Walk This Way

Posted on Wed Mar 1st, 2023 @ 7:59am by Alden Loxley & Jonas Bailey & Spencer Wainwright

Mission: Home Sweet Wonderful Home
Location: Trick or Trade Pub, Cloudwater Port
Timeline: November 17, 2517 Breakfast Time

Yesterday had been a rough day all round what with the kidnapping, shooting and hostage trading, followed by hospital time and getting everyone back safe to Drake's little slice of Three Hills. And then even earlier this morning, Alden had woken up to the news that Chloe was gone - helped off-world by Drake - and headed back home to her daughter. He wasn't mad about anyone wanting to go home, but the news had hit hard under the circumstances and what with the fraternal intervention and all.

Right now though, Alden Loxley was looking across a heavy wooden bar table dressed up for breakfast, smelling fresh black coffee in a big mug and the plates of bacon, eggs, hash browns and sausages that were being placed before their private little trio. Himself, Jonas and New Guy. Alden smiled, sipped some caffeinated beverage and looked Spencer Wainwright up and down as if that would tell him everything he needed to know about the man's calibre. He figured he'd get the first issue out, loud and proud, before they got into the smaller stuff.

"So, Spencer, right?" Alden asked. "My little brother tells me you come highly recommended engineering-wise and you'll be a fine asset to our crew. But," he grinned wider, a friendly expression that laughed at himself rather than the twenty-something stranger before him, "you've kinda caught us at a pivotal point here since Drake sent our previous engineer back home to the Core. Still, let's hear your sales pitch, then we'll all feel like we were involved."

Spence wasn't sure where to look. The food on the table in front of him was more than he'd seen in the last six months. To be fair, spending weeks at a time on a crowded transport with nothing but protein paste to eat would make even rotten apples look appetizing. He had to resist the urge to chow down, much less help himself to generous portions of this wonderfully prepared breakfast.

But Spence had to also keep his gaze on Loxley. Drake was the common connection between the two, and while Spence knew a fair bit about Drake, he also knew that sharing blood and DNA did not mean that the Loxley brothers shared anything else. Spence trusted Drake to a point, and Spence did not have a reason to yet trust Alden.

"Spence, actually," he shared with the two other men at the table. "I've been fixing everythin' from engines to shit lines for the last ten years or so, and I ain't met anythin' yet that I can't keep workin'. I hear you run one of those Fireflies. Temperamental little things, but you treat 'em right, then they'll keep flyin' and get you where you wanna go. I've been off and on them 'Flies, so I know a thing or two. Just tell me your pilot isn't a daredevil, and we should be all right."

"Our pilot has his moments of being a real idjit," Alden said, good-naturedly. "But he also has a vested interest in not costing loads of time or credits in repair." He pointed at himself. "I'm the pilot, captain and co-owner." Then jabbed a friendly thumb towards his best pal in the who darn 'Verse. "Jonas here's my First Mate, blood-brother and all round security type."

Jonas had been listening to the whole conversation and stuffing his face full of real food while he had it. At Alden's comment, he took a drink and swallowed that bite. "Yep. All of the above. If ya need knuckles busted, I'll do it."

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Alden hadn't missed Spence's expression when the food arrived, or the way the younger man looked from said sustenance to him and back again. "Spence. Help yourself, please," the Echo's Captain said, indicating the hot plates. "It's all paid for. We hit planet, we tend to go a little crazy on the fresh meat," he explained, gifting Spence a confirmation nod of encouragement and a gently offered insistence. "Eat up!" As he picked up rashers of bacon and layered them between hash browns, Alden considered their newbie's words as if he still needed to make the decision that had already been made before Spence had even sat down. "Sounds like you've got more than enough experience for our lil band. You come with kit and tools or do we need to pick some up before we leave Three Hills?"

Spence relented, helping himself to some of the eggs and bacon. The helpings weren't too generous as Spence did his best to practice self control. He wanted to eat, yes, but he didn't want to seem like a starving pig. "I've got my own kit," he answered before reaching for the coffee. "And chest. The kit I usually keep on my belt when I fly, but there's never a day I don't travel without a screwdriver and wire cutters. Never know when I'll need either of those."

It was always gratifying to see someone hungry have a chance to get stuck into good food (well maybe not good for you, but delicious all the same), and Alden couldn't help but wonder why an engineer was so lean and so damn hungry. Usually employers tended to keep them sweet if they wanted their boat to keep flying. But then usually didn't apply all across the Verse of course, and he had no real idea of the younger man's history. Honestly, he wasn't sure he wanted to know.

"That's good to hear," Alden noted, reference said owned kit and Spence's readiness. He heaped a few more rashers of bacon onto the (to him) meagre pile on the engineer's plate just in case Spence here was being polite and all. "You'll have your own quarters, of course, and some time in system to get yourself acquainted with Fortune's Echo, since we're only going 'cross to Ezra for our next trip. Anything you need best to let me know while we're here, on account of 'Hills being a treasure trove of whatever folks want and Ezra... not so much." There was a pause as Alden look from Spence to Jonas and back again. "Anything you need to tell us, anything we need to know 'bout you before we make it official?"

Anything chasing you, hounding you or liable to get us and ours in trouble. Was the undercurrent of that question, clear as day.

Somehow, Spence managed to pause. Like any good independent captain, it seemed this Loxley wanted to make sure that he wasn't bringing trouble, at least not too much trouble, on his ship. Spence took a moment to host an internal debate, including whether or not to reveal his extensive debt to Niska. Such a debt prevented, or at least restricted, Spence from getting too close to the people he worked with. Some jobs were standard, like keep the ship flying. Others meant making sure the ship delivered its cargo, even when morals objected. It was too early to tell whether or not Spence would trust Alden. He barely trusted Drake.

"Drake tells me Echo was a pile of bolts when you found her and got her fixed back up," Spence said. "I really don't like surprises, so is there anything you can tell me about the 'Fly that make it hard to keep her flying?"

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That slow reaction time and pregnant pause raised zero alarms in the Echo's captain, Alden being used to all manner of different speeds of thinking in those he flew with, worked with and hang out around. Spence was new, figuring them all out no doubt, and yet something underlying lingered by means of the way Drake was the one recommending this newbie in Chloe's unexpected exodus. Drake hadn't hidden the fact that he'd greatly assisted Chloe - hell, ushered out exiting stage left with bells and whistles - and her homeward journey, which made Alden wonder if more was afoot than simply a new hire. But, he wasn't about to reveal any of that up front any more than Spence may or may not be hiding anything.

"She was a broken, dusty old wreck with your actual skeletons aboard," Alden admitted, pretty confident that Drake had already told the tale. His little brother loved that story. "Ali and I found her dug into a rocky grave on a lost moon and Drake helped us pull her out. So yeah, there's likely plenty I can't tell you about her history right up until about 6 months ago," he added with a wry grin. "As for what's up with her now, well, Audley and Arlo - my brother's engineers - they can likely answer any detailed questions. They've been doing some big repairs for us, cleaning the engines and such-like. For me, it's all the little intricate things though that bother me. Those whirry noises in the middle of the Black that I can't quite pin down, the rumbles when we come in on approach to a world, that kinda detail that'll either kill us or cost me, y'know?"

Spence raised both eyebrows. Drake hadn't mentioned to him the manner of how the Firefly had been found, and any crash landing automatically raised a half-dozen red flags in the mechanic's eyes. He'd definitely have to ask Drake's engineers some questions should he get the chance. "Rumbles and whirrs are usually simple fixes," Spence answered, "assuming one can track them down. Just so long there's no rattles or shimmies or broken pipes near the outside hull plates, there's no real worry. Especially if you still have enough of a budget for replacement parts. Sure I can jerry rig just about everything, but coils, pads, and gaskets matter. You lose one of those... that'll kill or cost ya big time."

That immediate reaction told Alden a lot. "So, Drake didn't tell you the story huh?" He asked, somewhat rhetorically. That likely meant one of two things - Drake didn't know Spence well, or Drake hadn't seen Spence for some time. Neither helped much, but Alden was at least mostly certain that his brother didn't want to kill him.

"My budget... is kinda dependent on what work we pick up," Alden admitted, "but if we need something to keep Echo running, I'll find a way." He jabbed a thumb over his shoulder though they still sat in the confines of the pub. "Feel free to have a good look around while she's sat still, and ask all the questions you need. We'll be taking her on a short run first up, see if anything shakes lose, falls off or..." He offered a wry smile. "Well, you get the drift. I don't know about you, but I don't plan on dying any time soon. So you keep your ears and eyes open and point out anything that worries you. Deal?"

"Deal," Spence quickly agreed. The quickness was not related to any one feeling other than soak up what he could of the meal without seeming needy. As for what Alden had shared about the Echo, Spence mulled those words over in his mind. The story was not unlike others he'd heard. Multiple launches, landings, and treks in the black were toxic on ships. The best he could do for now was a visual inspection, not to mention poke around in a few places that he knew were already problem traps.

"Sounds like it's all closed up with a nice little bow," said Jonas. "So far as looking out for the Echo anyway."

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"You probably already know, but Drake and I are from Ezra. You have any family around here?" Alden asked then, casually asking to entertain his curiousity.

Spence shook his head just after he took a bite of a bacon strip. "Any family I had is long dead. I ain't got no home." He sighed and leaned back, grabbing his coffee as he did so. "No one from Shadow does."

There was a long, sympathetic exhale before any words left Alden's mouth, and he regarded Spence with an even look, finding the man's measure shifting in his mind.

"No words are gonna make that any better," Alden said, simply. "It ain't the same, 'course, but, I will say that family and home can be found as well as lost."

The mechanic heaved a sigh and leaned back in his chair. He'd heard the rhetoric several times before, and not a single time had it actually been true. "I'll have to take your word on that. Hasn't been my experience."

Alden pushed his now clean plate to the side, cutlery politely lined up and napkin scrunched in a ball atop the absolutely barren ceramic landscape. He regarded this new fella - Spencer - with a keen and wary eye for a brief moment, looked to Jonas for the big guy's point of view and then sighed softly.

"Sooner or later everyone's luck's gotta change," Alden said. His generally evened out on the karmic scale of the Verse, but - tah ma duh - there had been some tough gigs lately. Even if he ignored the night in prison, the hostage exchange and the battles in their very recent past and chalked them up to life experience in the world of cargo-hauling and freelance employment gains, Kindra was broken some, he missed Ali, he didn't know how to fix Daiyu, and Chloe was gone.

"Maybe," the Echo's captain suggested, with a wry smile in those dark blue eyes as he looked from Jonas to their new engineer. "Just maybe... we're your good luck charm?" Could happen, right?

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