Dungeon Master (Karma System)

The Copper Finch fell stern first.

Its remaining lift slowed the descent enough for the wreck to remain a ship instead of becoming loose pieces. The rudder answered only when the damaged hull twisted in the same direction. Half the controls at Tessa’s station moved without affecting anything outside.

Orin reached the steering linkage beneath the deck.

The rear support had bent around the rudder chain. He could not restore the full system while the vessel moved. He cut away the jammed section and connected the working chain to the port control only.

”You can turn left,” he called. ”Right depends on the wind.”

Tessa looked toward Kesh.

He had tied himself beside the forward rail and was releasing three powder lines into the air. Two streamed upward before falling behind the ship. The third moved across the bow and climbed toward a sunlit break between the ridges.

”There,” Kesh said. ”The south face is pushing air over the spur. We reach that current, it carries us up.”

The current lay to their left.

Tessa pulled the only control Orin had given her.

The Copper Finch turned across the ravine. The broken stern continued dragging downward, but the bow began facing the rising air. Mountain walls passed on both sides with less distance between them than the vessel needed for a full correction.

Min worked inside the engine compartment.

The surviving lift assembly had overheated during the attempt to free the mast. Coolant ran from the broken line faster than the reserve tank replaced it. She closed the damaged branch, removed the line serving a secondary deck system, and fitted it around the leak.

The replacement hose was too narrow.

It reduced the loss enough to matter.

”I can increase lift for thirty seconds.” She told Tessa through the speaking tube. ”After that, the mounts begin failing.”

”Wait for Kesh.”

Belda secured Dorran’s injured rigger beside the central frame. The dwarf had broken one leg and could not help himself when the deck shifted. She used the remaining internal lines to restrain the cargo on both sides, then ran a new rope from the balloon frame to the stern.

Dorran joined her.

”That line will not carry the hull,” he said.

”It does not need to carry it. It needs to keep the stern from swinging when the air catches the balloon.”

He took the next rope and followed her arrangement.

The Stonehook appeared above the northern ridge. Its forward crane remained bent, preventing another full tow. The tender’s pilot descended as far as the uneven wind allowed and launched a light line toward the wreck.

It fell short.

Tessa did not turn toward it.

Reaching for the Stonehook would carry the Copper Finch away from the rising current. The tender could follow after they stopped falling.

Kesh watched the powder.

The third line lifted sharply.

”Now.”

Min opened the engine’s remaining output.

The Copper Finch became lighter as its bow entered the updraft. The balloon frame caught the rising air first. Belda’s lines tightened from frame to stern and reduced the backward swing that would have turned the ship sideways.

Tessa held the left control until the rudder chain began vibrating beneath Orin’s hands.

The southern mountain filled the view ahead.

The updraft carried them toward it as well as upward.

”We need right,” Tessa said.

Orin looked at the missing half of the control linkage.

He could not restore it. He could change where the working chain pulled.

The broken support included a second guide wheel. Orin released the chain, crossed it through that wheel, and placed his entire weight on the temporary connection.

”Right once,” he said. ”Do not ask for left again.”

Tessa reversed the control.

The Copper Finch turned away from the mountain.

The rudder chain tore through the temporary guide as the bow cleared the stone. Orin released it before it took his hand. Steering ended with the vessel pointed along the rising current.

Min’s thirty seconds expired.

One engine mounting cracked. She reduced output before the shaft pulled free. The updraft now carried enough of the ship’s weight to keep them level with the lower ridge.

They were no longer falling.

They were not capable of choosing where they went.

Kesh followed the current through the powder still trailing from the bow. It moved along the mountain and widened above a barren shelf two miles south. The shelf offered more room than the place where the Copper Finch first crashed, but the ship could not steer toward it without help.

The Stonehook provided that help.

Its pilot crossed above them and dropped two light guide lines rather than another heavy tow. Belda caught the first from the forward deck. Dorran secured the second near the stern. The tender did not attempt to carry the Copper Finch. It changed the angle a few degrees at a time while the current supported both vessels.

Tessa used the remaining control surfaces to keep the bow level.

The Copper Finch reached the shelf.

Its damaged hull struck stone, slid across gravel, and stopped against a low ridge. The balloon remained above it. The engine continued producing enough lift to prevent the stern from collapsing.

No one aboard died.

Dorran checked his injured crewman before inspecting the vessel or cargo. The rigger’s leg required a healer and would keep him from working for several weeks. He remained conscious and angry that everyone else had begun moving before him.

The Stonehook landed beside them.

The rest of the salvage took four hours.

The stable shelf allowed the tender to establish proper anchors. Five Knots transferred the remaining medicine and pump components first. Min and Orin disconnected the surviving lift assembly without damaging it further. Belda recovered the usable rigging. Kesh watched the wind so the tender did not become another wreck while everyone concentrated on the cargo.

They left the Copper Finch’s empty hull secured for a heavier recovery team.

Ironcloud received the Stonehook after dark.

Dorran’s employees carried the injured rigger toward a medical station while freight clerks counted the recovered cargo. Every sealed medicine crate had returned. Three machine-part containers suffered damage during the crash. The pump components remained usable. The lift engine alone was worth more than the original salvage estimate assumed could be recovered.

Five Knots received the highest payment listed in the contract.

It brought their savings above half the reduced price of the least expensive vessel at the dealership.

It did not allow them to purchase one.

Dorran asked them to meet him the following morning.

He chose an office overlooking his freight docks rather than the dealership. Maps on the walls marked mines, mountain settlements, repair depots, and isolated communities supplied by air. Most routes required vessels smaller than the Copper Finch and larger than the Sanctuary’s racing craft.

”I have more freight than ships during two seasons of the year.” Dorran said. ”You need more coin than another salvage contract will provide.”

Tessa waited for the offer.

”I fund thirty percent of the discounted purchase price. You complete eight supply runs for my company during every six-month period for three years. I pay fuel, docking, and cargo insurance for those runs. You receive a reduced charter payment in addition to the sponsorship.”

Min read the first contract page. ”Who owns the ship?”

”Five Knots. My company receives no right to use it outside the scheduled runs. If you abandon the agreement, the unearned portion of my sponsorship becomes ordinary debt.”

”Who chooses the routes?” Kesh asked.

”I choose from the approved supply network. You may reject a route closed by Ironcloud or one requiring a vessel beyond your registered capacity. You cannot reject a legal route because another contract pays better that week.”

Belda examined the maintenance clause. Dorran covered cargo-related damage during his contracted flights. Five Knots remained responsible for ordinary upkeep and damage from its independent work.

Orin found no condition transferring the ship if they missed three payments. The arrangement purchased flights rather than holding the vessel as security.

Tessa asked the final question. ”Why us?”

Dorran looked through the office window toward the Stonehook’s bent crane.

”The Copper Finch was already lost when the line snapped. You saved my people, cargo, and lift engine without needing one of you to become unimportant. I can find pilots. I can find mechanics. I need a crew that remains a crew when the planned job stops existing.”

Five Knots signed after reading every page separately.

They also required one addition.

Dorran could schedule his eight runs across each six-month period, but he had to provide at least seven days’ notice unless Five Knots voluntarily accepted an urgent shipment. Without that protection, eight legal flights could become eight demands arriving whenever the party accepted other work. Dorran accepted the clause and added that unused priority could not prevent medical or evacuation contracts.

The final agreement left both sides with obligations. Five Knots could not take the sponsorship and ignore the settlements Dorran supplied. Dorran could not turn his contribution into permanent control over their schedule.

Their Grand Race voucher reduced the dealership price by twenty percent. The salvage reward and their existing savings covered the largest share. Dorran’s sponsorship closed the remainder and left enough money for registration, initial supplies, and a repair reserve.

They returned to the eastern dealership.

The party inspected the three vessels it could now afford.

The fastest model drew Tessa and Kesh first, but its passenger compartment held only two people and its repair access required unloading half the rear deck. The heaviest cargo model appealed to Orin until Min calculated the fuel cost on mountain routes. The third vessel lacked either extreme. Its engine housings opened from an internal maintenance corridor. Belda could reach every major line without climbing outside during ordinary flight, and its lower deck could be divided between freight and passengers.

Five Knots selected the ship that allowed all five members to work instead of the one that made any single role impressive.

The vessel they selected had a reinforced lower cargo deck, a compact passenger cabin, and a five-person operating arrangement suited to their roles. Its engines lacked the speed of the racing model and the cargo capacity of the largest option. It could carry paying passengers, reach isolated mountain docks, and accept modular equipment after they could afford it.

Tessa signed the ownership record for Five Knots.

The dealer asked for the vessel’s registered name.

The party looked through the office window at the five-person ship waiting on its platform.

Belda answered first.

”The Sixth Knot.”

The name entered the Ironcloud registry.

That afternoon, Five Knots boarded its own airship. Min entered the engine room without needing permission from another crew. Kesh placed their route charts beside the navigation station. Belda inspected lines that belonged to them. Orin opened the maintenance ledger and began with the first page instead of inheriting another owner’s missing years.

Tessa took the controls.

The Sixth Knot left the dealership platform and joined the traffic moving between Ironcloud’s mountains.