While I was waiting until I could head off to Sol, I decided to get a bit more exploring in. Oh, nothing serious, just filling in some of the gaps in the bubble (well, there were a lot more gaps than info). However, after a few days meandering I heard that there was a Nebula Station being built, with a demand for metals, so I decided to join in. I parked up the Cricket at Shin, sold off the exploration data, grabbed a Flea and headed back to where I left the Hand. When I got there I found that there was a new paint scheme available, in Gold (bit loud, but what the heck), so I thought I would treat her. Not sure what other pilots thought, but I didn’t care, she liked it, and that was all that was important. I then headed off to Neville Horizons, where the initial staging point was. OK, I don’t know if this was a good idea (as, if there was anybody looking for me, all they had to do was to hang around the area for me to turn up), but I wanted to do something different and useful, and to get out and meet some people. I wasn’t making much in the way of credits, but that wasn’t an issue; I had a healthy balance anyway, so I was more than comfortable. Then I had a stroke of luck. One day the comms system sprang into life, with an inter-ship channel lighting up. “Ahoy, Cap’n Goldbricker!”. I knew that voice. “Boots, you old dog. What are you doing out here? The Navy finally retired you?” “No, Cap’n, I ain’t ever leaving the Navy, I got no family or anywhere else to go.” “Then what are you doing here?” I asked. “Compulsory shore leave. Some pencil pushing bean counter found I hadn’t taken any for ages, and I have nearly a years’ worth outstanding. He decided to balance the books, and, before I knew anything about it, the base commander had authorised it, telling me I needed a break. Well, I decided to see what was going on in Civvy Street, to see that was happening, heard about this project, and here I am.” As we were both heading in, we decided that, once we had docked and discharged our cargo, he would head over to where I and the Hand were moored, and catch up some more (plus, I wanted to talk to him about the situation I found myself in, and it would be secure here). I had no problem with him coming aboard The Helping Hand; he had, after all, helped make a lot of the modifications to her.
When the hanger door buzzer sounded, I went down and let Boots in. “You are looking good” I told him, only for him to respond “And you are getting fat, Cap’n. You really are becoming a goldbricker!”. I think I took it with a fair grace, I was out of shape and should do something about it. “Can I come aboard?” he asked (he always observed proper ship protocol despite the fact he knew more about the Hand than almost anybody else, and was one of a very select few who she would let in without me needing to warn her). “Of course” I responded. We took time to wander around her, and he picked up on a few minor changes I had made since he was last aboard (the cleaning system made him laugh). We then headed to the galley, where we had a meal “I can see where that weight is coming from” he commented “and if I had what you had I might... Nah, I like to run and stay in shape”. I then told him about Ian and Duncan (he had met Ian a couple of times, but they only had a nodding acquaintance), and I asked if he could help. “Of course I will. I will get straight on it.” “Even on leave?”. “I still stay in touch on the back channels, so I can ask a few questions and get the ball rolling”. He stopped over for the night (his Cobra III was a bit cramped), and then headed out in the morning.
On the day Duncan headed out (after my tuition) we wandered over to the hanger where his Sidewinder was parked. She didn’t disappoint (well, OK, she did, but I was used to a lot better); she looked a bit tatty and banged up a bit (why is it you never see a new Sidewinder? I think that Faulcon deLacy makes them second hand!), but I have seen a lot worse (though normally as crashed vessels!). I suggested that he inspect her thoroughly, and I would assist. When we got into one of the machinery areas I saw a tiny puddle of oil (you had to look hard to see it). “Is that a spill or a leak?” I asked. “I don’t know” he replied. “This is why I always monitor when my ships are being worked on, and if I see a spill of any amount I clean it up, and watch that area for a while. If I see it again I know I have a leak, and then do some serious looking”. We continued with the inspection; he knew what he was doing, and rarely needed my help, so I decided to tell him some more about his brother, and (specifically) how he had helped me ‘hear’ how ships felt.
We had several ships that needed work done on them. There was some parade or other due soon, and a senior ‘bigwig’ wanted a fly past, and wouldn’t take no for an answer (despite me telling him half our ships were off the flight line due to battle damage, but he went over my head, and orders came down), and all the ground crews (actually, anybody who could wield a spanner!) were involved in getting them fixed. Ian was there (he had done some minor delivery run for us, nothing important, but it helped him with his standing in the Navy), and, although he wasn’t doing anything he didn’t have clearance to do, the ground crew would sometimes ask him to ‘listen’ to a ship and see where she ‘hurt’. When he wasn’t doing that he was working on a badly damaged Eagle (we couldn’t get her fixed up in time, there were some major parts damaged or destroyed and the replacement parts wouldn’t get here in time) that was off to one side, and that was where I found him. I was in the area to see how things were going, but I knew not to get in the way; the crews had enough on their hands without me bugging them. I watched him for a while, and it seemed like he was talking to the ship, and listening at times. After a while he noticed me, and waved me over. He explained that, for some reason, he could ‘hear’ some machinery, and the more sophisticated it was, the more he could understand them. I knew that some of the ground crew used him to find problems when he was on the base, so I listened to him explain. The Eagle he was working on was a mess, it was going to be weeks before all the parts arrived, and the same before she was able to fly, but it was likely she would get out into the stars. There were a load of spares nearby (the stuff all bases have plenty of), and it was this that Ian was using on her. I sat on the ground, with my back against one of her landing struts as he continued working on her (he got called away for a while once, but I stayed where I was; despite the turmoil it was strangely peaceful), until one moment when he removed a destroyed component and winced, apologising for hurting her, but that part was utterly useless. At the same moment I heard her ‘scream’ in pain. Ian saw me react. “I heard her scream” I said. He looked surprised. “I thought I was the only person who could hear machinery. I know Duncan can somehow understand what plants need to do well, but I never met anybody who could hear ships” he said. “Well, it was a very muffled scream, as though I had ear defenders on and she was a long way off, but I heard her”. We continued our work (well he worked on her, and I ‘listened’ as hard as I could, and I could ‘hear’ her calming down), but that wasn’t the end of it. Ian asked me to get a part from the spares, but when I got it, it felt wrong, so I was going to reject it. Ian saw me do this, and asked me for it again. There wasn’t another one nearby, but I said I didn’t think it was right. He ran it through a diagnostics system, and it checked out well, but when he fitted it, he listened for a few moments, said something like “I know, but it won’t be for long”, and then looked at me with a puzzled grin on his face. “What?”, I asked. “That’s a new one on me. I could hear her complain that that bit hurt. It was right for the job, but not for her. I told her we didn’t have anymore of those parts available, but I would replace it when I could”. We carried on working on her, and, at one point, a found another part I reacted to, but this time it felt really good, so when I passed it over to Ian I asked him to see how she ‘felt’ when it was fitted. He did so, grinned, and said “That helped a lot, she feels a lot better, and she thanked us both”.
I don’t know if Ian could ever pick out parts that were either right or wrong for a ship, but he could ‘talk’ to almost every ship he had dealings with. For a long time I could only ‘hear’ them when I was with him (and only then could I tell how a part would ‘feel’, at least until I could ‘hear’ them on my own), but eventually I could ‘hear’ one or two, but only faintly. The Helping Hand was the first I could really ‘hear’, and I knew then I had to get her, banged up as she was (I was always able to know if a part was ‘good’ for her or not). I got her at a discount, but I would have paid full price for her, it felt good to have a ship that was ‘alive’. I wonder if Ian felt the same whenever he flew.
When the hanger door buzzer sounded, I went down and let Boots in. “You are looking good” I told him, only for him to respond “And you are getting fat, Cap’n. You really are becoming a goldbricker!”. I think I took it with a fair grace, I was out of shape and should do something about it. “Can I come aboard?” he asked (he always observed proper ship protocol despite the fact he knew more about the Hand than almost anybody else, and was one of a very select few who she would let in without me needing to warn her). “Of course” I responded. We took time to wander around her, and he picked up on a few minor changes I had made since he was last aboard (the cleaning system made him laugh). We then headed to the galley, where we had a meal “I can see where that weight is coming from” he commented “and if I had what you had I might... Nah, I like to run and stay in shape”. I then told him about Ian and Duncan (he had met Ian a couple of times, but they only had a nodding acquaintance), and I asked if he could help. “Of course I will. I will get straight on it.” “Even on leave?”. “I still stay in touch on the back channels, so I can ask a few questions and get the ball rolling”. He stopped over for the night (his Cobra III was a bit cramped), and then headed out in the morning.
On the day Duncan headed out (after my tuition) we wandered over to the hanger where his Sidewinder was parked. She didn’t disappoint (well, OK, she did, but I was used to a lot better); she looked a bit tatty and banged up a bit (why is it you never see a new Sidewinder? I think that Faulcon deLacy makes them second hand!), but I have seen a lot worse (though normally as crashed vessels!). I suggested that he inspect her thoroughly, and I would assist. When we got into one of the machinery areas I saw a tiny puddle of oil (you had to look hard to see it). “Is that a spill or a leak?” I asked. “I don’t know” he replied. “This is why I always monitor when my ships are being worked on, and if I see a spill of any amount I clean it up, and watch that area for a while. If I see it again I know I have a leak, and then do some serious looking”. We continued with the inspection; he knew what he was doing, and rarely needed my help, so I decided to tell him some more about his brother, and (specifically) how he had helped me ‘hear’ how ships felt.
We had several ships that needed work done on them. There was some parade or other due soon, and a senior ‘bigwig’ wanted a fly past, and wouldn’t take no for an answer (despite me telling him half our ships were off the flight line due to battle damage, but he went over my head, and orders came down), and all the ground crews (actually, anybody who could wield a spanner!) were involved in getting them fixed. Ian was there (he had done some minor delivery run for us, nothing important, but it helped him with his standing in the Navy), and, although he wasn’t doing anything he didn’t have clearance to do, the ground crew would sometimes ask him to ‘listen’ to a ship and see where she ‘hurt’. When he wasn’t doing that he was working on a badly damaged Eagle (we couldn’t get her fixed up in time, there were some major parts damaged or destroyed and the replacement parts wouldn’t get here in time) that was off to one side, and that was where I found him. I was in the area to see how things were going, but I knew not to get in the way; the crews had enough on their hands without me bugging them. I watched him for a while, and it seemed like he was talking to the ship, and listening at times. After a while he noticed me, and waved me over. He explained that, for some reason, he could ‘hear’ some machinery, and the more sophisticated it was, the more he could understand them. I knew that some of the ground crew used him to find problems when he was on the base, so I listened to him explain. The Eagle he was working on was a mess, it was going to be weeks before all the parts arrived, and the same before she was able to fly, but it was likely she would get out into the stars. There were a load of spares nearby (the stuff all bases have plenty of), and it was this that Ian was using on her. I sat on the ground, with my back against one of her landing struts as he continued working on her (he got called away for a while once, but I stayed where I was; despite the turmoil it was strangely peaceful), until one moment when he removed a destroyed component and winced, apologising for hurting her, but that part was utterly useless. At the same moment I heard her ‘scream’ in pain. Ian saw me react. “I heard her scream” I said. He looked surprised. “I thought I was the only person who could hear machinery. I know Duncan can somehow understand what plants need to do well, but I never met anybody who could hear ships” he said. “Well, it was a very muffled scream, as though I had ear defenders on and she was a long way off, but I heard her”. We continued our work (well he worked on her, and I ‘listened’ as hard as I could, and I could ‘hear’ her calming down), but that wasn’t the end of it. Ian asked me to get a part from the spares, but when I got it, it felt wrong, so I was going to reject it. Ian saw me do this, and asked me for it again. There wasn’t another one nearby, but I said I didn’t think it was right. He ran it through a diagnostics system, and it checked out well, but when he fitted it, he listened for a few moments, said something like “I know, but it won’t be for long”, and then looked at me with a puzzled grin on his face. “What?”, I asked. “That’s a new one on me. I could hear her complain that that bit hurt. It was right for the job, but not for her. I told her we didn’t have anymore of those parts available, but I would replace it when I could”. We carried on working on her, and, at one point, a found another part I reacted to, but this time it felt really good, so when I passed it over to Ian I asked him to see how she ‘felt’ when it was fitted. He did so, grinned, and said “That helped a lot, she feels a lot better, and she thanked us both”.
I don’t know if Ian could ever pick out parts that were either right or wrong for a ship, but he could ‘talk’ to almost every ship he had dealings with. For a long time I could only ‘hear’ them when I was with him (and only then could I tell how a part would ‘feel’, at least until I could ‘hear’ them on my own), but eventually I could ‘hear’ one or two, but only faintly. The Helping Hand was the first I could really ‘hear’, and I knew then I had to get her, banged up as she was (I was always able to know if a part was ‘good’ for her or not). I got her at a discount, but I would have paid full price for her, it felt good to have a ship that was ‘alive’. I wonder if Ian felt the same whenever he flew.
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