2302 UNPC Universal Calendar.
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The side door to the motor pool building slammed shut, and Anton was immediately hit with the scent of a well used garage. There were vehicles in varying states of repair strewn about from different countries and militaries, with over 100 years between the newest and oldest vehicle.
Anton panned his eyes over the shop, it was messy, but ultimately appeared to have somewhat of an organization method.
Truth be told, he didn't much know the man past his reputation, which was simply as "Can fix anything, and can do it faster than anyone in the UNPC." They'd done operations together in the past, and had gotten to know each other somewhat, but they rarely saw each other.
"Yeah?" A gruff voice asked, accompanied by a slender man, covered in oil from the elbows down, wearing a very cut down ECA system standing up from behind a tracked troop carrier.
"Charles?" Anton asked, moving to where he could see him.
"Oh, hey Anton" Charles "C3" Mitchell replied, standing up to his full height and rolling his shoulders back. "What's up?" he asked, putting a battery powered ratchet in the set of pouches around his waist.
"I've got something I think you'd enjoy working on" Anton said, a knowing smirk across his lips.
Charles cocked an eyebrow at that, running a hand through his already dirty blonde hair. "How interesting?" he asked.
"You'll see, it's outside" Anton replied, gesturing towards the rolling door they were standing in front of.
Charles smiled and shrugged, "sounds interesting enough" he said, flicking his eyes around his field of vision for a moment, manipulating his contacts to open the door.
When the door opened fully, his eyes went wide, and he whistled low and long. "Where in the good god damn did you find this?" he asked, stepping towards it.
"It was my first truck actually, been sitting in a garage for a long while now" Anton said, walking behind the shorter man, hands on his hips.
The truck, a early 1998 Dodge Ram 2500, with an extended cab and 8' bed was a welcome sight for the mechanic. Even if it was just a beat to shit three hundred year old farm truck. Remarkably, it was without rust.
"I haven't seen one of these since I was young, real young" Charles said, running his hand down the fender, and tracing it to the door handle, pausing half way to look at the "Cummins Turbo Diesel" badge, noting it was without the "24 valve" descriptor.
"You mind?" he asked, pausing with his left hand gripping the handle.
"Not at all" Anton replied.
He popped open the door, and climbed in, finding the interior worn, but not as badly as he'd expected.
Anton popped open the passenger door, and climbed in. "The automatic transmission is shot, doesn't go any higher than second gear, and it needs a whole bunch of front end work" he said as Charles ran his hands over the steering wheel, studying the instrument panel, looking more like he was zoning out than anything. "Everything is stock, the only thing I did way back when was take the P-pump to a rebuild shop because it had a miss at two kay"
"I was hoping you could put a six speed manual in it, and can swap it onto a stainless steel frame." Anton added. "I figured if anyone could do it, or would want to do it, It'd be you."
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Charles stared at the dashboard for a long moment. "This is probably the only existing example of this truck in the world in this good of condition." he said, not answering Anton's question.
Anton nodded slowly.
"I'll have to fabricate some parts, find a transmission with the correct bell housing, maybe rebuild one myself" he trailed off, then thought for a long moment.
"Will it be a work truck that you're going to drive, or are you going to just oogle at it in a garage?" Charles asked, looking Anton in the eye.
"Work truck, just like it was when I was young" He replied, holding a single key out to him.
Charles nodded slowly, taking the key. "Timeline?" he asked.
"Well, within about 4 months would be peachy" Anton said, looking to his right, out the window at a landing osprey. "Thinking about retiring"
Charles's eyebrows raised at that and Anton shrugged. "I'm old" he said, making Charles chuckle.
Charles slid the key into the ignition, and turned it to the run position. The lights flashed at him, and went out. He looked to the odometer, and it read 380k miles. "I figured it'd have over a million" he thought.
Charles nodded again "Yeah, I'll do it." he said.
Anton smiled, feeling genuine joy that the master mechanic would consider working on his truck of all vehicles. "How much you think? Ballpark." He asked.
Charles kept staring at the dashboard. "No charge" he said after a moment.
Anton squinted at him. "Seriously?" He asked.
Charles nodded. "This is the only existing example of a completely stock twelve valve Cummins engine in a second generation Dodge pickup." he paused. "I couldn't live with myself if I charged even a cent to work on a gem like this, and frankly, I'm honored that you've brought it to me."
Anton didn't know how to reply to that, so he just nodded.
Charles slid the key out and handed it back, then popped open the door and climbed out, and Anton did the same.
"What's with the stack?" Charles asked, pointing towards the 4'' exhaust pipe extending vertically from a hole cut in the bed on the passenger side, a rain flapper at the top.
"I was a dumb highschooler once." Anton said, shrugging.
Charles looked at it for a moment, then smiled. "You should keep it, it adds character." he said.
"Think so?" Anton asked.
"This is probably one of only a handful of diesel pickup trucks this old, every other diesel vehicle in the country is a semi truck, and even those are dying out" Charles replied. "What's the sense in having the cock and balls of a bull moose if you can't swing em' around every once and a while?" He asked, making Anton chuckle.
"You've got a way with words" Anton said, still cackling.
Charles just smiled. "I'll get it done" he said, nodding.
"Thanks Charles, really." Anton said as they both leaned against the bed of the truck, looking into the back, which was clean, albeit dented and missing paint in multiple places.
Charles nodded, and stepped back. "Hey Anton?" he asked.
"Yeah?" Anton asked.
"Where are you planning to move to, after you retire I mean?" he asked. "Not that it's any of my business"
Anton made a "it's fine" face and shook his head. "Near here actually, bought a decent bit of land" he replied.
"Well, if you ever need another repair to this thing, could you bring it to me?" he asked.
Anton laughed, "Sure, if it means that much to you."
Charles smirked, then looked back at the truck, thinking.
"Oh, there's a bunch of parts in a shipping container over by the hangar" Anton said suddenly. "The new custom made frame, new wheels and tires, whole bunch of stuff. Had it shipped here shortly after we arrived."
"That makes things easier, hell I can have it done in a month depending on how much stuff I don't have to make myself" Charles said.
That surprised Anton, "a month?" he asked.
Charles nodded, "You have no idea how much easier that makes, it." he said, shaking his head. "How'd you even get them here?" he asked.
"You never ask-"
"A member of the Augment Corps how they get things done" Charles finished the adage.
"I was going to say eternal, but that works too" Anton shrugged, smiling.
"same-same" Charles said, looking over his shoulder and back into the shop.
"How many other projects are you working on right now?" Anton asked.
"Fourteen, but I'll have six of them done by the end of this week, others are just hurry up and wait on parts" Charles sighed.
Anton smiled "guess I picked a good time to pop in then" he said.
"Yeah, no kidding" Charles scoffed, looking back at the truck. "Do you want it painted?" he asked.
"Nope, leave it as-is, I like the patina" Anton replied.
Charles nodded, "I can respect that."
"Want help pulling it into the shop?" Anton asked.
"Yeah, thanks" Charles replied.
Now I've got to move all kinds of shit to get this thing into the shop....