Early evening, Beacon hangars

If there was one thing Eizan felt comfortable with, it was the sound of an aircraft undergoing maintenance. The mechanic was lying under one of the Raven's massive fusion drive, a 14mm crank wrench in hand. It was a shame that he had to play student all the time. Repairs that would've taken a few weeks on full time would now take several months. That, combined with the lack of spare parts, was frustrating at times, but also stimulating. Finding innovative ways to fix things was what got him is rank, after all. Hot Dog, however, was a good pilot, but also a shitty mechanic. He knew the basic principles of everything about his plane, but that was about it. So most of the work fell into the shoulders of Eizan, and to some extent, Ruby. The girl learned fast, way too fast. Then again, he really only taught her about the regular stuff, it wasn't rocket science. Ruby was sitting on a tool cabinet, waving her legs and blasting rock music with her Scroll. Casey Lee Williams, good music. Eizan rolled from under the engine nacelle and stood up.

"Hey Ruby, where did you learn so much about mechanical engineering?"

"Back at Signal, my uncle helped me design and build Crescent Rose and, uuhh, since then I've been kind of a dork when it comes to weapons…"

Eizan grabbed a stepladder and climbed onto the engine.

"Yeah, we noticed. It's not really a bad thing, though. I dig it."

Ruby chuckled and used her Semblance to sit on top of the aircraft.

"Yeah, but that's because it's your job."

"Meh. Could be yours, too. At fifteen years old, that's gotta be a record."

"I don't think Roy would appreciate that…"

Eizan laughed, dropping his wrench on the floor.

"Ah, scheiße... Ahem. Yeah, the lieutenant would probably chew my ass and spit it back in a recycler if I showed you too much."

Ruby stared confused, unsure of the meaning of the sentence, while Eizan climbed down the stepladder. With a front flip, she landed on the ground and joined him, running her hand across the smooth hull of the craft.

"And what about you? How did you learn about all that… stuff you're doing?"

"Oh, I've been doing my job for quite some time now, but I guess it all began with my idiot of a brother. See, that guy's a real nerd..."

Two years ago, city of New Lexington, planet Sowings

A planet with low gravity and no breathable atmosphere doesn't sound like a very interesting place to live on. Then again, if said planet was extremely rich in valuable minerals, quite a few would give it a try anyway. Working in the mines was generally done with remote controlled drones, and as such, the best drones usually brings the best hauls. Of course, all of it was highly regulated, with most of the work being done by private corporations. That didn't stop anyone from trying to provide the best drone designs, and generally, those people were students. Shoda Nakao, a twenty-one-year-old engineering student, was one of them. The young man was in a garage, welding some plates together on a small cart-like machine. A yell coming from the door took his attention.

"Shoda! You better finish up quick, or else mom's gotta kick your sorry ass into orbit!"

"I hear ya, I'm almost done. There."

"Come on, dinner's been ready for the last fifteen minutes!"

The two siblings quickly reached the living room, where the rest of the family was waiting. Their parents and sister were all waiting, as usual. The meal went on, until the small talks reached Eizan's future.

"Son, you can't wait forever. You'll be graduating soon, and you still haven't applied to anything. You don't even have time left for college."

"I know, dad, I just… don't like the opportunities here."

"That's not a thing, bro. You're just lazy, that's all."

"We've already been over this. I'll find something. I promise."

"You better, because we won't always be there for you."

Their sister was not amused, and frankly, had better things to talk about that her brother.

"Dad, can we talk about something else?"

The thing is, they were right. Eizan was the youngest of his siblings, and thus far, the only one not going into college. Shoda's engineering studies were fun when it was all about tinkering with stuff, but the rest seemed… annoying, to say the least. His sister, Hisako, was studying economics for the past year and, quite frankly, bragged too much about it. Finally, New Lexington, and the whole planet in general, was rather small. This meant that there wasn't that much choice in the first place, or else you'd have to go off world. Eizan was lying on the roof of the house, thinking about his options. The massive dome above the city, even with its numerous bulkheads and scaffolding, couldn't hide the sky. Several dots were brighter, those would be the ships and stations in orbit. Raising a hand towards the unreachable stars, Eizan sighed before the face of his brother appeared in his field of view.

"So, wanna reach for the stars, uh? I always knew you didn't really like it here. Frontier life's too boring, right?"

"I wouldn't really put it THAT way, but… yeah, that sounds about right."

"And you know we can't afford an off world education, so you're just daydreaming now."

"Yup."

"Now that's just depressing. Come on, let's do something more productive."

And the rest of the evening was spent in the garage, tinkering with Shoda's latest drone. Eizan didn't know the numbers behind, but even then, building things like that was fun enough. He didn't care about how to build new things, just making them work was good enough. Sadly, the colony wasn't developed enough to have a need of both engineers and technicians. The idea was that, if you can design and build things, then you can fix them, and all of that for the same amount of food. It worked well enough so far, and it would probably work for a while longer. Not willing to think about his life the whole night, Eizan went to bed and quickly fell asleep.

The morning after, streets of New Lexington

With a population of nearly fifteen million people crammed into half a dozen dome cities, the streets were always full. Life on the Frontier was always busy, one way or another. But it was busy with trivial things, uninteresting things. As he walked in the streets, Eizan suddenly stopped in front of a regular supermarket. It was his turn to get the groceries, after all. He wandered through the alleys, grabbing canned food, laundry detergent… On his way back, Eizan noticed a brighter light in the sky. Military-grade fusion drive, a rare sight on Sowings. Distracted by the unknown ship, Eizan tripped over some wires, spilling some of his cargo on the ground. Some people helped him up, and while thanking them, he noticed some recruitment posters on the wall. One in particular. Explore the galaxy, defend your home. It was a Space Force poster, one that no one really cared about. The only recruitment office was on the station in orbit. He'd have to find a ride there if he ever wanted to give it a try. After returning home, Eizan spent the rest of the morning searching for more information and left right after lunch. Luckily for him, the colony didn't have a space elevator, but a multitude of landing pads and docks. Most of those were occupied by private ships and shuttles that would gladly take on passengers for some extra money. And so, that's what he did. His own pocket money would be enough for a two-way trip in orbit, especially with a third-rate shuttle.

Afternoon, Sowings station

When he reached the station, he recognized the Deorian destroyer docked to its side. It was damaged, with several wounds to its outer hull. So that was why it was here. When Eizan reached the recruitment office, which was in fact the local Space Force outpost for all intent and purpose, and not just a recruitment office, two high ranking officers were yelling at each other, with a station employee among them.

"I'm telling you, we simply don't have the resources to perform the repairs you're suggesting with the timetable you're imposing!"

"And I'm telling you that the safety of this colony depends on it!"

"Gentlemen, please, calm down! There's no need to yell at each other in my office!"

Eizan knocked on the open door, and both men, probably the ship's captain and the station's manager, stopped yelling. The third one cleared his throat and walked over to him.

"Yes? Do you need something, young man?"

"Ummhh… is this where we can enlist?"

"Oh, yes, of course! Just a moment."

The man returned to the ship captain and station manager, who just resumed their conversation.

"Gentlemen, please, I'm trying to run an outpost, here! Just… just use my office, okay? It's insonorized so you can yell all you want."

The captain threw the man a death glare, but the station manager nodded and dragged his interlocutor in the private office. As they closed the opaque glass door, the office administrator sighed and returned to Eizan, who was just looking at the scene dumbfounded.

"And I thought getting a desk job would've been nice and calm…"

"Uummhh, is it always like that?"

"No, it's not, let me reassure you. I'm Captain Saïd. So you want to enlist?"

"Yeah, umh, I'm Eizan, and I'm not really sure yet, so I thought you could tell me more."

"Oh, I see. It is rather common for people of the Frontier like you to do the exact thing you're doing."

"Really? No one really cared back home."

"Ah, you're from New Lexington, then? Yeah, since you guys have that mine and college, a lot of you kids don't even think about leaving home. That said, your low-G drone racing thing is pretty nice, too."

"You watch those? My brother and I won a cup, once. But the drone had a… bad braking mechanism."

"Oh, you're the guys that crashed a drone in the staging area? Man, that was funny to watch. Umh, no offense, kid."

"None taken."

"Okay, so I figure the best way to show you what the Space Force is about is to take you on the tour. I'm sure captain Flemings won't mind."

"Are… you allowed to do that?"

"I outrank him. He may be a ship captain, but I'm an actual Captain while he's not, so I can do all I want around here. Although, yeah, he could file a report. That's why I'm only going to show you what's publicly available."

"O-Okay, sure. Sounds good."

The man pointed to his office, with two silhouettes apparently still yelling at each other inside.

"Besides, they're gonna stay there for a while. It's a good occasion to do something."

"So, wait, captains and ship captains aren't the same thing?"

"Oh no, most ship captains are Commanders or less. As a rule of thumb, any ship larger than a destroyer is captained by a Captain or higher, and most destroyers are captained by Commanders or even particularly competent Lieutenant-Commanders."

"I… see. So if you have such a high rank… why are you here?"

Saïd scratched his head before answering, smiling nervously. Without his facial hair, he could've looked in his early forties, but right now, he looked like an old veteran of some forgotten war.

"Uuummhhh… I may not be so fond of the chain of command when it fucks up. Alright son, here we are. Careful, once we step out of the airlock, gravity's gone."

In the short time since they left the office, Saïd and Eizan had already reached the airlock leading into the destroyer. Its name was written in white on the ship's dark grey hull. Atlantia. It sounded pretty cool, too. Both men used the handholds to launch themselves toward the ship, the thin docking corridor protecting them from the void.

A few minutes later, destroyer Atlantia

If anything about the Atlantia surprised Eizan more than anything, it was how clean everything was. Even after a battle, the ship's corridors, rooms, and even the crew members seemed immaculate. Most of the damage seemed superficial, or Saïd didn't take him through the damaged sections of the ship. It was so large, it might be the latter and Eizan would never know. The corridors were all dark grey, with lights regularly placed in the corner between the roof and the walls. According to Saïd, most surfaces were covered with spall liners to reduce the dangers of shrapnel, but Eizan couldn't see anything but metal wherever he looked. After a few minutes of greeting crew members and seeing various rooms such as the gym, the mess hall and the infirmary, Saïd led Eizan to a more interesting place, the hangar. A couple dozen men in dark blue jumpsuits were huddling around a large aircraft.

"What's going on?"

"Oh, nothing. That Raven took a few hits, so they're fixing it up as fast as they can."

"Why the hurry?"

Saïd laughed and put a hand on Eizan's shoulder, smiling as if he just said a good joke.

"Son, with the Force, it's always in a hurry. Wanna take a look?"

"Umh, sure… why not…"

"Don't worry, Ravens are no secret to anyone, so you won't be in trouble, if that's what you're wondering."

"Are we sure all of this is… you know… normal? I mean, showing me around is nice, sure… but…"

"Son, I've got the feeling that you're not leaving this station without signing some very important papers. I've seen quite a few kids just like you, and I'm rarely wrong. So, take a look at that bird, tell me what you think."

As the duo approached the craft, a few mechanics noticed them, and everyone stopped working for a moment.

"Officer on deck!"

Everyone in the vicinity stood up and saluted Saïd, waiting for his word.

"At ease, gentlemen. This is Eizan, a promising future recruit. Care to show him around this old bird?"

The oldest-looking mechanic, a man in his thirties with African descent nodded and turned to Eizan.

"Yes, sir! Right this way, kid. I'm Chief Trey, nice to meet you. So what are you aiming for?"

"Umh… I'm pretty good with drones, so I thought, maybe a technician?"

"Electronics? Naah, boring. Here, look at that beast."

"Oh, you're still using those magnetic couplers? I thought you replaced those months ago!"

"You know the sayin', if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Besides, we've been out in the Frontier for two years now, and we're not returning to dry dock for a little while."

"That kinda sucks. Do you guys ever go home?"

"Oh, there's a crew rotation in place, so you rarely stay on the same ship more than a year without a nice shore leave."

The crew resumed their work, with Eizan still discussing about various subjects with Trey. After the visit, Saïd escorted him back to the office and surprisingly, Saïd's office had even more people in it that when they left. Saïd pointed to a desk computer and grabbed a pamphlet.

"Okay, so now I'll walk you through the more administrative stuff…"

Two years later, destroyer Kashgar

Being a Petty Officer had some nice advantages. You lead a team, you get a nice paycheck, a shiny uniform… but then you also have a ton of paperwork to fill out every day. Like requisition request for more spare parts, tools and shore leaves authorizations. Eizan was in his "office", a small three-square meter cabin near the hangar. Or rather, a converted storage locker for all the bullshit paperwork that he needed to do since his promotion. Someone knocked on the wall to catch Eizan's attention. It was one of his mechanics, probably about to ask something about their latest job.

"Uh, boss, so that Needletail that the grunts brought on-board, it's got some really weird shit in it."

"Yeah, XO came in and told me something about it, they'll unload it and store in down in Engineering for safekeeping. He also told me not to touch it, or he'll kick all our asses and send us in the farthest most shitty place he can find."

"Ooookay, so that's a thing."

"Yup."

The days were simple. Hang around the hangar, fix the two Ravens each time they go out and come back banged up, run the regular maintenance planning, maintain the two Caracals and their various modules… being a mechanic was simple, really. Sometimes accidents could happen, but that was just an occasion to hang around the infirmary of the medbay, and to hang around that Sternberg girl. Eizan stretched his arms and stepped out of his office. The hangar was a large area, with three landing bays for aircrafts and one garage for each bay, two of them housing Caracal APCs and the last one housing an Ocelot recon vehicle. The Kashgar had two Ravens on-board, but their latest mission brought in a Needletail. Those were very rare and expensive crafts, with extremely good maneuverability and acceleration, but they were generally unarmed and not very versatile. They were built for speed and durability, and so that was pretty much the only things it was good at. Unlike Ravens, Needletails had vectored thrusters for vertical takeoffs and landings, but their main drive was static. This meant a lot more parts to check, and a lot more paperwork to fill. Before Eizan could think of anything more, the ship's lighting switched to battle mode and the battle stations alarm went off.

"All hands, this is your captain speaking. Man your battle stations, this is not a drill, I repeat, man your battle stations. We have inbound unknown vessels, brace for combat actions."

Before long, the ship had taken a few hits. Everyone in the hangar was wearing their EVA suits, which was pretty much a vacuum-proof helmet and a sealed suit, and the ship itself was in vacuum. It wouldn't protect them against bullets or plasma rounds, but it would avoid unwanted decompressions. Decompressions that would've certainly happened, as several tremors through the ship indicated that it got hit, and that it lost its shields. This was confirmed when something went through the starboard hangar door in an instant, creating a hole in both the door and the bulkhead above it, ending its course through the decks above. Whatever it was, it wasn't a plasma cannon. Then the ship was somehow boarded. When the battle stations alarm rang, everyone rushed to the armories, grabbing whatever gun and ammo they could. Of course, the ship's marines were already waiting all geared up since they finished their last mission recently, so that made things simpler.

But it wasn't enough.

After some intense firefights, it was obvious that repelling the boarders was going to be tricky. So tricky, in fact, that the ship was being abandoned. The ship where he spent the last two years, his own home floating in space towards certain death. Well, possibly. Escaping with the ship's on-board aircrafts instead of the lifeboats meant that the objective was to ensure the survival of whoever would be on them, and not just running away from a flying tomb. With that said, Eizan took the last flight, along with eleven others, mostly because fighting your way to Engineering wasn't exactly his job.

Present time, Beacon hangars

"That's pretty much it. The life of a mechanic. Not as exciting as a Huntress, but I like it that way."

"You sure did more than I do…"

"Yeah, well, you're still fifteen. You're on your way to some crazy shit of yours, too."

A new voice answered him, forcing the mechanic to turn around.

"Is that how you work when I'm not around?"

"Hot Dog, you know I'm not a robot, right?"

"Relax, I'm just mockin' ya. Who am I to judge, right?"

Spencer was waving around his bottle of beer and sat on a pile of crates. He lit one of his cigarettes before continuing.

"So, how's it looking?"

"Going as planned. Checked the starboard engine, should be working fine."

Ruby looked at both men, then grabbed her Scroll to turn off the music.

"Well, uh, it's been a good talk. I'll leave you to...whatever you're doing. See ya!"

"See ya, Ruby. And good night, I guess."