Time for an upgrade.

[G]

Sitting in his office one fine morning, our hero was wondering what he could do now that he had lost the Barony of Dockside to that wench. Wanting something different and new, he looked out his window just coincidentally to see, from a spaceport far off.. like.. around Stars End, and saw a ship taking off.

Studying it a moment as it reached high in the sky, G just smiled.

"Mai? Get me Jarmo Myllys from GnomCorp. I have an idea to upgrade one of my ships, and it'll take Gnome ingenuity to get it off the ground."

Mai was just sitting and taking notes from Gnort, she looked over the pad and nodded. "Okay, G. They owe you a few favors anyway."

[G]

o/`"Mai, Mai, Mai, Mai.. dueling hits me, so hard, makes me say, oh my lord...o/` G sung from his perch on the desktop, almost bouncing in anticipation of his plan. For her credit, Mai Yasuke didn't even look up from her notepad, but allowed the tiniest of amused smirks to cross her features, even as G grinned at her.

"Jarmo Myllys to see you, sir." She quipped. She even allowed herself a smug smile at G's expression. He had a look of doubt that Jarmo was here, considering that she was sitting in a closed office room with him.

"Are you suuuure?" he said.

"I'm positive." She replied, getting up to open the office door. When opened, it did indeed reveal the gnome from GnomCorp getting ready to knock.

"How do you do that?" G quipped, shaking his head in impressed amusement. Mai just smiled, bowed her head and gestured to the gnome to take a seat before taking her own again, and her notepad to record important details of the ensuing discussions.

"Umm. Hi, Mister Talanador. You, uhh, wanted to speak with me?" Jarmo started nervously. He had enough bad incidents in Urnst lately without needing the leader of the country breathing down his neck.

"Yes. I want to show you something. C'mere, sit!" G said excitedly, as if time was running out. "Look through the window. In 10.. 9.. 8.. 7.. 6.. 5.. 4.. 3.. 2.. 1.. and.. there! What do you see!" G pointed to the window where another ship was leaving the spaceport off to who knows where.

Jarmo squinted, raised a brow, looked to G, then back to the window. "Umm.. a spaceship taking off?" He said slowly, hoping that it was what G wanted him to see.

"Yes! Exactly! I want that."

"You want a ship with fire coming out of its tail end?" Jarmo asked, unsure.

"Yes!... I mean, No.. what, could you do that?" G was so excited, that he thought the gnome would get it on the first try. He was wrong, but the other suggestion piqued his interest as well.

"Well, with some modifications I'm sure we could do something like.." Jarmo started before being cut off, rather rudely in his opinion, by the leader of Urnst.

"Never mind that, for now. I want that." G said, pointing to the disappearing ship.

"Oh, you want a spaceship. Well, you're wealthy, why not buy one from one of the shipyards that builds them? It shouldn't be that.." Again cut off, again it seemed rude. G was just excited.

"No, no. Flying in space should be left to spacers, like Matt. I'm a sea farer. What I want.. is a flying ship." G grinned, watching the gnome.

"A.. flying ship?" Jarmo raised his brow, clearly giving the impression that he thought G was somewhat out of his mind. Mai had a similar expression, but to her credit, she didn't let anyone see it, she merely stared down at her notes.

"Yes. I've heard of them in stories, never saw them. A wooden ship similar to what's in my fleet, but smaller, lighter. It can be powered to fly. Can it be done?" G leaned forward now, clearly he wanted to hear the yes answer, but was prepared to hear the negative response.

Jarmo sat in his chair quietly for a few minutes. He glanced out to the now empty sky, his mind working over so many details at once. His expression changed several times from skeptical, to possible, to striking out that line of thought, to replacing possibilities. He was mentally calculating what it would take to make a ship airborne.

"Well.." he said finally. "If your ship was something small like a barque, and we had the right lift, plus the proper tools to power the engines. Then there'd be a thrusting need, as well as a braking system of some sort. Not to mention the weight of fuel divided by consumtion as well as regular supplies. Yes, I imagine we could make one airborne.. do you.. oh you can not be serious!" the gnome concluded and a surprised look. Mai just watched the two of them.

G leaned even farther, his grin grew wider. "Oh yes. I'm quite serious. If you can do it, make it happen. I want regular reports on this project."

Jarmo groaned. "Sir, the manpower required to create this ship, not to mention to keep it running, as well as the capital needed to fund the project would be.. well, sky high!"

"You'll have it. Besides, you guys owe me after the Adam debacle. He's still terrorizing his domain. You will make this happen. If not, well, I understand.. of course it means I'd have to decide more carefully on current budgets as well as future. Hmm?

Jarmo got the point right away. He sighed. "Very well, sir. I'll see what we can come up with."

"Excellent!" G'nort exclaimed, happy to get what he wanted with little fuss. "I look forward to your reports. You may go! Mai?"

Jarmo looked at the two of them as they began discussion of other trivial items of interest. He sighed again, dismissed, rose and exited the office.

"This is insane."

[G]

"Why, sir?"

Such a simple question. So many answers. G'nort just grinned like a 10 year old in a candy shop who had a pocket full of gold.

"Why, do you ask, my dear Mai? It's simple. First of all, there's quite a few who can already take to the skies. I'm better than dragons or winged demons and even better than silly mages with their flying spells." he chuckled. "Secondly, because no one has a flying ship around here. Have you seen any?"

"And thirdly, most importantly, because I am G'nort Esplenade G'neesmacher Dragoon-Talanador, the third. And I always get what I want."

"Are there really two more of you out there with the same name?" Mai smirked, looking and writing into her notepad.

G leaned back, some of the fire taken out of him at her question. "No, not really, no. But saying 'the Third' has a much more flambouyant and dignified ring to it, don't you think?"

"Not particularly." came her response.

"You're up for a raise soon, aren't you?"

"I think it's a very dignified addition to your name, sir." She quickly amended.

"Of course." he replied, beginning to pace around the office, his excitement returned. "I'll be the only person here with a flying ship. It'll be so much more entertaining to swoop down to attack... err.. to render assistance to struggling vessels from the air."

"So, you mean to use this 'flying ship' to continue your practice of pirating?" Mai looked up towards him.

"Privateering, my dear woman. Legal documents that allow a captain of a ship to strike at the enemies of the nation who grants that power to said captain." he corrected, waggling a scolding finger to the woman.

"In this case, you, correct? Being the leader of a country certainly has its perks."

"I'll say. Sometimes I amaze even myself. A flying ship." He pondered the thought for a little bit. "It'll be interesting to see what kind of effect the cannons will have on it. Plus I'll have to see if that dampening field will work in the air. But enough of that, I'm sure the gnomes will figure all that mundane detailing out. This is going to be fun!"

Mai tapped her pen on the notepad, watching him carefully. "If it works, will you be offering these flying ships to anyone else?"

He glanced at her, then began to chew his lower lip as he thought that over. "I might. For a price, of course. Maybe even donate one to compliment the pair of ships I've already given to the sweet Governor of Rhydin. Oh she would be most grateful for that, don't you think?"

Mai scribbled a few more things down without looking up at him.

"What do you always write down in that thing, anyway?" he questioned.

"Notes, sir. I write down notes." she replied without skipping a beat.

"Ahh. How nice."