Heritage

Heritage (Chapter 10)

Chapter 10 - Elena

                “What a mess,” I say to Ethan, who met me on his lunch break in the ship’s storage garage. This is where all of the old, broken vehicles, along with their parts, are stored.

In front of us is a row of ten Krakens. They’re small, four-wheeled, pod-like vehicles, with barely enough room to fit two people, and they aren’t the most modern vehicles the ship has.

Instead of side-by-side seats, they are back-to-front, and very narrow. These models happen to be at least five years old and have been collecting dust in the garage for the past three. They aren’t even equipped with the now-standard touch screen controls.

Krakens are popular amongst the Cadets, as a means of traveling to the ship-town, and most of the older Cadets already own one. For those few students who don’t, however, these were used as loaners at one time. But now, they aren’t in good enough shape to lend out to the Cadets, and they are in various states of disrepair and in need of a serious upgrade.

“I thought up the idea of having a few of the older Cadets in my Technology Repairs class fix them up as a class project, for extra credit, but if I’m honest with myself, there are only two students with the skills to do such a thing.”

Leon and Stella would surely be able to fix these up and have them back in working order, probably upgraded far beyond Kraken standards, in no time at all. Which is why I text messaged Ethan on his TAPs before lunch and asked him to meet me here to discuss the situation.

“Well, I think your idea is great, honey,” Ethan says to me, his arm around my waist and a can of energy drink in his hand. “There’s no sense in letting them go to waste if someone can repair them.” 

“Or some ones,” I reply, emphasizing the last word.

“Leon and Stella?” He asks me.

I nod and he cracks a huge grin, kissing me softly.

“I think that’s a brilliant idea; yet another way to dissolve some of that animosity. Are you gonna tell ‘em, or am I, because I have some news of my own to share with the two of them as well.”

“Oh? What s that, love?”  I ask him as he encircles my waist within his muscular arms.

“Cadet Jameson has crossed the line yet again, and I’ve pulled his Senior Cadet privileges and demoted him back to a standard Cadet. I’ve had numerous reports from his Officer Trainee about HabMods in disarray, demerits for misconduct and uniform and haircut violations. I’m tired of his slacker attitude and his lack of respect for authority, so I’m going to ask Stella and Leon to take over Omega Squad. It needs the most work, and if anyone can whip them into shape, it’s those two stubborn asses,” he finishes with a grin.

“I couldn’t agree more. I’ll let them know today after class about the Kraken repairs, if they want to do it, that is. I don’t think it’ll be a problem though. Stella is always up for extra credit work, especially anything to do with Tech Repairs, and Leon finally pulled up his grade in Terrestrial Creatures class, so he’s now making straight A’s. Besides, I think Stella is finally warming up to him. I’m just glad someone is seeing Leon for who he is for a change.” 

“Yeah me too baby. And if he keeps up his A’s for another week, he’ll make the General’s Honors List. He’s not a bad kid. True, he can be arrogant and obnoxious at times, but he’s a seventeen year old boy with a lot of curiosity and misplaced talents. If he could just focus his energy on actually finding a place for those talents, instead of focusing it on misbehaving, then he’d be far better off. But I think you’re right. I even saw Stella smile at him earlier today when I was getting my Fuse from the Mess Hall,” he says, tossing his empty Fuse can into the garbage can in the far corner. I swear he’s addicted to that stuff.