“This is our pilot, Captain Jaehyun Park. This is my brother, Lamond Sitara. This is a part-time crew member, Jethro Mulligan and his apprentice, Joseph Connor.” The men stared into the strange, red button eyes of Faffy as Navi held the bunny up to their faces. “They are good people.”

The men had stared as Navi approached with a raggedy child in a patchy greatcoat, but more attention was given to the stuffed bunny that Navi suddenly thrust at each the men.

“What kind of voodoo witchcraft--?” Jethro muttered.

“I just saved your lives,” Navi cut him off, returning the bunny to the child. "By the way, this is Casey. Casey, this is your new captain, Jaehyun Park."

"P-pleased to meet you," the poor child was shaking as she offered her tiny hand.

Jaehyun glared at Navi. She returned his gaze impassively. He looked back at the small girl who was still shaking. He knelt down, taking her hand. "Welcome to the True North, miss. We are expecting great things from you."

"I-I'll do my best, sir." Casey pushed her hat out of her eyes. "They never trusted me with many things at the poorhouse."

"And why was that…?" Jaehyun’ s question trailed off as he caught the girl, holding her upright. She bobbed like a doll. "Is she all right?" He looked to Navi.

"She sometimes falls asleep," Navi took the girl away from Jaehyun, carefully hoisting her onto her back. "It caused a few problems back at the orphanage."

"I see." He gave her a meaningful look.

"We'll manage," Navi sniffed, striding off in a huff.

“Speaking of manage, we need to chat once you’ve settled the girl in,” Jaehyun called after her. Faffy’s red eyes glared back at him from his bobbing position in Casey's belt loop.

The men silently watched them go.

“Be careful with that one,” Lamond broke the silence, pulling out another piece of jerky from his endless supply. “That bunny means business.”

Jethro guffawed. “No one here is going to hurt the girl. ‘Sides, it’s a stuffed toy! What could it possibly do?”

Lamond shrugged. “You were close when you asked about magic. That bunny wants you to think it’s a harmless stuffed toy. Don’t believe it. That bunny is hiding something.”

_______________________                        

“So, when were you going to tell us about your intending to enter us into the Thunderdome?” Jaehyun asked when the crew assembled in the galley a little while later.

“She did what now?” Jethro dropped his biscuit into his coffee. Joe and Lamond exchanged looks but were silent. (Most of the decisions were out of their hands anyway.) They sat back to watch the proceedings.

Everyone in the Empire knew what the Thunderdome was. The Thunderdome was a highly competitive, airship competition—hosted every four years. Only the top seven airships successfully completing rendezvous—combining deliveries with speed and ingenuity—would be selected as the winners. Winners instantly had fame and fortune heaped upon them from the emperor himself. This year was the year they would be holding it.

Navi pulled her scarf up around her face as she braced herself. She did not say anything, nor did she meet anyone else’s eyes. This was on her. Her mind was racing. “What should I say to this? I mean, it was always my end goal, but perhaps it is asking too much of them too soon. What do I do?”

The pilot folded his arms. “That wasn’t even the worst. The worst part of it was finding out from that reporter! Why didn’t you tell us?”

“I—well—it’s because…” she trailed off, huddling further into her scarf. “I’m sorry! I meant to tell you, but there did not seem to be a good time.”

“There’s always a good time to tell someone ‘We’re going to be joining a death race in search of fame and glory!’” Jethro frowned, attempting to fish his soggy biscuit from his coffee.

“Not really,” she replied in a small voice. “But I’m sorry!” She looked at her brother who shrugged as he peeled an apple. “And I’m not! This is what this ship was made to do. It’s what we’ve been prepping to do all along.”

“Is that why you’ve been having us do black bag runs?” Jaehyun sat himself on a stool.

“Yes,” she answered quietly. “And I know it seems like a fool’s errand—”

“It is!” The big smith interjected. Jaehyun frowned at him.

“But we’d be even bigger fools not to try!”

“A fool is still a fool whether they try or not,” Jaehyun sighed, running his hand through his hair. He felt the urge for a strong drink. “And none of us appreciate being taken for fools.”

“But I never took you for fools!” Navi protested, standing up quickly. “Never! Not once! And think about it what winning that competition will do for all of us! We could be legends!”

She was not exaggerating. If they won, they would have priority spots for any job requiring an airship, specialized credentials enabling them to cross borders of the empire with no hassle, connections to nobility and great pay. It would be the ticket to raising the entire group to the upper rings of society.

Jethro gave up on trying to stuff his paws into the tin cup and opted to start afresh. “I can imagine it, lass, but that’s as far as my mind can take us. What chance do you think we really have to qualify for the Thunderdome?”

“As much a chance as anyone else!” Navi’s eyes sparkled. She had even come out of her scarf and started pacing the floors. “We already have been proving our worth with these black bag runs! They know of our speed and our current success rate. We work well as a crew! We’re a shoo-in as an entrant!”

“You’re forgetting one very important thing,” Jaehyun buried his face in his hands.

“What’s that?”

“Asking us to join you! Sure, we are contracted to work on this ship, but making risky deliveries and participating in the Thunderdome are two completely different things. You keep telling us that this is your ship. You make the rules, but that gives you no right to make such a monumental decision for us!” He stood to face her. She looked taken aback.

“Furthermore, we need more crew! It is not efficient to have our mechanic also operate as both a co-pilot and a gunner. That girl you brought in today is of no use in a delivery run. She is just too little!”

“I didn’t get her to be useful!” Navi protested.

“Fine. We’ll leave her out of this part of the discussion then.” Jaehyun then gestured to the smiths. “They are busy outfitting our ship and running their own business. We can’t assume they are full-time crew too. The Thunderdome would require more weaponry as we’re contending with other aircraft, the backing of other nobles, pirates, weather and who knows what else! We need more men, time--!”

“But don’t you get it?” Navi stood toe to toe with him. “There’s always an excuse. We’ve been making it so far. We can get more men—I’ll look. We have the reputation now. We have several months to finish cementing it before the race begins! We can do it!”

“But do we—” Jaehyun gestured to the remainder of the crew “—want to? Or did you ask?”

The light fled from Navi’s face as his words sunk in. She looked from Jethro, to Joe to Lamond, then back to Jaehyun. He was right. Did she have the right to wager their lives and livelihood on this race? A small hand took hers. She looked down to see Casey looking back at her.

She took a deep breath and grabbed the end of her scarf with her free hand. “You’re right. I’m sorry. Let me do this properly.” She made eye contact with each of the crew. “You heard that I put in an application to join the Thunderdome… It’s true. The competition is four months away. So, m-most of you are contracted for six months which overlaps with the timeline for the race, but the Thunderdome falls outside of …expected duties. I’m sorry for springing this on you.” Her voice started to falter, but she squared her shoulders, determined to finish.

“This race was a personal goal of mine for this ship… You don’t have to join the competition…if you feel that it is too much…But, do take some time to consider what the race might mean, what it means if we win—when we win—” here she gave Jaehyun a hard look. He returned it evenly. She turned back. “—and if you want to be a part of that. I will…understand if you don’t. Um…I’ll also be looking for more people these next few months, so please…take some time to think about things and let me know.” That was the most she had ever said at once. Her throat was dry and the gaze of everyone drained her. “I’m going now!” With that, she grabbed a piece of fruit and ran off before her courage completely deserted her.

“Navi!” She heard her name called but did not stop.

“M-miss Navi, sl-slow down!”

Navi stopped suddenly looking down. She was still holding Casey’s hand. She let her go. “I’m sorry. Are you okay?”

“I’m all right. Are you okay? Faffy wants to know,” the small girl asked, holding her bunny.

Navi smiled at the girl and the bunny. “I’ll be all right. I just need to think about some things.”

“Can I think about things with you?”

“Of course you can.”

______________________

Jaehyun sighed and put his head in his hands. “Well, that went as well as can be expected.”

“How were you expecting it to go?” Lamond asked, deftly slicing up vegetables. The man was a wizard with a blade and a mean cook.

“Well, I was expecting her to admit that she needed some help, but also to start including the crew in major decisions. We’re in this together. She needs to start talking more or we’re going to keep running into misunderstandings.” He looked up at her brother who was still serenely prepping the food. “Was I too hard on her? Could that have been better?”

“It doesn’t matter how things could have been. We’re here now, so just pick up the pieces.” Lamond drizzled some oil into the pan and adding spices. “So…what did you tell the reporter?”

“I said we were up for the challenge…unless, one of you gentlemen think otherwise?” Jaehyun looked at the others.

“I’m game,” Jethro rolled his shoulders. “What about you, Joe?”

The boy grinned. “I’ve been game since you crashed into our place.”

Jaehyun grinned back. “That’s what I’d hoped to hear.” He sighed. “Now I’m going to clear the air and get us airborne.”

_______________________

They agreed! Navi threw herself onto her bunk that evening elated. She and her pilot had a long conversation and they were finally came to an understanding. The True North was on its way to the Thunderdome! They were on their way. She was almost asleep when she heard her name called.

“Navi? N-Navi?”

She opened her eyes. In the dim light of the stateroom, a small figure clutching a stuffed rabbit was shaking by her bedside. She sat up.

"Casey? Did you need something?"

"C-can I stay with you?" she asked through her shivers. "I'm sc-scared."

Navi sighed and patted the bed beside her. “Come on then.” Casey was curled up in the blanket next to her in a heartbeat. They sat like that for several moments, listening to the engine hum. Navi held the girl until she heard soft snores. From that point on, Casey refused to sleep by herself. She had imprinted on Navi and refused to be budged from her newfound safety blanket.

“I need a bigger bed,” Navi told Jethro after two days of this.

“Say what now?” He frowned.

“My bed. It needs to fit two people. Can you make it bigger?”

Jethro stared at the young woman flabbergasted. Joe was coming over to see what the fuss was about. “Uh…yeah. Th-that could be done, I guess.” His ears were burning deep red with embarrassment.

“Excellent! Thank you. The sooner the better,” Navi nodded to the big man, waved to Joseph and slipped back out the door.

“That woman has no sense of decency,” he gasped, shaking his head.

____________________________

“Dr. Sneed.”

The mousy man shook in terror before the masked figures. “S-sir! What an unexpected surprise! A marvelous surprise! Truly a pleasure! We are working as quickly as we can. The next shipment—”

“We are not here about the shipments,” the larger of the two stepped forward. He was dressed entirely in black with and wore a black mask that covered all his features. His most notable features were the sharpen, brass claws on his hands. As he spoke, he slowly flexed his clawed fingers like a cat. “We have received a word that the missing automaton was reactivated. Tell me…” he reached out a single claw, tipping the scientist’s head up. “What do you know about this?”

Dr. Sneed could not quell the shaking in his limbs. “S-sir, I—!” But the rest of his words ended in a gurgle. His body slumped to the ground, a stream of crimson dribbling from the space his throat used to be.

“That was unwise,” the smaller masked figure—a woman—spoke up. “His accomplices will hear and act.”

“Let them try,” said the man, wiping his bloodied claws on the doctor’s coat. “It will be difficult for them to do much if they are already dead.”