Hearing Shade ask that, Major Rades suddenly realized:
"Since they came specifically to maintain these ships, they must have brought spare steam engine units. And as an established shipbuilding power, the Aurora Family designs and manufactures this special model of steam engine themselves. You want to steal—cough, cough, I mean, take one?"
"I'll handle it. I'll set out now to find the Aurora Family fleet. But after the replacement, Major, if your engine room technicians notice that the steam engine's age and scratches are different, you'll need to find a way to cover it up."
"That's a trivial matter."
Major Rades immediately waved a hand:
"As long as the steam engine can work again, no one will go looking for trouble over such trivial matters. I don't have any stubborn fools like that here. But the serial number inside the steam engine and the production batch plate on the steam bladder will need to be altered."
He gave Shade that information. After memorizing it, Shade held the box in one hand and carried the coffin on one shoulder, using an illusion to turn invisible on the spot.
Major Rades needed to remain on guard here, while Shade returned to the deck, jumped down onto his own little boat, and steered it rapidly toward the distant shipping lane.
Sivie and Illustrious Miss were expected to arrive at port this afternoon. In fact, they had already entered the Starfall Bay region. With the little boat speeding ahead, Shade soon found and boarded the Radiance Messenger, the flagship of Sivie's fleet.
Neither Sivie nor Illustrious Miss had expected to see Shade so early, but when they saw him climbing onto the deck while carrying a coffin, they knew he had something urgent to do.
"You need a steam engine? What model? Oh, no