Shade's old friend, Major Rades, currently served as the deputy captain aboard the White Pearl with the rank of major. His primary duty was to assist the captain with daily affairs and coordinate the various departments. He could be considered the ship's second-in-command.
Although he had been transferred from the army to the navy, he had an extraordinary background, had genuinely fought on the battlefield, possessed considerable social skills, and played an excellent hand of cards. Thus, within just half a year of boarding the ship, he had already gained considerable prestige.
The White Pearl and seven other warships formed an escort fleet responsible for protecting the three visiting vessels carrying the negotiation delegates. The White Pearl itself was not the flagship, so with Major Rades's orders and Shade's typical Northern Kingdom appearance, no one naturally stopped him as he boarded.
The White Pearl was docked at the pier for rotation duty today, so Shade could board directly. Chief Engineer Captain Vernon had originally wanted to arrange for someone to show Shade around the accessible parts of the ship, but Shade first wanted to know about his friend's situation:
"Speaking of which, what trouble has Major Rades run into?"
Captain Vernon hesitated before answering:
"After our ship entered Starfall Bay, a brand-new Steam Engine in the Steam Engine Room suddenly failed to start. The technicians aboard couldn't find anything wrong with it, no matter how they inspected it.
"It should have been a trivial matter, since the ship has backup Steam Engine units. But after we docked and contacted technicians from the other ships to come repair it, they still couldn't find the problem with that Steam Engine."
Shade had heard about this small problem when he met Major Rades at the welcome banquet last week, but he had not