“But people barely knew Tusk was still alive.”
“That, you may have noticed, has changed. The clash of two dreadnoughts is not easily missed, nor is it easily forgotten. And the word has spread that the Wind Breaker itself was all but destroyed in the battle. This achievement shall be assigned to Tusk. And the rumor of his survival shall be encouraged.”
“But what about the body?”
“It was retrieved from the wreckage of the downed dreadnought. It has been interred in a private cemetery.”
“And the surviving members of the crew?”
“They have been compelled to alter their recollection of the event. I suggest the same of you. You will, of course, be financially compensated, provided you agree.”
“Of course. But…”
“Yes?”
“The Wind Breaker is still out there. I hardly think they shall keep to themselves for long.”
Ebonwhite leaned back in his seat. “And this, Mr. Mallow, is why we keep Tusk’s myth alive. Through his machinations, the people of Rim are beginning to doubt the Wind Breaker’s allegiance. So let it be known, from this day forward, we are officially in a truce. That should stoke the flames of rumor regarding collaboration with the fug, and as a happy byproduct, keep them from targeting us.”
“Brilliant, sir.”
“I am merely standing on the shoulders of giants, Mr. Mallow.”
The assistant returned with a tray.
“Ah! My lunch has arrived. I believe we are through here. Follow my assistant and he shall see to it you receive your compensation.”
Mallow nodded and stood.
“And Mr. Mallow? If you bump into Tusk, do give him my regards.”
“Right, yes. I’ll be sure to tell him when I see him.”
With that, Mallow hurried out the door, hoping against hope that he would finally have a chance to slide into obscurity once again.
#
Cap’n Mack leaned back in his chair and puffed at the stub of a cigar. Far from the cramped but familiar quarters on the ship, he was in a sparsely furnished but comfortably sized room. What little furniture there was had the distinctive feel of things knocked together in a hurry using whatever materials were available. The end table beside Mack, which held a cup of tea, was an old barrel with an older pair of planks nailed to the top. A window lit the room with the fading light of a setting sun. The usual hum of turbines was absent, as was the endless creak of straining wood and tinkling bottles sliding along their shelves.
“Tough to get used to…” Mack said, blowing out a breath of the sweet-smelling smoke. “Dry land just don’t move right.”
From the other room, Butch grumbled something over the crackle and pop of a frying pan.
“I know it don’t move at all. The point I’m makin’ is that it ought to. A man gets to like a little motion. Makes him feel like he’s gettin’ something done even when he’s sittin’ still.”
“Cap’n!” called a voice outside. “Supper just about ready?”
“I reckon that’s a question for Glinda, ain’t it?” he replied.
Lil’s face appeared in the window. “Butch! Supper ready?”
Butch gave a muttered affirmative.
Lil turned aside and bellowed, “Supper’s on!”
With the message delivered, she hauled herself through the window and thumped down beside the captain. She was out of uniform, in that both her shirt and her trousers were of a much lighter weight. She also had completely skipped her boots, favoring bare feet instead.
“Lil, if you don’t start usin’ the door, people are liable to think you’re an ape.”
“Sorry, Cap’n,” she said.
“With all that shoutin’, I reckon your lungs ain’t achin’ no more.”
“I feel pretty good. Mostly thanks to that stuff Butch cooked up for me. I’m still coughin’ up fug now and again, though. I ain’t lookin’ forward to goin’ back in that stuff again anytime soon.”
“We’ll try to keep you out of it. Two tries at breathin’ that stuff is two too many,” Mack said. He straightened his chair and stood to stomp out the used-up stub of his cigar and fetch another. “Dang it,” he muttered, nearly dropping the tin to the floor.
“Speakin’ of healin’ up, Cap’n, how’s that hand?”
“It’s just about as obedient as a Cooper, but it’s comin’ around…” he said, finally fishing out a fresh cigar.
Lil slid a box of matches from her pocket and struck one for him. “Coopers are good at that, too.” She lit his cigar, then shook out the match. “What’s takin’ the rest of them so long? Supper’s liable to get cold.” She stomped across the room and opened the door. “You get yourselves in here, or I’m eatin’ all the biscuits!” she shouted.
Before shutting the door, Lil leaned in the doorjamb and admired the view. It was absolutely gorgeous. A path of crushed gravel wound its way through a lush and lively bit of greenery, slowly working its way toward a strip of white-sand beach and the sparkling sea beyond.
“Tell me the truth, Cap’n,” she said, glancing over her shoulder. “You ever imagine you’d have a home with a view like that?”
“I still ain’t convinced I do. Any minute now I’m liable to come tumblin’ out of my hammock and work out it was all a dream again. But it’s a pretty sweet one while it lasts.”
She turned back to the doorway and sighed. “If you’re dreamin’, I’m dreamin’ right along with you, so do us both a favor and sleep tight. I wasn’t so sure you buyin’ this here island was the best way of spendin’ the money from the heist, but this here is a view worth every coin.”
“Especially when it wasn’t you that spent it,” he remarked.
“Speakin’ of a fine view”—she raised her voice—“come on up, darlin’! And wait’ll you see how good it smells.”
Nita trotted up along the walkway. Lil bounded out to greet her. The ship’s engineer, unlike Lil, was quite thoroughly in uniform. She was glazed with sweat and smeared with grease. Lil didn’t seem to mind, giving the hardworking free-wrench a hug.
“Careful! You’ll stain your new outfit,” Nita chided.
“An outfit ain’t no good until it’s got its share of stains. How’s it all goin’ down at the pier, darlin’?”
“Slowly. Coop and I have the main struts replaced. By tomorrow I might be able to get started on the pipes to that boiler we salvaged. By the time I’m done, I don’t imagine there will be a piece of the Wind Breaker that hasn’t been replaced.”
“How we fixed for parts?” Mack asked. “Need to do another run?”
“Another run? You just came back with a load two days ago. How quickly do you think I go through materials?” Nita smirked. “You’re just itching to get back behind the wheel of a ship again, aren’t you?”
“Oh, you know it,” Lil said, before Mack could reply. “Wasn’t too long ago I was frettin’ this here island meant the cap’n was hangin’ up his hat. Should’ve known there ain’t a force in the world that’ll keep Cap’n Mack West out of the sky for long.”
“And here I was thinkin’ I had my crew trained up good enough to know proper manners. Ms. Graus, you get yourself cleaned up or Glinda’s liable to make you eat out on the porch again. Havin’ a kitchen that don’t shake about has got her downright domestic.”
Lil and Nita paced out the door toward a smaller structure in the distance, beside the well. Meanwhile, Coop and Gunner approached.
“What’s to eat, Butch?” Coop asked, plopping down on one of the chairs set beside a long improvised table that had formerly been part of one of the Wind Breaker’s walls. “That salt pork I smell?”
“Coop, Nita tells me you and her got the struts in,” Mack said.
“Sure did, Cap’n. I wouldn’t want to do that again. I ain’t never done so much sawin’ in my life.”
“That is unfortunate,” Gunner said, marching in. “Because we will need to reinforce the mounts for the cannons if we don’t want them to break
free and go crashing into the powder room the next time we fire them.”
“Since when’re you the expert on that sort of thing?”
“Since I listened to Nita when she explained how to work out the figures.”
Coop waved his hand dismissively. “Numbers ain’t got no place in buildin’ stuff. Cap’n, you seen Nikita and Wink?”
“Not lately. You lose ’em?”
“They’re up in the trees. The way they scamper about up in them branches, you’d think they were born to do it.”
“Yes, Coop. How absurd to think that an arboreal creature might enjoy being given the opportunity to climb a tree,” Gunner said.
“Cap’n, would you tell Gunner to quit makin’ up words?”
The captain rubbed his forehead. “Obviously, I ain’t workin’ you two hard enough. As long as you’ve been my crew, I don’t remember feelin’ like a papa with a gaggle of ornery kids who can’t keep from yappin’ at each other.”
“Gunner started it,” Coop said.
“Well I’m endin’ it,” he barked. “Now, Gunner, you said you been listenin’ to Nita work her figures. Any notion of how long it’ll be before all that work’s done?”
“I’d give it two more weeks until the Wind Breaker’s able to get off the pier again. Maybe another month before I’d trust her making the trip back to Rim from here. Another two weeks after that to be back where she was before we assaulted Cipher Hill.”
“Let’s see if we can’t shave a week or so off that. That way we can get ourselves in the air in time to only miss one of our stops at Caldera. Nita’s folks are liable to be frettin’ over her plenty already. Best not to make ’em wait too long to see their girl.”
“We’ll do our best.” Gunner paused. “Speaking of repair times, have you put any thought into—”
“We ain’t doin’ it.”
“But, Captain, think of the value of—”
“We ain’t doin’ it. Folks back home are already gettin’ themselves worked up about what Tusk has ’em convinced we were up to. We ain’t dumpin’ coals in that boiler by showin’ up at this port or that in the dang monstrosity again for anything but another parts run.” The captain paced to the window.
“Then what precisely do you intend to do with it once the Wind Breaker is repaired?” Gunner asked.
Mack pushed open the other shutter and gazed off into the distance. Moored at a pier a fair distance down the shore were the massive and badly damaged—but still very much operational—remains of the dreadnought they’d commandeered.
“I got enemies, Gunner. More than my share. One of these days I’ll retire to this here island for good. And I’ll sleep tighter knowin’ them enemies know if they decide to come knockin’, they’ll find me with a warship on my doorstep.”
“I can follow that logic,” Gunner said. “And until then?”
He grinned. “I reckon it makes a mighty fine trophy, don’t you?”
###
From The Author
Thank you for reading! If you liked this story, or perhaps if you found it lacking, I’d love to hear from you. Below are links to some of the places you can find me online. For free stories and important updates, join my newsletter.
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Discover other titles by Joseph R. Lallo:
The Book of Deacon Series:
Book 1: The Book of Deacon
Book 2: The Great Convergence
Book 3: The Battle of Verril
Book 4: The D’Karon Apprentice
Book 5: The Crescents
Other stories in the same setting:
Jade
The Rise of the Red Shadow
The Redemption of Desmeres
The Big Sigma Series:
Book 1: Bypass Gemini
Book 2: Unstable Prototypes
Book 3: Artificial Evolution
Book 4: Temporal Contingency
The Free-Wrench Series:
Book 1: Free-Wrench
Book 2: Skykeep
Book 3: Ichor Well
Book 4: The Calderan Problem
Collections:
The Book of Deacon Anthology
The Big Sigma Collection: Volume 1
The Free-Wrench Collection: Volume 1
Other Stories:
Between
Fallen Empire: Rogue Derelict
Structophis
The Other Eight
Cipher Hill Page 26