Dexter piloted the ship with as much skill as ever, impressing his new crew as they skirted around asteroids seemingly destined to crush them. When he put them down in the shadowed depression on the asteroid they stared at the Hawk’s Talon, impressed. Even Dexter was speechless and he had seen it only two weeks prior.
Kragor had repaired the hull completely using the spare lumber. A small pile of it was still stocked beside the ship. A proper gangplank, constructed from ground to the deck, offered them a somewhat steep means of access. Dexter could only imagine what sort of repairs had been made on the deck and inside.
“Where’s the rest of the crew,” Jenna asked once they had set down.
“We run lean to maximize profits,” Dexter said, as though there was nothing odd about the thought.
“You can’t fly a trader with only five people!” Jenna said. They size of her eyes showed she thought he was mad.
“I can fly it with just me,” Dexter assured her. “She won’t turn so well, but she’ll fly.”
Jenna closed her eyes and turned away, biting her next words off.
Bekka stared at it and smiled. “I think it’s beautiful.”
Kragor grinned at her praise, knowing it had a ways to go yet, but for all of that, it had come even farther largely due to his hard work.
“You did all this?” Jodyne asked him.
“I helped him,” Dexter said, “but Kragor knew what needed doing and showed me what to do. He’s rigged it up special too, so it needs fewer people but responds better.”
“It looks heavy,” Jenna said.
“Aye,” Kragor said. “I make her about five over. Some extra room and better rigging.”
“Built to dock on land or water?” Bekka asked as they got close and she saw it was not in a dry dock, but rather it had its own landing struts and a flat bottom to it.
Kragor told her it was so, and added that the wings had been changed with a pivoting mount that would allow them to rotate enough aid in a sharper turn. He went on to say that the vertical fin had been lowered somewhat to allow for a lower gravity plane on the vessel. Kragor pointed all of these things out as they approached it, not hiding his pride at how impressed they all were with his accomplishments.
Up on the deck of the ship Dexter took in the sights and saw that again Kragor had outdone himself. A lot of it needed sanding down still, but the broken planks had been fixed and the deck was sound. Kragor led them below, taking the forward stairs down, which had been changed from the space-consuming angled staircase to a circular one. Dexter looked to Kragor and grinned, making the dwarf glow with pride. He pointed to the second door, which was the captain’s room on their right, the starboard side, just before the bridge. Dexter glanced in and nodded. It had a sizeable bunk, a small table with a chair, and a large chest in it.
The bridge was next, which was where the helm rested as well as a large table for meetings and going over charts. Shuttered windows offered a view of the void, or would offer it when they were flying and the shutters were thrown back.
On the other side of the bow companionway was a smaller bedroom with a bunk, a small table that dropped from the wall and used the bunk as a chair, and a chest for personal belongings. Bekka volunteered to take it, stating that she did not need much room and would like to be close to the helm in case she was needed on it. No one could fault her reasoning. She dropped her stuff off while the rest moved on.
Next to Dexter’s room there was another door in front of the spiral staircase. Kragor showed Jodyne into their bedroom, which possessed a bunk large enough for the two dwarves to sleep comfortably, and similar creature comforts to what Dexter’s cabin had, save it possessed two trunks. Dexter clapped him on the shoulder in good humor, glad to see that his friend had planned for his wife joining them.
Across the hall from the stairway was another small room, this one containing the ship’s head. It looked functional, and Kragor assured them it was, so they moved on.
On most traders there is a hallway and a door into the room Kragor and Jodyne were using. By changing the stairs and moving the door Kragor had freed up several feet of space to use to enlarge one of the cargo holds. Instead of the bedroom it had once been, it now resembled a cargo hold once again, including the trap door in the ceiling allowing cargo to be loaded into it from the main deck. The opposite side of the companionway possessed the other cargo hold, this one every bit as authentic and original as what it had been built like when first commissioned. The only thing of note in the port cargo hold was the light ballista resting in the middle of the room.
Aft of the twin cargo holds, on the port side, lay the sail locker. Beyond it, to the aft, was the aft stairway.
Across from the sail locker lay another room. This one was the largest yet, save for the cargo holds, and had racks and shelves placed throughout it for weapons, armor, and supplies. Jenna surveyed the room for a long moment, long enough for the others to move on while she studied the small collection of weapons Kragor had already placed in the racks.
“I’ll sleep here,” she said.
Dexter and the others turned back. “What? In here?”
“Yes. You want me to be your Armmistress, I ‘spect to be in charge of the weapons on the ship. Makes sense I handle the supplies too. Best way I see of doing that is in making it my room,” she explained.
Dexter nodded and smiled. “Good thinking.”
“Kragor, can you help her out?” Dexter asked, stepping aside so the dwarf could look into the room.
He tugged his beard then nodded. “Aye, I can get a bunk in here quick enough, build a drop table, grab a chest… that hold ya?”
Jenna nodded. “Yes.”
“Right, well, I’ll get started in a minute. Captain, the rest?”
Dexter nodded and let Kragor show him the final four rooms of the vessel. They were under the stern castle now, allowing for taller ceilings in the aft rooms. The first door on the right, which was the port side, was the pantry and galley. Jodyne looked at everything within and nodded that it would do.
The next door was on the back wall and opened into a room some twelve feet deep by twenty four feet wide. Dexter counted ten bunks and matching chests, with the lower a few feet off the ground and the upper closer to six feet up. The ceiling was another six feet up from the top bunk, offering the possibility of additional bedding for up to five more, should the need arise for additional crew.
The final two doors were across from the galley. Each room was roughly the size of the captain’s quarters, if not a bit larger, and each was equipped as a bedroom. Dexter nodded at seeing the staterooms, appreciating his friend’s recognition that they might, at times, be carrying important passengers.
They gathered together again back up on the deck so they could begin to understand their duties before going about them. “Kragor, what’s your best guess at an optimal crew size?”
“Optimal?” The dwarf asked, tugging his beard in his trademark fashion. “If’n we’re all being counted, I’d say we need a couple of deckhands to help with the rigging.”
Dexter nodded. “But you think we can sail her as she is?”
Kragor nodded, “Aye, she’ll sail… but you still be needing some power in the ship to handle tactical speeds. Once we get up in the void we can let the sails take over, getting there’s the trick.”
Dexter turned to Bekka and asked, “Can you put some magic into the ship?”
The half-elf paled at the request, but she nodded. Dexter watched her a moment then figured he would ask her later. “Alright, Kragor you’ve got work to do, anybody not doing anything else please help him. Jenna, inventory the weapons and let me know what else you need. Make sure you and Bekka are both armed as well.”
Dexter glanced down at his own empty waist and grinned foolishly. “Guess I’d best be getting some too!”
He turned to Jodyne and smiled. “Jodyne, tell me what you need for the galley. Kragor, when you get a moment, I need to know how much canvas I need to buy for the sails.”
He paused, studying the three women before asking, “Um, someone knows how to stitch the sails, right?”
Jenna rolled her eyes and very softly muttered something in her native tongue, but said nothing.
Bekka smirked, either at Jenna’s actions and words or at Dexter’s question. “Yes, Captain, I can stitch and show anyone who would like to help,” she said.
Dexter smiled. “Good! Well then, let’s get to work!”
