunted. I turned away, ignoring her. I was used to Baltic's jibes by now. She eventually gave up and sailed sulkily away. Majestic came over. "I don't get how you do that. She threw all those insults at you and you acted like you didn't care." She exclaimed.

I shrugged. "It comes with experience." I replied. She shook her head. "I heard that Cedric gave Baltic quite the pounding yesterday." She said. I nodded. "Yep." I said. "Baltic had decided to pull a classic German prank on her, all you need is a few ropes and some fresh road kill. There's a single tripwire layed out across the channel and when you trigger it, it causes the animals tied to the ropes to swing out and smack into Cedric." I explained.

Majestic made a face. "Gross!" She exclaimed. I nodded. "Agreed, but that's just Baltic." I replied. "Speaking of the devil." She muttered. I turned to look at Baltic. The prankster was heading towards her latest victim, Mauretania.

The Cunard leader was fast asleep, soaking up the last of the suns warm rays. Baltic was holding a can of paint in her mouth. "I wouldn't do that if I were you." I called. "Why not?" She asked. "You don't know Mauretania." I replied. "I'm used to ships chasing me." She countered. I shrugged. "Your funeral." I muttered.

Majestic frowned at me. "What did you do?" She asked. I smiled. "Watch and see." I replied. I slowly made my way over to a long rope that was dangling down from an overhead crane. This was attached to a mixture of antifouling paint cans and fresh and rotting road kill. "Cedric, you ready?" I called. She grinned and nodded. "Time for a little revenge." She said.

I gave the order. "Pull!" I cried, blowing my whistle three times. It woke Mauretania up, she saw Baltic in front of her and got the message, backing out of her dock as the cans and dead animals soared towards Baltic. By the time she knew what was happening, it was already too late. "Yikes!" She yelped.

The materials all made their mark. Baltic was splattered with paint and pounded by animal parts. Some workmen had seen the commotion and joined in, making balls out of paint and allowing them to harden on the surface within seconds before throwing them at her.

Baltic was now being pelted by paint balls like machine gun fire. I laughed and laughed, the other ships joined in. Having enough of the paint bullets, she turned around and raced off towards Belfast. "Be back here by November 11, Prank Sea!" I ordered.

In response, she raised her stern flag and flicked it. Majestic winced. "Not very friendly is she?" She asked. I sighed. "And that is a perfect example of Baltic for ya." I muttered. By doing that, Baltic in an essence, just gave me the bird.

Mauretania looked at me. "Thanks for the warning." She said. I nodded. "No problem." I replied. She dipped her head and left to redock. I frowned. Usually Mauretania wasn't one for naps. She'd stay docked but remain awake until night came.

"Maybe she's just feeling her age." Adriatic suggested when I mentioned this to her. "You have to remember, she's not a young ship." I shook my head. "She's barely 13." I said. "That's not young Olympic and you know it." She growled.

I sighed. Somehow, I sensed that it wasn't Mauretania's age that was slowing her down. There was something familiar about the way she acted but I couldn't place a propeller on it. "Keep an eye on her." I ordered Adriatic. "You think it's something more?" She asked. "I'm not sure, but I'll find out somehow." I replied.

She left as Hood approached me. "All well?" I asked. The battleship nodded. "Other than Barham giving me the usual grief, Snowdrop too, it's fine." She replied. "There's something bothering you." I noticed. "You don't miss a thing." She said.

"Yes, actually I wanted to talk to you about Arizona." She said. I was on alert instantly. "What about her exactly?" I asked. She sighed. "I need to warn you that Old Wood's given her orders not to see you." She said. My eyes widened. "He did, how could he know?" I asked. She shrugged. "How do you know when things happen at Cowes when no one tells you? I don't know Olympic, it just happens." She said.

"What did Wilson say?" I asked. "He reminded her of the rules and warned her of the consequences." She replied. "What about the rules?" I asked. "Everything has a reason to it and the first rule has a particular history." She said. "How'd it come about?" I asked.

Hood looked away, her blue eyes sad. "It's not a story you'd want to hear." She said. I nudged her. "Hood, please." I begged. She sighed and reluctantly told me about Serapis and Tirpitz. When she had finished I looked thoughtful. "A sad story." I muttered.

"That's not the point, the point is that you and Arizona face the same issue that Serapis and Tirpitz faced." She said. "Arizona won't suffer Tirpitz's fate." I said. "How do you know that?" She asked. I didn't answer because Arizona had made me promise not to tell anyone about her dreams. Besides, Hood would never believe me anyway. "That's what I thought." She muttered.

"Look, all I'm trying to do here is warn you. It's not my place to order you to do anything but in this case I will at least ask you to consider backing off. Arizona is in a difficult spot right now, if you think that disobeying Dreadnought was bad enough, think again. This is the President of the United States for crying out loud. He's the most powerful man in the world and he does not approve of what you two are doing. I'm asking you to back off for a while, if not for your sake then for Arizona's." She said. I nodded. "I understand Hood. Thank you for telling me this." She dipped her head.

"The choice is yours though Olympic not mine, and it wasn't my place to say this." She said. "You're only doing what you believe is right, there's nothing wrong with that." I said. She nodded. "Sorry if I offended you." She said.

"Not at all." I replied. "Honestly Hood, you've been in the navy too long, you need to get out more." I growled. She smiled. "I just might take you up on that." She said.

Just then, Majestic came up. "Have you seen Homeric?" She asked. I shook my head. "No, I thought she was here." I replied. "She was but now I can't find her." She said. Celtic came forward. "The LV says she was last seen heading southeast in the English Channel." She broke off. Majestic looked at me with tears in her eyes. "Hamburg is to the southeast." She whispered.

By nightfall there was still no sign of Homeric. I bowed my head. Majestic's fears had come true. There was no denying it now. Homeric had gone back to Germany.