The journey lasted for two full days, and they arrived at Arn Dukatt around midday on the third day. Thankfully, it was easy enough to keep a good pace with the new helm schedule. Even better, it allowed them to do so without Rhys only sleeping a few hours at night.

The perks of having a crew on board only developed as the journey continued, with Tom demonstrating a keen culinary skill and taking over all meal preparations. Zaxx still expressed some interest in Tom’s processes, but Rhys made sure to reinforce the fact that Zaxx shouldn’t contact him directly. Zaxx hadn’t actually mentioned doing so, but Rhys wanted to make sure.

Meanwhile, Oliver acted as a liaison with the soldiers in the prow, ensuring that they had what they needed, and more importantly, letting Rhys avoid talking to them at all.

Not to be outdone, Lucy was able to show him how the Projectile, Blast and Force runes were formed. In exchange, he taught her some of the ones he’d learnt from his time as an artificer. It was a good trade, with both of them coming away happy with the things they’d learnt.

Once he’d proven his working knowledge of runes, Lucy even showed him the experimental pistol she was working on. Most weapons were based on the Navi rifle style, which had runes on the barrel and a detachable magazine. Each magazine was filled with morcal fluid and was charged by a cloudship or something similar. The magazine was then placed into the gun and would be good for twenty shots. There was an indicator on the side, like on the swivel cannons, to show how much power remained.

Lucy’s gun was a far more bespoke affair. It was bulky for a pistol, but each of the four chambers had independent runescript, with a fifth set for the barrel itself.

Every complete runescript began with an input rune, usually Gathering, and then went through the effects to be produced. So many runes on such a small area was a testament to how steady her hand was if nothing else. Despite this, Rhys was concerned by some potential design flaws.

He’d read about something like this before, but it was eventually abandoned. The problem had been that it took so long for the gun to recharge that it was deemed useless against the quick reload of the Navi rifle.

Rather than be offended by his concerns, Lucy instead launched into a technical explanation, and he had to admit, her solution was ingenious.

She’d combined the two approaches by allowing for the four barrels to be detachable. The whole affair could come out and be replaced in a brief moment, giving four new shots. Each of her shots was also empowered by at least two runic effects before it even left the barrel, making them deadlier than any mass-produced rifle.

Between the artificing time spent with Lucy and the general learning curve to captain, the trip flew by for Rhys. It felt like no time at all before they were settling down at Arn Dukatt and paying their port fees.

Arn Dukatt was definitely an unusual spire. Rhys remembered being told about it when it was first colonised. Unlike most spires, Arn Dukatt was quite slender, with enough space on its top to fit the port, all its associated infrastructure and little else. Unlike elsewhere, the actual living space, industry and heart of Arn Dukatt were all built inside the spire itself.

When the alliance had first surveyed the spire, the explorers had discovered a few rich veins of metals, mainly iron, with a few others thrown in. Those veins had turned out to be far more substantial than expected, and the mining operations became large enough that they were in danger of hollowing out too much of the spire.

With most of the work already done to hollow the interior, the alliance decided to repurpose that space for a colony, using the top solely for shipping and logistics. That was as much as Rhys knew, everything else he’d have to learn on the fly.

Thankfully, he had a few places to visit on his list, so he wasn’t going to be wandering around aimlessly.

‘Captain, I’m going to head in and find the contact for the recycling shipment. Would you care to join me?’ Oliver asked, jolting Rhys out of his thoughts.

‘Ah, no, thank you, though. I’ll find the local Kraus and Sons instead. Let them know that we’ve arrived.’

‘Ah, should I hold off on getting any new jobs for now then?’ Oliver asked, raising an eyebrow in Rhys’s direction.

‘Let’s work on the assumption we’ll be here for three days. That seems a good amount of time to stretch our legs. If you can find anything with a timeframe to match, go ahead and book it, but only up to half of our capacity. Any nearby destination is fine, but stick to just one spire if you can.’ Rhys said, Oliver nodding along as he spoke. Rhys had given the cargo situation some thought coming in to dock, so he was pleased that Oliver had asked straight away. It felt good to have an answer on hand for an operational question like that.

‘Aye, aye, Captain.’ Oliver braced to attention and then headed off to the stairs that led belowdecks.

‘Zaxx, how are we doing fuel wise?’ Rhys asked in a low tone, looking around to make sure that no one else was nearby.

‘We currently have enough for sixty days of travel, or six Energy Units if we convert it. I already have three Energy Units stored, so you are close to the amount needed for another upgrade.’ Zaxx whispered, the quartz screen of the helm showing the figures briefly before fading back to normal.

‘Good, good, maybe we can get some more crystal while we’re here,’ Rhys said, smiling at the thought of getting another upgrade for the ship. It would be awkward to manage with his new crew, but he’d sort something out.

The sound of boots on wood brought his attention to the stairs, where Sergeant Wruthers was emerging onto the deck. Leaving the helm behind and heading his way, Rhys forced a welcoming expression onto his face.

‘Ah, Captain, I’m glad we found you. I must say, this is an interesting ship, different to the last Loggerhead I was on. Faster as well, though your cargomaster says, that’s due to an experimental engine?’ Wruthers said, gesturing at the ship around them.

‘Yes, I’m an artificer at heart, so I’ve done a lot of work to the ship. Some things work better than others and require a lot of maintenance from me. Everything is always breaking, you see,’ Rhys said, trying to downplay how well the ship ran. The last thing he wanted was some military types asking him to improve their ships.

‘Really? I saw none of that. It was a pleasant and smooth trip,’ Wruthers said with a slight frown. When Rhys only gave him a weak smile in return, the sergeant shrugged and carried on. ‘Regardless, thank you for your help, I’ve paid the cargomaster, and we’ll keep you in mind in the future if we have similar requirements. Good luck with your next voyage.’

‘Thank you, Sergeant, good luck yourself,’ Rhys said, relieved they were off the dangerous subject of the ship.

Shaking his hand, Wruthers headed back down, and Rhys followed a short distance behind him, watching as all three soldiers left with their cargo.

‘Captain, are you okay? You look a little pale,’ Tom said, the big man heading to the boarding hatch himself with a bag over his shoulder.

‘Oh, no, I’m fine. Thank you for asking, Tom,’ Rhys said, trying to banish his worries about the soldiers from his mind. ‘So, where are you planning to go today?’ Rhys gestured to the bag on the worker’s shoulder.

‘I’m heading down to look around their markets, see if there’s anything interesting. Why, is there something you need, Captain?’ Tom cocked his head to one side, his open posture the very image of helpfulness.

‘Actually, yes. Here, take this and see about stocking us up with some fresh provisions for the next trip if you would,’ Rhys said, pulling out a half-sovereign coin and passing it over.

‘No problem, Captain, I’ll get that squared away for you,’ Tom said before pausing and looking a little uncertain.

‘What is it?’ Rhys asked, certain that there was something else Tom wanted to say.

‘I was going to ask about pay, Captain. We got the sign-on bonus. Thank you again for that, but when do we receive our regular payout?’

‘Ah, that’s a good point. Are the others still onboard?’ Rhys mentally kicked himself for forgetting such a crucial part of the job.

‘Yes, Captain.’

‘Right, get them to meet us in the galley. I’ll pay everyone now, so you have some funds to spend if you need to.’

‘Yes, Captain. Thank you, Captain,’ Tom said, bracing to attention before heading back up to the crew section at a jog.

Sealing the outer hatch once more, Rhys made his way back to his cabin and drew the pay from his funds. He was steadily losing money, but the payout from these jobs would help with that. He still needed to get the soldier’s money from Oliver as well.

-**-

After sorting out their pay and getting the two sovereigns from Oliver for the soldiers, Rhys headed off the Endeavour and into the docks area.

There was a Captain’s Guild, some warehouses and the standard supply stores you saw in every dock. There was always a bit of money to be made from ships needing last-minute provisions, whether food or general materials. Personally, Rhys would rather head out of the docks and shop around, but it was good to have them as a backup.

With nothing for the guild this time, Rhys headed straight past it and toward what seemed to be the entrance to the spire itself. He’d check in with the guild later, but right now, he wanted to go and let the Kraus and Sons branch know that their shipment had arrived.

The entrance to Arn Dukatt was a large ironwood building that was squat and wide, a sign with “Arn Dukatt” written on the outside and a small queue of people leading up to the doors. A smaller building was set to one side, sheltering what looked like stairs leading down out of sight. Some people headed that way, but the majority were queuing for the main building, it seemed.

Deciding to go with the majority, Rhys approached the queue, wondering how long it would take for him to gain entrance. As he came closer, a dozen or so people came out a side door and headed into the docks. A moment later, the doors in front of the queue opened, and they were let in, Rhys joining onto the end of the group at the last moment.

Inside the building was a large ironwood platform with a small walkway leading out to it. The platform was a cube in shape, and had ropes attached to half a dozen points on the roof, each meeting in the centre and rising as a single corded whole.

A hole in the ground below the platform extended off to the side, where a second rope stretched down into the spire itself, perhaps for a second platform.

Looking back to the one that he could see, Rhys followed the corded rope up until it disappeared into the upper floor of the building. Given the setup here, Rhys was fairly confident there was a winch up there. He hoped it was an artificed one at that, especially with the number of people boarding the platform.

Joining those already on the platform, Rhys watched with interest as one worker drew back the walkway while another threw a lever, and they started to descend into the spire. The movement of the platform was smooth and quick, giving weight to his thought of it being an artificed device.

The first thirty feet was pure rock around them, but it soon moved into a cavernous expanse around them. There were another fifty feet of empty space below them before they reached the rocky floor of the spire, where the other platform he’d expected was just now lifting off the ground.

Instead of people, the other platform held two carts filled with crates, no doubt to go to one of the docked ships on the surface of the spire.

Looking around them, Rhys saw that there were two different types of buildings present. The first were normal, everyday buildings along the outside of the hollowed-out interior and forming the regimented lines that showed modern construction planning.

The second were built into the rocky wall of the spire itself, showing only the front of the building and giving no sign to how much was hidden from view. One of these was a modestly sized shop from its look, with a family crest in plain view on the facade. Seeing the four-winged quallis in flight, Rhys smiled. That must be the local Kraus and Sons from that crest.

With that thought, the platform slowed down and hit the rock below with a heavy thud a moment later. No walkway was needed for the exit, so those onboard simply stepped off and went about their business.

Interestingly, there was a second building in front of Rhys, much like the one on the surface. It looked like there was a second layer below them. Not that he needed to go that deep at the moment, he’d already seen his destination, after all.

Leaving the mass of people behind, Rhys started to head to where he’d seen the store.