Pieter stroked the cat and chuckled at the response. "Awh, you're a good lad." He thought that it'd be nice to get a ships cat. Not every ship carried them, but many folks liked having a mascot. And so long as Rohaan wouldn't eat it, he didn't see why they couldn't. --- Hana sucked her teeth, thinking her way through the problem. Uban had already passed the first challenge, but he wasn't able to split lightning. Not yet, and not in the way she'd like. Inside, she felt a slight twang of disappointment, [i]Oh, why couldn't this be perfect?[/i] She chastised herself for thinking like that. He was able to strike the balls, and that could be worked with. And if he could split at a few feet... She wasn't sure yet how she could use that. She'd find a way. Well, onto the main event. "Excuse me, Pieter. Could you prepare and fire the cannon, please?" The sailor stood up, apologizing to the cat for having to end the scratches. "Just a moment." After he had swabbed and packed the cannon, Hana hefted a cannon ball into Pieter's arms. It was covered in carvings, strange symbols in looping curves and right angles. "Sorry, I went into the armory last night. I don't think I broke anything." Pieter merely grunted, and rammed the ball into place. "Alright. Before we test the actual weapon, I thought it'd be a good idea to try a miniature. It took me uh," Hana wondered briefly if she should tell them that she'd spent two painstaking hours carving the cannon ball, decided against it, and said, "A while. To make this. So, let's see if it'll work at all." She gave a smile with such beaming intensity Pieter nearly dropped the pipe he'd just picked up. Taking a cast iron ball with a long metal rod attached to it from her pocket, (How much room in her pockets did she have?) she handed it to Uban. "When you're ready, hold the rod as far away from everyone as possible and zap it." She was blisteringly unconcerned, and Pieter wondered if the woman who always ate with a fork and knife had been replaced in the night. She had deep bags under her eyes, but she didn't seem tired. Which meant she was most likely exhausted. Well, he was curious to see what tricks she had up her sleeve. Stepping back from Uban, he could tell that the ball had as many symbols on it as the cannonball, except scaled down. How had she worked so delicately? It might explain the bags under her eyes. Pieter lit his pipe and puffed, hiding his nerves. --- Wheel took a long drag off the cigarette, a flash of inscrutable emotion passing over his face. "They're all dangerous. But I wouldn't set foot on the big ship until we're sinking it. I don't know what would happen if you went aboard. But it's... Don't try to sneak onto the big ship."