Date: January 03, 2130
Time: 19:30
Location: Paris, FRA
Through the urban streets of Paris, a young woman named Céline Acier is late for work, again. She works at the Acier Industries run by her grand-pére, but little did she know that her life was about to change, for better or for worse. Keep reading and you’ll find out why.
Céline rushed hurriedly through the bright lights and loud noises of Paris, “I can’t be late again,” Céline gasped, “my grand-pére’s gonna kill me.” She knew that wasn’t true. Even though her grand-pére loved the rules and tradition around these parts, he still loved and cared for her no matter how late she could possibly be.
Céline turned the corner towards a seemingly abandoned alleyway. “Open, s'il vous plait.” she announced as the walls in front of her opened to reveal a massive industrial warehouse. “Céline!” a voice shouted from above, “What took you so long?” It was her best friend, Zia, who jumped from the pipe she was standing on.
Céline grabbed a harness from the rack, “Oh,” she replied, “nothing much, just a bit of a side hustle, that’s all.” Zia laughed hard as she came down to meet her, “Yeah,” Zia smirked, “sure. It was definitely a side hustle and not your parents asking you to visit again.”
Céline sighed. Her parents were barely around anymore. All they did was run their own business in Amsterdam and had no time to take care of their children. Nowadays, they’re begging for her to come back.
“Let’s just get back to work,” she mumbled, “I don’t want Peter to give us a piece of his mind.” Zia nodded and led her over to a section of the warehouse labeled, ‘Section 20’.
………
“So,” Aria asked, “Why are you going for this job?” Lee looked at her and looked back at his sleeping compadre, “David was the only friend I’ve had for as long as I can remember. He’s the only reason why I signed us up for this role and I just wanted to see him happy. His happiness is all I need.”
Aria looked over at David’s sleeping body and back at Lee, “So,” she continued, “who are we recruiting next?” Lee pulled up a hologram of a young woman with black hair tied up in a knot, “Her name is Céline Acier. She lives with her grandfather in Paris, France. She works at Acier Industries under her grandfather’s guidance.”
Aria’s expression shifted a bit, “She’s our new mechanic? Does she have any experience? Is she good with people?” Lee looked at her with a look of confusion on his face, “Yes, she is, she does and probably.” Aria started to process the words that came out of his mouth, until the view was filled with the bright lights of Paris.
“Look!” Aria pointed, “The Eiffel Tower! I’ve never seen it in person!” Lee smirked, “Then get ready for more beautiful sights in the vast expansion of space.” Aria smiled; she knew another adventure was heading her way. On one hand, she was so excited to meet another friendly face, but on the other, she was terrified of another person disapproving of her. I guess she was just going to have to find out.
………
“That was tiring,” Céline sighed, “who knew we were going to lift an entire Ferrari!” Zia nodded in agreement, “Mhm,” she mumbled, “But now it’s over. I’ll see you at the bar.” Céline nodded as she waltzed her way to her grand-pére’s office.
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“Man,” she muttered, “I haven’t heard from grand-pére in a while. I hope he’s okay.” She dropped by the cafeteria to grab a cup of Green Tea, her grand-pére’s favorite. She quietly entered the office, seeing her grand-pére laying dead-still in the silence, “Papa,” she whispered, “I got you your favorite!”
The room was filled with awkward silence, and Céline was getting a bit frustrated, “Papa,” she mumbled as she reached up to turn on the lights, “are you awake?”
She flipped on the light switch and looked back at her grand-pére, only to discover his bleeding body. “What???” Céline exclaimed panicking, “How did this happen? Are you seriously dead?” Her face started to swell up in a mix of pain, sadness and anger, “Who did this???”
She slammed the office doors back open and shouted at the top of her lungs. Her mind was clouded with the swirl of emotions in her head. Many people came crowding towards the office. Some wept, others nodded their heads silently and some even laughed, but Céline knew her time with her grand-pére was over, “Zia,” she mumbled on the phone, “I’ll meet you at the bar.”
………
“Oh,” Zia groaned as she took another sip of her mocktail, “I’m so sorry for your loss, Céline.” Céline sat across from her with a bottle of freshly squeezed wine, “No, no,” she mumbled, “it wasn’t your fault. He was just brutally murdered, that's all.”
Zia thought to herself for a moment, “You know, it’s strange that your grandfather was murdered with a knife and not with a typical AK-2112.” Céline looked back at her friend in a confused state, “An AK-2112?” she questioned, “Knowing anyone in that facility they could’ve used an entire freaking anvil to drop onto him. But even we know that that’s not likely.”
Zia nodded and sighed in frustration, “How are we supposed to figure out who murdered your grandfather if we don’t even know what their motives are?” Céline looked past her friend and saw a couple strangers walking in, “Maybe we should focus on those strangely dressed weirdos.”
Zia looked behind her and saw a pair of strangely dressed people. One was a pretty tall, lanky man with a piece of tech in his hand and the other was a short woman with long blonde hair. They turned to look at Céline and ran straight to her.
“Um,” the woman asked, “are you Céline Acier?” Céline scoffed, “Why do you care?” The woman looked offended and looked back at the man. “The reason is,” the man muttered, “the Space Exploration Headquarters has come to inform you that you have applied for the job of Mechanic and we have come to retrieve you.”
Céline, still in a drunken state walked up to the man, “And how am I supposed to believe you? I don’t even know who you are.” the man and woman looked back at each other and looked back at Céline, “I am Lee Yue,” the man mumbled, pointing to the woman, “and this is my friend and the Medic of our ship, Aria Guérisson.”
Céline looked at the strangers, then their gadgets and finally at Zia who looked as confused as she was, “Fine,” she uttered, “I’ll join your group, as long as I know where your ship is and what model it is.”
Lee looked astounded, he’s never met such a professional at mechanisms and technology, so he led her to the ship. “This is it,” Lee announced, staring at the giant behemoth in front of him, “this is our ship.”
“A model 2129 Starcruiser huh?” Céline mumbled to herself, “Alright, let’s get this girl pumping.” She jumped up to the wing of the gigantic starcruiser, grabbing her wrench and hammer, “All she needs is a bunch of general repairs and we’re good to go.”
Lee looked up at the sight of the energetic mechanic working her magic, “Why don’t we meet up with the boss while she’s doing her business?” Lee asked Aria. Aria shrugged as they walked through the sliding side door.
“Welcome back Agents Lee and Aria.” an electronic voice announced. “Pleasure again, Boss.” Lee responded, “We’ve come back with Céline and Aria. Where are we bound to next?” Richard, or the Boss typed a couple words on the screen, reading ‘Venice, Italy’.
“Oooh!” Aria remarked, “I haven’t been to Italy, so this is my first time!” Lee looked over at Aria who was already planning out what she was going to do, “It might take a while until Céline’s done with general repairs,” Lee whispered, “want to do something in Paris?” Aria’s eyes glimmered, “Oh boy, do I!”
………
“Man,” Lee groaned, “the Eiffel Tower took so long to climb.” Aria, still a bit energized from the experience, brought out some macarons, “At least we have something for the journey.”
“Hey!” Céline yelled from atop the space jet, “It’s all repaired! We should start going now!” Lee and Aria rushed back to the ship where David was waiting in the cockpit, “Where were you?”
Lee’s jaw dropped and rolled to the floor, “How?” he wondered aloud, “Aria said you were going to be out for at least a week.” David grinned and ran over to hug Lee, “Turns out, the amount of caffeine I took wasn’t as comatic as was interpreted.”
David went over to Aria who was pondering how David woke up. “You know,” she mumbled, “I think that makes sense. I forgot to carry the one!” Lee rolled his eyes as David laughed aloud. “Um,” Céline announced, “Aren’t we supposed to be in Italy?”
David nodded as he dashed to the controls, “On it,” he exclaimed as the engine started to whir. The rest of the crew wasn’t too far behind him, “Another adventure!” Aria shouted as she ran over next to him. Lee and Céline looked at each other and shrugged, walking towards the cockpit.
………
“Isabelle,” a high pitched voice came from across the hallway, “we’ve got another set of artifacts from the new worlds!” A young woman dashed through the halls of an office building, her mind racing with the thoughts of a new masterpiece. “Coming!”