C is for Crew Chief (Late morning before Take off)

“VALARI!” Riley called from the bridge, muttering under her breath. “The rut is that damn sack of …. “Have you seen Valari?” Riley asked the girl half crawled into the vent with a… Where the rut did that come from? “Has everyone lost their Gorram mind? JAT!”

“ENGINE ROOM.” Drake called as he finished the last of the checks and put the clipboard way. “What do you need, Lieutenant.” Sure they were buddies but this was a more professional setting right now. She like the title, he didn’t care so whatever made her happy right? But right now she didn't seem happy. At all.

“What are you doing in the gorram engine room? I need you ready to take us up.” Her plan was to have Drake take them up, so she could be ready if needed, if Blue Label tried anything before they got off the ground.. *“Their most recent tactic has been the elimination of our shipping and distribution network.”* Madelyn had said. *“The usual sort of behaviors...outbooking us with their volume, and more recently, hiring local miscreants to destroy any of our product that actually reaches its’ destination. Though we consider the risk to be low at this point, I am most interested in getting our product to market for a safe keeping price that you would consider fair.”*

The Veil was their temporary shipping and distribution network. Madelyn might have considered the risk “to be low,” but Riley bet the Clover thought the same thing with the cargo they were carrying. And if Blue Label miscreants were anything like their Bourbon? Bottom of the barrel justified her precautions.

“Don’t have the full story but your engineer ain’t there so I was asked to do preflight …” Drake explained with a shrugged. “... Your wish is my command.” He joked sauntering to the cockpit to prep for takeoff.

“Where *is* Jat?” The lieutenant asked the pigtailed teen who for once wasn’t yapping like a chihuahua in a thunderstorm. Serena used the nozzle of the steam cleaner to point towards where she’d last seen the Crew Chief before sullenly going back to work. “I’d ask if it was opposite day…” Riley muttered, “JAT!”

Vas was back in the cargo bay hauling the pallet jack back and forth at a trot. They were in Vas’s opinion killing it. Elle was a beast and Gill had a bit of fire under him which was good because they were already falling behind the time Riley wanted to take off. Vas was already braced. It didn’t help with Marisol trying to unionize on the gangway. Her, Yeva, Lyen apparently. He would have been shocked to see Doc crossing the line but it only confirmed what the young punk had suspected all along.

That was both hurtful and disappointing.

He so badly had wanted to be wrong. That he misjudged the man.

Vas focused on work. Not his problem. Not anymore. He heard the echos of his name being yelled. *So it begins.*

“Cargo bay! Coming!” Vas called putting his pallet jack to the side then trotting to find Riley.

“Did I or did I not make myself clear that I wanted to be ready for take off early, just in case there's trouble?” She asked, boring holes in the punk with her eyes.

Vas approached already prepared, he went and stood at attention. Boy did her voice carry thought! “Yes, Lieutenant.” He answered. He had learned quick. Yes or no answer unless it was a compound question. If he had to answer a compound question, the shorter the better. Anything else was the beginning of an excuse.

“Then why the fuck is Valari in the engine room doing preflight checks,and Edwards not on the Quick-lift securing this shit?”

“The hay loft is filled up, Edwards is getting the jump on the mold issue, and I demoted the fucking mechanic because…..” Riley held up a hand to stop him in his tracks. Vas wondered who came up with the idea of shit rolling downhill. Did anyone actually check that? If shit DID roll downhill? Vas mentally slapped himself for being a moron and to keep his head in the game. *Baka*

“Who told you to demote the mechanic? I told you to have shit done and it’s not done, end of story. There was no while you're at it, demote someone talk. I needed you and Chavez on guard in case shit goes down with this shipment.“ The lieutenant had had it. There was just too much bad blood between the two, and it was affecting her ship. And that shit wasn’t about to fly. Either fire them both, or -- “You know what, this ends, now. From now on, Mechanics falls under me, you take care of crew, cargo and customers. Stay away from Chavez.”

Vas tried not to look relieved. “Yes, Lieutenant.”

“Just get my shit done, and I want an eye kept on the outside of the ship as soon as we’re loaded up. VALARI! Why aren’t you in the cockpit yet?” The Lieutenant snapped as she strode across the cargo bay to where the mechanic and company congregated.

Vas double-timed it back to help finish with loading, least it gives Riley another reason to yell.