A
Alex Hart
ON, Alex's Kouken class escort, aproaching a scrapyard in Lorath remanant space
Alex had recently gotten his hands on a Kouken escort, and was in Lorath remanant space looking for spare parts. He figured that since there wasn't a whole lot going on in this space that it would be a good place to find parts.
He turned to Araxie. "Alright whille you guide us in, I'll let the scrapyard know we're coming."
"Good. We don't need an incident like last time. Those guys were WAY too high-strung to just show up to." The little ship coasted through the slowly growing field of debris smoothly as its elysian pilot sat at the helm.
Alex sighed. "Well yeah, I'm hoping this goes better." He said as he opened a channel to the scrapyard. "Scrapyard control, this is the Independant Space Ship Araxie, requesting clearance to dock with your ship."
Alex's crew heard a joyful female voive over the communications, "You are cleared to dock, welcome to my scrapyard!" Evee watched out her ship's windows as the Independant Space Ship Araxie approached her make-shift shop. She wondered how pleasant (or not) this interaction would be. Realizing the proximity of the approaching ship Evee scrambled to organize her best parts for her new visitors.
Alex looked to Araxie. "Bring us in please."
"Fine, fine... But I'm also not going to introduce myself first." The escort gently drifted towards a slightly-extended umbilical, attaching itself to one of the airlock-like entrances on the side of the craft before its pilot set the ship into a nonthreatening, energy-saving mode.
Alex walked through the umbilical and entered the airlock. He looked back at Araxie to see if she was following, which she currently was not. The angel had, for the time being, decided to remain on the ship.
Alex opened the airlock and entered the ship. He looked around and noted the interior.
The interior of her craft was completley covered in crates containing all kinds of trinkets, parts and supplies. Decoration-wise string lights hung and dangled from the roof but other than that not much more had been done to the stock interior of the ship. Even though Evee liked to keep her workspace clean and organized there was way too many items, there was no way they could all fit in the cabin in an orderly fashion. Behind the shop big heavy drapes covered the private areas of her ship, they are intended to keep people out but provide little actual privacy. A quick glance at one of the crates revealed a huge pile of bolts, computer chips and a few mystery parts, purpose unknown. Evee was crouched behind a counter in the far left corner of the room, probably picking up a fallen part. When she heard the door of her craft clank open she bounced up to greet her guests.
Alex waved to the slightly fuzzy young woman. "Hello there. Do you own this shop?"
Evee smiled and replied,"Hello visitors! I do indeed own this shop."
Alex smiled back. "Actually, it's only me coming in. I was hoping to get some spare parts for my ship. I'm going to be traveling a bit so they might be helpful."
Evee responded,"Very well, I have lots of parts you may interested in. Lots in here to see!" Evee did a half-run-half-jog to Alex and turned to pat a peice of a disassembled engine with many useful parts still in it.
Alex nodded. "Wow. That's in pristine state. Did you salvage that yourself?"
Evee jerked her head up and down. "Yes! I salvaged it myself. 'I went to school for this type of work.'" She was glad to acknowledge what a good job she had done.
"Do you think you have any other parts in this condition that would be useful for repariring starship and small craft engines?"
Evee paused for a second and then answered,"Yes! I do.. come." She lead Alex to a compartment along the wall that had ship parts (somewhat) neatly stacked inside.
"Wow, this is perfect!" Alex exclaimed. "Although uh... I don't actually know much of the specifics of swapping out parts and repairing stuff. I'm actually just a small craft pilot. Well, I suppose I'll have to learn now." He cocked his head. "Although I guess that I could look online to hire a mechanic."
Evee considered Alex's statement, knowing that this could be her chance to show her true potential. She hinted,"I consider myself a very good mechanic! I can fix lots of various ship systems! I can help."
"Really? But you would have to leave all this behind... I suppose that you could bring a lot of parts with you if you wanted."
Evee looked around at the life she had created for herself, she got sad when considering the idea of leaving but the offer of living with a new crew and the chance of exploration excited her. "I must put my ship in a good place..", she said. "And I want a workspace... Can we call people to pick up ship and take it to good place.. Is that possible..?"
Alex nodded. "Definitely. I have a place it can be brought actually, out in the far west of the sector."
Evee brought her hand to her mouth, thinking about everything that had just happened.. "As long as my ship is safe,..", she replied. She continued by asking, "How many of my parts am I allowed to bring onboard..?"
"About a quarter of the cargo hold seems fair, I think." Alex responded.
Evee smiled. "That sounds great!"
"Alright." Alex said, "What kind of stuff do you think we should bring?"
Evee explained,"Maybe we should take a look at your craft and see what needs attention.. Also I will be taking all my extraction and examination tools for scavenging whatever we may find."
"Alright, that sounds fine to me." Alex said. "But you might need specialized parts for what I pilot."
He lead the way into the umbilical and into his ship.
Evee followed Alex into the umbilical, curious to see the inside of his ship. When Evee stepped into Alex's ship she analyzed the space they had just entered, which was an airlock and it had two doors. That door opened and led into the lower storage area.
"We've got a lot of space that you can use. So about a fourth of it seems fair."
Evee smiled in reply. She almost ran down the stairs to check it out for herself, but she held herself back to be polite. She signaled towards the storage and asked,"Can we check it out..?"
"Sure! You can set up and partition off your area to be a workshop as well." Alex spoke kindly.
Evee ran down the stairs eager to see the ship's storage area. How much space would she have to work with!?, she thought to herself. This was quite exciting for Evee, as she rarley got to explore new places. She started imagining all the places they could visit and she could see herself working with her new crew. She noted the physical features and space of the storage area.
Alex followed down into the bay and pointed Evee towards a corner. "That one's for you."
Evee rubbed her paws together in excitement; Evee was busy conceptualizing how she was going to use the space. Evee gave Alex a joyful look, she was ready to move all of her stuff and start an adventure but she remembered that they were going to decide which parts were necessary.
"Well, let's head to the engineering and systems so that you can get an idea of what kind of parts are needed and then we can check out my small craft."
"Okay", replied Evee, she followed alongside Alex.
Alex led Evee to the engineering area and showed her around.
"So this area is fairly simple and standard to me, but I'm no expert. Anything stick out to you?"
Evee looked along the walls and at the large mechanical parts of the ship housed in the room. She ran her hand across a pipe, then directed her attention to a collection of wires. She peeled back the cluster and knelt to take a closer look. "Looks like there are many electrical components that could use new parts." Evee reached back behind her back a few times and managed to pull out a small notepad. She then grabbed her pen, taking note of the various parts of the ship that needed repair. "There are no problems too concerning over here."
"That's good!" Alex replied. "Well, some things to bring would be general spare parts for the stuff in here. If you'd like, I can show you my small craft now."
"Lets take a look", She approved.
Alex lead Evee up to the hangar on the top deck, and a fighter in the corner trundled over to the pair. The cockpit coverings were down so it was clear that there was no one in the cockpit of the craft.
"Wow!", Evee gasped. "It has an AI!? I have never seen anything like it."
"Not exactly." Alex grinned as he spoke. He walked over to the front of the craft and parts began to shift and whirl as a humanoid body emerged from the mass of metal.
It was on its hands and knees because of the hight restrictions of the hangar, and then Alex waved at Evee and the mecha's right hand moved perfectly in sync with his own.
"Amazing," Evee marveled. She took time to look at the hulking mass of metal that was sitting in-front of her. "I want to know everything about it!", she added.
Alex sat down to explain the basics of the craft.
"Well, basically it's designed around a computer that's linked to me, allowing it to be used like another body part, just like my arms or legs." He waved his and his mecha's arm back and forth.
"It also transforms between an aerospace fighter and a mecha. If you want you can examine it all you want."
Evee took a closer took at the mecha and recorded important details on her notepad. She examined the joints and all the visable working details. After a long while of examination it seemed like she was content with the information she had collected.
"I understand it now.", Evee acknowledged, "Thanks for showing me."
"Thanks for joining us. It seems you're quite taken with the Unicorn." Alex said as he pointed at the horn on the aformentioned mecha's head.
"No, thank-you for letting me onto your crew! I am very excited to explore and make new friends. My life was beginning to get boring, all by myself." Evee started to tear up.
"Hey..." Alex patted her on the shoulder. "It's okay, you have us now!"
Evee sniffled and started to smile again. She turned to face Alex. She wasnt sure if Alex was a hugger (and since they had just met it may be kinda weird..) so she did not attempt it.. ..But then something happened inside her, and caused her to do it anyways. She gave Alex a hug, what a nice comforting feeling it was.
"Thank-you", she repeated again.
Alex started for a moment, and then patted Evee on the back.
"Hey... It's okay..." He spoke in a shaky voice.
Evee wiped the tears from her face but she was still teary. Her emotions had taken over and she did not know what to do next.
A light hiss broke the unstable silence as Araxie had come back to the bay to check on Alex. Rather than saying anything, the hummingbird simply stopped in her path, leaning against the door frame. The boy really can't stop it, can he... She chuckled under her breath to herself. Well as long as she isn't like that neko chick... Damned Yamatians, all they think about is sex. Finally, she spoke, "So, this is our new engineer then? Or is she going to join you out there, flying those things?" One wing lazily pointed over them all towards Alex's metallic half.
Evee hastily attempted to move all emotion off of her face. She was embarrassed to be approached in such a state. Evee’s eyes darted everywhere in search of a distraction, but finding nothing of interest they settled on the floor. She was tempted to glance back at Araxie, out of curiosity, but her embarrassment was too great. Did Araxie already think bad of her? Did Araxie see them hug!?
Alex scratched the back of his head sheepishly and grinned a little. "Well, that's up to her. This is Evee" He gestured towards Evee, "and she's gonna be our new mechanic. She's pretty skilled from what I've seen, and we'll be better off for having her with us."
The slender angel smiled pleasantly, speaking, "That'll be nice. It's only going to be a matter of time before things start falling apart around here, even with the junkers. I'm Araxie Serai-yes, just like the ship. That goofball there can be quite a stubborn man when he wants to be." She chuckled pleasantly, warmly. "I tend to fly the ship. Those mechs are... Let's say less than comfortable for someone like me. They turn too fast and the control systems aren't anything I'm all that used to." Wearing a loose sweatshirt and jeans, the elysian seemed to be very relaxed despite Evee's apparent encroaching upon her partner.
Evee was still embarrassed (for good reason) but was relieved to receive a warm (welcome) and a friendly introduction. Evee slowly moved herself away from Alex, ( ..what an awkward situation she was in.) Evee tried hard and managed to push out a grin. She nodded slowly to signify that she was listening to what Araxie was saying. "Nice -to m-", Evee bleated. She tried again, this time with a confident voice, "Nice to meet you, Araxie. Alex kind-of already introduced me- " Evee continued,"I- am -um- I am sorry for what you saw happen. It's- it's just my past.. and.. things got emotional."
Alex sat down on the floor. "Don't worry. Everyone has their own baggage. You can deal with it at your own pace, and we'll be here to help you with it."
Araxie shrugged and sighed quietly, setting herself down on the small catwalk with her legs dangling freely. "Mhm. I mean, we won't get anywhere if people just keep distancing each other, and nobody knows each other. That's the one thing I can say is good about Yammies... They work well together."
Evee tried to make some conversation by asking,"Where are we heading..?" She found it alarming that she had not considered asking this question yet..
Alex thought for a moment. "Well, we're just heading around. I'm looking for information on a company that is a little shady, and I figure the best way to do that is to explore the sector and find the places where shady stuff is going on. And maybe help people along the way. I figure that if we can protect people from pirates or other threats that it's an added bonus, and maybe we can gain more information from that."
"Long story short... We kind of go wherever we need to, want to, or wherever there's something interesting going on. Alex likes to be one of those movie hero guys a lot, I guess that makes me the sort of sassy sidekick." She paused before continuing, "...And the romantic interest. But with less starry-eyed-ness."
Alex looked up at Araxie. "I don't think I try to do any of that sort of stuff on purpose, do I?" He scratched his head a little. "I just do whatever I think needs doing."
Even though things had started moving away from her embarrassing moment Evee still felt fairly uncomfortable. She decided she should start doing something to take her mind off of it and to remove herself from the conversation. "I think I should start setting up shop...", she suggested.
"Is there some way I could be of assistance?" Alex asked kindly, clearly not noticing that Evee was trying to remove herself.
"Um- yeah.", Evee replied, "I would appreciate some help." Evee smiled to Alex, but then looked away.. she wasn't sure if it would be taken the wrong way. She was quick to add, "Well, I think we should go back into my ship to decide what's of importance"
"I'll come with you if you think I can help." Alex said.
Araxie shrugged, speaking, "Well if you two need an extra pair of hands then I might as well come, myself."
"There is a lot of heavy-lifting you guys can do", she said jokingly.
"I can help with that. I'm pretty strong." Alex said.
Evee looked in the direction of her ship and back to Alex and Araxie. "Are you guys ready to start then?" She stood near the passageway that led back to her ship, ready to go.
Araxie shrugged, standing up. "Not the strongest person in the world, but I'm not a pushover either. Don't worry about me," she laughed lightly.
Evee repeated,"Thanks again for letting me into your crew. It means so much to me." She beamed, full of joy. She was very grateful. All the things she is going to be a part of...
"Alright" Alex said, "Let's head over and get started."
Araxie shrugged, following the two people back through the connection between the ships.
"Okay, what kind of stuff do you think we'll be needing?" Alex asked Evee.
"Um...", said Evee, she held up her notepad and examined her notes. "I advise we stock up on communications related components and on- some flight controls parts. I saw some wear on those particular systems. If I had to guess those areas of the ship would break first. Better safe then sorry... But really we want as important parts that we can take. " Evee walked down the isle of crates in her ship as she cherry-picked parts. "We may want to take some of those", she advised, she pointed towards a pile of electrical components. She looked under a table, felt around and pulled out a few stacked empty crates.
Alex came over. "You can start to load them up, I can carry whatever you need to a reasonable extent."
"I'll help pack, then. Probably take every other crate over if I can."
"Thanks", mentioned Evee. (Even though they were a crew now.) She was quick to amass a huge amount of equipment, crates and personal belongings that she needed to take along.
Alex hefted two of the large, heavy crates, one in each arm, and began to carry them towards the umbilical connecting the two ships. Soon three or four more crates joined those in the cargo hold of the ISS Araxie.
Serai rolled her eyes as she carried a smaller cube-like box on top of both of her arms, balancing it slightly by leaning it in towards her chest and stepping slightly awkwardly. It was quite the sight to see the elysian's wings occasionally shoot about from behind her in an attempt to keep her balance.
"Be careful with that one!", Evee insisted. Evee hoped that she did not come off as rude to Araxie.
"What's in it?" Alex asked curiously.
"It contains capsules of some really fragile energy crystals.", answered Evee. She added, "I also recall placing some nano technology elements in there recently." Araxie had to pick the box with the most delicate and "rare" stuff... Evee did not voice her thoughts nor did she let her thoughts show through her expression.
"Hm. Where do you want it then, since it probably would do best not crammed with the other stuff?"
"Put it somewhere safe, in the confines of my work-area. We can move it later if we need. Thanks for your help...", replied Evee.
"Y'welcome."
"Alright," Alex said, "Let's get you settled in and get you a room to stay in. Glad to have you on board Evee. After that I'll ask someone to bring your ship to a planet called 188604, it'll be safe there."
"Thank-you so much for adding me to your crew Alex", Evee exulted. She struggled to keep her emotions out, she was so thrilled to be part of a new crew. Evee felt the strong urge to hug somebody but was not going to make that mistake again... (At least not for now.) Within an hour or so most of her belongings had made their way onto the ship Araxie and she had settled into her new workspace. Evee returned to her own ship for a moment to give it a last goodbye.
Alex had recently gotten his hands on a Kouken escort, and was in Lorath remanant space looking for spare parts. He figured that since there wasn't a whole lot going on in this space that it would be a good place to find parts.
He turned to Araxie. "Alright whille you guide us in, I'll let the scrapyard know we're coming."
"Good. We don't need an incident like last time. Those guys were WAY too high-strung to just show up to." The little ship coasted through the slowly growing field of debris smoothly as its elysian pilot sat at the helm.
Alex sighed. "Well yeah, I'm hoping this goes better." He said as he opened a channel to the scrapyard. "Scrapyard control, this is the Independant Space Ship Araxie, requesting clearance to dock with your ship."
Alex's crew heard a joyful female voive over the communications, "You are cleared to dock, welcome to my scrapyard!" Evee watched out her ship's windows as the Independant Space Ship Araxie approached her make-shift shop. She wondered how pleasant (or not) this interaction would be. Realizing the proximity of the approaching ship Evee scrambled to organize her best parts for her new visitors.
Alex looked to Araxie. "Bring us in please."
"Fine, fine... But I'm also not going to introduce myself first." The escort gently drifted towards a slightly-extended umbilical, attaching itself to one of the airlock-like entrances on the side of the craft before its pilot set the ship into a nonthreatening, energy-saving mode.
Alex walked through the umbilical and entered the airlock. He looked back at Araxie to see if she was following, which she currently was not. The angel had, for the time being, decided to remain on the ship.
Alex opened the airlock and entered the ship. He looked around and noted the interior.
The interior of her craft was completley covered in crates containing all kinds of trinkets, parts and supplies. Decoration-wise string lights hung and dangled from the roof but other than that not much more had been done to the stock interior of the ship. Even though Evee liked to keep her workspace clean and organized there was way too many items, there was no way they could all fit in the cabin in an orderly fashion. Behind the shop big heavy drapes covered the private areas of her ship, they are intended to keep people out but provide little actual privacy. A quick glance at one of the crates revealed a huge pile of bolts, computer chips and a few mystery parts, purpose unknown. Evee was crouched behind a counter in the far left corner of the room, probably picking up a fallen part. When she heard the door of her craft clank open she bounced up to greet her guests.
Alex waved to the slightly fuzzy young woman. "Hello there. Do you own this shop?"
Evee smiled and replied,"Hello visitors! I do indeed own this shop."
Alex smiled back. "Actually, it's only me coming in. I was hoping to get some spare parts for my ship. I'm going to be traveling a bit so they might be helpful."
Evee responded,"Very well, I have lots of parts you may interested in. Lots in here to see!" Evee did a half-run-half-jog to Alex and turned to pat a peice of a disassembled engine with many useful parts still in it.
Alex nodded. "Wow. That's in pristine state. Did you salvage that yourself?"
Evee jerked her head up and down. "Yes! I salvaged it myself. 'I went to school for this type of work.'" She was glad to acknowledge what a good job she had done.
"Do you think you have any other parts in this condition that would be useful for repariring starship and small craft engines?"
Evee paused for a second and then answered,"Yes! I do.. come." She lead Alex to a compartment along the wall that had ship parts (somewhat) neatly stacked inside.
"Wow, this is perfect!" Alex exclaimed. "Although uh... I don't actually know much of the specifics of swapping out parts and repairing stuff. I'm actually just a small craft pilot. Well, I suppose I'll have to learn now." He cocked his head. "Although I guess that I could look online to hire a mechanic."
Evee considered Alex's statement, knowing that this could be her chance to show her true potential. She hinted,"I consider myself a very good mechanic! I can fix lots of various ship systems! I can help."
"Really? But you would have to leave all this behind... I suppose that you could bring a lot of parts with you if you wanted."
Evee looked around at the life she had created for herself, she got sad when considering the idea of leaving but the offer of living with a new crew and the chance of exploration excited her. "I must put my ship in a good place..", she said. "And I want a workspace... Can we call people to pick up ship and take it to good place.. Is that possible..?"
Alex nodded. "Definitely. I have a place it can be brought actually, out in the far west of the sector."
Evee brought her hand to her mouth, thinking about everything that had just happened.. "As long as my ship is safe,..", she replied. She continued by asking, "How many of my parts am I allowed to bring onboard..?"
"About a quarter of the cargo hold seems fair, I think." Alex responded.
Evee smiled. "That sounds great!"
"Alright." Alex said, "What kind of stuff do you think we should bring?"
Evee explained,"Maybe we should take a look at your craft and see what needs attention.. Also I will be taking all my extraction and examination tools for scavenging whatever we may find."
"Alright, that sounds fine to me." Alex said. "But you might need specialized parts for what I pilot."
He lead the way into the umbilical and into his ship.
Evee followed Alex into the umbilical, curious to see the inside of his ship. When Evee stepped into Alex's ship she analyzed the space they had just entered, which was an airlock and it had two doors. That door opened and led into the lower storage area.
"We've got a lot of space that you can use. So about a fourth of it seems fair."
Evee smiled in reply. She almost ran down the stairs to check it out for herself, but she held herself back to be polite. She signaled towards the storage and asked,"Can we check it out..?"
"Sure! You can set up and partition off your area to be a workshop as well." Alex spoke kindly.
Evee ran down the stairs eager to see the ship's storage area. How much space would she have to work with!?, she thought to herself. This was quite exciting for Evee, as she rarley got to explore new places. She started imagining all the places they could visit and she could see herself working with her new crew. She noted the physical features and space of the storage area.
Alex followed down into the bay and pointed Evee towards a corner. "That one's for you."
Evee rubbed her paws together in excitement; Evee was busy conceptualizing how she was going to use the space. Evee gave Alex a joyful look, she was ready to move all of her stuff and start an adventure but she remembered that they were going to decide which parts were necessary.
"Well, let's head to the engineering and systems so that you can get an idea of what kind of parts are needed and then we can check out my small craft."
"Okay", replied Evee, she followed alongside Alex.
Alex led Evee to the engineering area and showed her around.
"So this area is fairly simple and standard to me, but I'm no expert. Anything stick out to you?"
Evee looked along the walls and at the large mechanical parts of the ship housed in the room. She ran her hand across a pipe, then directed her attention to a collection of wires. She peeled back the cluster and knelt to take a closer look. "Looks like there are many electrical components that could use new parts." Evee reached back behind her back a few times and managed to pull out a small notepad. She then grabbed her pen, taking note of the various parts of the ship that needed repair. "There are no problems too concerning over here."
"That's good!" Alex replied. "Well, some things to bring would be general spare parts for the stuff in here. If you'd like, I can show you my small craft now."
"Lets take a look", She approved.
Alex lead Evee up to the hangar on the top deck, and a fighter in the corner trundled over to the pair. The cockpit coverings were down so it was clear that there was no one in the cockpit of the craft.
"Wow!", Evee gasped. "It has an AI!? I have never seen anything like it."
"Not exactly." Alex grinned as he spoke. He walked over to the front of the craft and parts began to shift and whirl as a humanoid body emerged from the mass of metal.
It was on its hands and knees because of the hight restrictions of the hangar, and then Alex waved at Evee and the mecha's right hand moved perfectly in sync with his own.
"Amazing," Evee marveled. She took time to look at the hulking mass of metal that was sitting in-front of her. "I want to know everything about it!", she added.
Alex sat down to explain the basics of the craft.
"Well, basically it's designed around a computer that's linked to me, allowing it to be used like another body part, just like my arms or legs." He waved his and his mecha's arm back and forth.
"It also transforms between an aerospace fighter and a mecha. If you want you can examine it all you want."
Evee took a closer took at the mecha and recorded important details on her notepad. She examined the joints and all the visable working details. After a long while of examination it seemed like she was content with the information she had collected.
"I understand it now.", Evee acknowledged, "Thanks for showing me."
"Thanks for joining us. It seems you're quite taken with the Unicorn." Alex said as he pointed at the horn on the aformentioned mecha's head.
"No, thank-you for letting me onto your crew! I am very excited to explore and make new friends. My life was beginning to get boring, all by myself." Evee started to tear up.
"Hey..." Alex patted her on the shoulder. "It's okay, you have us now!"
Evee sniffled and started to smile again. She turned to face Alex. She wasnt sure if Alex was a hugger (and since they had just met it may be kinda weird..) so she did not attempt it.. ..But then something happened inside her, and caused her to do it anyways. She gave Alex a hug, what a nice comforting feeling it was.
"Thank-you", she repeated again.
Alex started for a moment, and then patted Evee on the back.
"Hey... It's okay..." He spoke in a shaky voice.
Evee wiped the tears from her face but she was still teary. Her emotions had taken over and she did not know what to do next.
A light hiss broke the unstable silence as Araxie had come back to the bay to check on Alex. Rather than saying anything, the hummingbird simply stopped in her path, leaning against the door frame. The boy really can't stop it, can he... She chuckled under her breath to herself. Well as long as she isn't like that neko chick... Damned Yamatians, all they think about is sex. Finally, she spoke, "So, this is our new engineer then? Or is she going to join you out there, flying those things?" One wing lazily pointed over them all towards Alex's metallic half.
Evee hastily attempted to move all emotion off of her face. She was embarrassed to be approached in such a state. Evee’s eyes darted everywhere in search of a distraction, but finding nothing of interest they settled on the floor. She was tempted to glance back at Araxie, out of curiosity, but her embarrassment was too great. Did Araxie already think bad of her? Did Araxie see them hug!?
Alex scratched the back of his head sheepishly and grinned a little. "Well, that's up to her. This is Evee" He gestured towards Evee, "and she's gonna be our new mechanic. She's pretty skilled from what I've seen, and we'll be better off for having her with us."
The slender angel smiled pleasantly, speaking, "That'll be nice. It's only going to be a matter of time before things start falling apart around here, even with the junkers. I'm Araxie Serai-yes, just like the ship. That goofball there can be quite a stubborn man when he wants to be." She chuckled pleasantly, warmly. "I tend to fly the ship. Those mechs are... Let's say less than comfortable for someone like me. They turn too fast and the control systems aren't anything I'm all that used to." Wearing a loose sweatshirt and jeans, the elysian seemed to be very relaxed despite Evee's apparent encroaching upon her partner.
Evee was still embarrassed (for good reason) but was relieved to receive a warm (welcome) and a friendly introduction. Evee slowly moved herself away from Alex, ( ..what an awkward situation she was in.) Evee tried hard and managed to push out a grin. She nodded slowly to signify that she was listening to what Araxie was saying. "Nice -to m-", Evee bleated. She tried again, this time with a confident voice, "Nice to meet you, Araxie. Alex kind-of already introduced me- " Evee continued,"I- am -um- I am sorry for what you saw happen. It's- it's just my past.. and.. things got emotional."
Alex sat down on the floor. "Don't worry. Everyone has their own baggage. You can deal with it at your own pace, and we'll be here to help you with it."
Araxie shrugged and sighed quietly, setting herself down on the small catwalk with her legs dangling freely. "Mhm. I mean, we won't get anywhere if people just keep distancing each other, and nobody knows each other. That's the one thing I can say is good about Yammies... They work well together."
Evee tried to make some conversation by asking,"Where are we heading..?" She found it alarming that she had not considered asking this question yet..
Alex thought for a moment. "Well, we're just heading around. I'm looking for information on a company that is a little shady, and I figure the best way to do that is to explore the sector and find the places where shady stuff is going on. And maybe help people along the way. I figure that if we can protect people from pirates or other threats that it's an added bonus, and maybe we can gain more information from that."
"Long story short... We kind of go wherever we need to, want to, or wherever there's something interesting going on. Alex likes to be one of those movie hero guys a lot, I guess that makes me the sort of sassy sidekick." She paused before continuing, "...And the romantic interest. But with less starry-eyed-ness."
Alex looked up at Araxie. "I don't think I try to do any of that sort of stuff on purpose, do I?" He scratched his head a little. "I just do whatever I think needs doing."
Even though things had started moving away from her embarrassing moment Evee still felt fairly uncomfortable. She decided she should start doing something to take her mind off of it and to remove herself from the conversation. "I think I should start setting up shop...", she suggested.
"Is there some way I could be of assistance?" Alex asked kindly, clearly not noticing that Evee was trying to remove herself.
"Um- yeah.", Evee replied, "I would appreciate some help." Evee smiled to Alex, but then looked away.. she wasn't sure if it would be taken the wrong way. She was quick to add, "Well, I think we should go back into my ship to decide what's of importance"
"I'll come with you if you think I can help." Alex said.
Araxie shrugged, speaking, "Well if you two need an extra pair of hands then I might as well come, myself."
"There is a lot of heavy-lifting you guys can do", she said jokingly.
"I can help with that. I'm pretty strong." Alex said.
Evee looked in the direction of her ship and back to Alex and Araxie. "Are you guys ready to start then?" She stood near the passageway that led back to her ship, ready to go.
Araxie shrugged, standing up. "Not the strongest person in the world, but I'm not a pushover either. Don't worry about me," she laughed lightly.
Evee repeated,"Thanks again for letting me into your crew. It means so much to me." She beamed, full of joy. She was very grateful. All the things she is going to be a part of...
"Alright" Alex said, "Let's head over and get started."
Araxie shrugged, following the two people back through the connection between the ships.
"Okay, what kind of stuff do you think we'll be needing?" Alex asked Evee.
"Um...", said Evee, she held up her notepad and examined her notes. "I advise we stock up on communications related components and on- some flight controls parts. I saw some wear on those particular systems. If I had to guess those areas of the ship would break first. Better safe then sorry... But really we want as important parts that we can take. " Evee walked down the isle of crates in her ship as she cherry-picked parts. "We may want to take some of those", she advised, she pointed towards a pile of electrical components. She looked under a table, felt around and pulled out a few stacked empty crates.
Alex came over. "You can start to load them up, I can carry whatever you need to a reasonable extent."
"I'll help pack, then. Probably take every other crate over if I can."
"Thanks", mentioned Evee. (Even though they were a crew now.) She was quick to amass a huge amount of equipment, crates and personal belongings that she needed to take along.
Alex hefted two of the large, heavy crates, one in each arm, and began to carry them towards the umbilical connecting the two ships. Soon three or four more crates joined those in the cargo hold of the ISS Araxie.
Serai rolled her eyes as she carried a smaller cube-like box on top of both of her arms, balancing it slightly by leaning it in towards her chest and stepping slightly awkwardly. It was quite the sight to see the elysian's wings occasionally shoot about from behind her in an attempt to keep her balance.
"Be careful with that one!", Evee insisted. Evee hoped that she did not come off as rude to Araxie.
"What's in it?" Alex asked curiously.
"It contains capsules of some really fragile energy crystals.", answered Evee. She added, "I also recall placing some nano technology elements in there recently." Araxie had to pick the box with the most delicate and "rare" stuff... Evee did not voice her thoughts nor did she let her thoughts show through her expression.
"Hm. Where do you want it then, since it probably would do best not crammed with the other stuff?"
"Put it somewhere safe, in the confines of my work-area. We can move it later if we need. Thanks for your help...", replied Evee.
"Y'welcome."
"Alright," Alex said, "Let's get you settled in and get you a room to stay in. Glad to have you on board Evee. After that I'll ask someone to bring your ship to a planet called 188604, it'll be safe there."
"Thank-you so much for adding me to your crew Alex", Evee exulted. She struggled to keep her emotions out, she was so thrilled to be part of a new crew. Evee felt the strong urge to hug somebody but was not going to make that mistake again... (At least not for now.) Within an hour or so most of her belongings had made their way onto the ship Araxie and she had settled into her new workspace. Evee returned to her own ship for a moment to give it a last goodbye.