[i]collab between idlehands and Dotcom[/i]

She was not much more than a girl, hardly old enough to drink let alone handle explosives. He nodded at her wave, his face blank at her cheerful greeting. His gray eyes looked her over, she was pretty in an exotic way, with a thick Spanish accent. 

“Name’s Owen Reece, I’m the pilot you’ll be working under,” he replied, looking unamused. “Deli, is that like a salami sandwich with a pickle on the side?”

Deli beamed. “Touché,” she said. Then, “It’s a nickname.”

He turned to look at his tablet, tapping the screen, “Delilah Espinosa de Jesus Dominguez del Beltran. That’s a mouthful. Guess I’ll stick with Deli.”

Reece butchered the pronunciation, he had hardly use for Spanish growing up in the mountains. He looked back up from the notepad, “You haven’t had much experience, only just learning while on the Mountain. And yet, here you are.”

He cleared his throat loudly and gestured to the pod, “That is “Loretta” she is our ship, she will be treated like a grand lady. Now, look here. You were a last minute replacement, our man got himself hurt before we took off and none of us have worked together. One thing I want to have is complete trust among my crew. I don’t give that away, you gotta earn it, just as I gotta prove it to you. The one you call...Curmy, is Bill Cothran and I’ve worked with him longer than you’ve been wearing a bra. He’s earned my trust and I have his.”

Reece rubbed his hand down his short beard, “You got any questions so far?” 

Deli stared at the older man for a second, studying him in a way that might have surprised most aboard the [i]Copernicus[/i] even if they had recognized it for what it was, before shrugging and offering up a wry grin.
 
“Sure,” she said errantly. “How do you know how long I’ve been wearing a bra?”

She ignored the part about her inexperience. She figured he was right, at least relatively, and going into the sort of experience she [i]did[/i] have -- playing with exposed wires and RC car batteries from early childhood, breaking into her father’s labs since puberty, almost two years’ unofficial military training from her brother -- would warrant questions she didn’t want to answer. Instead, she looked past him again, green eyes settling once more on the swollen curve of the mining pod. She smiled again, this time a bit more reverently as she moved closer to run her hand along the side, much as any young mother might admire her own pregnant belly.
 
“’Loretta,’” she repeated. “That’s nice. You should paint her name here.” Then she turned abruptly, eyes gleaming. “Or [i]I[/i] could do it. It’d be fun.”

"I'll be taking care of the paint job, don't you worry," he said, eyeing her closely. Reece had a roguish sense of humor and while he would have appreciated Deli's flippance outside of the hangar, inside he was all business. "As for your bra, I'd guess less than ten years, not counting the three as a meaty ice cube.” 

“Ten years and two months,” Deli corrected in that same light tone, though whatever slight tension that might have crept into her shoulders slipped away at his answer. “Or something. I dunno. I know I made [i]mi mamá[/i] buy me one before my cousin’s wedding, and I was...eleven then.” She shrugged. “It was a training bra, but still.” She looked at the pilot again, her gaze once again going deeper than one might expect from her. “But I guess that doesn’t matter, does it? You and Curmy have known each other forever. Got it. Do you know why they put me with your crew?” she added as casually as she could manage. “I mean, if you and Curmy are already [i]compadres para siempre[/i], why add me?”

Reece winced and waved at her, “Alright, alright. I don’t need to know all that. Christ.” 

He tapped at the notepad, "Says your Daddy's one of the uppity ups in the rocket program. Now, as for why they put you on my crew, I can only guess."

Deli looked away again, leaving half a moment between the word ‘daddy’ and her actual, physical reaction. In her pocket, her tablet buzzed, with a loud quacking sound -- something she’d preprogrammed into her tablet, because as far as she was concerned, normalcy was boring. She ignored the notification, though. She had a good idea of who it was from and what it was about, and she was going to avoid [i]that[/i] as long as she could.

“He was,” Deli said, still studying the pod, though she’d lost interest by now. “He designed the fuel systems that power the engines. Something about perpetual motion or magic dinosaur bones or both. He got us on the ship. My brothers and me, I mean. He didn’t put me here, though, if that’s what you’re thinking.” She looked at him almost defiant, though her eyes still glittered with a smile. “I’m here because I’m good at blowing things up.” She grinned again. “Most of the time, it’s on purpose.” It was as much of a test as it was a joke.

Reece cocked his eyebrow at her but said nothing else. He was being hard but no harder than he had been on the young engineer. Conner had scored points with him by being able to bypass the day off and getting right to work. The fact he was cleaning up the mess left for him by the previous crew sat well with Reece. He would watch him and see how things progressed but it was a better start than he had hoped for. Now the young woman in front of him, his new demolitions expert, he could not test. Other than computer simulations of course, which were fine but it would not be like applying the real thing. That would not occur until they were out in space, perched on some asteroid. He looked at her pretty face, her smooth caramel skin and shook his head slightly. 

"Whatever the reason, it is what it is. Once Bill gets here, we'll get started on some training programs. Shake off some of the cryocobwebs," Reece said, putting his notepad away. "Deli, I won't sugar coat it, I'm expecting you to fail but I'm hoping you don't. We need everyone out here on the top of their game." 

He gave her a pointed look, his pale grey eyes on her dark ones. 

His last words to her only confirmed what she’d already been thinking, but it made her laugh anyway, a genuine, surprised sound, and when she spoke this time, it was the most earnest she’d been since puking in the conference room. 

“You sound like him when you talk like that.”

Reece glanced up at her laugh with a quizzical look, “Your Daddy? Well I’m old enough to be that. Alright, so, about your blowing stuff up. Let’s keep that for outside play, ok? I like having all my limbs.” 

He hooked his thumbs in his belt and looked up at the mining pod, “The mechanic, Conner, he’s in there now working on her engine. We’ll let him be until Bill shows up and then we’ll do the grand tour. Looks like they made some adjustments since we left home.” 

Reece looked at her out of the corner of his eye as they focused on Loretta, wondering what he was going to do about the situation. He was reminded uncomfortably of another bright young lady who had put her trust in him which had ended in the worst result. 

Deli nodded once, reached into a pocket, and pulled out a neon green bandana, tying back her wild curls before turning back to the pilot. 

"Sure thing, Cap," she said brightly, hitting a not-so-clean salute. "Right behind you."

He gave her once over and turned back to the ship, “Alright then.”