A new assistant...sort of...helper more like it.

Gill was saved from answering Jacy when Lyen interrupted with her offer of help. Gill smiled awkwardly and mumbled something incoherent, which made him feel immediately awkward. Lyen smiled at him and he suddenly found it a little difficult to breath. Her eyes were so pretty and... he could feel himself blushing.

Down below Thomas yelled up to Riley.

“LT. I have a full list of parts that will be needed for Dimitri and myself to get the Gunship up and running. I will get you a list for the 2nd shuttle as soon as I can.”

Thomas went back to the engine room, grabbed his utility bag of tools and headed back to the shuttle. As he got back, he saw Gill helping Lloyd move her belongings out of the other shuttle.

“Gill, when your done helping her, meet me back here to help as per the LT’s orders. If your sister is feeling better bring her along, I may have more trinkets for her as we get to work on this thing” And he points to the 1st shuttle."

He then turned and crawled through the hatch access panel and begins pulling wires and conduit out and piling it up neatly next to the shuttles door.

Gill almost fled the scene at the sound of the engineers voice. What was wrong with him? Lyen must be twice his age, he was such an idiot. He went searching for his sister as he silently berated himself, all the while imagining Vas laughing with the other adults over his “crush.”
“Stupid, stupid, stupid.” he shook his head as he marched into the galley to find Haddie elbow deep in bag of crisps. She looked up in surprise as he entered and then around herself guiltily as Gill took in the sight of the empty, cans, packets and bags she had been working her way through.

“Hungry?” he asked exasperated, but also glad for an excuse to put his mind elsewhere. Haddie offered him the crisp bag and he swiped a handful before putting her to work tidying up.

“Devron wants us to help fix up one of the shuttles.”Gill said once they were done. “He has some more parts for you.”

Thomas was just finishing up with the door controls when the Gill and Haddie walked up.

“Ok, I’m not sure what you can and cannot do but, the LT wants you helping. Gill, I need you and hadie to take all the parts I remove and place them in the other shuttle. When you drop off parts from here come back for more. Dimitri is also working on this shuttle so, be careful what you take, I’m not sure how he is with little helpers. Do either of you have any mechanical knowledge or knowledge of parts?”

“Sure no problem, I helped my pa with the ship when I was a kid.” Devron had that look on his face that said plainly You’re still a kid, kid, and Gill grabbed a box of parts and made an his way over to the other shuttle. When he got there he noticed that Haddie had not followed, she was probably busy ransacking the spare parts.

Dimitri was rustling about inside the shuttle and Gill placed the box down careful not to make a noise. That guy was huge and freaking scary and all that talk of guns, bombs and alcohol, while pretty freaking cool was also pretty freaking freaky! He decided he work work up to Dimitri once Vas had taught him a thing or two.

Getting back to Devron he saw the parts piling up and immediately went about filling another crate. Haddie was keeping herself busy by arranging a bill pile of servos into size order and cleaning them one by one with a filthy rag.

“So do you think you can get both shuttles working?” he asked Devron as watched the man dismantle a complex looking piece of kit. Something to do with life support he guessed by the look of it.

“I will get them up and running. This one may take a bit. The Captain wants this one for special jobs so, I will have to add some special equipment and upgrades. The other shuttle just needs all the basics so, that won’t be a problem.”

Thomas looked over at Haddie and watched her for a moment. *I wonder if I would have had kids if my wife had survived.* “So I have a question about your sister. I have noticed she doesn’t talk, is that by choice or incident? And, exactly how intelligent is she? She seems to know how to find the right items.” Thomas gives a slightly friendly smile after that statement.

Haddie perked up at the mention of her name and then turned to Gill, giving him a hard stare with that one good eye of hers.

“Oh she’s clever enough, crazy sometimes.”

Haddie bobbed her tongue out, and Gill laughed,

“Well you are. She stopped speaking after the Reavers, the alliance docs said it was some kind of post traumatic thing, same with the...collecting.” Gill felt awkward saying more in front of his sister so he changed the subject.

“We are just glad we found our way on board this ship, everyone's been real nice considering. Well mostly. Haddie is safe here.”

“I know the Captain doesn’t want free loaders and you’re now a deckhand, does she have a spot on the ship yet? If not, maybe I could talk the captain into hiring her. Maybe to help me keep the engine room clean and keeping inventory. That would help me. As soon as these shuttles are done, I will have four engines to keep track of and maintain. Do you think she will go for that? It would also help to keep you two together.”

Haddie jumped up from where she had been sitting and ran to stand in front of Devron, with a big grin she threw up a salute and looked hopefully up towards Gill, who laughed,

“I think that is a yes. Yes please.”