‘Rhys, it’s time to wake up; dawn is approaching,’ Zaxx’s whisper broke into Rhys’s dreams, dragging him back to reality.

‘Urgh, no, it isn’t,’ Rhys said with a groan, rolling over and burying his face in his pillow.

‘I assure you, it is.’

‘Thanks, Zaxx, just what I needed to hear,’ Rhys said with a roll of his eyes. Stupid literal-thinking eldritch creature.

‘I’ve placed a fresh cup of tea on the table for you.’

Rhys lifted his head slightly and spotted the mug in question, just out of reach. Groaning and rolling out of bed before he could talk himself out of it, Rhys clutched the mug of tea to his chest.

The temperature inside the Endeavour was consistently mild, so he wasn’t cold, but it was soothing holding a hot cup of tea in the morning.

‘I shall remember to mention the bribe first in the future.’

‘Just keep the tea coming,’ Rhys muttered, taking a sip of the warm drink and sighing in satisfaction. Rhys took a minute to simply enjoy the drink, feeling more awake with each moment. He’d gone to sleep far too late last night for this early a morning. Those stupid runes had been just too intriguing to leave alone, though.

‘Is Tom awake?’ Rhys asked, taking another sip of his drink and sighing in pleasure.

‘Yes, he is currently performing his morning exercises. Perhaps you should do the same?’

‘No, definitely not,’ Rhys said, shivering at the idea of regular morning exercise. He barely had the energy to do this much, let alone something designed to get the heart pumping.

Rhys took another few moments to sip his tea and finish waking up before rising and getting changed. Gunther’s people would be arriving for the cargo anytime now. He wanted to be ready when they came.

Heading to the galley to refresh his drink, Rhys set another mug aside for Tom, who arrived a few minutes later. Rhys had told Tom about the early-morning offloading last night, though the big man had taken it with surprisingly little reaction.

‘Morning, Captain,’ Tom said, giving Rhys a bright smile as he took the hot mug of tea that Rhys had made for him.

‘Morning,’ Rhys said, covering his mouth as he yawned and blinked blearily. Maybe the second cup of tea would help.

‘Struggling there, Captain?’ Tom said with a laugh from where he’d sat at the table.

‘This is far too early for reasonable people,’ Rhys groused as he joined Tom at the table. ‘How come you’re so peppy, anyway?’

‘Ah, well, rising with the dawn reminds me of when I served. Our sergeant used to do dawn inspections to make sure we were keeping everything neat and orderly.’

‘Right, I remember you were listed as ex-military. You served in the Expanse, right?’ Rhys asked, intrigued by Tom’s history and experiences.

‘Yeah, that’s right. I joined up in my early twenties. I was lost and a whole mess back then. The navy gave me purpose and helped put me back together again. I served for eight years, then went into merchant shipping about five years ago.’

‘That’s a lot of sailing experience,’ Rhys said, eyes wide as he realised how many years Tom had spent on cloudships. It was easy to forget that Tom was in his mid-thirties; he had youthful features and an easygoing attitude that made him seem only a little older than Rhys.

‘Yeah, I’ve spent a lot of time at sea one way or another,’ Tom said with an easy shrug. ‘Not often that I find a ship as welcoming as the Endeavour, though. It’s been nice working in a small crew again.’

‘I’m not sure what I’d have done without you, to be honest,’ Rhys said, rubbing the back of his neck as he spoke. Tom was a constant background presence on the ship, and though he didn’t do anything vital, he did so much that it made him a critical part of the crew.

‘You’d have found a way, don’t doubt it,’ Tom said, waving away the complement with a shake of his head. ‘Anyway, time’s creeping by. I’m going to head on deck and keep an eye out for these folks.’ Tom finished his drink and put the mug on the sideboard before heading for the stairs.

Rhys took his time with his own drink, enjoying the freshness of its minty aroma while he waited for Gunther’s people. Talking with Tom about how long he’d been sailing for was making him wonder just where he would be a year from now, let alone in five or ten years.

The Endeavour had so much potential that it was intimidating. Already it could do things like the spatial storage for him, so what would those higher tier upgrades bring?

The costs were astronomical, true, but Rhys was only skimming the surface of what he could earn with his own ship. The more upgrades they had, the more the Endeavour could do and potentially, the more they could earn.

The positive thoughts were somewhat ruined when Rhys thought about the ship hovering over Arn Allinor. The bright future he was dreaming of was exactly one inquisitor away from being destroyed completely.

It wouldn’t be so bad if he knew how they identified threats to society. Knowing the methods they used would help him figure out how best he could try to hide. As it was, he could only keep his mouth shut and hope for the best.

For Rhys, the worst part was that it wasn’t like he had any plans to hurt anyone. He just wanted to be left alone. It wasn’t fair that he’d be executed on the spot if they found out about him, but life wasn’t fair. He just had to accept it and do his best to stay safe.

‘Captain, it looks like they’re here,’ Tom called out to him as he came down the stairs into the ship. Not waiting for a response, Tom carried on straight down to the cargo hold to get things ready.

‘Enough of this, there’s work to do,’ Rhys said, mainly to himself, as he rose to his feet and headed down to the boarding hatch.

Gunther’s workers were a small group of grouchy men and women with several artificed carts, all led by the young assistant that had been in the store the day before.

‘Good morning, Mr Hunt,’ the assistant said, coming up to where Rhys was waiting at the bottom of the boarding stairs and giving him a tired smile. ‘Is everything ready to be unloaded?’

‘Yes, ready when you are,’ Rhys said, trusting that Tom would have done any final preparations that were needed.

‘Excellent, we’ll start with the two crates then, please,’ the assistant said, turning to wave the workers forward.

‘Not a problem, I’ll go let Tom know,’ Rhys said, nodding to the other man before climbing back up the stairs and into the Endeavour.

As expected, Tom already had things ready to go when Rhys reached him. It was only a small matter to change the unloading order; Tom simply conscripted Rhys to help him drag the heavy crates over to the loading hatch.

They unloaded the two crates in quick succession, and to Rhys’s surprise, the assistant waved goodbye before heading off with half of the workers he’d brought and the loaded cart. The remaining workers didn’t comment or react to this, so Rhys shrugged and carried on assisting Tom in getting the work done.

In short order, they had all the pallets down and onto the remaining carts, the tired-looking work-group giving them a half-hearted wave as they started dragging their loads back up the docks.

‘All done, Tom. Good work,’ Rhys said, panting a little from helping Tom work the winch and move the cargo around.

‘Leaves us a few hours to have breakfast before the rest of the offloading happens. I think Oliver said they were coming for the salt first, then the iron and quartz were going at the same time.’ Tom said, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. Despite doing at least twice as much manual work as Rhys, the big man had the temerity to not even look bothered by it.

‘Sounds good to me,’ Rhys said with a chuckle. He’d forgive Tom for being so energetic if he followed through on that promise of breakfast. Tom had this method of soaking bread in an eggy mixture before frying it that was utterly delicious. With them docked at a spire, fresh food and ingredients were easy enough to come by, even if they were a little more expensive than usual. Still, it was the sort of treat that Rhys wouldn’t get for a while once they left Arn Allinor.

Of course, that raised the question of where exactly they were going to go next. Rhys had banked on picking up work here; it was such a big spire, after all. He’d been convinced that there would be multiple opportunities to get a short or medium-term job.

As it turned out, that wasn’t the case. As much as Rhys hated to make a trip without being paid to do it, it looked like he was going to have to pick a place and see what they found when they got there.

The question then was if they went back to the familiarity of Arn Gol, or if they went somewhere new. Arn Allinor was a hub for a reason, they could travel to a large number of spires from here.

Rhys considered the question while Tom cooked them breakfast, coming to no firm decision and, if anything, feeling more confused about what to do than ever.

Oliver joined them right as Rhys was finishing his breakfast, the cargomaster immediately giving Tom a pitiful look that made the big man sigh heavily and head back over to the stove.

As though summoned by the renewed scent of fresh food, Lucy arrived only moments later, right as Tom was putting away the last few eggs. One look at her expectant expression was enough for Tom to pull the container back out and start making more of the eggy mixture.

‘It looks like I’m going to have to go into the spire for supplies today, Captain,’ Tom said in a dry tone that belied the hint of a smile on his face.

‘Excellent, you can come and help me pick out some good stock to buy for our next trip. Speaking of, any chance you’ve decided where we’re going?’ Oliver said, turning to Rhys as he asked the question.

‘Yes, I have,’ Rhys said, sitting back and exhaling heavily as he made the decision he’d been dancing around for so long. ‘We’re heading back to Arn Gol.’

‘We’re going back?’ Oliver echoed, cocking his head to one side with interest.

‘Yes, Arn Gol has been the source of our best jobs, and we have contacts there to source work. If nothing else, I will speak to Otto and see what work he might have available for us.’ Rhys said, spreading his hands with a shrug.

‘A better chance of work is always good,’ Oliver said, nodding slightly as he considered Rhys’s words. ‘It’s a known market as well, so if you wanted me to buy some goods that I think will sell well, we could invest some funds.’

‘Well, you’ve proven yourself to me with this trip,’ Rhys said firmly, enjoying the happy smile that Oliver gave him. ‘I’ll give you a budget of ten sovereigns. Get what you can on that. All being well, we can make enough money to pay for the trip back.’

‘Aye, aye, Captain,’ Oliver said, giving Rhys a serious nod as he tapped a finger on his chin. Nodding again, he gave Rhys a crooked smile. ‘I have a few ideas for what to buy. Raw materials are common in Arn Gol, but not so much the finished pieces. I can pick up a decent selection of finished goods for ten sovereigns, and I’ll get the best price I can to stretch the money. Hopefully, we’ll see a good return on it.’

‘Sounds good to me, better than a trip to somewhere new where we don’t know anyone or the market.’ Rhys nodded along to Oliver’s suggestion. It was exactly the kind of approach he’d been looking for.

With a plan in mind, Rhys headed back to his cabin and counted out enough coins for ten sovereigns. He trusted Oliver enough to carry the cash around and not rip him off or lose it. Besides, this way, Oliver could take advantage of any deals he found, not just scope places out to come back to later.