The Story of the Mimosa

y claim to fame is that he rips everyone off?) The nine foot tall, broad-chested man turned to the somewhat less broad-chested but half

w I have this plan to build a ship, and finally I h

lan to build a ship from black wood? You'll have a

op nigh trek to

one, Jarm, declared his friend insane. "You'll be the laughing stock of the fleet, you know that. No one wants a black

d it was cheap. I can add a bunch o

his wild manes jumping around while the metal beads in them clanged together. "But I have promised

s ship will be a big success and bri

ng. The building. Do you have

started talking about the plan

*

d down lines and used those to slide to the ground. Once there they gestured up to their shipmates who looked down through their trinoculars (binoculars for species with three eyes) to get the Dragooner in position. The men on the ground and tho

ne, lads. Nice work, and quick too. There'

their race to tell the difference between their women and their men. The ground crew was dismissed as the captain barked his orders to the navigator and the helmsman, to take the Dragoon

ailed away, seen only by creatures who could not care less about what happene

ce profit as he intended to make the robbery sound a lot more difficult than it had been. A few of the crew had already prepared video-reels with heavy fighting and cannon fire as proof. During a stop somewhere over deserted lan

customer about the wood and the allegedly sustained damage, squeezing as many credits from the man as he could without becoming physical. After the credits had been transferred and approved by se

as on its way to clean off the painted damage and after that locate a new custo

Not only had he gotten rid of a lot of credits that he had acquired in dubious arra

d several of his stubbly chins. "Looks good to me. Ca

would be good, yes. Although sta

of him carried the air of being utterly useless. Despite all that, the shipbuilder arrived in the afternoon with his crew, flying along in five beautiful and spotless transport-shuttles designed for wood-moving. T

er. "We made it the way we did the last nine, so you can have your people quickly stick it

nth. "It'll be fine, " he said as he approved the payment for the miller's work. All the wooden parts

sole, punched a few buttons and waited for the machinery to collect and sort all the wooden parts. Slowly the stac

e thing?" one of the men in the ch

" was th

, " the question-asker

e shed, but you are mistaken, buddy. Our client has not yet conveyed the name of this new fine vessel, so I would advise you to ke

yee did not feel v

d as he walked off. "No Idea would

red as he held up a maimed hand. "I was smart too, one day. He broke most of my fingers, so push

at, " another button-pusher a

e fact that this one was black also made a nice change to the white or wood-coloured ones that most people wanted. The comment of the man he had just given a piece of his mind rang through his head. What would one call a black ship? The

shipbuilder turned to his employees and told them to go home. There had been enough button-