After the Drift

Chapter Fifteen: Keep Moving On

I think I may have blacked out.

Okay that's being facetious.

I went on autopilot once I finally reached Carlo. He had watched me come over from the lifts and had a small smile on his face.

"Hey, Roo." He held out an arm for me to lean into him. I did and sighed heavily.

"At least we get to work together now. Causing mayhem for all who wrong us!" His grin grew.

I nodded slowly, looking out at the bays. He held out the digital checklist for everything being done to Stryker at the moment.

I took it and nodded. Nothing there seemed to difficult or out of my league. I had scored some notably high grades in maintenance at the academy but still had chosen to be a pilot.

Carlo knew I still had chops when it came to figuring out anything mechanical. Except damn plumbing...

I had been the one to get debris from another Jaeger out of Sovereign's knee after a battle with a laser cutter, harness and a pissed off attitude.

Thank god or maybe not, that I was so much smaller than any of the other crew and could reach the debris no one else could. Girls on crew weren't ever really heard of.

I handed the clipboard back to Carlo, who in turn smiled some more.

"So I've decided that I want you to be my second in command. I'm new here and still haven't got my crew set the way I want it. You're an asset and I'm going to treat you as such. I don't give a shit what else is going on, I know you know your stuff."

That finally made me smile. "Thanks, Carlo. Means a lot." I said quietly and he nodded, squeezing my shoulder.

"Go check in with the teams, first one there is Rodriguez and Smoke are working on the ankle joint. Keeps clicking and not running smooth." He pointed to the far ankle and the tall man standing near it.

"Kim and his team are working on the shoulder, it's having the same issues as that ankle. We think maybe something from Stryker's last fight is disrupting everything. All programs are working fine so it's got to be the physical tech."

He gave my shoulder another good squeeze. "Go get 'em, Tiger."

He turned and walked away to the matrix module behind Stryker, where all the digital aspects of the Jaeger were all displayed in one place.

I swallowed and walked over to the man working on the ankle. Rodriguez stood with tablet, sighing heavily. I wonder where the person called 'Smoke' was.

"Three days in this shit," he mumbles.

"Can I see that?" I held out my hand to him. He gave me a once over. "You're a Blackwell. What're you doing here?"

I gave a forced smile. "Seems I'm overseeing what's wrong with Stryker. Carlo told me to start over here. And it's Ruby." I lifted my hand to shake his.

He looked at my hand then dismissed it. "Why are they having a pilot of another Jaeger look over this shit? Got nothing better to do during the end of the world?"

He looked back down to the tablet. So he's not one of my fans. If I even had any.

"I'm part of Stryker's crew now. Carlo made me whatever is just under him... in the job... sense."

He looked at me with a raised eyebrow. "You got demoted?"

I bit my lip. Best rip the band aid off.

"Yup."

He burst out laughing. "Hahaha... ohh...seriously? You and your hot shit sister? That's great."

He even slapped his hand on his thigh, still laughing.

I narrowed my eyes. "Well, if you're done, I've got shit to do, Rodriguez. Give me the tablet." I held out my hand to take it again.

He stopped and looked at me. "Do you even have a clue how this shit works? This isn't barbies or whatever shit you kids play with now."

I grit my teeth. "Rodriguez, the tablet."

He shook his head, shoving the tablet in my arms. "You fuck up, it's on you."

Sorry bud, already learned that lesson today.

As I skimmed the programs and analytics, a red head popped out of the ankle joint. What the hell?

"Hey, where did Rodriguez go?" Came a feminine voice.

I walked closer and saw a petite woman with a buzz cut poking her head out.

"He decided being an ass was more important than his job. I'm Ruby, what do you need-?" I looked at her expectantly.

"Oh, I'm Emmie, and sounds about right." She sighed and unfolded herself from the tiny crawl space.

"I think there's debris from a reef or something like it in there. It's black and stinks to high heavens." She gestured behind her.

I nodded, "That should be an easy fix then. Do you need a laser cutter or something more manual?"

She put her gloved hand to her chin, thinking it over.

"Manual feels better. I'd probably slice something important off myself with the laser."

I smirked and went over to a huge chest of tools, looking for something to use as oversized clippers.

"Ah, here!" I handed her some rusty hedge clippers.

"Perfecto. See ya on the other side, Ruby." She slid down into the small clearance. I stayed close in case she needed help but mainly to laugh about the obscenities she muttered as she went through the coral.

"Goddamn you, stupid biological... putrid muck covered..."

Well, one for two wasn't too bad for a first day.

The rest of my shift went pretty easy. I helped Emmie clear the rest of the joint and gave Carlo a briefing on what we found in there. Didn't meet the rest of Stryker's crew but I'm sure 'Smoke' could wait another day.

Time to keep moving on.