AN: sorry this took two weeks but with the last two weekends being holidays (Super Bowl and Valentine's Day) i didn't have time to type anything. We also missed three Sunday game sessions which means i ran out of plot to put up. The good news is i have been penning out a chapter 58 for Investigator Harry Steel. I have a few pages locked in and as ideas fall in line i'm adding them. At some point i'll start trying to post once a week for either this story or that one until i finish that one off, or my players give up on this one and i have to close it out.
An hour later at half past five found a big cargo ship floating through dark skies with a light ball spell lighting it's way headed to Denver. The ship was a 100 foot long, 60 foot wide, and 30 foot tall. It moved at a steady slow pace drifting along looking like it was loaded down with cargo. Unfortunately the ship was not loaded with cargo. It was a 10 foot model ship Harry made from a tree with an expansion charm on it. The black ship that appeared in the sky 5 miles off to the port side did not know that. They also didn't know Harry and Neville were approaching them at top speed under invisibility cloaks.
The ship was beautiful and sleek. It looked more like a airplane or a spaceship then a naval ship. It was flat and shaped like a broad headed spear with the tips curved down forming wings with the trailing tips acting as ailerons and a hooked beak nose. There were two small vertical wings sticking out of the top towards the back of the ship and they too were curved in. The ship was all black steel with three hooded propellers in the back lower part of the ship being fed by intake ducts. In fact the only breaks in the black steel was the small egg shaped observation deck bubble in the top of the ship and it was covered in a thick steel roof with short thick windows.
They flew under the ship and found the clamshell style doors built into the sides of the ship, two artillery gun pods that faced down in the middle of the ship on the centerline, and the cockpit which was at the front of the ship under the hooked nose overhang. There were six big windows that formed a windshield. They could see the pilot and copilot inside the cockpit. The ship was moving at a good clip and they were almost on top of the fake ship at this point. They flew up next to the decoy ship and eight gun ports opened on the side of the ship. 6 gatling guns and two breech loading artillery guns were pushed into place.
"Halt and prepare to be boarded!" A loud voice called out. To emphasize their point they fired across the deck of the fake ship with a short burst from a gatling gun.
The fake ship stopped and hovered. They came in closer until their left wing was over the deck of the fake ship. The clamshell door under the wing dropped down and extended to a ramp and 20 men dressed in mixed match cowboy attire with revolvers in hand and swords on their belts hopped off the ramp and ran around the ship looking for the crew. Harry and Neville flew into the ramp door and looked at the men. Their outfits kind of killed the pirate thing for Harry but what could you do?
When he felt Abby close by. Harry dropped the transfiguration of the fake ship and the twenty men and a log fell 200 feet to their deaths screaming all the way down. As soon as the boat vanished the cargo doors started closing so all three of them flew deeper inside the ship. Inside was a huge triangle shaped cargo bay that was 100 foot wide, 200 foot long, and 20 foot tall. The inside of the ship was steel beams and wood construction and lit like most things by magical gas lamps. It was obvious the ship was expanded on the inside and full of charms.
The cargo bay was packed with crates. There were eight men in the cargo bay standing on a balcony that housed the guns. They were shouting at each other about what just happened. Harry flew up and took them out plunging the cargo bay into silence. He landed in the middle of the cargo bay after doing a fly over to check to make sure no one was left as he flew over he found three more men coming from the staircase leading down stairs. Harry dropped them transfigured them and summoned the coins. He lowered his hood so the other two could see him and they followed his lead as they landed close by.
"I'm heading to the cockpit." Harry said pointing to the stairs at the front of the cargo bay on the right side that went down. "Nev take the observation deck." He said pointing to the stairs leading up on the left side. "Abby hold the cargo bay. There should only be 15 men left." Harry said pulling up his hood and vanishing.
He headed down the staircase off to the side and came out into a 10 foot wide hallway that ran the length of the ship which on this level was about 150 foot long. He could see 8 doors down the hall, 5 on the left and 3 on the right, across from the stairs was a door marked armory, but he was more concerned with the door at the end of the hall right next to the stairs.
The door was thick steel with heavy bolt locks, unfortunately the door was open and the two men manning the cockpit were sitting right there. The cockpit looked like the cockpit of a WWII bomber. There were two seats, two yoke style steering wheels, and a counsel in the center of the two chairs full of brass levers. Harry stunned the two men which stopped the ship from moving. They were essentially hovering 200 foot off the ground. He turned the two pilots into coins and put them in a separate pocket from the dead guys as he heard the distant sound of a flash bang going off. Neville was taking care of his guys.
He checked the rooms up and down the hall next. The first 2 doors down the hall on the right side and 3 doors on the left side were were crew bunks. Each room was 30x30 foot and had ten beds, five to a side. Each bed had a wardrobe, dresser, and foot locker. At the back of each room was a 10x30 bathroom with five toilet stalls, five sinks, and five shower stalls. The last door on the right was a big 40x70 mess hall with five tables. Four long tables and a smaller officer's table. At the back of the room was a 40x20 foot kitchen with a long range five ovens, and a huge magical walk in chiller. He found three three men dressed in kitchen whites hiding in the big walk in pantry that looked freaked out. He stunned them turned them into coins and put them in the same pocket with the pilots.
The other two doors on the left were officer's quarters. The big 40x30 foot rooms were sectioned off by walls into a 25x20 foot office with a desk with three chairs, a map table, a couch and two wingback chairs, and wall to wall bookshelves. In the corner behind the desk was a big 4 foot tall 2 foot wide 2 foot deep safe. A 10x5 foot bathroom with a sink, toilet, and shower separated the office from the 25x20 foot bedroom with a big king sized bed, dressers, a wardrobe, and a table with four chairs.
The second officer's quarters was turned into a rec room for the crew. The room was gutted and rearranged. The bathroom was pushed to the back of the room and it now had 6 toilet stalls and two sinks. The big 20x50 foot room had a full bar, two pool tables, five card tables and a player piano. Harry smirked, this room was staying.
At the end of the long main hallway was two trapdoors. Harry opened the back trap door and found the aft air to ground 2 pounder hotchkiss gun in a small 6 foot round room. The turret room was cramped with the big gun mounted to the ceiling along with the platform you stood on and the shell rack for ammo storage. The floor was built like an upside down conservatory roof. He could only imagine firing the gun in this small room was like. He closed the turret room trap door and lifted the other door. He found five very frightened men dressed in grease covered overalls in a dimly lit 50x20 foot engine room that was cramped and hot thanks to the three big magical bollers, steam turbines, and prop shafts. Harry stunned them, turned them into coins, and summoned them. He scanned the room and found no one else.
He checked the armory last. Inside the 10x20 foot room had racks of rifles, shotguns, revolvers, and swords. Half the inventory was missing but it was still impressive. Under each of the weapons racks were 6 ammo crates and the back wall was big stack of ammo crates, 10 crates high, 10 crates wide, and 5 crates deep. Between the ammo crates in this room, the ammo crates in the cargo bay, and all the ammo they got from the other two jobs they did Harry was sure they never had to worry about ammo ever again. Next to the door to the room was a trapdoor to the front air to ground gun. The turret pod was set up like the aft pod but this one had a belt fed 5 barrel rotating 37mm hotchkiss gun. Abby came down the stairs with her hood down.
"We're all clear Harry. What now?" Abby asked.
"Now we question the pilots, cooks, and engineers." Harry said leading her up to the cargo bay where he found Neville. How many did you get?"
"11 and the captain, you?" Neville asked handing over the coins.
"10 prisoners but no hostels. That brings the count up to 42 and captain Jack." Harry said as he made ten chairs and tied the two pilots, three cooks, and five engineers to them.
He woke each one up and got their story. In each case it was the same story. Each man was crew on a ship Captain Jack hit. He gave them a choice, join the crew or die. In every case they chose to live and serve. In every case they were treated like slaves and beaten until they complied with the orders given. The cooks were lead by a french man named John Philippe Perrot "call me Phil" he and his two cooks came from a luxury cruise ship. They were captured a year and a half ago. The engineers were a family that came from a cargo ship their spokesmen was the boy's father William Young 42 his four sons were 22,21,20, and 19. They had been on the nightwolf for two years. The pilots were 24 year old twin brothers Tommy and Bobby Newton that came from a private yacht that also lost to the nightwolf. They were with the crew for three years and at this point they just followed orders. All of them had some magic and in both families cases these were the only family members they had left. Harry looked each man in the eye and one by one he nodded his head.
"I can see all of you were slaves taken against your will. You have two options, take a small cut of the reward money and be on your way or stay on and you'll be given quarters both on the ship and on the ground and you'll be paid $3,000 a year with $1,000 in back pay and days off. In the down time when the ship is not flying you'll be free to do as you like with your time." Harry said.
One by one they all joined. Harry sent the cooks back to their rooms and told them to hang tight. He sent the pilot's back to the cockpit and and the engineers back to the engine room told them to head to the edge of town and wait for him. Harry flew down and collected the dead bodies of the crew and flew back to the marshal's office. He dropped off the crew of the nightwolf at the marshal's office and Walter just laughed.
"My God Harry. You guys work fast!" He said.
"We try. Also we get lucky. Half the crew walked into a trap. The other half were quickly taken care of. The count is 42 and captain Jack. Also on the ship we found three cooks, two pilots, and five engineers that were being held captive. We also have the ship, intact, and still flying. I think we're going to keep the ship and use it as a support ship and transport. If you ever need air support we'll be there to back you up. We could have used it last week to pick you guys up or the army and we could have squashed that crime wave in one day. But at the moment the huge cargo bay is full of crates. It's going to be a week of cleaning it out before we can even use it. We're going to get this crazy Jack Digger guy next and then we're going to head home. Is there anyone else in Dove Valley we should grab?" Harry asked.
"Yeah, all of them. The town is a hub of crime. Of the 150 people in that town I bet 148 of them are the worst criminals in the state and the other two are trying to be the worst criminals in the state. If it was up to me I'd fire bomb the town and let god sort them out. If you grabbed any ten guys off the streets and we ran their names over the wire we'd come back with warrants for all of them. You guys did more than enough. Just leave that one be. It's not worth the money to even try." Walter said.
"If that's the case then we'll hit the town early tomorrow morning and head home now. We're way too tired to arrest all those guys tonight." Harry said letting the the stress and power drain of the day seep in. He reached into his bag and pulled out the flask of Highland Park 25 year old scotch. He took a deep swig and lit a small cigar. He offered the flask to Walter who took a drink.
"You think you clean out the whole town?" Walter asked.
"We can, we just need to be full power. I'm guessing the residents of Dove Valley are not morning people?" Harry asked.
"Wild parties every night. The town is dead during the day, but the second you fire a shot in that town you're fucked." Walter said.
"We're not planning on shooting anyone we don't have to. I'll see you tomorrow." Harry said standing.
"Yeah, I should have the payment for the Baker gang and Rawlings and his boys for you by the morning. Gold coins right?" Walter said.
"If you can, paper cash if you have to. I don't trust it." Harry said walking out.
He flew up to the ship which was hovering outside of town and once he was on board he sat in the cockpit with the pilots.
"Boys I need the facts on this here ship. How fast can she go?" Harry asked.
"Packed to the brim like she is now? We've done 350 miles and hour. But empty I bet she could do 425, maybe more. The ship is lightened to almost nothing. The only weight she has is the cargo and the crew she carries. Empty she's got the potential to be very fast. With the three big steam props pushing full power I bet she tops out at 450." Tommy said.
"Maybe more if the magical steam engines were cleaned and maintained better, it's something Will has been asking the captain for down time to do the job for weeks." Bobby said.
"Good to know. Can she land or just hover like the boat style ships?" Harry asked.
"She can land. She has three legs that fold out." Bobby said.
"Good, land by that flat bit of road and shut her down. Then go get your things. We're going to shrink the ship and portkey back to town. Tell the rest of the crew we're leaving." Harry said.
"Yes Captain." Tommy said taking the ship off hover and taking them down. Bobby lowered the landing gear and Tommy set them down with barely a bump Harry patted them on the back as they shut down the ship.
"Good job boys." Harry said.
Harry cleaned out the armory by shrinking everything and putting it in his bag. When they all got off the ship Harry waved at the big black ship and shrank it by 100 times its size making the ship 18 inches long which shocked the crew of the ship. He held out the portkey and they all vanished. They landed in the marshal's office and Harry lead them to Sam's bar. He handed each man $100 in $5 coins and handed Sam the bartender the same thing.
"Sam these are my crew, you make sure they have a good meal and enough to drink before they head off to bed. Boys don't stay up too late or drink too much tonight, we have a job in the morning but after that you'll be paid and you'll be free to explore the town." Harry said patting the men on the back.
They headed out to the farm and saw Hermione, Alice, Kate, and her guys working on what had to be the last king snake. Harry expanded the ship in the field and took a look around the cargo bay to see what they had. From the labels on some of the crates Harry found weapons, ammo, leather, furs, cloth, ivory, dragon hide, claws, and bones and magical things like potion ingredients, and enchantment tools. 25 pound bars of gold, silver, lead, steel, and brass. But most of all food. Lots and lots of food.
As he walked around the cargo bay he got a feel for the organisation of it all. The front half of the cargo bay was all food. The crates were left open so the cook staff had access to it. There were stacks of big 50 pound sacks of flour, rice, cornmeal, black beans, coffee beans, sugar, and salt. They also had smaller sacks with other spices like black pepper, turmeric, and dried garlic. In big crates under preservation charms they had potatoes, onions, carrots, turnips, apples, pears, bananas, oranges, lemons, limes, bell peppers, and chillies. In smaller crates under cold charms they had eggs, bottles of milk, cheese wheels, blocks of butter, and dozens of crates of meat. They had crates of wine bottles, crates of whiskey, and big kegs of beer. At first Harry was confused by the amount of food and then he thought about it. There were 53 men on the ship. That was 53 hungry mouths to feed everyday three times a day. That was 159 plates a day.
Harry packed up the bars of metal, a few bolts of cloth, leather, fur, and all the dragon parts along with the huge crate of elephant ivory tusks. He also took the crates of guns and all the small arms ammo but he made sure to leave any crates with artillery rounds and the belts of .45-70 for the gatling guns. He had Abby check the charms on the food.
"These are good charms Harry. This stuff will keep for years like this." She said.
"Good we can keep this on the ship for now." Harry said taking a few sacks full of fruit, vegetables, and dairy. He shrank the ship and helped them gather all the rest of the trunks full of dragon and king snake. They made it back to the cube at 8 and Harry was so tired he just dumped all the things he got in the storage room before heading off to bed.
The next morning at nine Harry, Neville, Abby, and the crew minus the cooks portkeyed back to Denver. They traveled outside the city and Harry expanded the ship. They got on and flew to Dove Valley just a few dozen miles south of the city walls. Harry had william and his sons man the air to ground guns and he had the twins fly in low over the town with the ship cloaked. Neville gave them his phone and they kept the line open.
Harry, Neville and Abby flew down to the town under their cloaks and set up the ward stones around the outer wall. Then they landed at the back of town. They walked into the first building which was a small shack house and found a man and woman in bed. Harry stunned the two of then, bound their hands with rope and turned them into coins as Neville and Abby searched the house. They repeated this process for the hour as they made their way to the front gate.
In the end they didn't have to kill anyone and they had 158 prisoners for the marshal's to sort out as well as the town to sack. Harry summoned all money and coins in the town as well as the guns and ammo. They came away with a huge haul. They landed the nightwolf and shrank it. Harry sent them back to Eureka with the shrunken ship and took the prisoners to the Marshal's office.
When Walter saw him he laughed and shook his head. His laughter died in his throat as Harry started dropping the transfigurations on the coins. The marshals scrambled to get the prisoners into the four big cells and the big cage they had in the office. It would take them a week for the marshal's process, and look up these men and women.
"Fuck Harry, you weren't kidding when you said you were going to arrest the whole town." Walter said handing him a very heavy canvas bank bag full of gold coins. "The reward for the Baker gang and Rawlings and his men. $28,200 or 564 gold $50 coins. I counted them myself. It was fun to play with that many gold coins. It's enough gold to buy a city block full of houses and it's half of what we owe you." Walter said.
"Well to make up for the loss of four really high value bounties you now control the town of Dove Valley and anything still inside the town. Here's all the coins we took from the town." Harry said with a smirk handing over the magically expanded bag full of coins. "Wait." Harry said summoning 27 gold $50 coins out of the bag. "I love these things." Harry said tossing the coins into the bank bag.
"Great." Walter said sarcastically looking at the big sack of mostly $1 coins and change.
"On a serious note I want you to take a look at this gun." Harry said handing him his model 1 off his belt.
"Would you look a that! That's a nice gun. Where did you get it?" Walter asked.
"I made it. It's the B&S model 1 in .38 extra long. That's 9 shots of hard hitting magical smokeless .38 XL and one magical 20 gauge buck and ball shotgun shell. The gun is double action with a nice 5 pound trigger pull in double action and a 3 pound trigger in single action. It's enchanted to never break, shoot straight, and eject the spent shells when you break it open. Gold filled engravings and those are dragon claw handles. You like it?" Harry asked.
"I do. This gun is great." Walter said.
"I'm giving you and your men one of those guns each, for free along with a king snake vest like the ones we wear. This vest will stop any normal bullet or blade and most enchanted ones, it also stops spells. Each man will get a gun, six speed loaders, a loading tray, gun belt, and vest." Harry said.
"No shit?" Walter asked still looking at the gun in his hand.
"No shit. We plan on having the guns ready to hand out in a few weeks." Harry said.
"And you're just giving these to us?" Walter asked.
"We are, it's a way to better equip the Marshals in big cities like this one and a way to get the guns out there for the public to see them. We plan on selling that gun you're holding in your hand for about $150. We can also outfit any 44-40 winchester rifles you have to take the .38XL ammo we make. The bullets will go for $2.50 for a box of 50. But for law officers we'll be selling boxes of 50 rounds for $1 which is just about cost. We can also expand the magazine tubes on the winchester rifles to hold 140 rounds. Never run out of ammo in a gunfight again. We'd love to have you and a few of your men stop by Eureka to test out the guns in a week or two." Harry said.
"I would love to test this gun out." Walter said reluctantly handing the gun back to Harry.
"We also have two other guns we made. The B&S Model 2, and the Model 3." Harry said handing Walter the model 2 from his shoulder rig and the model 3 from his coat pocket.
"Where's the loading gate?" Walter asked looking at the gun.
"You pull this little nub over and the cylinder swings out." Harry said showing him how it worked.
"Wow. now that's new." Walter said looking at the model 2.
"Both guns take the .38XL but of course you could load them with .38 long colt or .38 short if you wanted to. 8 shots in the model 2 and 6 in the model 3. We're going to offer the model 2s with 2 different barrel lengths, 6 inches and 3 inches. The model 3s only come in the 2 inch barrel for pocket carry. And as always Marshals get a discount." Harry said.
"How much would one of these little model 3s with the engraving and nice wood handles cost?" Walter asked slipping the small gun into his jacket pocket to test the fit.
"We're starting the base model 3s with no engravings and plane wood handles at $65, the six speed loaders and loading tray kit is going to cost $20 dollars more. But like I said for Marshal's you get the gun at half price. So for a gun and kit your looking at $85. If you want something more fancy the price goes up from there. The same with the model 2s. They are going to start at $75. That gun you're holding with the engraving and the finger groove wood handles would go for about $105. Or $52.50 for you." Harry said taking his two guns back.
"I might buy one of each. Maybe get a holster set up like you got with the cross draw." Walter said.
"Give us a week or two to get some guns made and then we'll talk. For now here. Take my model 3 and a few speed loaders." Harry said handing the gun back to walter along with six speed loaders from his coat.
"How much?" Walter asked pulling a leather money bag out of his pocket.
"On the house. Have fun and don't shoot yourself." Harry said as he stood up.
"Thank you Harry!" Walter said looking at the fancy model 3.
"Thank's for doing the leg work on all these bounties for me. If any of those criminals have bounties we'll split it with you and your men. You guys have the shit job of sorting through all of this." Harry said.
"That's very generous of you Harry. It will light a fire under my boys keysters." Walter said.
Harry portkeyed back to Eureka by noon and found his family sorting through all the shit they got in the last two days.
"Harry we have to do something about the guns. We're running out of space to store them. And the ammo to. What are we going to do with all this black powder ammo? We have so much .44-40, .45lc, and .45 S&W. We also have 150 crates of .45-70." Hermione said.
"I can turn all that bulk ammo into .38XL shell casings and bullet heads. Smith uses the black powder to make his smokeless gunpowder and if we can't sell all the guns we'll start melting them down to steel ingots and wood grips for the B&S guns. In fact I've still got some gas in the tank I can take care of the ammo, swords, and any gun that's totally junk right now. I can also make the first order of 150 Model 1s for the marshal's today but then I'm out for the count." Harry said.
"We'll have Smith sort through all the guns and dump a pile of guns in your study. For now why don't you make lunch?" Hermione said.
"And I can make the 50 Model 2s with the 6 inch weighted barrels for the sheriff's. I think we should start making a few hundred model 1,2, and 3. Just with the regular engravings. We can put the guns together and add the grips later as people buy the guns. We also have to go back and number the guns." Neville said.
"You think you have the spell down well enough to add gold engravings?" Harry asked.
"No, but Smith hand engraved his Model 2 with a 6 inch barrel and I like the look of his work and the Model 3 has the colt factory engravings so I just have to copy your work I'll leave the grips up to you." Neville said.
"Good thinking. But I must say you are coming along with the spell." Harry said patting his brother on the back as he walked out of the room to start on lunch which was steak chili with cornbread.
After lunch Harry and Neville retired to Harry's study where the couch was shrank and the floor space was taken up with crates of ammo, piles of swords and old junk guns, and bars of gold, silver, and lead. Harry started off by turning the 80 crates of .45lc, 56 crates of .44-40, 36 crates of .44 S&W ammo, and the huge pile of loose ammo they had on hand into thirty 50 pound kegs of black powder, 480 lead bars, 410 brass bars and 6 bigger kegs full of 458,000 primers. He turned 125 brass bars and most of the primers into 312,500 .38XL shell casings with primers in six big 160 liter kegs marked .38XL. He turned 200 lead bars and 25 brass bars into 312,500 brass jacketed 150 grain bullet heads and put them in four big keg marked .38XL.
Harry waved his wand at the 150 crates of .45-70 and split up the shell casings into 6 big kegs marked .45-70 put the black powder into thirty 50 pound kegs, and he turned the lead bullet heads into 388 lead 25 pound bars. The last thing he did was turn 374 lead bars and 12 brass bars into 250,000 brass jacketed 300 grain bullet heads he put in 5 big kegs marked .45-70.
Next he turned the 338 revolvers and the big pile of junk swords into 156 steel bars and 375 thick wood handle scales.
"Fuck Harry, you really have that spell down." Neville said.
"Oh all that was easy. It's the copying the parts that's hard. That's a lot of little parts and you have to cast the spell a bunch of time. It's not how much work you do with the spell it's how many times you cast it. All that work I did with the ammo was only four spells. To make a model 1 takes 57 spells. It doesn't matter if I'm making 1 copy or 1,000 copies. It's almost the same amount of magic it just takes more concentration." Harry said flexing his neck and jaw.
"I didn't know that. When did you figure it out?" Neville asked.
"Just now. I mean I've been thinking about it for a while but all that ammo I just made confirmed it for me. It took almost the same amount of power to make 312,500 .38XL shells as it did to make 2,500." Harry said.
"Well in that case make 500 copies of the Model one with gold engravings. Or make 500 frames, barrels, and cylinders with gold engravings and 500 frames, barrels, and cylinders with regular engravings and copy the internal parts in batches of 1,000." Neville said.
"You know, that's not a bad idea. For the cost of 65 spells we could have 1,000 guns. It's going to take a shit load of steel. We're going to need to get more from storage if I'm going to do this. It takes three 25 pound bars to make 25 model 1s. That's what, 120 steel bars?" Harry said in a questioning manner.
"Yes?" Neville said his voice trailing up as he said it.
"You know, when we were training to be the best killers in the world we took two different paths. I went with stealth, you went with power. Nether one of us put any time into learning book smarts. One day that's going to catch up to us." Harry said.
"It wasn't our jobs. It was my wife's job to be the brains. Our job is to follow orders and kill. Her job is to tell us who to kill and give us things to help us not die." Neville said with a shrug. Harry smiled. He was not that smart but he knew he was smarter then Neville. But he loved the way his brother made peace with his dumbness. He married a woman three times smarter than he was and she did the thinking for him.
"I think I'm right but we better grab 300 bars just to be safe. I'll make 1,500 internal parts, 250 plane janes, 750 engraved, and 500 gold filled engraved. We'll deal with grips later. As it is, it's going to take a while to put all these guns together." Harry said walking out of the room with Neville to get more steel.
"We better grab 450 bars, I have to make the Model 2s remember." Neville said.
"Good thinking. Lets just take this whole trunk." Harry said grabbing a trunk full of 1,000 shrunken 25 pound steel bars.
"Gold too." Neville said grabbing 10 shrunken gold bars.
For the next hour the two brothers sat in the silent study making gun parts by the crate load. By three they had 1,500 model 1s and 2,000 model 2s, 1,500 6 inch guns, and 500 3 inch guns. All of the model 2s were engraved and 500 of the 6 inch Model 2s had gold inlay. The group and Smith sat around the dinner table for a few hours putting guns together. With five of them working they were really moving, especially the boys. With Smith's gun smithing skills and Harry and Neville knowing where each part went by heart thanks to the copying process they were able to build 15 Model 2s an hour each. But the girls were no slouches. They stuck with the model 1s and they averaged 10 guns an hour each.
Harry called it quits at six to start dinner. That night they were having red wine marinated dragon pot roast with potatoes, carrots, and onions again. It was everyone's favorite and when they did finely run out of dragon meat Harry was sure Abby, Hermione, and Alice would make the boys track down another dragon just for the pot roast. Harry got the roast in the oven and came back out to keep working. By the time dinner was served at half past seven they had 200 model 2s and 100 model 1s in crates of 50. None of the guns had grips but as soon as they started handing them out they would add grips. They had dinner and after the meal Harry and Neville helped Smith get all the barrels of black powder, shell casings, and bullet heads back to his shop.
"Oh, before I forget, when is the next time you're heading to Salt Lake city?" Smith asked.
"I think I'm going tomorrow, we have to get the mail. Why?" Harry asked.
"Would you mind taking me with you and letting me borrow your broom and a portkey?" Smith asked.
"An odd request, what's going on?" Harry asked.
"Now that this company is looking like a good solid reality I wanted to bring my sister in law and her three boys to Eureka. My nephews are in their late teens and they are breaking their backs farming out in the open. They live in Idaho Falls, Idaho. It's a small city but their maine export is food. They farm the land around the town and my nephews are out there planting and picking crops. One day a pack of fucking spiders or wolves are going to attack then and they're going to end up fucking dead. That's how my brother died. A big ass spider got him eight years ago. As it is they're just getting by. I've offered them a chance to come live with me a few times but running a small gun shop in a small town means I wasn't really raking the cash in either. And as dangerous as farming is it's a lot safer than mining. But now that I have some cash I want to bring them over. I figured I could portkey to the city with you and fly out to Idaho Falls and convince them in person. It's been a few years since I've seen them. I figured I can show them a bag of gold coins and get them to come over. I can put them up in the inn for a few days and then buy the house by the farm that's for sale. It's only $1,200 and I have that. I have way more than that thanks to you and your family. I can have the boys help me in the shop. They can reload all that .38XL and .45-70 ammo." Smith said.
"How far is Idaho Falls from Salt Lake?" Harry asked.
"About 200 miles north. But on your broom that's like an hour." Smith said.
"Have you ever flown that fast?" Harry asked.
"No, but how hard can it be? It's just three times faster than my cleansweep." Smith said with a smirk.
"Right. You see those are famous last words if I ever heard any. How about this. I'll head to the city at ten like I normally do, get the mail and do anything I have to in the city and then you port over with the crew and the nightwolf and we'll fly to Idaho Falls and go get your family. It's not like they can say no if you show up in a 150 foot long war bird right?" Harry asked.
"Hey, that's not a bad idea." Smith said. "Would you really let me borrow your ship for this?" Smith asked.
"I offered didn't I? Now get some sleep, I'll go tell my crew what's going on. You said there were houses for sale?" Harry asked.
"Yeah, there are like five on the main road in the back of town close to the farm. They're a bit run down and small but fixable. With some cleaning charms, repair charms, and some new furniture they would make a great home." Smith said.
"I'll tell you what, I'll take a look at them and maybe I'll buy all of them and fix them up. I won't live in there, I'm not leaving my cube but they can house my crew and B&S workers for free. You said you wanna hire the boys. I'm willing to pay them $5 a day to act as your shop assistants. I'll even cover the cost of moving them here." Harry said.
"Harry, thank you." Smith said looking emotional as he pulled him into a hug.
"It's the least I can do. We're business partners and friends. I'll call Abby and she can round up the crew and you when I'm done in the city." Harry said.
Harry headed off to Sam's place and talked to the twins and William about making the flight and the houses.
"You know Harry, we can live on the ship right?" Tommy said.
"I know, but I want to make Eureka a home base for the ship. A place where you guys can call home. I'm sure there will be a time when we'll have to live on the ship. But for now let's settle down a bit." Harry said.
Harry made a trip to the back of the town and looked at the houses. They were, for the most part run down small one family houses with two or three bedrooms. They needed work but they would be nice. Harry told Abby about what they were doing tomorrow before sitting in his study and working on guns for another two hours before Abby called him to bed.
The next morning Harry made the trip to Salt Lake. He got the mail, dropped off the portkey anchor for Denver, and talked to Chuck about outfitting his men with the Model 1s and converting their rifles. He gave him a nice Model 3 with engravings and finger grooved wood grips and 6 speed loaders like he gave Walter the day before. From there he flew outside the city and called Abby. She portkeyed over with the ship, the twins, Will and his oldest son Steven, and Smith who was dressed in a new black suit, top hat, boots, King Snake vest, and a fur lined dragon hide long coat.
"Dressed in your Sunday best Smith?" Harry asked with a smirk as he expanded the ship.
"Trying to show I have the means to support my sister in law and my nephews. Is it too much?" Smith asked taking off the top hat.
"Harry leave Smith alone. I helped him pick out this look. You look good Smith. Don't listen to Harry. He's a dick." Abby said adjusting Smith's silk tie.
"Thank's Abby." Smith said.
"I'm just fucking with you. You look good. Like old money good. But you're missing something." Harry said pulling a black double gun belt out with two gold engraved model 1's. The guns had dragon claw grips with gold B&S logs. "There, now you're representing the company right." Harry said patting him on the back.
"Thank's Harry." Smith said looking touched.
"Family sticks together." Harry said with a smirk as he sent them on their way before popping over to Denver.
"Harry! Good to see you on this fine morning." Walter said with a big smile.
"Why the hell are you so chipper?" Harry asked.
"We processed about a fourth of the prisoners you brought in yesterday and so far the bounty total is up to $62,000 and we get half of that. If the count keeps going we're looking at about $230,000. Half of that is $115,000 split between my men evenly it's about $2,300 in free money. That's almost what we make in a year. On top of that the bag you gave me yesterday had $9,000 that's $180 a man for free. As an added bonus I told them about the guns and they all got a look at my Model 3. I got to shoot it yesterday by the way. It's great! My boys are happy, I'm happy." Walter said sitting back in his chair with a big grin.
"Wow, you're this happy for $2,300. I'll tell you what, you can keep three quarters of the bounties from Dove Valley. That's… like $173,000 or like $3,400 a man I think." Harry said.
"Really? That's very generous of you Harry!" Walter said.
"It's nothing. Besides if you and your boys have extra cash then you have money to buy my guns." Harry said laughing.
"I know you have at least a few customers. My boys really like the Model 3." Walter said taking out the gun and looking at it.
"Great. We just got started on production of the Model 1's for your men yesterday." Harry said.
"Oh, before I forget. This is yours." Walter said handing him a big bank bag. "$26,000 for Captain Jack and his crew and Crazy Jack and his six men. 520 Gold $50 coins." He said.
"Thank you. I'm going to have a few test days for Marshal's soon. Maybe as soon as the end of the week. We'll do a few days so you can send half you men at a time to not leave your office empty. We'll have targets set up and a few test guns for your men to try out. I think by Monday we should be able to do a vest fitting for your men and hand out guns." Harry said.
"I'm looking forward to it." Walter said as Harry stood up.
"I'll stop by and give you the details." Harry said.
Harry portkeyed to the ship and checked in with the twins.
"How far out are we boys?" Harry asked.
"We're close, we're about fifteen minutes out." Tommy said.
"Good job, call me when we get close. I'll head out and greet the town Marshal. Don't uncloak and land until I call you." Harry said.
"Yes Captain." They both said.
Harry found Abby and Smith looking through the crates in the cargo bay. It looked like they were making new piles.
"Whatcha doin?" Harry asked.
"Separating the junk from the good stuff. Captain Jack had some good taste. He has silk cloth and valuable things like this crate is full of small jade and ivory statues. But mixed in between crates like this are crates like that. That's a big crate of surplus union army boots. It's leather and that's about all it's good for. We found a crate full of looted jewelry. We also found a crate full of table flatware. Again it's good to melt down for the silver and steel but it's a huge crate of junk. I have a feeling that for every crate of gold and silver we find there is a crate of just junk it's worked out so far. Also I found a second safe and it's heavy. We have to crack these safes we have three of them now and we don't know what's in them." Abby said.
"Well good luck with that, I'm headed down to talk to the marshal before we uncloak the ship and land." Harry said walking over to the door and hitting the button to lower the ramp. The cold wind came rushing into the cargo bay. Harry waited until the door was down before hitting the button again to close it and flying out as the door closed.
Harry spotted the town a few miles away. The town was about three square miles in size and shaped like a circle with a big stone wall. It was built around the river with the river flowing through the center of town. Around the small city was miles of fenced off farm land with 12 watchtowers. Most of the fields were covered in a light dusting of snow and the watch towers were unmanned. From the size of the city and the number of houses, Harry figured there were about half as many people in this city then Salt Lake. Probable 250,000-300,000 give or take. Harry approached the front gate watch tower being manned by a sheriff's deputy in a heavy coat.
"Hello. I'm Marshal Harry Steel from Eureka Nevada." Harry said pulling back his coat to show off his star by way of greeting as he hovered close to the tower outside the gate.
"Good morning Marshal, what can I do for you?" The man asked.
"I came by to introduce myself to your town Marshal and ask permission to land my ship nearby. It's the polite thing to do. Also I think you have wolves out by your southern fence." Harry said waving behind him.
"Did you see them?" The deputy asked looking more alert.
"No but I can feel them. They must be hiding in the tall brush." Harry said facing the south fence.
"You can feel them?" He asked.
"Yes, I have a passive magical scan going. I do it so often it's second nature to me. I can sense the wolves. It's a big pack. 9, no 10 of them. Big." Harry said.
"Shit I have to call the marshal and round up the hunting party!" The deputy said.
"No need, I'll take care of it, but do call the marshal if you can and tell him I'll be round to see him in a bit." Harry said pulling his winchester from his bag and flying away.
It took a few minutes to find the pack and just a minute to take them out. Harry summoned the big wolves and floated them to the gate. When he got there an older man with a push broom mustache and cold grey eyes was standing by the front gate with a rifle in hand. He was dressed in black with a long leather duster and wide brimmed hat. He had his silver star on his coat and a cheek full of chewing tobacco.
"I found your problem." Harry said with a grin as he landed.
"That you did son. The deputy tells me you're a Marshal?" The old man asked in a deep but clear voice.
"I am, Deputy Marshal Harry Steel out of Eureka Nevada. I'm here escorting a friend and I thought it would be polite of me to call ahead and ask permission to lank my airship." Harry said walking closer and shaking the old man's hand. The old man had a tight grip and even though he was old and thin his was not frail.
"Well it's good to meet you Marshal Steel. I'm Head Marshal David Ross." The man said.
"Marshal would you like these kills? Dire wolf don't look like much but the fur makes a good coat lining and the meat make for a good stew." Harry asked.
"No son, you can keep those. Also you can land your ship out here in the field if you like. We don't have an airship dock." Ross said scanning the skies for the ship.
"Thank you kindly. I'll tell my men to land." Harry said turning the huge wolves into coins and putting them in his pocket before pulling out his phone. "Abby tell the boys to land right here in the field by the front gate but not blocking it." Harry said.
"Right Harry." She said back before the ship dropped cloaking scaring the marshal. The nightwolf dropped in low and landed off to the side of the front door and opened the right side door. Abby, Smith, the twins, William, and his son Steven walked off the ship before the doors closed
"YOu have a warship?" Ross asked.
"I do, I just got her. Took her off a band of pirates. Marshal I'd like you to meet my wife and deputy marshal Abby Steel." Harry said as Abby walked over with the group.
"Good to meet Ma'am." Ross said taking her hand.
"You as well Marshal. You have a lovely city here. Lots of farm land. We live in a rocky desert." Abby said.
"Farming is our main export." Ross said.
"Excuse me Marshal, would you happen to know where I can find the Hoopers? Doris and her three boys?" Smith asked.
"They live above the Dodson's general store on main street about three blocks down. They in some kind of trouble?" Ross asked.
"Not at all, she's my sister in law. I'm here for a visit and to offer the boys jobs in my shop. Now if you'll excuse me I'll be off." Smith said tipping his hat and walking through the open front gate.
"Harry we were wondering if we can get our pay so we can do a bit of shopping in town?" Bobby asked but his brother and Steven both nodded.
"Sure boys, you want it all now or just some spending money?" Harry asked pulling out his money bag.
"Some spending cash for now." Tommy said.
"Okay, here is $200 a piece. Don't spend it all in one place and we're not going to be here all day we're just stopping by to pick up Smith's family then we're going to portkey home." Harry said handing each of them 8 $25 coins each.
"We just want to look around a bit." Tommy said.
"You all have your guns right?" Harry asked and they all pulled back their long leather coats to show off the gun belts with Model 2s.
"You're boys won't be needing those. We have a pretty safe city." Ross said walking inside the city with Harry and Abby.
"I have no doubt but as you well know Marshal anything can happen out here in the wild west. Speaking of guns, how many marshal's do you have under your command?" Harry asked.
"I have 34 deputies. Why?" Ross asked.
"My brother and I have a firearms company we're trying to get off the ground and one of the ways we're promoting our guns is by giving local marshals free guns." Harry said.
"You don't say?" Ross said looking interested and Harry smirked.
Harry and Abby followed Ross back to his office giving him the sales pitch and showing off the model 1 Harry had on his belt. Ross like everyone they showed the gun to was impressed. And Harry made a set of portkeys to and from Eureka for Marshal Ross as well as a set for Salt Lake and Denver. After the meeting they walked around the city for a bit before spotting Smith walking down the street to the front gate with a pretty but worn looking woman and three older boys that shared Smith's tall thin frame but had their mother's light brown hair.
"Hey Smith." Harry called out as they approached the group.
"Harry! I want you to meet Doris Hooper and her boys Eddy, Fredy, and Donny. I was just going to show Doris and her boys your airship." Smith said.
"It's good to meet you all. I'm Harry Steel and this is my wife Abby." Harry said shaking their hands.
"It's good to meet you. Is it true you're going to pay my boys $5 a day to work for you?" Doris asked as they continued to walk.
"It is. We have so much work to do getting our firearms company off the ground and your boys would help lighten the load. We have ammo to reload, guns to build, and later on we're going to need salesmen. We are also providing housing for our employees and as soon as I get the houses up and running we're going to have our chef cooking for our group. The houses are a bit of a mess at the moment but it's nothing a few spells can't fix. We will also be covering the cost of your move as well and the boys will get a $100 contract bonus. And the work is not just for them we can find you a job to fit your skills as well Ma'am, if you would like?" Harry said.
"That's most generous of you." Doris said looking shocked.
"It was all Smith's idea. He's the one to suggest his nephews for the jobs and he was the one to give me the idea of buy houses for our workers." Harry said as they walked out of the front gate and the saw the war ship.
"My god." Doris said.
"Yes she is something isn't she? I'd give you the grand tour but she's full of junk at the moment. We're still cleaning her out." Harry said.
"You know Harry, the ship might be a good place to do production? Think about it. We can house our workers in the crew bunks and we can set up production in the cargo bay. They can take meals in the mess hall and take time off in the crew lounge. Then we don't have to buy houses. We can also go from town to town selling guns right out of the ship. A war ship for war guns." Smith said.
"It's a thought but I want the houses. We can always set up a small shack with an expansion charm and set up shop in there. Let's save the ship for in case we need her. If production gets bigger then a few people and we don't use the nightwolf for anything in the next few months we'll do that, but as it is it's kind of a waist of a perfectly good war ship." Harry said.
It didn't take much time to convince Doris and her boys to leaving Idaho Falls. It took even less time to pack, they had very little in the way of things. In fact the bulk of their furniture was provided with the apartment and was staying. They each had a few changes of work clothes, two nicers outfits, and a few small knick knacks. All of it fit into an expanded trunk. Harry found his crew. The twins were in the bar and WIlliam and his boy were in the hardware store buying a bag of bolts and nuts. They shrank the ship and portkeyed back to Eureka.
Harry stopped off in the bank and with $5,750 he was the 'proud' owner of five junky houses at the end of main street close to the farm. He went into the biggest house which had three small bedrooms and hit the house with some overpowered repair spells and cleaning charms taking the house back to almost new. Next he went through and hit each room with an expansion charm. He turned the three 8x10 bedrooms into 40x50 foot rooms. He pulled out the trunk full of shrunken and stripped pine trees and using the goblin spell he made walls and doors. He turned each bedroom into a four bedroom two bathroom apartment with a living room/kitchen area. He expanded the big 10x15 foot living room to 50x75 foot room and separated the room into six bedrooms, three bathrooms, a big dining room, and a living room. He expanded the kitchen a bit as well to give his three cooks some space. He portkeyed to Salt lake and bought eleven magical toilets, sinks, and bathtubs with showerheads. He also bought a big walk in chiller and a big eight burner magical range with three ovens. By four the house was ready and Harry showed it off to his crew and Doris and her boys. Harry helped them all move in and that night they were treated to dinner of pan seared lamb chops on a bed of mashed potatoes and asparagus with a horseradish dressing served with fresh buttery rolls and a nice red wine cooked by Jon Philip and his boys.
"The meal was great guys, thank you." Harry said sitting back in his seat at the head of the table, a spot he was pushed into when they walked into the room.
"This was nothing! A test of the range and ovens. In two days we make a Thanksgiving feast! I have the turkeys brining for a week! It will be quite a waste now that I think about it. We have ten big birds waiting to cook." Jon Philip said in a thick French accent.
"Can you make all of them and sides for a whole town?" Harry asked.
"Oui! How many people were you planning?" He asked.
"I'm not sure I would have to do a head count but I know there are folks in town that can't cook for themselves. If you have the birds all ready to go why not make them and invite those that can't cook or people without a family to share the meal to our table. Well not this table but somewhere. Ten turkeys will feed how many people?" Harry asked.
"8-9 people a bird. Call it 85 people. I always over make. If we ran out of meat… the captain and his crew were not nice. We made a lot of stews and soups from the left overs."Jon Philip said looking haunted. All of the crew did.
"Well then lucky for us we'll have enough for a good sized group of people. We'll make a few ducks and chickens too. We'll make enough to feed a 150 people. We'll set up a big table and invite folks." Harry said.
"We can use the cargo bay if we clear it out of most of the junk. We can leave the food in the front." Abby said.
"Yes, it will be easier to cook on the ship as well. We'll set up on the farm by the gate. Invite Kate and her family so she doesn't have to cook. Can you boys handle that number? I can help. I normally cook for the family." Harry said.
"We can handle it, but an extra set of hands is welcome of course." Jon Philip said.
"Good we'll spend tomorrow getting furniture for the house and cleaning out the ship. For tonight there are transfigured beds in the rooms. In the morning we'll make a trip to Salt Lake and do a furniture shopping trip. You will all be given $150 to furnish your rooms. Also I'll have the money I owe you in the morning." Harry said.
"Thank you Captain." The twins and the engineers said.
"You know you don't have to call me that. Harry is good." Harry said. The twins shared a smirk.
"Yes Boss." They said.
"I'm going to regret keeping you two on." Harry said with a smile.
The next morning Harry escorted the group to Salt Lake at nine. By noon they were done setting up the house. Harry joined Abby, Hermione, and Neville clearing out the ship. In the end they had a lot of junk and a lot of good stuff. They now had a expanded trunk full of bolts of cloth of all kinds. They also had jade, ivory, bronze, and crystal statues, works of art, bone china, silverware, crystal stemware and crates full of jewelry. They also found three more small safes and four lockboxes with magical locks in the crates. They found shipments of leather, crates of books, and stuffed animals ranging from lions and tigers to a hippogriff, and a King Snake head. Luxury items like tins of tea, tins of tobacco, and 'pharmaceutical' drugs like heroin, cocaine, and opium. They also found magical items like potion ingredients, cauldrons, scrying crystals, and gate stones which were old outdated paired portkeys.
Not all of it was good, in fact more than half of it was junk. They found crates of boots, army uniforms, clothes, wood, wagon wheels, crappy furniture, rusty tools, crates of chains and ropes, Garden sculptures, boxes with rusty gears and cogs. It was a shit show. More than half the junk they found was shit that had to be melted down for steel, brass, silver, leather, or wood. The other half was literal junk they just left in a pile by the gate and had folks take what they wanted. The good news was they cleared out almost the entire cargo bay by night fall and Harry turned all the junk into of usable raw materials. They ended up with more than 4,500 bars of steel, 2,200 bars of brass, and 570 bars of silver.
They put the rest of the loot in trunks and they would sell it off later. That night they cracked open all the safes and lockboxes they collected over the last few days. For the most part they were full of money and gold or silver bars. Some had jewelry. Others had cut and uncut loose gems. The safe from the ship had some nice gold engraved guns. All together they made $284,000 cash, coin, and gold. The gems would be added to the jewelry and they would either sell it to shops in bigger cities or they would melt it down.
Thanksgiving day went off without a hitch and with Harry, Alice, and Kate helping the cooks they made huge serving dishes full of food. After the meal Harry set up a cowboys vs indians competition on the farm with Kate's permission. It was a three gun match for the cowboys, and archery, tomahawk, and knife throwing contest. Harry awarded the winner of the individual contests with $150 and the overall winner with $250 and a nice gold engraved shotgun they found on the ship. As everyone was headed home with plates of leftovers the sun set and it began to snow signaling the end of the Thanksgiving holiday and the start of the Christmas season.