“Might as well come in if you’re going to,” a gruff voice announced from the upper level.
Jumping slightly, Eris twisted and looked up. Red, the second female member of the Warborne crew, was sitting on a catwalk against the back wall, a wiring panel open as she worked on its insides. A spaghetti mass of colored wires vomited from the gap, and the alien woman’s long fingers worked quickly in the chaos.
“Hi. It’s Red. Isn’t it? I’m Eris Archer,” she introduced herself as she located the nearest ladder to the upper catwalk. With its own lift and tilt mechanism, it could be maneuvered into place anywhere in the cargo bay.
“Yeah. Caught that.” Red spared her a look as she reached the top of the ladder. Not one for conversation then. Eris cast about for something to say.
“I’m Red. But guess you caught that too.” The alien woman’s lips compressed as something sparked deep in the panel. “Draanth it! This wiring is fucking screwed.”
“Anything I can help with?”
Red shook her head and gave a small grunt. “Almost done. Then I can show you what you came here for. ‘Cause I’m pretty sure you didn’t come down here just to introduce yourself again.”
A flush warmed Eris’s cheeks. “That obvious, huh?”
Red chuckled and then grimaced as she twisted something deep in the panel. “There, that should do it. It’s that fucking idiot Fin’s fault. The wiring in his quarters is on this loop, and it’s dodgy. He’s constantly overloading the fucker so I have to go in there and fix it.”
Eris kept her mouth shut on that one. The way she’d reacted to Sparky hitting on Fin… yeah, there was history there for sure.
Red closed the panel, shoving her tools into belt loops. Her ship-suit was tied around her waist, the wifebeater vest she wore showing off muscular development Eris could only dream of.
“Looks like you work out a fair bit. Is there a gym on board as well?” she asked as they made their way down to the lower level. “Could do with testing out the patch job your medic did on my legs.”
Red nodded. “Same corridor as the galley, carry on to the end. It’s just a couple of storage spaces knocked through, but it’s well equipped. Cardio machines, weights. Sparring mats. Just…” She looked Eris up and down. “If you’re planning on dropping Zero on his ass, make sure to ping me. Okay?” She tapped her bracer-mounted wrist comp. “I’ll record it.”
Eris chuckled. “Yeah, right. You do know he’s a cyborg? There’s no way I’d be able to take him down. I’m only human. And female.”
“Pffft… Then cheat.”
Eris arched an eyebrow. She’d have pegged Red for straight down the line, must be better than men to be as good as men. “Isn’t that…well, a little unfair?”
Red shrugged. “Then call it… adapt and overcome. It’s not your fault that most males have in-built stupidity when it comes to females. Show a tear, and their protectiveness comes rushing to the fore. If all else fails, flash your boobs and that shuts down all their higher brain functions. That’s when you double-tap them between the eyes.”
Eris about choked. “I don’t want to shoot Zero.”
“Yeah, well… Obviously, don’t do that on the Sprite,” Red advised as she strode across the floor to the other side of the cargo bay. “Probably best you don’t flash your boobs either unless it’s at Zero. Not unless you want a blood bath on board.”
“No! Definitely not!”
She might not know Zero too well just yet, but she knew enough to know he was the possessive type. Which was cute. On him. Not anyone else. She’d never wanted a guy to be all possessive over her before.
Then her attention was hijacked by the dust-sheet-covered form by the back wall. It was a familiar height and shape.
“Is that?”
“Uh-huh. Go ahead,” Red motioned her forward. “She’s a lovely bit of kit. It took me a while to figure out some of the systems but… color me impressed. You humans have some solid engineering kudos under your belt.”
Eris reached out for the sheet, butterflies in her stomach as she pulled it clear. Now she was back on her feet, her attention, like any good soldier’s, had turned to her equipment and weaponry. She might not be in the military anymore but that didn’t make her any less of a soldier.
But… she forced back her wince as the sheet started to slide. She hadn’t been kind to the old girl. It was old tech and hadn’t seen action for well over a decade. There was no way she should have taken her into combat, and she wouldn’t have if those SO13 assholes hadn’t declared war on her.
The suit had dealt with it like a champ, though. She’d been just as smooth to pilot as Eris remembered, responsive as hell, but she’d taken a battering. The armoring Eris had used to replace what was missing hadn’t been the heavy-duty level that was on it originally, so she’d taken hits. Too many. The damage reports on her visual display when she’d finally made it to the Aegis airlock had been damning.
The sheet hit the floor and she slowly lifted her gaze, bracing herself for the sight of all the damage. But instead of the bullet-holed panels and busted servos she’d expected, the suit gleamed. Her panels were straight and true, though not unmarked. She could see where repairs had been made, the bullet holes still decorating the suit’s hide, but they’d been filled somehow.
“What the…” she breathed, reaching out to run her hand over the metal skin. It was smooth. She couldn’t feel the difference between the old metal and the new. Her gaze clashed with Red’s in curiosity.
“We got a few tricks up our sleeves humans don’t. We got all the internal and external damage fixed. And gave her an extra layer of armor.” She tapped one of the filled bullet holes.
“Nano-molecular tri-chromidium,” the alien engineer said as if that should mean something to Eris.
“The
