Ready for the Storm

The Stormrider name is a powerful one in Alannis and surrounding nations.  The family is widespread and has strong political and economical ties, as well as a reputation for producing excellent captains that can pull a skimmer through the wildest situation.  Of course, they were also renowned for creating the very situations that a ship and crew scraped through by the skin of their teeth.  Stormrider was a double-edged sword.  The twins knew this and had learned to accommodate.  Business would ebb and flow – if the other Stormrider ships were doing well, so did they.  Apparently, at the current time, their far-flung kin were not doing well.

“That’s the third contact of ours that has politely ushered me out the door,” Langley announced, slamming the door into Sabreur’s lab behind her.  He jumped and winced.

“Langley, please!  I’m working here!”

“Sorry.”

He shook his head, carefully brushed away a single rune from the pattern he’d traced with sand, and stepped away from the table, pulling his goggles up from over his eyes.

“Alright.  So which contacts did you visit?”

“Our second-to-last resorts.”

“Going to try the last resorts tomorrow?”

“No.”  She sighed and leaned on the wall.  “Not with the Cadre boarding and inspecting more skimmers than usual.  They’re last resorts for a reason – I don’t trust their motives or their cargo.  And if our cousins and other assorted relatives are mucking business up for us we can’t do anything to make it worse.”

Both fell silent, pondering just what sort of disaster a Stormrider could have done to cause business to dry up so fast.  Similarly, they were wondering what sort of heroics it would take to get things started up again.  That was how it worked.  A Stormrider lost cargo from investigating a seemingly deserted island – because it was there and because they could – and no one trusted them.  A Stormrider came through a nasty storm to deliver cargo three days early and they were everyone’s hero and everyone wanted a Stormrider shipping for them.

“So we’ll probably be leaving the city with no business.”

Langley nodded in affirmation.  Sabreur sighed and joined her on leaning on the wall.

“We can’t stay much longer,” she said, “I feel like I’m pushing it with having Crystal onboard already.  We need to get moving.”

“How are finances?”

“We’re safe, for now.  Unfortunately, since the mission to the poles paid so little I won’t be able to say that for much longer.  And… I wanted to give the crew a bonus for doing so well on such a dangerous trip.  I can’t do that right now.”

“Langley, are you thinking what I’m thinking?”

She bowed her head and pulled her hat down over her eyes.

“Yes,” she moaned, “I probably am.”

“The crew will love us for it.”

“I know.  And in all honesty, we really should.  It’s been a long time since we went home.”

“Yeah.”

They both stood there in silent contemplation.

“Mum is going to have a fit if she hears what we’ve been up to,” Langley said.

“Yeah.”

“Grandma hasn’t kicked the bucket yet either.  So we’ll have to deal with her.”

“Yeah.”

“We’re doomed, aren’t we?”

“Yeah.”


That evening, the twins called all the crew on-deck.  They sprawled out in their typical fashion with Ajiin the furthest away from everyone.  A thin trail of smoke drifted up from him and Langley frowned in distaste.  Apparently his decision to quit smoking hadn’t lasted.  She briefly wondered if it was possible to turn them into worms while he was smoking, or if that would just result in him murdering her in her sleep.

“Well,” she said with a deep breath, “Anyone heard rumors?”

Long silence.  The crew looked at one another.  Langley gave them a bit of a prompt.

“About the Stormriders.”

Realization.

“Captain, I’ve heard that a couple got caught smuggling for Serpent by the Cadre.”

She briefly wondered if that was actually true, exaggerated, or merely a cover for the Cadre to forcibly recruit a couple Stormriders into their ranks.  It had happened before.

“It hasn’t been good for business,” Langley said bluntly, “and to be honest, I’ve visited all but our last resorts looking for some job to take on, but no one is hiring Stormriders right now.  We’re a… liability.  So, it’s time to resort to extreme measures.”

They were always a liability.  It was the main reason there were so few Stormriders in shipping firms – no one wanted them.  Freelance work was standard Stormrider fare.

“We’re taking a job from the last resorts?”

“No, worse.”  She sighed.  “We’re heading north to find work among family.”

The crew just blinked at her.

“Captain, that ain’t bad at all,” one finally burst out, “Hell, Stormrider territory!  How is that drastic measures?”

Langley buried her face in her hand.

“It would be if you were a Stormrider yourself and knew our family,” she mumbled, but the crew didn’t hear her.  They were already chattering among themselves.

Easy work.  Good pay.  Free ale in all the taverns in exchange for the stories of daring-do among the infamous Stormrider skimmers.  Of course, it never bothered them that the stories would eventually reach the Stormriders, in specific, the mother, father, and grandmother of Langley and Sabreur.  And maybe a couple of their aunts or uncles if they were unlucky.  

“If Mum hears about the undead penguins,” Langley muttered ominously to her twin.

“She won’t.  Only Ajiin and Crystal know about that.”

“Ajiin gets along with Grandma and Crystal… is Crystal.”

Sabreur got a look of pain across his face.

“We’re doomed.”

“Completely.”

Langley dismissed the crew, ordering for an early start out tomorrow morning.  Ajiin ambled over to the two, tapping out his smoke as he did so.  Langley still wrinkled her nose at the smell.

“When was the last time you two went home?” he asked softly.

“Been about a year ago,” Sabreur answered, “We’ve sent back news though, and we always run into a cousin or something at every other port or so.”

“I’m so glad I’m an only child,” Ajiin said, and walked off.

“Jerk,” Langley muttered.

“Should we send word that we’re coming?” her brother asked.

Langley thought on this for a moment.

“No,” she said, “Let’s surprise them.  Give them less time to prepare.  If we stay in deep ocean for as long as possible we can avoid being seen by the Storm Guard and having advance notice being passed along the coastline.  Let’s us ride out any storms that come our way as well, instead of having to worry about being smashed into the rocks.”

“Think we’ll hit any on the way in?”

“We have a month or so before storm season starts.  As long as the rogue ones don’t hit while we’re heading for port we should be safe.”

She stared at the sky dourly.

“Cheer up sis.  We get to see Mum and Dad again.”

“That part I don’t mind.  It’s everything else that’s bothersome.”

She turned and headed for the ladder to below-deck.

“I’m going to my cabin.  Don’t bother me.”

Sabreur nodded.  And when Crystal slipped past him after the Captain, he shoved his hands in his pockets, started whistling, and looked the other way.  Langley could use a good dose of cheerfulness, and if anyone had some to spare, it was their resident necromancer.  Course, he’d catch hell about it later, but oh, would it be worth it.

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