The world she's about to know: Minx
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It took her a while to get back to sleep after that dream. She couldn't help but wonder who the other man was. It had to be a dream.! It couldn't have been the future, Deo was dead. Tired she closed her eyes and went back to sleep.
Minx's eyes fluttered open slowly, smiling she sunk back into her pillow, and pulled the covers up around her ears, and sighed happily. She could stay like this all day. She felt tired, even though she had just woken up. Closing her eyes, she started to drift off to sleep again. Suddenly the door started to open. She pretended to be sound asleep. Who ever it was, she didn't care, she wanted her sleep. By the sound of the heavy boots and the quiet mutterings, she knew it was Hocks.
She was enjoying laying there like a lump. Not moving, not thinking, just laying there. She felt as though she deserved it. Hocks actually thought she was asleep, until she felt a familiar tingling sensation in her nose. Oh, no. I'm not gonnabut suddenly she inhaled sharply and sneezed loudly. "ACHOOO!!!" She shook violently, her head throbbed, and her temples seemed to pulse rapidly. Well that moment of silence and rest didn't last long. She begrudgingly reflected. Minx opened her eyes to see a smirking Hocks. "Looks who's finally up." He said, looking at his chrono watch.
Minx groaned. She wanted to stay in bed, eat doughnuts, drink coffee, and watch movies. Chick flicks even. She just wanted to stay in bed. With her hair a mess, her clothes wrinkled, and her blankets and fluffy white pillows about her. Okay, maybe she was getting soft, but in this moment she could care less. She had bags under her eyes the size of a small freighter, and bruises so yellow she felt like a green grape.
Hocks put a tray of food in front of her. She looked down. Coffee and doughnuts! She smiled, "Thanks Hocks." Hocks nodded. "We've got some stuff to take care of today. I have to show you around the ship." He said proudly. Minx could only nod, now that her mouth was stuffed with a bare claw. "Say something Minx." He teased. "Shuff Hit!" She mumbled, meaning to say Shut it. She swallowed and laughed. He smiled, chuckling him self. "Okay. So what about my living arrangements?" She asked.
"You gonna be staying in a nice little flat I picked out, with a very close friend of mine. I trust him greatly. He has a spare room. I already spoke to him a couple days ago and he agreed to let you stay with him." He said simply.
Minx's brow furrowed. "Okay buthow does he feel about me staying with him. I meandoes he know who, I really am. I'm a wanted criminal you know, not some corporate pansy, or some bubble gum teeny bopper." She said in a warning tone. "He knows who you are, and that's probably half of the reason why he agreed to let you come stay." He said with a sly smile, "As for the wanted criminal, he's one of the most wanted men in the galaxy. So don't worry about that."
Minx sat up right, and looked directly at him. He wouldn'the wasn't talking aboutbut she stopped and thought for a moment. "This guy wouldn't be a curtain bad ass, cue ball, with a mean shine job, and bad attitude would he?" She asked knowingly. Hocks's eyebrows pointedly raised, "How did you know?" He asked, baffled. Minx shook her head. "Two things. Trust him with my life, and one of the most wanted men in the galaxy. Kinda gave you away right there. Plus the sly smile, and the fact that you sometimes talk about him." She paused, wondering what he really would be like, around her.
Hocks handed her some pills, they were gray and silver with a slight imprint on them. Pb. She looked at them questioningly. "It's just some pills to protect your injuries from infection. Takem." He said. Minx popped them into her mouth at the warning look he gave her. Taking a gulp of coffee, and they were gone.
"So I guess he's my new roommate then." She said, picking up another bare claw. This time taking her time, ripping off little bites. Since it was the second to the last one. She had a mean sweet tooth. "Well there's some one else. A fifteen year old girl named Jack. He's sort of her guardian. Not officially, but he does look out for her and take care of her." He said thoughtfully. Minx nodded. "So what's she like?" Minx asked curiously. "Well it's hard to say how she'll be around you. She might be quiet, but on the other hand she might be really comfortable around you and never shut up. You'll do fine with her. You two have a lot in common, you'd be surprised." He said getting up out of his chair. "Finnish up eating, and get dressed. I'll be waiting outside for ya. Don't make a fuss about your looks either. Worry about it later, we got work to do." He closed the door behind him.
She went into the bathroom expecting to see the dreaded bags and bruises but was pleasantly surprised when she found none. Walking over to the closet she took out her rook sack, and tugged the buttons on the flap free, then untied and pulled the brown draw string. She pulled out a pair of light colored jeans and a tight fitting button front tee-shirt that fell just below her belly. Pulling her hair into a high pony tail, zipping up her boots, re-packing her sack, she grabbed her coffee, and headed out the door.
Everything was clean and white. It looked like a typical hospital, except it had some really interesting looking computers and instruments. Mostly security stuff she guessed.
Looking around she finally spotted Hocks. He was talking to a much shorter younger man. Around 6'4". He was however almost as equally muscled. He had dirty blonde hair, and silver glasses. She noticed a lot of the nurses were looking at him with swooning and dreamy gazes.
A woman walked slowly past him and batted her eye lashes. "Good mourning Captain Wane." She said in a honey sweet voice. The guy nodded and smiled slightly, not really looking at her, just looking to the right of her. "Come visit me later. I have some papers for you to sign." She said slowly. Oh, please! Minx groaned, rolling her eyes.
He had a gray jumpsuit on, with black commando boots. She presumed he was a pilot of some kind, judging by the way he walked and stood. Always in attention. He was broad shouldered and stiff. He didn't look relaxed but apprehensive instead. They looked like they were talking about business so she stood back and waited.
A few minutes passed, and Hocks looked at her. He motioned for her to come over and join them. Nodding she walked up to the two men. "Jen I want you to meet the head pilot for my ship. Leo Wane." She met his gaze, he had clear blue piercing eyes. That were cold, and searching. She inwardly cringed when she felt his eyes roam over her body. He smiled politely at her. "Leo this is Jenny, my niece." He said conversationally. "Hi." She said intently. Taking his hand, shaking it lightly and quickly.
"Pleasures all mine." He said, in a quiet southern drawl. Minx gracefully dropped her hand, and looked at Hocks. He just smiled and made a clicking noise with his tong. "Play nice. I'll see you 'round Leo." He said. "You're the boss. Welcome Jen." He said in that same quiet tone. Hocks rolled his eyes, taking Minx by the elbow, and heading in the opposite direction towards the two metal sliding doors.
"Interesting." Minx said with a bemused smirk on her face. "Yeah, he always has a certain way around the nurses. You're the only woman who is apart of the real crew. I guess he's not used to that. Just thought you should know." He said in a flat tone. Why he had suddenly changed she had no idea, who could explain men and their mood swings.
"So, by the way what will I be doing on this ship?" She asked, suddenly noticing the change in her surroundings. The ship was dimly lit, and had a still bluish and silver color about it. The walls were all stainless steal, it had that smooth brushed look, that when you touched it, it didn't leave fingerprints. The only light emitted from the air vents that lined the base boards. The ship was cooler, because of the man made air that was circulating through out it. Every door was lined with a type of black rubber, sealing it completely.
It was a medium sized ship. Big enough that you didn't know everyone, but small enough that it didn't have too many places to get to know, or to hide in for that matter. You couldn't get lost in a ship like this. It had three floors. Four, if you count the main engine room which had it's own all to itself.
"You are my computer programmer. You'll be working down in the engine room with Riddick. He does the mechanical and hardware, you get the computers to recognize the stuff he installs, also you set up or upgrade the computer as well. You can also be one of my hackers, if you don't mind." He stated. Weaving through the some oncoming people. They were all mostly in jumpsuits, the men greeted him with a nod, the women smiled sweetly.
They approached a door that slid open to reveal a elevator. "Most of the rooms and doors you see are cabins. Some are mini engine rooms, that I'll show you once we get to the working deck. Were going to the cock-pit first. I want you to see that, and meet some guy's you'll be working with on occasion." Minx nodded soaking up the info.
She had spent half of her life on a huge freighter ship. But this ship was totally different from those, that she was so familiar with. Her father had been a pilot, and her mother a doctor. Since her father wanted a boy, he treated her like one and showed her the ropes. Minx spent all her time learning about the mechanics and technical workings of those ships. She knew how to work a wrench by the age of five.
When she was ten they left her with her cousin Dellaney one night, and a few weeks later Dellaney told her they weren't coming back. The mini hop of the elevator, brought her back to the present. Blinking quickly she walked along side Hocks, down a long hallway. It had no doors, and no breaks in the walls. Just straight, flawless metal. Even the lights seemed to not interfere with them. No doubt there was a reason for that.
She returned her gaze in front of her, to find that they were approaching a wall. No door, no key, or hand pad for entry, just a wall. A wall that was totally identical to those on the sides of the hallway. Strait flawless metal. She looked around and saw that there was nothing else in the hall.
Leave it to Hocks to come up with something like this. Suddenly Minx's feet sunk into metal floor. It felt like melting rubber. It gave and formed a print of the bottom of her boot. Through all of her observing, and the sinking rubber floor performance, Hocks was deftly silent. Just standing there as if to wait for a bus or something.
Minx looked at him. A blank expression on his face. Asking him about it she knew would get her no where. Figuring she was fighting a loosing battle to find out what the hell was going on, she let out a slow breath, folded her arms across her chest, and waited. Silent, just like Hocks. Funny how people like to be so mysterious, she reflected.
A moment later there was a slight vibrating noise, the walls began to flutter and tremble gently, sounding like distant thunder during a storm. She watched as the seemingly very much intact wall in front of them, slowly glided up ward, like an old retro garage door. The huge wall slid up and out of sight disappearing into a discreet gap in the ceiling. To reveal a stunning cock-pit and an even more breathtaking view of the stars. They walked forwards and stopped in front of two sliding glass doors.
The room was circular in the front and middle, but the sides of the room were straight. The cock-pit was bustling with men, walking and speaking diligently. Some sitting in cubicles, illuminated with red lights, and blue or green lit controls. Some were walking from one side of the room to the other with long white sheets of paper in their hands. Others were lingering and whispering over star maps. While some were huddled close together near a computer monitor pointing and doing some other hand gestures.
In the center of the room was a raised oval like podium, surrounded by silver piping creating some railing. The floor of the podium was lit with white light. Making it seem bright compared to all the cool colors surrounding it. At the podium stood Leo. In that same stance and anxious look of authority. Behind his silver glasses, his eyes darted around the room, observing everything, and judging everyone.
At the front of the room were the pilots, four men. They all sat like statues, and only moved when Leo or another man (of supposed importance) gave them an order.
She jumped when Hocks spoke, her ears still expecting silence. "These are my men. They work hard, and are smart. I just wanted you to see what they are like before they know you and me are here. Sometimes, I catch them playing craps games, black jack, or even poker, when a officer is not up here. Whata ya think of the set up?" He asked lightly.
"Very, very, cutting edge. I, haven't even seen half of this stuff." Minx said with a surprised tone. It was true, most of this stuff looked like equipment even the government could only dream about getting their greasy paws on. That was the quality of the black market for you. Always a hair or two better then the legal stuff, that is if you knew who and where to go to.
"Now that you've seen what they are suppose to look like when their working, I'll introduce you."
"But wait a minute.I thought they could see us." She asked blankly, her eyes still observing the admirable machinery.
"We can see in, but they cannot see out. They think this is a normal metal wall. Holographs are the key me'dear. Same with those walls in that hallway we were just in." He said with a shrug.
"Also the floor act right?" She asked. Hocks nodded.
"That was the security I had installed. The rubber lets your feet sink into the real floor that is loaded with weight sensors, that weighs you. It also distracts you while a laser scans you body. So if you're the right weight and the right profile. It lets you pass." He said proudly, raising his eye brows like Groucho Marks.
"Brilliant." Minx said quietly in amazement, smiling.
Hock pulled a thin piece of plastic out of his pocket, and pressed a small button. The two doors slid open. Hocks and Minx stepped inside the room, and the doors clapped shut quickly, almost nipping Minx's behind. Whooo, wouldn't want to get caught between those doors. Minx thought.
She noticed the room had gone completely silent. Everyone had stopped what they were doing and stood were they were. Hocks nodded shortly and within seconds everything resumed, almost as if it had never stopped in the first place.
Minx looked at him, "What was that all about?" She asked softly. "I run this jointit's a mark of respect." He said only half serious. Minx laughed softly to herself.
They first walked up to the four men at the front of the room.
Each had their hands on a long control panel in front of them. This control panel had no unused space, every inch looked like it had a button. Some red others yellow, some blue. The man closest to them turned in his chair, and stood.
He had carrot red hair and small brown eyes. In his mid to late forties. He was smaller then most of the men on this ship, most of which were somewhat muscled and were at least 6 feet tall and over. He on the other hand must've been barely 5'9" with his shoes on. He was skinny and thin. He had a goatee and wore a black jumpsuit.
"Hocks, is this my new programmer?" He asked lightly, looking at Minx. "Jenny is the ships new programmer Bengie. She'll be working mostly in my engine rooms." He said conversationally, she could tell that these two were also old friends. "Well, at least I can have her under my wing for a while anyway." He said with a pleasant smile, that was directed at her. She felt at ease around him. Kinda like an older brother, or a father even.
"I'm the second in command in this ship. I work everything in this room, including the men, and the machineswhen they listen to me. You can call me Bengie." He said shaking her hand. Minx gave him a genuine smile.
"I understand. Those machines have a mind of their own. And unfortunately so do the men." She said lightly.
"Smart, and quick. I like a smart girl." Bengie complimented, with a small chuckle.
They said their good-byes to Bengie and walked over to the clump of men that were huddled around the computer monitor. They were all arguing about something that was up on the screen. None of them seemed to notice that Hock was there.
Minx just waited and observed the scene in comic interest. They seemed to be arguing about something that was serious. Her attention was sparked when she heard her name.
"Minx might know what the hell is going on. But this throws me through a loop." She looked to Hocks for some explanation. "Come on Jerry, finding the john throws you through a loop." Most of the men laughed. Including Minx, who assumed by the john he meant the bathroom. "
Stop being so blind, this guy was obviously working for someone. He's not the top Boss. There someone else in the picture, that obviously wasn't pleased with the way things were going." A brown hair man put in.
"Would you stop being an ex-cop for once. This guy was it, there isn't any evidence that there is someone else." A blonde guy argued.
"This isn't going to be released on the news for another two weeks or so. That means there still investigating." The brown haired guy retorted smartly.
"Fine. But I just don't wanna hack into anything unless were certain that this is something worth risking our ship's position for." The blond stated firmly. "Yeah I know. But this guy was found dead. Shot by a rifle laser." The brunet man agreed.
"Uh Uh! Wrong buddy boy, that was a laser rifle. Brush up your arsenal facts tonight when your reading alone in bed!" The blond man teased.
"Why don't you take you arsenal and fire it up your.." But the brown haired man was cut off by Hocks.
Hocks cleared his throat loudly. "Break it up before I have to make you both wash dishes tonight." He warned. As if timed, the whole group looked at him. There heads snapping up from the screen. The men looked at eachother and stepped away from each others' faces.
"So what have you found?" Hocks asked. Walking up to the monitor, but the guys weren't looking at him. They were looking at Minx. Disbelieving, like she was back from the dead or something.
"Uh, Sir there has just been a homicide police report sent to the city hall and casualty department on the east side of Pluto ll. It came in about ten minutes ago. Our guy Salvador Jackson has been murdered. His body was found in an abandoned farm house some fifty miles from a major warehouse. The kings street complex warehouse, that, Jackson was rumored to be hiding out in." It was the brown haired man who was speaking.
He had clear blue eyes, and was probably almost as tall as Hocks. He wasn't as muscled, and wore glasses. His hair was short kind of like a buzz cut. He had a tattoo on his right wrist, that was a black flame running around it like a permanent bracelet.
He spoke well and sounded smart. She was looking at him intently. Waiting for him to continue. He clicked off of the report and brought up a photo of him. It made Minx stop and stare. Her eyes were in shock. Her brain in a major overload. This man looked a lot like Deo. Except he had green eyes and blonde hair. His skin was slightly darker, and he had a very pronounced scar running from the left side of his jaw to just above his temple, where it ended in a patch of what looked like to be permanently burned skin. She tore her eyes away from the picture and looked at the text below.
It didn't say anything that she didn't already know. "This is what's puzzling me Hocks." He scrolled down to a couple of lines of text that was apart from the rest. It even was a different font and size.
Family members (siblings or relations through blood that are also in the system):
Father: Heath McGraw Brother:Darin McGraw Brother: Deo McGraw.
Deo was his brother. Deo told her that he was an only child. Why would he lie. She wondered. She shook her head suddenly discussed. If he lied to her about that what else could've he lied to her about? She suddenly doubted, fearful of the answer.
"The reason it puzzles me is that, when I look up all these names on the files. I clearly states that all these men do not have siblings. They only have the name of their father Heath McGraw. SoI don't know."
"Both Deo and Salvador are dead. Their deaths are almost duplicate. They died within a little month of eachother on the same planet: Pluto ll. In the same area: The east side. They were both murdered."
"There's even some speculation if Darin and Heath are still alive. And also where they are. Darin's been missing for over five years. Heath, no ones seen him in twenty one. That's all I know so far. Everything else is just rumor." He said standing up and picking up a piece of paper that had silently printed out from a slit in the wall.
"This is a flight record of the Salvador's trip. He had someone with him. A male. That matched the description of his brother Darin, but we couldn't confirm it. This was a couple of months ago though. And they were traveling to Pluto ll from Torch Island. Anyway, here it is." He handed it to Hocks. The brown haired man looked at Minx, noticing her standing there for the first time, since they walked up twenty minutes ago.
"Ryan this is my niece Jenny she's apart of my maintenance crew. She might do some hacking for yeh sometime. Jen this is Ryan head of my criminal and security group." Hocks said pausing to look at the piece of paper in his hand. Minx shook Ryan's hand, "Welcome" He said lightly. She felt the other five guys watching her. "So how long will you be here?" He asked informally. "Uh2 to 3 months depending." She said letting go of his hand.
"AyeRyan where are you manners?" The blond asked in a friendly voice. She turned to look at him. He was goofy looking, his teeth were slightly crooked. And he smelled like peppermint. "Names Blaine. I'm the database hacker on this ship. You hack?" He asked in a slightly faster southern drawl then Leo.
"Yeah. Database mostly. Mostly federal and merc though." She said proudly. Blaine raised his eye brow at her. "Federal? Ooooh, dangerous." He said, making her laugh. He reminded her of a stand up comic. Always looking for the perfect punch-line.
"These four extremely talkative men are Nitetrow, the electronics hacker." He gave her a silent nod when she looked at him. "Kevin, our mechanical expert. Devin our other mechanical expert." Kevin and Devin were almost identical twins. Looking a lot like eachother except one had blonde hair, the other had brown. "Then last but not least the rookie Grant, he's multi-talented." He ended his little into with a grin as he said 'multi-talented.' Grant was the youngest out of all of them. He was maybe sixteen. He was staring at her. She smiled. "Okay, uhNitetrow-electronics, Kevin-mechanical, Devin-mechanical, and Grant-muti-talented." She said out loud, giving a small smile again at Grants title. Counting off on her fingers. "Alright, I'll try and remember that." She said with a sigh.
"You do that." Blaine said with another chuckle. Hocks spoke up "Alright Blaine I want you to go threw the other file from this database and find the exact weapon type he was killed with. Then try and find out if this other brother Darin ever got one like that. Go into the black market files if you have to." He said in a slightly commanding voice. Blaine nodded. "Yes sir!" He said with a mini-salute. Hocks shook his head. "Okay wise guy."
They walked back to Bengie. "Well, how are things going up here?" Hocks asked him. "Well, the scanning system is on the blink. It's not really recognizing some of the rocks, debris, so it can't warn to dodge them or destroy them, so were catching some flack, no real damage though. So that needs to be looked at. Then some of the lights in my panel up here are dimming, and the buttons are getting rather scuffed. There's some work for you already Jen."
Minx nodded with a smile. "Looks like it."
"Well of you ever are sort with work I always have something up here." Bengie said extending his arms out to his sides, motioning around the room.
"I'll keep that in mind." She said looking at the control panel again, and noticing the dimming lights. She couldn't help but want to press them and find out what each does. Even though she knew if she did, it could bring total destruction to the ship. I guess I won't be pushing any buttons. They probably wouldn't trust me anyway. She thought to herself.
"Better get back to work. See you around Jen." Bengie said lightly. Minx nodded. Hocks looked at her. "Well that's it for now. I guess I should get you up to the apartment and get you settled in." Hocks said, motioning to the door.
They left and was walking in the long hall they had come though. The huge door closed behind them, and gave off the impression that they were never there. They went into the elevator once again, heading up to the top floor.
The elevator gave it's usual slight hop, and opened it's doors. The hall way was long but it didn't have many doors. Hocks led her straight down the hall. They got up to the door, and stopped about two feet away from it. A moment later a thin red laser scanner ran across both their bodies.
After a routine of clicking, whooshing, and mechanical cranking noises it finally concluded 'Accesses Granted.' They stepped up to a more normal looking door and he rang the com button. They waited. Well, Minx thought solemnly, this is the first day of your new life. Your on your own now.
