Chapter Three Hundred and Forty-Seven - Provisioning

"We need more bolts!"

"Where's case 875 with the provisions?"

"Coming through! Pardon me, coming through."

I stepped aside to let a pair of sylph soldiers stride by, they were carrying a case between them with a set of straps. They climbed the gangplank onto the Beaver, then brought the case next to the hatch in the top-deck leading into our main hold.

I couldn't even begin to imagine what was in that case, but judging by all the other stuff being loaded aboard, it was probably weapons or supplies.

The Beaver wasn't the only ship being loaded up, of course. Caprica had managed to 'borrow' two sylph frigates, the Model Twenty-Two Ship G and the Model Twenty-Four Ship C, which were, in my humble opinion, terrible names for ships.

There were two more ships coming along as well, civilian vessels. The Lunch Box, which was an unsurprisingly boxy ship about as big as the Beaver. And a larger cargo ship called the Featherfall.

And, of course, we had our big distraction, a large airship called the Royal Pride. It was one of the biggest ships I'd seen from up close, with three balloons, one huge one in the centre, and two smaller ones connected to nacelles that stuck out of the rear of the vessel. It was being armed up for the mission, and there were a lot of weapons going up on it, which made sense with how big it was.

Now it was going to host a contingent of sylph soldiers in full gear, which I imagined would give any pirates trying to take her a nasty surprise.

Every ship was being prepared to launch all at once, with sailors running along the decks with equipment, tugboats drawing near to guide the larger ships out of their berths, and hoses connected to every ship, replenishing their fuel.

I imagined that this was all going to be very, very expensive, but Caprica had asked nicely and the people of Goldpass were more than eager to meet her demands.

My friends and I were relegated to standing out of the way while the entire port buzzed like a kicked beehive. The metaphor was especially apt since the sylph could fly and were zipping through the air to carry stuff faster.

I stood behind the Beaver's wheel on the poop deck where I wouldn't be in anyone's way, so I saw Caprica arriving with a contingent of guards and of course, Bastion by her side.

"Hey!" I called out.

"Hello, captain," she said from just off the gangplank. "Permission to come aboard?"

"Always!" I cheered.

Caprica grinned and flew over to us, landing with a dainty step and accepting my hello-hug. Then I gave one to Bastion too, so that he wouldn't feel left out. "Things are coming along well," she said.

"There's a lot of motion here," Amaryllis said. "What did you set off here, exactly?"

"Hopefully, the sort of mission which will go down in the history books for all the right reasons," Caprica replied. "I am as surprised as you are at the numbers we're pulling. When I asked for volunteers I didn't expect literally every soldier to sign on."

Bastion nodded. "It's not as surprising as you might think, Princess. In the minds of a sylph soldier, there is little more honourable than serving our country, but to be honest, most of us will never see much action unless things go terribly wrong. This is an opportunity to put their hard-earned training to work. Not to mention, the idea of fighting pirates, saving diplomats, and aiding a princess only make the venture more tempting."

"I'm impressed," I said. "How many volunteers does all that add up to?"

"Enough that every ship will have as many sylph as they can safely carry," Caprica said. "We had to refuse people just on the basis that we can't fit them all aboard. Bastion and the local officers ended up drawing the requirements for who would and wouldn't be allowed to come."

"We set the requirements to match age and time of service," Bastion said. "We'll be bringing the best with us. This is a small settlement, so we won't find as many high-quality soldiers as we might find in the capital, but so far they all seem perfectly competent."

That was a big endorsement from Bastion.

"So, we're running straight towards trouble with an entire troop of overeager soldiers," Amaryllis said. "This will go well. Who's legally in charge of all of this?"

Caprica froze up. "Ah, well. Technically, we needed someone of a certain rank to run an operation of this size. Not to mention an operation in foreign territory. It would have to be an admiral."

"There's an admiral around?" I asked.

Caprica nodded. "Yes. In a manner of speaking."

"Uh oh," Awen muttered.

"See, when you first introduced my sister and me to Orange, you introduced her as a Grand Admiral, and my sister thought this was a great thing. She, might have, perhaps, officiated the rank. As a small joke."

I blinked. "Wait, what?"

Orange strutted onto the Beaver Cleaver Head and tail held high, and her chest fur puffed out luxuriously. She was wearing a tiny tricorne, with little feathers affixed to it. Actual Grand-Admiral of Mouse-Chasing Orange Bunch crossed the deck, slipping past feet and once stopping just long enough to send a young sailor tripping forwards with a box full of stuff which spilled across the ground.

She jumped up the steps to the poop deck, then leapt up to take her place on the dias holding up the ship's wheel. "Mrow," she said.

Calamity doffed his hat. "Ma'am," he said.

"Hi!" I said to the spirit cat. She lifted her head a bit, so I gave her chin some scritches. "So, you're the one in charge of all of this?"

"Technically, on paper," Caprica said. She cleared her throat. "Which is why we need to make sure this entire operation goes off without a hitch, because if it doesn't, then we're all going to have to answer a lot of really awkward questions."

"You'd think they'd ask those regardless," Amaryllis said.

"Oh, they will, but success overshadows criticism in a very satisfactory way," Caprica said.

Bastion seemed both amused and exasperated by it all. "We should be heading out. By the looks of it, the ships are almost ready to cast off."

He was probably right. The hustle and bustle had died down. Now most of the sylph on the docks were only sitting back and waiting for us to take off.

"Oh, we're not leaving, Bastion," Caprica said. She smiled up at him. "We must stay. Your strength will be invaluable in this mission, and I want to see it through myself. Besides, I think the soldiers might fight harder for having me around."

"Princess Caprica," Bastion said warningly.

"No, Bastion. I insist. I'm hardly incapable of taking care of myself. And I can't send people out to fight without being expected to lead them from the front. Besides, my presence there will reinvigorate things back home, I think."

"What's that mean?" I asked.

"It means that it has been a while since a member of my family has stepped out and done anything truly impressive," Caprica said. "Noblesse oblige means that I must where I can, doesn't it?" She nodded to herself. "And on that note, permission to remain aboard your vessel, Captain Bunch?"

"Of course," I said. "I think you already had a room picked out for yourself?"

"Yes. Bastion's former room. I didn't want to bother any of yours," she said. There was a faint touch of red to her cheeks that I imagined meant something more, but it wasn't the time to go poking at that.

"That's fine by me. The Beaver Cleaver always has room for more friends. What about you, Calamity, did you want a room?"

"Ah, if nya don't mind, I'll use one of the bunks on the Redemption. They're comfortable enough for the likes of me," he said.

I shrugged. If that was what he wanted, then sure. The airboat was currently fixed between the Beaver's twin hulls. It would take some finagling to detatch it, but with Awen aboard we'd manage.

In the berth next to ours, the Model Twenty-Four Ship C unhooked itself from the docks and started to gently rise up. The frigate was one of those boxy sylph warships, which meant that it was probably way better in any sort of fight than we were. It was going to be handy to have, I suspected.

"I think we ought to get ready to take off ourselves," I said. I adjusted my captain's hat, making sure my bun ears didn't look too silly poking out of the brim, then I reached over and rang the bell next to the ship's wheel. "Everyone, to your positions! Clive, Awen, check the engines. Calamity, go join the Scallywags by the foredeck, we'll need to trim sails in a hurry. Amaryllis, keep an eye on the newbies. Caprica, Bastion... uh."

"We'll stay out of the way," Caprica promised.

I grinned. "Thanks!"

Boots thudded across the deck as people took their positions in a hurry. The last of the troops came aboard and were directed to the sides where they wouldn't be in the way.

The ropes holding us anchored to the docks were loosened, then coiled up, and the entire ship lurched as we were let loose. I noticed the problem right away. "Awen! We need to shift the anchoring on the balloon, we're pitching forwards more than we ought to."

"On it!" Awen said before she ran ahead to the cables holding our balloon in place above. With the added weight of the Redemption being a little off-centre, we were tipping that way a little more than we should have. We'd have to do the opposite adjustment once that ship was loose.

I cranked up the power to the gravity generator and felt a familiar hum under my feet. The Beaver was in fine form. The sylph that patched him up really knew what they were doing. The main engine started with a loud bark, and the prop at the back started to woosh-woosh as it cut through the air.

"Captain!" Gordon shouted from the side. "Dock tower gives us permission to depart. Heading three-fifty north. We're in the centre of the formation."

"Aye!" I called back because that sounded way cooler than just 'okay.' I turned the wheel around a bit, then eased up on the gas. We weren't setting out yet, just forming up. We just had to hover up at an appropriate height. And, since we were the flagship, that meant that we'd be setting the pace. "Caprica, do you happen to know what kind of speed the other ships in our little fleet can manage?"

"About fifteen knots, Captain Bunch."

"Alrighty, slow and steady it is. Do you know how to send signals to other ships?"

"I do," she said.

"Neat, want to tell the Model Twenty-Two Ship G and the Model Twenty-Four Ship C, that we'll be circling around Goldpass until the Lunch Box and the Featherfall have taken off?"

"You know, some people might object to you asking a Princess to work," she said.

"That's silly, you're here because you want to help, no? All are equal under my captainly authority."

Caprica laughed. "It's fine. They'd be silly people to object anyway." She flashed me a quick salute. "I'll be right on it, Captain."

***