Junk Dogs

[Althea Lyra]

Among the dirty landscape of this deteriorated planet, is where the lower class people live their lives. They live it in frivolous lazy glory. After-all, it was expected of them and encouraged. With the media constantly boasting about religion and propaganda, there is no need to seek further knowledge, or yearn for better lives. However even as drugs, shopping, and other entertainment are largely encouraged, many still work long days for their wages. Some would rather be at the center of this constant amusement for convenience's sake, while others, like Althea, tend to do away with it, as her junk yard and mechanic shop lies farther away from the busy main streets. While others in her economic-class may consider her ignorant, the rare individual who is not from Aedolis have said otherwise.

Junk Dogs is located in a more rural outskirts of Haviah. Further down the road to the left and right a few miles down are more industrial factories her company has close ties to. But here at Junk Dogs there is only a single building with a few garages on the ground level, and an extending tower with three docks for more larger ships above. Below, there is a large junk yard, where all the broken parts are stored before being smelted, compacted, or burned. There are cameras to make sure spare parts aren't stolen, as sometimes older, but still working ships are tossed because of upgrades, or no one claimed it when it was towed and confiscated.

Connected on the second floor of the garage is Althea's home. She hangs out here when there is nothing to fix, and when she isn't in the mood to scavenge for parts to sell in her scrap heap. Despite being alarmed by her Imp (an animal shaped robot as her assistant) if anything is seen dumpster diving on her property, she still stares at the monitor as if it was a TV. For she didn't own a TV. Well, there was one in the waiting room for customers, but she only ever turned it on just for them. For she hated the media. Thus, she sat there alone. Her legs propped up on another chair, sipping her coffee. Just another typical, lazy day on Aedolis.

[Etrofder]

Orias let out a yawn. Time didn't have much of meaning in open space, so it always gave him a bit of grief when he had to adapt to a station or planet's day/night cycle.

He pulled back on the throttle, taking a sip of his coffee and setting it on it's magnetic tray, a beautiful gift that had reduced scalding spills immensely. Clearing his throat, he keyed the transmitter. "This is the spaceship Fohen to Junk Dogs, looking for permission to land. Got some minor repairs, and need a few tools and parts." He pulled the ship into a lazy hover as he awaited a response.

[Althea Lyra]

Althea sipped her coffee once more before reciving the transmission from her speakers.

"This is the spaceship Fohen to Junk Dogs, looking for permission to land. Got some minor repairs, and need a few tools and parts."

Althea looked at her monitor screens to see how big the ship was, and how much time it might take to maintenance it. It wasn't too big, but since it was definitely a custom ship, she decided to close the two other docks until she knew exactly what she was dealing with. Sometimes minor check ups lead to some much-needed heavy revamps.

She replied a response, "Junk Dogs to Fohen. You are clear to land on docking bay 1." She pressed a key on a computer system next to her, which caused the other two docks to sink back into the main deck, so he would park at the one on the very left. Once the other two docks were inside the main deck a red light turned above where they once were, saying, "CLOSED". She headed out of her station and rode a quick elevator up, clip board in hand, and the robotic assistant to her right.

She stepped out of the elevator, and with every step there was a slight metal clang sound, ready to greet her customer on the dock, while her robot lightly glided just above the ground.

[Etrofder]

"Roger that, Junk Dogs." Orias replied briskly, bringing the ship to a gentle landing on the docking bay. Powering down the engines and grabbing his vest, he headed to the rear of the ship and down the ramp.

The woman that greeted him struck him as the professional sort, as far as mechanics go. She had the look of someone in charge, which surprised him a bit, because she looked young to have an impressive set up like this.

"Orias Forte." He said, extending a hand to her, eying her robot companion with interest.

[Althea Lyra]

"Althea Lyra." She replied, shaking his hand. She noticed Orias looking at her robot, and the robot knew it was being looked at as well. "Hello, my name is Seven," the robot said. It looked fully robot but shaped sort of like a rabbit. It was about three feet tall, but had a significant amount of rust all over it. Most noticeably, both the arms didn't match.

"Nice ride you have here," Althea said looking at the ship as she started walking over to it, clip board in hand. "I see she's built for speed," she added, attempting conversation.

[Etrofder]

"Seven huh? Nice to meet you too." He chuckled, looking the strange little robot over for a moment before looking back to Althea.

Orias smiled with no small amount of pride at her compliment. "You could definitely say that. No ship of her class is faster or more reliable."

The pilot followed her over to the ship, running his fingers over a fist sized chunk. "Got hit by a freak micro meteor storm. The shields held up for the most part, but I had to give extra juice to protecting some of the more important components."

[Althea Lyra]

"Good thing you did, if you had hit the front or end part of your ship with something like this, you'd probably either lose your star tracker, or your propellant tanks, or vertical stabilizer for maneuvering. It doesn't look like enough damage to do anything internal," she said, also now picking at the meteor remains before continuing, "I'd just need to repair the payload on the midfuselage which will be pretty cheap." Which was just fancy mechanic talk for saying that she would replace the external damage on the midsection of the ship.

She leaned against his ship, and turned to him with her arm crossed, with a coquettish smile and tone. "But while you're here, would you at all like to upgrade any of your maneuvering capabilities? After all, you wont find a better fix in all of the lower caste." She said with a hint pride. He probably didn't need it, but she was trying to scrape more pennies.

[Etrofder]

Orias looked down at the woman, a small smile on his face. Girl knew her stuff. Better yet, she had an eye for detail.

"Now, I don't know about needing some maneuvering jet upgrades. Fohen here can crack a turn out going speeds that would make some racers start praying. Hell, I'd be willing to bet I'd break before she did. But I'll tell you what. This little experience has shown me that the shields I've got on her aren't really up to snuff."

To be honest, he wasn't really sure what ship he'd gotten them from. When he'd put Fohen together, a working shield was a pretty rare find. Afterall, almost every part he'd taken had come from a wreck, and it was pretty uncommon for something to mess up a ship without touching it's shields.

"So if you can get me a shield... Let's say Mark III or better, you'd have yourself a sale. Stronger the better. She's got a bit more juice than you'd think." He said, referring to the oversized cruiser reactor that thrummed in the heart of her engine compartment and what used to be part of the cargo hold.

[Althea Lyra]

She continued to lean against the ship, but now looking at the ground, thinking to herself for a moment. Then she looked up at the sky. "You know, shields are hard to come by in the lower caste. I may have a Mark III, but that would depend on your price." She looked down at her hand and noticed she had a bit of meteor material on her index finger and thumb, and was now rubbing them together, anticipating anxiously for an answer.

[Etrofder]

"Well now, I didn't think it'd come cheap. But I like it here in the lower caste. Reminds me of home." He said, a bit nostalgic. "Still, I'm not bad at what I do. Given what I can recall on the market... How's 5,000 credits sound?"

The fact she had a Mark III actually surprised him. He didn't actually expect her to have one, but was definitely pleased at the prospect of getting that much needed upgrade.

[Althea Lyra]

At the sound of 5,000 credits she stopped fiddling with her fingers. Would 5,000 credits be worth it? It was a lot of money. She put her clip board up to her chest.

But... I would be removing the shield from my project...

She wasn't even sure if her project would even work when she got it finished, and if she took the deal, the 5,000 credits would be a guarantee. Being a realistic person, she knew her choice.

She let out a small sigh, but then smiled lightly. "You have yourself a deal Orias. Just leave it to me." She handed him a clipboard where he would have to sign his name.

"Have Seven lead you down the elevator to the waiting room, it will be done in a giffy." She paused for a moment almost forgetting, "And let Seven get you any refreshments if you want."

[Etrofder]

Orias took the clipboard, signing his agreement for the job. "Glad to hear it."

When she asked him to head down the the waiting room, he looked to the strange rabbit shaped robot, then back to it's master. "I... if it wouldn't be too much trouble, would prefer to stay nearby, even help out if you need. I'd actually have handled the repairs myself, if I'd had the parts. Though with the shield, it's probably a good thing I didn't. There's also a bit of custom wiring to note in there. Maybe I can give you a hand with it." He said, not particularly wanting to leave his ship out of sight while she was under repairs. It wasn't a trust issue. More of a personal quirk. He had built her with his own two hands, after all.

[Althea Lyra]

Althea shook her head and made a small chuckle. "If you insist." She took the clip board back and gave it to her robot. The robot then made his way into the elevator to go put it into the files. She pulled out her drill and faced his 'baby', and clicked it on twice really fast. Bzzt, bzzt. "But I'd prefer if you stood back, it doesn't look good on the record if a customer helps out..." She turned back and winked.

As she undrilled the midsection of the ship, two larger ambiguous robots came to lift the large parts off, rather than to have them fall off with a large clunk on the side of the ship. When they picked the parts off, they left for a moment, and Althea was talking on a handheld transceiver of what parts to take from the storage. She stated dimensions, thickness, and other information the robots needed to know to make the right decision. The robots came back with the right parts, and she first drilled then wielded them on. Everything was going well until she finished, and it came to the shield.

She hopped down to the dock floor and wiped her hands on her overall mechanic jacket, and not ever looking at Orias in the face she stated, "If you will just wait a moment, I'll be right back with your shield..." She started to head for the elevator.

[Etrofder]

Orias did as he was told. Lord knew he wanted to get in there and get his hands dirty, but her shop, and her rules. And to be perfectly honest, he wasn't even needed a little, at least not for the basic hull repairs. The ease she removed the damaged plating, and the speed with which she called in the specs and had them delivered was nothing short of impressive.

He gave her a nod of understanding as she left to get the shield generator, approaching repaired sections of his ship. The fit was seamless, the metal was either new, or so well refurbished that the difference was merely academic. Much better than he'd actually expected this side of Aedolis.

He wasn't sure why, but there was something about this shield she was giving him. Didn't sit well with her or something. He'd give it a look over when he had a chance, but he didn't think it had anything to do with the shield itself. Her work seemed exemplary thus far. He put the thought aside. No sense worrying about it.

[Althea Lyra]

Althea headed down the elevator onto the first floor, and the elevator indicated it. The elevator sort of stopped moving for a millisecond every once in a while as if the gears needed replacement. When the elevator stopped it opened, and she stepped into the ground garage. She headed into a closet, and opened a trap door in the ground. She climbed down a ladder, and in the corner of the room there was a glowing blue light that emanated from a new Mark III shield generator.

While upstairs, the strange rabbit robot was standing next to Orias, as he was never given a command. "Hello, my name is Seven." He said again, but not even facing Orias this time.

Back in the basement Althea held the shield in both her hands, and the blue light bounced off her face and eyes. She looked up in the dark and damp room-- up to something that towered over her. She could only see a vague silhouette in the darkness, but she knew exactly what stood there. Althea slowly back away, as if reluctant to say goodbye, and headed back upstairs.


When she got there she had a smile on her face. "Sorry about that! I can't let the robots handle the more expensive goods-- I'd hate to have them drop it or anything. It wasn't long ago that Seven dropped my beer. Haha!! Had to replace his arm after that! Hahaahaa...!" By the time she finished talking she was already in the ship, as if trying to avoid conversation. She got to the area where the previous shield mechanism was installed and unscrewed the metal door. She unplugged some wires and lifted it out with both hands. Since it was an older model it was bigger and more clunky. She then placed in the new one, which was about half the size, and a lot more aesthetically pleasing. She plugged in the wires and rescrewed the metal doors. "That should do it!"

[Etrofder]

Orias watched with interest as she went back to work, hooking up the shield generator. She seemed nervous for some reason. It wasn't really his business, some people were just shy. As she lifted the old one out, his mind was already working on how he could put the old shield to good use, though most of them did seem a little out of his technical expertise, which revolved mainly around starships.

"Looks like you did a pretty good job there." He complimented her, looking over his refitted ship, clearly pleased. "I think I owe you a beer next time I swing by. What's the total charge going to be?" He asked, fishing out his credit chip after a few moments of rummaging. For most, it probably wasn't such an issue, but for travelers like him, all the different currencies throughout the system were sometimes a little hard to keep track of.

[Althea Lyra]

"I think I owe you a beer next time I swing by."

As Althea stood up she made a light chuckle. "A beer sometime sounds nice," and she sat on the steel box that contained the new shield, and crossed her arms in thought. She was recalculating the expenses as she heard the question of how much everything cost. "5,350 credits," she said. She didn't think he had a credit chip, since she assumed that any space traveler could be from anywhere, and she held up the hand that contained her life-- identity, money, and past records. "If you don't have anything that charges to this," she said, pointing to her right hand, "then you can give me any currency of equal value. I can just get it exchanged at a universe currency bank."

[Etrofder]

"No worries there." He handed her the chip, a small data card issued to off worlders. It was a lot like the chips of born Aedolians, but much less invasive. Though just as easy to track and trace. "I like to keep a decent sum of money in the more common currencies. Saves on trips to get money exchanged, and has the added bonus of giving tax collectors a royal headache as they try to figure out who has jurisdiction over what." He grinned, running a hand down a smooth bulk head.

[Althea Lyra]

"Ugh, taxes. Don't get me started on those," Then she grinned at him as well. After taking his pay she picked up the old generator. "And unless you say anything, I'll be taking this too," she said, hopping out of the ship.

[Etrofder]

Orias thought for a moment to stop her, but closed his mouth as he changed his mind. He didn't REALLY need it. Odds are he'd toy with it for a bit, without much success, and then pawn it off or let it collect dust anyway. Besides, she'd done a good bit of work, and the price was remarkably fair.

"Sure thing. It's yours." He said with a smile and a wave, reaching over and letting the ramp slide closed. "Althea Lyra." He said quietly to himself. "Not half bad."

With that, he climbed into the cockpit, cringing a little as he found his cold, forgotten coffee. "Spaceship Fohen to Junk Dogs. Thanks for the fix up. I'll be seeing you around." He said professionally, waiting for an all clear signal from the ship's sensors before rocketing upwards and away.