Steep narrow ladders took them down into the cargo hold.

The captain sent men ahead to light the lanterns. Following the captain, they stepped between stacks of boxes and sacks all netted into place. The space wasn’t well ventilated, and the air hung thickly with pungent odors of wood, dust, and burlap. Every eight feet a support beam went from the floor to ceiling with a pair of lanterns on each side. In the distance, the room continued to brighten as the sailors moved down both sides lighting the lamps.

Janali came around a tall stack of wooden crates into a stationary Colonel Nasso. She threw her arms out, grabbing the nearby netting to stop from running into the colonel. Colonel Nasso stood motionless, staring at four rows of fifty-gallon wood barrels stacked on pallets. The wood used to make the barrels had an unusual design of light and dark shapes. The shapes blended or stood out brightly without any pattern she could fathom. Each pallet held eighteen barrels stacked two high. Almost three quarters of the cargo space was consumed by the five hundred and seventy-six barrels. Janali did some quick math and realized, every inch of the Vibrius’s additional cargo capacity was taken by these barrels.

The barrels were tied down with heavy hemp like ropes. Unlike the rest of the cargo, the barrels were secured by eight separate braces for each stack exceeding everything else present by a factor of two. She couldn’t believe such unusual barrels could contain sand. There had to be something very dangerous about it to be so tightly secured. Explosives, certain drugs, and anything hazardous to human health was highly illegal unless strictly supervised by the army with express writs of permission from the empire. The Jedalor family never dealt in anything requiring such careful control and oversight as a matter of policy.

“I want to look in all of them,” the colonel said flatly.

“All of them?” Janali asked before she thought better of it.

“Yes, every last one. You will open every last barrel. There is something here, and I will know what it is before this day is done.” The colonel turned and began inspecting some of the other cargo against the manifest.

Janali placed her face in her hands to calm her nerves. Captain Reinvo didn’t blink an eye. He just called for men and set to work untying the first pallet. Commander Ardlee soon joined them, and they pulled the barrels down into the narrow walking space until the first set was ready for inspection.

The colonel came over. She had found a crowbar some place, and she waved the crew back as she leaned into the nearest barrel. With a creaking pop, the lid lifted free. Janali, Colonel Nasso, and Kasen leaned in to look at the completely full barrel. The men started pulling the next stack apart without comment.

It was sand. A pure white sand that reflected back sparkles of light from the lanterns as she moved to look at it. Janali and the colonel both reached forward and ran their hands through the fine white grains.

Janali lifted it to her nose and smelled it. It had the salty tinge of an ocean beach. On closer inspection, there were other particles in the sand, bits of colorful shells and dried seaweed flakes, mostly. The colonel stripped off her uniform jacket and rolled up a sleeve to her shoulder. Then she wiggled her hand down into the barrel moving her arm around pulling up her hand like a sifter. She experimented with prodding the crowbar to the bottom of the barrel. She turned to the next barrel and repeated the inspection.

The colonel looked over the number of barrels. Her brows narrowed. “Captain, do you have something you could empty one of these barrels into?”

The captain stopped working to think. “Yes, ma’am. We could use one of the cleaned out oil drums.”

“Do so. I want to finish this today. But, I refuse to allow you through without inspecting every single barrel. If you pour out one barrel, we can speed this up by pouring between the barrels as we go.”

The captain frowned. “Ma’am, it is going to get mighty dusty down here.”

“It isn’t raining or storming. You can open the cargo hatches to ventilate,” the colonel said undeterred.

The captain saluted. “Of course, ma’am. I’ll make it happen. Commander, get an empty drum from engineering.”

The day rolled on. Janali was forced to walk around with the colonel as she roamed through the hold, cross-checking the manifest. Colonel Nasso used the crowbar to open various crates to inspect the contents. Kasen followed, making notes in her own journal. If the colonel cared or even noticed, she gave no sign. As each sand pallet was pulled apart, they’d all stop, and the colonel would stand close as the men poured the contents of each barrel into the next. The colonel would inspect the sands as they poured and then check the freshly emptied barrel before allowing the next barrel to be poured into it.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

The ship held a good stock of trade goods from the Split Queendoms. If it wasn’t for the six month absence, amount of damage to the ship, and the sand, the return would have been exactly as Janali had envisioned it. The Vibrius and his crew had done their job. Janali could have been vindicated. Except the incident with the priest and the coming pronouncement of Colonel Nasso tied her gut up in knots.

It had taken the entire morning, and the colonel had finished inspecting this cargo hold. She’d refused to leave and taken to watching the men prepare the next pallet. At last, they all watched as the last barrel was poured out.

“It truly is all sand,” Kasen whispered to Janali.

“I’m sure Captain Reinvo has his reasons,” she whispered back.

The inspector dug her hands into the last barrel. She shifted sands back and forth. While Colonel Nasso examined the sands, Kasen and Janali stood by another barrel, both of them running their hands through the soft white sand. Janali wished she had brought her magnifying goggles.

Colonel Nasso stopped and stared at the open barrels for a time, her dancing eyebrows the only animated feature of her frame. Any other time and Janali would have enjoyed the colonel’s inability to solve this puzzle. But, if the colonel took offense at anything, some or all of the cargo could be seized, destined for the imperial stores or for the great incinerators at the edge of the city. She had some hopes now that the other cargo holds were just as full. With a growing sense of pride, she felt she’d actually be redeemed.

Sweat running down his forehead and cheeks, Captain Reinvo leaned comfortably against a stack of crates. He and Commander Ardlee drank some water and quietly spoke with Lieutenant Metallo.

Metallo was an odd variable to the puzzle here. He was the youngest bridge officer and navigator. Lieutenant Metallo had checked in regularly through the day. He seemed eager to speak with the captain, but the captain had until now put him off. The other crewmen present seemed friendly and open with the officers. Still, they stood apart from the officers, talking together in their own hushed tones.

By this point, all the crew looked like workmen including the captain. Their shirts stained with sweat, smudged with dust, and sporting patches of oil stains from bumping into lifting chains. Lieutenant Metallo made a strange contrast, his clean face and frame did not glisten from sweat. He had to be in his late twenties to be a lieutenant, but he looked much younger. Although not as muscled as the other sailors, he was fit, and his long brown hair was tied back neatly. His uniform was spotless with neat creases in his kilt and shoes polished to a mirror shine.

“Sand,” Colonel Nasso’s voice brought Janali back to the situation. Colonel Nasso’s befuddled voice mirrored her face. Everyone turned to her and waited.

“Sand,” Captain Reinvo agreed.

“Why didn’t you toss it?”

The captain stood straight. “Ma’am, my contract prohibits me from dumping goods given to us to deliver to our mistress.”

At his words, Janali’s throat tightened. He was hiding something, and even the colonel had to know that. But what it was escaped her observations.

Colonel Nasso turned on Janali, fingering the strong rope that had been used to secure the sand barrels. “House Jedalor has such instructions even for sand?”

“The contract does say something to that extent,” she prevaricated.

“It was a gift for my mistress from an eccentric clan leader. We had space.” The captain shrugged.

The colonel looked at the open barrels again, her eyebrows going up, down and around in one last dance as she tried to decide what to make of the unusual cargo. “Any objection to my taking a sample?”

“You are most welcome to as much as you like,” Janali answered, looking at the rows of pallets. “There is an ample supply for our needs.”

"And anyone else's too I'd venture," Kasen muttered.

Colonel Nasso smirked for a moment, then pulled out a small leather sack and put a couple of handfuls of the sand into it, shutting it tightly. “If the imperial labs have any issue with this, we’ll expect a full accounting.” She picked up the manifest. “There is nothing here to stop me from allowing you to dock. There are two more cargo holds, and I want to inspect the ship’s compartments, too.”

The colonel’s pronouncement lifted a tremendous weight from her chest, and Janali took a relieved breath. The suggestion that she’d finally get to tour the ship made her even more excited.

“Yes of course. Shall we proceed?” Janali said excitedly.

The colonel looked at her sharply for a moment. The captain chuckled; she knew he had read her like a book.

Janali, the captain, and Kasen followed for the next few hours as the colonel sorted through all the cargo spaces, inspected random cabinets, and all the ship’s compartments most carefully. Janali took advantage of the inspection to examine the repair work to the vessel. The repairs were crude but effective. She wasn’t happy with some of the welding joints she saw. The engines were in perfect order. Except there wasn’t a single engineer present she knew. She started to ask the captain about that, but he waved her off for later.

Engines were in perfect condition, yet something had ripped a full section of the hull apart like paper. Her sealed design had done its job. The ship hadn’t sunk in spite of the incredible damage it had taken. She felt so proud she floated behind the colonel as they moved around. There was enough cargo to cover most of the losses. A few months in the Anev shipyards would fix the hull damage and repair the much abused steam mechanisms of the ship.