Cassie's foot dangled off the side of the crate, almost a foot off the ground. She was sitting on a shipment of spare plastic piping, that hadn't been unpacked and stored, but had been dumped in the small space between two of the huge engines responsible for accelerating the ship to interplanetary speeds. A few feet to her left, there was a terminal for monitoring and controlling the propulsion systems.

It wasn't a room, not technically, but the engines' shielding, huge curved sections of metal, almost enclosed the space on either side. There was only a few feet of flat flooring in between, and in the center of that, was a sizable round hole.

It was a hole from which a variety of sounds were emanating. It hadn't been hard for her to find Aqeel. She'd easily heard his banging and cursing from the maintenance hub. Now that the ship was in dark mode, the engineering decks were a hell of a lot quieter. And all sounds echoed through the place.

Making Aqeel very easy to find, since he seemed incapable of working quietly. Whatever he was currently working on below, it appeared to require a large amount of banging, swearing and incomprehensible muttering. She still couldn't see what he was doing, down the access ladder in the crawlspace below the floor. It didn't seem like a smart idea to disturb him at the moment. So Cassie waited, patiently.

Eventually, the noises stopped. Aqeel began to climb up, out of the maintenance access, but stopped before his shoulders passed the threshold. He spotted Cassie immediately, but didn't look surprised to see her sitting there, watching him.

"Pass me that." Aqeel pointed at a tool, sitting about a foot away from the edge of the access hatch.

Cassie spotted the handheld laser saw after a second. It really did resemble a can opener, but was a hundred times more deadly. It was also not something that should be left on the floor, and definitely should not have the guard removed.

Before Cassie could get up, Aqeel was already reaching out towards the miniature saw. "Forget it," he added quickly, stretching out a hand to catch the edge of the handle. A moment later, the mop of white hair had vanished back down the hole in the floor.

"Um..." Cassie began hesitantly, clearing her throat softly. "By the way, what are we supposed to be doing during those alerts?"

"What?" Aqeel asked loudly, as he continued whatever he was doing down there.

"The emergency alerts," Cassie clarified.

There was a short buzzing noise, the saw. Then another loud, heavy bang. "There was one?" Aqeel asked.

"Yes?" Cassie answered hesitantly. "There was a shipwide message from the captain."

"Oh. I didn't notice," Aqeel answered, in between buzzes.

"You didn't notice?" Cassie repeated slowly, still processing the idea that one of the ship's key personal hadn't been aware of such a major event.

"Must have dropped my radio somewhere around here." There was more rustling, more movement below. "Here it is," Aqeel said triumphantly. "So is that where you were?"

Cassie nodded, even though he couldn't see her. "I was in the cockpit."

"And?" Aqeel prompted. "Anything interesting going on up there?"

"The rebels blew up a smuggler ship," Cassie said grimly.

"And?" Aqeel repeated.

Cassie blinked once. "Uh... that was it."

"So... nothing then," Aqeel replied quickly. "Right, well I have work to do." There was muttered swearing from the hole. "Pass me the damn hypertape."

Cassie looked down at the various tools strewn about the floor. She quickly located the shiny, red roll of industrial-grade tape by the toolbox near the entryway. She jumped down off her perch in one smooth, soundless motion.

"Just throw it down," Aqeel added between bangs.

Cassie rolled the tape across the floor. It fell down the hole soundlessly. There were faint snipping sounds. Then more banging. Frustrated mumblings turned to content mutterings.

Cassie jumped back up on the crate, one leg dangling, one held up to her chest. She rested her chin on top of her knee. "You're all so chill about this." She frowned. Her voice lowered. "People just died."

The banging stopped. The air held still. Cassie nibbled on her lower lip.

Maybe that was a little honest. Too honest. Too different.

She shouldn't have said that.

"But we're still alive," Aqeel finally answered. The banging started up again, twice as loud as before.

Cassie didn't know what to say to that. She fell silent, watching her foot sway back and forth. Her knee pressed into her cheek. She jerked upright as Aqeel peaked his head out again. The mop of white spun as his eyes scanned the assorted tools around the room.

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"Pass me that." Aqeel pointed at the laser sealer near her foot.

Cassie jumped down to grab it. The heavy weight sat in her hand as she gripped the black handle between the round battery pack and the shielded, dirty cylinder at the other end. As she lifted it, the device beeped and flashed, indicating a low charge level.

Aqeel made a grabby gesture to toss it.

Cassie knelt down by the hatch to hand it over. She wasn't about to throw something as dangerous as laser sealer. That would be crazy.

She caught a glimpse of the dimly lit access tunnel below. The engine power regulation system was in pieces, practically dissembled. If there was any order to how Aqeel was organizing the parts, it was no system she could understand.

One thing she could tell just by looking, the engines certainly weren't going to be usable any time soon.

Aqeel grabbed the sealer, without so much as a thanks, then disappeared back into the hole again.

Cassie peered downwards, squinting. "What are you doing down there?"

"Fixing up the turbo fusion regulator," Aqeel answered, his voice muffled once more. "Might as well do it while we're dark and not getting any use out of the thing."

Cassie's brow crinkled slightly. She went over to the closest terminal and switched it to view the current alerts for the engines. Then to the past alerts. She scrolled through pages of historical data, her brow gently crinkling.

"The diagnostics don't show any problems with it," Cassie called out.

But plenty of problems elsewhere. Not that she was going to mention that.

"Ah, but they're wrong." Aqeel popped up again, a knowing glint in his eyes. "I know it's running wrong."

Cassie glanced back at the screen. "How?"

Aqeel tapped his ear, the corner of his mouth upturned slightly.

"You're... psychic?" Cassie guessed hopelessly.

Aqeel looked like he wanted to sigh. "No, girl. I listen to her." He looked almost disappointed. "She doesn't sound quite right." He rapped his knuckles against the metal flooring. "Gotta listen to my girl Serenity."

Cassie gave him a confused look. "The classical pop singer?"

"The ship," Aqeel clarified in a huff. He grabbed a stray bright yellow pickle fork before ducking back down.

Cassie's expression hadn't changed. "Um, this ship is called the Saint Joan."

"Bah," Aqeel spat. "She'll always be Serenity to me. That's a stupid name the military gave her." There was a low, unnerving hissing noise. "They changed her name. But they didn't change her guts."

Cassie's nose scrunched up. "Um, ew."

Aqeel chuckled. "Can't be afraid to get your hands dirty."

Cassie looked down at the black grease smeared over her calloused hands. "I'm not," she whispered.

The hissing faded to nothing. Aqeel threw the laser sealer up and out of the hole. It landed on the floor with a solid clang right next to hole, almost landing on top of the electric screwdriver. "Anyways, the point is to listen to her."

"It's a spaceship," Cassie replied. "It doesn't talk."

Unless the warnings and alerts counted as talking. But she had a feeling that wasn't what Aqeel was referring to.

It sounded like Aqeel chuckled, although it wasn't entirely clear with the loud hum of a sonic cleaner. "That's where you're wrong." The hum began to fade in and out as it cycled.

"And listening... works?" Cassie asked skeptically.

"Yep. If anything goes wrong on this boat, I'd know," Aqeel said confidently. "I know every inch of this baby." He tossed the hypertape up and out.

It landed near Cassie's right foot, rolling until it hit the thick shielding of the engine located behind the terminal. The sudden motion made her jump back. She tripped over a welding gun lying on the floor and fell backwards. A resounding thud echoed through the room as her butt hit the floor. Miraculously, she hadn't fallen on top of any of the other items littering the area.

"What was that?" Aqeel called out, still hidden from view.

"I just tripped," Cassie shouted back. "I'm fine."

There was a short pause before the sonic cleaner started up again, humming loudly. "Just make sure you don't break anything you can't fix."

"And you could have given me some warning that you were going to be throwing stuff around," Cassie grumbled.

"You gotta chill out. Nothing's going to hurt you out here." Aqeel made a mockingly erie noise, that ended up sounding like a misaligned Ellidium reactor, rather unspookily. "Unless it's a space phantom."

Cassie didn't respond. She turned back to the terminal, flipping through the screens, not really looking at any of them. The noise from the cleaner died off.

"I'm joking," Aqeel said loudly after a few minutes. "We ain't haunted. No matter what Geoff and Danny say. Those jokesters are just pulling your leg."

Cassie scowled. She couldn't help glancing at the darkened corridor connecting the room to the main maintenance hub. "But... you don't think a ship this old would have it's share of ghosts?" She fingered her shirt shirt collar unconsciously. "I mean, it just makes sense. Someone must have died on here at some point."

"Nah, no spirits, just achey joints around here." Aqeel grunted. "That's an old wind-snapper's tale. Don't put much stock in 'em."

Cassie crossed her arms as she leaned against the metallic, curved radiation shielding behind her. Her left arm brushed up against one of the dark generator's heating pipes, painted a bright blue and clearly marked. "I take it that you're not the superstitious type."

Aqeel grunted in what sounded like agreement, or he could have just been wrestling with another stiff bolt. "That Old World stuff was never for me." There was a subsequent grunt of success and the echo of something metallic falling. "Yep. Never could cut it down there. Always had an itch I couldn't scratch."

Cassie mumbled in agreement. She gripped her necklace through the thin fabric of her shirt.

Aqeel poked his head out, his eyes darted over the floor, carefully searching for something. Her movement caught his eye. "What's that thing you're always fiddling with?"

Cassie pulled her necklace out from under her shirt. There was a little metal disc with small, circular grey rocks ringing the edge. They had come from some asteroid. She'd never found out which one. Next to it was a charm, a small bird, the engraved details long since faded. She tucked the disc behind her neck.

"It's a good luck charm." Cassie held the little bird charm in her hand. "My mother gave it to me before I left."

Aqeel snorted. "You don't need luck out here." He grabbed the laser sealer before going back down. "Just take care of your ship and she'll take care of you."

Cassie was about to respond when the whole room shook. She grabbed onto a nearby pipe, unnecessarily, given that the event was more sound than motion. The sound of metallic scrapping filled the place. Much louder than when they were undocking.

The scrapping turned into a high pitched screech. Like the vessel itself was screaming.

Cassie gripped the pipe tightly, even though she didn't need it to keep her balance, feeling the vibrations through the metal. There was a series of heavy thuds that followed soon after. In a few seconds, the room returned back to complete silence, back to normal.

Except for the screen next to the engine flashing a colorful array of emergency alerts.

Aqeel poked his head out of the tunnel. "Now what the hell was that?"