Lucy arrived a short time after Rhys had spoken with Zaxx. Lucy was a short woman with bright red hair, a curvy figure and a spring in her step. Where Oliver had felt like a coiled spring, full of restrained energy, Lucy felt like she was giving off energy just by entering the room.

Rhys immediately felt more awake as she threw herself into the chair opposite and gave him a brilliant smile.

'Morning, Captain!' She called out, her voice perky and brimming with positivity.

'Morning, Ms Val Drack..'

'Please, call me Lucy,' she said, interrupting him with another smile.

'Lucy,' Rhys said, correcting himself with a nod. He took a moment to gather himself after the exuberance of her entrance, realising as he did that she wore artificer overalls rather than everyday clothing. The overalls were well-used and had more than a few scorch marks on them, which was a good sign. Like any self-respecting artificer, Rhys's overalls had a fair amount of damage to them. Like the old saying said, never trust an artificer with clean overalls.

'So, what sort of a ship are you looking to serve on?' Rhys went with his standard opening question first of all. They'd come back to the question of artificing later.

'One that doesn't hold me back for being a woman,' Lucy said, her smile slipping away as her expression turned serious. 'I learnt about gunnery and artificing at my father's knee, but many captains have a problem with a woman being their gunnery expert. Beyond that, I want a ship where I can continue my research and not be restricted for fear of things blowing up.'

Rhys's eyes were wide as he realised where he recognised her name from. Walter Val Drack, a pioneer among artificers, was responsible for increasing the efficiency of the Navi rifle by almost fifty percent. Not to mention his outright discoveries, the man had been a genius. From what he remembered, Val Drack had been killed by pirates about ten years ago. His work hadn't been that relevant for Rhys, but he'd significantly impacted the artificing world.

Considering his word carefully, Rhys looked Lucy in the eyes and tried to convey his conviction. 'I have only recently become a captain. Before that, I was an artificer. I've heard of your father, and I know how brilliant he was. There is no stigma to female artificers, so as far as I'm concerned, there shouldn't be for gunnery experts either.'

A smile spread across Lucy's face as he spoke, and she held a hand out to him as soon as he finished. 'Well, that's good enough for me. The rest is fine details we can work out later. If worst comes to worst, I'll leave after the first trip.'

'Ah, before we agree to anything,' Rhys said, holding a hand up to forestall her. 'The Endeavour has an experimental engine, among other things. I need to know if you'll be bothered by any weird or odd happenings, and I need a promise that you won't delve into how the ship works. Research on your own projects, or assisting me on mine is perfectly fine, but not into the ship itself. Can you agree to that?'

It was a dangerous line to walk, bringing another artificer on board, one that was making Rhys nervous already. Still, the potential gains were high, and help for his own work would be more than welcome. He could see that she was mulling over his words carefully, likely he'd aroused her curiosity already with what he'd said.

'I can agree to that, but please let me know if you do need any help maintaining it,' she said finally. There was a little sigh after she spoke that Rhys could empathise with. It would be hell for him to live alongside a mystery that he couldn't look into.

'Right, so I can offer ten bits a day, with food and accommodation. Once you're settled in, we can review that. How does that sound?' Rhys gave her the same deal as he'd given Oliver, which would bring his expenditure up to twenty-five bits a day. It was two days to Arn Dukatt, so the job he had would only pay for the wages of the crew to get there, not for anything else.

'Sounds good. When can I come to take a poke around and move in?' Lucy asked, leaning forward and putting her hand out once more.

'If you can be back here in less than twenty minutes, we can all go down together. If not, I can give you directions,' Rhys said as he shook her hand.

'Nope, twenty minutes is fine. I'll be right back!' Lucy declared as she bounced up and out of her seat, making Rhys cough and look away for a moment. By the time he looked back, she'd already left, the door slamming shut behind her.

'Well, it's a crew of some sort, could be worse,' Rhys said to himself. All in all, it had gone well today.

-**-

Rhys assembled his motley crew outside the guild a short time later. They each had a large bag with them and looked intrigued by the situation.

'You weren't joking when you said this was a small crew,' Oliver said as he looked over the other two. 'Nice to meet you both. I'm Oliver, and I'll be in charge of cargo and supplies.'

'The name's Tom. I'm the general crewman, it seems, looks like we'll be working together closely,' Tom said, giving the other man a firm nod.

'I'm Lucy, I'm here to blow up anything that tries to get in the way,' Lucy chimed in with a wide smile. The other two looked a bit surprised but rolled with it for now.

'It's a small crew, but the upgrades to the ship cut out a lot of the extra work needed. You'll understand more once you've spent some time on board. Speaking of which, follow me and let's get you all settled in.' Rhys said, leading the way onto the docks and toward the Endeavour.

If any of them were disappointed by the boxy outline of the Endeavour, no one said anything as they approached the ship. Of course, Zaxx's work to streamline the Endeavour had given it a more appealing look, which helped with first impressions. Unlocking the outer hatch, Rhys led them in and got Tom to seal the door behind them.

'Okay, so Tom, you can bunk in the quarters down that way. Ordinarily, it's for a larger group, and there might be more people in time, but for now, it's all yours,' Rhys said, stopping at the main intersection and pointing left to the crew berth. The big man nodded and headed that way, dropping off his things at the doorway before coming back to them.

Once Tom rejoined them, Rhys headed right toward his own quarters and the empty cabins. He gave Oliver the one opposite the galley and Lucy the one further up the corridor opposite the storage room.

'Take your time to settle in. I'll ring the bell when the evening meal is ready. The galley is opposite Oliver's room. If you need me before then, I'll be in my cabin at the end of the corridor,' Rhys called out, heading down to his room as he spoke.

He heard them head off to explore a little and get to know the ship, which was fine, as long as they didn't go down to engineering.

'Have you told them about me?' Zaxx whispered into his mind as Rhys reached his room.

'No, I haven't told them about you. Do you think I'm an idiot?' Rhys said, glaring at the nearest wall as he closed the door to his room and shook his head in disgust.

'You will need to eventually, once we know who is worthy of our trust.'

'Maybe, but that's a problem for another time. Could you keep an eye on them for now?' Rhys asked, sighing and rubbing his face as he sat down at his desk. He'd made good progress with the runes yesterday, but there was still a long way to go.

'Of course, I will inform you of any behaviour that needs reporting.'

'Thank you, I think,' Rhys said absently, already turning his focus to his project and away from Zaxx.

-**-

Rhys prepared a simple meal for them all, ringing the galley bell to let the crew know when it was ready.

'Would you object to us rotating responsibility for cooking?' Lucy asked as she cut up the skraa steak that he'd roasted. From the slight toughness of the meat, he was fairly confident that he'd overcooked the steaks. Cooking had never been his strong point.

'Not at all, I'm not much of a cook, so I will gladly let anyone else take a turn,' Rhys said with a small laugh, noting how relieved they looked. Perhaps he'd overcooked the steak more than he realised.

'I'll happily take a turn if we get some supplies. If we have access to fresh food, it will be easy enough,' Oliver said, pausing to take another bite before looking over to Rhys. 'Speaking of which, when are we leaving port?'

'The pallets will be delivered in the morning, but the berth is ours until the day after. If there's anything that needs doing, I don't mind waiting. If not, we'll leave tomorrow,' Rhys said, finishing off the rest of his steak in short order.

'Could we go over the cargo after the meal?' Oliver asked with a thoughtful look in his eye. 'I could see what else is going to Arn Dukatt and see what else we can get paid to haul. I need to know how much space I have to work with for that to happen, of course.'

'That sounds reasonable. I can't see a problem with that,' Rhys said, nodding slowly. He hadn't considered taking more than one cargo on each trip, but it only made sense from an efficiency perspective.

Other points of view could reveal new opportunities, something that Rhys had forgotten. Even a small crew would give a lot more ideas than him on his own.

He noticed that Oliver had finished his meal, so Rhys rose and started out of the room. 'I'm going to head down now. Just leave your plates on the table. They'll be sorted out.'

'Uh, okay,' Oliver said, with more than a hint of confusion as he stood up and followed Rhys out of the room. 'So what is the cargo we're taking?'

'Six standard pallets of ironwood lumber,' Rhys said as he led Oliver down to their cargo hold. Currently, there wasn't any cargo in the hold. Everything had been stored elsewhere or absorbed by Zaxx.

'A good size, we can get a fair bit in here,' Oliver said, more to himself than anything. Walking to one end, Oliver turned and walked across the length of the hold, counting his steps out as he went. He then did the same with the width of the room, nodding sagely to himself as he did some mental calculations.

'I think we should get about twenty pallets in here, with enough room left over for two dozen crates. The whole thing is around sixty feet long and forty feet wide, so that will leave us enough room to get around as well. It means that the cargo is only around a quarter of what we can carry if you include the crates.'

'I see what you mean. Do you think we'll be able to get any other cargo heading that way?' Rhys asked, realising now just how much more they could be making on this journey.

'Yes, even if it's just a collection of smaller things. I'll check for any messages that need sending. What's your position on passengers?' Oliver asked as he checked the winch and where it could access in the hold.

'I'm reluctant to bring on passengers, but I'll consider it if you find any good offers,' Rhys said, grimacing at the thought of random people tramping around his ship.

'Sounds good to me, Captain. I'll check with you before I get anything beyond simple cargo jobs. Well, until I know your preferences anyway.' Oliver turned back to him and paused, cocking his head to one side. 'We mentioned a personal allotment for cargo. Did you have an amount in mind already? If so, does the rest of the crew get any?'

Rhys considered his words for a moment, thinking back to the rough amounts that he'd given earlier as well. 'One pallet and six crates worth for you. For the rest, six crates worth each. If we need it for a job, that takes priority, but otherwise, it's yours to use as you like. That leaves nineteen pallets for the Endeavour, right?'

'Yes, Captain.' Oliver nodded, the grin on his face telling Rhys that he might have been a bit too generous there. Still, why not? He had the space to give out.

'Good, let them know and see what you can rustle up for tomorrow. I'll be in my cabin if you need me,' Rhys said, giving him a half-wave as he made his way back to his cabin. He hadn't been expecting quite so many questions from Oliver. It was a little disheartening to realise how much he still had to learn. Still, Oliver seemed to know what he was doing, so a little delegation wasn't a bad thing.