'Sergeant Wruthers. Pleased to meet you, Captain,' the lead soldier said, shaking Rhys's hand as he brought them onto the Endeavour. The three soldiers were each wearing leather armour, reinforced here and there with thin planes of ironwood.

So far, Wruthers was the only one of the three to speak, and even that had been gruff and lacking in feeling. Still, that was a good thing for Rhys. His ideal outcome was to put them in the prow area and leave them there until they reached Arn Dukatt.

'Where have you billeted us?' The Sergeant asked as Rhys shut the door behind them.

'At the prow of the ship, there's a small cargo space with hammocks. I thought you could sleep there and keep watch directly.'

'Thank you,' Wruthers said, following close behind Rhys while the other two carried their cargo. It was a standard looking ironwood box, heavy enough to need two people to carry it but not heavy enough to make them struggle.

'No problem, it's just this way,' Rhys said, leading them past the crew quarters and into the prow of the ship. He'd not changed anything from the original format. It wasn't like he came this way very often, after all. Two hammocks were still strung on either side of the door, with some storage racking lining the walls past them. 'Here we are, we don't use this area for day to day operations, so consider it yours for the trip there.'

'Thank you, Captain, your help is appreciated,' Wruthers said as the two other men lugged in the crate and set it at the far end of the room with a dull thud.

'Not at all. Are you joining us all for dinner?'

'We'll be eating separately as a security measure, nothing personal.' Wruthers said, glancing over at Rhys as he spoke.

'Of course,' Rhys said, holding in the urge to sigh in relief. 'We'll be setting off in the morning. If that changes, I'll let you know.' Wruthers gave him a nod as Rhys left the prow, shutting the door behind him. Hopefully, they'd stay out of sight and out of mind. That might be a bit too much to hope for, though.

Heading down to the cargo hold, he found Oliver and Tom finishing up the arrangement of the pallets, ensuring that the load was spread evenly.

'Any issues?' Rhys asked as he walked in, noting that the cargo hatch was closed once more and how full the hold looked. They could fit in some more small items, but this was the first time he'd seen the Endeavour at capacity. It was an impressive sight.

'No, Captain. We've got a full load of pallets on board. This is shaping up to be quite a good trip for us,' Oliver said, adjusting the placement of a crate as he did a final lap round the room.

'Excellent, we're clear to head off first thing tomorrow then?'

'Yes, Captain.'

'Excellent, I look forward to getting our first journey underway,' Rhys said, giving them both a warm smile. Just the thought of leaving was cheering him up. He'd be a lot happier once they were underway and in the open sky.

'If you'll excuse me, Captain, I need to be getting back to the galley,' Tom said, lifting a hand to draw their attention.

'Oh, of course, don't let me stop you,' Rhys said, standing aside and waving for Tom to lead the way back up from the hold. Oliver followed on Tom's heels, leaving Rhys to take a last look over the hold before heading back to his cabin.

-**-

The evening meal was a deliciously slow-cooked joint of quallis meat, the normally dry texture easily counter-balanced by a creamy sauce and accompanied by roasted vegetables. Rhys was no cook, but he'd tried experimenting with the tools available in the galley.

The roasted vegetables he'd made had been a flat, bland meal in comparison to the delicious array that Tom had made. Rhys had never known that onions could taste sweet like this.

The benefits of having a crew were definitely coming to the fore now. One thing was sure, Rhys wouldn't be cooking again while he had others with this kind of skill to hand.

-**-

Rhys was up a little earlier the following day, finding his usual tea waiting for him in the galley, courtesy of Zaxx. He'd barely done more than take a sip when Tom entered, nodding his way as he headed over to the kettle.

Tom tapped the side of the kettle to judge its heat, blinking blearily as he realised it was cold and that Rhys sat with a still slightly steaming cup in front of him.

'It cools quickly,' Rhys said, taking advantage of the fact that the other man had clearly just woken up. He couldn't even be annoyed with Zaxx, not when it was how he got his tea.

Tom shrugged and filled it from the ironwood barrel using the attached cup. Thankfully, the barrel was sealed with a healthy amount of sap, so there would be no water leakage, even with the amount needed for all of them. Rhys had purchased a second barrel in advance, but it was on the ship's deck at the moment, collecting rainwater for later use.

Tom put the filled kettle onto the rune activator on the top of the stove, moving to take a seat at the table while he waited for it to boil. Unlike the majority of the ship, the galley was the one place where a good amount of metal was used. It was usually one of the most expensive areas of a ship because of that.

More than one attempt had been made to create cooking implements out of other materials, but they were either too expensive or simply not good enough. Metal ores were hard to find but not hard enough to warrant using something else in a galley.

Recycling efforts, like the one they were working with, were a vital part of the metal economy. Rhys would have to keep an eye out for similar jobs going forward, especially if he could get a regular route going. He'd have to talk with Oliver about it. Perhaps the wiry man had some contacts they could reach out to.

'When are we setting off, Captain?' Tom asked, breaking Rhys out of his thoughts as he got back up to make his tea.

'As soon as I finish my tea,' Rhys said with a quirk of his lips, Tom chuckling and shaking his head as he poured the boiling water.

'Morning,' Oliver said as he entered the galley, Tom already pulling out a second mug for the cargo master.

'I'm all done, so we'll be taking off in five minutes. Pass the word if you see the soldiers or Lucy,' Rhys said, finishing his tea and heading out the door.

Climbing the stairs onto deck, Rhys took a deep breath of the bracingly fresh morning air and made for the helm. He wanted to get them going as soon as possible, but it was only fair to give people a few minutes to wake up before he started up the engines.

Then again, he didn't need to just guess what people were doing.

'Zaxx, is everyone awake?' Rhys asked softly as he reached the helm.

'Yes, Rhys. Lucy is now in the galley, and the soldiers are awake, but still in their compartment.' Zaxx responded instantly, as he did whenever Rhys addressed him.

'Good, let's get this started then,' Rhys said, more to himself than anything, as he activated the engine and took the controls in hand. Increasing the power to the ventral thrusters steadily, Rhys felt the thrum of power course through the decking of the Endeavour.

The weight reduction runes would bring the increase in weight down considerably, but they couldn't cancel it altogether. The normal smooth rise of the Endeavour instead a slow crawl until Rhys increased the power to the thrusters.

The plume of vapour underneath them must have been impressive as the Endeavour rose from its cradle, swinging around under Rhys's control to point to their latest destination, Arn Dukatt.

Rhys started increasing the power to the aft thrusters, slowly pushing the lever forward until they were moving at full speed. It would be an energy-intensive journey, but he was more concerned about speed than anything else with this trip. The sooner he got the military offboard, the better he'd feel.

-**-

The crew joined Rhys on deck a few minutes later, each taking a moment to watch the nearby rays as the Endeavour thundered along at full thrust. The plume from their vapour thrusters was thick and easily noticeable, so Rhys was keen to reduce the power to them as soon as he could.

After the recent pirate encounter, he was more aware than ever before of how exposed they were in the open sky.

'So, Captain, normally I'd be doing some maintenance work or cleaning, but the Endeavour doesn't need any of that. How about I take the wheel for a spell and let you get some rest?' Oliver said, coming up to where Rhys was manning the helm at the rear of the ship. 'I know we don't have a helmsman, after all, so we might as well spread the burden.'

'That's very thoughtful, thank you,' Rhys said, giving the cargo master a thankful nod. 'I'm fine for now. Let's swap after lunch. In fact, could you ask Tom and Lucy if one of them could stand the night watch?'

'Yes, Captain,' Oliver said with a nod, heading back to the others.

Rhys eased back on the thrusters, slowing down their acceleration so that they held the speed they were going at. He'd been getting them up to speed as fast as he could so they'd make good time, but if he didn't have to land each evening, that wouldn't be a problem. He'd also be able to get more sleep and still be able to hit their schedule, which was a huge positive in his eyes.

'Captain, Lucy says she'll take a turn on the helm. Do you want some sort of rota in place?' Oliver asked, returning to Rhys after his discussion.

'Yes, set one up for the three of us. I'll leave you in charge of it for now. No one does more nights than the others, and no one does less, including myself. Clear?'

'Yes, Captain, I'll be about it immediately.' Oliver braced to attention and headed back to speak with Lucy.

-**-

Rhys changed off with Oliver around midday and headed down for a bite to eat, finding a board hung on the wall of the galley with three letters carved into it five times in a vertical, each with a hole dug out next to it that was filled with a piece of ironwood.

'It's simple from what he explained,' Lucy said from where she sat at the table. 'This is the morning shift, this the afternoon and this the overnight. You're the peg with three lines, he's two lines, and I'm one line. The slot our peg is in shows our shift that day. The whole thing only lasts five days before we reset it, but that'll cover most trips. Not a bad idea on his part.'

'No, not at all,' Rhys said, more than satisfied with what Oliver had put together. He'd been expecting something far less organised than this.

'So, when do you want to go over what runes you know?' Lucy asked, leaning back in her chair and cocking her head to one side. 'I've made a few example ones that I know already for you, but I doubt they'll be too useful for you.'

'You never know with runes,' Rhys said, holding a hand palm up. 'Sometimes, it's the oddest combinations that can be what you mean.'

'True, true, it's easy to forget that,' Lucy said with a shrug.

'For me, though, it's more about the knowledge. I've never understood why they aren't shared out more. Surely artificers should know as much as possible?' Rhys said, taking a seat opposite her. He'd always been bothered by the lack of information sharing, but no one ever really gave him a good reason why.

'It's about control from my point of view. Keep the power in the hands of a few and stop any one artificer from becoming too powerful. Everyone loves artifced devices, but they're wary about someone being able to create something too powerful. This way, they know that whoever makes the cannons for a ship can't make the ship as well, so they're limited.'

'I'd never even thought of it that way,' Rhys said with a frown. He'd been so caught up in how it looked from a knowledge point of view. Perhaps Lucy was right. If nothing else, it was worth thinking about.