Duck Tape and Confidence

Posted on Mon May 25th, 2020 @ 7:46am by Alden Loxley & Alison Bliss & Noah-Jade True

Mission: Fortune & Glory
Location: Three Hills, Georgia System
Timeline: April 2517 (6 months ago)

Three Hills
April 2517
Six Months Ago

Drake Loxley had a pretty sweet little set-up for a twenty-seven year old. Some might consider him to be fortunate, others might consider him to be well-connected, and some would say he’d sell his mother’s wedding ring for the right price. The truth was somewhere in between and mingled with a whole bunch of other reasons, some of which changed like the wind, and most of which were known only to Drake himself.

Honestly though, he just got bored easily, and he loved being able to discover new shiny things. That never got old, and it made for a very interesting life. Drake had contacts, yes, people who brought him artefacts, legally or otherwise, and people who purchased said items. He had a legitimate business, a side-line in ship parts but his main trade resided in the trade of Earth That Was pieces. That was his first passion and the reason for his venture into this business.

Right now, though, he had what looked like a wreck of a Firefly sat in his back lot taking up space while his older brother and Alden’s current constant companion, Alison, tried to figure out exactly how much they could spend to get her up and running properly again. Alden, to Drake’s chagrin, seemed to skate through life with just enough money to keep him going to the next adventure, which meant he had to rescue him financially every so often. Because, that’s what family did.

“So,” Drake said, standing out on the large patch of hard-standing behind his self-built house on the edge of the sprawling urban jungle of a market that Three Hills was infamous for. “She’s basically a junker.” He turned to an old ally of his, Noah-Jade True and sighed heavily. “But my brother and his buddy have fallen head over heels in love with her. They’re definitely gonna need your help…. You up for it?”

Noah-Jade looked at the Firefly quietly for a moment. While his eyes showed their regular excitement, it was the slight grin that really added to the effect. "Looks like a fun project," the engineer said with a shrug, turning towards Drake.

As he shrugged, the green parrot on his shoulder opened its wings to keep balance, letting out an indignant squawk at the effort. Noah took no notice, instead keeping all his attention on the fence. To be honest, Noah found it intriguing to work with somebody that wasn't a total stranger. Yes, he did legitimately think this project would be fun - the engineer liked old project ships like this, ever since he had pictured himself fixing up one after college - but it was the sweet draw of familiarity that drew him.

Maybe it said a lot about Noah that he was willing to take a big project like this, instead of all the quick repairs that he had grown used to. Was he starting to wind towards settling down? Did he need the money that bad? Or maybe he was just flattered by the compliment - taking random jobs was one thing, but having an acquaintance recommend them to a family member was another thing entirely. There was no way Noah could turn that down. "I'm in." As the engineer spoke, he took a small step towards the ship, glancing up at the exterior of it. Drake had not been exaggerating about it being "basically" a junker, but there was a sort of rustic beauty to that. Then again, there was very little that Noah didn't find beauty in.

Drake grinned and shook his head. "Project," he noted. "Yeah, I like that. Definitely more project than a job. Might be residential at that," he added with clear amusement. Then he offered his hand to shake on it, and nudged his head towards the Firefly's open cargo ramp. "Our current arrangement," the younger Loxley said. "Still applies by the way. You find anything you can claim as your own, I'll deal. Just make sure you let my brother earn enough to repay me." A friendly smile broke his sentence. "Cos he still owes me for the tow."

Then Drake took a step forward. "C'mon, I'll introduce you."

Residential, Noah-Jade repeated the word in his mind as he followed the fence towards the ship. What an interesting concept. To be fair, the landlord of his sketchy rental in Three Hills was raising the rent, so it was about time to move (even aside from the fact that he didn't want to stay in one place for too long lest the Alliance find him), but he wondered how the bird would fare on a ship... Sure, the creature had lived on a ship before when Noah-Jade was with the Alliance, but that was mostly hidden. Would this crew be welcoming of a random bird openly on board? Or for a random mechanic at that matter.

The engineer just chuckled at Drake's insinuation that he might steal from the ship. As low as Noah's morals usually were... well, it was probably not a good idea to steal from the people you might be living with. Not to mention that by the looks of this junker they probably needed the money more than him. It was easy enough to justify anything when doing it for the good of a pet, but stealing from the wealthy still felt a whole lot better than stealing from the poor. That didn't mean he couldn't pick stuff up along the way, though... maybe if he did stay a resident on the ship while they got her moving, he could "pick up" some things wherever they took her. After all - if these people were flying a junker Firefly and looking for recommendations from a fence, they likely weren't going to high-class, high security places.

At least Noah-Jade would leave a reasonable impression, he thought. He was actually fairly well dressed today, in what used to be a nice suit and was now only slightly stained with oil - and a couple stains from bird droppings on his shoulder. Today had started as a good day, after all.

"ALDEN!" Drake bellowed into the firefly's cargo hold as he strolled purposefully up the ramp. He chuckled as a metallic ding signalled someone hitting their head on something and stood in the middle of the bay floor as Alden backed out of a compartment on the starboard side. "Found you a grease-monkey," the younger Loxley advised.

"And a parrot by the look of it?" Grizzled Alden as he stood up to his full height and rubbed the new bump on his head. He shook his head as if to reset the internals and then did a swift double-take of the tall slender figure before him.

"Noah-Jade?" Alden said, a touch of happy disbelief in his voice as he looked up into those pale hazel eyes. "How Jiu Bu Jian, Puhn yoh!" (Long time no see, buddy!) The new Captain of the slightly broken Fortune's Echo opened his arms wide in expectation of a hug, and then yelled out a friendly request up and over his shoulder.

"Alison!! Come down here a sec!"

Noah followed Drake quietly, glancing around the ship in unguarded fascination. His parrot, on the other hand, showed no interest in the ship, instead tugging at a small piece of Noah-Jade's hair. The engineer quickly turned forward when he heard a strangely familiar voice. He didn't recognize the man at first - he blamed the years between them, but in all honesty he was never good with faces - but his eyes widened when the man said his name. "How Jiu Bu Jian!" (Long time no see), Noah repeated back, his mouth widening into a grin. This was the browncoat from that ship! It brought Noah a strange sort of relief that he was still alive, and a sort of wonder that their paths might cross. Was this man Drake's brother, then? What a small 'Verse.

"It's been a while," Noah said as he reached out for a handshake, heedless of Alden's expectation of a hug. Frankly, Noah had never been comfortable hugging guys, and he didn't much care about the social faux pas of ignoring it. It always seemed that as soon as anybody knew he was into guys they read much too deeply into things like hugs and even casual intimacy. Although Noah doubted that Alden knew much about his personal life, it had just become a habit at this point. Who's Alison? Noah wondered to himself.

A swift shift of position and Alden smiled and shook his head before shaking Noah's hand firmly. "Ah, yeah," he said. "Not a hugger! Sorry, like you say, been a while." During the war, they'd spent some time together during a complicated situation that hadn't ever really got any easier. Alden realised he was going to have to explain at least some of that to his First Mate.

Alison was wondering what was happening and what all the commotion at the entrance was all about. She jumped down a couple of stairs and acrobatically flipped over the railing to land in the cargo hold. Yeah, a bit showing off but she was bored with all the fixing, considering that she had no interest in all the intricacies of the cabling, lighting, or whatever was between the switch and the engine. Most of her contribution to the repairs was going around and knocking bulkheads trying to find all the secret cargo spaces.

Standing at 5'10'' Alison was a tall woman, though skinny. Currently in loose, khaki t-shirt dirtied by the dust and grease, with her nipples poking clearly under the fabric and all completed with a tight fitting, black leather pants and heavy military boots. She was unarmed, as they were in a friendly place. Her platinum, long blonde hair was put in a ponytail and cold blue eyes locked on the new person she didn't know. She assessed him briefly before her face broke in a flirtatious grin.

"Who have we here?" She asked with a raise of an eyebrow.

"This," Alden introduced his two friends from very different places. "Is Noah. We met during the war, he's an engineer. A really good one I hear." The elder Loxley looked to the younger Loxley and canted his head to the side in curiosity. "Where'd you find him, Drake?"

Drake just offered an enigmatic smile. "I have many contacts," was all he said, and he wandered off to leave the three of them to their little meeting.

Alden rolled his eyes, and turned back to Noah. "And Noah," he continued. "This is Alison, the First Mate of this fine ship you see before you." He looked sheepish for a moment, then shrugged demonstratively. "Well, ship will be fine when we get her all fixed up. Have you come to help us out?" Hope infused his question quite overtly.

Noah-Jade turned to watch as a woman gracefully entered the cargo bay. He chuckled just slightly at her flirtatious grin. The engineer stood there, unabashed by all the attention, silently grateful that Alden didn't mention that when the two met, he was working for the Alliance. He could only hope that Alden would be discreet about that - he had a feeling that around here, especially with the sort of crew that would follow a browncoat, Alliance ties were possibly not the best thing to have. Thinking about that - where was the rest of the crew? Or was this it... a new ship, a new crew, a new life for Alden.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Alison," Noah-Jade said with a smile, and a faintly flamboyant bow. It was a strange mixture of class and mockery - Noah Jade had of course learned how to properly bow, growing up as he did, but he was fully aware that this was not the kind of place for bowing so he did so more of a joke.

As he straightened himself up, the engineer looked back towards Alden, away from the woman. He responded plainly, not one for mincing words; "And yes - I have come to help out. I've been looking for a job, and this ship, well," he chuckled, motioning at the area around them, "she certainly looks like a job."

He glanced back towards Alison, as the bird got bored with his hair and started playing with the collar of his suit. "You seem to have done well for yourself, Alden," he noted. After all - he had a ship, a brother whom he still talked to, he was alive after the war and was this Alison person romantically involved with him or not? Either way, considering Noah had last seen Alden as a captive during the war, he could be doing a lot worse.

"I'm doing alright," Alden agreed quietly, gifting Noah a look that said more than his words did. They both knew what the past had been like, neither of them knew what the future would bring, but a friendly face was definitely welcome, especially when they came attached to a much needed skillset.

Alison put a hand on her hip, taking a feminine position and assessing Noah carefully. There was something in him that was putting her off. She made a mental note to investigate that later. For now, there were other priorities.

"Well, if you do better than Alden on repairing, you have my backing to join the crew." She said lightly. "If you are such a good friend of Alden... how about we get you straight to business and..." She glanced at Alden. "Let him pick any of the free bunks?" She suggested.

They needed the crew and while she didn't know Noah, putting him to work would quickly verify his skills. The rest... the rest could be worked out.

"Hey," complained Alden. "I'm a pretty decent mechanic." Which was a half-truth. He was alright, knew just enough to get them out of simple trouble, yet definitely not enough to be flying without a dedicated engineer. "But yeah," he told Noah, with a grin. "You pick whatever bunk you want, my friend. The bird sleeps with you though, deal?"

Noah just smiled, slightly amused, at Alden's "pretty decent mechanic". It seems they had different definitions of "pretty decent."

"Of course he'll stay with me," Noah said, reaching up towards the bird. The bird seemed to forget about the collar of his suit and step up onto his hand, which Noah then lowered down in front of him. "He's a good bird." Frankly, Noah wouldn't have any other way. He'd been with this bird for more than a decade now, and sometimes when he felt alone, it was nice to have at least a pet. And he promised Paul that he would take care of it... sometimes he wondered if Paul were still watching him, through the parrot's eyes.

"Good stuff," Alden agreed. Then he paused, frowned, and added. "He have a name?"

"Not really," Noah shrugged. "I just call him my bird."

Alden wrinkled his nose. "Really should give him a name," he muttered amicably.

"Can you defend yourself?" Alison asked Noah.

Noah looked up when the woman asked him a question. He just smiled. "Haha," he responded, halfway in between talking and a laugh. "Nope." He wasn't really trained to defend himself, and there was no use lying about that fact. He had absolutely no delusions about his ability to bluff and intimidate people into thinking otherwise. He was tall, but there wasn't much muscle on him. He knew more about the history about mechanics of a gun than about how to actually fire it - and his military friends had only taught him the basics of the latter.

"I'll fix up your ship, and travel with y'all," the word sounded strange, almost forced, coming from his prissy core world accent but Noah didn't care, "until we get all the kinks worked out, for the cost of board, food and a weekly allowance." Sure, this was a friend, but he wasn't working for free - he still needed money to buy fresh food for this bird at least.

Alison glanced at Alden and shrugged.

"Welcome aboard." She said turning her face back at Noah and gave him a wink. "Should I know anything about you up front, beside the fact we need to protect you?"

"He's a damn fine mechanic," Alden interjected, saving Noah from a lie in the first moments of meeting Alison, and he gifted Noah an enigmatic, but friendly grin. That accent! Ta Ma Duh, (Damn) he'd forgotten how oddly jarring it could be. Noah, however, was a sight for sore eyes, and he deserved to be looked after. "You'll be paid properly, like any member of the crew," Alden promised him evenly. "For as long as you're willing to stick around. How's that sound?"

"That sounds like a deal," Noah said with a smile.

Alison glanced at Alden, then at Noah. She knew Alden enough to know when he tried to hide something from her, especially since she was well trained in reading people. She considered briefly to press on the issue but then she trusted Alden enough to let him go away with this. This time. She glanced at Alden again and shrugged.

She knew. And Alden knew she knew. But here, in front of Drake, Alden just didn't want to get into it. Too many complicated memories to drag out into the light of a sunny day on Three Hills when they had a pretty new ship to fix up. Maybe later, over a few beers, this trio would discuss some elements of the past. He'd see how that panned out. For now, Alden was happy to have a talented pair of hands and a happy pair of wings on the crew.

"Welcome to the Fortune's Echo, Noah and Little Bird," Alden said, raising long arms up in a flourish that encompassed them all and the Firefly behind them. "C'mon, we'll show you 'round."

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