Chapter 415: We Came Back With More Boats Than We Took

The captain of the first gunboat surrendered his controls with the careful expression of a man who had discovered that his salary didn’t include this particular problem.

I made him shut the engine down and sit beside the damaged gun while I moved the loose weapons out of reach. His crew joined him, including the boat-hook enthusiast, who had developed a sudden interest in remaining horizontal.

One boat was pinned and two still floated outside. I admired our first acquisition until a shot cracked against the wall, reminding me that the remaining owners hadn’t accepted the change in management.

[System: All three, mate, with the crews disarmed and handed over. You don’t get the thirty thousand and fifty IP for pointing at the other two and saying you’ve called dibs.]

Dibs worked before you started involving paperwork. Fine, I can strengthen the claim with rope and an unhappy witness.

Lukas crossed on the secured line and tied the crew behind the gun shield. I checked the nearest knot while the captain complained about his wrists, then told him to consider how much worse the gun was doing.

The second boat entered the gap slowly, using the first as cover from the harbor defenses. Its captain apparently thought the shouting meant his friends were still resisting, which was understandable because I hadn’t sent a newsletter.

I slipped into the water beside the stopped hull and lengthened to twelve feet. Somewhere above, a man shouted that the snake had escaped, which was optimistic considering whose boat I intended to surface beside.

The second boat’s forward gun swung toward the repair wall. Its crew watched the obvious high ground while I surfaced beside the low stern ladder, outside their immediate view.

My timer cleared as I reached the second boat’s stern ladder. I climbed with tendrils on the fittings and wondered whether I should wipe my underside before boarding something I planned to sell.

A crewman spotted me and raised a pistol. Two others reacted beside him, their weapons pointed away from Lukas and the captured boat.

I fixed the empty armored shield beside them as my visible destination and activated Return to Sender when they fired. The rounds bent within range and hammered into that one point while I crossed the short deck.

The skill did not stop the wrench that another man swung at me. I ducked beneath it, packed my middle, and drove him into a storage bench with enough force to make him reconsider his contribution.

[System: Bullets go back, wrench still needs dodging. Lovely distinction, mate, though I reckon that bloke would’ve preferred a warning before you folded him into the bench.]

I swept the three gunmen’s legs with my lower length before their second shots, then pinned the nearest weapon beneath a tendril. The others dropped theirs when I showed my fangs and started humming again.

Their captain tried to reverse. Lukas had been waiting for that, and he tightened the capture line around the second boat’s low tow fitting using the first vessel’s powered capstan.

At the low speed, the tightening line swung their stern into the repair fender. The captain swore at the controls until I asked whether he wanted to stop himself or have me provide encouragement.

Two boats belonged in my collection now, and the third was still being difficult outside the gap.

I made the second captain call his remaining friend and explain the problem. When he began blaming the first captain, I took the microphone before the conversation turned into a family dinner.

"Your friends are alive, your first gun is broken, and I would prefer to own the last boat without making another repair appointment. Put the weapon down and come in slowly, or leave the boat and swim toward the marked harbor rescue ladder."

The third captain asked whether I meant surrendering their money as well.

"I’m being generous about the swimming, mate, so don’t start negotiating with me about the part I actually want."

They argued among themselves for several seconds. Then the forward gun lowered, and two crewmen came onto the visible deck with their hands raised.

They entered slowly. I watched from behind the shield with my skill still cooling, resisting the urge to stand on the rail and welcome them to my growing fleet.

We tied the third boat to the repair posts, collected its weapons, and kept everyone seated until the harbor watch reached us through the landward gate.

The watch checked the boats against their reports and issued provisional prize receipts. I asked whether the word provisional affected the resale value, and the harbor master told me to let him finish arresting people first.

Moving the boats into guarded berths cost two hundred forty credits, with another hundred eighty for two days’ space. I tried offering the dockhands a discount on a future boat purchase, but they preferred being paid now.

Lukas photographed the sealed crates and pocketed our receipts. I counted the boats again because there was no rule against enjoying yourself while someone else tied them up.

[System: Three boats secured, crews disarmed, custody recorded, and you’re somehow the bloke paying dock fees. Thirty thousand experience and fifty IP paid. That’s one hundred and seventy-three thousand five hundred out of three hundred thousand experience, with twelve hundred and five points.]

Lukas held up three receipts and started laughing. I asked whether this counted as responsible investing, and he said it counted as the stupidest successful shopping trip he’d ever taken.

"Don’t sound so surprised," I told him. "I said we needed more parking, and everyone acted like I was being unreasonable."

The captured navigator on the third vessel cleared his throat before the officers led him away. He offered a route in exchange for having his cooperation recorded, and the harbor master agreed to note it without promising his freedom.

He pointed to a sheltered mark on our chart beyond the Blackwake shoals.

"That’s where Gullet keeps the main barge," he said. "If you’re proud of three boats, wait until you see what he keeps in the one he never lets anyone board."