[i]Collab between Idlehands and KuroTenshi[/i]

Owen Reece made his way to the hangar, leaving Bill to check out the drilling equipment before he would join them at Mining Pod 24. He had taken down his hair, his shoulder length grey streaked dark hair now shaggy to match his beard. The meeting had left him feeling cross, he never was a morning person and the bit of coffee and donuts had done little to ease the bad news laid on them. Goddamn sicko. He thought as he stalked down through the hall. And now he had a new demolitions person, a young woman barely old enough to drink legally with an unpronounceable name the pilot was leery about. Reece pushed it from his mind, focusing instead on the pods, they had been used by the previous shifts and he hoped they were in decent condition.

He entered Hangar Six through the main entrance, missing Connor who had emerged from the mechanic's office. Reece passed by the first three pods and found number 24. She was larger than any helicopter he had flown, a rounded shape with the thick hull and windows to protect it from the cold vacuum of space and any debris it might encounter. He stood off to the side, placing his hand against the skin of the ship, feeling the dents and dings. The mining pods were workhorses and not made to be sexy or sleek but she was beautiful in his eyes. With these they would gather the ice and elements they needed to keep going, to reach their far off destination. Men and women like himself would keep the Copernicus' engines stoked and he grinned to himself thinking of the old steam engines that once had to have coal shoveled constantly to keep going. Coal he once had dug from the ground as his fathers before him stretching back centuries and over an ocean. 

"Well, Loretta," he whispered, "It's gonna be a hell of a ride, old girl." 

He smiled, christening his ship with the name of the woman who once sang about being a coal miner's daughter. At that moment he noticed a noise on the other side and heard the voice he now recognized as Connor’s. 

Reece walked around in time to see the blue haired mechanic messing with a radio and a sudden burst of music came on. He raised his eyebrows slightly, surprised at the song, he was sure a guy that looked like Connor would probably have some weird and harsh music. This wasn't too bad. He noticed the mechanic was still unaware of his presence, all the hunting he did in the Appalachians had given him a quiet step.

Connor wove through the small hallways of the pod until he reached the engine bay at the back of the ship. He had to open a hatch and climb down a ladder into the metal space. He set the radio by the ladder and approached the two giant circular holes that contained, to the untrained eye a small space that was a chaotic mess of machinery and wires. But to Connor the view was anything but complicated and confusing.

"I hear you're a bit under the weather." He said to the engine over the music, walking over to the machinery. He got down onto his hands and knees and crawled inside of the mess of metal and wires, having to twist a bit so he could lay down on his back on a dirty and ripped piece of cushion that was there for the express purpose of being able to work on the engine block while it was still attached to the ship. Back on Earth they had the space and the ability to remove a block and examine it closely from all angles. But the hangar didn't have that kind of room to spare.

Connor ended up having his feet sticking out of one of the circles and resting on the steel grates that was the floor. His feet tapped together with the beat of the music while he fished out his small flashlight to start looking around. "I met your pilot today." He said conversationally, his eyes moving critically over every square inch of metal, wire and hose. "He gave me a donut which was awesome, but he thinks I'm an idiot so that isn't so fun. For me anyway. For you though he seems like he'll be good for you. He's been named lead pilot so that says a lot. Ah-ha! There's the problem!" He cried out when he saw a couple of loose wires poking out of one of the hoses for the engines control box. The control box was what fed all of the commands for the ship into the engine. If a few wires weren't connected then no commands would be making it through, such as the start up command.

"Oh come on, he couldn't bother to fix that? What the hell man!" He shook his head, sweat starting to bead on his brow as the heat from his own body started to become trapped in the small space. "That explains why you aren't starting up. What else did that dumbass miss? I'm betting five bucks you're going to need a new turbo pump. Whether its low pressure or high pressure will be a surprise."

Reece followed silently, curious to watch this so-called genius at work. He found him in the engine bay, digging up into the pod's internals and talking to himself. The pilot listened not impressed by the previous mechanic's sloppy work. He made a mental note to have all pods given a through inspection by the head engineer. He leaned on the hatch, looking in at the cramped quarters the boy had to work in. 

Reece considered slipping away but he had the element of surprise and he should speak with Connor alone before the others showed up. 

"Boy, I hope you bought her dinner before putting your hands up her skirt."

Connor jumped at the voice, his head jerking up and smacking into the engine above his head. "Ow! Fuck!" He hissed, dropping his head back and pressing his hand gingerly against the spot. "Uuugh that hurt." He muttered, pulling his hand away to see if there was any blood on his fingers. Luckily there was none, though he'd probably have one hell of a bump later on in the day.

Still rubbing the spot he peered down his body and shown his light at his unexpected visitor. "Mr. Reece." He greeted in surprise, putting his flash light away so he could start scooting his way back out of the engine compartment. He pulled himself out but remained seated, still gently rubbing his abused forehead. "What are you doing here?" He asked. He had thought that everyone would either be sleeping off the affects of cryo sleep or off exploring all of the ships fancy amenities.

Owen Reece could hear the thump and curse and he winced with a brief chuckle. It would be a lie if he said he had not planned on startling the engineer. He glanced down at Connor, "Same thing you’re doing, having a look around here." 

He pushed back, gesturing to Connor that he should come up, "I hate to interrupt but I need a no bullshit assessment on Loretta's condition and you seemed to be getting very intimate with her just now. I overheard you talking about the shit poor condition the last mechanic left this old girl in."

"Loretta?" Connor repeated, standing up and forcing himself to put down his hand. "Is that what you named her?" He asked, looking around the engine bay thoughtfully before slowly nodding. "Surprisingly fitting." He muttered crossing his arms over his chest and focusing on Reece again. "Well from what I've seen so far she needs a cable replaced in her control box, getting that done will take me several hours alone. That's the only problem I've seen so far, but if the guy before me didn't bother to replace a cable then there are probably a few other problem's I haven't found yet." He made a motion with his hand to the wall of the engine room. "You don't even want to know about the parts that need fixing on the other three."

Putting a fresh toothpick in his mouth he chewed on it thoughtfully as he listened to Connor explain the things he had already seen wrong with Loretta. He felt his anger rise at the previous shift's mechanic, leaving these machines in such a condition. It was a lazy, shitty thing to do and that did not bode well in Reece's mind. If they got so complacent or uncaring about their job, he wondered what else could be wrong, perhaps with the Copernicus itself. He tucked the notion to visit the main ship's pilots later and see how they fared. 

"Yup, Loretta...the coal miner's daughter," he replied, looking around the small area. "Figured it was fitting, considering." 

Reece raised his eyebrows and flashed a slight grin, partially hidden under his scruffy beard. "All good ships should have a name, Connor. It's tradition and such. This girl will be mine...ours for the duration and we'll treat her like the fine lady she is." 

"Now. Sounds like he or she left you with a mess to clean up," he finally commented, twirling the pick to the corner of his mouth. "And you saw the other ships in Six are missing parts? Christ on a pony."

He huffed out a breath, "Alright, this is what I want. You inspect every one of these mining pods here and accompany the other mechanics when they inspect their pods, check up on their work. Last thing I want is to lose folks to some loose bolts on these buckets. Got it, MIT?" 

Reece pronounced the acronym for the prestigious school like "mit" and he gave Connor a look that dared him to object to his orders.

It took a moment for him to translate mit in his head and then another to go over the rest of the conversation in his head. "Yes sir." He nodded, not able to hide his surprise that Reece suddenly seemed okay with having him as a mechanic and was already giving him an assignment filled with such responsibility. He ran a hand over his blazing blue hair and wondered if he should ask why Reece had changed his mind. Earlier he hadn't seemed all that impressed with Connor's credentials. 

"I'll take care of that the next couple of days." He added, deciding to not voice his question. Reece was trusting him and he didn't want to seem like he wasn't confident in his skills. 

"I wouldn't really say the other three are missing parts." He said, crouching down to turn off the radio. "They're in there, but they either need replacing or cleaning because of all the dust and debris all guncked up in it." He scratched his head, glancing back over at the engine with a frown again wondering why someone had been so sloppy. "First things first, that cable needs replacing."

Chewing the toothpick idly, he nodded, "Alright. Get to it then." 

He left Connor there without reminding him he would be checking up on him. If the boy was going to be their lead mechanic then he would have to prove himself worthy of the title. Just as Owen Reece would have to prove himself capable of leading the fleet of mining pods. Reece exited the pod now known affectionately as "Loretta" and he planned on finding some paints and doing her name up right on her hull. He glanced up at the feminine voice calling out to them and spotted the young woman with wild curls who he had seen puking at the briefing. Time to meet their demolition expert. Reece sighed and spat out his toothpick and walked towards her.