Sparrows Need Engineers

Tuegrins hands gripped the console in front of her, she could hear her heart pounding away in her chest as she tried to tell herself she wasn't dying today. She trembled as she looked to Jerec and saw him shaking next to her, seeing him slowly hit the belt release and freeing himself from the seat. She watched as his hands came to her release and clicked it open, allowing the safety belt to retract. The sight of emergency lights were soon around them, fire trucks and ambulances arriving to attend to them.

Tuegrin swallowed as she looked around them, her head seeming to have trouble catching up with the fact that they had landed and in one piece. She felt Jerecs hand on her shoulder, turning to look up at him, she finally saw a sincere expression on his face.

"Tuegrin, are you ok?" he asked warily.

She nodded her head and pursed her lips looking away from him and back out the front window, "Y-ya...I'm good."

"Good, lets get out of the shuttle." Jerec said as he hit the safety door release and allowed the rear area to become accessible to the flight pit. Jerec walked out of the flight pit and felt his heart break, the interior walls of his shuttle torn to a shredded mess as the metal invader had broken in. Wreaking havoc on the beast of a ship he had been flying with for years, he put his hands on his head and looked around at the mess. Tears of open metal with wires and hydraulics exposed, dribbling the synthetic blood of the machine onto its wrecked carcass. He fell to his knees as he looked around, seeing the carnage that had happened just behind his back.

Tuegrin saw him crumble, thinking he was happy to be alive, but then hearing the quiet sniffles of a man with a broken spirit. "Jerec?" she said quietly.

"I'm sorry..."

Tuegrin stayed silent for a moment, wondering what she should say.

"I shouldn't have pushed you..."

Tuegrin shook her head, "Jerec, I'm fine, I-"

"I wasn't talking to you." He said flatly as he reached down and picked up a piece of the hull that was in front of him. Small and still warm, covered in the manmade oil that ran through the ships lines as it powered an unnamed actuator.

Tuegrin put her head down for a moment, then walked to the back of the shuttle and to the rear door button. She hit it and waited for the door to open but wasn't surprised when nothing moved, she hit the emergency blast protocol and saw the red light begin to blink. Turning around she walked back to Jerec and hunched down in front of him, "This is gonna be loud." she said with care. She put her hands over his ears as he sulked on the hull floor, then felt a cold pressure placed over her own.

The light blinked faster and a siren wailed for a moment, then blasts rang out as the safety latches were blown off by the built in explosives. Then another moment later another set of charges broke the hydraulic actuators free, followed by one more igniting at the top of the door. Blowing it open and sending it crashing to the concrete, the broken craft bouncing as the door banged.

"Doors open, emergency services in!" a man outside yelled as the crowd of personnel came around the back and inside.

Tuegrin stood, pulling Jerec up as she did, "C'mon, we've gotta vacate." She felt Jerec pause for a moment, unwilling to move as he seemed to be emotionally crushed by the failure to maintain flight. "We'll get her fixed up Jerec, but we can't do anything for her tonight." She pulled again and felt him finally give and step forward.

The next morning Tuegrin stood on the ramp and looked at the Sparrow that was lying in a mess of absorbent matts soaking up the drained fluids. She shook her head and sipped coffee from a cup, wondering if Jerec would be around anytime soon. She remembered getting him to the lodging near the port, but wasn't able to find him in the morning.

Looking at the outside of the craft she was happy to see most of it was still in good shape, a hole in the starboard side that needed closing. Holes in the wings paneling that needed to be sealed as well, she inspected the engine and found it was trashed. The cowlings around it completely destroyed and unrecoverable, she headed inside and looked at the paneling internally. Seeing the crashes and tears she walked across the hull floor and came to stop at the turbine wheel from the engine that had caused the mess. Kicking it softly as she cursed to herself about the situation that they were now in, she looked around and went to the flight pit.

Pulling out her tablet she connected a cord from it to the control dash, typing in her engineer credentials and letting the system download into her hard drive. Once complete she unplugged and headed back out the rear door, stepping off the limp metal ramp and hanging out in the shade of the downed craft. She scrolled through the information provided by the system that was backed up into the flight computers, perusing and just looking at the numbers when something caught her attention.

'Port Side Engine: 511 total hours of flight.

Installed: 22340411'

She read the date and her eyes narrowed, rereading it again as she almost couldn't believe it '2234 April eleventh' she thought. The engine on the left side had been installed two weeks before she started, that means in just under five weeks they had put 511 hours of flight on the craft. That didn't include idling hours, that was 511 hours the craft was in the air.

'Starboard Side Engine: 6,576 total hours of flight.

Installed: 22330401'

Tuegrin felt like her eyes were about to bug out of her head from being in such shock, seeing the right side engine that had failed had been in just over a year. But the service life was spent on it, 6,000 was the cut off for engines, they shouldn't have even been in the air. But to see that he accumulated that amount of hours in such a short time boggled her mind. She soon opened the calculator app on her tablet and began typing, then opening the internet tab to do research.

She typed away and wasn't able to believe what she was getting, having to redo her math multiple times to ensure she was getting the correct answers.

'The starboard engines been installed for 394 days, for it to have that amount of hours that means he had to be flying for almost 17 hours a day.' The thought shook her as she realized another fact, 'we weren't doing 17 hours a day when I came aboard, so that means he slowed down from what he was flying before I joined. He slowed down because of me, which means he was doing god only knows what to get that amount of flight time when I wasn't on board.'

Jerec sat on his stool and leaned over the thick wooden bar, running a finger along the rim of the glass as he tried to not let his mind fill with anxiety. His fingers then clutched the heavy cup and brought it to his lips, touching it gently to himself as he tipped it back. The ice inside it clanged around when it slid forward and hit his upper lip and nose, the lime inside giving a citrus kiss to his skin. He put the cup back on the bar and fished out a cigarette, opening the pack he pulled out the last one and wondered how he had gone through so many in what seemed like a short night.

"There you are!" an angry Tuegrin shouted as she stomped through the door of the bar. She had found the front desk clerk of the lodge had referred him to this bar that was down the street from the lodge.

Jerec rolled his eyes and held his lighter to the stick of tobacco, lighting it and dragging the caustic smoke into his body while praying it helped ease the coming storm.

"Pay your tab, we're leaving." Tuegrin growled through clenched teeth.

"If you wanna leave, go."

Tuegrin looked at the bartender, "His tab, close it out."

The man just raised his eyebrows and gave a slight nod, approaching the till and clicking away on it.

"No, don't do that." Jerec said as he raised his finger and pushed the empty glass forward with his other hand.

Tuegrin caught his hand and pushed it back down to the bar, "You're done Jerec, we're going back to the lodge."

Jerec tilted his head and turned to her with a crossed look, "What're you, my mother?"

The bartender put the tab in front of Tuegrin, "His cards already ran, just need a signature."

Tuegrin took the pen and signed it for him, scribbling down 'FuckWit' with an angry heavy hand.

"Hey, that's not legal." Jerec said as he looked at the check, he took another drag of his cigarette as he felt Tuegrins hand grab a fist full of his shirt.

Tuegrin pulled him off the stool, expecting him to go to his feet but was shocked when they didn't move and he just hit the floor. His body limp for a moment before he rolled to his side and held the cigarette to his lips again, taking a drag and sighing. She looked at him as he did this, not a care in the world as he wallowed in the filth on the floor, then turning she looked at the bartender.

"He's been here all night and day, the previous shifts bartender said he just showed up and started drinkin. Then never moved, I kept checking to see if he pissed himself but he hasn't." He said as he shrugged and gave her a sympathetic look.

Tuegrin groaned as she tried to lift him from the floor, eventually getting help from the man behind the bar to lift him and put him on her back. She slowly made her way back out the door and down the walkway, wishing he would've just gotten drunk in the room they were sharing.

Jerec stayed quiet as he laid on her back, her arms holding his legs around her as his arms draped over her shoulders. His head resting near hers, he couldn't help but smell her, catching the scent of oil and metal. The familiar smells of his ship in her hair that was pulled back into a bun and touching him, he felt a wash of guilt as he remembered the previous days wreck. Wondering if he'd get another ship, or if the company would just wash their hands of him.

"You're a good pilot, Jerec." Tuegrin said.

Jerec stayed silent, not wanting to hear fake sympathetic words.

"Anyone else would've lost control and probably spun the shuttle out on its axis...I've started to repair her. But I read the data on the shuttle..."

Jerec waited for Tuegrin to continue, unable to ignore her.

"What are you trying to prove?...You don't need to fly more than eight hours a day in most deliveries, sometime you gotta do ten hours, sometimes it could be as little as five. But the logs show you were around 17 hours a day before I came aboard."

He felt numb as the words permeated his mind and sunk in, not even flinching to the facts she was saying.

"...So what're you trying to prove?"

She carried him in silence for a while longer, passing the front desk as she got a concerned look but wasn't interrupted. Arriving at the room, she leaned against the wall next to the door, pinching his thigh in between the wall and her hip. Then reaching into her breast pocket with her now free hand she retrieved the key card to enter the room. Quickly sticking a foot in the door she grabbed him again and carried him in, getting to the bed she turned around at the front of one of the two beds and fell backwards. Flopping on Jerec for a moment as they both landed on the bed, she rolled off of him and to the side. Looking back at him and seeing his eyes closed and his face content, but wondered if it looked more sad rather than relaxed.

"My family was in a lot of debt..."

Tuegrin perked up as she heard him speak, eager to gain some insight as to why he was so adamant about racking up hours.

"Cargo doesn't pay overtime, but they also don't monitor your flight hours or make you take mandatory rest periods...So you can just keep grabbing jobs and running, I worked hard, and now I've almost wiped my family's debt completely clean."

Tuegrin looked at the bed as she pondered what he was saying, "Well that's very admirable, it sounds like you've almost finished it. Maybe now you can slow down, and instead of worrying about them, you can worry about Jerec?"

Jerec kept his eyes closed, wondering if he should be any more open than he was already being. But he heard her begin to move then felt her weight leave the bed, light footsteps heading towards the door.

Tuegrin turned to look back at him on the bed, slightly more content looking with less sadness than before. She looked at the other bed and huffed at the thought of not being able to lie within it's warm embrace tonight, she then opened the door and left.

Jerec woke up to the sun piercing through the shades and hitting him right in the eyes, he groaned as he tried to roll away from it. The vocalization of his discomfort only rattled his head and made the headache more apparent. He curled up in a ball and tried to keep his eyes shut while willing himself back to sleep, but eventually relented and opened them. He was facing the wall now, remembering Tuegrin had brought him here he rolled over and winced at the pain in his back. He was confused when he saw her bed empty and the blankets still neatly made, wondering if she had done it or if she was staying in a different room.

He scooted to the edge of the bed and rested his feet on the floor, feeling pins and needles in his heels as he gasped. He slowly stood and went to the sink, putting his head down and turning the water on, he drank straight from the source as he tried to quench his thirst and get some relief from the pain in his head.

He still wore his coveralls and boots, happy that Tuegrin didn't take the liberty in undressing him he left the room. Looking around and heading to the front desk, he approached the counter and was greeted by a customer service smile on a lady that looked like she had better things to do than talk to him.

"Hello sir, how can I help you?"

Jerec smiled and squinted slightly, her voice ringing his ears as his pain reminded him of the past nights bad decisions. "Hi, there should've been a woman with me, can you tell me what room she's in. We're coworkers an-"

"Sir she's sharing a room with you."

Jerec paused, "Oh...she wasn't in there, so I thought..."

"No sir, she is sharing a room with you, but if she's not there she could be at the port with your shuttle."

Jerec nodded and thought about what she was saying, "Ok, and where's the port?"

"The port is out the door, turn left, and a quarter of a mile walk."

Jerec nodded again, smiling and giving her a meek, "Thank you." As he turned to leave and find his way to the port. He walked down the street, stopping in a convenience store to buy a breakfast sandwich and a pack of smokes. As he was checking out he looked at the sandwich, then blushing he went back to the hot lamp where he had retrieved the first sandwich and he got another. Paying for the three items he left, eating his sandwich and squinting to keep the sun out of his sensitive eyes.

He had hoped the food would do something for his headache, and was happy to feel that it did knock it back a little. He rounded the last building and was at the fence for the port, looking through it he searched for the Sparrow. He felt his stomach turn as he didn't see it in the open area with all the other ships, he knew it was in bad shape, but he grew concerned that it was already moved to the scrap yard. He hurried his pace and made his way through the gate, showing his Cargo Crafts badge he asked the attendant where his ship was.

The woman flipped through her clipboard and looked through her information, "hmm. Oh here it is, it's been moved to dock 4." She looked at him and then back at the port area, "That direction, you'll see a line of hangers, fourth one down and go on in, I think your teams already in there."

Jerec thanked her and walked with a quickness down the line of hangers, his eyebrows stitching together as he wondered what she meant by, 'Team'? He was borderline running as he made it to dock four and burst through the door, frightful of what was inside. 'They're gutting her, stripping her parts and just taking what they can to make us come in under budget, fuck fuck fuck.' He thought as he entered. Then stopping in his tracks as he looked at the Sparrow hanging by cables in the dock, her right side shown to him.

He watched as Tuegrin stood on a man lift next to the new starboard engine, driving the anchor bolts in with a pneumatic impact driver that sounded like machine gun fire. Hitting the bottom and giving it a couple extra ugga duggas for good measure. Jerec stood in shock as he saw the new red replacement panel on the right side of the hull, the portion that was pierced now repaired. New panels on the right wing to close up the holes where the fan blades had torn through her metallic skin. Her landing gear retracted and new doors on the left side that had been damaged when she sunk to her belly, the rubber safety pucks replaced as well.

Tuegrin hummed along to her music as she took the torch and heated the next mounting hole and flange. Letting the metal glow a dull orange as she tapped her foot to the music being sung to her through her head phones. Once satisfied with the heat, she shut off the torch and hung it on the lifts handrail, then reaching a gloved hand into the cooler at her feet she retrieved the bolt that had been sitting in dry ice. She quickly pushed it through the tight flange and came into contact with the threads on the other side. Spinning it as best she could and happy with catching one or two threads, she lifted her impact gun again. A weapon of pneumatic twisting force she sunk it down on the bolt head and pulled the trigger, the hateful noise of it ringing out as it turned the bolt to its will.

She saw it sink down in the hole and the bolt head butt up to the flange, hitting it for a second or two longer to give it enough love to stay in. Then dropping her impact back down to the lifts platform that she was standing on. She turned around and hit the retract button on the lift and let it sink back down to floor level, she sang along with the lyrics as she thought of where she had put the used cowlings.

"Tuegrin!" Jerec yelled.

Tuegrin listened to her music as she stepped down the ladder and turned around, seeing Jerec standing in front of her with a shocked expression. "FUCK!" she yelled as she jumped back with her own shocked expression, "DON'T SNEAK UP ON ME!" she yelled as she yanked her headphones off.

"How did you do this?!" Jerec asked as his hands seemed to flail in excitement.

Tuegrin watched the sandwich in his hand move through the air, her eyes locked on it as she felt her own stomach growl in hate.

"Where did you get the parts, the hull, the engine, where- how-"

"Is that for me?" she said as she watched it in his hands.

Jerec looked at her then followed her gaze, seeing his hand holding breakfast, he offered it to her. "Uh, ya. Ya this is for you." Then handing it to her he tipped his head in embarrassment, wondering why he felt so twisted up as he gave it to her.

Tuegrin took it immediately and tore the wrapper open, devouring half of it in only two bites, chewing like a mad man and swallowing in delight as she moaned in approval. "Oh fuck ya." She growled as she took another bite, she turned and walked back to the man lift, reaching through the guard rails and grabbing a bottle of water. She spun the top off and took a swig and then another bite of the breakfast delight that was gracing her taste buds with the heavenly grease that oozed from the sausage.

Jerec gave her a moment and spoke again, "Tuegrin, how?" he said while pointing at the shuttle.

Tuegrin gave an over exaggerated nod as she furiously chewed and tried to swallow, holding up her hand with her pointer finger extended and giving him an "mhm" as she touched her bottle to her mouth. Gulping and sighing with relief, "mm, fuck that's good, ok the Sparrow. I convinced Cargo that it'd be more beneficial to just send me parts from scrapped ships and I could put it together. The engine was due to be replaced, so they had a new one shipped here. I didn't tell them how bad the damage was, but I said that since the shuttle didn't have an engineer before. It needed some replacement parts due to damage that had occurred and hadn't been mended before."