Chapter 423: The Captain Finally Read the Room

The crane beam sagged above Gullet, and for the first time since he flooded the well, he looked up instead of assuming every problem existed below his teeth.

I stayed beside the center support, close enough to keep his attention and far enough from his blade that he had to commit to reaching me. Lukas fed slack through the maintenance winch above, quietly moving the hanging hook toward my side of the well.

The maintenance cable could guide the empty arm during repairs, according to the service diagram. Lukas checked the painted rating, then showed me where to clip it so the falling beam would swing across Gullet’s way.

[System: Nice and simple, mate. You’re not picking up the house, you’re helping the roof choose a cunt.]

Could we put that on a sign at the club? People respected safety notices more when they sounded like threats.

Gullet moved toward the cargo door, but I slid across his route and drove my tail into the bent walkway beside him. The noise made him turn just long enough for Lukas to drop the door’s outside brace from the upper panel. The hold remained locked and dry behind it, while the captain’s direct path to his treasure disappeared beneath a steel bar.

"You can’t spend any of it if this ship goes down," he said.

"Then stop breaking things I want. You’re behaving like a landlord who found out the tenant could afford the place."

Crewmen shouted from the cage above. Lukas ordered them toward its forward side, away from the crane, and told them to keep their heads below the bars. One asked if we knew what we were doing, which was an unhelpful question at this stage.

The captain glanced toward the stern gate, still lowered halfway across the opening. His long lower body could pass beneath it if he lined up carefully, but the damaged walkway had fallen across the approach. He would have to move the debris or force a new exit.

For the first time, he had less room than I did. I considered offering directions, then decided I liked watching him discover the problem without assistance. He had been so confident about owning the water earlier.

He lowered the broken blade and offered me a share of the routes, warehouses, and vessels we hadn’t yet taken. He said my strength would be worth more under his command than wasted on dockside theft.

Bollocks Detector stayed quiet. He might even have meant the offer, which suggested he had learned absolutely nothing from watching me steal his workplace.

"Does the job include an engine, or do you break everyone’s things before handing them a uniform?"

[System: Ask about the staff discount, mate. You’ve already taken three boats and I’d hate to think we paid full price.]

"You could be feared across this coast," Gullet said.

I looked around at his ruined guns and locked-up men. Working for him would mean listening to his opinions every morning, and I already had one unpaid bastard doing that in my head.

"I’m enjoying being self-employed. Mostly because whenever I want something of yours, I don’t have to ask you first."

Lukas eased the cable hook down beside my support. I caught it with a tendril and clipped it through the guide eye beneath the sagging crossbeam, where the maintenance drawing showed it belonged. My body remained mostly behind the thick post while I worked, but it took both concentration and time.

He spotted the hook before I finished its catch. The broken blade scraped my outer length, opening a red tear that made me jerk and swear hard enough to interrupt his next threat.

I released the hook, braced, and shoved the thick part of my tail into his chest. It bought enough space to get behind the post, but he had made me pay for the work.

[System: You’ve attached it, mate. Stop polishing the bloody workmanship and get behind the post before he takes another sample.]

I was checking it, not polishing it. The bastard stabbed the part doing the checking, which seems a fair reason to complain. I tucked the raw length away and refused him the same angle again.

I checked the catch from cover and called up to Lukas. He took the slack out without pulling the beam free. The line tightened across the well at an angle, leading from the cracked beam toward the far-side winch mount.

When the cracked brace gave, the cable would steer the beam across the well, and I liked that destination much better than the cargo door.

Gullet could see the line now, but cutting it meant reaching the far side while I remained between him and the easiest route. Retreating beneath the stern gate meant forcing his long body through the narrow gap amid fallen steel.

He chose the thing that had worked against structures all evening.

Water drew toward him from the stern opening, forming a broad, tight band around his upper body. The loose scraps on the surface slid inward, giving me a clear view of the line his attack would take.

Lukas waited with his good hand on the release. A small red spot had reached his dressing, and I decided Gullet had spent long enough discussing employment.

[System: Finish-the-captain job, mate: kill Gullet and recover the main haul with Lukas alive. Forty thousand EXP and eighty IP, paid only when the loot and your mate are secure.]

Make sure the reward survives him, because I intended to leave very little for the complaints department.

The captain aimed toward the weakened rig and the blocked stern passage beyond it. He meant to knock the whole structure aside and leave through the space he created.

I wrapped my lower length around the center support, moved my head out of the water’s direct path, and watched the last scraps vanish toward his gathering strike.

Above me, Lukas rested his palm on the release, waiting for the captain to break his own trap.