It was worse than she realized, and Rose silently cursed the idiot who'd done this to the gear box. She made a note to ask Seladora who her previous mechanic had been, and to suggest taking legal action against him. For the moment the box was out, and she was rewiring the connectors with the last of her quality hook points—the expensive ones from Prega II. As it was, she'd have to rebuild the gearbox once the new geo gears came in, and the whole thing would probably need a stabilizer to keep it from seizing up. The newer Thunderstrikes had them as standard equipment, but not these early models.

But Rose liked the challenge. She had a gift for engines—taking them apart, reassembling them, improving them. Paige teased her about her 'Tinker's Touch' but it had kept them afloat through the years, and more than one Pod Racer had paid her plenty to soup up a vehicle or two.

A few minutes later she was done and wiggling her fingers under the sonic cleaner when her 'comm buzzed. Rose didn't recognize the code.

"Hello?"

"Hello. It's Seladora Phasma, calling about the MLE?"

Rose fumbled with the 'comm, feeling a surge of delight and embarrassment. "Hi! Uh, yeah, hi. Good timing, I just finished hook pointing it."

"Hook pointing?"

"Mechanic slang. That's how the gear box is mounted inside the engine," Rose muttered. "I wanted to get it stabilized first, so when the gears come in I can just drop them onto their spindles and set up the timing sequence annnnd I'm running on about stuff that's boring. Sorry."

The soft chuckle across the connection sent tingles through Rose. "It's not boring. It's wonderful to hear someone enjoy what they do for a living."

"Um, thank you. Usually Paige—that's my sister—Paige just tells me to shut up but that's just how she is. So . . . who did this to your gearbox? Because they need to stop working on engines. Like, yesterday."

"That bad?"

"Worse," Rose sighed. "Imagine if someone had removed your wrist, elbow and shoulder joint, and then told you to play a xylophone."

"Oooh," came the stunned reply. "Not possible."

"Worse if you were told your arm was just fine," Rose pointed out. "You could have been in a serious accident, Ms Phasma."

"Seladora, please. And yes, I suppose I'm lucky that didn't happen. So what's next?"

"Next I wait for the gears from Haktor—they should be on the supply shuttle coming in tomorrow morning. Give or take a few hours I'll have them in and then start aligning them."

"All right then. I think my Thunderstrike is in excellent hands."

"I hope so. It's a beauty," Rose enthused. "How long does it take you to get to Letlo City?"

"About an hour."

Rose laughed. "No, I mean if you go all out! How long?"

"I . . . don't know. I tend to stay within the limits."

"I'm gonna find out," Rose blurted. "Once I have these gears in and everything else is tuned up, I'll put through a road test. Just to be thorough."

Seladora laughed. "Just to be thorough," she echoed. "Of course. But I think you mean WE shall put it to the test."

Rose felt her face heat up at the thought of being next to her on the padded seat, scenery racing on either side of them. "You sure? Because the record for an MLE is just under the speed of sound. You have to be either a really good driver or have a LOT of open road to do it."

"I'd like to think we have both," Seladora told her. "I look forward to seeing you again and possibly breaking the record."

Rose giggled. "In that case, I'll book a hauler and we can test it over at the Grand Canal."

"Yes," Seladora agreed. "Sounds delightful. Please keep me appraised."

"Will do," Rose told her and once the connection ended, she did a little dance, feeling foolish and happy, but mostly happy.

By the time the new gears had arrived and were installed in the Thunderstrike, Seladora had responded to the Serene Miffo's invitation and arranged for an investigation of the previous mechanic's work. Unkar Plutt's shop ended up being shut down as evidence of his shoddy work and defective parts piled up. She felt a sense of satisfaction in seeing him herded out, bellowing threats and complaints as the news drones broadcast his arrest.

"Thank you," Rose told her when Seladora shared the vid on a visit to the garage. "I'd heard stories about his shop, but damn."

"All the better that you took images of the gearbox before you started to work on it," Seladora pointed out. "I doubt Plutt's Parts will ever do business again."

"There's a blessing," Rose observed. "I wonder if the place will go up for sale?"

"Given his legal fees, very probably," Seladora replied, and added, "I can make inquiries, if you're interested in buying it. Alliance has a loan program for businesses that want to expand, and I while I know it's a big decision the option is there."

Rose looked up at her, smiling for a second before her expression shifted to one of caution. "I'd have to talk it over with Paige."

"Of course," Seladora agreed. "It would be a team effort. So . . . is the Thunderstrike ready to go?"

Rose beamed and nodded. "Primed, polished, and prepared for speed . . . or just commuting, if you're into that."

Seladora laughed. "Commuting is part of it, but I believe you mentioned a test?"

"Only if you're sure," Rose said, looking from the vehicle to Seladora. "Not everybody likes going fast."

Seladora looked at her, smiling. "It takes me a while to get up to speed but I . . . do like going fast."

"Okay then, it's your lucky day," Rose assured her, "Let's go have some fun!"