Chapter 5: Shop work
Two weeks later:
The speeder's repair had been commissioned by a small rider gang of batarians. The vehicle was custom outfitted, with several specialized parts and programs, but nothing the young woman kneeling next to it couldn't handle.
Rikka took the knife and sliced a length of soft tubing from the spool. She checked the measurement one final time, trimmed the excess length from the piping, and affixed the flexible material to the coolant ports on either end of the engine compartment. Technically this was Solomon's job. He was the assistant mechanic, her charge was electrical work. She didn't mind though. So long as she could earn some income and a place to stay, she'd do the work assigned to her.
Besides, she thought, it's right up my alley. The Quarian waited the mandatory fifteen seconds for the sealant to harden, then gave a gentle pull on the newly attached coolant hose. Snug as a new drive belt. Rikka heard the heavy footfalls of Krovak Torr and stood up as she turned to face him.
"Where's Solomon? I've got a new task for him." His deep voice rolled through the room, a complacent expression on his colossal visage.
Rikka gestured towards the back room and dusted her hands. "He's on break, asked me to patch the new coolant line."
Torr frowned. "'Course he did. Lazy varren likes assigning his tasks to everyone but himself."
"I don't mind, really, I'm earning my keep, that's what I'm here to do."
The Krogan nodded approvingly. "Sounds like they didn't even need to send you on pilgrimage, already got it all worked out."
Rikka shifted, revealing a series of stains along the beige-gray shop cloth covering her front. "That's not the point of our pilgrimage. The fleet is always struggling for resources, we have to bring back something of value."
Torr waved a massive paw dismissively. "That's only half of it. Believe me, it's as much a learning experience as a scavenger hunt- no offense."
Rikka tilted her head, considering the alien's words. "I never really thought of that."
The ancient Krovak warrior nodded once then proceeded to the back room where Solomon had allegedly taken refuge from his work. Rikka turned back to the speeder and knelt in front of the engine block. She perused the machinery underneath the hood, checking for loose connections or faulty parts. The young woman's brief inspection turned up several bad connections in the nav system, all of which were easily rectified.
A minute later, with that task done, Rikka turned her attention to the programs in the speeder's personal computer. Several of the programs were standard fare, a few were custom programs she didn't recognize but was still able to troubleshoot for any errors.
XxXxX
Nolta's recovery was progressing quickly, enough for him to begin taking walks unassisted, but not enough for Kala to let him out of her sight. Despite their less-than-amicable meeting, the two were becoming fast friends. Tokus thought he might even be seeing the signs of a youthful infatuation on the girl's part, though Nolta appeared completely oblivious to it.
The Captain followed the pair at a distance, just far enough so as not to invade their privacy, but at the same time close enough to keep an eye on them. Nolta's gait was still somewhat stilted, and Kala seemed all too happy to take his arm in an offer of support. Voran noticed an asari smiling as she watched the pair before she caught his own gaze.
Her ivory teeth flashed as she addressed him. "Good to see something sweet like that, refreshing after all the news of death and destruction out in the colonies."
Tokus nodded as he slowed to avoid appearing suspicious. Following what was ostensibly a young couple out for a leisurely stroll wouldn't win any points with C-sec.
The asari glanced back at the two aliens before returning her gaze to the view of the wards' massive skyscrapers. The Captain strolled past her, appearing to divert his course from Nolta and Kala until he was out of sight of the alien.
XxXxX
Five days later:
Rikka had just finished her break when they arrived. Five batarian males, all fairly young, the owners of the speeder she'd worked on a few days ago. Krovak Torr stepped out from behind a speeder chassis as the group approached.
"It done?" The largest of the group demanded. Rikka could tell even from the other side of the room that the young batarian thought himself king of Omega.
The krogan nodded and handed the vehicle's keycard over to the young man who impatiently took it and strolled over to the vehicle. Rikka edged closer as the batarian inserted the card and tapped the ignition. A moment later, the engine coughed and the exhaust grille spat out a small, acrid cloud of black smoke. The batarian swore and tried to start the engine again, this time eliciting a groan and a series of electrical arcs from the craft. Rikka watched as the alien leapt from the speeder, clutching one of his hands.
"What the f-" another loud crack cut the batarian off mid-expletive as the speeder began to waft violet smoke. A cold gleam filled the alien's eyes. "You tryin' to kill me or something!"
Torr had already crossed the distance to the craft and was busily running a diagnostic on its engine. "Drive was faulty," he said a minute later. "Properly installed, but I can give you a full refu-"
"Shut the hell up!" The ringleader bellowed.
Torr's words died in his throat as the riders drew their firearms in unison. He wasn't afraid of the batarians, but being unarmed himself, he saw no point in provoking them by speaking any further.
"Who installed the part?"
Torr was about to do something when Rikka's distinctive voice sounded through the room.
"I did."
The krogan gave a sharp shake of his head and fixed his gaze on the young woman. What was she talking about? Solomon had installed the engine.
As one, the rider gang trained their weapons on the quarian. Before any of them could pull the trigger, however, the young woman opened fire with her own pistol. The shot went wide of the group, eliciting an evil grin from the gang's leader. Torr was about to charge him when a colossal 'thump' echoed just to the right of the main group of aliens, an overpressure wave blasted out from the source of the sound, knocking the batarians from their feet.
A series of smaller explosions sounded as two of the batarians' weapons detonated in their hands, enveloping them in caustic flames. The Krogan caught sight of Rikka's omni-tool pulsing rapidly as she brought her pistol back to eye-level, scanning the room.
The lead batarian had taken cover behind the now-inert speeder and squeezed off a pair of shots at the quarian, but the bullets simply ricocheted off of her shields. A cold realization gripped him as the young woman sighted on him and pulled the trigger.
An instant later, the last of the gang dropped to the ground, one hole in his head and two in his chest. Torr walked over to the charred corpses and saw the fragments of the gas canister that his newest employee had utilized as an impromptu explosive. He turned to the eldest batarian's body and noted the three-shot pattern. Two to the heart, one to the brain. That was professional shooting.
"So," he grinned, "You're not really a pilgrim after all, are ya?"
Rikka sat down on the bare floor, only now realizing what she'd just done. She shakily stowed her side-arm before responding. "I... I am. My father is a… squad leader in the Migrant Fleet Marines. He always made sure I spent time… practice shooting each week."
Torr could see that she was contemplating the event and pressed no further questions. Likely that was her first kill, instinct had taken over when the batarians had trained their weapons on her. She'd need time to work it out, but she'd just saved his livelihood, he could afford to give her a break.
XxXxX
"I've told you a lot about my people, but et strikes me that you haven't told me much about yerself." Nolta's thick brogue rolled from behind his mask.
Kala smiled up at him. She loved his accent. That was part of the reason she preferred to have him do most of the talking. "There's not much to tell, really, grew up on Elysium, moved out at eighteen, joined the Blue Suns a few months after I got tired of my day job."
"Which was?"
The young woman blushed. "I was a holographer."
Nolta caught the embarrassment in her voice and body language. "Yer brengin' the world t' people who can't go out there themselves. What's so shameful about that?"
Kala's expression turned to a sheepish grin. "The, uh, subject matter. My folks weren't too… fond of it."
"War then?" He knew better, but hoped to ease the matter.
"Nudes. Mostly male…" She cringed and turned her face away.
Lae felt a nervous smile crossing his own face. "I, can see how that'd be… uncomfertable."
"Yeah."
They stood in awkward silence for a few minutes, trying to forget the subject. Nolta finally spoke. "What's et like, Elysium that es?"
Kala was grateful for the change in subject. "I only ever saw the capitol city once. It was really nice though. Lots of white and silver towers, wide plazas, lots of planters everywhere. They have to keep a full garden staff on to keep the plants from overgrowing the walkways. Ton of people too, had to push your way through crowd's so thick you'd think there was a parade or something."
"Sounds like the fleet, really crowded, now a whole lot 'o personal space."
"Back at home, we lived in a little place my family built before the planet got as… big as it is now."
Nolta mulled over her words. "So, you lived as a civilian, among civilians, what made you tern to mercenary werk?"
Kala huffed and a despondent look crossed her face. "One of my photo-shoots was- I- I don't really want to talk about it."
"Fair enough, we all have secrets." Nolta smirked to himself. "I only lerned mine a few day ago."
Author's note:
I'm starting to find that if written properly; 'fluff' ceases to be fluff. Even seemingly irrelevant scenes can contain significant or important scraps of information. Done the right way, this can space out the characters' lives and make them a bit more plausible (not everything that happens to them has to be earth-shaking). The initial draft of Awakening only seems to address the events that bear large impacts in the characters' lives. This realization has given me even more material to work with for the aforementioned story's revision.
Also, "P" and "O" are still too close together on the keyboard, I swear, since starting this story I've typed "Caotin" more than 87 times when I've meant to write Captain. .
(+50 ElTee points to anyone who catches the reference^^^)