Board Thread:The Mech Bay Bar'n'Grill/@comment-24866242-20140514220513/@comment-24866242-20140514223557

“We can’t just cut her loose like this! It’s inhuman.”

“Chaz, I never took you for the sentimental type.”

Vextis had deftly reversed course and managed to accelerate to match their speed in less than an hour. Precision piloting that would be impossible without inertial dampening. Sandra had commented as they watched that the ship was pulling easily over a hundred gravities at one point during the maneuver. The crew on the ship would never have even felt the deck shake. Now she and Chaz were the last two on the ship. Ben had gone aboard the Vextis with everyone else to make sure they were settled and to use their subspace set to make some calls. Coming back from the dead was no easy task.

“Only about mechs and spaceships, girlie.”

Sandra was finishing final calculations for a new deceleration burn. With no one aboard and the ship on autopilot she would be able to decelerate much more quickly, but there was a lot of junk to worry about the closer you got to the star. She was taking advantage of the Vextis’ sensors to plot a safe course while Chaz ran some tests on the engines to make sure they could handle it.

“Don’t call me girlie, old man.”

“Don’t call me old man, girlie.”

They glanced over their shoulders at each other and both burst out laughing. The difference in their ages had seemed more pronounced once. The first time she had called him “old man” he’d only been about forty, and she twenty-six. Now he was past fifty and she was in her mid thirties. A lot of light years gone, and the age difference didn’t seem nearly as wide.

Other gulfs seemed like they were getting wider… She sighed. That was a problem for later.

“I’m done here,” she announced. “The sequence can be started from the Vextis now.”

He nodded. “I’ll be along,” he assured her. “Just a couple of more simulations to run.”

She pushed herself up and put a reassuring hand on his shoulder as she walked past on her way downstairs. Before she reached the door, however, it slid open and Ben came through with a pair of pilot types on his heels. She’d recognize her own kind anywhere, even when they were alien, like these two were. She quickly suppressed a shudder. She knew Ben didn’t approve of xenophobia. Racism, he had called it more than once. The last thing she wanted now was his disapproval.

“Sandy, this is Zoroist and Dolpram. I convinced LaeAnne to give us a skeleton crew to bring the old girl home. Can you give them a quick crash course on the controls? Shouldn’t take long. Chaz, I need you downstairs.”

And just like that she was alone with the two aliens. Strangers.

“Uhm… What do you want to know?”

--

Chaz inspected the trio of techs LeaAnne had sent over and the gear they had brought as if they were a single package.

“They’ll do,” he decided, turning to Ben. “But I don’t want to leave them here with my ship all alone. Who knows what they’d get up to. I’ll stay and manage them.”

Ben pulled Chaz aside, “Chaz, we’ve been stuck out here for a long time. We can go home now. LaeAnne assures me they’re up to the job.”

“I feel like I owe it to her. This ship saved our lives. She was our home. It doesn’t feel right to leave her with strangers.”

Ben looked back at the techs standing in the middle of the common room, no, their family room, surrounded by crates of equipment. He turned back to Chaz, “Okay, I get it. Look through the inventory and make sure you’ve got everything you need. Vextis will send over anything you ask for.”

Chaz nodded, “Once we get the damn dampeners fixed we’ll have her home in no time.”

Ben turned to the techs, “Chaz is going to stay aboard. Its his ship, so take your marching orders from him. He knows what’s worth trying to fix and what isn’t.”

He turned to go back upstairs but Chaz grabbed his arm first, pulling him into a bear hug. “You got us home safe, kid. Knew you would.”

Ben laughed and clapped Chaz on the back. “Please. I haven’t been acting like a captain for years. You’ve been the father figure around here.”

Chaz held Ben out at arms’ length and gave him a thoughtful look, “I suppose you’re right about that,” he acknowledged. “Well then in that spirit, a little fatherly advice: you might want to talk to Sandy when you get a chance.”

“About what?” Deadpan.

Chaz shook his head. “You two aren’t as clever as you think you are. You might think you were keeping things secret… Comfort and companionship were in short supply the last few years and no one begrudged either of you that. The two of you reminded each other of home, you’re about the same age, and you have a shared background. Now things are changing and you don’t have the luxury of leaving your relationship… undefined.”

Ben glanced up the stairs to the bridge. “We didn’t want to rock the boat,” he said.

Chaz laughed, “I think you did a fair bit of that. I’m kidding, I’m kidding. But you, seriously, you did.” The old man’s eyes were actually twinkling! “Anyway, who did you think was going to care? I’m too old for her, Jarrid has Marissa, and Jeff and Chico have each other. Funny how they kept that secret until we were all crammed in here together.” He laughed even harder.

“Did she say anything?”

“Nah. Just a feeling. She’s on edge. Uncertain. You two might never have been if we hadn’t been stuck out here so long. And you were the captain.”

Ben nodded thoughtfully and smacked Chaz on the arm before turning for the stairs. “You’re a good man, Charlie Brown.”

Chaz looked confused as Ben turned away. Ben laughed as the door closed behind him just as Chaz called out “Who the fuck is Charlie Brown?”