Objective (Cont.)

Once I fixed the 'problem,' the unloading continued. Kind, generous person I was, I offered to chip in and help in the process and ended up rolling a carefully arranged cart of boxes down to one of the more distant storage compartments. After that was finished, though, I took a wrong turn down one of the ship many corridors and got lost.

A shame, that.

I walked through the White Whale's labyrinth of passageways, confidently pushing my cart of now empty boxes along as if I already knew where everything was—which I did. Crocea Mors moved silently beside me, an occasional shift in my reflection and nothing more, spreading and vanishing through the White Whale with silent ease. He'd changed in the last few weeks, his reflection body shifting to add more of me to it, or more of the person I was getting used to pretending to be. Levant walked by my side with a hand on my wrist while she looked around with curiosity in her eyes. I hadn't manifested her yet, so she was invisible to all but me, but she was bigger now, too, having grown to the size of a child with the creation of our contract.

The past two weeks had given me plenty of time to train Summon Elemental and the spell had grown mighty in that time as had the spirits. Even manifesting both and keeping them that way constantly wasn't a problem for me anymore; a big change from when I'd first learn the skill. Between the two of them, I could keep track of everything going on within the ship, keeping an eye on the locations of everyone within a decent range through the metal of the ship and the very air they breathed. It was a vague feeling, taken secondhand, but it was still pretty cool.

There were a number of people on board still, mostly loading crews moving on and off periodically and putting everything in place, but I avoided all of them easily and made my way towards the front. Once I was close enough to the cockpit I stopped, leaned against a wall, fired off another message with my scroll, and tapped an ear lightly. Tugging on my wrist again, Levant floated easily into the air, coming up to rest on my shoulder. Placing one hand on my head and cupping her mouth with the other, she leaned down as if to whisper in my ear.

"Any changes?" I heard a man ask.

"Uh…nope, skies seem to be staying clear." Another voice replied, sounding a bit different, further away. I guessed that the first voice was the pilot and the second a man on the radio—probably the person in the control station. "A storm heading this way, but you'll probably be gone before it gets here. Sea looks fine and…yeah, Mistral's forecasting good weather for the next we days. I was worried when I heard about the Nevermore thing, but apparently they shipped out some big name Hunters to clear out the area."

"And that was your last chance of getting rid of me before I became famous," The pilot said and I could hear the grin in his voice.

"It's sad on many levels, but I guess if I've put up with you this long…" The other mused.

"And if I got myself killed, you'd have to explain it to Ulku, right?"

"Let's add that to the list of reasons why you should do what I say, Kuffert," The second man said. "Can't have you going down in flames again, can we?"

Kuffert chuckled.

"It'll be fine," He said. "The weather's good, my flight path's clear, and I'll have escorts as soon as I reach land—not to mention the fact that I could probably fly into Grimm in this thing and not notice. My only real concern is that huge-ass window for the ones flying first class; I keep worrying that I'm gonna splatter Grimm all over it and get complaints as soon as I land."

I heard snorting laughter and then a ping.

"Oh, there we go," The unnamed man said. "Let's see…good, good, as expected, green, good, good, and…we're good. Need any help on your end?"

"Because I haven't done this fifty million times this week?" Kuffert asked. "Check, check, full, check, people running around in my beautiful ship wearing dirty shoes, check, I'm evidentially still in Vale, I got my coffee, I got my mask…yep, hasn't stopped working in the last five minutes. Does my bell still go ding?"

There was a small sound like, well, a bell.

"It dings. And—oh, shit!"

"What!?" The second voice asked immediately.

"Nothing, I'm just making sure you still work. Man, I still can't believe we're paying for a beaten up, outdated model like you." Kuffert sighed.

"Oh, ha-ha, very funny. Right back at you, you relic; I can't believe their letting an oh-four-seven fly the White Whale. Why don't you go back to your flying box?"

"Ouch," Kuffert said, snorting. "That hurts, really. Anyway, all clear on this end. All fueled up and everything; just need to wait for everyone to finish loading up and—oh, well, there you go. Wanna finish up?"

"Mm," The other hummed.

The button at the center of my scroll flashed once and I put my hands back on the cart, but didn't act yet. I heard clicks and the occasional beep through Levant, but the two men were mostly silent. I didn't have a visual, so I just waited patiently. After a minute, it flashed again and I pushed the cart over to rest beside the door and then knocked loudly.

"Hey, uh…" I paused for a moment as if trying to recall his name. "Mr., er, Captain Kuffert! You in here? Sir?"

"One sec!" I heard footfalls before the door opened to reveal a tan, brown-haired man. "Something wrong?"

"Nah, my boss just wanted me to tell you that we're finishing up," I nodded at the cart as if to demonstrate. "Just gonna take the garbage out and organize some stuff and we're done."

"Yeah, I got the message," He said and I frowned.

"Then why'd he…?" I sighed. "Oh, whatever. Do you have anything you need me to take out?"

"Um," He tilted his head and then looked behind him. "No, I don't think so. Thanks, though."

"What about your….co-pilot?" I asked, peering passed him. I saw a screen in the center of a mess of controls, with the face of a dark-skinned man—though I was more interested in the shadow behind him, myself. I saw the captain frowned, his back to the image, and glanced passed me.

"He's not here yet," Kuffert murmured, more to himself then me it seemed. "Well, he still has some time but if he's not here soon, I'll have to switch him…"

I nodded understandingly, smiling at the words as if I'd had nothing to do with it.

"Well, sorry to take your time, sir," I apologized. "Good luck on flight. I need to get a few more things to take outside."

"Thanks," He said, turning away and pausing as he saw the now empty screen. "What—"

I came up behind him and silently put him in a chokehold. He was still for a moment, probably caught off guard, and then started struggling.

But only briefly. That's the thing about a chokehold; if you did it right, you can put someone in a few seconds. I did it right and I'd taken the man by complete surprise—even ignoring our level difference, he didn't have a chance. I watched him quietly as he went down and then calmly picked him up and placed him in the box on my cart before covering it, but for the holes I'd put in it to let him breath.

"Sorry," I said, sighing as I looked down at him. Double-checking to make sure no one was near, I walked into the cockpit and sat in the pilot's seat, glancing at the screen that now showed Blake's focused face. I connected my scroll to the ship's computer and waited until Blake finished and gave me the nod.

Then I opened two pre-prepared files and set it down as a loading bar appeared.

"I handled the cameras on this end," Blake said. "And hid the technician. No one should notice until he doesn't show up in the main room for the show."

Call it ten, fifteen minutes, then.

"When you're done, break the computer the way I showed you," I replied. "And then leave a sticky note on the screen saying you had to move to the backup. Everyone loves sticky notes. Anyway, I'm downloading stuff over here. Pretty quickly, too. Uh…okay, let me just get these up and running in the background and…cool. I'll be right back."

I shut off the camera, left the room, and locked the door—it didn't really matter to me, since Crocea Mors could just open it for me, but it should keep any one from wandering in there if on the off chance they happened to come this way. I grabbed the cart and swung around to the pile I'd noticed the movers making before, loading mine up with a few more things from the now tiny pile. Sure enough, the airship was slowly emptying and I only saw one other person on my way out. I gave him a nod and took the trash and empty boxes out back, hiding Kuffert in the process. With only a few other things to carry out, I doubted anyone would spot him here one way or another, but I made an effort to conceal him well regardless. Then I swung into the building, poured a quick cup of coffee, and walked back towards the ship.

"What are you doing?" One of the other moving men asked as he spotted me.

"Practicing to be an errand boy, apparently," I said. "Ran into the pilot, he asked me to get him some more coffee, and…"

I shrugged and the man, Jered, sighed.

"Seriously?" He asked. "I swear, it's like they see us moving shit and something in their head goes 'Oh, hey, I'm sure they'd be happy to do whatever the hell I need right now while they're at it.'"

"Tell me about it," I said, shaking my head. "But, well, you know—he's gonna be a big name pilot when this is done."

"Probably shouldn't piss him off now," Jered agreed. "See you later, men."

I nodded and went back into the ship. Once I was inside the cockpit, I went about doing what I needed—mainly removing things entirely or replacing them with my own versions. None of the stuff involved in actually flying the thing, of course, but the security stuff? Yeah, I didn't need that.

And all the while I watched the clock. I knew Blake would be rushing this way and Adam had to be finishing up by now, but every second seemed like an eternity. Levant and Crocea Mors kept my silent company as I checked the ship, made sure everything was clear, and waited for things to finish. I'd checked before and the presentation had already gone inside; by the schedule, it'd be half an hour to an hour before passengers started getting on, but now that things were loaded, the rest of the flight crew would start funneling in soon enough, as well as people who'd probably want to get on early to get better seats for the maiden voyage. Realistically, I could probably keep it empty for another five or ten before I had to move.

That should be enough time for Adam and Blake to get here. They had their outfits if they needed them, had the plans and back up plans and everything. There was no real reason to be worried yet, especially with everything going so well, but…that was just it.

This was going too well.

Could this be the result of my improved luck? Of good planning? Of something else? Maybe. But I couldn't shake the feeling of anticipation, like something was coming, and—

Oh, that was real.

I paused as Crocea Mors and Levant turned as one, feeling their thoughts in my head. Someone had just entered the ship. I could feel them—her?—distantly through the alien senses my spirits shared with me. A steady clicking vibrated through the floor as she walked, a displacement of air that was her body. Someone small, female, but to blurry to sense more than that.

For a moment, I entertained the possibility of fortune smiling upon me and it being Blake.

I opened my scroll and asked.

The reply was almost instant.

'No.' It said and was followed a moment later by. 'There's a problem.'

Perfect.

XxXXxX