Null Space

"Not sell, give as payment and that was a a free peace of information mam." Xan said with an acid edige in his voice and the mask fermly in place. "I handle space as a battlefeald, not a open air market." he said as he questend himself on the reson why he came to the ship but filed that away to focus on the women. "Have you ever been on the front line mam? Have you felt so helpless as you flote in a metal exoskliten and wondering if you should open your eyes and behold a sight that has haunted you from the first time you took up a job? If you have then you can deal with me as you wish, but if you have not been in a cocpit then you have no idea what I do and what happens when you mess up." he said with a acid ice in his voice as he locked eyes wit Luna. "In a battlefeald, you adapt or you die." he said

Ross walked up to Xan, grabbing him by the collar. "What the f*** do you think we do out here? Do you think we run some sort of f***ing space carnival? You're standing on one of the most well-known battleships in this sector, if not the whole fleet. I'm not gonna sit here and take s*** from some merc who barges in here. Start showing het some goddamn respect before I throw you and your toy out the airlock, and tell the gunners to use you as target practice!" He shouted.

Xan had this same thing happen to him when he was just a green horn and a man with hair the shade of pure water had told him excatly the same thing. He rememberd that unlike Ross, That man had drawn his hand and struk him afterwords. He had been stuned, outraged, fearful and gained a helthy respect for that man. His fetures relaxed and he kept his eyes on Ross's but they softend slightly at the simliaritys. "Yes sir." he said then look over to Luna and said "My apologes mam. I was out of line." Xan lingered on the mans name for a minute. His name was Chirico Cuvie. And he was Xan's mentor when he had just began meceinary work. Xan chuckled softly to himself as he thought of Cuvie. And here was the same childish Xan getting scolded by someone whoo knew way more then he ever did. "Gusse I haven't grown up that much huh Chirico Cuvie." Xan mumbled to himself.

Ross let go of his collar and walked back to where he had been before, leaning against the wall yet again.

Luna felt rage take over her senses when Xan said something like that. She knew more then anyone what it was like to be in battle. After seeing everyone you know killed before your eyes in battle at such a young age you gain more and loose more then people know. She took a few deep breaths to stop her blood from boiling over and stepped forward after Ross had stepped back. "I wouldn't be standing before you had I not been caught into the battle field. What happened at that time is my own memories and I will not tell them out loud to someone I don't know. Everything I have said so far is for the safety of this ship and everyone on it. We don't bargin with items. We have costs that we must pay to help keep this ship running and parts don't have a garanteed sell price. That being said, if you have any money on you that you can spare I'll see how much we can give you with the estimated sell rate of the parts you've claimed to have. Then we'll see what happens from there."

Xan put a hand to the side of his head as he rembered what it had been like to losse his only family, his mother and sixteen year old sister. His eyes widend and glazed sightly as he looked at the deck and remberd the way they died, at his hand while he had a knife to his throut and was forced to pull the trigger. He remberd his mother and his sister had looks of understanding and aceptince on their alike faces. He remberd the psyco who made him do it and felt a sharp pain in his temple as he remberd the guys name. It was Nimbus Shwznga. His blond haird, blue eye, smerking face and the faces of his mother and sister made his head feel like it was lead and he crumpled to the deck and was lost in the dark. That cold, unforgiveing, empty darkness.

Ross moved from his place with a start. "Wow, nicely put. You might have killed him there." He said, walking over to Xan, kneeling down. He checked Xan for a pulse. "Oh good, he's still alive."

Luna looked down at Xan. "He`s but a child." She said and sighed. "Take him to the infirmary and put his machine on lock down in the holding chamber."

Ross nodded and some of the soldiers came and proceeded to carry him to the medical wing. "That was an experience." Ross said, jokingly.

Luna sighed. "This job is a pain in the neck sometimes. You think we`d get less weirdos on such a big ship."

Ross chuckled. "I'd think the opposite. Big ships attract big crowds."

Luna sighed. "Just makes my job ten times harder." She said and looked over at him. "Thanks for earlier, I was glad someone straightened him out before I strangled him."

Ross sighed. "I shouldn't have exploded like that."

"Sometimes people have to be put in there place. Although I don`t understand why you exploded so much on the guy." Luna said confused.

Ross chuckled, sheepishly. "I didn't like how he was standing up to you. You work too hard to take that kinda crap." He said, scratching his head, obviously embarrassed.

Luna smiled gently. "Thank you, I can take care of myself, but if I'd done that I would've killed him. So thanks,"

Ross nodded. "Yeah, don't mention it. So, what's next on the schedule?"

"Well I have to do a bunch of paperwork. You have any work today?" Luna asked.

Ross shook his head. "Not really. There's no ships willing to communicate."

~~~~~

Marco sat in his cell in silence.

Luna nodded. "Seems like a slow job."

~~~~~

Kit was sitting in a chair across from his cell working on a curcuit board.

Ross nodded. "It is. It's difficult when things do happen, though."

~~~~~

Marco looked over at her. "You don't have to stay here."

"I would guess it would be. Well I need to get back to work. I`ll see you around Ross." Luna said and turned around before starting to walk towards the door.

~~~~~

"I like the company. Most of my work is solo and silent. It gets annoying after awhile, I`m kinda happy to stay here." Kit said still working on the board. "Plus this is part of your ship`s mother board. I thought you`d want to make sure I didn`t do something bad to it."

Ross nodded. "Alright." He said, and started to wander around the ship.

~~~~~

Marco shrugged. "I don't even know what the ship looks like."

"It`s still your ship though."Kit said and looked through the magnifying glasses she was wearing to work on it. The glasses were funny looking but helpful for stuff like this.

Marco nodded. "Isn't it yours now though?"