Log 18: Interference

The Captain has his own show hijacked by a familiar voice... And I insult him again! The following is the next entry from his old logs:

-ATUM (Amazing Talking Useless Machine)

Part 2: How I acquired the Eckener (story starts with Log 17: Rap Attack)

May 19th, 1940.
    I have assembled a team of twenty men, mostly consisting of my companions. The depression hit most of these fellows hard, so I was able to convince most of them into helping me seize the Hindenburg II. I promised them jobs on the ship once it is captured, and even though the mission is dangerous, none of them seem scared, and all but three accepted my offer. The plan is this; under the cover of darkness we will launch camouflaged hot air balloons and observation balloons off small boats directly under the ship. We will then lash the balloons to areas on the ship out of the range of the guns, and sneak aboard.
    The problem is the crew’s resistance. My first thought is that on such a heavily armored ship, the crew would be ill equipped for hand to hand combat, they would expect to blast their enemy’s away before hand to hand could happen. However, one of my team is an escaped German soldier, who joined the Air Force in rebellion. According to him, a ship at the top of the German fleet would be protected inside and out, because of the fear of sabotage and spies. He claims that their will be soldiers on guard constantly, and that if we want to get past them we must use a surprise strategy that will not allow the word to get out that we have boarded.
    Then it hits me.