Tunnel Rat

Sledgemonkey sighed as he saw what Milo had started. It was something a Senior Engineer always had to remember. It didn't take much to get the younger Engineers going, they were making up for lost years with gusto, and looking for challenges. There would be three teams starting three tunnels by tomorrow. "OK, a new tunnel to the Hollow is pretty much assured at this point. It's an investment in time, work, and materials for the tracks we need to lay but it will pay off greatly. I don't see a problem. We'll start laying tracks once we have a complete route and someone with a lick of sense in their head checks it out."

Mention of the tracks led to a discussion of the new steel mill and the need for more Dark Iron ore to keep it running twenty-four hours a day and maximize the efficiency ratings. The Scavengers flinched, knowing that a discussion of 'efficiency' could sidetrack a group of Engineers for hours. Captain Cuda was too impatient for that and wanted to get to the good parts of this meeting.

"All fine to nitpick and discuss all your little projects, but do that on your own time. You've got us all down here, and I want to hear about these big plans that Whale keeps hinting at. Sure, we've heard about building a ship and finding the Queen. A good bullshit story to tell while drinking beer, but the small details matter, like who's doing it, and who sits on the sidelines and applauds to inflate your egos. What do you need my girls for, and what's in it for us?" Annie and Goldtooth nodded and echoed her words.

Whale looked around the table. "Yeah, we need to work some things out and come to a consensus. Mako lit the fire with her 'Bring all the clans together' ideas. Most of it was crap; she just wanted to be in charge of all of us. But it got me thinking. The Queen is a big project. It took several clans to build her, and it will take more than one to put her back together, even with a competent group of Engineers and the proper infrastructure. We'll need ships to salvage and ships to fight off large beasties in the Rust Sea and more to fight the pirates who want to steal our treasures. That takes a lot of girls, and there's a lot of other work to be done."

Captain Annie nodded in agreement but then scowled, "The work won't be the hard part; it will be keeping us from fighting over every little thing. Especially if you include other clans."

Whale shook her head, "No one else. We have what we need, right here at this table. I know we don't always act like it, but we're the sanest of the Great Clans. Maybe there's room for more later, but not now. We close ranks and learn to get along. The spanner boys will help by staying as neutral as they can and knocking heads together. The Hollow will help with that as well. Narwhale tells me they have a conclave for big decisions, but things run smoothly because they try to work together instead of constantly competing. That's the part we need to figure out."

Milo declined to point out that Narwhale might not know about the magical dueling competitions and playing surprise. Limburger Hollow had its own style of competition, but he agreed, it was certainly far less 'energetic' than the Scavengers.

Goldtooth had another important question, "And how do you plan to keep the others out? Mako planned to take over the city and control the docks, the harbor, and all the shipping. If we're going that route, we'd best get to work."

Cuda looked thoughtful, but Annie laughed out loud. "Not happening. Only Mako thought that plan would work. Sure, all the talk of this once being a dwarven city sounded good, but face it, that old city got blown to bits long ago. Other folks moved into the hole where it was. Shadowport has a mix of races here, and a lot of the residents are human."

"I disagree. This used to be a dwarven city, and it can be again. Humans can leave if they aren't happy."

"Bad plan." Sledgemonkey started ticking the problems off on his fingers, "Firstly, The guilds won't be happy, and getting them to agree on anything is difficult. They're all stubborn as hell. They weren't even happy about us stopping a monster from eating the damned city. Second, the town lives on commerce. The merchants will protest and fight against someone controlling the port and charging taxes, and the rich merchants using airships will ignore you. Third, you got to eat, and taking back the docks will just lose the last of the fishing fleet and we'll be paying five gold for a taco. Fourth, Squint thinks the city is his, and he can rally the gangs against you. He was just playing with Mako. Try it again, and he'll get serious. And lastly, while he gave away most of the properties, you'll piss off the Professor, and he's connected with the Hollow. That's too many broken parts to make that plan work."

Sledgemonkey was all too aware of how much trouble the Senior Engineer sitting next to him could cause on a good day and had a vested interest in not having him work against this project. Getting rid of the Sharks had been a good thing, and he wanted to get rid of the friction between Scavengers, Engineers, and the town. He didn't know how to do that, but he knew it was a mistake to have the Scavengers carry through with Mako's plan. Of course, Whale asked the question he had set himself up for.

The large Captain looked at him, "So what's your plan?"

The Chief Engineer snorted, "You think I have a plan? I just fix shit. I'm terrible with people. I didn't even know how much of a problem we were causing up top with the tunnel and all the pirates hitting the town until a delegation came to talk to me."

"The pirates were a damned menace to all of us. I was about ready to start shooting, even before the eels attacked." Annie remembered the sheer joy of firing her guns and smiled. "And if we build up pirates like that again, I won't hesitate to blow them out of the water."

"Careful, Annie, hard to tell pirates from clan some days, too many connections and marriages. The other clans would use that against us to force their way into our little club." Besides a love of rules, Captain Cuda was a fan of the political infighting amongst the clans, where rules and alliances were fluid and changed like the winds.

"We're ignoring some important things we need to talk about." Goldtooth banged a fist on the table for emphasis. "We need more support structures, and that takes more people, even if they are pirates. How are we expected to keep working without the bars and a gambling hall to let off some steam? I say we invite in a couple of clans to redecorate the town. I sort of liked how things were going. It was starting to feel like other ports of call. We need more places where we control things."

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

Milo was listening to everything that was said. He was also going over the details for Leviathan, and all the other projects. Details on the Queen he had extrapolated from the plans for several underwater salvage ships. The first was already being planned, with several Engineers submitting plans. The dozen plans for the new ship gave him details on depth and distance from Shadowport. The details about water pressure told him how deep the Queen was. He started designing things in his head, humming to himself and ignoring everyone else. Then he took out a mechanical pencil and started writing out the computations for his project and a detailed list of resources, where to get those resources, and the manpower needed. It was just a rough draft, but it filled the long table and most of the walls. He could have done without it, but that would only give him conclusions. It was easier to convince people if you could show your work.

When he finally stopped and looked up, he saw that half the dwarves were asleep, and there were piles of empty flagons, half-eaten sandwiches, and discarded rum bottles scattered around. Sledgemonkey looked at him, "Done?"

"Um, yes. How long was that?"n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

"Oh, only about six hours. Pretty entertaining, really, and some of us followed along, but not one of us knows what the hell all the work is for. Lots of calculations, but no details. There's a betting pool going already."

Whale was cleaning her nails with her knife, "But I'm darn curious. I recognize a lot of details about the Iron Queen."

Milo totally missed the implied threat, "Well, it seemed we had a lot of problems, and I had some random thoughts, but I wanted to do a feasibility study first. I noticed that all the plans called for crafting the parts for the ships here, assembling them, testing in a pond, then disassembly, shipping to the surface, and finally, reassembly and testing. Hugely inefficient and it creates more problems than it solves."

"Such as?"

"Security for one thing. Every other clan or rogue Engineer can sit and watch, stealing your secrets. And the location of the Queen won't stay secret. Another clan can just follow Leviathan to the wreck."

Whale shook her head, "They can try, and I'll put a torpedo in them."

"You're right. Why would they invite combat when putting a tracking device on the ship is easier."

Whale looked at the other captains, and the senior engineers, "You can make a tracking device and know where a ship goes?" The Engineers were all scratching their heads and wondering if they could.

Milo said, "I can. It's not hard if you have the skill, the crystals, and the knowledge of the ritual. I'll make three linked crystals, put one on Leviathan, and then use the other two to triangulate your location. I can do that from the shore, with a mile between the crystals. The angles of the two crystals will give me the direction, distance, and depth of where Leviathan is. Just Magi-tech and simple trigonometry."

Annie looked at Sledgemonkey, "Is that true?"

"Yep, If Senior Engineer Milo says he can do it, it can be done, and if he can do it, stands to reason someone else could."

"Shit. We'll need more ships, just to fight off the claim jumpers."

Milo pointed to his calculations, "Or a better place to build Leviathan, and later The Iron Queen. I suggest we launch them here, in this cavern."

Whale narrowed her eyes, wondering if he was serious, then she laughed and the other captains laughed as well. Finally, she wiped her eyes. "Holy shit, you had me going with all of that work you did. What a joke. Sure, we build the ship here, then we can play house in it, or turn it into a bar."

Sledgemonkey's eyes were wide, slowly the idea spread from Engineer to Engineer until they were all talking at once and checking Milo's math. The scavengers noticed what was happening. They knew something was bouncing around in the Engineer's heads, but couldn't imagine what. They all turned to look at Milo.

"We're a considerable ways underground, but the ocean is far deeper. I suggest we dig out one end of the cavern to the level of the lower scales, giving a small bay for the ships to test buoyancy and fix any leaks. The ships will then enter the first of a series of long, water-filled tunnels separated by pressurized locks and gates. At the far end, the submarines can enter the ocean, unseen by anyone, and proceed to the Rust Sea. All salvaging will be done by submersible."

He drew a quick sketch and pointed to the far end. "We'll want a small complex at the far end both for security, and to transfer the salvage from nets to cargo barges that will move it back to this cavern. That lets the submersibles we build concentrate on their work, and not on transport. By the time we have Leviathan and the Silver Shark rebuilt, we should have designs for other submersibles done, and each clan will have their own ship to crew, with the Iron Queen being a joint effort, and crewed by the best veterans. With how large she is, based on your notes. I'll suggest a separate set of locks be built to accommodate her and the rest of the larger vessels that get built."

The Scavengers were staring at him, rolling over the ideas in their head.

"That is one hell of a lot of work, you know that? Decades of work." Whale was considering. Just the security alone was a selling point.

Milo smiled at them, "Sure, a huge amount. But I know that all of you will be pushing as hard as you can. Think about it: A totally secret, underground base, complete with Engineering support, and all the bars and tattoo parlors you could want. Why fight to build something in Shadowport when you can do it down here? A secret, underground pirate cove." He started to talk more, but Whale stopped him.

"All in favor?"

"Very well. I see each Great Clan is in favor of building the biggest, badest Scavenger town that ever existed. It's unanimous. Poor the room. We've got work to do, girls."