The target had been stationary, nothing more than a basic hull they had towed out here for test purposes, but the effects were real enough. They had launched the weapon from a jury-rigged device on the Egret. Once they mounted it on their ship and fired them in spreads they'd be absolutely devastating if they could get within range.
“Well, that's a welcome sight,” Alex commented from beside him.
“Why, did you think our engineers were going to give us faulty products?”
He laughed. “Ah, I've learned to trust them. But you never know until the first time you use it. But there you have it. We have our weapon, and it's ready for action. Jocelyn tells me that they have the first batch ready to go.”
Shane nodded. “Then I think it's time for us to think about where we're going to patrol. Kelvin thinks we need to strike while the iron is hot and rally more players to our cause. I agree.”
“Yes, I see your point there. Ideally we'd be able to deploy you in squadrons, but like you said you don't have enough trained crews for that kind of thing yet. And I don't want to disrupt you. This is your decision. We're allies. I don't need to meddle in your guild's affairs.”
“Thanks,” Shane said. He turned back to the sinking wreck. “Well, I think for now we're going to have to challenge the guild. That's all there is to it. I'm not going out and looking for a fight, but I think we need to demonstrate that we're not going to be pushed around.
“And how are you going to do that, if I may ask?”
Shane leaned up against the Egret's railing. “Well, we're going to need to make more commerce runs. Our hold is small, but that just means we need to carry valuable items in that space.”
“A warship as a courier.”
“We'll do what we need to. Ideally I'd like to start escorting convoys, but we don't have enough ships for that. So we'll work with what we have. Make runs between here and Beylan, and we'll make the guild pay attention.”
“Anonymously?”
“No. We're going to be the public face of Rising Tide, remember? So if we have to fly the Maelstrom flag and sell goods on the exchange to get their attention, we will.”
“That means you're making yourself quite the target. Are you willing to risk that?”
Shane shrugged. “I don't see the issue. Our goal is to take down the Iron Guild and open the sea lanes for everyone. Maelstrom's survival is second to that. And if all we do is buy time for the rest of you, so be it. We'll just come back and join Rho if we can't keep our guild going.”
“Provided the guild master lets you,” Alex said with a smile.
He laughed. “Oh come on, are you just going to leave us out in the cold like that?”
“So, challenging the guild and making yourself the public face of our alliance. You're certainly brave.”
“Or dumb. Sometimes there's not much difference between the two. But whatever. This is the first time in a long time that I feel like the old Age of Steam is back. It's not there yet, but if we keep pushing then we might be able to do something.”
“Can I ask you what your first port of call is going to be? I'll try to get you some intelligence and have our contacts spread some misinformation to make your job easier.”
Shane glanced northward. “It's going to be Galtar.”
Chapter Twenty-Six
The ship cut through the water and steamed north toward Galtar. Brandon stood in the observation deck, carefully watching the water for any signs of activity. So far no one had challenged them, but it could change very quickly.
Shane had elected to leave Beylan during the evening, since only the smaller patrol ships tended to be out at that time. The darkness might have provided concealment, but Shane had also elected to keep the ship's lights on as a safety measure. They moved far fast than most other vessels, and he didn't want to cause a collision because another helmsman misjudged their course. The Iron Guild ships weren't the only ones out on the busy waters around Beylan.
Brandon considered the tradeoff acceptable, but he wondered if it would attract the wrong kind of attention. A fast-moving vessel of this size was bound to turn heads.
Maybe he was overthinking things. It would be hard enough for patrol ships to catch up with them during the day, due to their powerful engines and hydrodynamic hull. The darkness would allow them to slip away easier, and they could always turn off the lights if needed. And if they had the fight then their ship was strong enough to take on all comers. The guild almost never sent their warships out at night, due to the need to use searchlights at long range. The chances of them running into something their equal or better were miniscule.
And they had more than enough eyes up on the observation deck to look for any potential problems. Brandon and Simone had been joined by Jamie, and between the four of them they could easily cover the entire ocean with little trouble. She lacked the perks that came with the sentinel specialization, but under these conditions she could still spot enemy ships before they came dangerously close.
“See anything?” she said.
“Nothing,” Simone replied.
“Yeah, I don't think we're going to have to worry about it,” Brandon said, keeping his eyes peeled nonetheless. “The patrol ships tend to use searchlights at night if they think they see something, so we'll see them coming.”
“I'd rather they didn't get the chance to illuminate us. And we have our lights on.”
“We can still turn them off. And they'll probably want to get a clear picture before they start shooting.”
“You'd think,” Simone said. “Unless they're raiders.”
“Raiders don't operate this close to Beylan, especially at night,” Brandon say. “They know better than that.”
“Some of them do. But then, some of them aren't to bright,” Jamie said.
“Hey, I think they're smart enough to know that the rest of the Iron Guild hates them. Remember when all the rumors were going around? The ones about all the supposed accidents that were happening?”
“Oh, the ones that said the guild patrols were accidentally shooting up raiders near Beylan?”
“Yeah, 'accidentally' shooting them.”
“Well, it's dark out, and if they gave the wrong signals it's only natural for them to start shooting,” Simone said. “Of course, the patrol captains probably didn't bother to take the time to interpret them correctly, but hey, I'm not going to complain.”
“Anything that ends with raiders at the bottom of the sea is a good thing in my book,” Jamie said.
Brandon nodded. “Yeah. That I agree with.”
They reached open water without incident and headed for Galtar, using the passive travel system to cover large stretches of ocean. Shane didn't expect to see much trouble on their way to their destination. Outgoing ships weren't the Iron Guild's concern. It was the incoming ones that interested them, the ones with holds full of valuable cargo which they could extort and search.
Once they reached Galtar they'd pick up a load of glimmershard, an extremely valuable mineral that could be used for crafting components and items. Only high-level engineers could work with it, and it required a specific perk, but its combination of strength and light weight made the material highly sought after. Of course, the Iron Guild restricted the trade. The less on the markets the higher the price, and as an added bonus other players had a harder time accessing high-level components.
Glimmershard, vanthum, deep pearls, and so many other materials placed under trade restrictions. Increasing access to them in Beylan's markets would be the first step in breaking the guild's power over the trade routes.
Shane wondered about the wisdom of restricting manufacturing to Beylan. If players wanted to build components they had to access one of the industrial areas within the city. Even somewhere like Welles Bay didn't allow players to create their own components, only to purchase and install them.
But if the designers realized the problem they didn't seem to want to admit it, so if the players wanted to fix it they needed t
o come up with their own solution. Their ship might only be a small part of that solution, but they had to start somewhere.
Galtar wasn't much to look at. It lacked the bustle of Beylan, or the stark differences from the bustling metropolis like Welles Bay or Kromus. There were plenty of NPC quests on the rest of the island, but that didn't suit their purposes right now. Many were difficult and needed a well-equipped party to tackle them, and with the trade restrictions in place getting that equipment could be difficult.
Kelvin quickly went to the exchange, bought their merchandise and then returned to the dock. By the time he reached the ship the rest of the crew had already loaded the cargo into the hold.
“We should do things that fast every time,” Kelvin said as he stepped up into the navigation deck.
“Why, are you in a hurry? Too busy to smell the roses?” Shane quipped.
“There aren't very many roses around in places we want to go. Besides, I'm a merchant. Getting goods from place to place is kind of my thing.”
“And yet you're aboard a warship.”
“Do you think about changing your specialization?” Jean asked. “Since this is a warship now, I mean.”
Kelvin shrugged. “I've thought about it a little, especially since I'm on a gun crew. But we're not just a warship. The perks that come with the merchant specialization are really helpful. And I really don't want to start over from level one on a different specialization.”
“OK, that makes sense.”
“Still,” Shane said, “might be good for us to think about. If we want to be versatile we should work on learning other specializations.”
“That's going to be a lot of time to sink and get them up to where they should be. Time that could be better spent improving the specializations we already have.”
“Even those of us that have already maxed out our specialization levels?”
“Of course not.”
Kelvin shrugged. “I'm not talking about them. Jean and the others should keep using their current specializations so they can get their levels up. But the rest of us who have already maxed out can do something else. Unless they want to change, that is.”
“No, I'm fine,” Jean said. “I like my specialization.”
“Speaking of which, do you wind taking the wheel for a bit?” Shane asked.
“Oh, yes. I don't mind.”
“It's nice to finally have someone who can take over for me,” he said.
“You never let me do it when I offered,” Kelvin said.
“Well yeah, do you really think I'm going to let you run my ship into the rocks?”
Kelvin grinned. “It's our ship, and what makes you think I'm going to run it into the rocks? Do you think I'm that bad of a helmsman?”
“I've seen you drive in real life, so...”
He groaned. “OK, you and Bailey can get off my case about that. It was one time.”
“Do I even want to know?” Jean asked.
“No, it's them overreacting,” Kelvin said before Shane could say anything else.
“You know what,” Shane said, “I'm just going to let you think up things that it could be. Because that's a lot more fun than me just telling you.”
“You know, having another helmsman aboard means we can just throw you overboard if you get too uppity,” Kelvin said.
“You wouldn't dare.”
“Care to find that out?”
Kelvin was about to retort when the phone from the observation deck rang. He reached over and answered it.
“Huh, where's Shane?” Brandon asked.
“Putting his feet up and chugging beers,” Kelvin answered. “So what's up?”
“We have a tail.”
Kelvin immediately became serious. “Hold on a second. I'm going to put you on speaker.”
He tapped a button on the console and then hung up the line.
“What's up?” Shane asked.
“Like I told Kelvin, we have a tail.”
“How far out?”
“They're pretty far out. At least two miles, by my guess.”
“Are you sure that they're a tail?” Jean asked. “It might just be another ship, or-”
“Yeah, that's what I thought at first, but it's following our course. And it's difficult to tell from this distance, but the silhouette seems to match one of the ship types used by the guild.”
“I see it too,” Simone added. “And I think it's definitely following us.”
Kelvin looked at Shane. “Well, that's interesting. What do you want to do about it?”
“Keep an eye on it and see what it does,” Shane ordered. “If I had to guess I'd say that it's tracking us. I don't think they'd try to take us on alone, unless they're a warship.”
“Looks more like a patrol ship.”
“Then in that case let's try to lose them. Jean, crank up the engine power a bit. We'll see if we can outrun them since they're not in a chaser.”
Kelvin thought for a moment. “So do you think they're going to try to jump us out here, or they're going to wait until we get closer to Beylan? Because they have to know that's where we're going.”
“There's a lot of ocean to lose them in. And we're going to have to deal with guild hunters anyhow. Let's just see how this goes.”
Kelvin nodded. “Well, if you wanted to get their attention I'd say we did a pretty good job of it.”
Bailey hung up the phone and turned to Ryan. “They're going to full power and want extra steam. Put a little more coal on and let's watch to make sure we're not losing pressure.”
“Got it. Did they say why?”
“There weren't a lot of details, but apparently we're being tracked, and they think it's a guild ship.”
“Think we're in danger?” Ryan asked.
“They said it's a long way off, so no, it shouldn't be a problem. Most ships are going to have trouble keeping up with us at close range, never mind trying to catch up.”
He nodded. “This is so much nicer than our old ship. And even the other smuggling vessel we have.”
Bailey grinned. “Oh, tell me about it. We have so much power to work with it's almost impossible to believe. We can outrun and outfight anything short of a cruiser. This is a lot better than running and hiding as a smuggler.”
“Or fishing. A lot more exciting than that.” Ryan looked at one of the gauges, then pulled a lever. “Looks like we're holding steady, but...”
“But it's always good to check on these things. Free crafted stuff doesn't always work the way it's intended.”
“Isn't there a perk at the end of the tree that helps with that?”
“Freeform? Yeah, there is. But that still doesn't mean stuff built with it can't fail.”
All of the engineers that worked on the project had reached Level 8 of Engineer and had taken freeform as their final perk. It suited their purposes best, since it increased the chances of success with the free crafting system. Working with new designs always came with risk, especially when it came to boilers. The slightest oversight could result in a failure, and that usually meant pounds of steam spewing from broken machinery and broiling the engine room's occupants.
“I guess that's something for me to look forward to. But I've got a while before I get to that point.”
Bailey shrugged. “It's helpful, for sure. But it's not everything. The most important thing is being able to think up good designs. And to know what works, what fails, and why.”
“That's a lot to remember.”
“Trial and error. That's how we get things done.”
Brandon looked through his binoculars at the enemy ship receding in the distance. For a moment it looked like it would follow them, but then he noticed it begin to make a lazy turn.
“Are you seeing what I'm seeing?” he asked the others.
“That the ship is turning?” Simone asked.
“Yeah. Turning away. I guess they figure they can't catch us.”
“So you think that they're headed back into port?
”
“That'd be my best guess.”
He also assumed that they weren't through with their troubles. If the enemy couldn't catch them, they at least had a good idea where they were headed. Brandon guessed their captain would be sending a telegram to the Iron Guild in Beylan. Maelstrom would probably have a welcoming committee waiting for them just outside the exclusion zone.
He picked up the phone line. “Shane, the enemy ship is pulling away and headed back into the harbor. I think they figured out they can't catch us.”
“OK, keep me posted. Don't think that's the last we've seen of the guild on this trip.”
“That's funny, I was just thinking the same thing. We'll keep our eyes peeled.”
“So that's it then,” Jamie said after he hung up. “The guild's tracking us, and they're going to be waiting for us.”
Brandon shrugged. “Eh, there's a lot of ocean for them to cover. And I'm still not sure they know our capabilities. Plus, we don't have to fight our way out by sinking them all. We're headed into a safe zone this time.”
“I'm not worried about three or four ships. I'm worried that they're going to send a dozen or more after us at once. Or some of their warships.”
“We can take anything short of a cruiser. And even then that's dangerous for them.”
“Haven't they stopped deploying the fleet?” Simone said.
“From what I've heard yeah. They don't want to mess around with supplying them or putting them at risk if they don't have to. And I'm not sure we're the kind of threat that warrants a reaction like that. We're only one ship.”
“They'll be bringing it once we make an impression,” Jamie said. “If everything goes right for us then the Iron Guild will be scrambling to stop us. And if that happens I have a feeling they're going to use anything and everything to take us out.”
“Well, then we're going to need to keep our eyes peeled. And our gunnery accurate,” Brandon said.
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