Locket

Posted on Sat Jul 4th, 2020 @ 6:32pm by Noah-Jade True

Mission: Fortune & Glory
Location: Cargo Bay
Timeline: 1 Month before Hera

Noah cursed as he dropped his screwdriver. His bird just laughed - in the uncanny click-laugh of a parrot.

“Yeah, well, it wouldn’t be so funny if you had to pick it up, mister,” the engineer muttered as he leaned down, reaching half under the metal staircase for it. “You’re just lucky I feed you, huh?” He gave an affective scratch the bird’s chin while he examined the tool. What for, he didn’t know. Maybe it was just instinct, to examine something that had fallen, though it wasn’t like this metal screwdriver would pick up a dent or a scratch. Maybe he was trying to find a way to blame it for dropping. Either way, the tool looked perfectly normal. He shrugged and continued back on his work, removing a metal panel from the wall of the cargo bay.

Oh, he knew these compartments were going to probably be used for additional smuggling, or less-than-legal affairs. But he didn’t care, and he didn’t ask. If anything, he could play stupid in front of a court. Smuggling? Oh, heavens, no. I thought they just wanted discreet storage space for the aesthetics of it. Wouldn’t be the strangest strange I’ve built. As he played through the scenario in his mind, he leaned down to look into the new hole in the wall, pulling a flashlight from his pocket. There were some wires down behind it. He carefully wrapped those up with a zip tie – some technology just never gets old – and tucked them to the side. No use letting those get wrapped up with the cargo. Once everything was neat and tidy, he scooted back a step, grabbing a couple little metal strips that he had set beside him when he started. To these, the others would attach the cargo, so it didn’t jostle around and draw attention to itself. After a small stretch, the mechanic leaned back in, measuring the strips against the floor, for when he came with stronger tools. Only this time, when he leaned down his bird took that as an invitation to jump.

“You little ass,” Noah groaned as he reached for the creature. Too late. He only saw the bird's long green tail as it buried itself among the wires, behind the wall of the ship. “Don’t you dare eat those. You’d regret it, boy. And you’d be dumb. A dumb-face. That was probably your name, huh? Back when Paul had you.” Truth be told, Noah didn’t know his own bird’s name. Paul had jokingly said different names each time that Noah had asked, and before he could tell Noah the bird’s real name, he was gone, leaving just a grief-stricken engineer and a nameless bird. Unlike Paul, at least, Noah wouldn’t leave the bird behind. Not that he had the option – wasn’t like had a studious, sedentary boyfriend waiting for him back on planet, like Paul had – but he didn’t want this bird to lose someone else again. Ringneck parrots were notoriously fickle with their owners. It took two years for him to really accept Noah as his new friend. “I swear, you are the naughtiest bird. It’s like having a child. A two-year. You’re as a dumb as a toddler.” He spoke as he pushed aside the wires, trying to be careful not to wrap up his bird in them while reaching for it.

And finally, he had him. Noah smiled; a sarcastically malicious smile, like somebody who took unhidden pride in winning a game. “Alright, bird.” The engineer sat up and placed the bird on the railing of the stairs, not even risking putting it back on his shoulder. Besides; nobody else was awake at this hour. Noah only was because he couldn’t sleep. They wouldn’t be using those stairs for now. The bird muttered a couple quiet words, but Noah didn’t listen. Instead, he turned back towards the wall.

What a mess. Aside from the wires he had so neatly just tied up with a zip tie, most of them were scattered about. And further back behind the stairs than Noah had planned to go. With a sigh, the enby leaned in and began pushing them to the side. There was a surprising amount of dust for something that should’ve been hidden behind panels all this time. Had this been opened at one point? Maybe for repairs. Maybe the previous owners were smugglers as two. As Noah reached for one wire, he realized with a start that it wasn’t attached to anything. He pulled it out and looked. Dust. With a couple shakes, the dust was gone and Noah could see that he wasn’t looking at a wire at all.

It was a locket.

“Huh.” Noah lifted up the locket, showing it towards the bird which couldn’t care less. “See this?” He had no qualms about privacy or whatever as he opened it. There was a picture inside; faded into the faintest blue outline of a person. He closed it up again, turning it over. There was an inscription on the back as well… something with a Q and U and an A. Was this gold? Well, nobody would miss it. It must’ve been here before Alden and Alison got this ship, based on all that dust. Carefully, the engineer put the locket into his pocket, but he hesitated. Was this stealing? He told himself he wouldn’t steal from these folk. Then again, maybe he was just keeping it in a safe place. Yeah. He wouldn’t sell it, not until he figured out for sure if they knew about it. And if they asked, well, he had just found it. The engineer put the locket deep down into his pocket with just the slightest sense of guilt. Strange. He hadn’t felt that before… maybe he actually was starting to view these employers as friends.