Chapter 7

As we neared the Harbor we needed to make a quick decision. On one hand, we wanted to make sure the packet arrived safely, and on the other to make sure we didn't get found out.

"Rangitaiki lets head off to stand offshore, I'll let the packet know," I told her making the decision now was the time to leave. She nodded, I ran over to the side of the bridge. We were rather close to the packet boat, just in case we were needed fast. I yelled over to the packet our plans to split off. The captain responded via megaphone that they would keep a lookout for our boat in the harbor. With that settled, I turned to starboard and sped up hoping to find a good location to stop. Ideally on the side of a small island to give us shelter from those approaching from one side or another. We continued in this direction looking for a place to anchor for another half hour.

"Ye see anything?" I asked Rangitaiki scanning the horizon with the binoculars I had picked up.

"No" came her response. I wasn't eager to anchor, out in the open, so I was hoping there might be an island or something. I was weighing my options in my mind, as I didn't want to anchor out in the open. I was also uncertain of my ability to move my hull without me being nearby, so I wanted to actually anchor my hull while we headed into the harbor. As I was starting to run out of hope, I saw something.

"An Island!" I exclaimed. It wasn't very big, but it would be enough for now. "Rangitaiki, I'm going to anchor out beside the island," I told her already adjusting speed and course.

"Okay," she replied. With the location chosen, we just had to get ready. That itself wasn't hard as we lacked much in regard of gear. I dropped the anchor and made sure it was fully down. With that completed, we left the superstructure. I locked the doors as we headed out to the motor launch.

"So we are going to sure this to get to the shore?" Rangitaiki asked. I nodded swinging the launch out over the side.

"Aye, this is exactly what the launch is fo', besides, do you really want to row to the Island," I asked her. She shook her head in response. With the boat swung out Rangatiaki got in. I moved to follow but halted. I quickly moved to a line and threw it overboard, just in case something happened we could always get back aboard. Upon entering the launch I started to lower us down. once we were in the water I unhooked us from the davits, and started the engine. Rangitaiki stood beside me watching as I steered the launch away from my hull and around the island.

Now that we had left my hull behind, we were finally about to explore the city. There wasn't much talking as we headed into the city. The journey seemed to last forever, but soon enough the harbor appeared in the distance.

"There it is!" Rangitaiki exclaimed. I nodded having spotted it at about the same time. I started to keep an eye out for the packet, as it was my understanding that the crew would guide us to where we needed to go to receive the reward. That was made hard by the sheer amount of different ship types in the harbor. everything from small sailing ships to large iron-hulled steamships were in the harbor. Some being loaded or unloaded, others receive passengers. This was the hustle and bustle of a port that I knew well. although it was a bit different from a navy base.

We were cruising toward the south part of the harbor when we found the packet. Upon seeing us the crew on the packet waved at us. I motored the launch over to the packet, tying it off on the rope provided by the crew.

"You made it faster than we expected," one of the members told us.

"Yea, we just finished turning the prisoners over to the city guard!" added another.

"The captain went with them, I can show you where they went" another added, as we climbed up the ladder dropped down to us.

"Okay, show us the way!" I told him. He nodded and quickly guided us off the packet. He lead us away from the ship into a more densely packed area. There were people everywhere. It was clear that this was a major port city. I had to force myself not the stare at the different sites around us and focus on following the crew member. He lead us through what looked like a market, filled with people and shops. From the quick glances, I was getting some of the people didn't look like I expected, with different ears, unexpected features, and hair colors not naturally occurring. Additionally, I couldn't help but notice the lack of technology I was used to. even in the harbor, there were still predominantly sailing ships. Overall it seemed like this area was a blast from the past, as I didn't see a single thing that I would recognize as modern. These factors and differences caused me to have questions, but those would have to wait.

After following the crew member for a while, we arrived at a stone building. the building itself looked like it belonged to an old-fashioned defensive structure. Like something from a castle. with barely a pause we entered the building. Inside was a lobby-like area, with a reception desk, and a doorway to the right and left. I heard quiet voices coming from somewhere.

"Reason for visit?" the woman at the desk asked.

"I'm delivering the representatives from the ship that helped us" the crew member respond, "Oh member of the Rickjin's Crew". This was met with a nod, and we were motioned to the right-hand door. The next room was open with a desk at the back and smaller side rooms with what appeared to be more desks inside them. There was a group of people at the desk at the end of the room, one of which was the captain of the packet apparently called Rickjin. Upon entry, the group looked up at us.

"Ah, here are the members of the ship that saved us," the captain of the Rickjin told the group. One person was standing behind the desk. He looked to be in a uniform of some kind. The bars on his shoulder seemed to indicate he was a higher ranking than the other two next to the captain who was also in uniform. He looked at us, before looking back at the captain.

"Are you sure? They don't seem like much?" he remarked.

"That may be true, but they still helped us. Even if you give me the reward, I will simply pass it to them." the captain replied. this seemed to leave them at an impass. We, Rangitaiki and I, had not gone far into the room but now we were motioned forward.

"I would like to hear the account from your perspective," the man behind the desk told us.

"Yes Sir" Rangitaiki replied. she seemed to have an idea about how this man was, or at least if he was important. I was less sure. Perhaps it came from my origins as a destroyer, but he didn't feel like he outranked me. I however decided to defer to her judgment.

"Aye sir" I repeated. An eyebrow was raised at my accent. Between the two of us, we recounted our version of events. I started first, doing my best to avoid mentions of my advanced technology and capabilities. As such I started when we got a visual on the packet and subsequent tale. Rangitaiki caught on quickly to what I was trying to do, as she explained that my 40mm gun was a very fancy machine that was used to make noise and illusions rather than a weapon. All in all, I felt that we did a pretty good job telling the tale, without revealing too much. By the end, everyone was nodding in understanding.

"Hmmm. In light of this tale, I will authorize the reward." the man behind the desk said. At that one of the two other uniformed people left, and slipped through another door that I had missed until now.

"If that is satisfactory, I will return to my ship" the captain responds. He was met with a nod and wave, so he and the crew member that brought us here left. The other uniformed man gave a quick salute and also left. That just left us and the man behind the desk in the room. "Have a seat, it may take some time to get the reward," he told us. I personally didn't mind standing, but Rangitaiki took him up on it so I sat down as well. The man behind the desk also sat down when we did.

I was curious about this establishment and its purpose so I decided to ask. "Pardon ma ignorance, but what is this place?" I asked. that seemed to catch both Rangitaiki and the man off guard.

"Why its part of the city guards', does your origin place not have anything one?" He looked skeptical as he answered, eyeing both Rangitaiki and I.

"Nae, summant similar, but no' a city guard" I replied, "based upon the name it functions as a law enforcement organization?"

"Yes, it does. I'm the head of the Piracy and Smuggling division, Earnest Smith" with that he held his hand out. I took it and shook it.

"Call me Javelin" I replied.

"That's an odd name."

"I've gone by it long enough 'at it's all I respond to noo" I replied, deciding not to reveal it was my actual name. "Based upon th' fact thir is a reward, is thir a lot of piracy an' other smuggling issues here?"

"More than I would like" came his response. "Enough to keep me busy, if you are so interested, there are posters in the entryway for the ones we are offering a reward for". That caused me to start to get an idea. I would have to run it by Rangitaiki, but it might help us in the long run. With my immediate questions answered. I was content to wait for the reward. I watched while Rangitaiki introduced herself. Soon enough the reward came when the uniformed person who had left the side door came back. we were handed an envelope and thanked again, before being ushered out. back in the entryway Rangitaiki pulled the money out and checked it. We had, what I presumed to be, a large sum of money. This relieved me because then we could get supplies.

"That's a lot" Rangitaiki murmured. I nodded in agreement, glad to have confirmation of my presumption. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a poster. I looked at it and saw it was the posters mentioned before.

"Oh, I want to look at these" I commented, heading for them. upon arrival, I encountered a problem. I couldn't read it. to be precise it wasn't like any language I was familiar with. While they had spoken English, or what was english to me, I hadn't thought about their writing system. "Could you help me here I can't read these" I whisper to Rangitaiki, who had followed me.

"Wait, you can't read?" she replied.

"I canne just not this" I replied. It also now occurred to me that had she been able to read my charts when I had shown her. But that was a separate matter.

"Okay, well…" she started to read the poster off to me. The poster fell into three rough categories, smugglers, pirates, and slavers. The smugglers were primarily different rings or oginazatiosn rather then individuals, probably given if they knew who there wouldn't be posters for them. The pirates, had descriptions of the different ships and individuals, with an uncomfortable amount having obtained steamships of some kind. I wasn't sure why the Navy hadn't destroyed piracy completely here but again that was a separate matter. The slavers were more a list of ships thought to have traveled through their territorial waters with slaves. Which was very illegal in Versi.

"You know what? let's find a good place to eat here!" Rangitaiki proclaimed. That caught me off guard, as I had been so wrapped up in my thoughts I hadn't thought of that. "We've not had much food variation in a long time, we should!"

"I canne find 'ny fault in 'at" I replied accenting. With that Rangitaiki grabbed my hand and we ventured back onto the bustling streets. I wasn't sure if Rangitaiki was lucky or had a good sense of direction and Intuition combined because we rapidly found an interesting restaurant. I would have gotten lost trying to find this place by myself. We quickly entered and were seated at a booth near the back. Up to the point we were shown our table I didn't actually realize there was a table there. Rangitaiki took the side closest to the door facing the wall, and I took the other side. we were given menus to look over. I couldn't read them, so Rangitaiki had to tell me what everything was. Overall nothing really stood out, though it was odd to see grape juice, tabasco sauce, and blood oranges advertised as new.

Rangitaiki took her time to decide what to order, I occupied myself with examining the people. With the events, I hadn't really gotten a good look at anyone. Rangitaiki wasn't a good guide as she had been stranded on an Island, so her clothes were more worn down. Now her short sleeve top and shorts were vastly out of place in the current environment. Long sleeves, cotton or wool, shirts, and dresses were the norm. With a large number of hop hats, canes, and overcoats on the men. It seemed like a lot of older people were coming out, with their older clothing.

"We do need supplies, any other plan aside," Rangitaiki told me. Having decided what to get she had distracted me from my watching.

"Aye, 'st's true" I conceded "I 'ave an inkling of an idea, but we can discuss it later" she nodded. The waiter then appeared, and we quickly ordered. At the same time, the both in front of us were filled. I didn't think much of it, letting their conversation pass by me.

"Has everything been arranged? They almost caught us last time, we need to avoid the guard better" That got my attention, and I focused in on what they were discussing. It also seemed strange that they would even discuss that out in the open like this.

"Look I know were are in a safe place, but look the staff are complicit but not the customers the last thing we need is to get found out" a second voice responded.

"There is no one back here! it's fine" a third voice answered. this was met with a noise that sounded frustrated but accenting.

"In short yes everything has been arranged. the ship, the Sea Lilly, will be coming in from the north. They will head into Barter's Bay to unload. That far north the city guard will have no authority, it would be Inftono's and they don't have the resources to stop us. stop worrying it will be fine" the second voice explained.

"Good. the last thing I need is another charge Vinsion told me I wouldn't have to worry but after last time…" the first voice responded. these were noises in agreement from the others. However, that name caught my attention. I glanced at Rangaitiaki, and she was looking me dead in the eye. My guess is she had also heard that. The name was one of the most wanted smugglers by the city guard.

"Perhaps after this, we should see if we could obtain some charts?" I whisper to Rangitaiki.

"I agree it dangerous to sail without charts, besides the waters near Barter's Bay could be dangerous," she whispered back. we shared a smile, then spent the rest of the wait quietly to make sure they didn't find out. Luckily the seemed engrossed in what they were doing so they didn't notice our food arrive. We ate quickly. Not just because of the information, but because we did need supplies and along with charts we had a lot to grab.

Once we were done we, carefully left trying not to be seen by the other booth. At the front, we paid before slipping out back into the city.

"It's no' 'at late if we hurry we can get everything" I commented examining the location of the sun.

"Yep, let's get the charts first, I know where to go" was Rangitaiki's response.

"All right, lead oan!" I replied, following her into the winding maze.

Note: Sorry for the delay, real life caught up and I ran out of buffer chapters. However, I have a buffer again and free time once more!