Chapter 16 - She's Such A Spitfire!

Miss Ve Eritra was getting married on Quazidi. Not that I really cared, mind you, as I didn't even know Miss Eritra personally. However, when she offered to pay 3010 credits if I could get here there on time, I suddenly found myself caring very much indeed! And after all, how much trouble could a bride to be... umm... be?

Not very much at all actually. She was a pleasant, if somewhat chatty little thing, and once I got used to the blue feathers that covered her from head to foot, we spent many fine hours in the common room playing cards and such. Her fiancé paid me a nice little bonus as well, once we arrived at the station. I had made a couple of good trades on the way here, and hadn't been attacked by pirates, except for that one time. Life was good, and I was in a fine mood!

"Captain, I am in need of maintenance." Aria informed me.

I had been slouching on the command couch, looking over the station manifest, but now, I sat up fast. "Why Aria, what's wrong? Is it serious?"

"No Captain, simply routine maintenance. However, unless addressed immediately, it could cause serious problems in the near future."

"Oh... Well, let me go talk to the station's engineers an..."

"I would advise against that Captain. Quazidi is only a tech level 9 planet, and as such, any repairs made to my systems, might be temporary at best."

"Oh... 'Ya get what you pay for', is what you're telling me hunh? Well, that makes sense I guess, and I don't want to take any chances with you Aria! What other planets are close by?"

Aria pulled up the star charts on the main vid-screen. "Hey, look there Aria! That planet Aona ain't more than spitting distance from us, and it's a tech level 13 station!"

"Yes Captain. It should prove quite sufficient for my needs."

"All right then, let's saddle up and hop over there." There was nothing more for us to do at Quazidi, so I requested a launch window from docking control, while Aria got our systems ready. Then off we went. We arrived at Aona a few hours later.

"IT'S GONNA COST HOW MUCH!?!?!"

"I'm sorry Comman..."

"CAPTAIN!"

"Err..Captain. But your ship is an extremely advanced vessel, and requires special filters, hoses, as well as the available software upgrades for your ship's A.I.. Then there is the usual de-ionization and th..."

"OKAY! Okay... enough already. I give up. But 2500 credits?! Sheesh!"

I could cover the cost. We had made almost twice that much between our last passenger, and the trades we had made during the trip, but still... It hurt! And now, I was stuck here until Aria's maintenance was done. I wandered around the dock, watching the ships come and go for a while. Then wandered over to the stations sales area. I wasn't looking to trade in Aria or anything, but hey, a guy can just look around, right? They had the usual selection, a couple Asps, a Cobra or three, even an ancient Anaconda. Boy was that thing a monster! Then I came to the end of the line and stared. The little sign read "D.T.T War Lance". My heart was beating hard, and I felt the same way I did when I saw Aria for the first time. As a matter of fact, it looked more than a little bit like Aria, bein' made by the same company and all. Actually, it looked as if someone had taken Arias' hull, removed the engines, then strapped 2 absolutely enormous rockets to the sides! Why, it even had a naked girl painted on the side, wearing nothing but a war bonnet and riding on top of a spear! Wow! I looked for the price.

"500,000 cred..." I choked out-loud.

"Ya, she's pretty expensive, but she would be totally worth it!" said a voice behind me. I turned to look, then I looked down. A tousle of pure white hair, cut pixie short, with a pair of light grey eyes was lookin' back up at me. She couldn't have stood more than five feet tall, even in her untied, and one size too big, work boots. She had a smear of dirt on her cheek, and a dab of grease on her nose. Matter of fact, there wasn't an inch of skin showing that wasn't covered in some kind of dirt or other. And that means a lot of dirt, 'cuz she weren't wearin' a whole lot to begin with. Up from them old work boots, was a tiny pair of raggedy denim cut-offs, at least what was left of 'em. They were bein' accessorized by an old tool belt, with an assortment of mechanics tools and other odds and ends. North from there was nothin' more than the top part of a bikini bathin' suit... A mighty small one at that.

"I saw you come in. You're flyin' that Snake Charmer ain'cha?" she asked, while at the same time, cracking the wad of gum she was vigorously chewing.

"Ya, I sure did." I said proudly. "Her names Aria. Aria to the Stars."

CRACK! "Ooh! That's pretty!" SNAP! "And they're good ships too. Real quality work, not like some of these old rust buckets, bein' held together with monowire and molecutape." POP! She gave a disdainful glance around the dock.

I couldn't help but grin. "You seem to know a lot about these ships."

"I should. I've fixed half of them." POP!

"YOU fixed them?" I asked sceptically.

"You better believe it buddy! I'm the best ship mechanic on this station!" Her little chin lifted a notch or two, as if daring me to dispute her claim.

I grinned. "How old are you?" I asked, bendin' over a bit to look her strait in the eye.

"...Twenty one." The chin dropped half a notch. I continued to stare into her eyes.

"...Eighteen." I didn't blink.

"FINE! I'm seventeen, but my birthday is next month, and then I will be eighteen! I can prove it!" The chin popped back up.

She looked more like sixteen, at least her face did. But she met my stare now, and that little chin of hers was standing its' ground, and holding firm. "Okay. I believe you."

"Okay... Umm... How old are you" she asked, giving me a long once-over of her own.

"Twenty two." I said, meeting her eyes once again.

"Twenty two! And you have your own ship?! What are you, some kind of spoiled rich kid? Your daddy buy it for you?" she asked with a sneer. I laughed, and proceeded to tell her the whole story, of how pa won the cereal contest, and then the accident, and how I finally ended up with Aria. She listened in rapt fascination. "Gosh, that's some kind of luck!" she sighed at the end.

"The best I ever ha..."

"HEY YOU! Get outta here, you little dock rat!" said a dock engineer, who was hurrying over to us. "I'm sorry Captain Morgan. She's not supposed to be hanging around here, bother our customers..."

"She wasn't bothering me, we were having a pleasant conversation, until you interrupted us." I said, as I stepped in front of the girl. Who, I noticed from the corner of my eye, hadn't backed down one inch. But had, in fact, pulled a rather mean looking hammer from her belt, and was hefting it in her tiny hand. Her chin at full mast!

"He's just mad because I'm a better mechanic than he is, and all the pilots know it!"

"Listen here you little..."

I put one hand against the engineer's chest, and "encouraged" him to take a step back. The other arm was trying to keep Little Miss Spitfire from bringing her hammer into the fray.

"Now hold on here folks. Hold on. I assume you are here for a reason other than chasing off this little girl?" I said, looking pointedly at the mechanic. That remark earned me a dirty look from Spitfire. Who, to her credit, kept her mouth shut.

"Umm... yes sir. Sorry Com... Captain. You see sir, while we were carrying out the maintenance on your ship, we found another problem. It's your water recycling system." said Mr. Mechanic, who was still keeping a wary eye on Spitfire.

I have a water recycling system...? "Okay, what's wrong with it?"

"We need to replace two high pressure hoses, and we are going to need to order a new filter for it as well."

"And how much is that going to cost me?"

"Well Captain, that filter has to be special made, then flown up from the planet. And those hoses are hard to come by as well. We can do it for six hundred credi..."

"Thieves! You're all a bunch of stupid, ignorant, thieves!" ranted Spitfire, as I grabbed her by her tool belt, and pulled her back. I also managed to snag her hammer as it swished past my head, en route toward the mechanic's.

"Calm down there girl! Now what exactly has got your feathers in a fluff?" I glanced around quick to make sure I hadn't offended anyone with the feather remark.

"I can fix that recycling system for less than fifty five credits! The high pressure hoses from a Cobra Mark Three will fit your system just fine, if you trim an inch or two off them. And the filter from a Boa will work better than the original, if you cut it in half, and that gives you a spare to boot!" We locked eyes for a slow four count, then I looked at the mechanic.

"Is what she says, true?" I asked.

"Well I... Umm... I'm not sure Captain, but..."

"Let the water thing go for now." I said.

"But Captain I..."

"I said, let it go for now." I repeated, giving Mr. Engineer a look.

Mr. Engineer pulled himself up straight, and shot an evil glare at Spitfire. "As you wish Captain, but we won't be held responsible fo..."

"Yes, yes, I take full responsibility for the water thingy. Was there anything else you needed?" I asked.

"No sir. I guess... I guess I will get back to work." With a parting glare, Mr. Engineer stomped back toward the work area.

"You sure you can fix those hoses and stuff?" I asked Spitfire, after releasing her belt from my grasp.

"Of course!" she said with an exasperated sigh. "I can fix it for sixty credits." Her little chin was sure gettin' a work out today.

"I thought you said you could fix it for less than fifty five?"

"That was for parts, you don't expect me to work for free, do you?"

I laughed.

RUMBLE.

I glanced around trying to locate the source of the sound.

GURGLE.

Then I noticed Spitfire was blushing something fierce, and holding her arms over her stomach. "Ya, I'm hungry too. Let's go get something to eat and talk business. My treat?" Spitfire gave me a slow grin.

"There a decent burger joint, just over in the next section." she said. Her eyes grateful.

"Lead on Spitfire, lead on!"