Kat made her way to the motor pool with a candle holder in hand and Dexter on her shoulder. “What kind of idiot do you have to be to connect lightning rods to your engines for a ‘power boost’. Everyone knows it doesn't even take a Bloodspike hell class storm to overload your circuits and fry your machinery.”

  “Maybe these engines can take more electricity before blasting…?”

  “Reclaimed dwarven coal engines were the most advanced engines on Jeslore until we came along, I can't see anyone here topping it except us.” They walked into the motor pool that held the engines, where a fire resided, alongside flickering crystals acting as an alarm on the engines. Out of the four engines, only one of them had a crystal that was glowing a green light, with the rest all flashing red.

  The engines were heavily damaged, the electricity overload having nearly destroyed them. “I’d put out that fire first if I were you. Then take care of the parts inside.” Kat grabbed a bucket of water and headed to the engine where Dexter was still standing. “Hey! What are you doing?”

  “Uhhh… Putting out the fire…?”

  “You’ll cause an electric discharge. Get one of the carbon dioxide extinguishers. Big grey box with a black label saying ‘CO2’ on a cart with a hose. There should be one in the janitor’s office. Remember: Black label.” Kat nodded and ran out to the janitor’s office but in the hallway, she met NYX-407, the disgruntled Cykx that lost the contest. “I know you’re hiding something…”

  “I'm… I'm sorry?”

  “don't play dumb with me! You expect me to believe that a 12-year-old elf of all things could construct a ship like that on her own?”

  “Uhhh… I’m 13...” Kat backed away from him. “Where did you get it?! I will find out eventually so it’s best if you just spill i-” He was interrupted by voices at the end of the hallway and retreated into one of the corridors. “I will figure it out…” He growled before walking off.

  Kat nervously made her way to the janitor’s office to retrieve the extinguisher. “Let’s see… Blue… Red… Yellow... Ah, black.” She grabbed the black labeled cart with the extinguisher and went back to the motor pool to Dexter. “Got the one!”

  “Good. You know what to do.” Kat nodded and took the hose, aiming for the fire. After spraying for a few minutes, the fire died. All that was left were the electrical sparks from the lightning rod inside the scrapped engine. “Right, now we shut down the power crystal or you’ll fry yourself.” Dexter instructed, as Kat put the hose of the extinguisher back on the cart and wandered through the engine pool. There was a huge blue crystal surrounded by an electric aura not far into the room, held up by a standard and some sort of desert elven looking terminal with some pale grey metal and a blue, glowing screen, most likely running on the magic of the crystal. “Right now, you just need to press the big button that says ‘do not press’ and you’ll be able to look at the engines without killing yourself.”

  Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.

  “Uhhh… It says I shouldn't, pretty clearly, Dexter.”

  “Yes because you’ll turn the lights off but it’s day right now.”

  “Okay then…” Kat pressed the button, unsure what would happen next.

  Once the button was pressed the lights in the motor pool, as well as those from the rest of the ship, turned off and emergency lighting lit up. Kat made her way back to the primary engine and jumped inside with a wrench in hand and her goggles over her eyes. Shortly after that, some engineers, along with the Colonel and a couple of soldiers showed up in the engine pool, a few of them seeming indignant at the power cut. “Right, which idiot shut down the power?” Looking into the room, they would only see Kat standing next to the now repaired engine as she switched it on… But it didn't start. “Huh… I don't get it, it should be running by now…?” She leaned into Dexter who whispered. “Remember the first rule of basic engineering, Kat…”

  “Oh, yes. That’s right!” She took her wrench from its sheath and whacked the engine with it which promptly reactivated it. “If it doesn't work, make it work! isn't that rule 23 though…?” Dexter just chittered in response, indicating to Kat he couldn't speak. “Oh, hello Jack! I fixed the main engine already, two more to go!”

  “Kat, did you shut off the power? And who were you talking to?”

  “Yeah, I had to shut down the power because the inside of the engine was under voltage and I had to get in there to fix it.” She tapped the engine with her wrench, indicating to the colonel that she was done. “I was talking to Dexter, he’s good company!”

  She picked up Dexter and showed him to the colonel who looked at him curiously. He had seen him before somewhere, but couldn't quite make out where. “He seems familiar…”

  “Well it’s an atrium red scorpion, they’re common in my homeland and I suppose a lot of people have them as pets back in Meckhagen.”

  “Aye… That should be it. Well, why don't you tell these men how you fixed those engines and get back to your friends in the civilian quarters, we still have more storm to fly through.” The Colonel added with a smile while walking away, still trying to piece together from where he saw that scorpion before, eventually shaking his head and dropping the thought.

  Kat showed the engineers what she did with the engines before returning to the civilian quarters where Melissa, the Aqui Illith horologist who immediately jumped up and held her. “Kat! I was worried sick! You’re not leaving these quarters ever again until we’re through this storm!”

  “But I saved the ship!”

  “Yes that might be but I don't want anyone to die on this expedition, especially a kid.”

  The second half of the storm proved more bearable. The Baron sported new lightning rods that were kept separate from the engine this time, preventing a second power overload. Soon enough, the Skybaron made it through the storm, with soldiers on deck once again cleaning up the storm’s debris. Unarmed units came out of hiding and cargo chains were removed. The colonel listened to the damage report, while the mercenaries and the researchers returned to Kat’s ship. Melissa was still holding on to Kat, which slowly began to irritate her. “Alright, you can let go now…!” Kat snapped, squirming out of Melissa’s grasp, walking off to the quarterdeck of the ship again. She leaned on the steer of her ship, watching over the deck of the Skybaron.

  The main deck was in a state of disrepair, engineers were busy removing the hailstones from the deck, removing water damage and lowering the lightning rods. The little elf watched the soldiers repair the ship with a concerned look on her face.