The entire crew, save for one Akrenian stood on their hands and knees, or in the case of the resident Mantrin, lay on their back, gasping for the precious artificial atmosphere of the Salvage station. Not unlike the one they had picked Cale up on mere days ago. They had just left the current asteroid belt, when the Valkyrie had been bombarded by hundreds of miniscule meteorites. Most of them had been harmless.
At least until one of them lodged itself in one of the few moving parts of the ship, which evidently had ruined the airtight seal. It had taken them three days to notice how short their breaths had gotten, how hard it was to breath. By the time they noticed the problem it was nearly too late. They had barely made it to the Service station before someone died of asphyxiation. Well anyone but Preed, the Akrenian had used his own personal respirator, which he had claimed was permanently set to the exact atmosphere of his home planet, which had several deadly gases apparently.
In other words, Preed had been saving his own hide at the expense of everyone else.
Something that had made the entire crew furious with the alien, and was probably the reason he had made himself so scarce while the ship was being repaired.
Stith, whom had finally gained enough of her breath to speak, did just that. "I -gasp- am gonna -gasp- kill HIM!"

Korso, with what little air he had gotten back, chuckled weakly. "You do that...Stith."

The Crew slowly gained their breath back, the two most unfortunate being the Mantrin, and the strange little alien Gune, she had issues because of her larger mass, and he had issues simply due to a lack of exercise. Both of them had been left there with strict orders to be back at the ship in three hours. Now Stith wasn't one to drink, in fact she had consumed alcoholic beverages or the equivalent three times in her entire twenty five years. But this, this was a good enough reason and she personally though 'nearly suffocating' fell well into her list of reason to drink, which was surprisingly small. "Cmon' Gune, I need a drink, and you can't be left alone outside of the ship."

Gune happily followed muttering nonsense about how many different ways they could have died, or calculating the chances of the meteorite having done exactly what it did. Strange how the arguably two smartest members of the Valkyrie's crew were the ones going into a bar. Stith though there might be some irony buried deep in there, but she couldn't bring herself to care. The two of them entered the small 'Saloon' if it could be called that. It was dingy, and barley able to be called a bar. A few booths were scattered around the walls, with tables strewn randomly around the room. The bar itself wasn't much, but they did serve drinks so it was more that Stith had been hoping for.
She crossed the room, ignoring the glares most of the bar's patrons had been sporting, and took a seat on a bar stool. Gune had busied himself with the device he had built in his sleep, one she didn't care to deal with. She ordered a simple drink and in her own words. "Anything that will get me drunk."

For nearly the entire three hours she sat there sipping at her drink, which wasn't even half full mind you. Gune had been scribbling on a napkin for a while, though she couldn't make heads or tails of what was written there, not that she tried, Gune was a genius, but anything he did only made sense to him, and that was even stretching it sometimes.

Stith had just about decided she was done wasting her time, and made to stand up when a bit of broken conversation floated over the voices of the other drinkers.

"Damn Humey, thinking you're all high and mighty on our station."

Stiths ears lurked up, and her head swiveled around to face the booth it had come from. From what she could see, three large fishlike aliens, whose species name she couldn't remember, we're harassing the lone human sitting at the booth. She could already tell it wasn't anyone from the Valkyrie, in fact his size almost seemed a bit larger than a human should be. Then again all she had to reference was an old man and two eighteen year olds.

Even sitting down he looked pretty tall, though she wouldn't really be able to tell until he actually stood up. His hair was dark brown, and just long enough to cover his eyes if he leaned forward, though it was all held up by a pair of goggles strapped around his forehead. He was wearing what looked like a pair of heavy workers overalls that were a dingy yellow, and a dark red half jacket that ended just below his ribs. On his left hand was a large indoor welder's glove. She couldn't see his other side. She did notice the blaster at his hip, and quickly decided it was time for her and Gune to leave.
"Gune."

The little Grepoan's head shot up to her, large goggled eyes flashing innocently. "Hmm, yes?"

"We're leaving." She barked, grabbing the smaller humanoid, and practically dragging him across the bar, which she noticed had become eerily silent.

They had only made it halfway through the bar's tables when the silence was broken.

One of the Aliens that had been harassing the human went flying across the bar, crashing into the bar top with enough force to crush the flimsy metal. While she was focused on the moving target, two sharp sounds of metal hitting something solid follows by the other two aliens dropping to the floor. Stith made to look at the human, only for her eyes to widen at the sight of his right arm.

Or more accurately what had replaced it. Cybernetics weren't taboo in the universal culture, but they weren't very common either, in fact the only person on the Valkyrie to have ever seen one was Preed, who refused to talk about it. His entire arm from the shoulder was gone, and had been replaced with what looked like a service drones arm. Complete with plasma torch, and bulky plating. the whole thing was scraped and dented but most of the construction yellow paint had survived.

Stith had never seen a Cyborg before, and in her moment of shock one of the worst possible things could have happened. The bar full of the first idiot's cronies decided to close the blast door, effectively locking them all inside. This wouldn't have been so bad, but several of the patrons had already drawn blasters, and prepared to fire. Taking a page out of Korso's book, Stith knocked one of the tables over with a powerful kick. The exposed innards held it in place and gave them both a place to hide until the fight blew over.

She watched the grasper on the human's robotic arm spin lazily, like he was trying to decide what to do. Whatever he had been thinking was interrupted by several shots of plasma.

The moment the blast door came down Shawn had known he was screwed. He hadn't even been here more than twenty four hours when these guys started harassing him, and after dealing with it for two straight days he had enough. Why he had chosen a bar full of people looking for an excuse to shoot him was anybody's guess.

A few bolts of plasma whizzed past his head, snapping him out of his reverie, so he dove behind the first available cover.

The table directly beside Stith's own. While he was fumbling with his left, clumsier, hand to unclip his own blaster, He noticed Stith staring at him, with a cowering Grepoan behind her.

He smiled at her, not recognizing her as one of the Toad like aliens many lackeys. "Hey you must be new here, sorry about the mess."

Stith stared at the man, finally getting a good look at him. He was defiantly of the same dissent as Cale, and Korso. His grey eyes were too round to be... What had Akima called it? Airsan? Besides that she also noticed the cybernetic earpiece over his right ear, which may have been grafted to the skin but she couldn't tell from this angle. Usually if someone had come up to her and said something stupid she would have snapped at them, she was often irritable, but just the thought that this guy was a cripple, diffused her anger almost immediately.

Key word, almost.

"Are you stupid or something!?" She growled, and to her surprise, he laughed.

"You might be the first person to have said that and meant it." He held out his mechanical arm, as the other was still fumbling with the gun. "I'm Shawn, Shawn Conners."

The Mantrin eyed the piece of machinery for a few seconds before shaking it. "Uh...I'm Stith."

He could see it on her face, she was uncomfortable with the arm, most people were so he tended to brush it off. It still hurt a bit inside, to see pity like that on someone's face. So he lowered his arm, and raised the other, with the gun in it. "You know how to use one of these."

She looked at him like he was stupid, which admittedly way out here it was a stupid question.

He tossed the gun to her and pointed at the blast door. "I can get that open if you distract them."

She sent him a suspicious glare. "How do I know you won't leave us here?"

She was right he realized, they couldn't trust him without leverage. An idea suddenly came to mind. "Here!" He shouted over the blaster fire, and tossed her a disassembled piece of the cybernetic ear.

Stith caught it with a look of wonder in her face. Cybernetics of any kind were extremely expensive, this was like handing somebody a body part, which technically it was, it could very well be irreplaceable.
"Hold on to that for me, I'll be right back!" He shouted.

When a shot nearly took off one of her ears the Mantrin snapped to attention, and began firing back. Shawn's gun wasn't very powerful, but it was very accurate.

Shawn had to crawl across the floor to get the blast door, and he nearly got hit several times before he managed to get the maintenance panel beside it open. His mechanized arm was almost a blur as it ripped out and rewired the doors innards, slowly resetting it to his specifications.

Stith was having a bit of a harder time. The bars idiots, as she liked to call them, had noticed her shooting back and now she was on their shit list too. She fired Ba k relentlessly, yelling curses, or just sometimes yelling. It was a good way to blow off steam, she was a weapons expert for a reason.

"Hey! Ms. Stith! Doors open!"

Sure enough, when she turned he was standing on the other side of the doorway with his hand seemingly on the door controls. "Hurry up I can't keep it open forever!"

Stith grabbed a cowering Gune, and after a few more potshots, made a mad dash for the door. Little known fact, a Mantrin's legs are built for jumping and running, but not necessarily walking. She had the gap cleared in seconds, and just barely managed to curl her tail out of harm's way as the blast door slammed back down.

She turned to see Shawn on his hands and knees running the blowtorch in his mechanized hand along the seam of the door.
"What are you doing?"

He continued to weld, acting as if he hadn't heard her.

In a fit of rage she growled, and made to grab him, only for the piece he had given her to fall out of her near useless pocket, and clatter to the floor. The sight of it brought her back to what he had racism it from, and it took her a second to understand why he hadn't heard her.

Without the Cybernetics, he was deaf.

Her anger died, drowned in pity for the human, and she leaned over and grabbed the piece. She jumped a bit when he stood back up and turned to her.

"There!" He smirked. "Let's see them follow us now!"

It seemed karma wanted to punish him, as the blast door slowly began to glow a dull red at its center. The idiots on the other side were at least smart enough to know they could blast through the door if they concentrated there fire.

The human glared at the door for about three seconds before he looked back at Stith.
"So, do you have a way off this rock, and if so, can I hitch a ride?"

tith rolled her eyes, and tossed him the earpiece, she wasn't one to be cruel and leave someone to an angry horde. Well not unless they deserved it. But the real problem would be if Korso cared, he was the Captain after all. She waited unripe he was done with the earpiece to speak.
"Yeah we got a ship in the dock, whether or not you can stay once you're aboard is up to the captain."

He shrugged, and mutters something along the lines of 'Good enough' before gesturing to the hallway. "Lead the way milady!"

Stith rolled her eyes, and ignored the joking quip; instead she began to jog down the hall, with Gune piggybacking on her shoulders. Shawn was quick to follow.

The three of them only made it halfway down the hall before the blast door gave up the good fight and erupted into an open doorway for the mob to crowd through. There was no cover anywhere between the two groups, so it was a wonder Shawn and them didn't get hurt, or at least didn't appear to get hurt. Shawn did his best to hide the lucky shot that struck his good shoulder. The three of them rounded another corner to find themselves facing the airlock gates, on the other side of which, they caught glimpses of the Valkyrie through the tiny windows. To their luck, Korso had the large door open, and was carrying a crate into the ship. He sis notices them however.
"Stith? What are you doing, and who's he?" He called down the hall.

"No time, MOVE!" she yelled back, she didn't slow down, and neither did Shawn, poor Gune was bouncing along like a bad backpack on the Mantrin's back.

Korso barley had enough time to get out of the way before the three came tumbling inside, Korso was confused, but not as much as Akima who managed to walk in on the mess of legs and arms.

"Uh, anyone care to tell me where the fire is?" She said, turning to Korso for an answer.

The annoyed Captain sent the group a glare. "I'd like to know the same thing."

Stith was the first to reply. "No time! Akima, get the Valkyrie out of here!"

"Uh why?" Akima looked skeptical.

Korso, being the closest to the door, managed to see the reason, or the mob, behind the demand. "I think Stith is right let's get out of here."

Akima didn't argue, and instead ran deeper into the ship to prep them for launch; Korso on the other hand, shut the airlock and turned to the group still sprawled on the floor, well save for Gune who had already ran back to his quarters. Korso was gone nearly as soon as he was done talking. And in that few seconds, both Shawn, and Stith noticed just how, provocative the position they were in was. They were lying on top of one another, with her nearly starling him with her long legs, and thanks to the way they landed, his face was pushed against her bust. She pushed all the way up to her ears, while his face turned a bit red. They were seperated in an instant, both trying to ignore the others blush.

"So," The human muttered. "I guess an apology is in order?"

Her response was to punch him in the gut. She looked at him for a second while he was doubled over before speaking. "Now we're even."

"Agreed." He gasped out.

Back on the bridge, Korso, and Akima had already prepped, and begun to launch, having let the ship drift a few feet away from the docking clamp before engaging the engines and cruising away from the asteroid. Once they were far enough away, they jumped into hyperspace.

By the time Korso had turned around and started down the stairs everyone but Gune was on the bridge, including the human he had never met. "So would anyone like to tell me exactly what happened back there?"

To his surprise the so far unnamed human stepped forward. "It was my fault sir. My name is Shawn and uh, I started a bar fight, and ended up dragging your crew into the conflict." He took a deep breath. "If there's any way to make up for it I'll be glad to help. Unfortunately I'm stuck here until you stop again."

Korso scoffed. "I don't think stuck fits quite as well as stowed away, in this situation."

Korso sighed, and pinched the bridge of his nose. One more mouth to feed would be an issue, and leaving early hadn't been good for the ship either. The repair crew hadn't exactly finished the repairs. The older man glanced back at the boy again, well… a boy compared to himself, Korso was over thirty five, so calling the other man young was stretching it a bit. The captain had always been a good judge of character, and if the kid's choice of clothing, and…accessories were any indicator, he had to at least be competent around machines.

"Alright, I've made up my mind."

Everyone perked up, some more than others, eager to hear how the situation would be handled.

"I'm gonna give you two choices." He said, pointing an accusing finger at the younger man. "By my count you endangered my crew, and stowed away on my ship. So here are your options. Stay on board as our Mechanic, or take a nice long spacewalk."

Shawn paled. Those weren't quite what he had been expecting, but then again a place to eat, sleep, and work was more than he had back on the service station, so he accepted.

Korso smirked, call it a mean streak, but the boy still needed to be taught a lesson. "Now normally, the Valkyrie can hold a crew of ten, unfortunately for you, four of those rooms have been repurposed."

He could see it on their faces, they were all wondering who had to share. Korso's smirk grew just a bit. "As of right now, you get to bunk with Stith."

Six pairs of eyes widened, followed by the angry curses of a Mantrin. They all knew that decisions like this were not to be argued with. When he had told Cale he had to sleep in what was supposed to be a closet the kid had been livid, but he had learned, arguing makes it worse. Hence why Cale had janitor duty. "Now get some sleep, we arrive at Sesharrim in six Earth-hours."

With that the captain walked away, most likely going to his own quarters. Everyone else scattered, but not before Preed made a few lewd comments toward Akima, whom responded with a well tossed wrench. Shawn followed Stith, who led him deeper into the starship. Unfortunately he could already tell she was livid, and decided silence was the best option at the moment, so he kept his mouth shut, and walked quietly behind her. To his chargin this also gave him a good view of the Mantrin's rear which he involuntarily caught glimpses of when her tail swayed as she walked. Shawn wasn't a pervert, and he had only been called such twice, so like the gentleman he thought himself to be he avoided the alluring image as much as he could. Why did Mantrin have to have such human figures? Well apart from the legs, but those were exotic in their own way. While he was lost in these less than chivalrous thought, the Mantrin stopped, which caused him to bump into her shin, which was nearly as long as he was tall.

She growled, still angry, and opened the door to what he assumed was her room. He followed her inside, and to his slight horror, realized the room functioned as its own bathroom as well, which meant if one of them had to use it…

"Okay, let's get something straight!"

His head snapped up, centering on the Mantrin's eyes rather quickly.

"This is my room, MINE. Got it?" she yelled. "That means you are the guest, and you follow MY rules!"

He nodded again, and watched her pull out a simple folding cot, and, military Style blankets. She did sacrifice a pillow for him though, which was kind of nice.

"Uh yeah, okay. " He said, and as an after though, "Thank you."

"Damn well better be grateful." She grumbled, moving over to the shower. "Now, I'm gonna change into my nightclothes, I want you to face the door, and if I even THINK, you turned around, I'll smother you in your sleep."

Shawn nodded for a third time and faced the door. In fact, he mad extra sure he couldn't see, and powered off the cybernetics that stopped him from being blind. It was strange going from perfect eyesight, to total blackness in less time than it took to blink. Thankfully he didn't have to stay that way for long, as the shower door slid back open, and he heard Stith fall into her bed, and rustle the covers.

It was about the same time Stith had gotten comfortable when she heard the man talk.

"Uh, Stith…I need, like, a box or something."

Oh come on, couldn't she be left alone for like five seconds!? "Why would you need a box?"

The silence of the room suddenly became awkward, and she didn't like it. "It's…um, for my arm."

Oh…OH. Okay that makes sense. "Uh, try the closet, beside the shower." Her tone had gone from angry, to awkward, and ashamed in seconds.

"Thanks" she heard him say, followed by the sound of him dragging a crate out of the storage closet. The creaking of the cot alerted her to his intention to go to bed, so she rolled over a bit, to get a better look at him. To her embarrassment he was shirtless, and sitting in his boxers. She almost looked away, but her eyes were drawn to the empty shoulder socket on his torso. She sucked in a sharp gasp at the sight of the mechanized crater in his torso, the arm had been put in the box, along with, to her surprise, his left leg. He had lost far more than she had thought.

"I know your staring." He called.

The breath she had so eagerly sucked in a few seconds ago suddenly caught in her throat.

"It's alright, I know people stare." He said, as he carefully lowered himself onto the cot with one hand. "I'm used to it."

There was a small pause as he sighed. "I just... a lot of people don't understand what it's like, to lose such a big part of you, and know you can't have it back."

A long regnant paused filled the silence before he sighed again. "Sorry. Thank you for sharing your room Stith, I'll do my best to keep it the way you have it."

"Goodnight."

And then it was quiet. If Stith had felt bad about yelling before, now she felt horrible. For the first time in a long time she felt like she needed a hug. And that scared her. So she pushed the guilt to the back of her mind and rolled over, trying to get some sleep.

She didn't sleep well that night.