“I got it, Master Captain” He addressed the captains orders with a hint of sarcasm, a hint of respect. Even Balder didn't know what he meant by his ornery tone. Truth was, he did respect Wilton Grady. 

'No nonsense. Gets the job done.' There was another man on this ship who reflected these sentiments, and it was about time he shaped up his crew like the captain wanted. The men and women who Balder would be selecting were good folks, and he thoroughly enjoyed a few of them; however, they would need to be more than just good folks if they were going to survive in the dangerous life they all had chosen. Balder took a long drink from a bottle of double barrel malt whiskey – aged in two barrels: the first with its thick oak staves bound by more wood strips, the second bound by alumen caith hoops.

Following the sounds of a smith's hammer repeatedly banging against a piece of metal, Balder shouted as he entered the room. “Shake a hoof there, ya arm-flappin' horse's arse! We're gettin' to movin'.” He walked  over to the Deor and clapped him on the shoulder fondly. Balder had always had a huge soft spot for Lasrach. It might have been a protective feeling over the man that least fit in with the rest of the crew, being one of the few non-humans and mute to compound the issue. It also might have been the fact that the old man saw a bit of himself in the hulking horseman: a stoic, larger-than-life workhorse (Balder could barely excuse his own puns sometimes) who built his entire self concept around his work. Whenever he saw the horse, the feeling in the pit of his stomach was that of joy, pride, and guilt all mixed together in a confusing stew. Through all of his years with soldiers trained to follow commands at a moment's notice, Balder had never met anyone who measured up to Lasrach's standard. Balder strolled around the ship barking orders and instructions almost as frequently as Captain Grady, and another crew member would scarcely spring into action before the Deor.

All this time the kid spends listening to my old raspy barks, I really need to get on learning this screwy sign language of his. Balder had honestly been meaning to pick it up for a long time now. It was the least he owed to the man he saw as eventual successor as Master Gunner.

He had gone over the below-deck mission many times with the Deor, generally dictating out loud to walk through the steps in his own head. With the plan complete; however, Balder knew that Lasrach knew the plan much better than he needed to, so it was time to inform the other four pirates, making the six in total he had deemed appropriate. He made his way over to the crew quarters where he knew the most pivotal member of his reconnaissance team would be.

Marko Latvanen wasn't the kind of person with whom Balder was used to associating, but this didn't change the fact that he was going to play a major role in their collection of the target payoff. Though it was his first time working with the rest of the crew, the determination and ambition of the thief – displayed in his meticulous focus when sharpening his knife or checking each and every one of cracking tools – would ensure success. The way Balder found him only served to reinforce his confidence.

“Latvanen! You're with me, lad. While Van Williams and Cap are brawlin' on the deck with the boardin' party, we are going to be a few floors down, acquirin' the bounty. This is where you come in, ya thieving twinkle toes. You're goin' to be meetin' with Jory, studyin' the projected layout of our target ship, because you and I've got the lead once we're down there.” Balder went on to explain the rest of the plan to the new boy, making sure to describe each of the other members of their six-man squad.

After his time with Marko Latvanen, Balder did the same with the rest of his team: the twins, Cameron and Christian Bridesson, and Jory who'd all but memorized the expected location of their objective. After sending Jory over to the crew quarters to meet with Latvanen, the old man worked his way over to the navigation room to inquire about their arrival time with the captain and the sailing master, Miss Rennway.