NaNoWriMo Excerpt – Frigate

It’s the last NaNoWriMo excerpt so I’m giving you a bigger bite this week.
For the sake of context, Tatiana has been working on a frigate for a yearly race in order to prove her mechanic’s skills to the Lafayette pirates. She races for her friend Isobel’s tea salon/brothel and her twin brother Damian is her copilot. The scene actually happens before the one I posted last week. 😉

After spending a week and a half mostly in the garage and the adjacent closed yard, it felt awesome to finally put the frigate on the water for a trial run. We headed out at night to prevent having our faces recognized or having our boat marked for sabotage – should it be too impressive. A small contingent of Scarlets accompanied us to the frigate dock. They lined up on the shore, eager to see the results of our efforts.
I was wearing one of my scarlet woman dresses. The skirts were relatively light and opened high on both legs. Miss Charlotte spent the evening painting complex henna patterns on my legs. This exotic addition was all part of the mysterious masked temptresses plan Isobel devised. The dress itself was a blend of the standard beige on natural cotton and green pieces that set out the reddish accents of my hair. The big “I” stitched on my chest was clearly visible even in the dark. Tomorrow’s costume would be all of pure white and scarlet setting my brother and I apart from the black and red decorative members of our crew.
“The furnace is hot.” Damian said after shovelling in another bundle of coal.
I vaulted from the deck to the bridge, caring very little about the amount of flesh the movement would show. If I wasn’t at ease with this while we were among friends, I would stick out like a sore thumb tomorrow. Tonight’s spectators applauded. Hopefully, my display of athletic skills would impress the race crowds as well. People expected two things of the Scarlets’ frigate: showmanship and defeat. I couldn’t rob them of both.
“Let’s see what my baby can do.”
“Go, Treasure, go!” The Scarlets yelled. On the course of the week, they all converted to using Isobel’s nickname for me. They knew my real name but also knew it was meant to remain a secret. My brother’s official moniker was “Tasty” which made me laugh every single time.
I kicked on the steam-powered portable clock so I could time the performance of the frigate. The highly competitive race wouldn’t be won with something that couldn’t take off in less than a minute.
Squared behind the wheel, I activated the release of the steam throughout the engine. Within ten seconds, my take-off button lighted up which meant the pipes were in impeccable condition. I flipped the switch and almost lost my equilibrium at the strength of the upward thrust of the machine.
“This baby packs some power!” Damian grinned; Father’s frigate big problem was its slow take-off.
I pushed the buttons to spread the wings and reorient the propellers. They all shifted into place in ten additional seconds. Damian unfolded the sail in about the same timeframe. We were ready to race.
“Official take-off time: 30 seconds.” I yelled. The small crow shrilled in response, filling the air with their high-pitched happiness. “Let’s see how it flies.”
I pushed the engine full steam forward and it rushed to satisfy my exigencies. The distance between our dock and the corner of the closest ridge was about a nautical mile. We reached it in two minutes. Speed wasn’t everything though, manoeuvrability would prove the key to finishing the race without colliding with an opponent.
“Starboard!” I belted. Damian instantaneously switched the sail’s direction, sending a beam brushing over the bridge.
Our inaugural flight was Scarlets-free but to ensure no one would get hurt and accidentally thwart our attempt to win, we spent a lot of time training our decorative crew.
We lined them up in the yard and sat them in the disposition they would have on the frigate. Damian, armed with a long bamboo stick, played the role of the spinning beam. We repeated the process of each direction switch enough for the Scarlets to react as automatically as my brother when I yelled.
So tomorrow, when I would yell “Starboard”, a whole side of Scarlets would fold onto itself, lifting their skirts over their heads in a show of color and calves, and wait for the beam to zoom past. The number of repetition even allowed the boys and girls to choreograph the whole thing in a wave of fabric and body. It would be quite a show.
For now, the test for a sharp turn proved to surpass my hopes. Despite its age, this frigate was interestingly swift to reorient itself. I wasn’t all that surprised; the new fashion was to include wider engines that, though they allowed increased propulsion also widened the boat’s figure hence reducing its aerodynamics. With my tweaked version of the engine, the bigger ones would barely be a match for our speed and they certainly wouldn’t turn as gracefully.
Damian whistled when we ended the turn.
“We’re going to have to tie the Scarlets to the railing or we’ll lose some during the race.” We laughed in the caress of the open sea wind.
I angled the frigate towards the Lafayette garage where we were expected to anchor our vehicle. Their building had a wet parking connected to the river. I could do the final tuning there and the boat would be all ready for the race. It was a lot easier than renting the tow truck again tomorrow.
We touched sea about a hundred meters away from the garage’s entrance. The landing proved to be as swift as the take-off. My baby totally met all my expectations and I steered it into its resting place with my head high.
“Well done, Steamy.” Damian wrapped his arm around my waist and planted a kiss on my cheek.
“Thanks, Love. It’s about time we completed the test. I’m starving.”
“You shouldn’t have left your nerves keep you from your supper.”
I smiled from the corner of my mouth and we both curtsied to salute the applauses of the Lafayette crew.
“That is an impressive show of skills. And legs.” Éloi stated, running his eyes from my naked feet up to the top of my thighs, where the skirt’s slits closed. “You look quite –”
“– I suggest you don’t complete that sentence.” My brother interrupted while Éloi searched for a proper term. The sailor nodded, thus bringing his eyes upward and noticing the depth of my cleavage. Isobel was definitely right to call me “Treasure”. I wonder how I could use my allure to my advantage. I suspected Éloi already requested my presence on the crew to his father and I had no other ideas in mind for the moment.
“I’m eager to see how it fares tomorrow.” Guillaume said. “I haven’t been quite this excited for a frigate race in years. I might even place a bet. What’s her name?”
“The Temptress.” I winked.
We chatted for a few minutes before my stomach forced us back to Isobel’s house. A small contingent of sailors assured our safe return to the tea salon. Éloi remained close both didn’t stare, a discretion I appreciated.