It would still be a while before Gabriella would be free, so Lissia decided to spend the time getting her things in order. Entering The Kestrel it really hit how much she had let the place go. Before the ship had by no means been pristine, but nothing like this. Cleaning the cabin and emptying the cargo hold of trash was cathartic, not just because the cleanliness was nicer to look at, but also because it felt like moving on from the time that had created the mess.
It made Lissia realize how terrible the last month had been for her, mostly on her own, languishing in her own self-righteousness. She still felt she had been right to choose exile, but it was only now she began to realize what it had cost her to be right.
After cleaning she took a shower, and put on clean clothes from the wash. Her new shirt was a bit too big, but considering her wardrobe it was a blessing. The long-sleeved t-shirt was a dark green, and the material felt like some mass produced standard issue. Unlike most clothes people scavenged from the mega-freighters it didn’t have a corporate logo on it.
As Lissia rolled up the sleeves to above her elbows she reveled in the feeling of owning something new. It was a rather novel thing these days.
With both herself and the interior of her ship clean, Lissia felt much better. She sat down in the pilot's seat and ran some diagnostics. Most came up with things she already knew about, but if they were going to see Saxon, he might be able to help with some of the problems. Lissia was very picky about who she let work on her ship, but Saxton had always shared her reverence for The Kestrel, so she trusted him not to break anything.
After getting an overview of what needed doing, she noted her hydraulic fluid was running low. The last time she had landed at a station she hadn't been able to get a hold of any, but Haven was usually better supplied. Getting up she threw on her overalls, grabbed the book from the mega-freighter, and headed to the open market.
Like the rest of the hangar there wasn’t much activity at the market, but a couple of the regular sellers were there. Spotting Morice’s ‘open’ sign being on, Lissia headed straight for his shop. While anyone could use a booth to sell or trade whatever they had scavenged, some of the people of Haven had more permanent stores in the market.
Morice had set up shop in an old storage room, and specialized in maintenance and repair parts. As Lissia entered the store she was met with its familiar smell, and the sound of the angle grinder. Somehow Morice heard her enter over the noise, and turned to her as the grinder winded down with his signature customer-service smile.
“Hello! What can I do…” he began in his overly chipper tone, but his demeanor changed when he recognized her. “Lissia, what a pleasant surprise!” he said after a beat, but Lissia noticed his reservation.
“Hey Morice.” Lissia began, fidgeting with the book in her hand. Not knowing how to address her situation, her mouth did it for her. “You always said you’d trade with almost anyone good for it, so does that include exiles?” She finally said, trying to lighten the mood.
For a moment she wasn’t sure if Morice had taken it as a joke, but she saw a slight twitch at the edge of his smile.
“I just might with this exile.” He answered with a toothy grin. “If she’s good for it.” Relief flooded Lissia. Now she just had to haggle with him, but that was familiar territory.
“I need hydraulic fluid.” Lissia said as she stepped further into the store. Morice walked over to a line of barrels and grabbed a plastic jug.
“You are in luck, recently got a fresh barrel in. But I assume you aren't buying with chips these days.” Morice said, eying the book in Lissia’s hand.
“Well no, but I have something I thought might interest you.” Lissia answered slowly. Morice tried to appear indifferent, but she could tell he was trying to identify the book from the bit of the cover he could see between her fingers. Luckily, Lissia was pretty sure he had never seen this book before.
“Alright, let me have a look.” Morice said, wiping his hands on a rag. Lissia handed him the book, and watched as her suspicions were confirmed. His eyes lit up as he gingerly inspected the book.
Morice had, like a lot of other people, always liked a good book. Quickly that had meant people low on credits would bring books to try and trade for the parts they needed to keep flying, and Morice had been happy to oblige them. He had quickly amassed an impressive library, and last Lissia had heard he had decided to try and get his hands on one of every book left.
This novel's true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.
As Morice looked the book over, Lissia looked around the shop. He would undoubtedly have something else she needed, and the book should account for more than just the hydraulic fluid. Before she could have a proper look Morice seemed to have come to a conclusion.
“Well this is an interesting one, and in good condition. We can do some business.” He said as he handed Lissia the book back, and began filling the jug. While he did Lissia walked around his store, picking up a couple of loose parts.
She laid them out on the counter and Morice put the fluid next to them. He gave the things a look over, weighing their value against the book. It was hard to put a value on things when everything was in short supply, so trading was often more about how much people wanted what others had.
“So you’d say this looks fair?” Morice asked, giving Lissia a side eye. Normally she would have thought so, but this book was in great condition. She could tell he wanted it, so she decided to push a little further.
“Throw in 20 in chips and you got a deal. This stator is closer to scrap than anything.” She said pushing her luck, but to her surprise Morice nodded knowingly, and went behind the counter and counted out the chips. Lissia wondered if she could have asked for more, but she wasn’t going to try now. That was a good way to be on bad terms with the best source of parts she knew of.
With the chips on the counter, Morice held out his hand. Lissia put the book down on the counter, and shook his hand. With a smile Morice picked up the book, and sat down in a chair. Immediately he opened the book, and began reading. Lissia put the chips and parts in her pockets, and picked up the jug.
“Good doing business with you Morice. I’ll be back with the jug.” Lissia said, and all she got in response was some vague sounds, as he was completely absorbed in the novel. He didn’t even seem to notice her leaving.
Back on The Kestrel Lissia began putting the parts to use. As she was absorbed by the work she was able to put everything else out of her mind. As she fixed one thing another would need a bit of work, and quickly she lost track of time. It was only when she heard a knock from above her that she crawled out of the engine room, and opened the cargo doors. It was Gabriella.
“You look like you have been keeping busy.” Gabriella said with a smile, eying the cleaned cargo hull.
“Yeah, I managed to trade that book to Morice for some parts and, oh actually give me a hand with this.” Lissia said, pointing to the hydraulic fluid. She grabbed the jug and Gabriella followed her down into the engine room.
Lissia handed her a funnel, and while Gabriella held it steady, Lissa carefully poured in the liquid. While they worked Lissia spoke. “So I thought about it, and I'm up for hearing out Saxton. I’m still not convinced he isn’t pulling this out of thin air, but I'll let him at least explain it himself.”
“Great!” Gabriella relied, as she put down the funnel after Lissia had emptied the jug. “When can we head out to Schrottzport?”
Lissia grabbed a rag from a pocket in her overalls and wiped her hands as she answered. “Whenever you are ready. The Kestrel is as much in the green as it will ever be, so you just say the word.``
Gabriella checked her wristwatch with a slight gramce, but seemingly decided to push whatever she needed to take care of. “Well in that case let's go. I’ll just go tell Kiara that I’m going off station, so you get the engines running.” she said.
With that Gabriella climbed out of the engine room, and as Lissia followed behind her, she just managed to spot her jogging down the ramp and out the ship. She crawled up the ladder and pulled off her overalls as she started the pre-flight checks, and radioed the flight controllers about their imminent takeoff. Just as she got the all clear, Gabriella came up the ladder and closed the hatch behind her.
As Lissia hit the button to close the cargo bay she expected Gabriella to join her in the co-plot seat, but as she looked back she found her taking in the cabin with a surprised expression.
“Wow, you really got a lot done while I was off shuffling papers around huh?” She said as she slowly walked to the front of the cockpit, still surveying the cabin.
“Yeah well, it felt weird to fiddle with the engine without taking care of some more… immediate problems I guess.” Lissia answered as Gabriella sat down, and she began easing the ship off the platform and onto the landing strip.
“Well it’s nice.” Gabriella said. “Reminds me of old times. Back then you also threw them on my seat no matter how much room there was everywhere else.”
As Gabriella picked up the overalls she had a slight smile on her face, and before Lissia could say anything, she flung them unceremoniously on the floor. Lissa was about to protest, but as Gabriella sat down with a content sigh and began putting in flight coordinates, everything really did feel like old times.
The feeling was only amplified as she pulled in the landing gear, pushed the thrusters up in speed, and zoomed towards the station exit. With a familiar drop in Lissia’s stomach, The Kestrel dropped out of the artificial gravity. As the thrusters flipped and Lissia adjusted their speed, she banked right and took the ship around the station to angle them towards their course for Schrottzport. She hardly had to turn on the navigation display to line up the ship, but as she did she also couldn’t help but take in Haven through the canopy.
This whole thing with Saxton might be nothing more than his optimism getting the better of him again, but she could feel a tug towards Haven. Even if the comm station had been smashed against the asteroids, she had to try. Just taking off from her old home, with Gabriella silently tinkering with the navigation next to her, felt so right. Even if this chance turned out dead, she would find another way to get back home.