A grumpy and unsociable alien finds himself caught in the gears of a terrorist plot and kidnapped by a sketchy interspecies crew of mercenaries. If he can't break a lifetime of habit and bring himself to trust them, a lot more than his own life is o...
In the apartment, the commander was cross-legged on the floor next to Rex discussing the repairs to the Fallen Star. Irika, meanwhile, searched out the cheapest suppliers for the parts they needed on her com. Most of the damage was superficial, but the gravity generator didn't want to turn back on at all anymore and the cruiser would be useless for long-term missions until it was fixed. "It can wait until we finish with what we're doing here, but that's not the sort of thing we can ignore." The commander noticed Mehk when he came into the room. "On the bright side, our mechanical genius here fixed most of the minor issues I had noted before and a ton more I hadn't without any mention of a fee."
"You'll get my bill in the mail as soon as I'm safely back home."
The commander rolled his eyes and continued, "Except for a problem with the common room door heading towards the bow, which I'm assured is fixed forever and must never be touched again-" He fixed Irika with a look, "-nothing else is of concern."
"Is the problem the gravity generator, or that short?" Rex managed to sigh the entire sentence with his massive lung capacity.
"I don't know, we'll have to have someone look at it. Or..." He looked back at Mehk, "Do you know anything about gravity generators?"
Mehk tugged at his earring uncertainly. "Not enough to fix one, but I can probably diagnose it."
"Alright, but don't make guesses. If you aren't completely sure what the problem is then just admit it." He tapped his fingers against his leg and looked around, but Irika was the only one nearby. "Where'd Tes and Quara go?"
Mehk shrugged, "Tes said she had something to do and would send you a report later, and Quara left with her family."
The commander tapped his fingers a bit more until Rex rumbled deep in his chest, then said decidedly, "Okay, Irika, take Mehk to the Fallen Star." He seemed to want to add something, but after a moment just asked Irika to send him a copy of the list she was compiling and to call him if she needed anything.
Mehk followed her to her bike quietly, still feeling weird around her and very aware of his pulse pounding in his split lip. If she noticed his silence, she didn't comment on it. "Put this jacket and helmet on so you don't look so distinctive." She got up on the bike with her helmet already on and waited for him to settle in behind her. It was weird not to be driving, and he wasn't sure where to put his hands. He sighed to himself and awkwardly held her waist while she turned on the mag drive and let it warm up for a few seconds.
"You're going to have to hold tighter than that!" And that was the only warning he got before they flew out of the driveway at an utterly stupid speed. Mehk clutched at her reflexively and squeaked while they dodged and weaved through traffic, certain they were going to die at any moment.
It wasn't even that they were going that fast; the cruise control on his own bike was set to twice this speed, but Irika's bike was much smaller and there were a lot more things to possibly collide with and, this was key, he wasn't the one driving.
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