For all she was short and slight, Alex packed a galaxy of mechanical knowhow in her tiny form. She preferred to put it to use. To prove everyone wrong. It wasn't easy. Since her mouth was almost constantly moving when she wasn't headfirst down some maintenance panel and tangled in wires, and since that mouth had a tendency to say very stupid things, it wasn't often that a captain or work crew leader took her seriously. Too often, she wound up with jobs where she could be seen but not heard, and with no level of difficulty to speak of. The Agency was the first to sit up and take notice, the first to stick her in more challenging roles.
Captain Fenris was about to become the fifth. She wouldn't let him down.
"Thank you, Captain," she said with an obvious strain of relief in her voice as he slapped the weapon back onto his suit. "You won't regret it. As far as payment goes," she paused, too, and chewed on her bottom lip. "I'll take not getting my head blown off for today. Tomorrow's another day though. We get there, I might have demands. Like more fresh groceries. That was pretty fraggin' delicious."
She grinned for a fleeting moment, the tainted memory of her vastly non-nutritious stay aboard the Diem Vuong coloring what had been meant as a tease. From there, her mind was already working through possible ship designs. Having never encountered the Russlion people before, she didn't know what she'd be facing when she breeched the enemy's scout vessels, but it would be tech...and she'd make it work.
The Agency's less annoyed-with-her-in-general personnel were also the ones who taught her eminently more useful things like why to redirect the flow of an enemy's engine so it would suck the oxygen out of the life support systems and become some fiery thing that would go BOOM. She'd known how. In Alex's mind, anyone with two brain cells and a magtorch could reroute a conductor chain. But knowing and practical application of such things were certainly not the same. The "why" in this case had attached to their hull.
In the wrong spot.
Taking them out along with their own vital ship's systems was not an option, after all. "I don't need a repeat of floating through the black with minimal life support and a jillion tons of metal." She scurried along behind Zasz as he strategized, her helmet bucket rattling and hair bouncing along her bare spine.
The docking choice was a disappointment, but her willingness to make things explode and the actual need for such a thing to occur was another one of the finer points she'd taken to heart over the years. "Signal beacons it is, then." Alex sniffled. "No way to know how soon they'd be able to detach the vessels, either, otherwise there could be a timed malfunction. Of sorts."
As he gave clipped orders she nodded vigorously, gray eyes eager to be plundering in a mess of wires posthaste. "Duck, run, and don't get lasered. Yes sir, Captain sir!" A cheeky salute. Good luck, she went to say next, but then the door was venting and she crouched to one side.
As she moved into the area, the grating bit into her feet. Not the hiss and slap of a whip or the slice of a blade. Tolerable, even, after what she'd been through on the enemy ship. But certainly not pleasant. The Captain's expression bolstered her confidence and had Alex shaking off the discomfort. Go time. He disappeared over one side and she made her way through the meandering scaffolds, heading for the smoke and sizzle that indicated where their uninvited guests had made their grand entrance.
Uninvited guests. Almost snorting aloud, Alex caught the urge before the sound could emerge. Her eyes watered from the aborted reaction and excess steam. What was she but an uninvited guest herself?
Granted. She hadn't brought weapons to the party. And well, she was more the type of uninvited guest who gets drugged and stuffed in the giant cake to wake up and pop out the top.......that was how those surprise things worked, wasn't it? Icing everywhere and her naked as a frellin' red giant? Her thoughts became more inane as she realized the source of her anxiety: An explosion. And another, and a third.
But still no laser fire. Were they distracted? Not feeling clear to run, Alex still scrambled down to the floor. Plastering herself to a far wall seemed the best course of action in lieu of rushing the first ship's entrance. Just until she knew the coast was clear. Nervous, she plucked at the gear in the helmet, then stared mutely down at the collection of odds and ends. What if the princess's scouts didn't have the same tech as--no. She shut it down ruthlessly and clenched the helmet between her breasts. So long as the ships weren't biological--and the Captain hadn't indicated they would be--this was something she could do. Would do. As soon as the coast was clear...
She saw one of them through the steam, the soles of his/her/eir feet as they stalked away. There was nothing but a container between her and the gaping wound to the side of the Greenhouse now...and Alex began creeping toward it.
Captain Fenris was about to become the fifth. She wouldn't let him down.
"Thank you, Captain," she said with an obvious strain of relief in her voice as he slapped the weapon back onto his suit. "You won't regret it. As far as payment goes," she paused, too, and chewed on her bottom lip. "I'll take not getting my head blown off for today. Tomorrow's another day though. We get there, I might have demands. Like more fresh groceries. That was pretty fraggin' delicious."
She grinned for a fleeting moment, the tainted memory of her vastly non-nutritious stay aboard the Diem Vuong coloring what had been meant as a tease. From there, her mind was already working through possible ship designs. Having never encountered the Russlion people before, she didn't know what she'd be facing when she breeched the enemy's scout vessels, but it would be tech...and she'd make it work.
The Agency's less annoyed-with-her-in-general personnel were also the ones who taught her eminently more useful things like why to redirect the flow of an enemy's engine so it would suck the oxygen out of the life support systems and become some fiery thing that would go BOOM. She'd known how. In Alex's mind, anyone with two brain cells and a magtorch could reroute a conductor chain. But knowing and practical application of such things were certainly not the same. The "why" in this case had attached to their hull.
In the wrong spot.
Taking them out along with their own vital ship's systems was not an option, after all. "I don't need a repeat of floating through the black with minimal life support and a jillion tons of metal." She scurried along behind Zasz as he strategized, her helmet bucket rattling and hair bouncing along her bare spine.
The docking choice was a disappointment, but her willingness to make things explode and the actual need for such a thing to occur was another one of the finer points she'd taken to heart over the years. "Signal beacons it is, then." Alex sniffled. "No way to know how soon they'd be able to detach the vessels, either, otherwise there could be a timed malfunction. Of sorts."
As he gave clipped orders she nodded vigorously, gray eyes eager to be plundering in a mess of wires posthaste. "Duck, run, and don't get lasered. Yes sir, Captain sir!" A cheeky salute. Good luck, she went to say next, but then the door was venting and she crouched to one side.
As she moved into the area, the grating bit into her feet. Not the hiss and slap of a whip or the slice of a blade. Tolerable, even, after what she'd been through on the enemy ship. But certainly not pleasant. The Captain's expression bolstered her confidence and had Alex shaking off the discomfort. Go time. He disappeared over one side and she made her way through the meandering scaffolds, heading for the smoke and sizzle that indicated where their uninvited guests had made their grand entrance.
Uninvited guests. Almost snorting aloud, Alex caught the urge before the sound could emerge. Her eyes watered from the aborted reaction and excess steam. What was she but an uninvited guest herself?
Granted. She hadn't brought weapons to the party. And well, she was more the type of uninvited guest who gets drugged and stuffed in the giant cake to wake up and pop out the top.......that was how those surprise things worked, wasn't it? Icing everywhere and her naked as a frellin' red giant? Her thoughts became more inane as she realized the source of her anxiety: An explosion. And another, and a third.
But still no laser fire. Were they distracted? Not feeling clear to run, Alex still scrambled down to the floor. Plastering herself to a far wall seemed the best course of action in lieu of rushing the first ship's entrance. Just until she knew the coast was clear. Nervous, she plucked at the gear in the helmet, then stared mutely down at the collection of odds and ends. What if the princess's scouts didn't have the same tech as--no. She shut it down ruthlessly and clenched the helmet between her breasts. So long as the ships weren't biological--and the Captain hadn't indicated they would be--this was something she could do. Would do. As soon as the coast was clear...
She saw one of them through the steam, the soles of his/her/eir feet as they stalked away. There was nothing but a container between her and the gaping wound to the side of the Greenhouse now...and Alex began creeping toward it.
Dreams come in a size too big so we can grow into them.
The following 1 user Likes danixiewrites's post: Ghostly
« Next Oldest | Next Newest »
Welcome to the Greenhouse [Closed] - by Ghostly - 04-30-2015, 02:49 AM
Welcome to the Greenhouse [Closed] - by Ghostly - 04-30-2015, 03:42 AM
Welcome to the Greenhouse [Closed] - by Ghostly - 05-01-2015, 02:17 PM
Welcome to the Greenhouse [Closed] - by Ghostly - 05-05-2015, 04:35 AM
Welcome to the Greenhouse [Closed] - by Ghostly - 05-05-2015, 11:38 PM
Welcome to the Greenhouse [Closed] - by Ghostly - 05-07-2015, 12:17 AM
Welcome to the Greenhouse [Closed] - by Ghostly - 05-11-2015, 04:39 AM
Welcome to the Greenhouse [Closed] - by Ghostly - 05-16-2015, 02:54 AM
Welcome to the Greenhouse [Closed] - by Ghostly - 05-19-2015, 09:27 AM
Welcome to the Greenhouse [Closed] - by Ghostly - 05-26-2015, 04:44 AM
Welcome to the Greenhouse [Closed] - by Ghostly - 06-02-2015, 02:02 AM
Welcome to the Greenhouse [Closed] - by Ghostly - 06-13-2015, 08:15 PM
Welcome to the Greenhouse [Closed] - by Ghostly - 06-28-2015, 04:52 AM
Welcome to the Greenhouse [Closed] - by Ghostly - 07-04-2015, 10:55 PM
Welcome to the Greenhouse [Closed] - by Ghostly - 07-25-2015, 07:54 AM
Welcome to the Greenhouse [Closed] - by Ghostly - 08-18-2015, 06:55 AM
Welcome to the Greenhouse [Closed] - by Ghostly - 08-26-2015, 12:15 PM
Welcome to the Greenhouse [Closed] - by Ghostly - 09-14-2015, 03:29 AM
RE: Welcome to the Greenhouse [Closed] - by danixiewrites - 11-09-2015, 12:10 PM
RE: Welcome to the Greenhouse [Closed] - by Ghostly - 11-28-2015, 07:57 AM
RE: Welcome to the Greenhouse [Closed] - by Ghostly - 01-07-2016, 12:09 PM
RE: Welcome to the Greenhouse [Closed] - by danixiewrites - 12-12-2015, 01:34 PM
RE: Welcome to the Greenhouse [Closed] - by danixiewrites - 02-24-2016, 06:30 AM
RE: Welcome to the Greenhouse [Closed] - by Ghostly - 05-23-2016, 04:02 AM
RE: Welcome to the Greenhouse [Closed] - by Ghostly - 09-30-2016, 04:46 AM
RE: Welcome to the Greenhouse [Closed] - by danixiewrites - 07-23-2016, 03:10 PM
RE: Welcome to the Greenhouse [Closed] - by danixiewrites - 03-18-2017, 01:09 PM
RE: Welcome to the Greenhouse [Closed] - by Ghostly - 04-06-2017, 01:37 AM
Welcome to the Greenhouse [Closed] - by danixiewrites - 04-30-2015, 10:27 PM
Welcome to the Greenhouse [Closed] - by danixiewrites - 05-03-2015, 07:25 PM
Welcome to the Greenhouse [Closed] - by danixiewrites - 05-05-2015, 11:01 AM
Welcome to the Greenhouse [Closed] - by danixiewrites - 05-06-2015, 11:59 AM
Welcome to the Greenhouse [Closed] - by danixiewrites - 05-08-2015, 10:15 PM
Welcome to the Greenhouse [Closed] - by danixiewrites - 05-14-2015, 03:06 PM
Welcome to the Greenhouse [Closed] - by danixiewrites - 05-17-2015, 11:20 PM
Welcome to the Greenhouse [Closed] - by danixiewrites - 05-24-2015, 12:24 PM
Welcome to the Greenhouse [Closed] - by danixiewrites - 05-27-2015, 11:30 PM
Welcome to the Greenhouse [Closed] - by danixiewrites - 06-07-2015, 10:16 PM
Welcome to the Greenhouse [Closed] - by danixiewrites - 06-21-2015, 10:29 PM
Welcome to the Greenhouse [Closed] - by danixiewrites - 07-02-2015, 11:15 PM
Welcome to the Greenhouse [Closed] - by danixiewrites - 07-16-2015, 12:32 PM
Welcome to the Greenhouse [Closed] - by danixiewrites - 08-11-2015, 11:04 AM
Welcome to the Greenhouse [Closed] - by danixiewrites - 08-19-2015, 10:43 AM
Welcome to the Greenhouse [Closed] - by danixiewrites - 09-09-2015, 10:37 AM