Rhys calmed down a lot on his way back to the Endeavour, but he found himself sneaking glances up at the imposing shape in the sky above the city as he walked along. The inquisition ship was high enough up that it wasn’t that imposing in size, but the threat of what it represented more than made up for that.

Oliver was out in the city getting the best deal he could on the cargo they had, but Tom and Lucy were still on the ship. Heading to the galley, Rhys found Tom first, the big man cleaning up after the morning meals. After checking in with Tom, Rhys got a drink and headed to his cabin. Apparently, Lucy was focused on her pistol, so he didn't want to disturb her.

‘Rhys, there is someone outside the Endeavour,’ Zaxx said, mere moments before Rhys could sit down.

‘Thanks, Zaxx,’ Rhys muttered, looking longingly at his chair before heading back down to the boarding hatch. Whoever was at the hatch knocked firmly as Rhys made it past the galley, the sound echoing through the ship's interior.

‘I’ve got it,’ Rhys called out as he saw Tom start to come out the galley.

‘Thanks, Captain,’ Tom replied with an absent wave as he went back into the galley.

Enjoying the smells coming out of the galley as he went past, Rhys hurried down to the hatch and opened it up to get a look at their visitor.

The hatch swung open to reveal an imposing man who loomed over Rhys and looked down at him with a severe expression. The man had short, dark hair, was clean-shaven and had numerous scars across the left side of his face. One scar, in particular, ran across the entire side of his face before vanishing under a leather eye patch.

Unsure of where to look, Rhys brought his gaze down, realising as he did that the man wore a holster at his belt, one that held a practical-looking pistol. He also carried a hefty-looking cane in his left hand, and his left leg was an ironwood prosthetic, a well-made one at that. All together, Rhys found himself speechless and scrambling for what to do next.

‘Captain Hunt, I presume?’ The man asked in a clipped tone, his single pale blue eye boring into Rhys with a chilling gaze.

‘Yes?’ Rhys said, hating himself for the questioning quaver in his voice.

‘My name is Lucien. I’m here to see Lucy,’ the man said, somehow making the statement into more of a command.

‘I’ll see if she’s available,’ Rhys said reflexively before pausing awkwardly, unsure what to do next. He didn't want to invite such an unsettling person into the ship, but asking them to wait outside might be taken the wrong way.

‘I’ll wait here for her,’ Lucien said, his cold gaze staying on Rhys for a moment more before he stepped back and looked at the nearby passers-by with a frown.

‘I’ll be right back,’ Rhys said, closing the hatch firmly and shaking his head as he headed back the way he’d come. Something about that man was beyond intimidating. Rhys wondered how he knew Lucy. There was still a lot he didn't know about Lucy, about all of his crew. Maybe it was time to start getting to know their history a little more.

Rhys heard Lucy's laugh coming from the galley, so he stepped inside right as Tom was pouring her a mug of steaming hot tea.

‘Everything okay, Captain?’ Tom asked as Rhys came into the room, the big man frowning as he saw Rhys’s obvious discomfort. Lucy heard the concern in Tom’s voice and looked up, meeting Rhys’s gaze.

‘There’s someone here to see you, Lucy,’ Rhys said, struggling for a moment for how to describe the frankly terrifying man outside. ‘He said his name was Lucien?’

‘Lucien?’ Lucy repeated with a confused expression. ‘What did he look like?’

‘Tall, blue eyes, or, well, eye,’ Rhys said, gesturing vaguely to his left eye before stopping as he saw recognition bloom in Lucy’s face.

‘Oh, Uncle Luce!’ She cried out with a grin, jumping to her feet and racing past Rhys to head down to the boarding hatch.

‘Uncle Luce?’ Rhys repeated numbly, turning to stare blankly into the corridor as he heard Lucy race down to the hatch.

‘What’s wrong?’ Tom asked, raising an eyebrow in Rhys’s direction.

‘It’s just so odd to hear a cute nickname like that for such a stern-looking man,’ Rhys said, rubbing his face and shaking his head in disbelief.

‘He’s probably only like that to you because you don’t know him,’ Tom said as he skilfully diced up vegetables for their evening meal.

‘You’re only saying that because you didn’t see him,’ Rhys said with a snort.

‘Was he really that bad?’ Tom asked in surprise, a curious expression flitting across his face for a moment.

‘Maybe, I don’t know,’ Rhys said heavily as he slumped into the chair that Lucy had vacated. ‘This business with the inquisition has got me on edge. I could just be overreacting.’

‘Oh, you’re not alone there. That boarding party give me the chills,’ Tom said with an exaggerated shudder.

‘Yeah,’ Rhys muttered with a weak smile. His worries about the inquisition were a little more pointed than those of the average person.

Tom paused and gave Rhys a considering look, but the sound of running interrupted him before he could say anything else. Looking back to the corridor, Rhys saw a grinning Lucy bound into view, followed a moment later by the tall form of her uncle.

To Rhys’s shock, the man’s whole demeanour seemed to have changed. Lucien's coat now covered the holstered pistol, and there was a softness to his face that hadn’t been there earlier.

‘Rhys, I’m just catching Uncle Luce up on my latest work. He’s going to take me out to dinner as well, Tom, so no need to include me for tonight.’ Lucy stuck her head into the galley for a brief moment before grinning and heading on to her cabin.

Stepping forward, Lucien paused at the entrance to the galley and looked them both over with a slow gaze before nodding to Rhys and following after Lucy.

‘He seemed reasonable enough, lots of scars, though. I wonder if he served on the border,’ Tom mused, his eyes lingering on the doorway for a few moments before he returned to his cooking.

‘I don’t know, but keep an eye on things here for me. I’m going to head to the Captain’s Guild.’ Rhys had intended to hide away in the Endeavour for a while, but if there was going to be a stranger here, he might as well head out. He knew it didn’t really make sense, but he wouldn’t be able to truly relax while Lucien was on the Endeavour.

‘No problem, Oliver will be back soon anyway, assuming he’s found some buyers,’ Tom said with a shrug, his knife not pausing as he sliced and chopped.

Rubbing his face, Rhys gathered the mental energy he needed and got up. Thanking Tom, he headed back out of the galley and fetched his medallion before going down to the hatch, leaving it unlocked behind him as he stepped back out onto the docks.

The Captain’s Guild had caught his eye earlier with how large it was, so Rhys could find his way to it without issue. Two large guards stood outside, ensuring that only registered guild members could head in. Thankfully, there were no restrictions beyond membership, so Rhys was able to head in without issue.

The Guild had the usual large hall where goods, services and crew could be bought or bargained for. Strangely enough, despite the sheer size of the building itself, this area was only a little larger than the one in Arn Gol.

Disappointingly, but not surprisingly, no jobs were available for shipments off of the spire. No doubt they had all been taken as soon as the inquisitors arrived. Not that Rhys could blame anyone who grabbed what they could and left, he still wanted to do the same thing.

It was a shame that Gunther hadn’t been able to get some workers down to them today. Still, even if he had been open to it, Rhys doubted that they would have gotten everything else offloaded today as well.

A few other captains were looking at the job board, each with a similar look of dismay on their faces. The only things left of the board that would take them off the spire were passenger requests, which was the worst thing Rhys could think of.

The military had been bad enough, but at least they’d kept to themselves. Rhys doubted that normal folk purchasing travel off of Arn Allinor would be so restrained.

‘Excuse me, are you Captain Hunt?’ A voice came from behind Rhys, making him frown and look back to see one of the guild attendants.

‘Yes, how can I help?’ Rhys turned to give the attendant his full attention. He hadn’t been approached like this before; hopefully, there wasn’t a problem.

‘You have an invitation to a meeting upstairs with Captain Forsythe if you’re available?’ The attendant gave him a professional smile and gestured to the exit.

‘A meeting with me, are you sure?’ Rhys asked, unable to keep the surprise out of his voice.

‘Yes, he asked for you by name. Are you available?’

‘Well, yes, I suppose,’ Rhys said, stumbling over the words a little before following after the attendant as they led him out of the room.

Captain Forsythe. Not a name that rang any bells for Rhys, but if he had this kind of pull with the Guild of all places, he must be a successful ship’s captain. What he could want with Rhys was an interesting question. In fact, how did he even know who Rhys was?

The unknown aspects made Rhys feel a little uncertain, but not enough that he would cancel the meeting. If this Captain Forsythe was someone with a lot of influence, Rhys didn’t want to anger or annoy them.

Like the guild house in Arn Gol, meeting rooms were separate from the main area. The difference here was that guild officials watched over the corridor and entryways, ensuring that the privacy of the meeting was respected.

Following the attendant up some stairs, Rhys realised that the entirety of the second floor was dedicated meeting rooms. An odd choice, but one that explained where the extra space was being used.

‘Just in here, please, Captain,’ the attendant said, stopping next to one of several doors and gesturing for Rhys to head in.

‘Thank you,’ Rhys said, taking a deep breath as he opened the door and stepped inside.

The meeting room interior was almost the same as the one that Rhys had used for his crew interviews. A long wooden table sat in the centre of the room with a few chairs around it, one of which was already occupied.

A stern-looking man in a blue uniform with gold piping was sat at the table, with two more men in a similar uniform standing at attention behind him. Rhys realised his mistake as soon as he saw the gold and blue; this was no merchant ship captain. They were Alliance military.

‘Captain Hunt, please, take a seat,’ the seated man said, gesturing to a seat opposite him as the door behind Rhys clicked shut. With little option, Rhys sat in the chosen seat and waited for the man to continue.

‘So, first of all, I must apologise for the short notice and secrecy in bringing you here. I know that we don’t know each other, but you’ve worked with one of my men in the past, Sergeant Wruthers.’ Captain Forsythe said, leaning forward to rest his elbows on the edge of the table.

‘I remember the Sergeant,’ Rhys said, keeping his answer noncommittal as he tried to work out what the Captain wanted.

‘Excellent. Now, as I’m sure you’re aware, there’s a growing piracy problem in the area around Arn Gol. My ship, the Four Winds, has been tasked by the Commodore to anti-piracy operations.’

‘I see,’ Rhys said, not seeing his point at all.

'We’ve decided that the Endeavour is the best ship to use as bait for our operation for various reasons. I have planned for us to leave separately and rendezvous at a set location. We will then follow you on your trip back to Arn Gol, keeping the Four Winds out of sight as much as possible. If, or when, the pirates attack, you let them catch up enough that they can’t escape, and then we take them out. Does that make sense?’ Forsythe explained, laying out the details of his plan with a confident tone.

‘Yes, but what are those reasons? Why me, why the Endeavour?’ Rhys asked, furrowing his brow as he tried to think why they’d come to him for this. ‘Surely there are better ships to work with for this?’

‘I can’t go into operational details, unfortunately, but trust me when I say that we have a good reason,’ Forsythe said, hesitating for a moment before continuing. ‘It is, of course, an optional task, but you will be well compensated for your time.’

‘In that case, I appreciate the offer, but I’ll have to decline. I’m not comfortable putting the Endeavour into a situation like that,’ Rhys said, taking the option to get out straight away. As nice as the extra money would be, he had no intention of getting involved with pirate hunting. There was just too much that could go wrong.

Captain Forsythe was in the process of leaning forward with a smile when he registered what Rhys had actually said. The smile stayed frozen in place as his brows furrowed, and he blinked rapidly as he tried to process Rhys's words.

Taking advantage of the other man’s surprise, Rhys slid his chair back and stood up. ‘Thank you for your time, Captain. I’m sure you’ll find someone to help you with your mission.’

As Rhys went to leave, the two soldiers behind Forsythe stepped forward with hard expressions, hands dropping to the pistols at their side.

‘Stand down. Captain Hunt is free to leave as he wishes,’ Forsythe snapped, stopping the two soldiers mid-step. ‘Safe travels, Captain.’

Rhys glanced between the grim expressions of the soldiers and the brittle smile that strained Forsythe’s features and left without comment. He had no idea what that had been about at the end, but he definitely wanted no part in all this now.