Morning soon came around, with Rhys arriving to find Tom already in the galley making a pot of tea.

‘Good morning, Captain. Tea?’ The big man gestured to him with the teapot.

‘Please,’ Rhys said, taking a seat at the table with a sigh. On the one hand, it was nice that Tom was offering. On the other, Zaxx would have already had the tea waiting for him. He supposed he’d have to get used to the new equilibrium of the ship. Besides, Zaxx had left him a cup of tea in his quarters when he returned from speaking with Oliver, so it would still happen now and then.

‘The heating runes you have here are really good, I put the pot on and only left for a moment, but it was already simmering when I came back,’ Tom said, making Rhys pause and go a little pale.

Thankfully, Tom seemed to just be making conversation and took Rhys’s poor attempt at a smile in his stride.

‘Here we go, Captain,’ Tom came over and poured out the tea, this particular one a blend of mint and spices. Rhys favoured mint tea in general, but he’d brought his supply with him when he moved on to the Endeavour and had only increased it since then, so there was more than enough blends available.

‘Thank you, Tom,’ Rhys said, getting himself under control as he mentally cursed Zaxx for speeding up the boiling of the pot. Humans weren’t idiots, no matter what Zaxx thought. If he kept doing things like this, someone would work out what was happening.

‘Ah, Captain. I was hoping I’d find you here,’ Oliver said, poking his head into the galley from the corridor. The new cargomaster had a satisfied look in his eyes but still had the same aura of restrained energy about him. ‘Do you have a moment?’

‘Of course, take a seat,’ Rhys said, mentally sighing as he took a sip of his tea. Tom poured Oliver a cup as the new arrival took a seat next to the stocky crewman.

‘Thanks, Tom. So, Captain, with it being the first set of cargo we’re taking on, I wanted to check with you first of all before agreeing to anything. I have two opportunities for us to look at, both involving cargo going to Arn Dukatt. I’ve also contacted everyone involved and arranged for the cargo to all arrive this afternoon, so we can load it all in order if you want to take the jobs on.’

‘Ah, excellent. So what are these new opportunities?’ Rhys said, leaning back in his chair and regarding the other man with renewed respect. He didn’t have someone else to measure Oliver against, but getting two prospective jobs in half a day was damn fast in his book.

‘Yes, the first is a bulk shipment of damaged materials containing metal. They’re being sent to a specialist in reclamation on Arn Dukatt. It’s a low margin business, but they have fifty pallets to go as soon as they can, so they’ll pay us ten bits per pallet that we take. If we use every space we have left, including mine, that would be fourteen pallets, so a sovereign and forty bits. It’ll be heavy and fuel-intensive, but that’s not a bad payout.’

Rhys drummed his fingers on the table in thought. What Oliver was describing would be the largest amount of cargo they’d carried so far. That being said, Arn Dukatt was two to three days away, so the payout would cover the crew costs to get them there. The extra fuel cost was concerning, but hopefully, it wouldn’t be too bad.

‘Do it. All the pallet space available can go to them,’ Rhys said with a final tap of his fingers. Decision made, he began sipping on his rapidly cooling tea once more.

‘Excellent,’ Oliver said, beaming at him as he rubbed his hands together. ‘Now, the other option was a military contract I came across. They want to send a crate to Arn Dukatt as soon as possible. It has to go direct and will be guarded by a three-man detachment. I wasn’t sure what your stance would be on that.’ Oliver shrugged and spread his hands, which made sense considering Rhys’s apparent reluctance to take passengers.

‘How much are they offering?’ Rhys said after a moment of thought.

‘Supplies for five people to make a five-day trip, which we can use for their men and then have a good portion left form ourselves. Beyond that, two sovereigns for delivery.’

‘Damn,’ Rhys muttered, sighing as he heard Tom whistle under his breath. The metal reclamation would already pay for the cost of the journey and make a little profit. An extra two sovereigns on top of that was a tempting deal indeed.

Still, the idea of more strangers on his ship made Rhys’s skin crawl. At least Oliver and the others were his crew. As Captain, he had some control over them and where they would go. Then again, he could house the soldiers at the prow and ban them from the crew quarters and engine room. Zaxx could tell him if they started to stray as well.

‘Captain?’ Oliver prompted him after a few moments.

‘The conditions would be they have restricted access to the rest of the ship, but yes, if they agree to that, I’m okay with it,’ Rhys said, each word feeling like a weight on his shoulders. He hated the idea of it, he really did, but two sovereigns was a lot of money. Maybe one day a few sovereigns would be idle change, but that day was a long way away.

‘Fantastic, you won’t regret this, Captain!’ Oliver grinned at him before heading out of the galley at a quick trot.

‘Sure,’ Rhys said under his breath, draining his tea in one go and rising from his seat. ‘Thanks for the tea, Tom.’

‘No problem, Captain,’ the big man replied amiably, scratching his jaw with one hand and frowning. ‘So, is there anything you want me to work on today?’

‘Oh, hmm, what do you normally do when there isn’t any cargo to be loaded?’ Rhys paused and shifted awkwardly.

‘Well, cleaning, organising the cargo we already have, some general repairs. Maybe a bit of cooking,’ Tom said, shrugging his shoulders as he gestured at the room around them. ‘Problem is, we have no cargo, and the Endeavour is as pretty a ship as I’ve ever seen, inside and out. Not a single piece of ironwood out of place and no dirt or filth to be found. It’s downright impressive.’

‘Well, he’s surprisingly perceptive, for a mortal anyway. I like him.’ Zaxx’s whisper scrambled Rhys’s thoughts, making him scowl slightly. The absolute last thing he needed was Zaxx starting to pick favourites among the crew.

‘Oh, that’s not a bad thing, Captain,’ Tom was quick to say, misunderstanding Rhys’s expression.

‘No, no, not your fault, Tom. I was just thinking of something else,’ Rhys said, forcing a wan smile onto his face as he dragged his mind back to the conversation at hand. ‘There’s likely not much for you to do until Oliver comes back anyway, so how do you feel about doing some supplies shopping for a few hours?’

‘Supplies shopping?’ Tom echoed him, a hopeful look in his eye that Rhys didn’t quite understand.

‘Yes, here, take these,’ Rhys pulled out five ten-bit coins and passed them over. ‘Use these to get some extra ingredients for our evening meals, maybe some fresh produce. If you don’t mind cooking for this evening, that would be great as well.’

‘Of course, Captain, I’ll get right on it,’ Tom said, giving him a wide grin as he stood up and braced to attention before running out the hatch.

A little confused, Rhys put the matter aside and started aft towards the engine room. He wanted to check over the akast engine and make sure that it was coping well with all the changes that Zaxx had done to the ship.

-**-

Rhys hid in the engine room for several hours, checking on everything to make sure it was in working order. He’d never spent much time around other people, so having them looking to him for instruction was somewhat terrifying.

Heaving a heavy sigh, Rhys consigned himself to dealing with it. He was going to have to if he was going to be a successful captain. After all, he already had someone else living in his head. What were a few people in his ship?

‘How’s it all looking out there, Zaxx?’ Rhys asked aloud, leaning against a bulkhead and looking up at the ceiling.

‘Mr Morgan has returned with a crate of supplies and is currently slow-cooking a large piece of flesh with an interestingly strategic use of diced plants. Food is an abstract concept to me. I shall have to watch him “cook” more closely,’ Zaxx said, his response making Rhys sigh yet again.

‘And the rest of the crew, or is only Tom onboard?’

‘Ms Val Drack inspected my armaments and is working on a pistol, of a different design to your own, in her quarters. Mr Brown returned an hour ago and is heading to the galley to interrupt Mr Morgan. My sense of our exterior tells me that workers are waiting to load the cargo you have arranged.’

‘Right, thank you, I best go see how they’re getting on,’ Rhys said, taking a breath to steady himself before heading back out of the engine room.

Climbing the stairs to the ship’s main passage, Rhys saw Oliver enter the galley to talk with Tom. By the time he reached the doorway, they were both coming back out.

‘Ah, Captain, the cargo has started arriving. I’m just heading down to the hold with Tom to get it all on board. The reclamation pallets are here first. If they get loaded now, we can unload them last at the other end.’

‘Sounds good to me. Did the military job agree to the restrictions?’ Rhys asked, half-hoping that Oliver would say no.

‘Yes, they weren’t phased at all. They will be the last to arrive and the first off at the other end.’ Oliver gave him a wide smile that Rhys tried to return as best he could.

‘Right, carry on, let me know if you need me for anything.’

‘Yes, Captain,’ both men said, bracing to attention before hurrying off down the corridor.

Rhys watched them go and resisted the urge to follow, he didn’t need to oversee everything they were doing. Zaxx would alert him if anything went wrong, after all.

No, right now, the best thing he could do would be to head to his cabin and work on his runes. Showing a bit of trust now might go a long way to building this crew together.

-**-

Rhys was carving a copy of the rune for Light into a small piece of ironwood when there was a knock at his cabin door. The interruption made his hand slip slightly, marring the rune and rendering it worthless.

Tossing the scrap aside, Rhys dusted himself off and opened his door, finding Lucy waiting outside.

‘Captain,’ Lucy said, flashing him a smile as she peered past him at his workbench. ‘Working on anything interesting?’

‘Just practicing some new runes,’ Rhys said, waving away the project with an absent gesture. He started to ask what she wanted but paused and considered her for a second. ‘Do you know much about runes?’

‘Aye, though my knowledge is mainly around ones to do with weaponry, like Power and Blast. Why?’ She raised an eyebrow as she turned her attention back to him.

‘Would you be open to sharing runes? I have a few new ones that I don’t mind sharing as well if you’re interested.’ Rhys licked his lips nervously, it was quite personal for one artificer to ask this of another, but it was a good opportunity for them both.

‘Alright, perhaps it’s time I expanded my repertoire. I don’t suppose you have a modifier that can impact other modifiers? Something like Greater, for instance?’

‘Hmm, no, sorry, I only know two modifiers as it is,’ Rhys said with a shake of his head. He’d never considered using two modifiers in a runic formula, but it was an intriguing idea.

‘Damn, that’s a shame. Let me guess. You know Weak and Strong like everyone else?’ Lucy asked, smiling crookedly as Rhys nodded. ‘Never mind, we’ll go through our lists properly later. Oh, by the way, the military guys have arrived and are waiting out front for you. Oliver thought you’d want to bring them onto the Endeavour yourself.’

‘Ah, yes, I should,’ Rhys said, trying to stop from frowning at the mention of their guests.

‘Good, well, come find me later when you want to compare lists, I need to talk with you about our armament, such as it is, as well.’ Lucy gave him a nod and headed back down the corridor.

Part of him wanted to go after her, to indulge in the exploration of runic magic and leave the military to sort themselves out, but he knew he couldn’t. Straightening his tunic, Rhys shut the cabin door behind him as he headed for the entry hatch.