Pitstop at Psi

[Luce]

Luce squinted in the dim light under the anti-grav engine. Forest green eyes were focused on the delicate machinery that hung above her head, her brow furrowed in confusion. Delicate and deft hands probed the inner workings of the engine as she carefully moved things aside and she tried to find the source of the malfunction she knew was there. Her pale skin was currently smudged with the green residue of the bio-mechs that were the life blood of the engine.

She picked up a wrench from the tool box near her hip, closer to the open air of the engine room, and tried to loosen a bolt that held an inner panel in place. Stringy, tough muscle stood out in her forearm as she applied pressure to the bolt but it refused to move. She put the wrench down and laid her head back on the floor, taking a minute to consider the problem.

The last time they'd put into port on a planet the ship had kicked trying to escape the gravity well. Luce didn't want to risk entering grav again until she had made sure the engine was working the way it was supposed to because she had no intentions of getting ground bound. Luce hadn't always felt so defenseless with her feet on the ground but six years spent between the stars and the rocks that orbited them had left her feeling much more confident in a pilot's seat than on the ground. Besides, this ship was her livelyhood, she couldn't risk it getting stuck in some corrupt officer's inpound yard to be broken down and sold for scraps, a very real possibility in this part of the universe.

"How's it goin'?" Drew's head appeared in the space between the bottom of the engine and the floor of the ship, blocking out the little light Luce was using to see by. She looked down her body at the dark blob that was Drew's head and then began to push herself out from under the engine. Drew grabbed one worn, black boot and helped pull her out. When she'd emerged from under the engine he offered her a hand but she refused. Her hands were covered in grease and bio-mech residue. In fact she was covered in the stuff from head to toe. It made her shoulder length black hair stick together in clumps despite the fact that she'd protected most of it under a worn scarf. Her white tank was now sporting more green, brown and black spots than white and her cargo pants were similarly decorated.

"I think we'll have to stop at Psi," Luce told him as she pushed herself up from the floor. She looked over at Drew and had a small moment of disorientation when she realized she was looking up at him. He'd gone through a growth spurt a couple of months ago and she was still getting used to the idea that her son was now taller than her.

Standing side by side many didn't doubt that Luce and Drew were related. He had her wavy black hair and pale, almost translucent skin though Luce's was a slightly darker than his, a difference easily dismissed as a tan. His frame was also slight though he'd put on some toned muscle in the past two years and he looked more formiddable than used to. His eyes were a clear, ice blue and, like Luce, Drew had seen enough bad things to legitimize the hard look in his eyes. Even though he was only 17 he had long ago perfected the stare that made Luce's gaze so intimidating to strangers. It gave them a similar air that linked them in strangers minds more firmly than any physically similar characteristics, an effect Luce always found amusing in light of the fact that she and Drew were not biologically related.

When he stood next to Sedra it was clear which of the two women he was biological descendant of. He and Sedra shared everything from their icy eyes, to their delicate frames and tendency to burn in any level of sunlight. And their similarities went much deeper than their skin though both seemed to be willfully blind to the fact.

"Psi, uh," Drew said as patted the anti grav engine. "Rough space."

[Xander]

Xander sat on the edge of his stool outside the restaurant or bar. He wasn’t sure what the technical term for it was honestly. They served food, but just about every single legal patron had a glass of something intoxicating, and it had stools. In his experience most places that had stools were bars. Then again this place was sadly out of his realm of experience and it probably showed given the occasional glances he got. Earlier in the day someone with a hunch and liked keeping their hands in their pockets tried to tail him, likely thinking he was easy pickings. Thankfully disappearing into a crowd or out of someone’s line of sight was something he had experience with, after all if you can ditch a pack of trained bodyguards one thug isn’t that difficult. It did however server to put him on edge.

After Earthfall he’d told his father he needed to get out. He didn’t care where, as long as it was soon and far away. Andreas had put up an argument for arguments sake, but let him. The real argument came over the people accompanying him. Xander wanted to go alone, his father not so much. Then they had a real argument and Xander managed to lower the number of nannies down to two. That was a number he could handle and he handled them as quickly as possible.

Now it didn’t look like such a good idea to be traveling solo, but he couldn’t bring himself to regret it. A little bit of freedom for security wasn’t a trade he was willing to make. Besides the secruity detail would probably draw more attention than one man out of place, he really didn’t feel like some idiot trying to kidnap him or something.

The waitress appeared next him and handed him his check. He nodded, took out a card out of his wallet after looking over the check and handed it to her. If he were more paranoid he would have been concerned about his father tracing it and sending to someone to pick him up, he doubted it though. Sure he didn’t like him out on his own but now that he’d slipped the body guards he could just picture his father rolling his eyes. Before the waitress left he leaned back slightly to catch her eye, smiled when he did.

“Could you tell a good place to start looking for a ship heading out of here?”

[Luce]

"He's trying to steal from us," Luce said pleasantly, a smile on her face so that the man watching just out of ear shot would not suspect what she was actually saying.

"Did you expect any different," Sedra asked lightly, her eyes focused on the memo pad in her hands, her deft fingers quickly running through their financial records, trying to determine just how much repairs were going to cost them and if they could afford it.

"I expected him to try. I didn't expect you to let him," Luce said glumly, glancing at her beloved ship, a hunk of plastic that had come to represent freedom to her. She looked back in time to catch Sedra's small smile of amusement though she still hadn't look up from the memo pad. The smile disappeared as she finished her calculations. Sedra sighed as she looked up at Luce, meeting her eyes. Luce didn't need her to say anything, she could read Sedra pretty well by now. They couldn't take the financial hit as things stood, but they needed the repairs.

"Right," Luce said, her hand absentmindedly brushing over the butt of her weapons. "I'll go find us some customers." She really didn't want to pick up anyone at Psi. It was sure to mean trouble.

Drew saw her get ready to leave and stood up. Luce nodded her head towards Sedra who had gone back over to talk to the dishonest engineer. Drew nodded and sat back down on the off ramp. He knew the drill. They were the protection. Not that Sedra couldn't take care of herself. She could shoot as straight as any of them. But it just worked better for closing deals for Sedra to look approachable and ready to do business and for Luce, and Drew when Luce wasn't there, to look intimidating and ready to do violence.

Luce set off into the space station, a floating city in the middle of space, and kept her eyes and ears open. She didn't particularly feel like beating up muggers today.

[Xander]

Crossing his arms Xander continued to stare at his guide. The man had been pointed out to him by the waitress and she told him the man knew a number of the ships that came into dock. Longer he talked the more Xander felt he was paid to know a few and forget the rest. They had passed a number of ships that looked more maintained than some of the wrecks he’d been shown. Xander wondered if his guide was friends with the crews or if he was bribed. If he was bribed the captains’ should have invested the money in their vessel instead. The man wasn’t a very good at his job and attempted to make up for it in persistence. That was about the only thing Xander could respect about him, most of the salesmen his father worked with would have resorted to groveling by now. This man just kept smiling.

“Anything on your route that doesn’t look like it’s going to fall out of the sky?” He tapped a finger against his arm impatiently.

The man stopped and with the same smile he had plastered on from the start of the hour explained that all the vessels were space worthy. Even went on to say that some of them could actually get through a planet’s atmosphere without the passengers noticing. He gestured at a ship to their left as he said the last part. That was met with an eyebrow raise as Xander glanced at missing panel. Either the man was a total idiot or thought he was, either way he wondered if the man had ever gotten away with the lie.

“It’s been nice,” Xander said stepping back, “but I think I’ll take my leave. I’m sure you have more important things to attend too. I think I can handle it from here.”

“Oh, what? Wait, no, no, no, you can’t just walk up to a ship and negotiate. You need a go between, someone who knows what they’re doing, ya know?” The guide said quickly, waving his hands in front of his face. It was all Xander needed to hear to know that he didn’t really need the man’s serves at all. It would be harder without a contact to the ships but he silently thanked the Goddess he didn’t need to suffer the man any longer.

“I think I’ll be able to figure it out,” Xander waved over his shoulder as he walked away from his guide. He stuck his hands in his jacket pockets and headed toward some of the ships they had passed earlier. Hopefully he’d be able to get of the port before the end of the day.

[Luce]

Drew paced back and forth a respectful distance behind Sedra. His eyes drifted over the crowds that milled around the docks of the space station. He wanted to look like he was ready for trouble but he knew he didn't look that intimidating. That was fine. As long as he was actually ready if anything went down.

His eyes glanced back to Sedra as she finished her negotiations and walked back towards the ship, her eyes on the memo pad, finalizing her deals. When she drew abreast of Drew she looked up and tried to smile. It wasn't an easy thing. Their relationship had never been exactly easy. Drew cleared his throat and kept his eyes on the crowds. "How'd it go?" he asked.

"Fine," Sedra said after a moment. "If Luce can find us customers." Drew made a small sound of agreement and then nodded towards a young man that had been lurking around. He didn't look harmful but he had been there for a while.

"He's been watching us. Maybe he needs a ride." Sedra followed his eyes to the young man in question.

"Are you sure?" Drew grit his teeth in frustration. He felt like Sedra treated him like a child, despite the fact he'd been raised to this business. He reminded himself not to take it personally, she was hard on everyone.

"Yes, I'm sure," he said as calmly as he could manage. Sedra glanced at him but didn't remark on his tone. She walked over to the man he'd pointed out and Drew felt his shoulders relax if only a little when she'd left.

[Xander]

Xander stood with his hands in his pockets in front of one of the many docked ships. It looked much nicer than several of it’s neighbors almost to the point of looking out of place. If his experience held true it would likely mean that getting on board would cost a nice bit of change. He fingered his wallet in his jacket pocket as he looked at the ship. His father could probably afford it, besides he’d want his boy to safer. In theory at least.

He noticed a woman walking from the ship and toward him. While it was a surprise it wasn’t unexpected. Stand in one place long enough staring and someone will take interested. For his part he wasn’t subtle about his gawking. Hopefully she’d represent the ship instead of being a busy body.

“Hello,” he said with a polite smile when the woman was close enough, “How are you today?”

[Asher Davis]

((Nulling this post. I realized Asher shouldn't be in this thread because he probably would have transfered to the Madras with the other passengers of the Destiny in Pure Happenstance. It is too coincidental for him to split off and then board the same exact ship as them later on.))

Asher definitely looked the part of needing a ride as he walked along looking at the ships docked here. He'd jumped the first ship he could get out of Glace Au Four, and now he regretted that as he'd ended up stuck here on Psi for a while. Not only was he stuck on a station that wasn't the best place for traveler, one who'd never set foot off his home planet before on top of being alone, to be, but he was running out of money.

He looked the part of a runaway, or at least a homeless person. He carried a few bags with him which literally contained all of his wordly possessions, at least those he'd felt he'd need after leaving Glace Au Four. He hardly ever took his hands off these. He'd lost more than a few of his belongings to theft. Now he was just looking for a way off this station, even if it didn't last long. Just as long as I get off this rock and don't end up on a worse plant.

Up ahead he saw another boy who seemed to be talking to a woman. He half-wondered if this guy was also trying to get passage on a ship. There was only one way to find out.

[Xander]

At the edge of Xander’s eye he saw a stranger walking up. At first he thought it was another person attempting to strum up business. They guy however looked rather lost, not the look to have if you wanted to make money. He nodded at the new comer stepping back slightly so he could get a good luck at the woman.

No one spoke for a moment and Xander cleared his throat. “Pardon ma’am,” he said with a polite smile, “Do you represent a ship or tell me who does around here?”