A few weeks ago, Justin had been appalled to hear the reports on the first few meetings with Gringotts. He had tracked down Lee and Hermione to explain in excruciating detail everything they had done wrong and why they should not have been the ones to handle it to begin with. As he seemed unable to take a hint and his incessant tirade did not seem to end, those two had the brilliant idea to get rid of the annoying distraction by sending him to voice his complaints directly to Harry.
He hadn't had the time to decide how but one thing was certain: they would both pay for this.
Maybe scrubbing the ship's hull by hand? That could work...
That day, Justin had almost bored him to death with an uninterruptible rant on proper negotiation methods for almost three hours , ignoring all his less-than-subtle hints to stop. He'd announced he would be the one taking care of all their 'public and foreign relations problems'. Apparently, Lee and Hermione might be able to run the numbers but they were definitely not fit to take care of such important matters. He also doubted that they even knew about Goblin society and customs they would need to respect if they wanted to make this a long-term agreement.
Desperate for a way out of this infernal monologue, Harry had yielded completely. He'd named Justin "Fleet Diplomat" or some other rot he'd come up with on the spot before running away. Later, he wondered if he had made a mistake in his haste to get away. Talking it out with Ron as they trained had led him to the conclusion that it didn't matter in the end.
At this point, they had the greedy little buggers onboard with the deal hook, line and sinker. Now that they knew what they had to win in this, they wouldn't pass on the opportunity. This deal would serve as a test to see if Justin was as half as good as he seemed to think he was. It's not like they had anything to lose, what with their virtually limitless resources.
Oh right. This whole thing was supposed to be a test. Might be a good idea to actually listen and look like he cared about it.
"-will want to keep the deal going for as long as possible, so they most likely won't turn on us. We can trust the merchant caste as they have everything to win in this and we have the interest of the artisans. The only uncertainty is the reaction of the noble caste. They haven't taken a stance on the deal yet but since we threaten their monopoly while bringing a virtually infinite supply of rare items, we can't be sure of anything. They requested some more samples for testing so I will need more credits for the Conjurator."
See? No risk. Still, this was undeniably a good start as they weren't likely to get thrown out of the bank. He had no idea where or why Justin even learned any of this stuff but he supposed it didn't matter.
"Granted. I'll see with Lavender to get you a stone with unlimited credit. Don't lose it." Harry said, making a mental note to take care of it before crashing down tonight. "You can give the Goblins everything they want, as long as it keeps them from helping Voldemort's side."
Justin made no effort to mask the grimace he made when he heard the name but gave no comment on it. Some in the crew were still dubious of his story about the dark lord's return but figured putting up with his "eccentricity" was a small price to pay to stay on the ship.
"For now, it seems like the best we can do. I broached the subject but they strictly refuse to interfere with their other clients. Though they shouldn't do anything that might jeopardise the deal so they won't work against us at least. With time, I might be able to get some more leeway with them though."
"Do what you can."
With that, Justin began to pack up the parchments he had laid out on the table to illustrate his presentation. Just as he was ready to leave, however, Harry called back to him.
"Oh and Justin?"
"Yes?"
"Next time, just write out your report and send it to me, please. Like everyone else." Harry said, taking a bite out of his tart as he walked away.
During yet another late night, when most of the crew had already gone to sleep, a single figure sat on the bridge. Comfortably installed on a padded chair, the girl clad in a black and yellow suit was reading the various parchments and slates she had spread out on the largest console.
Around her, an assortment of pedestal-shaped consoles faced the set of large windows arching across half of the room. Stools and chairs had been placed in front of the consoles and a great fluffy carpet with sitting pillows thrown around on top of it had been set up in front of the windows.
The adult members of the crew, if he could call those particular seventeen-year-old that, had made a few discoveries about the ship during summer break. The most notable was the giant screen on the far wall of the bridge, opposite to the windows. They had then found several "wall screens" such as this throughout the ship, mostly in laboratories.
They could be used to display pretty much anything they wanted, from the content of the database to the ship's sensors' feeds. Right now it was showing a map of the Requirement, annotated with numerous writings in runes giving information on the status of the ship's various systems.
When she heard the soft sound of the door opening, she briefly looked up from her work to send a teasing smile at the newcomer.
"Admiral on the bridge! Do I need to salute when you enter a room now?"