“How's that coming?”
“They're still working on it, though according to Jocelyn they have a few promising mixtures. But I haven't been working with them for a while. Their concern is the fire crystal mixture. Mine is making sure we have something we can actually use to deliver the weapons.”
“Always good to plan ahead,” Kelvin said.
Bailey grabbed the edge of the sheet. “Well, here it goes.”
She yanked and heard a few murmurs from the others as they looked over the model. It had been scaled to only a tenth of its normal size, but that still meant it was sixteen feet long, and about two and a half feet wide. The ship's bridge and its pair of smokestacks had a low profile to protect it from enemy gunners, and it mounted plenty of weaponry down its length.
“Well, this is a step up from a normal patrol ship,” Brandon said.
She nodded. “Yeah, no kidding. This thing is built to take on packs of them and come out on top.”
“A lot of weapons,” Shane said. “Forward and aft guns. That's going to take a lot of steam power.”
“We're not using steam.”
He looked at her, confused. “Then how are we shooting?”
“Simple. We're making regular cannons and using fire crystal power to propel the shells.”
“Pardon me if this sounds like a very dumb question, but how are you managing that without causing a huge explosion and tearing the bow or stern apart?” Kelvin asked.
Shane nodded. “I want to know that too. Isn't that why we use steam cannons? Because fire crystal dust is too volatile?”
“That's exactly why. But that's with regular fire crystal dust, not the synthetic stuff,” she said. “At first we thought it was only a disadvantage because it didn't have the power of the naturally-occurring stuff, but once we started working with it we found out it's more versatile.”
“So the stuff is weak enough to keep from blowing apart the barrel?”
“Essentially yes. They're working on a cannon design that uses regular powder. Normally the kind of mixture you'd need for that is prohibitively expensive, but the machine makes this possible at a reasonable cost. And it eliminates some of the problems with steam cannons. You can fire faster, you don't have to mess with the expansion chambers, and you can keep rounds loaded in the barrel.”
One of the main problems with steam weapons was the mode of propulsion itself. While steam was easy to produce and essentially renewable, it quickly lost its potency when loaded into the compression chamber. Players had to fire their weapons almost immediately, or risk not having enough power to propel the round when they needed it.
Powder solved the problem, much like gunpowder had in the real world, but the cost and danger of fire crystals made it almost impossible for anyone to afford. The only ones that had access to this kind of weaponry was the Iron Guild, and even they only put it on their most prized warships. As far as she knew they had been in reserve for a while and hadn't even fired their weapons in anger for quite some time.
“So what's the catch?” Kelvin asked.
“The catch is that they're still working on it and perfecting the design,” she said. “And it's going to be small weapons. Three inch guns, most likely. We want to keep it light and simple.”
“Five inch guns might be better,” Brandon said. “More power, more range.”
“And more weight for the guns, more weight for the shells so we move slower and carry less,” Bailey replied. “Three inch guns are more than enough for the regular patrol boats we'll be facing, especially if we're firing explosive ammo.”
“We're not just going to be facing patrol boats, if the enemy has any brains.”
“No, we're not. But five inch guns aren't going to be that helpful against a cruiser or a battleship. That's where the torpedoes come in.”
“Is that what these are?” Shane asked, pointing to four turrets arranged behind the smokestacks.
“Yup, those are it,” she said. “Each of them mounts three full-sized torpedoes. There's no way to reload them in the middle of battle, but a dozen should be enough for our purposes.”
“Can we carry more?”
“We can,” Bailey confirmed. She reached for the model's hull and pulled it away to reveal the interior. “So we have one small hold which can be used for cargo or ammo, whichever we want. The forward and aft guns have their magazines, as you can see. And then there's the engine room along with coal storage. That's why we lengthened the ship by so much.”
Brandon took a look and whistled. “Four boilers?”
“Four full compression engines,” she said. “We should be able to make decent time with just two of them, but four is what we really want.”
“That's a lot of coal. What kind of range will this have?” Kelvin asked.
“Decent enough. We can get to Kromus or Mamlare with the engines running at full-power, at least according to the calculations. We can probably go further.”
“But do we really need them? That's going to add to the cost and the weight.”
She nodded. “Yeah, we really do. Speed is going to be our main weapon with these things. Torpedoes don't have a long range. A thousand yards at most, so if we're fighting the enemy we need to get close. And I'd prefer to give them as few chances to shoot us as possible.”
“So there's no armor?” Shane asked.
“Oh, there's armor for all the guns, the bridge, and the engine room. But that's for dealing with the kind of guns a patrol boat mounts. We're not going to be able to take a direct hit from a cruiser no matter what we put on it.”
Shane nodded.
“Do I even want to know what this is going to cost?” Kelvin asked.
Bailey shrugged, flipped her guidebook to the desired page and tossed it too him. Kelvin plucked it out of the air without a word and then looked the figures over.
“Oh.”
She smiled. “Yeah, I thought so.”
“What does that mean?” Brandon asked.
“It means he thinks it's ridiculously expensive. It's the same sound he makes every time I hand him a bill, or our taxes, or something like that.”
“I don't always make that sound,” he protested.
“Yeah, yeah. You make it enough for me to recognize it.”
Shane took the guidebook from his hands and looked it over as well.
“Yikes.”
“OK, that's a little clearer,” Brandon said. He looked at the figures, and his expression changed. “That much?”
“That much. And that's without all the ammo we'll have to stock it with. Or the coal for the first voyage, for that matter,” Bailey explained.
“That much? We-”
“It's what we're going to have to deal with,” she said. “We're not going to be able to win with numbers. We're just not. The guild has more resources at their disposal. The best we can do is to outnumber them and outgun them at certain spots. Whittle them down. But to do that we need a powerful weapons system.”
“Kelvin, what kind of funds are we holding in our bank account right now?”
“About this much,” he said, flipping his guidebook to the page and then handing it over.
Shane looked at it and nodded. “OK, so we're halfway there. We still have a lot of money to make, but it should be doable. As long as you think the weapons are going to be viable and not just theoretical.”
“It's a matter of when, not if. I'll say that much,” Bailey said.
“Then I think the next step is to get a full-sized prototype in working order. And that's going to cost us quite a bit of cash.”
“We don't have the weapons ready.”
“We don't, but do we have an idea how much they'll weigh?” Shane asked. “If we know that we can add weight to different sections to simulate them being in place. And then we can always add them later.”
Bailey nodded. “I'll get on that. We're basing this off a Rune-class steamer, so we don't have to worry too much about the hull. We know it floats. It's all
about the interior.”
“What would one cost?” Brandon asked.
Kelvin flipped through his guidebook. “Well, here's the historical prices for this kind of thing. I'd have to go down to the exchange to see what they're charging now, but at the moment we can afford it.”
“A regular ship,” Bailey corrected him. “We don't need any of the add-ons. We don't even need the engine, since we're going to be doing custom modifications. We can just order the hull and go from there.”
“That's still a bunch of our funds for a completely empty hunk of metal,” Brendan said. “Maybe we should save up until we have enough to cover all of the expenses?”
Shane shook his head. “No. We're going to need to get things moving, and the sooner we have a working prototype the better.”
“This sounds a lot like the office. Buy something incomplete and hope we can get enough money to finish it. How many of these projects can we take on?”
“It's not like that,” Kelvin said.
“No, no, I get what he's saying,” Shane cut in. “But this is going to be the last one, and it's the most important one. We'll make sure we have enough to sustain operations, but it's going to be tight.”
“It'll be less tight if we make another run,” Bailey suggested. “I know we're making a lot of runs between Dux and Beylan, but that seems to be the most profitable for a ship with our cargo space.”
“Four or five runs should do it,” Kelvin said.
“Great, more grinding,” Brandon said. “Oh well. I guess it isn't worse than any other MMO.”
Bailey could see his point, but if this is what it took to make the concept come to fruition she'd suffer through the grind. Everything ran on money, and at this point none of them wanted to go asking around the other guilds for it. Part of it was pride, but they were also concerned that the Iron Guild would see huge amounts of cash being shifted around and take notice.
“We'll make another run as soon as possible,” Shane said. “As many as we can, so we can get the ball rolling on this. Once we're done with that we can move to the next stage.”
Bailey nodded. “And I'll get on the rest of the engineering group to see how much they can do with the weapons. Ideally we'll be able to install them shortly after we have the prototype built.”
“Do you mind me showing this to other people?” Shane said.
“I trust you'll be discrete about it.”
“Of course.”
She shrugged. “Then it's fine with me. Not like I can stop you, if I'm logged out.”
“Just thought I'd ask.”
As the meeting broke up Bailey turned toward Jaime, who was still looking at the model.
“You didn't say anything. What do you think?”
“What do I think?” she said. “I think we might finally be getting somewhere.”
Bailey smiled. “Don't say that yet. We've got to build the thing first.”
“Jocelyn told me about this,” Alex said as Shane showed him the mock-up. “But seeing it in person makes it seem all the more real.”
“It's just a concept,” Shane said. “It's not reality until it's on the seas blasting Iron Guild ships.”
“Still, they think it's a workable concept, enough to spend all the time and effort building a model. I know it's going to take some time to get everything working, but once that happens...”
Shane nodded. This ship might be the breakthrough they needed. Strong enough to take on several patrol ships without many issues, fast enough to outrun heavier ships capable of blowing it out of the water, and carrying enough torpedoes to threaten even the mightiest fighting vessels, this concept would change the way the trade wars were fought. Smugglers wouldn't be the only way to sneak ships past the Iron Guild blockade.
“If I can ask you something?”
“Shoot,” Shane said.
“What are your plans?”
“Our plans?”
“Your strategy, once you get this built. What are your plans for the ship?” Alex asked. “Are you going to immediately go after the guild? This looks like it would be tough for even the heaviest warships to deal with. And patrol boats are going to be cowering in terror every time this comes over the horizon.
Shane looked back at the model and shrugged. “It's going to be a powerful ship. But it's not invincible. Bailey said it best. One shot from a cruiser or a battleship in the right place is going to be the end of the vessel. And then what?”
“So you're not confident in the abilities of the vessel.”
“Oh, I'm plenty confident,” Shane said. “But we have to know the limitations of this type of ship and its role. It's built for speed and agility, and for dealing with standard patrol craft. It's not going to be able to slug it out with the bigger warships. If you want to do that then you're going to need to look into other vessels.”
“Or you.”
Shane shook his head. “That's not our job, and not our purpose. Our job is to take care of the traders and keep the shipping lanes open. We're not going to fight unless we have no other choice, and even then it's going to be against their lighter vessels. But we're not a main battle fleet. We never will be. We're a squadron, like the name says.”
“So if we want a battle fleet we're going to have to make one ourselves, is that what you're saying?”
“That is what I'm saying,” Shane said. “Although with the sea lanes open and more cash coming in making that fleet should be easier, right?”
Alex grinned and then turned back to the model. “You said that you're a squadron. Does that mean more than one ship?”
“Ideally. And that's what we want to do with this as well. Bailey says this class is essentially a destroyer, and they tend to work best in packs. More firepower, more torpedoes, and more targets for the enemy to deal with.”
“But you have five members now. What kind of crew will you need for this?”
“Five or six.”
Alex nodded. “So you're going to need more members. Have you started recruiting yet?”
Shane shrugged again. “We've been pretty busy. And first we have to make sure the prototype ship works. I wouldn't want to sink all that effort into something that's going to be a dead end.”
“But you haven't looked?”
“I haven't.”
Alex nodded again. “I see. Well, with your permission I could start looking around for you. Reach out to our net of contacts, see if they know anyone that might want to be part of Maelstrom Squadron. I think you'll find quite a few that will like your way of thinking.”
“That depends if they can gel with our way of doing things as well,” Shane shrugged. “Remember our goals.”
“You have the same goals as Rising Tide,” Alex said. “We open the sea lanes for all to trade freely. We all just have different ways of accomplishing the same goal. But that's good. The more pressure the enemy has on them from different directions, the better.”
“Yes, the more they have to deal with the better,” Shane agreed.
“Oh, another thing. Maelstrom Squadron hasn't officially been inducted into Rising Tide's ranks. I know it's nothing more than a formality at this point, but can we count on you for your support?”
“Of course. You'd better hope that happens, because we know a lot of secrets about you.”
Alex grinned. “Oh, I know. This was just for posterity's sake. But I imagined we could depend on you.”
Shane nodded and looked back at the ship once again. “This thing is going to change the balance of power on the seas. And I don't know how everyone's going to react when that happens.”
“The Iron Guild?”
“Not just them. The other guilds as well. How are they going to react to this? Are they just going to go along with this with no questions asked? Or are they going to be suspicious? Because if they are I don't blame them.”
“They want hope. This might give it to them.”
Shane shook his head. “They want hope. All of them do. But at this poin
t I see them being suspicious, especially after all their other false hopes were crushing right in front of them.”
“Then you'll need to give them something to hold onto. Something concrete, something serious that says you're here to stay for the long haul,” Alex said. “What that might be I can't tell you. But know that the rest of Rising Tide will back you, as long as your plan is sound.”
He nodded. “And that's the one issue I'm seeing. What you think might be a practical way to use these things might not be one, and the opposite could be true as well.”
“Then we're going to need to communicate.”
“Or argue,” Shane said with a smile.
The fate of the last alliances still hung in his mind. The bickering, the anger, mistrust, outright jealousy and scorn, all of it had torn them apart and led to the dismantling of their efforts. Instead of words of camaraderie and understanding, they confronted each other with fury, lies, and accusations. No alliance could stand after being built on that kind of foundation.
Would it happen again? Shane thought about Alex's words. If Maelstrom Squadron could do something, anything to bring hope to the downtrodden and oppressed players of this world they would, but would that mean anything in the grand scheme of things? Had the heart of this world been torn out already? Everyone seemed so cynical, only looking out for themselves and their immediate comrades.
Their sense of adventure, of wonder of what might lie over the next horizon had given way to fear. They still wondered what might be over the next horizon, but they approached it warily. Instead of expecting an adventure or fortune they feared death and destruction.
Shane took a deep breath before speaking.
“You know what?” he said. “We'll do something to bring hope to the rest of them. I don't know what it's going to be, or how we're going to do it. But we'll figure out something. Something for everyone.”
“A rising tide raises all ships,” Alex said. “That's where the name comes from.”
He nodded. “I wondered that. Well, if Rising Tide is going to raise all ships, then we'll be the first wave. That's our job.”
Chapter Twenty
Deep pearls, deep pearls, and more deep pearls. At this point Brandon had seen and unloaded more than enough of those things to last a lifetime. If this was the real world the mollusks that produced the goods would probably be extinct at this point.
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