Before they lost the last sparks of that, he'd fight to the bitter end to bring it back.
Chapter Twelve
Log on
“So a new ship class with heavy armament, speed, and endurance. And it needs to be small as well,” Jocelyn said. “You really don't make easy demands, do you?”
“I know it's not going to be an easy one, but that's what we're looking at right now,” Bailey said. “We need something to hit the Iron Guild with, and if we can have numbers we're going to have to resort to quality. Quality in the right spots.”
Her counterpart nodded and finished her work on the Egret's boiler. “Ah, there we go. A little bit of maintenance goes a long way.”
“Planning on taking it out soon?”
“Sometime. We're going to have to make another run to keep our cash reserves steady.”
Bailey nodded. “And if we're working on a new project...”
“First we're going to need to go through the theoretical stage,” Jocelyn said. “We don't have the funds to just start screwing around with different components. We need to know what kind of performance we need so we can start looking for practical ways to get it.”
The last comment made her smile. “Practical, huh? That's our luck, isn't it? They want something and then they expect us to perform miracles without even thinking about whether they're practical or not.”
“That's what non-engineers do,” Jocelyn agreed. “But this is our project now, so we'll make sure that this is a good design. And easy to replicate, because I assume you'd want to build as many as possible.”
“If everything works out, yes. Of course, there's the whole thing with Blue Frog...”
Jocelyn nodded. “Yeah, I wanted to take part in designing the machine, but Alex overruled me. Has me focusing on ships and engines for now. I really can't blame him for that, but I would have liked to play around with it.”
Bailey would have as well. That was the main appeal of the engineer specialization, in her opinion, being able to tinker with things and build. It was almost like playing with blocks or in a sandbox, only on a much larger scale. The sheer amount of experimentation and imagination the free crafting system allowed was staggering. Bailey knew there had to be limits of some kind, but she had never come across them.
“Think that it's actually possible?” she asked.
“What, the ship design?”
“No, I meant the blueprints. Do you think that it can actually do what it says?”
“Why wouldn't it?”
“That just seems really unbalanced, you know? Fire crystals are really expensive and a pain to transport, and yet someone gets their hands on a machine that can manufacture them. That completely unbalances things.”
“What makes you so sure the designers care all that much about balance?” Jocelyn said. “I mean yeah, they care up to a certain point, but they're willing to let a lot of things slide.”
Bailey couldn't disagree with that. It was why the Iron Guild had been able to gather so much power within the game's rules. Technically everyone had equal opportunity to take advantage of the same exploits, but once one side gained enough power it became hard for others to replicate their success.
“This seems like one of those things that's too overpowered even for their standards,” she said. “Or it's too good to be true, and we got swindled.”
“I wouldn't know. I haven't seen them. But Frostwind had their engineers look at it, and they thought it was valuable. I don't think they'd lie to us.”
“Yet the guild doesn't even exist anymore.”
“Yeah, I can't say the precautions they took against getting discovered were very good, given the results. Then again, the Iron Guild has their agent network. And we should remember that too. We need to be careful about who we share information with.”
Bailey nodded. “Yeah. I don't like being paranoid, though. They're good about getting information. Too good. And even with your ways of stopping them...”
“Yeah, it's enough to make you really nervous. I don't like trusting other guilds, or at least the ones I don't know. Maybe that's why they shut us out of building the prototype,” Jocelyn said. “They don't want the information leaking.”
“Except we're the ones that got the blueprint in the first place, so would that really make any difference?”
Jocelyn shrugged. “Paranoia makes people do dumb things without thinking. Maybe the best thing to do right now is to keep this idea in-house. We can create the design and then worry about the particulars of arming it later.”
“I just hope we don't end up working against each other, even if it's accidentally,” Bailey said.
“Well, that's the story of how every alliance ended, isn't it? Everyone tried to work together, but they couldn't agree how to, so the entire thing collapsed. That happens when you leave things up to committee instead of putting it in the hands of a single leader.”
Stark words, she thought, and ones that might have more than a hint of truth to them. Every time they tried to form an alliance it broke down because of the arguing and posturing.
But if they wanted any chance at stopping the Iron Guild the smaller guilds needed to work together. Maybe giving them something to rally behind would do the trick, something that they believed gave them a real chance against the enemy. If so they needed weapons for the task, and it was her job to create them.
“We're going to need to make another run,” Shane said. “And with our ship we can't carry a ton of cargo. We'll need to carry cargo that has a good price to weight ratio.”
Kelvin stood up from his chair and walked over to one of the library shelves, looking for a particular book. Rho's library wasn't terribly extensive, just a small room lined with shelves, but it had enough books inside to make it useful.
He selected a volume and pulled it off the shelf, then returned to his seat and cracked the book open.
“So I assume you want this to be timely,” he said.
“Yeah, that would be nice. We don't need to be sailing to Arnel or Port Umel,” Shane said. “As much as I'd like to carry some of the goods there it's just not worth the time.”
“So we're going to stick to the east coast. That means vanthum from Tengra, glimmershard from Kromus, or we go to Dux or Mamlare for trade goods. We could also go to Galtar.”
“That's a long distance. And there's no land, so that means there's no place to refuel if we run into trouble. At least with the coast we can get to one of the backwater towns. I know we'll have to pay through the nose, but still.”
“So I think it's either Dux or Mamlare,” he said. “Mamlare really doesn't have any great trade goods. It's mostly loot coming in from the quests into the mountains, and that's not going to do us much good. We need commodities.”
“Then it's going to be Dux,” Shane said. “Question is, what do we want to carry?”
“Deep pearls?” Kelvin suggested after looking through the book. “Those fetch a pretty good price on the market, they come in small batches, and they're in constant demand because they're used for making high-level steels.”
“The question is whether we can afford it. And is that one of the goods that has a license attached to it?”
“That it does. And yes, we can afford it, though if we fill our hold with them we definitely don't want to sink.”
“Ok, then we pick an amount to carry that makes the trip worth it, but not so much that we'll cripple ourselves or the rest of the guild if we sink.”
Kelvin leaned back in his chair. “Are you planning on us sinking?”
“Of course not, but do you want to not take precautions when we can't even insure our ship?” Shane asked.
“OK fine. I'll try to figure out a good ratio. Though I'd advise one thing. If we're shipping deep pearls and trying to get as much profit as we can to fund our war effort, let's go with market price. Or slightly below it, at least. I know you don't like the artificial price increases the guild put in place, but we need the money.”
>
Shane nodded. “Fine then. But this is just a temporary thing.”
“If we want to fight back we need the money to afford it. And the fastest way to get it is to charge more. Unless you want to start doing things like betting our money on the stock markets and hoping for the best.”
“Might as well go gamble it all away in the casinos along the north shore,” Shane said. “Or would you rather lose our money to a Ponzi scheme? Because to me it seems like the same thing.”
Kelvin grinned. “Hey, at least with the second thing we can always hunt down and shoot up the players that defrauded us.”
The stock markets held the potential for players to make great fortunes, but there were huge risks associated with it. The exchange was only loosely regulated, and there had been plenty of examples of securities fraud, which wasn't considered a punishable offense by the game rules. The best a victim could hope for was to hunt down and kill the player that defrauded them, hopefully while they could take plenty of valuables.
Kelvin never bothered with it, although the stories coming out from the exchange made for an amusing diversion. Having made a small fortune in the real world through investing and a bit of luck, the amount of regulation that went into Wall Street became apparent when contrasted with the near-lawlessness of Beylan's exchange.
“We'll stick with the honest methods,” Shane said.
“So now smuggling is an honest method?”
“It is if we're not running up against the NPC rules. We're not, and who cares what the guild thinks? They're basically the mafia. Or like Bailey says, they're just a well-organized bunch of griefers. Screw them.”
Kelvin grinned. “Oh, not disagreeing with you. But the people with the guns aren't going to see it that way, and they're the ones we're going to have to worry about.”
“Then we make sure they don't catch us. We have a fast ship that can pretty much outrun anything they throw at us. We just have to make sure that we don't get ambushed and swarmed from a bunch of different angles.”
“Which is my job again, as the unofficial navigator,” Kelvin said. “I seem to be the one picking up all the odd jobs.”
“You and Brandon. But we'd be screwed without you two, so I thank you for your service,” Shane grinned back.
“At least I know I'm not completely useless,” he said before looking back down at the book.
The run to Dux would work. They'd head to the port, pick up their cargo and make the run back to Beylan. They didn't even have to bother going at night, not when their ship had the speed to outrun the enemy patrol ships. They'd be off the registry and anonymous.
And sailing during the day might be a better decision anyhow, since they'd be going so fast. If they had to hang near the shore at night they risked running aground or into obstacles, especially if they were going fast. Daylight and clear vision would help them avoid those problems.
Besides, the very idea of them simply outrunning the Iron Guild ships sent to stop them seemed very appealing. Their foes had spent more than enough time being the dominant ones. Let them be at a disadvantage for once.
A plan began forming in his mind.
The ship cut through the sea, making good time even with the engines only operating at half power. Brandon looked out over the azure waves, low and calm. A slight breeze blew past him, and a few wispy clouds hung in the sky.
A peaceful, uneventful run was all he could ask for, especially after the debacle of their last mission. Brandon wasn't sure if that would happen, but at least he trusted the rest of his comrades. He had no quarrel with the other Rho members that had gone on the expedition, but he didn't know them nearly as well as those aboard the ship at the moment.
No, Brandon thought as he glanced over his shoulder at the fifth member of the crew, that wasn't quite true. For some reason Alex had assigned another player to their trip. He tried to remember her name…
Jamie, that was it. He hadn't seen her unmasked until they reached Beylan, but she had been their guide during the last mission. With Frostwind now defunct she had become associated with Rho, but other than that Brandon knew next to nothing about her. Even her specializations and temperament remained a mystery, though from the looks of things she was a shadow, at the very least.
Why was she here, though? Was she a spy, sent along to ensure the crew remained loyal? Brandon didn't think that was the case, especially since Alex seemed willing to trust them with sensitive information, but why else would he have sent her along? She was a complete outsider to the rest of the group, and though he thought her skills were good, judging from what he had seen in Kromus, they weren't expecting trouble like that in Dux. They'd be sticking to the safe zones at the market and the port.
“At least we have decent sailing weather,” he said, not expecting Jamie to respond.
“At least there's that.”
Brandon lapsed into silence, wondering if he should say anything more. What could he say, when he didn't even know what she was doing here, or-
“I'm sorry for intruding on you. But Alex ordered me to go along for this, and he had his reasons.”
He glanced back at her. “Are those reasons you can share? Or are they secret?”
“They're not particularly secret,” Jamie shrugged. “He wants me to keep an eye on you. Especially your leader.”
“Shane?” Brandon said. The hatch was closed, so his companion wouldn't be able to hear the conversation. He felt a momentary twinge of guilt, but his curiosity got the better of him.
“Yes, him.”
“Why?”
She shrugged. “Because they're looking at him as a possible candidate for a leadership position. At some point we're going to need to start openly fighting back against the Iron Guild, but we don't want to out any of the main guilds.”
“So you set up a front company, or whatever you want to call it, and you use that for fighting the Iron Guild,” Brandon said. “But you're looking at him, huh? That's interesting.”
“Several people think he might be a good choice. And since he's relatively new to the guild it won't seem unusual if he jumps back out to form a new one.”
“That's true,” Brandon said. “Though I wonder if he'd be willing to go along with it, even if you offered him the position.”
“Can I ask you why?”
Brandon looked back out over the sea. “This is just my opinion, so don't take this as gospel. I might be reading the situation wrong. But I think he really doesn't want to assume a leadership position. When our guild-master left we ended up cooperating on the honor system instead of forming a new guild.”
“That's a lot more restrictive.”
He shrugged. “We managed. And I don't think it's that big of a deal. Maybe for large groups spread out over a wide area, but we've known each other for a while.”
“That might be true. But I wonder if he's staying stuck in the past.”
“I don't know,” Brandon said.
In a way they all were. They essentially wanted to go back in time to before the Iron Guild's reign of terror, where players and guilds were free to pursue their own goals without any arbitrary restrictions. But at this point, could it happen? They had already lost so many players, and Brandon knew all too well that many would never return, even if the current situation changed.
“I don't know,” he said again, “but I don't doubt his ability to a leader. There's more to it than just slinging around orders and making people follow you. It's also about listening to other people and putting them in the best position to use their strengths.”
“And he does that?”
“He does. He knows what we're capable of doing, he listens to our advice, and when it comes down to it he gets out of the way. Can't ask for anything more from a leader, in my opinion.”
“But that only works in small groups that know each other very well,” Jamie said.
Brandon shrugged. “Well, that's what we were. Hopefully we become that with the rest of the guild. But unless you're
planning on having hundreds of players in this new guild that's not going to be a problem, is it? We can always take time to get to know each other.”
“That's true. But-”
Jamie stopped in mid-sentence and looked right, toward the coast. For a moment Brandon thought she wanted to end the conversation, but then he heard it as well. The rumble of engines, faint and barely audible over the sounds of the sea.
And then another sound, louder this time and more distinct. He heard the thump just as they approached the source.
A pair of ships steamed up the coast heading toward Dux, one unmarked, the other flying the flag of the Iron Guild. Neither was very large, both only about one hundred feet long or so.
But Brandon noticed more smoke coming from the lead ship, and then he realized that part of it had been damaged, part of the upper hull and deck torn by solid cannon shots.
He heard another thump from the rear ship, saw the tiny gout of steam shoot out from the front, and then a geyser of water shot up mere feet from the rear of the pursued. The lead ship zigzagged, trying to avoid being hit.
“Well, that's not good,” Brandon commented. He pulled out his guidebook and flipped to the map, then zoomed out a little. They were about a mile outside the exclusion zone, and four from the safe zone around Dux harbor.
“Wonder what set them off,” Jamie said.
Brandon opened one of the speaking tubes. “Shane...”
“Yeah, I see them. We're going to avoid them the best we can,” he replied. “We have the speed to get away, and there's no sense in setting them off. We'll have more than enough problems trying to get back to Beylan with deep pearls.”
“Got it.” Brandon closed the cover back over the tube and looked toward the skirmish again. “Guess it's just another unfortunate example of what the guild does.”
“We'd all like to interfere somehow,” Jamie said. “But we don't have any weapons. We have to move on and go about our own business”
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